The Green Family: 2010

12.28.2010

Family Photos 2010

(more on my facebook page)

12.17.2010

basement, boom-box, and labor pain

When we bought our home we knew we would need to do something about the eyesore of a basement it had, but it was put on the back burner until all the plumbing issues arose (see previous post)...

before: gross!

after: ahh...much better :)

ps: stay tuned for an "after after" of that monstrosity of an entertainment center I am turning into a playhouse as a Christmas present to Abby and Hannah...shh

Remember back in the day when music didn't fit in a 1" x 2" device and people lunged huge boom-boxes on their shoulders? Hannah loves to rock out "boom-box style" to the alphabet song

For the most part, I'm a self-taught sewer and had made a couple "quilts" (pathetic imitations posing as quilts) but I jumped at the chance to learn how to do it correctly. A friend of mine, and experienced quilter, organized and taught a group of us the craft...crazy nice, huh?! I consider this my first real quilt. It turned out better than I expected since at one point the rows formed more of rainbow shape rather than the grid it should have been! FYI: doing it the right way is way more work than doing it the wrong way...

I've decided quilting is like labor and delivery. When it is finally over you swear you will never do it again... over time amnesia sets in and before you know it you're back at the hospital with contractions... I am now in the "just-delivered-never-doing-this-again" phase...

but the girls are going to need matching bedspreads once Hannah's out of her crib... ;)

It will be one of Hannah's Christmas presents...

...and she better want to take it to college :)

11.29.2010

dSLR love

Awhile back I splurged on a dSLR camera ... I LOVE IT!!

I've only started to scratch the surface of what this camera can do, but I don't know how I ever lived with just a point and shoot.

makes me happy :)

10.15.2010

Never rains when it pours...

...either way, I'm developing a sincere hatred for water.

Monday is laundry day. It was only after 4 loads of laundry that I went down stair to find all the water I used covering most of our basement floor! Much as been done (aka: many bills incurred) and as I write this, the problem still isn't fixed. Joy.

Also on Monday: Hannah fell down our stairs...the full flight...the stairs that have not been finished yet and are still raw cut subfloor. Joy 2.

She sports a cast well, I think

9.21.2010

Tame the Mane

Because Abby was basically bald until she was 2, I was so excited when Hannah came out with a head full of hair...

...then it turned blond and has been a party animal ever since

After a bath I won't dry it at all. I just mat it down to her head to air dry that way

It stays down only until someone breaths in her direction and then it will pop right back up

I've tried the "single-ponytail-sticking staight up-thing" (Ryan calls this "The Antenna") and two little pig tails (Ryan calls this "The Devil Horns") but I can never get all the strands of hair, so in addition to the do, she ends up with tons of "sticky-uppie" hairs

(notice my look of defeat)

I've never been good at hair. I was "anti-product" but Hannah's mane is changing my opinion. What should I use? and how?...seeing as I've never used anything before :)

Help!

9.15.2010

q-tips

What is it about one year olds and a new, barely used, neatly stacked box of q-tips?

Maybe it's a primal instinct to turn order into chaos.

Abby suffered from the syndrome when she was one (the episode cost us 2 boxes)

Hannah has taken her lead, only now there are two bathrooms, each equipped with its own box of tantalizing cotton balls on a stick.

After covering my bathroom with almost an entire box worth (and being sternly scolded), she made a b-line for her bathroom and did the exact same thing.

Oh well, at least Hannah has moved on from the "eating trash out of the trash can" phase

9.10.2010

Super-Jumpers and Duct tape

I have the greatest Dad. He is always happy and optimistic. He is the kind of person you want to be around all the time. His only fault is that he doesn't visit often enough. He did visit this Labor Day weekend.

Two factoids about my Dad:

- - - - -

One - He makes up names for people and things that would otherwise remain nameless

Examples:

-The guy who buys one soda at Wendy's and gets 6 refills over the course of 8 hours - "Get-a-life-guy"

-The artistic funnel that changes colors on top of the Science Center - "Phlanosphere"

-That extra big push on the swing using momentum from the pushers body - "Super-Jumper!!"

I can still remember the tick in the tummy brought on by one of Dad's super-jumpers

Two - Duct tape can fix anything

except for a crack in a sink - for that you need "Amazing Goo" (no, Dad didn't name it!)

Bye Grandpa!! Come back soon :)

9.08.2010

Before and After

Blogger won't let me load more than a few pictures at a time...

...so I've created an album on my facebook page that has all the before and afters

People often ask, "would you do it again?" I very quickly respond no...

...at least not with 2 kids - one not walking yet.

I can't begin to describe the work involved (so much more than I anticipated). Everything took twice as much money as planned and 4 times as much time.

We ate nothing buy TV dinners for 2 months.

It is super rewarding! Neither Ryan or I had ever done anything "handy" before so it was neat to see that we could teach ourselves and create something fairly nice.