Christmas Break Project 3: Quincy's Room

I took an art class last semester and painted the large (flower) picture above for Quincy. She didn't like it at first, but now she says she does. Huh, that's a three-year-old for you.

Quincy's new fabric headboard. It is really, really pretty in person....waayyy prettier than the photo is making it appear. And it only took a couple of 2x4's, a staple gun, a sewing maching, and a glue gun. Martha would be proud.

A close-up shot of the fabric. It is a heavy pink and white-ish upholstery fabric.

The headboard fabric complements the chair I sewed a slip-cover for a couple of years ago (for Quincy's room in our old house).

Christmas Break Project 2: Ellie's Room

Ellie, being the older child, was given the larger of the two Jack-and-Jill bedrooms (it has a walk-in closet) when we figured out that she and Quincy needed to be separated at night (all they did was play...they never slept!). This is the room that Quincy had last year.

I inherited a beautiful chair (now in the spare bedroom) and settee set from my grandparents but could never decide what I wanted to do with them. Then I stumbled across this GREAT pink, cotton, shaggy fabric. Above is what came of my vision. Ellie LOVES it and both she and Quincy sit on it daily reading their little Bob Books to each other. It is too, too cute!

A close-up of the fabric.

Christmas Break Project 1: The Spare Bedroom

Last summer Quincy and I were laying on the spare bedroom bed after her nap time chatting about 3 year-old stuff when Quincy stated, "This room is ugly." She was right...it was all brown and boring and totally ugly. I just hadn't gotten around to doing anything with it up to then as I was busy with other rooms and our growing family. Well, a coat of paint later and I was on my way to creativity. Last month, I found some beautiful chartreuse raised velvet fabric and reupholstered a chair that I inherited from my grandparents. The chair makes the room. The next step is to find some fabric to make a headboard similiar to the one I made for Quincy's room.

A close-up of the fabric (with my head-shadow in the photo).

Opening Presents

They opened all their presents as a team....they really are that close now (which is a big, wonderful change from six moths ago).

Thank you sweet Lucy and Aunt B for our great t-shirts!

Christmas Morning

Has Santa arrived?

Yes! And Quincy runs to see what he left her...

Ellie, on the other hand, still has fresh memories of her traumatic visit with Santa the week before in her head (shouldn't their be sugar plum fairies in there instead?)....she isn't so sure about everything.

But she finally decides that Santa isn't actually in our house anymore so she makes it over to the tree and they both discover that Santa loved the cookies and milk they left for him. End note: Mommy will be hitting the gym extra hard this week.

Christmas Eve

I just realized the humor of the above photo: Santa had already arrived but his cookies hadn't been eaten...I corrected it by the next morning.

Cookies for Santa

I can't help but think the photos would have been much better without a sticker planted dead-center on Quincy's forehead...

Enjoying the fruits of their labor...

Visiting Santa

Ellie started out excited to see Santa....honestly, she really appeared to love the idea of Santa.

Quincy went first. When her chance to see him arrived, she ran up to him and gave him a huge hug.

Then came Ellie's turn....the photos tell it all.

Better luck next year....maybe.

Trying to get a good Christmas picture with two kids and two dogs is impossible...

Attempting the Christmas Card Photos, 2009: We had a LOT of great pictures of Ellie, a LOT of great pictures of Quincy, and some really good pictures of Cosmo and Otis....but not one single picture with all four of them looking good at the same time. It was fun trying, though!

Holding up their new ornaments that they picked out this year....a frog in a life-preserver??? I don't quite understand that one as an ornament, but Ellie LOVES it!

This is a futile attempt by me to keep both dogs (and two three-year-olds) focused so Tim could snap a photo---without me in it. Yes, I am wearing my pyjamas.

Cosmo didn't make the actual Christmas card this year...but this a fabulous photo of him (just not of Ellie and Quincy!).

Oct/Nov/Dec #5---Picking out the Christmas Tree

I thought I would throw this picture in with all the others as it shows an apparent theme for the year: Overalls. As I was looking through the HUGE amount of photos to choose pictures to post on this blog of the last three months, about 90% of the pictures were of the girls wearing their overalls. I PROMISE that they do have other clothes....their overalls are just sooo easy to wear!

Oct/Nov/Dec #4---A Day at the Farm

Once again, we took a Fall trip to Cagle's Dairy to ride tractors, go on hay rides, and ride a pony. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a blast.....

Quincy absolutely LOVED the pony ride...Ellie, not so much...maybe Ellie was just too tired to enjoy it; she was fast asleep in the car five minutes after it ended!

Oct/Nov/Dec #3---Halloween

We spent Halloween with our good friends, Andy and Jenny (and their daughter, Tess), again this year in our old neighborhood. Uncle Mike and Uncle Eric were also there since they only live four doors down from Andy and Jenny.

Ellie was a bumble-bee and Quincy was a lady bug (an over-the-top, super-frilly lady bug). Yes, they were absolutely adorable!

Apparently bubble-bees were popular this year...

Quincy trick-or-treating at our old (sob!) house.....oh, how we miss it!

Oct/Nov/Dec #2---Quincy's 3rd Birthday!

We celebrated Quincy's 3rd birthday the same night we celebrated Uncle Mike's 21st (or is it 22nd?---ha!) birthday. I made them a Pink Pig cake---for no reason except it was the only pink thing to make as a cake I could think of that day. When Quincy and Ellie woke up from their naps to a house full of pink balloons, they were ready for a party. But...we couldn't begin until Uncle Mike and Uncle Eric arrived. For close to 20 minutes (which is a lonnnnggg time for a three year old), they both just stared out the window and kept saying (over and over), "Where are Uncle Mike and Eric?". It was very cute!

The birthday boy finally arrived......

After a delicious meal of tacos (Quincy and Mike's favorite), it was time for presents: A new potty (that makes real flushing noises) and baby wipes set for her Chocho doll. She loved it! And still does.....two months later...