Spring Break Visitors

My mom and dad came to Texas during Matthew's spring break last week. We had such a great time with them here!



We took them to the waterfalls and my dad taught Matthew how to skip a rock. We visited a few playgrounds and enjoyed the nice weather.

We went bowling (I confess, there isn't much else to do in WF...) and to the fabric store, library, the local nature center, Chuck-e-Cheese, and Pizza Hut. But much of time was spent playing at home!

It was the perfect spring break and we are so glad that they came!

Sew-vivor

I've been busy! Last week, I was selected as one of the top 10 finalists in a sewing competition on the blog Family Ever After. I've been super excited about it, and I've been working hard on the first challenge. All of the projects were posted this morning (you can view them here) and now the voting starts! The top five people get to continue on to the challenge for next week. You can see more about my project on my sewing blog, Call Me Cat. I'd love for you to check out all the projects and vote for your favorite! Voting is open until Friday at midnight.

(I just saw that I was lucky enough to get immunity for this week, so I'll be moving on to the next challenge for sure!! How exciting! So head over and vote for some of the other amazing projects!!)

Day By Day

I'm trying to find a balance between looking forward to and preparing for the future, and enjoying the present. School work, house work, and other responsibilities seem to take up most of our time, but we try to get out and play and have fun as much as we can.

Playgrounds and sidewalk chalk are always a big hit, and we "hiked" up to the local water falls a couple of weeks ago. I'm loving this spring weather, but Matthew is already complaining that it is too hot!




Matthew has spring break next week and my parents are coming to visit, so we've got a long list of fun things to do with them. We are excited to take them to our favorite places and also check out some new things we haven't done yet!

England

Joseph will finish his residency here in Texas in August. We've been in the process of requesting and being assigned to our next base for a few weeks now, and yesterday we found out where we are going! Joseph will be stationed at the Royal Air Force station Croughton in England!! It is a base out in the country, close to Oxford, and about 60 miles outside of London.

It was actually our 2nd choice (our 1st choice was also in England) so we are pretty excited about it. But part of me is terribly scared and overwhelmed! I don't think I expected to really get assigned to England, so I'm still kind of in shock. We will be there for three years.

We have a lot of things to figure out before August, but luckily we've got plenty of time. I am having a bit of deja vu with this, remembering how I felt when we were headed to NYC almost 5 years ago. I'm excited for Joseph and the great opportunity this will be for him, and I'm sure our little family will have quite the adventure!

All friends and family are welcome to visit, so start saving up now! :)

2/21/2013

♥

We had a fun Valentine's Day! Anna and I got to join Matthew for his school party. They had lots of sugar and lots of fun. We made an R2D2 valentine box for Matthew and used these printable valentines to give to his friends. He loved helping me make them and was so excited about everything! And he was very kind to give all the pink or princess valentines he got to Anna. :)



Matthew also lost his first tooth yesterday! It was so loose that it came out with only one tiny tug from the Dentist. :) I can't believe how big Matthew is getting!

Our January

I have decided that Texas is not a bad place to be in January. (Although I'll probably be changing my mind in June, July, and August...) We've been able to enjoy some beautiful evening walks and afternoons at the playground.



Joseph's parents were here for a few days this month and we had a great time with them. We showed them all the cool playgrounds, taught them more than they cared to know about Star Wars, and cooked up some delicious plastic-food meals for them to enjoy. We also took them to our favorite BBQ place, which is always fantastic.


Happy February!

Sewn

Here are a few things I have sewn during the last couple of months:


I made this floral dress for Anna out of a thrifted shirt. I love the collar and buttons on the back. I also made her a Geranium dress and I love the simplicity of it. She also got a couple of long sleeve shirts. But I'm not sure why I bother since all she will wear when we are at home is her swimming suit... :)


I made this striped cardigan using this tutorial. This is the last of my fabric that I bought at Mood in NYC, so I'm really wishing I could go back and stock up on more! I got the sweater at a thrift store and altered it to fit better, then added a (fake) leather heart hand stitched to the front.

I made the gray peplum shirt from scratch, and then hand painted the polka dots. It is such a comfy tee. The gingham tunic was my first experience with a button placket and I love how it turned out!

I'm thinking up some fun things to make for the Spring, so I'm excited!

Favorite

My favorite part of the day is when Anna and I get to walk to the school to pick Matthew up. It is a good 10 minute walk, and I love that time with her. The weather is usually pleasant and we have a lot of fun. Anna usually rides the scooter, and she is pretty quick on that thing so I have to walk fast to keep up!

We are always excited to see Matthew when he comes out, and sometimes we even stay and play at the playground. Then we head home, and usually collect flowers and rocks along the way to add to our collection jar.



I love this special 30 minutes with my kids every day where we are not in a rush and can enjoy being outside and being together.