I Love You Because...

Spring Break 2013

Last week went by too fast and in an effort to remember in my old age how wonderful my life was *at this moment* I'm going to do the uber fast- one-liner-recap of the week....

Monday- 
The kids BEGGED for a Happy Potter Read-A-Thon Day... we stayed in our jammies and read for hours and hours finishing book #2 just in time for dinner. 

Tuesday-

Today was all about spending time with the BFFs... Lunch w/ Cottrell's then Doug and I joined Phil and Alicia at a Pink Floyd tribute concert.

Wednesday-
 

The kids enjoyed some adopted Big Sister Time all morning, Owen went on a date with who he calls 'my miss rebbie', and then Doug and I took the kids to see Mary Poppins at the Fox Theatre! 

Oh, I have to say more about the play because it was sooo flipping good! The songs were 'practically perfect' and the set?! HOLY COW, I loved the amazing 'pop-up' backdrop and colorful sets.  The kids were more then adorable and I found myself looking over at them AMAZED that they are mine. They were cracking me up during supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, just trying to sing along but not being able to even pronounce it. (don't worry, they've been practicing it ever since and have it just about down pat) I am soo blessed to be thier mommy and for reals, Husbandface and I make freaking cute kids! At the end of the show as Mary Poppins is saying goodbye she kisses Burt on the cheek and Owen (in a loud five year old 'whisper') says, "Eww! That's so gross! Now they're going to get sick! Only married people can kiss without getting sick. That's discusting." The entire time Doug and I are trying to hush him but we were laughing so hard he didn't really think he had to listen to us. It was adorable and a moment I want to remember FOREVER. I bought a Mary Poppins  Umbrella as a souvenier and the kids have just been praying for rain so they could fight over, play with it.

Thursday-

After living in GA for 9 years I finally made it to the Tellus Museum. I got to spent it with another wonderful friend from high school, Jackie whom, lucky for me, moved to Georgia because she missed me so much. (okay okay, it was because of her hubby's job but let's face it, I'm the one that benefits.) We took all the kiddos to the museum and I'm pretty sure they loved every minute of it. Ethan practically had to be yanked out of there and feels like he 'missed too much' because I was rushing in through exibits (5 hours wasn't enough time spent obsessing on science). It was such a great day! 

Friday-

We played in the dirt... ALL DAY. Doug and I are working on A MAJOR YARD WORK RENO and Friday was the day we told the boys they could get as dirty as they wanted, dig where ever they wanted and build whatever they wanted.... Needless to say I think they were in heaven. They even helped me move dirt and rocks and earned a few bucks in the process. My back still hurts from all the work I did but the kids? THEY had fun! (I'll post picts of the backyard project soon.)

Saturday-
MORE yard work but the highlight for all of us was....

Doug's nephew's coming into town to visit!! In Doug's family though, nieces and nephew's aren't what you're thinking. They're our my age. Seriously, Casey and Brandon are the coolest cousins ever and my kids can NOT stop talking about how awesome they are. They pulled out all the stops, playing Star Wars, Having a Rock Bank competition, Teaching multiplication and Poi and generally showering my kids with tons of love and attention. IT WAS SOOOO FUN TO HAVE THEM AROUND and I totally wish they lived closer.

We all hated saying good bye but were glad they got to stay all weekend. 

How do define a perfect Spring Break? You head out to a favorite location? or reach out to your favotie people? For us every year seems to be different. This is our Spring Break 2013. Yeah, no beaches, no crazy parties, no trips but still perfect for our cute family. 

Hoping not ever to forget how perfect it was,
Joanna  

 

 

 

 

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Things I love about Georgia

It only took me what? 9 years but seriously there are so many things I love about living here.... one of which is that I can still walk out to my car and smell these crazy beautiful blossoms in the middle of November ... This picture doesnt even do it justice... that Iris is bigger then both my fists put together, it just bloomed overnight and it smells sooooo good! 

and by the looks of the backyard I don't miss out out on any of the crazy beauty of fall to get it... 

-Joanna 

Friendship Quilt.

Just over a month ago a friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer. What the heck?! Seriously she is soo young! Needless to say it was a shock and heartbreaking and scary. We were pregnant together and her son was born the day before Cameron. When Em found out she posted on Facebook, "I Can Do Hard Things." It was the perfect statement and ironically comforted all of us when we probably should have been comforting her. Just three days after we all found out about her diagnosis and even before she started her treatment plan I got a call from another friend in the ward, Christine. She had an amazing idea to put together a 'Friendship Quilt' for Em. She had already talked to 20+ women who love Em and had very willing hands. Of course I was immediately excited and completely on board and within hours we were prepping and shopping for it! We decided on the Double Irish Chain Pattern (7 1/2" block w/ 2" strips) because it had that classic quilt look to it and still had space for us to personalize for her. I had never made one of these before but, I've seen my Mom make it at least a dozen times.... you could say it's one of our favorites. Shannon and I made up 30+  "Block 2"  squares first (Even Cam helped!) and this is what we gave to each of the women  for personalization.  No rules except making sure to use friendly washing materials so this could last forever and leave a 1/4" seam around the edges... 

Everyone met at my house on a Saturday afternoon to pick up their squares, start brainstorming ideas and start piecing.  A bunch of us got together for 4 more mini "quilting bees" over the next 3 weeks to work  on "Block 1" and the CRAZY amount of embroidery work that was put on the border peopl. Everyone's initals were on their individual squares but the inside border had all of our names, and Em's new motto...

Then everyone's individual squares started coming in and let me tell you the result of what they did was amazing!! 

So many had special meanings to their relationship, or encouraging words and happy thoughts. ALL were sentimental in ways that we couldn't have imagined when it was started. 

Seriously?! Aren't these just the cutest?! Let me be honest here for a minute... at this point I was so flipping attached to this quilt I wanted to keep it.... just sayin'

Crazy awesome, right? I love them all! 

For my block I was inspired by the embroidery I had done this summer for Mom.  I had Em's hubby text us a picture of thier house (I'm pretty sure he thought it was a little stalker-ish but thankfully he's a forgiving guy) then I had Husbandface draw a picture from the text and I embroidered over that.  

Let me tell you.... THIS TURNED OUT SOOO MUCH BETTER THEM I EVER IMAGINED AND IT WAS BY FAR THE FUNNEST QUILT I'VE WORKED ON YET! Surprisingly, the Irish Chain Pattern was way easier and less intimidating then it looks and having everyone involved and contributing and bonding was something I will never forget. We brought the finished quilt top to Susan up at BettySue's and she got it done for us in less than a week!! Just like I always say, the quilting is the icing on the cake... she put Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbons into the design....

  Yesterday Em was feeling good enough for a few visitors and we had the privledge to drop off her surprise.... I'm positve she loves it!! 

-Joanna

 

 

 

the best way to spoil me

dinner at one of the best resturants in Atlanta (local three) + spending time with our best friends + on our way to the best show ever (Les Miserables) = THE BEST SATURDAY NIGHT and A VERY HAPPY GIRL! 

To Love Another Person is to See The Face of God.
J 

Hiking w/ Grandma

After being cooped up in a hospital room all week we're enjoying the beautiful Springtime weather with a Sunday afternoon mini-hike with Grandma... and it's making me excited for Waterton this summer! 

 

Hudson Bay Point Quilt

I have been planning Owen's Room since before he was born but as soon as we moved into this house I already had a lot of the decor ready to go. The thing I didn't have was the perfect quilt. Owen's room has a Waterton/Canadian Parks theme and the only appropriate blanket I could think of was a Traditional Hudson Bay Point Blanket. (When talking about it to friends hereI learned that most people in the South have never heard of them. Seriously!) The problem with the Hudson Bay Blanket was that 1) it's wool... which means it's not only harder to clean with a 3 year old using it regularly but it's also itchy and frankly it's not until you're an adult that you start to really like it. 2) Thos puppies are expensive! I had to hold back and remind myself that this was for a 3 year old and spending $200-$600 on a non-washable bedspread might not be the brightest of all ideas and 3) we don't live in the canadian rockies (huge problem), we live in Georgia... the need for a super warm (HOT) wool blanket is pretty much zero. So with my heart set on a real/authentic Hudson Bay Blanket I had to get creative.

The month before we moved in my Mom come out for a visit and I had her help me bring my idea to life. 

Just a 1/4 yard fabric in the classic Red, Yellow, Green and Black with a cream Queen Size sheet and The Hudson Bay QUILT came to life in just one night. (Remember? I told you my Mom was amazing? This is just more proof of how insanely talented she is.)

This was another one of those projects that made Husbandface feel like I was crazy or he didn't get the concept of it until it was actually done but 1) that's becomeing a trend and 2) he doesn't have the same love for Hudson Bay Blankets as I do so of course he didn't get quite as excited.  (We actually did this the same week as we refinished the chairs and we were packing so to his credit, the timing was a little bit questionable.)  In the end I'm pretty sure Doug loves it just as much as I do.

This quilt was super simple in concept/design but it's the little touches and small details that make it perfect.

Like the Custom Gold Embroidered Patch...
(that name it an official Wallace Point Blanket from the Boundary Bay Company)

And the 5 points added to it, making sure everyone can see the authentic quality/status...

And the AMZING quilting done by the BEST machine quilter I know. ... Mom came up with the idea of maybe putting a reference to bears in the quilting and Dixie (the Quilting genius) came up with these!! 

Hundreds of 'hidden' bears quilted onto the entire quilt! It absolutely made it spectacular and now not only do I love, LOVE the finished project, but so does my Baby Bear!! 

There you have it! My First Custom Designed Quilt. 

Thanks for reading!
J 

 

We got Annie!

I love, LOVE going to live theatre productions... It's my weakness and moving in closer to the city has really brought the addiction passion to new heights. Last night I splurged a little and took Lorali to Annie! We planned to go with a few friends and it was such a fun girls night out!  

We stopped at Cheesecake Factory for a quick bit then it was stright to The Fox Theatre. It was such a great production made even better by Sally Struthers starring as Miss Hannigan. I love her! I mean, Hello?! What self respecting Gilmore Girls fan isn't? She did a wonderful job and stole the show. My favorite part wasn't in the production though... it was when I looked over at my daughter singing along with the music with the biggest smile on her face ever! TOTALLY WORTH the late night to this pregnant lady who loves her sleep. ;)  I think I'll make a theatre lover out of her, yet! 

Bear Hollow

I think I've been consumed a little too much this spring. Consumed with the move, worried about the transition, consumed with my own loneliness and my own depression and consumed with unanswered questions. This past week I've been trying to force myself out of it. No more self destruction, no more negativity and no more staying stagnant.... both emotionally and physically. 

In an effort to do just that, last Sunday afternoon we decided to take the kids on a little hike. The weather was perfect and we know that our weekends are going to get crazy in May/June so we thought we better take advantage of it while we still had time. Not only that this location is close to us now- once we move it will be too far for a quick Sunday afternoon nature walk. If you live in the Athens area and haven visited Bear Hollow Park then you are missing out. We've taken the kids here a bunch before but it had been a couple years and Owen hadn't seen THE BEARS yet so we knew he'd be in heaven. 

What we didn't anticipate was that he wouldn't want to leave the bear viewing area and go on the rest of the hike (note to self; next time the animals need to be at the end.) Nor did we anticipate Lorali bringing her 'field journal' so that she could take notes while we were out. Even after she brought said journal we didn't think she'd drop the notebook accidentally.... in the bear enclosure... nor did we annticipate the bear clawing its way through it, tearing it to threads and seeing Loralis' little 'secrets' (Abel ast me to be his gurl frend at skul toda.) One thing is for sure, it was certainly a memorable day!

Once we pulled away from the bears, had a potty break, discovered caterpillars... it was FINALLY time to start the hike. Doug and I couldn't find any maps but we figured the park was small enough that we could just pick a trail and trust ourselves not to get lost. We picked the trail that we couldn't see anyone and we were on our way. WE ALL LOVED IT! Overall it was a wonderful afternoon and something we need to do way more of. I'm not sure there is anything in this world that makes me as happy as hiking with my family. 

To live would be an awfully big adventure.

 

For Christmas Lorali and I gave my best friend and her daughter tickets to Peter Pan. They had never been to a live production of any kind and I was so excited to take them to a show that was sure to be a theatrical experience like none other. Today was the big day and trust me, the show did NOT disappoint. If you live ANYWHERE even remotely close to Atlanta you need to come see this show. It's playing in Pemberton Place now through March 20 and I promise it is something you will not regret. It was AMAZING! 

Besides the show being inspiring, which it was, the company was just as wonderful. I loved seeing the show through the eyes of someone who was totally unfamiliar with the storyline and it was great to see it through the eyes of a 5 year old (Mom, I want TinkerBell to come over here and let me fly with her too!) and an 11 year old (Why are they so scared of growing up?).  MAGICAL! 

I love the theatre! The next show we have tickets for is The 39 Steps... anyone want to come with?!  

 

 

Snowed In 2011