2010 and 2011 Ornaments

I love my Christmas ornaments. Since we got married, we have been collecting them whenever we travel or have a significant event (new baby, new home, etc.). I think designed trees are pretty, but I'd much rather have a tree full of memories. Here are some of our newest:

Tiffany laughed when I said I was going to hang it on my Christmas tree. Well here it is! It's my medal from the marathon relay. I took the ribbon off and put it on an ornament hanger. I love that it says "scratch 4-person relay off the bucket list." That completely describes how I feel about that race.

In July we went to Palmyra, NY, Niagara Falls, and Kirtland, OH with Greg's family. I didn't find any good ornaments at Palmyra or Kirtland, but I got this one at Niagara. We rode the Maid of the Mist and Emma screamed the. entire. time.

Last year we went to Williamsburg, VA. I love my little fife and drum band. Before we headed home we stopped at Jamestown. So glad we did! It was fascinating to see where the Captain John Smith and Pocahontas story took place.

Does anyone else have this tradition?

Family Photo Shoot 2011

A couple months ago I won a free photo shoot with Krystal Atkinson Photography. I couldn't believe it. I never win anything, especially not as good as this. Here are just a few of my favorites.

This will most likely be our Christmas card.

I could kiss this face all day.

We haven't had couple pictures taken since . . . our wedding probably.

Oh, Yes I Did

Guess what went on in the Klein house this weekend.

Halloween 2011

Another Halloween down and I made it out alive. This year really wasn't that bad. I actually enjoyed making what I did of the costumes. I think we've hit a relatively easy stage of life. With three in school full time, no diapers, they all sleep through the night. Not too much hormonal drama yet. It's quite nice. Here's the rundown on each of their costumes:

No, she's not throwing gang signs, she's showing off her manicure. Carolyn was a spa girl. She found the idea online. I made the eye mask out of scraps from Emma's costume.

Molly was Alice in Wonderland. My mom made her the blue dress to wear to church. One Sunday, someone commented that it was just like Alice's dress without the apron. So she decided she wanted to be Alice this year. I made the apron out of scrap drapery lining that I had.

Audrey wanted to be a mermaid so she wore the costume that I made for Molly a few years ago. Easy!

Emma wanted to be a "purple princess Emma." She wanted it to be sparkly and to have three bows becuase she's three. You can't see in the picture that the fabric has glittery specks. I added two bows to the sleeves to make three. I got the necklace at the Children's Place. We were there shopping and she kept whining because she wanted something and I kept saying, "No, no." But when I finally saw what it was she wanted, it was just. so. her.  I had to buy it.  I'm such a sucker. I guess that's what happens with the youngest child.

Marathon Relay

I always thought it would be amazing to be a part of the Under Armour Baltimore Running Festival. They have a marathon, half-marathon, four-person relay, 5k, and a kids fun run. I knew I could do a 5k, but I also knew I would feel dorky running 3 miles when there were people running 26 miles. I thought maybe someday I could work up to being able to run 6 or 7 miles to do the relay.

When I first started running (note - everywhere I say "run" I really mean "jog" because I am very slow) about eight years ago, I couldn't even run a mile. I set a goal to run a 5k and accomplished that. Since then, I've been perfectly content with running three or so miles at a time and haven't had any desire to run further. I don't know what changed that. Maybe it was because my friend Cathy was training for a half marathon. I threw out the idea to her and we got a team together. I trained for several months, through a combination of treadmill running, Jillian Michaels videos, and long runs on the Ma and Pa trail.

The week of the race, I kept thinking, "Why am I doing this?! I hate races!" I was so nervous about everything--driving and parking in the city, making sure I got on the bus to the exchange point on time, finding my teammates at the exchanges, the sheer volume of runners--there were 25,000 total, and of course, the run.

The morning of the race was freezing. I couldn't stop shaking and I wasn't sure if it was the nerves or the cold. After I got on my bus I started to warm up and calm down. We left a half hour before the race started so I didn't get to see the start (bummer). We had a police escort to the exchange point (how cool is that?). We unloaded the buses and everyone got in line for the porta potties. It was crazy. I think I was in line for an hour. Lots of people had to drop out of line because they knew their teammate would be there before they were done. Luckily, I was able to use the bathroom and get in place to meet Tiffany. She rocked the first leg and all of it's crazy hills. Then it was time for my leg--seven miles--starting at Johns Hopkins University, down to the Inner Harbor, through Under Armour headquarters, and back to the harbor.

The first couple miles, I thought I was going to die. But that's the way I always feel when I start running. Then I kind of get in the zone, or I just figure out how to ignore the pain, or something. I started enjoying the run. I was amazed at how many people came out to cheer us on. They had posters, rang cow bells, and called out words of encouragement. One lady almost seemed to have a speech prepared, "You are going out and doing what you said you were going to do. You have prepared for this day..." It was awesome.

My leg was over before I knew it. I felt strong at the end. Maybe too strong? Shouldn't you feel like dropping at the end of a race? I felt like I could've kept going. I probably should have pushed myself harder. I wasn't going for a certain time, my goal was to run the whole leg without walking, which I did. I finished in 1:20, about 5 minutes less than I thought I would. I loved being able to watch at the finish line as everyone came in. There were runners of all ages, shapes, and sizes. There were barefoot runners, people running for a cause, people who ran the last 100 meters with their kids by thier sides. It was inspiring.

Despite all of my nervousness and fear, I am so glad I did it. It was so much fun! And I am so proud of myself for acomplishing something I never thought I could do. So what's next? The full marathon? No way. Could I be talked into doing the half? Maybe...

Emma's First Day of Preschool

Today was Emma's first day of preschool. How did she feel about it? I think this picture pretty much sums it up:

I talked up preschool all summer long. Her sisters told her how much fun she was going to have. We laid out her clothes the night before, including her new purple "first day of school shirt." I tried everything. When I woke her up this morning, she started kicking and screaming and crying becuase she didn't want to go to school. It took both Greg and me to get her dressed. He held her down while I put her clothes on her. I kept telling her that we'd go check it out--see if they had nice teachers there, see if there were fun toys and good snacks. When it was time to leave, she said through her tears, "We'll see how it is."

When we got there she wasn't crying anymore but she was still clinging to my leg. I took her around the room and we saw the tiny water fountain, the tiny toilets and sinks, and all the toys. She was starting to warm up a little...

She willingly went to the rug for circle time while I went across the hall for the parents' meeting. The parents all left from there and when I came back to pick her up she had a smile on her face...

She had a great time! And I don't think we'll have any problems when we go back on Tuesday. So to celebrate a successful first day of school we went to have some ice cream down on the farm. Nothing makes for a happy ending like Broom's Bloom.



No, I did not order her three scoops. That was a kiddie cone.
And yes, she ate the whole thing.





Painted Piano

Who doesn't love a free piano? This one was given to us by a friend. It was given to her by a friend some years before that. I have no idea how old it is. It can never be perfectly tuned. The bench top used to be cracked and upholstered in worn orange fabric. It was the perfect candidate for a makeover. I would never have done this to a newer piano. This picture was taken after I had Greg replace the top and reinforce the bench because I was afraid it would collapse every time I sat on it.

So I sanded it down, primed it, and after some deliberation, painted it ivory. My intent was to match it to the couch, but for some reason the paint in the can was much lighter than the paint chip. I would have taken it back to Lowe's but I didn't realize it until after I painted the piano. I definitely didn't want to do that again. So...the piano is lighter than the couch but it's not white. I'm pretty happy with it. I also reupholstered the bench. Maybe someday my girls' piano skills will exceed this piano and we'll need to get a new one. But for now, we're happy to be using this one.

Watercolor Memories

I miss our old house. I missed it really bad when we first moved. It was the house where we brought three of our babies home to. We have so many memories of our kids being little there. We had great neighbors, a great ward, and a great school. Our new house just didn't feel like home yet.

Now, more than two years later, I still miss it but not as badly as I did then. Our new house is starting to feel like it's actually ours. I can walk around in the dark without feeling uncomfortable. The kids have loved their teachers at the new school, and we've adjusted to our new ward. But I still wanted something in our new house to remember our old house. So I decided to dust off my watercolors and do a mini-painting. It's only about 3.5 by 5.5 inches and it is now framed and sits in my foyer.

Progress

My living room is finally starting to come together! I decided to keep the rug for now since it's fairly neutral and nice rugs are expensive. I painted the walls a warm gray color that I pulled from the rug. I bought the end table and lamps for a steal at Ross (a.k.a. my happy place) and TJ Maxx. Greg hung the picture over the sofa but that might just be temporary since I would like to have something more interesting there. I am still on the lookout for accent pillows for the couch, something cool to put on the coffee table, and drapes. I'm hoping the new Home Goods store will have some amazing finds for me. Is anyone else as excited as I am about Home Goods coming to Bel Air? Now that we have Wegmans and Home Goods is coming, all we need is a Trader Joe's and all of my shopping fantasies will be fullfilled. Well, almost all of them. If H&M came to Harford Mall I think I would die.

Anyway, I got a great deal on a damask stencil on ebay. My plan was to use the same color paint but in a high gloss but I've seen a few damask walls done differently and I'm giving myself some more time to think about it. Did anyone watch The Biggest Loser? The walls in their dining area have the damask pattern in a lighter shade than the background color. Then there was J.Lo's bedroom in the movie The Back-up Plan, which was so bad I'm embarrassed to admit that I watched it. But at least she lived in an amazing brownstone which almost made the movie worth watching. Look closely and you can kind of see the damask pattern with a goldish sheen to it. (Hello, beautiful headboard.)

So that's where I am on my living room project. If I can get the girls to clean up their piano books I'll show you my painted piano!

2nd Day of School

Audrey had gradual entry on the first day of school, which means that I took her for two hours and then brought her home. The second day of school was her first full day and the much-anticipated first bus ride. She was so excited. We took plenty of pictures while we were waiting for the bus to arrive. This girl really knows how to strike a pose.

The Hurricane Post

We knew the hurricane was coming and it was going to be bad. I did everything I could think of to prepare: bought tons of extra water, cleaned the whole house and did the laundry in case we were without water and power, bought downspout extenders to direct the water away from our house, filled the bathtubs with water for toilet flushing, bought food that didn't need to be cooked or refrigerated, but I was still scared. I think deep down inside I knew something bad was going to happen and I think I knew it would be The Tree. The Tree that I've been worried about ever since the other tree fell last year. We even slept in the basement just in case. After a pretty restless night, I got up in the morning and went up to my bedroom where I heard this ominous creaking sound. Something was putting a lot of pressure on our house. I went outside and saw that The Tree was leaning on the point of our roof, right above our master bedroom.

After some debating, we decided to call 911. They sent a fire truck out and they said there was nothing they could do and that we should evacuate the house. We went to my parents' house, where Greg called a tree company and amazingly they said they'd be there in twenty minutes. The tree guy came and said that they couldn't do anything until the wind died down. Not long after that, the wind blew the tree and it slid down the roofline and landed on our deck.

This is the point where the tree was leaning:

That is Greg's shed underneath the deck:

It didn't rain at all after the tree fell, that's just how much water was in the ground:

That evening the tree people came back and chopped up the tree and took it away. Our cable was out for three days which also meant we were without internet and phone. Our power was out for 5 days and 3 hours. Luckily we have a generator that powers most of our house so we didn't lose any food and I was still able to cook. But it doesn't power our dishwasher and washer and dryer. I had never been more happy to do laundry and dishes than after the power came back on.

Since then we've been playing the waiting game . . . waiting for the insurance adjustor to come, waiting for his report, waiting for contractors to give us extimates. Nothing is fixed yet and it will probably be a while until it is. But through it all, I feel extremely blessed. Before the storm came I kept praying and asking Heavenly Father to protect our home and I really think my prayers were answered. It was a miracle that that massive, heavy tree didn't break the roof and crash into our house.

Whirlwind Summer

Was that the fastest summer ever or what? So many things to blog about that are past thier blogging prime . . . lost in the land of Shouldabloggedaboutitsooner. There was our two-week vacation in July, the first week spent in Palmyra, Niagra Falls, and Kirtland with Greg's family. The second week was in Hilton Head Island, SC with my family. Carolyn posted pictures on her blog. There were also Audrey's first lost teeth, Molly's bold new haircut, and Carolyn's trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. Then there was the battering we've been getting from mother nature in the form of an earthquake, hurricane, and a tropical storm. The hurricane will probably get it's own blog post because we have quite the story to tell. Oh, and I can't forget the first day of school, which actually started two days late because of the hurricane. (Who's ever heard of the first day of school being cancelled?) And Audrey started kindergarten! She's been having trouble getting used to the get-up-and-go routine since she prefers the get-up-and-lounge-around routine that she's used to. But I think she loves it. And I love having only one kid during the day. I've actually been getting some projects done. Wait 'til you see my living room. It's come a long way since the last time you saw it. Still more to do but I'm happy with the direction it's going.

My First Upholstery

(Exuse the low-res iPod photos. My camera has been MIA ever since Emma used it to take pictures around the house.)

Okay, I know pride is bad, but I am so proud of myself right now.

Remember the long list of projects I wanted to do for Carolyn's room? I finally made the cushion for her window seat and it turned out awesome. My mom walked me through it but I did all of the sewing. I was so intimidated by this project that I am so stunned with how nice it turned out.

Behold the craftsmanship:

It was also my first time doing piping and I'm not afraid of it anymore! I can't wait to do more projects around the house with my new skills.

Summer Break 2011

I always try to get a picture of the kids getting off the bus on the last day of school. They just look so happy. I miss the crowded bus stop in our old neighborhood, where all the parents would clap and cheer as the kids got off on the last day. But having the bus stop right in front of my house, just for my kids has been such a blessing.



With one week down and nine to go, I'm feeling optomistic about this summer. We have a cleaning chart and work on a different section of the house every day. Last week was pretty intense. We cleaned windows, under the beds (yikes!) and even shampooed the carpet. I'm hoping that we'll just have to do touch-ups for the next several weeks. We also have reading time after lunch, which the kids really enjoy and I love the peace and quiet. On Fridays, if the kids have done all of their chores for the week we'll do something fun, like go get snowballs. And so far, the fighting and whining has been pretty minimal. Here's hoping we can keep it up!

Color Dilemma

I mentioned in a recent post that I wanted to paint the piano. Well, I finally got it sanded and primed. I was planning on painting it white. I thought about painting it some cool accent color but decided on white because:

a) I never, ever want to have to paint it again. White would go with whatever I do with the decor in that room.

b) I've never been good with color. Even when I used to do art I felt like I wasn't good with color and preferred to work in black and white. So if I were to paint it some other color, I wouldn't know what to pick. And I'm not gutsy with color either.

c) I like white. Seriously, it's one of my favorite colors. I love that light, airy, beachy look.

Soooooooo . . . seeing the piano covered in white primer is making me have second thoughts about the white paint. I don't know why it's not working for me. Is it because the hardware is dark? Or because the wall is such a light color? Is it just becuase it's the primer coat and it will look better painted? Is it just too much white (can there be such a thing?)?

So here's what's going on in the rest of the room. (Ignore the toys. We're keeping it real here.)

I have my new ivory sofa that I love. I was thinking of getting white drapes. Again, white to keep it airy and since I would need six panels over 100 inches long (expensive!) I don't want them to be a color or pattern that I will get tired of in a few years. Then there's the greenish rug that I had in my old house. I still like it but I feel a bit restricted color-wise because of it. Do I keep it and work with it? Move it to my bedroom and make it work there? Then I would have to buy a new rug for the living room. Selling things makes me very uncomfortable so craigslist isn't an option. Accent pillows and wall color are easy and cheap to change. I've been thinking about painting the walls a medium gray flat paint and then doing an all-over stencil pattern in the same color but high gloss.

So what color should I paint the piano? What should I do with the rug? Any other suggestions for the room? My favorite designers are Candice Olson and Sarah Richardson, if you want to know what my style is. And my other favorite color besides white is blue, especially the light aqua kind.

Emma's 3!

My baby just turned three. She's officially moving out of the toddler stage and becoming a preschooler. How did this happen so fast?

For her birthday she wanted to go to the beach. I felt a little bad that we didn't go to the real beach. Instead, we went to Hammerman, a man-made beach at a nearby state park. It turned out to be perfect. The water wasn't as cold as the ocean would have been and there weren't any scary waves for us to worry about. All of the kids had such a good time. And Greg was a good sport to play in the water with them while I relaxed in a beach chair. I had forgotten how good the warm sand feels on my feet.

Here are a few things that I want to remember about Emma when she was three:

• Her favorite color is purple. She is my only little girl whose favorite color wasn't pink.


• She loves anything and everything girly--dresses, purses, jewelry, sunglasses, etc.


• She LOVES to swim.


• Sometimes when I'm laying down, she'll give me a kiss on the forehead.


• She has a major sweet tooth.

The Rundown

I'm baaaack!

Did you miss me?

No?

Well, I didn't really miss blogging either. Does that mean it's time to call it quits?

Perhaps my three month blogging hiatus was due to my joining Facebook.

Yes, I joined Facebook.

I swore I never would. I heard about people who were addicted and would waste hours on it. But I was also feeling like I was missing out on everything. There would be conversations like this:

Me: "What?! They're moving?!"

Facebook using friend: "Yeah, she posted it on Facebook."

So, I'm in the loop now. And I now have a quicker and easier way to share the highlights of my mundane life with the world. But for those of you who are not my Facebook friends, here's some of what you've missed over the last three months.

CAROLYN

She turned 10! It seems like just a couple years ago that she was a terror of a toddler. Luckily, she outgrew that and she is such a mature and responsible girl. She's gotten straight A's since last year, when they first start getting letter grades. I joke with her about when she'll get her first B on a report card. She just had her spring concert at school. She plays the flute and sings in the chorus and in girls' ensemble, a more elite chorus that she had to try out for.

MOLLY

She turned eight and was baptized. Instead of a birthday party she chose to go to Hersheypark. We had a fun time despite the 40-something degree weather. There was a 70% chance of rain and it was cloudy all day but the most we got was a misting. She just commented the other day that she wished the water rides had been open. Ha!

AUDREY

I told her to give me a ballet pose and this is what she did. Love it!

She turned five and we were able to fulfill her dream of having a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party. Ticket blaster, medal, inflatable token crown...she got it all. She also just had her first (and maybe last) dance recital. She took jazz and ballet this year. I thought that if any of my kids would turn out to be a dancer it would be her. But when she was onstage she was more interested in picking up fallen sequins off the floor than dancing. She also just had her preschool graduation and she is all registered for kindergarten! I can't wait!

EMMA

She is almost three and is as cute as ever. I just can't get enough of her delicious cheeks. I still see her as my baby but I'm sure not to say it in front of her or she'll say, "I not a baby. I a big girl!" She'll start preschool in the fall. I am already fantasizing about all the errands I'll be able to run during those two hours, twice a week.

PROJECTS

They've been pretty non-existent lately. I did finish sewing some curtains for the kitchen. It's not the best picture but you get the idea. I've been trying to muster up the courage and energy to attack my next big idea: painting the piano. I'll write a post if/when I get that done...or maybe I'll just post it on Facebook.