lunch break

...what we've been up to

...peek a BOO (and a little sneak peak of our kitchen. And the dead hydrangea on our coffee table):

...giggling in the dark (Charlie is now tall enough to reach the light switch. Joy. And here's your sneak peak of Clara's, um, video monitor?):

...spying on my own child at Summer Camp (I guess this is better than spying on someone else's child at Summer Camp?)

...Attempted to take some pictures of the front porch to share, but Clara was insistent on being in the shot and this, friends, was the best I got:

...Scrapbooking, a lot, with Studio Calico's Elmwood Park:

...change of a dress

...we moved! (Tell me you didn't realize that).

I found these cards on Paper Culture about five years ago. And I built a house to match them.

I love stamps. I saw this idea and had to do it (on a little smaller of a scale though). I bought all my stamps from Bid Start. And then I put Charlie to work licking and adhering them.

Kidding. You think I could trust that kid to put them on that straight?

...well, we think it's official

...that we have a curly-haired little girl (with a big ol' bug bite on her elbow):

...and that she's beautiful:

...i grew up around the ocean

Hahahahaha. Go ahead and laugh. Because no matter how hard you laugh, it won't be as hard as I just did.

In my defense, I had ear tubes. The swimming cap was critical to my ear health. Not sure about the smirk, though.

So, when Charlie despised the sand last year I was dismayed. How could a child of mine not grow up biting into sandwiches filled with sand? It's a rite of passage!

This was how we spent our limited beach trips of 2011. Charlie waving bye-bye, sucking on a binky, and us looking at him bewildered, thinking, "Maybe he was switched at birth?"

I have been talking to him about the beach, the ocean, the waves, the lifeguards, the pretty girls in bikinis for pretty much every day of 2012 to prepare him for this summer. And what a difference a year makes.

Now he did not like having a wet swimsuit on, but the look above is total and complete glee. I'll be shopping this week for a toddler speedo.

Then there was this bathing beauty, totally trying to pick up lifeguards already (I have NO idea where she got that from):

...back at my parents house there was lots of puzzle-making:

...and charlie took several thousand pictures of my parent's lovely floor:

...and adorned himself with my scrapbooking supplies. I'm not going to lie, there was a little toddler leg waxing that occurred when these had to be removed:

...and then there was Fun Land:

...which apparently is timeless (and yes, this is my dad's Dwight Schrute phase):

We can't get back soon enough.

...well, it might be a wall

...but I'm counting it as a room and calling it done. Because I need to call more areas in this house, "done."

...this is the wall right around the corner from the foyer, so maybe I'll do the house tour wall-by-wall. Should be done sometime in 2015. Stay-tuned.

I knew I wanted to do a wall with circular elements somewhere in the house because I really wanted to display the plates Ken's grandparents gave us for both our kids (they have their names, birthdays, etc. on them and are beautiful).

Mirror from here. Clock from here (gift from Ken. It's a wonderful thing when your husband understands Pinterest and uses it to your advantage). Woodburn from here. Little embroidery hoop from here (and a gift from Carron, shocker, right? You all wish she was your friend, don't you?)

....studio calico heyday

...Studio Calico is debuting a new line today, Heyday, full of lotsa my favorite things, like wood veneers, pretty patterned papers and lace tape that you might just see on every layout I do from here on out. Here's a little sample (sorry my scan is a little crooked):

...dear charlie

...I never liked roller coasters. Still don't. But for you? Anything. Even if the roller coaster was, um, shorter than me.

...when things get weird

...My aunt found this obit in the paper last week (does anyone else's family read the obits?)

You know my maiden name was Kirk, right?

You know my daughter's name is Clara Louise, right?

You know my birthday is May 22, right?

Her name was one letter away from this all being really, really weird.

And yes, that is my leg in the picture. Also weird.

...baby's first flight

...Clara and I flew to Cleveland this weekend for a wedding.

The pilot was pretty agreeable when I threw her on his lap and said, "Smile!" I'm surprised I didn't have TSA chasing after me.

Ken and Charlie drove to Cleveland. Clara still doesn't love the car and I'm all about the, "Divide and conquer" method of parenting. I am also all about, "Infants fly free."

(I love the sunlight shining through her ears. ha!)

The flight there was easy because she had her own seat next to me. She ate 487 Mum Mums, her weight in goldfish, and a cup from the stewardess. Yeah, plastic!

The trip back was not as easy but overall she was a trooper. We both only cried for a total of about five minutes.

I walked away from the whole experience with generally one thought. If you ever see someone with an infant alone in an airport, offer to help them. 9 times out of 10, they will say, "No, thankyousoverymuch." 1 time out of 10 they will say, "Yes, can you help me figure out how to get my 5x4 stroller in the 4x4 x-ray machine?" 10 times out of 10 they will think to themselves, "There really are still good people in the world."