Philadelphia in June

I am spending this week in Philadelphia, helping out with Luke while Callie teaches a couple of classes at her Master's alma mater, Eastern University.  It's only Tuesday, but we've had a great time so far.  We are so fortunate to have friends with young children that just moved here, that are allowing us to stay in their wonderful home while they are on vacation---we house-sit and take care of the cats, and in return, we have a beautiful home with tons of baby toys and equipment already in place.

Sunday morning, we ventured out to Trader Joe's for groceries and to get a feel for the area.  While out, we discovered a nearby pick-your-own orchard, Linvilla Farms, so we stopped by.  It was wonderful!  There were lots of other families there, taking advantage of the perfect weather.

We rode out to the strawberry fields with baskets in hand.

There were tons of strawberries.

While Callie and I picked strawberries, baby D enjoyed picking leaves and trying to feed them to Callie.

We picked until our baskets were full.

We then boarded a hayride back to the main farm area to have our berries weighed.

It was baby D's first hayride, but he didn't seem to mind the prickly stuff at all.  In fact, he was kind of fascinated by it.

Each morning, we drive Callie into town amidst the morning rush hour.

 

Back at the house, babyD and I have taken walks through the VERY hilly neighborhood, and even ventured down the Longpoint Wildlife Sanctuary trail to the river.   The trail had not been cleared this spring and there was a tree blocking our path near the bottom, so we just trudged back to the top.  

The rest of our days have been spent doing stuff like this:

In the evening, we go back into town to have dinner with Callie and wait until she is finished with classes to come home.

It's been great so far and I look forward to more days of relaxing and playing with this little guy!

7/52 Pastel

This week's theme was "Pastel".   While raising two little girls, there were plenty of pastels floating around the house-doll clothes, girl clothes, ribbons, bows, room decor.  A new phase has entered my life though, with four of our five grandchildren being boys!

Last week, while we were keeping baby D for a couple of days, I found myself reminded of my mama's adage, "There's a reason why God gives little babies to young people."   I loved EVERY minute of keeping him, but marveled that Callie is able to get anything at all done around her house.  He is at a stage where he can sit alone (but sometimes tips over) and loves to play with toys (as long as you are in the room with him).  Since I don't have a high chair at my house, I had to come up with another solution to keep him happy while I was fixing dinner.  The "pastel" bumbo seat" provided the perfect solution.  With a few toys on the tray, he could play contentedly while I cooked.  And of course, Emmi loved having him down on her level!

Since I was having a hard time narrowing down my photos choices, I also chose this one -- a picture of the beautiful flowers Ron gave me as a Valentine's/Welcome Home gift.  I especially loved the tulips and the white hydrangeas.  It smelled wonderful, too!

****2-23-2015 My photo of baby B in the kitchen was chosen as "Eye Candy" from the submissions for the theme.  All of the photos were so beautiful!  Check them out yourself over here.

Onesie Rehab

No visit to Jana's would be complete without some sort of DIY project.  Last night, we tackled a little "onesie rehab".  Baby B had received a couple of graphic print onesies that he most likely was not going to use because they just aren't his mama's style--the shirts are super soft and she hated for them to not be used.  In addition, he had a second-hand one with a really cute design, but broken snap. With a pair of scissors, I cut that cute design right off the front and ironed some stitch witchery on the back.

I learned the hard way that some logos show through light colors after ironing it on.  I pulled it up and ironed another layer (cut from the back of the onesie) before adhering it to the onesie.

A simple line of top-stitching around the design, and the onesie is like brand new!  Cute and ready to be worn!

We converted another with a logo from Rob and Jana's Ga. Tech days.

Last, but certainly not least, Jana sacrificed a plain striped onesie to add Rob's favorite design---the logo from his mom and step-dad's shirt (they work at a correctional facility).  

Perfect!!

As Seen Around the Nursery

Like Callie and Jordan, Jana and Rob had some definite ideas about how they wanted their nursery to look.  Fresh and modern with pops of color and sentimental touches.  Coincidentally, their color schemes are similar, but they are styled differently.  Both included lots of DIY projects, so I was thrilled to be able to help out with some of those.  You've seen some of them "in progress", but now it's time for a room reveal to see them in place.

When I came over in August, Jana and I shopped for fabrics and got the shelves put together.  We made pillows and a cushion for the window seat.  

At home, I worked on sheets and covers for the changing pad.

Rob installed new laminate wood floors (which are BEAUTIFUL!!) and painted the walls gray.  It created the perfect backdrop for a white crib and dresser/changing table.  Jana is using a swivel rocking chair that belonged to my parents and the cushion on it was already a pretty shade of turquoise that goes great in the room.  We ran across the lampshade on our trip to IKEA back in the fall and it just seemed to be perfect for the room.  The lamp they later chose is perfect for the room!

The room has a sort of "adventure" theme to it, with feathers being the inspiration.  Jana made this wonderful dream catcher and used beautiful wooden feathers that she found on etsy.

They added a play mirror near the floor and an industrial style picture collage.

I completed the mobile last week and was able to bring it with me this trip.  Jana bought the mobile at a closeout tent sale at one of our exclusive baby boutiques.  Someone had removed all the pretty parts and all that was left in the box was the mechanical pieces.  The cashier couldn't believe that she really wanted to buy it and only charged a couple of dollars.  It was perfect for our plans!!

My brain wasn't working too well when I made the little "tent" portion.  I'd bought a wooden embroidery hoop that I planned to put under it to hold the shape, but after sewing and lining and trimming and embellishing, I attempted to put it all together---with no luck at all.  It was about an inch too small!  I was so frustrated with myself and Ron's suggestion to "just cut it and add a piece of material" didn't go over too well with me.  It would have been much easier to start from scratch than to "add a little piece".  After some thought, I ended up using a wire coat hanger to form the shape and then added the felt pieces, dangling from grosgrain ribbon.

The felt shapes I made include: a map, binoculars, mountains, tree, compass and arrow.

Rob added some memorabilia from his own childhood with some favorite collectible cars on the shelves.

I think that my favorite parts of the room are
--The quilt I made,

--The banner that Jana made from canvas,

--and the photo that hangs over the changing table.  Rob took a photo of the sprockets on his bike and they had it enlarged at a blueprint printing business before mounting it on a canvas.  I love the industrial look and the connection that Rob has to it.

The room is perfect for baby B and I know he's going to love it as he gets older.