Fall-ing

The weather has been so warm and lovely lately (don't you love words like 'lovely'?). We've been spending as much time outside as possible. This particular day was accompanied by fern crowns and the telling of "scary" stories that always begin with the words, "In the deep, deep, dark woods..."





Also, isn't this skirt cute? I found it for $1 at the local thrift shop and modified it to fit Maggie (it was originally a mini skirt for a teenager- much cuter on my 3 year old, if I may say so).




And here are some pictures of Maggie's freckles which appeared so abundantly this summer. They are so sweet, I hope they don't fade too much this winter.



Her daddy tells her that they are angel kisses from her Papa Quinn...



And now I'm going to go try my hand at making home made yogurt and rice pudding. If they turn out, I'll post pictures later.

laun·der·ette

noun; a self-service laundry having coin-operated washers, driers, etc.


We had our laundry room re-tiled and so I was without a washing machine & dryer for several days. When our clothing supply got low, I had to make a trip to the local laundromat. To pass the time I snapped a few photos because, hello, laundromat photo backdrops are the bomb:

Documentation

For those of you who don't see me on a regular basis (pretty much everyone but Ben and my kids) here is a self-portrait of me at 35 weeks:



After scrutinizing the picture on the digital screen, I attempt to take another photo in which I will not look quite so chubby, hence I take a stab at "sexy lips", but guess what?

Gustapo

Dear Aunt Ashley,

Thank you so much for Ethan's old rain boots. I love them. In fact, they are the only thing I will willingly put on. Marching around in boots makes me feel so manly (and the ladies definitely love it).



Love,
Cash

Six

... years.


Happy Anniversary, my love.

Conversations

Maggie: Mom, what shall we have for dinner... chili, or mermaid?
Me: Mermaid? Do we eat mermaid?
Maggie: Yes, we do. It comes in a can.
Me: Oh, you mean Chicken of the Sea.
Maggie: No, it's not chicken. It's mermaid.
Me: Well, it's not chicken OR mermaid... it's tuna.
Maggie: Mmmm. Yes, tuna. Well, shall we have that?

----

While I was typing up this post Maggie came running in to where I was sitting and said, "Mom, I broke an egg."
I went into the kitchen and was greeted by this:


{that's eleven broken eggs}

So now we are off to the store to buy more eggs and a can or two of "mermaid" (but before we go I need to change Cash's poopy diaper).

How is your day going?

Glad, glad, glad

Did anyone else out there watch Haley Mills in Pollyanna as a kid? It was one of the few "Sunday-Approved" movies at our house... that, Old Yeller, and The Swiss Family Robinson (mmmm, Fritz was a hottie, remember?). Anyways, in Pollyanna there is a scene where she shares a quote by Abraham Lincoln (it was engraved on a necklace her father had given her): "When you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will." So true. And the opposite is also true- if you look for the good, you will surely find it. So, I've been trying to look for the GOOD in everything, EXPECTING to find it.

Things that made me smile (and even laugh) today:

Hearing my unborn baby's hearbeat at the dr.'s office

Watching Maggie chase a fly with a fork, trying to spear it (I of course had to intervene when the fly landed on Cash's leg)

Seeing Maggie's third ensemble of the day (loving the socks)


Getting a phone call in the middle of the day from my handsome hubby

Cuddling with Cash after his nap (he is EXTREMELY cuddlesome after napping)


Watching Maggie and Cash hold hands while playing

Hearing Cash say, "I Yub You"

Life is Rosy...

found at Target in the dollar bins... what a steal!

{sidenote to self: apply lotion to hands on a more frequent basis}

Photographic Evidence

I've been busy, people... busy.

Baby Blankets:


Freezer Jam:


Banana and Zucchini Bread:


Burp Cloths:


And baby bibs (with requests for matching bibs in a much smaller size... remember how Maggie's dolls are super spoiled?):


But the dolls do appreciate my hard work:


And we've been playing, too. Enjoying every last minute of warm weather by spending lots of time outside, and also the circus came to town.

Yet another blog you should waste your time looking at...

My cousin Carolyn posted a link to Cake Wrecks a while back, and I have since spent many minutes (or hours?) laughing until I was crying. Cakes gone wrong are just so dang funny! (Maybe I'm just easily humored, but you should still go check it out.) Here are some of my favorites to whet your appetite:

"Watermelon" Cake:


Refreshments for Anti-Sexual Harassment Day:


Mmmm Cake:


Nasty. So, go and read and (hopefully) enjoy.

Repenting of my Shoddy Blogging

Summer is almost done and gone and I've hardly blogged at all. (Like anyone really cares, right?) Anyway, Fall is just around the corner and with the new season come lots of new changes in our household. Like a NEW BABY. It hit me the other day that this growing belly of mine is going to be producing a bouncing baby boy in about 2 1/2 months. And I'm not prepared at all... but instead of dwelling on that, let's all look back over the Ben Quinn Family Summer of 2008- in Picture Form. (If this is too close to the dreaded "Vacation Slideshow of a Family that's not Mine" you have permission to skip the following photos... of course, if pics of me and my family don't interest you, you should probably not be reading my blog). So here it is, in all it's lack of glory:

Enjoying Summer's Bounty:


Watching Fireworks:


Enjoying a Pioneer Day Parade:


Camping with Friends (can you still call it camping when it's done in a cabin?):


Body Art from the local Farmers' Market (art done by: Soda-Pop the Clown):


Eating Ice Cream (our treat that followed our tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, Oregon- oh the exciting things we do on vacation!):


Vacationing in Lincoln City, Oregon:














Family Reunion- Silverton, Oregon:






And for our final picture, our little bathing beauty:


So there it is, our summer in a nutshell... looking forward to the Fall!

Train Stop Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Train Stop Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

I found this new blog and I LOVE all the adorable clothes this woman makes for her little girls. And the best part? She gives them away. To enter the giveaway, you just have to post the link to the giveaway on your site (hence this post). So if you see these little posts in the future, you'll know why!

Posterchild

As my belly has become noticeably large, it has gained a lot of attention to the "3 and under" crowd in our house. Especially Maggie. Lately she likes to be "pregdent" just like mom, and a week or so ago she even kept her baby (a stuffed horse on this particular day) in her belly while we went to the store because upon urging her to remove it, she informed me that it wasn't big enough to get out yet. Also please note the B.A.C.A. tattoo she is sporting from a trip to the local farmers' market. All she needs is a candy cigarette between those cherub lips and she'd be the (literal) poster child for anti-teen pregnancy.

An Apple a Day

Yesterday I got the urge to make Maggie a new skirt:
(click on the picture to enlarge)



And of course, she had to have bows to match:
(sorry, not the best pic)



I love the "apron skirt" look, and I even ordered another one from etsy.
(You can find lots of darling skirts by doing a search in Etsy for "girls apron skirts".)

Too cute!

The other project that I'm using as an excuse for infrequent blogging is this little doll bed I found at a thrift store. I painted it, made mattresses, pillows, pillowcases, and quilts for it:



We could seriously open a doll hotel with this kind of couture bedding.

um, seriously...

This Blog is seriously so funny. Read the "About Me" to "get it".

mmm-hmmm

look what ben brought home to me last night:


i've been wanting this book for a while... my home is going to be so unique and original {in a completely amy butler sort of way- like an "amy butler/kathryn quinn" kind of original... or a "kathmy butquinn" original- oh yeah}.

p.s. for those who are wondering, the house was the "lie" in my previous post... mostly just because ben and i only qualify for something a little more along these lines.

NEWs

Our bun in the oven is of the male persuasion, my husband is the proud new owner of a Honda Shadow 750 (gulp!), and we bought a new 6 bedroom house on the East Bench in Salt Lake.







Okay, so one of these is a lie... I'll let you decide which it is.