Bugs and things

Man, we are having a rough go at this school stuff over here.

The last three days Sammi has asked for a kissing hand before school again. Today she told me (very softly), " mama, I miss you when I am at kindergarten."

And Jack. Ooof. Things are really just going horribly with him so far this year. He's too big for me to discuss it here, but we have some epic issues at the moment. I have little hope things with Jack are going to magically smooth out but what to do, what to do....

Flea market finds

Oh man! I found two quilts this week that are patterns I've been hunting for a long time.

Hexagons that are NOT a grandmothers flower garden. I had to argue a bit about this lady selling this quilt. She was like well, I think I will just cut it up! I sort of said loudly no! Now,  how much? (On a side note, it's the flea market - if you brought it, you brought it to sell.) 

It's very sweet.

Yesterday we were went to the historic district to look for some Bethany Lowe Halloween stuff. I didn't find a single thing for that project, but I did find a cheap pickle dish quilt! 

It's older than what I usually collect, but boy I love it 

The kids loved seeing the historic homes that are now shops, and we went to the soda shop and had phosphate ice cream sodas. Fun.

Sam still loves kindy, Jack is having a very, very rough start to seventh grade, I'm getting some long neglected jobs done around the house with grant by my side, and my Ra is seriously stupid right now. That's about all the news that's fit to print over here. 

Yet another flea market finds

Man. The house is a wreck still. I feel as busy as ever. I'm in the midst of a HUGE quiiting disaster (which you might have seen on Instagram.) I guess it's life as usual over here?

Appliqué quilts are easy for me to pass up, but there is something very sweet about this flower butterfly combo.

This quilt is not my usual era - more 40s-60s and with a poly batt, but holy smokes the pattern is just lovely, isn't it?

A large putz house. It could use a bit of restoration, but that's not really my style. I'll just put it on the putz tree.

I've been on a wild hunt for Halloween ornaments. Last year I got a six foot tree in both orange and black so we can have a huge Halloween tree, now it's time to start filling it. I was super excited to find two Halloween radko ornaments at the flea since I've been buying most of them on line.

And a pair of German wood cut outs destined for who knows what. But they were cheap and cheerful.

And with that it's time to start this Monday I guess. 

Chicago flea

Right before school started I was so desperate for a little junking that we took the kids to Chicago for a short trip. We had a very good trip, and I need to get up a few photos of that, but I want to be sure to get these in here. They are crappy pics, but when I searched for things I had bought at the All state flea in the past, nothing cAme up on the darn blog! 

It turns out the flea market was not great. I had a super hard time finding anything to buy. Oy.

New pillow ticking.

 

Easter egg, rough condition. 

Small jadeite pitcher. (This was a nice score.)

Vintage pipe cleaners in lovely colors.

Black ornaments. Only three have any decorations left on them, but black ones are pretty rare.

And a grab bag of wooden things. I bought them for the sevi birthday numbers, but there are a lot of interesting little German things in there too!

First day of school

 And just like that, they're off!  7th grade for Jack this year (with 8th grade math).

 And kindy for Sammi. I took her to the mall and let her choose her own outfit for the first time. She had picked it all out - down to the shoes - but her little feet are so skinny the shoes did not work!

 She was getting a little nervous here.

She came home (at 5 15 for gods sake!) bursting with how much fun she had had.  She loves making friends on the bus, eating in the cafeteria, getting stickers, and on and on.  At bedtime I told her I had missed her during the day and she said, "sorry mama! Being at kindergarten was way more funner than you had with Grant!" LOL

I knew she was ready.  I am ready to move ahead a bit myself. The last bazillion years have been flat out exhausting.

Today Grant is off to preschool! 3 whole hours of peace and quiet.  Yahoooo!

(Isn't that little shirt so cute? It was an impulse buy from facebook and it's so soft!)

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day! Kindergarten begins.

Sam has a whole list of things to do today:

Make a craft

Play minecraft

Play with grant

Snuggle her stuffed animals

She is so very excited. Me? I'm carrying on. I've worked super hard with her the last eight months to get her ready for school. In January she was not ready at all. Now she is. But her going off on the big yellow angel really does signify a huge change for me this time. It's been six years of constant little people care with these two. From one diaper to the next, one problem to the next. When it was just Jack and he was off to kindy it was totally different, he was an only and he was super mature Already.  Grant and I are going to flounder in the silence a bit I imagine. Oy. Onward and upward always mama.

Two more naps

Sam has always been a pretty terrible napper, whereas grant is still going strong with the napping thing. As we laid down after lunch today - just her and I and a princess show - I realized I only have two more of those naps before kindy starts on Tuesday. We've been "napping" every day for three years. It's always the little lasts that choke me up, not the firsts. I know she is going to love kindy, but I'm going to miss my afternoon chill out partner more than a little. Sniff. 

Patchwork

By grant and sammi, from the scrap bin. 

The scrap bin

These two were playing in my scrap bin while I was sewing this week and their conversation was so sweet. 

Look! Mommy used this one for my rocking chair when I was a baby!

This one is her "slug" pillow!

This one is from my pillow!

Oh, I know this one! It's my quilt.

What a sweet joy that Little conversation was. 

Flea market Sunday

Oh man. My need for a goid flea is so bad right now. I long for the days when I could throw Jack in the car and drive to Chicago or Nashville with little hassle. Yesterday I found ONE promising garage sale. Arrived two mins after opening to see the yard full of people, hopped out and loaded up my arms. Her ad said priced to move fast and unlike two weeks ago when that means $30, she wasn't lying. 10 cents? Hot dog. 

I was surprised to see these ornaments in a shiny brite box. The other ornies I have like this are all marked Poland. These are unmarked. I wpuld think they aren't original to the boxes bc they have no necks, but two boxes worth? Maybe they are. The snowflake is a first.

A ton of my favorite glasses. More 10 cent prices. 

Part of a canister set. 

A lovely frame and a pastoral print. I suddenly have a pastoral Collection going in our room. (And the itch to redecorate, but I swear I still have no energy at all. Not sure if it's the RA or what at this point, but I'm a dead sloth.) 

I have a ton of these kitchen tins - cake tins, bread boxes, canisters, picnic tins - but I've never seen these! Single loaf bread boxes. Half the width of the ones you usually see. Adorable!

And a regular bread box.

Thank goodness for one lucky garage sale at least! 

Eight more days till school....

The mini vacation that was totally not a vacation at all

 Instead of doing our regular Christmas in July thing this year I had said we should take the kids to the Lake of the Ozarks instead. It was an insane idea really. But we had been tossing around the idea of taking the kids to Disney in October and I thought we needed a few practice runs. Its a good thing we practiced, because we failed. The kids would NOT go to sleep, I was dying from exhaustion, we didn't have enough space to get away from each other and the kids attention span is like 10 minutes.

So. Not ready for Disney yet. We didn't stay as long as we had planned either - making it only until Sunday afternoon, but we were a bit off course because of super heavy rain and a roof problem at home. (This week we are getting a new roof!)

We did cram a TON into those two days though.  We saw bagnell dam (above).

 We went swimming AND fishing.

 Sammi caught the only fish - which she found terrifying. You can tell she is dying to run screaming away from the little thing here.

 We went to the castle ruins at ha ha Tonka state park. BEAUTIFUL! But you can see the big storm rolling in. We got caught in pouring down rain.

 We played mini golf. Or rather the kids ran around wildly with $50 worth of clubs and golf balls. Oy.

 We went to the Bridal cave - where I proceeded to have a complete and total claustrophobic panic attack. I thought I would die, so I am not showing you anymore pics of that place. I had nightmares that night about it.

And we saw a ton of wildlife! A HUGE ground hog, a pair of tiny fawns, skinks, chipmunks and more.

So, it was not at all a vacation really, but, we did a ton and are making progress. I am sure that before I am dead will be able to travel again? Ha, I can dream.

Only 14 days until school starts. The next few weeks are filled with all kinds of back to school crazy, but I am ALMOST to the finish line. I think I can...