Here’s my entry for the Summer Fun Photo Contest at 5 Minutes for Mom. This is Emily keeping cool at Tulsa’s Riverwalk.
Thanks, Kristi, for the heads-up!
EDIT: Thanks, everyone, for your kind words! I wasn’t a finalist, but with around 400 fabulous entries, I’m not surprised. Please check out the finalists and vote for your favorite. What a bunch of wonderful photographers and beautiful babies!
I really wasn’t kidding yesterday when I said I’m addicted to Picniking on Flickr. (And you may be learning that I mean it when I say I’m addicted to something… at least for a day or two!) I tinkered with these watercolor flowers I painted for Evan’s Mom until I thought they might make a cool postcard. Now does anyone know how to go about printing postcards? 
And here’s a crazy before & after of Emily spinning in the kitchen:
And now my favorites (I tried to choose just one and couldn’t decide!):
This seems to have become an “On My Desk” blog. I apologize. There’s much more going on around here than me arranging stuff on flat surfaces. But anyway. On my desk today is a bowl full of various trims and scraps, small yarn balls, embroidery floss, and an unwieldy stack of fabric. I can’t tell you yet what all this business is for, but I promise to keep you updated. Lord willing, that is.
In today’s quest to procrastinate from the aforementioned secret project, I fiddled with Flickr’s Picnik tool. Which I suppose is akin to Photoshop.
Yeah. This is kinda addictive… Especially when one has Hundreds of pictures of sweet babies.
Again, it’s a day late. Sorry folks. That’s what happens (to me, anyway) when I don’t think ahead. So…
Flashcards.
That’s what I have on my desk this week. (And, to my credit, this picture was taken yesterday.)
I would like to thank everyone for your thoughts on parenting a toddler and such. I like the idea of getting Emily to help me with everyday tasks. So far, she has helped make peanut butter sandwiches and wash peaches (didn’t end well), and I’m training her to retrieve simple items for me when my hands are full. She’s been really sweet about that and loves getting praised for being a good helper. I’m learning that I probably don’t praise her enough. I spend too much energy correcting her when she needs to hear what she’s doing right.
We did make a 20 minute recording for Emily. Now she begs, “Mommy-Daddy! Mommy-Daddy!” And that’s when we’re right there in the room with her. She just wants to listen to us singing to her and reading verses. It makes us cringe every time (because we know how ridiculous we sound), but it gives us a few minutes to get things done and makes her happier even than Yo Gabba Gabba.
One more thing…
If you live in Tulsa, there’s an event tonight at Dwelling Spaces that you may be interested in. My friend Zuri Louis is part of the design team behind Louis & Cluck–a line of T-shirts celebrating Tulsa. Please come if you can!
Sorry I went missing for so long! I haven’t been on the computer much this week. In fact, I imagine that my RSS feed is up to 700 posts by now. Yikes! I’ll probably just clean the slate and start afresh.
The main reason I have neglected my blog is that I’ve been busy learning what to do with my toddler. She’s changing. And that’s good. But I don’t know how to change with her. Thus, I am learning–reading a lot and trying new tactics.
This week I found a pamphlet entitled Creative Family Times: Practical Activities for Building Character in your Preschooler amongst the books that Ruthanne sent me. Though my parenting style doesn’t match all the suggestions given by the book (it can be a little rigid), it had a great idea about making “mommy & daddy tapes” for your toddler. In fact, Evan and I are trying to figure out how to record audio on our home computer so we can make her a CD.
Here are some of the ideas in the book:
It even has a sample script. I think it will be fun to gear this toward Emily and her many and varied interests. And I think it will be more constructive than even the best children’s television programs.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this and any other ideas you have for keeping toddlers busy, challenged, and on track. Please!
Also up for discussion: How do you create “more hours in your day?”
[EDIT: Jacob turned 3 months yesterday! Happy quarter-birthday to him!]
(a day late) you’ll find the latest Living magazine, grapes, an Anthropologie catalog for inspiration, and a collaborative piece of crayon art. I think I effectively taught Emily to layer colors. It’s kinda pretty, don’t you think?
And on the floor this week are my favorite buttons.
Some are old, some new, some borrowed (or handed-down, rather), and some blue.
I really love the blue ones. They were thrifted almost 2 years ago in the cute little antique-filled town of Dewey, OK.
And I’m also loving this golden-yellow and grey color scheme.
Speaking of color schemes, I found yet another addiction. And this one has many practical purposes. So go ahead. Click. You know you want to…
But you’re all welcome to enjoy. Emily asks to get in the “rock-king chair” all the time now. She’s such a sweetie.
I did it! And I posted over at Wardrobe Refashion for the first time tonight. Here are the two shirts I shared, both from Simplicity 3835.
(In that first picture, I’ve gotta tell you that I’m laughing at Emily who was dancing around with her jeans tucked into her socks to keep the mosquitoes off her ankles. Now there’s some sartorial awesomeness!)
Mind you, neither of these are “refashioned.” They are made from scratch. The first is from a yard of fabric I bought about 2 years ago at Hancock’s. The second is from shirting material I recently bought at Joann’s. Yeah, and it was about $5 for 2.5 yards. Yeah. When I realized that all I need is One Yard of fabric to make a shirt (the first style), well… you can imagine my joy. Now my issue is narrowing the field.
I wore the plaid get-up to church today. So that’s a good sign, right? Though you never can be sure what folks are thinking. I mean, they’re not going to tell you, “Gee, Kristena, you look sort of frumpy and homemade today.” But please, tell me if it looks silly. Otherwise, I might end up with a closet filled with this same shirt. Because I think it’s awesome. And that first one. Because it’s one yard of fabric.
By the way, I forgot to share this one with you in a timely manner:
It’s the shirt I posted about a while ago. Looks much better on a person than on a hanger.
So I made some clothes! There ya go.
Sorry to go away for so long. We’ve been under the weather for a few days. Anyway, I’m glad several of you enjoyed Polyvore. If you join, let me know. I’d love to see your creations!
I’ve been feeling the burden of ‘thank you’ cards. Do you ever feel that burden? I hate to call it that. Indeed, I am grateful for what others do for us. My problem is that when Jacob arrived, I stopped writing those lovely little notes. I wrote several beforehand (which I have yet to distribute), and then it all came to a screeching halt. There’s much irony in the situation. Much. But anyway, I’m confessing to you, Dear Reader, that I am slack and need to get to it. (Here’s something to help. And to remind me that I’m not alone. Thank you, Amanda Soule, you awesome fellow Bloglandian.)
As a ‘thank you’ for visiting–
And here’s a bit more catch-up–
We went to the Riverwalk here in Tulsa a couple Saturdays ago, and Emily had just about the best time ever. As a side note, she’s wearing the dress her Bibi made her. Isn’t it cute? Thanks, Bibi!!!
She played with sticks. She made a friend. She played in the water. She cried when it was over.
Though Emily’s not accustomed to showing affection toward her peers, her new friend taught her a lesson or two. Very cute.
Then we let Emily loose in the fountain. She slowly built up her courage and was eventually running (yikes!) through the geysers of water. Many thanks to our friend Heather for helping with this exciting activity so I could photograph it.
That would be Heather in the cool black & white dress showing Emily how to present her best spirit-fingers to the waterspout.
to Polyvore. This may not be anything new to you, but I just found out about it a couple weeks ago. I knew at once that as soon as I gave myself a chance, I would become an addict. And I am. I wasted–ahem–spent 2 days avoiding actual productivity in favor of forming expensive outfits that I could never afford to buy and have likewise pledged not to. But it was great fun. And I keep telling Evan that this is “important design practice.” Whatever that means.
Consider this a cautionary tale. If you let yourself have at it, you will be hooked.
Want another one? Okay!
