What We've Been Up To Lately...

While Josh wraps up track season (he's a high school track coach) and I scramble to print & sew for the Astoria Sunday Market and Zulily, we're all eagerly anticipating some quality family time. For now, we enjoy the snippets we have. Annika tells me that she needs much more mommy time, but popsicles help her feel better. So, on swimming lesson days, while Lydia naps, she eats one.

My fancy chocolate eating ballerina. (Posting pictures taken in our messy basement makes me cringe.)

We've been squeezing in time for walks in the recent beautiful weather. (Lydia yelled until she had a bottle of water too. She was happy as a clam spilling it on her shirt.)

O.K. I may be crazy, but does this look like an Oregon shaped whale? This is water splashed on the floor from Lydia's bath. It could be my state of sleepy, but I was pretty astounded.

Here is my visual to do list... T-shirts, dresses, and onesies galore!

Have a great weekend everyone. Wherever you are, I hope your days are as sunny as ours have been in Astoria recently. And yes, I'm feeling quite lucky to be able to say that.

Deanna

Sunshine, Moms, and Dragon Dancers

On this beautiful Mothers Day, we celebrated by kicking off the 2012 season of the Astoria Sunday Market. I awoke early to a very snugly Lydia smiling and cooing. Annika was up shortly after, ready to hit the market; the Dragon Dancers were to be there. For at least 6 months, it has been her dream to see them perform.

Just as the market opened, drums beat, and the dragon danced and swiveled it's way through the streets with drums booming. It was epic, as expected. Lydia danced to the beat and Annika was so happy when the dragon dropped it's huge head right at her eye level and stared her down as it passed, she nearly cried.

After bringing me a special decaf chai tea, Josh and the girls headed home. Sales were great, our best day ever! I guess this means I can go wild buying more fabric! Just kidding... sort of. Sitting in the tent in shorts and sandals, I was just a little too warm, which is an amazing event here in Astoria. It was perfect.

The booth has a new look this year, which I'm thrilled about. Things are beginning to come together.

 

Worn out from the fun, Lydia sleeping in her infant seat.

With each Mother's Day, I feel even more blessed to have such perfect, sweet, loveable little girls in my life. This day makes me reflect on how thankful I am for my babies. They are all the gift I need; Annika's sweet "Happy Mothers Day" in her first thing in the morning voice, and Lydia's wide excited eyes to see me. How lucky I am to have my family.

To all you mothers, mine included, I hope your day was filled with love and warmth.

Deanna

P.S.
Happy Mother's Day Mom, I love you.

Block Prints and a Fever

Hi everyone. My blog posts are quite sporadic as of late; I've been pouring every spare second into preparing for the Astoria Sunday Market which starts next Sunday, and printing & sewing for Salty Style's Zulily event the beginning of July. Twenty dresses are complete and ready for market and I'm hoping to finish up pants, dishtowels, and several dozen onesies this week. Today, I printed 200 shirts for the Zulily sale.

This one is a tunic for market, but is what the new dresses (Beach Bloom) will look like.

The back of our Expedition, filled with 180 yards of dress fabric!

Our kitchen looks pretty ridiculous with drying lines strung along the window wall, paint splatters covering the front of the stove (oops) and shirts piled everywhere. We had one of the most beautiful days here in Astoria; warm and calm, bright and sunny. I drug myself out of bed early, even with Josh offering to take the girls downstairs and let me sleep, so that I could print and we could enjoy the beach.

That plan crashed miserably when Annika threw up at breakfast, poor thing. She spiked a fever of 102.3 and said, "I'm too tired to play. I think I better snuggle with a blanket." Broke my heart, poor baby.

Alternating between printing feverishly, and snuggling a feverish little girl, I managed to print half of the recent T-shirt order. I think I'm going to make the 1,500 articles of clothing goal by July!

 Oh, and I carved a new block today; a baby whale for onesies.

Lydia had a giggly day playing with her Daddy, and is much happier now that two of her teeth finally cut through. She now has 6!

I hope you enjoyed the sunshine from the outside of your windows; we stayed in all day. The bright sun did help my paint dry extra fast shining through the kitchen window, so that worked out well.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Deanna

P.S.
Here's a picture that Josh snapped the last time we were at the beach. I'm calculating profit margins in the sand; shameful.

I Never Said That, Really!

You know when a kid says something, and you think, "We know just where that came from!" Well, that has been happening around here lately, except that the things my 3 year old is saying? I never said them. I promise.

We have a neighbor that sits on her porch in the evening and yells at her little dog. I have mentioned that I've grown tired of the 'yelling lady.' This evening at dinner, Annika commented that she thought she heard the yelling lady, and said, "She sure does yell a lot, and it ALWAYS ruins our family time." (For the record, I've never said that anything has ever ruined our family time.)

For Christmas, Josh's parents gave the girls fairy footie jammies. Noticing that none of the fairies were Tinkerbell, Annika said, "Those fairies are Tinkerbell's nasty friends." Asking why she would say that, her response was, "Because that's what you told me." (No. What? No I've never said that!)

Noticing that the trash was full, Annika mused, "Uh oh, Daddy better take out that trash, or he'll be in TROUBLE!" (Nope. Never said that one either.)

Pretending that Lydia was her own baby, and I was a friend visiting, Annika watched Lydia drop puffs from her highchair tray. "My baby is DRIVING me CRAZY, dropping all this food on the floor!" (Again, never said it.)

A few Saturdays ago while Josh was at a track meet, Lydia unloaded an impressive poo in her bath. Annika walked in, saw the damage, and said, "I just can't even look at that! What are you going to do? What? You're going to clean it up? No! Just leave it for Daddy to deal with when he gets home." (Never said anything like it. And Josh, you're welcome for cleaning up the mess & not leaving it for you.)

Yesterday while driving to swimming lessons, sirens passed on the street behind us. "Hear that? They're coming after you!" (What?)

Our neighbor next door occasionally burns in his backyard. It stinks. I close the windows if open, and try never to say anything too negative about it for fear that it will be repeated the next time we see them. The other day, Annika with a frown said, "Man, our neighbor sure does stink up the neighborhood."

And so, if you are ever startled by the words of my sweet little darling, please take a moment before you think, "I know just where she must have heard that before!" And if you actually do know where she gets this stuff, please, let me know.