Just Linking

Here are two places you should visit sometime Thursday:

First of all, head on over to Cally's place for a chance to win this awesome bag (and I almost didn't post about it because I really want to win, but I decided to be the bigger person and share the love).

And then get ready to spend some time and some cash over at Design Mom, where she's hosting Nie Nie Day with an auction and she'll be linking to tons of other blogs that are celebrating as well.

Characters

A big thank-you to Julie who let Josh borrow this Spider-Man costume. He has worn it every day. Lydia likes it too.

Then one day I found Lydia wandering around looking like this.

And I liked it too.

Summer Legs

The Cruze kids like to play outside. A lot. More than anything else. Now that school's started they are very sad that it's limited to a couple of hours a day. You can tell how much they prefer the great outdoors by examining their legs. All eight of the littlest limbs around here are a constantly evolving display of scrapes and bruises and mosquito bites. We have never gone through band-aids so quickly. Even Lydia, who does not get to go outside nearly as often as the big kids, fell off her bike once and got pretty scraped up. When the big three are out there it's only a matter of time before one of them comes in because they're bleeding. And every morning I can count on Josh complaining about how itchy he is (apparently Josh is much tastier than the others). I don't mind. I'm glad outside is where they want to be, you know, getting their exercise and using their imaginations and all that. It's worth a few boxes of band-aids.

In true Olympic spirit, I want to be a winner.

Have you heard of Grosgrain yet? Design Mom gave me a heads up a few days ago and I am enthralled. This really, really nice lady named Kathleen Dougherty likes to sew. She's got a blog and wanted to increase her hits so she had a brilliant idea. Why not give away hand-made clothes all the time? (That's a great way to make friends!) You enter her giveaways by linking to the post on her blog featuring the item you want to win. I want to win this:

Grosgrain: Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

You can expect periodic posts from me in the future featuring the cute clothes I want to win.

Don't you want it too? Well, you can't have it because I'm going to win.

First Day of School!

Again??

Yes it's here. Emma and Ben are having a good time but I'm beginning to think that the school day should start just a little later and end just a little earlier.

Scripture Totes

Last night I finally finished up these little scripture totes for Ben and Josh. (I was almost done with them last week, but then I got a copy of a long-anticipated, saga finale in my hands and well, you understand. Those 768 pages were not going to read themselves...priorities.) It's been awhile since I made a bag so I was glad for the practice. I learned several things and have a mental list of improvements for next time. But meanwhile the boys have something to carry their scriptures to church in and somewhere to put the papers and drawings they always come home with.

Jumping Boys

I just felt like the boys needed a post of their own.

Whenever Ben and Josh see the camera the first thing they request is for me to take photos of them jumping. It had been awhile, so I indulged them. It is very tricky to time it right and try to catch them both in the air. In the bottom two they are jumping off the ottoman.

More finished projects

I'm finally back to sewing a little. For some reason it's just taken forever to get back into since we moved. I picked up a nice little sewing table I found on craigslist and that has helped me find the motivation and time again. It's set up in the bonus room in one of the gables with a baby gate standing guard. Now that I can leave the sewing machine out and all the stuff in one place and half-finished projects have somewhere to hang out while they're waiting and the whole thing is so much easier. So Lydia and Emma each got their own shirred tops (Lydia's is all Joel Dewberry fabrics that I love and Emma's is from the fabric I won from Sew Mama Sew way back in March). Voila!

Baby Names

Thanks for all the name ideas...I can tell that all of you have a firm grasp on the type of girls' name that we're looking for: old fashioned, pretty, feminine.
There are many names that I really like but don't want to use. Either because they are taken by a close relative (Claire, Jenica, Julia (too close to Julie)), too similar to "Emma" (like pretty much any short name that starts and ends with a vowel: Ella, Anna), have nicknames I don't like (I like Elizabeth but not Lizzy or Liz), or are making a little bit too dramatic of a comeback (I love Sophia and Olivia, but worry about her being one of 10 in her grade growing up).
But like I said, these are all names that I think are beautiful, so many of them are not 100% out of the running.
I've had a list on my fridge for a couple of weeks. I keep adding new ones to consider and erasing the ones that lose their sparkle after looking at them for a few days or that have been 86ed by my handsome co-creator. I thought it would be fun to share this evolving list on my sidebar for awhile. (Feedback is welcome, but be nice...and no you don't actually get to vote.)

Saturday Projects

Oooh, I love a good productive Saturday. Those seem to be far and few between these days, and we know they will be nonexistent come soccer season (the big three are all playing this year). So we are taking full advantage of our August Saturdays...
Scott spent the last one doing this:
Doesn't that look so perfect? Now our trash can has somewhere to sit instead of on a dead patch of grass, and it's right off the back door so it's easy to take trash out.
I spent Lydia's nap (yeah, she still takes them most days) doing this:
I couldn't reach the top shelves, so those will have to wait till we can borrow a ladder, but I love the way they turned out. (I'll have to take another photo when they're all done, I've put all the stuff back on the shelves and found a big mirror for the mantel.) Hooray for Saturdays!

More Lydia shenanigans

I failed to mention that Lydia learned to climb out of port-a-cribs (where she frequently sleeps when we're hanging out with family and friends in the evenings) a few weeks back. The first time was at the Langford's house. We had put her to bed in the port-a-crib as usual and went down to the basement to play some pool. A few minutes later we heard her crying, and went up to find her wandering around the main floor looking for us. After that night she climbed out her weekend bed only a couple of other times, then seemed to lose interest or forget she had the ability. No problem.

Fast forward to two weekends ago when Scott and I were helping out with our stake's Youth Conference. Scott's Mom, Kay, was graciously keeping the kids for us for the two and a half days we were tied up. Lydia had been sleeping in her port-a-crib in the office at Kay's house for naps and bedtime and hadn't caused any problems. Then the last day for her last nap there she decided to mix things up a little. After 20 minutes or so Kay heard Lydia knocking on the door. When she opened it up, what did she see? Lydia had climbed out of her port-a-crib and emptied out every single desk drawer onto the floor. She also found a black sharpie. (Sidebar: as Kay was telling us this story when we picked the kids up I was panicking more and more with every sentence, then when she said the word "sharpie" my heart stopped.) But, it turned out to be perhaps the best possible outcome for that scenario. Lydia had colored all over her feet, her sippy cup ("I write my name on it!"), and one calculator she'd found in the drawer. But that's ALL! No carpet, no furniture, no walls.

Close. Call.

So be warned, those of you who I may ask for babysitting favors in the future, you must keep your eyes on sweet little Monkey Girl at all times. If there is destruction to be had, she will find it.

Escapee

I don't have a photo for this post. I can't take one because I would hit Lydia with her door if I tried to open it right now. I would hit her because she's asleep on the floor right in front of the door. She's sleeping there because after opening the door and sneaking out three times I locked her in. She was able to open the door because she can now climb out of her crib. *sigh*
I suppose the day was coming, we're planning to move her in with Emma when the baby's born anyway. She'll be sleeping in the bottom bunk then. I have absolutely no idea how that is going to work out. Frankly it scares me. I think she'll spend more time jumping on the top bunk than sleeping on the bottom one. It begins, I suppose...

P.S. We found out last week that our new baby is a GIRL! Name suggestions please?

Emma likes swinging

My Mom took these at her house while we were away in NYC. It looks like a lot of fun.

Have I ever mentioned my sister-in-law is an artist?

Well, she is. That's Brad's wife, Susan we're talking about. You can check out her chops here. I got this email recently and wanted to spread the good word. If you or someone you know is interested, email me and I'll give you her number.

Hey everyone, I've been kicking around the idea of doing a thing where people can have a portrait of their child (or anyone really) according to what they can afford—naming their own price starting at $100. Coincidentally, my husband and I are trying to scrounge up enough money to buy our first house (which we're negotiating on right now!), so I guess I'm also doing this as a sort of fund raising thing.
If you want to do this, you can specify what type of style you'd like. I'm willing to do collages, transfer drawings, and other things. I'll attach some examples of commissioned portraits I've done in the past. Approximate size is 10x10''. Of course I'm willing to paint other subjects besides children too! If you're interested just email or call. And feel free to tell friends and family—this isn't an exclusive invitation or anything. First come first served! (so far, the first that has come was a portrait of Raquel Smith-Callis' dog Farmer, currently in progress). Time is actually sort of of the essence, as we may need to close on the house really soon!
Thanks,
Susan

Flickr Game

My friend, Callie, did this little quiz and it looked like fun. I changed a few of the questions (because I had no answers for the originals) and added some new ones to make a 4x4 grid. Join in if you feel so inclined. Search for your answers to these questions on flickr and use an image from the first page of results to make your own personalized grid...

1. What's your first name?
2. What's your favorite food?
3. What was the name of your high school?
4. What's your favorite color?
5. What are you afraid of?
6. What's your favorite drink?
7. What's your dream vacation?
8. Where did you grow up?
9. What's your favorite dessert?
10. What do you want to be when you grow up?
11. What would you like to do right now?
12. What color are your walls?
13. What is one word that describes you?
14. What is one of your hobbies?
15. How old are you?
16. What is your last name?

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

I love our neighborhood

For a few months we were one of only three occupied houses in our new neighborhood. One house had no kids, one had teenagers. Then three more families moved in. And two of them have perfectly aged kids. One ten year old, one nine year old, and two six year olds. All boys, all good kids. Our three oldest have become quick friends with these four and now every single day they are anxious to go out and have fun. They ride bikes around the cul-de-sacs, they run through sprinklers and splash in wading pools, and they catch tons of grasshopppers. Ben and Josh have an amazing talent to catch these little critters who are all over in our yard. They have a jar we keep in the garage where they can keep the day's bounty then they always let them loose before bedtime. Sometimes we moms gather in a driveway and chat, it's good to get to know them too. Mostly I just love, love, love that our kids have good friends right across the street like this. In our old neighborhood all the people we knew only had older kids. This is perfect. So fun, so cute.

10 Year Anniversary

Scott and I have been married for ten years now. TEN. That's about a third of my life. They have been good years, very good. I could write a bunch of sentimental goo here, but I'll save that for the man I love. We celebrated the milestone on July 3rd. Well, we actually celebrated the 2nd through the 6th. Guess where just the two of us went (and all our kids got were these lousy t-shirts)?(Here's another one with Lydia giving Josh a zerbert, because it's funny)

Here are a few of the things that made this trip awesome:

Riding the Staten Island Ferry from Katie and Noah's house to the city (this whole trip would not have been possible without the hospitality of the amazing Shafers -- thanks again guys) which gave us a great view of the Statue of Liberty and the city as we rode in.

Riding subways.

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. Eating delicious pizza at Grimaldi's where there was a long line that was worth it.

Getting rice pudding at Rice to Riches in Soho. This was a big hit with Scott, they had all kinds of fancy flavors. Me, I don't go much for rice pudding. But I enjoyed the hilarious signage all over the shop that said things like, "Go ahead and eat some more rice pudding, you're already fat." and "Three square meals a day will ruin your appetite for rice pudding."

Taking in the lights and crowds at Times Square.

Sleeping in.

Grand Central Station. It's beautiful and I loved seeing all the people with little suitcases in a hurry. We also had lunch in the lower-level food court type place. I had the yummiest ham and cheese croissant I've ever dreamed about.

Walking to the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building.

Eating at Otto's (one of Mario Batali's Manhattan restaurants) with Katie and Noah for the real anniversary meal (they totally copied us and got married on 7/3 too). Gelatto for dessert. Then for second dessert we headed to Crumb's bakery for some deliciously huge over-the-top cupcakes. Mine was s'mores, Scott's was cookie dough.

Shopping around Soho (and making a real, actual purchase at Anthropologie).

Checking out the Ed Sullivan Theater (very sadly, the Late Show is on hiatus until mid-July so we missed our chance at seeing Dave) and Radio City Music Hall (which had the funniest marquee of the trip "This week: Dave Matthews...Next Week: His Holiness the Dali Llama").

Enjoying the architecture of the upper west side and eating at Papaya Dog.

Seeing the temple. So beautiful, so strange to see it right in the middle of a big city. We learned the Church does not own the building, they have a 100 year lease.

Playing around in Central Park. I love the water park with the little inch-deep canal water maze feature. I love the huge rocky parts for climbing. Look carefully and you'll see a handsome man in a green shirt at the top (with his little nephew to the left of him).

Getting in free to the Museum of Modern Art (thank you Target). It was just so cool to see in real life all those paintings that you see in books and as prints all your life. My favorite thing to do was to stand a few inches from the canvases and see the brushstrokes and sometimes the pencil lines that were painted over. I mean, it's cool to see this:

but how much cooler is this?:

Enjoying the excess at Dylan's Candy Bar. More candy than you can shake a stick at. I wish I had taken a photo of the candy stairs.

Feeling like a detective for finding the Burger Joint for dinner. In the swanky lobby of the LeParker Meridien hotel there's a big, dark curtain on one wall and an inconspicuous neon burger at the end of a long hall to direct you into a tiny little room that is the polar opposite of the hotel. Marker and cardboard signs tell you what's available to order and "we don't spit in your food, so don't write on our walls". The burgers were really good by the way.
Walking around Rockefeller Center.

Watching fireworks from the battery.

Walking around Ground Zero.

Being mistaken for locals and asked for directions (ha!).

The best dinner of the whole trip at Chocolate by the Bald Man. You think you're just going for the desserts (which you are, really...please do yourself a favor and just peruse the menu, it's incredible) but the dinner was 100% delectable. Scott got a milkshake (so good no other milkshake can compare) and we liked the cup so much we bought our own to take home.

And finally, seeing a Broadway show. A few of our first choices were not available for the discount prices we were after, so we ended up seeing Spamalot which was not disappointing. Lots of laughs and some fun audience participation.

All in all, the big apple did not disappoint and we're already mentally planning our next trip. Next time: more gelatto.