The Too-Big Girl

The last thing Patrick and I worked on for Cambrie’s birthday was her bed. Like I’ve mentioned before, both the bed frame and the mattress and box spring set were free—two different people in our ward (congregation) were looking to get rid of them, and we were happy to oblige.

From the beginning, we knew we wanted to paint it. We weren’t a huge fan of the used-to-be-butter-yellow-but-now-aged-and-faded paint. But that wasn’t all—we really just wanted to make it Cambrie’s, to add that personal touch that meant we accomplished something together and did it just for our little girl.

The sanding, priming, and painting itself was pretty straightforward, so here’s the photo rundown:

And here’s how Cambrie liked the finished product:

Yes, there's a computer back there. I don't feel like explaining, so feel free to use your imagination.

We got sheets for her bed, but to be kind to our tiny budget, we’re waiting on additional items, like matching blankets and comforter. It’s not like she really needs them in this weather anyway, and when she does need something warm there are plenty of options until our pocketbook gives the A-OK.

That evening, as Cambrie snuggled into a big girl bed, she was so excited. She loves big beds and mattresses. They’re the perfect playground for wiggly little girls.

And me? I cried. I couldn’t really take it. Even Patrick got "a little sumthin’" in his eye.

Why? Why was it so hard? It was totally no big deal when Cambrie took her first bite of real food, or when she said her first garble-with-meaning, or even when she walked on her own. Those were exciting moments, moments we’d been looking forward to, moments that meant she was progressing. We celebrated, took lots of pictures, and were very happy, but in no way did we get choked up.

To be honest, I’ve been dreading the bed-switch-over for months. On a number of occasions we “decided” to do it, but I kept coming up with excuses. You know, “Well, she’s not feeling well, let’s wait,” or “There’s company coming over in a few days, it’ll make it harder,” or even, when I was grasping at straws, “I’m just tired. I don’t want to spend all night keeping her in bed. Can’t we wait?”

Can’t we wait? Why can’t we wait forever? Why can’t I keep her my little baby for just a little longer? I want to hold her, to walk with her for a few more quiet moments in the dark before I lay her down in the pack-and-play and say goodnight. I want to see her grinning at me in the morning, waiting for me to pick her up and start the day. Why not?

Tiny baby Cambrie in her old bed over a year ago.

Blankie, Paci, and Bed. Perfect.

Playing peekaboo with mommy.

It took Cambrie a few nights to get used to the big bed. But that’s all. She's been going down for her nap like a breeze. She’s always been a good sleeper.

A few nights ago, though, a few moments after I put her to bed and left the room, she cried out. It had started storming, and her bed was much closer to the window (and the lightning and thunder) than her pack-and-play used to be. I went in, picked her up to calm her down, then laid her down again.

“Momma a-net to me.” She patted next to her on the bed.

“Okay, I’ll lie with you for a while.” With me next to her, Cambrie kept wanting to crawl up to the window and look out. “No, it’s bedtime, babe. Lay down here, on your pillow, and we’ll watch the lighting and listen to the thunder together.” She scooted back next to me and lay down.

“Do you hear the rain and thunder?”

“A-raining. Thun-ner.”

I held my hand on her arm, and her quiet eyes watched the window with a steady stillness. The storm grew less fierce, and Cambrie eventually rolled onto her side, away from me. That was my cue.

“Okay Cambrie, it’s time for me to go now. Good night. I love you.” I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, and she rolled over to look at me sleepily.

“Night mommy. Wuv oo.”

I left, her little body curled up in the corner of the big bed and her blankie tucked against her cheek. Through the rest of the storm, she was quiet.

Maybe this won’t be that bad. Maybe it’s not the end of the world that my baby is growing up. And maybe it will take her a little longer, anyways, as long as there’s room on the bed for mommy or daddy during bad dreams or loud storms. As long as she still needs us.

Maybe. Maybe.

Cambrie's Shelf

Sorry, I'm fresh out of creative post titles, so that is what you get.

But it is pretty accurate! This is part two of Cambrie's make-your-room-prettier present from mommy. The shelf (that we got for $1.75 at a yardsale) looked nice painted white, but I knew I couldn't leave it that way. I had this image of cute little flowers hanging from the pegs to make it a little sweeter, a little cuter, and, well, a little more on purpose. You know, instead of, "well, we had this shelf, so we hung it up, and there was nothing on it for a while, then we started hanging random things on there because we needed a place to put them, and, well, at least be grateful we got you a shelf!"

The adventure started like this:

That drill bit is a little intimidating, I know, but here's the deal: I knew I wanted to incorporate one of those ribbons-you-hang-hair-bows-on thingies into this whole deal, so I needed something to mount both a flower and some ribbons on. Since the back of the flower was just round enough that it wouldn't stay well with only hot glue, I figured that little piece of wood was going to need a rather large dimple so the flower would have more contact with the wood.

What did I do? I went to Patrick and, in way too many words, tried to describe what I needed. He, then, like a wonderful husband who does what he can to make his wife's frivolous dreams a reality, went and found that monster. And guess what...

It worked!

After that it was pretty simple to paint,

...glue,

...and staple for added support.

The end result?

Very nice! I didn't want my one flower item to stick out like a sore thumb, though. I knew I wanted more flowers for a balanced feel. A little ribbon and hot glue was all I needed there.

So now I have an adorable shelf to match my adorable (and now two-year-old) daughter! More on the bed and how that turned out later. In the meantime enjoy this picture of Cambrie and a flower before I cut the stem off. She loved that flower, almost as much as she loved smacking things with it. If I was nice mom, I would have just given that to her for her birthday. But no, I'm mean, and decided to turn it into a cute not-a-toy decoration instead.

Canning Adventures--Zesty Salsa

Our garden has been overflowing with produce. As Patrick's aunt so eloquently put it, the tomatoes are "making babies like rabbits."  So, what better to do with over forty garden fresh tomatoes and several green peppers than throw them together in a homemade salsa?

I've never made my own salsa before, and the closest I've come to canning was watching Patrick's grandma do it. But that's never stopped me from trying something new before! Together grandma and I boiled and peeled and seeded and chopped and minced and stirred and hot-water-bath-ed until we had seven beautiful pints of salsa canned and ready to be enjoyed. (We also still had more than half of the tomatoes waiting to be used or eaten.)

You can find the recipe we used here, but I'm not in a step-by-step mood right now. I will, however, share some pictures with you. Salsa-making is such a colorful process, I could hardly resist!

Naked tomatoes! (Boil for a minute or so then throw them in cold water--the skins slip right off.)

Pretty green garden bell peppers.

So many colors! I just think it looks so pretty. Patrick's grandma made fun of me for wanting the orange bell pepper just because it would be pretty. *Shrug* What can I say? I was feeling superfluous.

Here it is with the garlic and cilantro added.

Hot water bath. It's cloudy because of the steam.

The finished product.

It's a fun feeling, spending the morning making and canning salsa. Sometimes I feel like a lot of the things I enjoy or am good at are activities of "excess." You know, if someone is truly struggling to survive in any era, then their energy is going to be focused on the necessary things--food, water, clothing, shelter, etc. Piano, crafting, blogging, baking unhealthy treats and other similar things are all great, but they are hardly necessary skills. So when I learn these "homemaker-y" type skills, I get a different sort of satisfaction. I, with my own two hands and Patrick's grandma's help, created something good for my family to eat and preserved it to last into the future. What a cool accomplishment!

So I think I may be onto something with this canning thing. I hope to try some more again in the future.

In any case, I'd rather be experimenting with canning than wrestling with a sewing machine any day. That's one basic skill that will take quite a bit of willpower (and grumbling) for me to master.

Scrapbook Paper Wall Flower

The past several weeks have absolutely flown by. Our home here has had family visiting almost constantly, and we have done our share of visiting, too. Since I’m not feeling too confident that all of our family fun will make it here onto the blog, I think I’m just going to pick up wherever I feel like it: no guilt, no apologies.

So, with no guilt and no apologies, this is what I have for you now.

Cambrie’s birthday is this weekend, and what Patrick and I have decided to give her is, basically, a room, We’re painting the free bed and the shelf that I mentioned here, getting her a set of sheets and her own pillow, and throwing in some cute, decorative stuff to make her room a little more personalized and girly.

This project, a paper flower wall hanging, was inspired by this one I found at Hobby Lobby:

The moment I saw it I thought, “That’s cute! …I could do that.” I saved the picture on my camera for at least a month and a half so I could refer back to it. I’ve finally completed my own version, and honestly, it was a piece of cake. Here is how I did it:

I started by testing out different petal shapes to see if I could get that pleat right. I tried it with white paper so I could mess up as much as I wanted, then once I had it the right shape and size, I traced it onto cute scrapbook paper. I had two contrasting papers, so I traced out three petals from each one.

The folding is a little tricky, but once you get the hang of it it’s not too bad. You have to gently accordion-fold, but only actually crease it at the bottom. The top should not be creased, or you’ll just have a zig-zaggy kind of silly looking flower.

Now it’s time to start the center of the flower. I got some Styrofoam balls from Hobby Lobby (the kind that make me want to create a solar system with some coat hangers). When you cut them in half, they are the perfect sort of base for that flower center. If I were to do this over, I’d probably get a larger size for the dimensions of the flower I did, but it’s not horrible.

You’re going to take some of your scrapbook paper and cover this little half-sphere. It is a little tricky, but if you fold it right, it’ll work. I used hot glue to attach it, and I glued as I went so each flap and crease would be held down.

Next I started putting together the petals. I loosed taped the end of each one to hold it together, then hot glued them all, one at a time, just at the very center. It was like putting together the spokes of a wheel. To secure them even more, I cut out a circle of scrapbook paper and put it on the back, so they were all glued to that one piece. I also took some time to add a little loop of ribbon for hanging.

After all that was dried well enough that I wasn’t afraid it was going to fall apart, I glued the flower center onto the front. Let it dry, and voila! I had a super cute flower to liven up my toddler’s room.

Obviously, since it’s just paper and hot glue, it’s not something I’d ever let Cambrie play with (unless I was prepared to throw it in the trash), but for aesthetic purposes, it does just fine. Here’s another picture with my hand in it so you can get an idea of the scale.

This was just part one of her room decor, so stay posted for more. I’m so excited to see them all together!

At Nana's House

Cambrie and I have taken a trip. We've left our "other third" behind so he can do responsible things (like work and earn money for our family), and we've undertaken a cross-country trip to see my family and Cambrie's new little cousin.

The trip itself was exhausting. It began at 3:30 AM. Cambrie was on my lap for the plane ride, which was certainly economical, but certainly not fun. My idea of relaxing is not having a 27 pound wriggling, writhing creature do everything but fall asleep on my lap during a 6 hour plane ride. To her credit, though, Cambrie was really very well behaved. Another portion of the credit goes to this magical toy:

Thank you, doodle-thingy. You have earned my deepest appreciation and respect.

The morning after we arrived, Cambrie and I both woke up reasonably well rested at about 5:45 AM. Being on Georgia time had its perks; we were able to get up, get fed, and go on a small walk while it was still crisp and cool outside.

Living in Georgia I had almost forgotten what crisp air felt like. (Soggy air, though? Oppressive, heavy, wet air? We know each other very well.) What surprised me the most, though, was the smell. It reminded me very distinctly of visiting Grandma and Grandpa when I was little. Does Utah air always have that scent? It is clear--almost sweet. Is it the mountains? The dry air? The thinner atmosphere?

I love it. Probably not enough to make up for the lack of trees and green fields, but I do love it.

In any case, Cambrie has been having the time of her life:

Helping Nana clean the yard.

Being a baby with Baby Evelyn. 

Playing with Nana and Baby Evelyn in the yard.

Cambrie's hair actually was able to be braided for about 30 seconds. Props to Aunt Jen for making it happen.

New shoes. Every little girl's dream.

"Shleeping." 

Sitting in Baby Evelyn's seat.

Even 2000 miles from home, I can't stay away from the kitchen. So far I've already made Spinach Bacon Quiche (based loosely on this recipe, but to be honest I changed it quite a bit, so no promises if you follow that one exactly)...

(for instance, I added a crust. And bacon. So basically the entire name of this recipe is moot.)

...and Sweet Spinach Salad (which we had with French Dip Sandwiches and Baked Onion Potato Fries, which were both kinda thrown together so I have no recipes for you).

You can imagine a lot of my family thinks I'm nuts for always pulling out the camera at the dinner table.

The Orange Poppyseed Dressing made a lot of extra, so my mom put it in this pretty jar. I love it! I'm a sucker for pretty jars, I guess.

It's been a lot of fun spending time with my mom, brother and sisters, too. I'm also very excited to see my dad and his family this weekend. This will be a busy trip, that's for sure. But that's the best part about trips like these--they're always jam-packed full of family and food and fun. The only thing missing is Patrick, and I hope he's having fun at his parent's house (with his own family craziness) this weekend.

So in the spirit of family craziness, I need to take the time to humor two of my wonderful siblings' requests here:

Andy says, "Hi."

Kristen says, "Tell them I'm cooler than him."