Laowai

I just downloaded the photos I took from last weekend and I COULD NOT narrow down the number of photos. I love so many of them. Love the smiles and the excitement on those girls’ faces.

We got to spend our long weekend at Jennifer’s house. So nice to relax and chat with mom and Jennifer while the kids got some quality cousin time. Jennifer’s house is truly a winter wonderland – she has her skating pond and the sledding hill plus she makes a fire – it’s magical. It was super, super cold so we didn’t spend a ton of time outside but you can tell by the faces below that the time was filled with giggles. 

Jennifer made doughnuts for us and then Grandma Dice brought her light fluffy lemony cookies. Mmmmmm. A delicious weekend!

We’ve made some new hearts. A paper triangle heart that Bea and I made:

 

And some chicken scratch that I did:

On Sunday the temperature was around 37 degrees. We had a whole yard of perfectly sticky snow – just right for making a snowman. Of course Brian had to take it to the next level – literally – by building it about 8 feet tall.

I heard him say: “Hands down, this is the best day of my life, and quite possibly the last.” And then about two hours later he collapsed. Bea said she was sure he will be back again next winter.

I’m enjoying February but at the same time looking forward to more and more sunshine and the thought of spring – it’s in the back of all of our minds isn’t it.

Thanks Lisa and Aunt Sandy for your quilt votes. Bea decided on her favorite configuration and I was nearly done sewing the blocks together when my trusty sewing machine seized up. So I need to take it to be repaired and that project is on hold again. Bummer.

This week we made Valentines for the girls to take to their school parties. I prefer non-candy and non-food gifts for school parties, but Claire got all excited about this Swiss Miss hot chocolate  with colored marshmallows. So we came up with an idea to fit a pack of hot chocolate in each valentine. I made a mug shaped card and then we tried this cool method for marbling. You use shaving cream and drizzle paint on top and after you press the paper onto the paint the shaving cream comes off easily with a squeegee. I was so impressed with our results. Claire loved swirling the paint around.

She’s known as Claire C. at preschool because there is another Claire in her class.

I helped Bea make these penguin (of course) cards. She used some stamps that she made for the inside.

Tulips from my neighbor for inviting her boys to hang out at our house when they forgot their house key. Completely unnecessary, but so nice.

I made a last ditch effort to make this dress appealing to Claire. I also needed to sit down and sooth myself with some embroidering after we had a couple tough mornings. Here’s the before:

And after (the jury is still out – will she wear it or not?):

Also, it’s hard to believe but the tiling has started in our bathroom. I finally got ahold of a contractor that I like. I have my fingers crossed that this will really truly go smoothly to the end. The contractor is a really likable guy who appreciates our old house and listens to what I want and his price was reasonable. He spent so much time stopping over and checking the details before he even gave me a quote. I thought, he’s either planning to murder me or he really is a genuine guy interested in doing a quality job. Yeah – my mind wanders when I watch Masterpiece Mysteries and Brian is traveling. Anyway – fingers crossed – I hope to show you a finished bathroom by the end of next week.

I’ll leave you with a couple photos of two girls enjoying some deep snow.

We got a big, big snow on Sunday. The snow started before noon and just got stronger and stronger into the night. We shoveled the driveway twice but by morning you couldn’t even tell because there was so much drifting. The snow was above my waist along one side of our driveway. When I went out I said “Oh my goodness”. Luckily the girls had a snow day because it took me (and a couple high school boys) all day to get the snow shoveled off the driveway. It reminded me of the amount of snow that they get up at Michigan Tech. 

Bea’s best friend and her parents joined us for dinner on Sunday and I told her “if school is cancelled while your friend is still here you can invite her to spend the night”. Well, they were about to put their shoes on and go home at about 8:30 when all our phones rang with the message that school was cancelled. It was like a miracle had happened for the girls – nothing compares to the exhilaration of finding out you are getting snow day.

Even though my back and my arms are all tired and noodley from shoveling – I love it. The mounds of snow that accent the end of every driveway. The feeling of bleached white clean that is everywhere. The sound of big snowplows rumbling along. And the sunshine – the sunshine – yes – I’ll take a few more days like this.

I finished all the blocks for Bea’s quilt today – this block is called a roman stripe. Now we need to decide how we are going to arrange the blocks. Fun!

I’ve been working on Bea’s quilt again. It’s the best time of year to work on a quilt – especially now that we don’t have snow – just mud and slush. 

Not sure if we’ll arrange the blocks like this or not. There are several patterns you can make with this block. I think I’ll let Bea choose.

I’ve also made some progress on another long term project… my stairs. I spent three long days priming right after New Year’s. Brian was home and I was able to work uninterupted for many hours. Then we got the stairs painted. I painted them after the girls were tucked in bed and then Brian and I slept on the couch so the paint could dry overnight. Now I’m working on painting the rest of the trim and the spindles little by little. It’s slow progress as usual. The walls look like hell next to the gray and they are so dirty. I can’t wait to paint them a fresh bright white. But there is progress and that is encouraging for me. Someday I’ll paint over that last bit of blue trim and then I’ll have a party. Here are some pictures of my work in progress.

 

I saw a turnip the other day and I couldn’t resist buying it, bringing it home and carving it up. I’ll explain. In Switzerland, in the Fall, kids carve up turnips and turn them into candle lanterns and then they walk around the town singing songs in the dark. So when I see a turnip in the grocery store I think of that special quiet tradition. You see there is always a piece of Switzerland stuck in my heart.

Also, I’ve been making my own version of bircher muesli. It’s the creamy, oaty, fruity breakfast mush that I remember eating in the hospital after Claire was born. So yummy. I would sometimes buy it at the train station and then eat it on the train going on weekend jaunt. Even the smallest convenience marts had a good bircher muesli to buy and eat with a plastic spoon.

So it’s not that I want to move back there right now (like my husband does), it’s just that a million little things make me think of it fondly. And if I did move there I would think of 999,999 little things that I associate with living here. 

Oh Switzerland, I can’t quit you.

A visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory is a good thing to do on a wintery weekend. It feels like a mini trip to Florida.

I looked back at the trips we’ve taken to the conservatory – lots of fun days.

There was a big hail storm three years ago and they are still replacing some glass in parts of the conservatory. The place is huge – so even though some areas are closed for construction there is still lots to see.

I made a dress for Claire out of the old curtain fabric from our Switzerland apartment. I channeled Maria from the Sound of Music. 

And I added an old apron that I bought at an antique store. It’s sheer pink – I sewed it right on at the waist line.

Here she is (fingers crossed) I think she actually likes it.

It’s the Playtime Dress from Oliver + S. again. I’ve whipped up that pattern so many times I can almost sew it with my eyes closed. The fabric is from IKEA.