Saturday, October 31, 2009

happy halloween!



happy halloween! this was taken yesterday before we did a little trick-or-treating @ Woody's work. they're both flapping their wings and in case you can't understand maya she tells owen...'you can't have wings, you be shere khan, I have wings'
he was suppose to be roaring and grrring but decided he like flying better:)

Friday, October 30, 2009

Sew, Mama, Sew!


Check it out! Ta da, my new work space! This is where I'm going to turn nothing into something..can't wait!

These are all my supplies: scissors of various sizes, rotary board and cutter, pins, needles, gauges, seam rippers, etc.!

We moved the computer up here too and we now sit on the cozy (but in desperate need of a new slip cover) rocker while we browse the 'net.


Okay, so that was three photos of the new sewing space and so the casual (tee hee) observer must be wondering, 'where is the sewing machine?' Good question. I'm wondering that myself. I've been looking high and low, consulting every possible publication, blog etc. and even adopted myself a sewing sensei to help, but here I am still machine-less. Is it at Sears, Amazon, Costco maybe? Ugh, it's just so hard to decide. There are too many with too many differences. Sheesh!
It's coming though, soon:)

In my sewing quest I've found some cool blogs and resources: Sew, Mama, Sew! and Sew Liberated and this one which is providing some serious inspiration for next year's halloween costumes.

More of the S-room...Owen helped with the room redecoration:



It still needs a lot of work. It use to be Maya's bedroom, thus the pinkness & Beatles song painted on the wall where her bed use to be. I'm going to paint the door and closet doors with chalkboard paint and I still need a shelf underneath my OM gallery there on the wall (I'm thinking something low to the ground, dark solid wood with cubbies for putting my patterns, materials, etc. under $50..ya right, I know).

And, since this blog is suppose to be about OM here they are...Maya putting Batman in her shopping cart...



Owen kind of looks like a toy in those jammies...

Thursday, October 29, 2009

happy birthday dad/grandpa!


Happy Birthday dad! Don't mind the bit of bickering in the middle:)
Hopefully your internet connection is better than mine and you don't have to sit thru all the pausing. We love you!!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

pumpkin fest



last year I missed the happy valley pumpkin fest with the alleckson's b/c I was studying for my comps. Ick, remember that? sooooo glad I'm past that!
 the cousin love was flowing and the sun was shining so we had a swell time...


















we finally carved our pumpkins today. maya started crying b/c she didn't like the smell and owen excused himself after a while as he calmly stated that it smelled like vomit. so woody and I did all the carving but they picked out the designs...








Friday, October 23, 2009

From the bitter to the sweet


At least once a week when I'm at work I see something so sad my eyes fill with tears and I have to use all my emotional might to not start crying outright.
My office space is in a children's rehabilitation center and I have to walk through a children's hospital to get to the labor and delivery unit in the main hospital to collect the mama donors' cord blood donations.

The children's hospital is what does me in. Yesterday I saw a child-sized hospital bed (unoccupied thank goodness) being wheeled down the hall and seeing the size and how it resembled a crib got my mama heart going. I have the lame habit of letting my mind picture awful scenario's and then to 'what if, what if it involved OM?' It's really annoying. I recently saw a boy, about 10 years-old, sobbing into his dad's shoulders as they left his sibling in the hospital. I see fully bald-headed six-year-olds being brave and beautiful in the elevator as they head up to the hematology/oncology clinic. My heart aches when I see these things. BUT:

My goal is to let that motivate me and not bum me out, although my tendency is toward the latter. Life is short, whether you're blessed with a long healthy one or not. There is much to do; especially hugging and kissing OM & W everyday and being grateful for them and cool children's hospital's where children that need smart, dedicated doctors can go to get better.

So here's what we've been creating and doing to enjoy the sweetness of life: OM's latest paintings. The top one was created by woody and maya, this one by Owen.

This next photo captures one of the sweetest things I heard this week. Owen's class and the kindergarten class participated in a walk-a-thon yesterday on the indoor track @ PSU. They're raising money for their afternoon endeavors (Owen chose a movie making endeavor involving puppets). Every time he completed a lap he got a sticker on his name tag. It's not too late to make a donation:) Woody and I were down for .50/lap. He completed 8 laps. The best part of that name tag he's wearing is the picture of a butterfly (k'garten class) and dragonfly (O's class) wearing a jogging outfit (my flash was too bright to capture it). A walk-a-thon for four year-olds...too cute!

Maya celebrating Owen's success!

And being a goofball:



And! My 2nd and last pillow!! Well, last pillow of sewing class b/c class ended but not last pillow ever. One of you lucky readers will be getting one specially designed for you for Christmas. I know you're all screaming, 'me, me, me, I hope it's me!' It's gonna be pretty awesome.

View of the zipper:

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

mos def


Woody and I are addicted to The Wire. Woody checked it out from the library (I'd never heard of it) and we're up to the 11th episode of the first season. I think there are six seasons. Thank friggin' goodness b/c we're hooked! Anyway, 'mos def' pops up a lot in our conversations now and we think we're funny. 


We're getting kind of use to being out of touch with pop culture. When we watched the wholly satisfying episode of The Office when Jim & Pam get married we didn't get the You Tube reference. The next day we started googling and the first thing we came to was Entertainment Weekly recapping the episode with: 
As you’ll all remember, this summer, the world was subjected to a terrifying wedding video where an out-of-touch, but clearly-having-fun couple turned their wedding processional into a dance party, soundtracked by the Chris Brown song “Forever.” If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you lived in a hole this past summer — or never visited YouTube, turned on a morning show, etc.
It was still funny.

A little random assortment of photos today. 
OM worked hard on the Halloween decoration for the house:


Their Aunt Elee ran a half marathon on Sunday so we made her a running shirt to get her pumped, with this picture ironed on to it:

Waiting for her @ the finish line:


Great job Eel (with her bff Leanne)!!!  (She has a five-month-old yo! Very impressive!!)

This is how I feel I spend most of my life:



Maya being Maya:

These last ones are from the zoo not too long ago (with AJ & Brook):







Sunday, October 18, 2009

pumpkin patch '09


Pumpkin time! 


The sky wasn't as blue as it was last year and Maya didn't get a nap like she did last year:) but we had a swell day @ the patch. We took a boat out to the p'kins and during the ride a shark and two dragons shot out of the water to the delight of Owen and terror of Maya. He was smiling and jumping and she was sobbing. Maya and I took the train back and O and Woody took the boat back:)


This updated blogger is confusing to me so these photos didn't upload the way I thought they would. I'll try and sort it out by the next time I post (when I'm less sleepy). 


Happy Fall & Halloween!