From Our Week

Last week quite a few crafting projects were finished, mostly by Shane. I came home from work one day to find the sewing area that I had been dreaming about for the past couple months come to life, complete with a new (lovingly used) sewing table!

The custom thread holder made by Shane for me.Tara got this for me months ago, and I finally found a great place for it!This skirt was my practice project. It has since been thrown in the rag bag, but it was a good project to remind me of all the ins and outs of the sewing machine.

And finally, the piece de resistance! Shane found this great bureau at the local Salvation Army. He brought it home and painted it to match Nora's room. It works perfectly, and Nora really loves putting things away.

Finally, a parting shot of a messy-faced girl. She had just eaten about seven cherry tomatoes from the local farm stand, and the aftermath is all over her face. Have a great week, everyone, and happy September tomorrow!

Glimpses from our weekend.

Aka: I'm too tired to think about writing anything real.

Yes, those are underwear! No, she is definitely not potty trained!

Just before heading out to the beach for my company picnic:

and striking a pose.

The real excitement of our weekend was a trip to Target Saturday night where we bought appliques for Nora's walls and a rug for her floor. She is very excited about her 'new' room. I know at some point it will take more than a trip to Target to get Nora excited, but for now, I'm really enjoying it!

A little taste of our morning.

This video was taken this morning, just before Nora and I left for school. It's a little deceiving, because it implies that in the morning we have time to stand around and take videos. We don't. Usually I'm rushing around getting breakfast, getting her dressed, making sure lunch is packed, Barkley is fed, and taking care of the giant rat's nest on the back of her head. Of course, as some of you know, that doesn't always make it to the top of my list of priorities. Oh well. Enjoy the video!

Beach Weekend

Well, we're back from our annual trek to the beach with friends and family. As usual, I'm about to run out the door to work, but figured something was better than nothing. I was able to snap this picture of Nora enjoying the benefits of camping- popsicles and glow sticks- and then I handed the camera over to the seven year olds.

This is what I found on the camera today:

I just love that last one of Nora playing with the big kids. Such a cutie. I honestly have two minutes before I need to leave and Nora is running around shoe-less, so I'll leave the rest of the pictures untitled, but you get the idea. Beautiful weather, wonderful people, and too much fun to bother lugging the camera with me everywhere. As usual, I failed to properly document the weekend, but oh well, it was a great time!

A Lovely Evening

Thursday night we decided to take a trip down to Este's Lobster House in Harpswell. We had been feeling a little bogged down with work and felt like we needed a little break and a chance to reconnect as a family. Nora had only slept for twenty minutes at school that day and was exhausted, so she promptly fell asleep on the drive down.

We decided to wake her up when we got there, which wasn't the best choice because she was very cranky and very hungry, and those of you who know Nora know that cranky+hungry= a lethal combination. Thankfully, the waitress was right on top of things and brought a chocolate milk right out. Nora was back to her cheerful, sweet self in no time. We breathed a sigh of relief, as I'm sure all the diners around us did as well.

Contrary to what the following photo implies, Nora ate chicken fingers and french fries for dinner. Shane ordered a lobster, and Nora had a great time playing with it, but when it came to eating it, she was not interested after taking a little taste.

As we often do when on 'vacation', Shane and I took our usual arms-length photo. We were outside, right on Casco Bay watching the sun set as we relaxed. It was marvelous.

Nora loved being right next to water and watching sea gulls, ducks and sea weed in the water. They also had some old lobster traps that she had a great time playing with and explaining to us how the lobsters crawled in and got stuck. It was definitely a splurge on our part seeing as we rarely go out to eat, but we really needed some time for us, so I'm just going to keep rationalizing it to myself. After all, the summer is flying by and it's a rare night that's warm and dry around these parts. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer and not too busy!