Projects, Simplicity, and Cleaning!

My goal for the summer is to get our house more functional. I have decided that it is absolutely ridiculous that I can't keep the four rooms that we actually use in our house clean. So far I have made great progress in the kitchen and living room. They are easily picked up now and I'm caught up on the dishes. A dishwasher is at the top of the list for our next house. And the bedroom is in the midst of the clothing rotation so that will soon be fixed. My biggest problem is the dining/sewing/office room mostly because it serves so many functions. I have great (hopefully, cheap) plans for a craft cabinet center and desk so as soon I figure out precisely what I'm doing we can get that moving along.

The biggest help has been decluttering, weeding out the things we don't use. For only having been married for just under 3 years we have accumulated a lot of unnecessary things. So I'm very excited with our progress. Less things = less to clean up! And having a routine that I actually stick to will be a help too. This week has been almost on track, with a few minor Charlotte troubles at bedtime.

A big organization project is the large amount of fabric and sewing supplies that are spread around. I have great plans to use them all so I have to get better system so I can get to what I need. This week I'm going to finish up the skirts for my summer wardrobe. And then I can move on to try new patterns for Charlotte's fall clothes. Thanks to my nice Tilly I don't have to do anything for her summer clothes and Zoey is fully set. And then too quickly will come Halloween and Christmas. If anyone has any costume suggestions for the girls I'd love to hear them. And I think they will both get a quilt this year so I should get busy on those asap. My list keeps growing...aaaaahh!!! House needs to be functional so I can justify the amount of time I want to spend on fabric=)

Sleeping babies

As I was finishing my last post Charlotte got up from her nap. Well, sort of. She climbed up in my lap and fell back to sleep. She has gotten so big since the last time I held her like this=-(

And Zoey is asleep in the swing...Ah I love the sound of naptime...

Funny Girls!

Well...I have decided that I don't need to sell my girls to Moroccan monkey farmers...at least not today! Yesterday, however, was another story. They both were grumpy and miserable until about 9 last night. Then Charlotte finally decided that she would lay in her bed nicely so I could take a bath and Zoey spit up so she could smile again (or something). It was truly odd...at least for my normally pleasant baby to fuss all afternoon and then like a light switch being turned on she was back to her normal sunny self.

They are both getting so big. And learning new tricks everyday. Charlotte seems to learn 6 new words a day and now she shows me "two" by holding up one finger on each hand. Zoey is happy as a clam to sleep in her swing and be a ham for the camera. As soon as I find my misplaced cord thingie I'll upload the latest pics. Charlotte loves to hold Zoey and say "cheese" for me so I get some pretty funny ones mixed in w/ the cute ones.

My Birthday Weekend!!!

I love birthdays! I don't know why because it just means that I'm old... and I don't really want to be old. But anyways...this has been a pretty great birthday. On Friday, I went shopping with my mom and sister-in-law, Olivia. We happen to share a birthday so we went out to celebrate together. It was a very long day but wonderful fun. We went to several stores and out to lunch. And the babies were very well behaved. Although people seemed to be very confused. We had several people ask if they were twins. They are 4 months apart and Joey is way farther along developmentally (he was sitting up and Zoey was in her carseat or in the sling). The best part was going to JoAnn's. I got fabric for three skirts and I found coordinating coffee fabric for my kitchen. I will hopefully get to start them tomorrow. Olivia had never been and I'm afraid I have encouraged her to have a crazy sewing addiction too. She found several things and apparently dragged my brother there again yesterday. And she's planning on coming over this week to start learning to sew with me=) I'm very excited!

On my birthday, Zac took the girls and I down to the farmers markets in Dayton. And out to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Lottie refused to eat...not sure if its because it wasn't what she's used to eating, if it was too exciting, or if I fed her too much of my cinnamon-sugar pretzel too close to lunch time. But we had a lot of fun wandering around and of course I went into the quilt fabric shop...saw several books I have to put on my list to get;)

And today, the girls and I had a quiet morning while Zac went to pick up the guys from the boy scout camping trip. And then we went to my parents' for a birthday dinner celebration. So its been a pretty full weekend and I'm so glad that I'm finally feeling up to doing things again. My recovery has been slow but I'm almost there. Only a few more weeks of meds and I should be good to go and I don't even have to go back to the doctor's until July.

The girls are getting big...I will hopefully have new batteries for my camera soon so I can update my pictures. Zoey is starting to coo and she hold her head up really well now. Lottie is talking non stop and learning new words everyday. She loves to repeat things we say, so of course we have to be even more careful.

Just for Fun

I borrowed this from Tilly's blog...

1. Name someone who made you smile today? My girls
2. What were you doing at 8:00 this morning? Making Lottie breakfast
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? crocheting a blanket for Baby Anthony
4. Name something that happened to you in 1992? I turned 10
5. When is your birthday? April 19
6. Four words to explain why you last threw up? My little Zoey Zoo
7. What color is your hairbrush? blue
8. What was the last thing you bought? zippers
9.Where do you keep your money? what $?
10. What was the weather like today? rainy and cool
11. Where did your last hug take place? living room
12. What are you excited about? sewing new curtains and skirts
13. Do you want to cut your hair? not at the moment...ask me again in 5 minutes
14. Are you over the age of 25? barely
15. Do you talk a lot? me talk...hmm...never
16. Do you watch The O.C.? nope
17. Does your screen name have an "x" in it? nope
18. Do you know anyone named Kelsey? nope
19. Do you make up your own words? yup...forwillowsons
20. Are you ticklish? depends on the day and if I'm currently pregnant or not
21. Are you typically a jealous person? sometimes
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter "C". Claire
23. Who's the last person to call you? Kim
24. Do you chew on your straws? eww
25. Do you have curly hair? I wish...cut off my perm...must get another
26. What is the next concert you're going to? You mean out, like a grown up event...probably in about 18 years
27.Where did you go today? my parents' house
28. What is something you say a lot? Zoey Zoey Zoey
29. Have you seen the movie 'Donnie Darko'? No
30. Do you have to work tomorrow? do mommies ever not?
31. Who was the last person you said "I love you" to? Monkey
32. What should you be doing right now? Sleeping!
33. Do you have a nickname? Ducky
34. Are you a heavy sleeper? I wish;)
35. What are you listening to? my new fabrics getting clean in the washer & dryer
36. What is the best movie you've seen in the past two weeks? umm, well I've seen lots of crummy ones and I can't remember the name of the one that wasn't so bad...
37. Is there anyone you like right now? Monkey
38. When was the last time you did the dishes? for once I can honestly say that I did them tonite=) I'm quite proud of myself actually! Someday I'll have a house with a dishwasher
39. Did you cry today? Nope=)

Officially feeling normal!!!

I just had to share... I haven't had a chance/felt up to sewing since Christmas time. So very sad I know. But I now have a plan for my kitchen curtains (assuming Joann's still has the fabric I want) and I have started planning Tilly and Eli's birthday gifts. Yes, I know months in advance. And I'm going to attempt some sewing for myself. Tilly made me a lovely skirt to wear for Easter so I'm going to give that pattern/ formula a shot and I have some others I'd like to try too. I'm so very excited. Assuming all works out as planned my sewing machine should be out and busy next week=)

Busy busy busy!!!

Lottie showing off her new bed

Gram, the moms and all the Hassett grandkids

Charlotte and Zoey showing off their Easter outfits. Thanks for making them Miss Tilly!

Stylish Lottie!

Smiling Zoey

Zoey with Godmama Eliza

April is a very full month for us. We started the month with Tilly's baby shower. And this past weekend Miss Zoey was baptized and Jenny turned 2!!! My family also has 4 birthdays this month: Dad, Olivia, Kyle and of course most importantly I turn "old" on Saturday.

Lottie is starting to venture into being a big girl. She got her own toddler bed the other week and is very thrilled to take naps in it. We're still working up to spending the whole night in it. She has also decided to talk. And does it non stop! Most of the time its about shoes and monkeys...two of her most favorite things right now. She also says her name, not all at once, but she is either "Lot" or "Char".

Zoey is getting big fast. Already she's about 12 lbs and I put her in a 3-6 month outfit the other day and she wasn't swimming in it =( so sad and so exciting at the same time. She's two months old and loving life. 90% of her awake time is spent smiling at everyone and everything. Lottie is already one of her favorite people, in spite of the somewhat aggressive way that Lottie returns the affection.