Plum Stitches

bizzy bizzy

I've had a crazy few days, but things have finally calmed down. 

Over the weekend we had Phoebe baptized and then hosted a party at my SIL's house with our extended family.  A few days before the baptism Phoebe came down with Roseola.  Figures, right?  Luckily the rash pretty much disappeared in time for the ceremony/party. 

To top it off my washing machine died last week.  It seems that no one believes in fixing appliances in this country anymore.  I can't get a repair person through Sears to come out for at least a week.  Of course if I wanted to buy a new machine I could march right over to the store this afternoon and they would deliver it tomorrow.

Anyway, the party was great, the weather was gorgeous and by the end of Saturday we were ready for a 24-hour nap. 

As a special treat Chloe had her nails and toes painted at the nail place around the corner.  And, as you can imagine she thought that was the best treat ever.  Of course painted nails and toes on a 3 1/2 year old chip quickly and they no longer look as nice as they did a few days ago.

I managed to enlist my mother to make these tissue paper balls from Martha Stewart.  They were pretty easy to make, just time consuming, but they did look festive hanging from the tree over my SIL's deck.   I brought them home because I couldn't just throw them out and I have nowhere to store them!

blooming

All that rain and now lots of sun are proving to be a good thing for my garden (thankfully!)

My friend Jody made a trip to Gilberties a few weeks ago and brought back several Cosican Mint plants for us.  They all seem to be thriving at the moment - rapidly creeping between the stones of our patio.  Hopefully that continues as this is my favorite addition to our garden this year.  It smells fabulous when you step on it and unlike the Creeping Thyme there's so fear of bees stinging small children.

 

A few new Web sites I've stumbled on in the past week that have quickly become new favorites:

Moolka - similar to Oompa Toys, but the seem to have a wider selection.

LMNOP - love it.  Especially the music that plays when you log in.  Chloe always comes running when she hears it.  Who wouldn't?  Check out their blog too.

Making it Lovely - the name says it all.

I can't seem to get enough of this airplane - it's popping up everywhere.  I think Chloe would love playing with it (or maybe me?)  I had the Fisher Price version as a kid, which she plays with whenever we visit Vermont.

We're off for some afternoon fun playing with the Elephants nearby.

a few more

photos from the weekend...

Yep, that's one of the outhouses from the races.

weekend escape

We're back from spending five days in Vermont.  The weather wasn't the best, except for yesterday - one of those gorgeous, breezy, no humidity, sunny summer days that we all dream of in the middle of winter. 

Despite the weather, we managed a trip to Shelburne Farms.  This is one of my favorite places to go when we head to Vermont.  The setting is gorgeous - right on Lake Champlain.

If you're not familiar with Shelburne Farms, it  was created in the late 1800's by Lila Vanderbilt Webb and her husband as a model agriculture estate. Frederick Law Olmsted was integral to its design.

We spent the morning at The children's farmyard.   Chloe loved the chicken parade (when they let them out of the coop) and she even got to milk the farm's Brown Swiss, Jamaica.

 

 

Unfortunately, our trip was cut a little short by a tremendous down pour just as we had ordered our lunch from the farm cart.  So instead of a leisurely lunch at one of the picnic tables, we ended up soggy and eating our lunch in the car.

On the 4th, we headed to Bristol for its annual 4th of July parade.  Somehow we lucked out and snagged and outside table at the Bristol Bakery - a great spot for viewing.  The best part of the parade is the pre-parade Outhouse Races.  The outhouse are on wheels, with one member of the team sitting on the seat inside.  A must see to really appreciate!

another placket-neck sweater

I seem to be in one of those grooves of knitting pattern repeats.  This is probably my fourth little placket-front sweater, but I can't help myself.  It's sweet, simple and and easy knit, love it!

Pattern:  Placket-Neck Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, by Joelle Hoverson
Size:  6 - 12 months
Yarn:  Stash yarn!  Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre purchase maybe two years ago to make a hat for myself.  I used about 3 skeins and have 2 left.  Hmmmm, what to do with it...
Needles:  Size 8 circular
Notes:  Like I said this is a repeat performer.  Hope the recipient likes it as much as I do.  The little orange buttons are from the massive vintage collection my mother gave me for Christmas a few years ago.  Also, I deviated a bit from the pattern and knit the sleeves in stockinette as opposed to in the round on dpns (which I never use).

In other exciting news, Chloe started napping again when she comes home from camp.  Not everyday, but at least a few days a week.  I've rigged it so they're both napping for a bit and I get some down time with no one asking me any questions, or jabbering away!  Ah, never have a truly appreciated silence so much. 

Her school is also going to start the kids 3.5-4years old with swimming lessons twice a week.  A new development, just across the street from her school has a gym with a pool and are allowing the kids to use for swim lessons.  Such a relief, I've been looking all over the place for lessons, but none seem to jive with our schedule for the summer.

something new in JC

A beer garden that seats 800. people, crazy, right?  Zepplin Hall opened over the weekend and we headed over with neighborhood friends and their kids late yesterday afternoon.

What an awesome addition to Jersey City.  Now, I certainly wouldn't want to be a neighbor to this place or live above it considering it's open until 2am.  It's in a newly developed neighborhood downtown called Liberty Harbor and butts up against the Light Rail tracks.  But it is fun and kids are welcome until 9pm. Can't wait to go back!

You can tell Chloe had a great time playing with her friends by all the dirt on her face.

Saturday we celebrated Jim's niece's graduation from High School.  I'm starting to feel old.  She seemed so young when Jim and I first started dating and now she's all grown up.  Phoebe hung out with Nonna for a bit - a great day all around!

I just signed up to run the Newport Half Marathon (Newport's a neighborhood in Jersey City).  I'm hoping this really kicks my butt into gear, but I do need to ramp up my mileage.  Fortunately, it's at the end of September so I have plenty of time.  I ran one way back when I lived in San Francisco, but it's been awhile.

The Placket-Front Sweater if finished, just drying at the moment, so I'll have pictures soon. 

We're headed to Vermont for the upcoming holiday weekend.  **Hopefully** it won't rain too much, but that's pretty much a fantasy, but you never know.  While we're there I want to take Chloe back to Shelburne Farms, I think this year she'll get so much more out of it than last year.  Plus I really want to see the Brown Swiss Cows again and I just love the pigs and piglets.

the swift lives!

I've had a swift and a ball winder for a few years now - and gotten lots of use out of both.  Last summer in the confusion of moving bedrooms around in preparation for Phoebe's arrival I thought a lost a crucial piece of the swift, but I unearthed it under a table last week. 

We had a nice, if a bit soggy, week at the beach.  There was really only one day of torrential rain, but it was still too cold on most days to camp out at the beach for any longer than a brief visit.  We caught up on sleep, watched the garden grow and read a few books.  A perfect week, except for the lack of sunshine!




The eggplant is growing like crazy - I just love the purple veins on the leaves. 

 

last day of school

It's Chloe's last day of school.  Well, she is going to summer camp at her school, but there's a week break and we're headed to the beach!  I'm not sure she quite understands that the school year ends today.  Although last night she saw a bag of her belongings that had resided in her cubby ,at home and she got very sad and teary eyed.  Oh the emotion!  And of course in response my eyes welled up. 

As usual, I waited to the last possible moment to pick up gifts for her teachers.  I always have grand aspirations of making them something, but my planning skills are a bit weak.  We did pick little bouquets of flowers from our garden and wrapped them in parchment paper.  Last night I dragged both kiddies to Anthropologie to pick up some small paper-related gifts.

I bought a few different things from this collection - I thought they were so sweet.  Hopefully the teachers like them as much as Chloe and I did!

If you have something fabulous to share about your outdoor space, hop on over to Apartment Therapy and enter the My Great Outdoors 2009 project.

Lastly, for any of you NPR listeners out there, the featured Jersey City as part of a segment this morning.  Of course, I have a feeling it was just part of the local news, but still.   So exciting! The street they talk about is very close to where we live.  You can listen to the segment here.

summer vacation

It's hard to believe on Friday, Chloe wraps up her first year of school.  Well, pre-k 3 that is.  Time just goes by too fast.  I really hope that despite life being frustrating at times, I'm enjoying it to it's fullest.  Because they ain't young for long.

She's off for a week and then I signed her up for the first session of summer camp at her school.  She'll be going in the morning for camp and then switching to the morning program come fall.  It's been a real challenge recently with the afternoon program.  The little girl still needs a nap, but if she naps after school then she never goes to bed at night.  And I'm done dealing with little kids come 7pm. 

I think it's all been exacerbated by the summer weather and just spending more time running around in the mornings.  By the time I pick her up from school she is DONE.

In anticipation of summer camp, I'm on the hunt for an insulated backpack as she'll be bringing her lunch everyday.  If you pack lunches, check out Biggie's Lunch in a Box blog for inspiration. 

We had a fabulous weekend, traveling up to Montgomery, NY for a friend's son's third birthday party.  The weather was gorgeous, but not too hot, and Chloe had a blast playing with all the other kids.



I did manage to get back on track with my little sweater - finished both sleeves and progressing on the body.  Need to figure out my next project - I seem to be trapped in the never ending baby projects.  Not that it's a bad thing, but sometimes I wonder if I'll ever move on!

What else?  Check out this decadent Princess Pavillion.  How cool is that?  If only I had the time and space to stretch out and make something like this, Chloe would be in heaven!  I can just see it now.

minty peas

I admit it, I'm a sucker for marketing.  I bought a few packages of the Happy Baby minty peas and carrots, just as a back-up.  Last night broke into one of the packages and was pleasantly surprised to find this on the bottom of the cubes!

Holly smokes I won something!  I bought raffle tickets a few weeks ago from a friend who was working to raise money for her son's pre-school.  And, much to my surprise, I won a gift certificate to a digital photography workshop at Kenneth Chen Portraits.  Hopefully I'll actually get to use it and learn how to use more of the functionality of my camera.

Oh, and have I mentioned recently that I've become addicted to all things Bravo?  That channel has me sucked in and captivated.  Luckily, we have Tivo, so I can watch it whenever I feel like it and am not beholden to actual TV schedules.