Peanut Butter Toes

Those last few months when our house was on the market were tricky.  How to keep it clean with a crawling, sticky, dirty little boy who likes to leave piles of chaos everywhere?!  I found myself constantly cleaning up and cringing when Mc would pull things out of the kitchen cabinets and leave them strewn across the downstairs (or splash in the dog bowl, or pull all of the records and CDs off of the shelf, or ..., or... or......).  And that's not the kind of mom I want to be.  Instead, I want to encourage his curiosity and let him explore, play, learn, and discover.  So a couple of weeks ago, we went outside and played with peanut butter.  Our intention was to make one of those bird feeders you probably made as a kid - you know the kind, with a pine cone, peanut butter, and bird seed - and we eventually got our mission accomplished, but it was the playing with peanut butter that McCord enjoyed so much and what made me feel like I restored my sense of motherhood.

Our birds like Peter Pan peanut butter.
We found this pine cone a couple of months ago when we vacationed at Mansfield Plantation.

Here we are getting excited about peanut butter - Rocky of course wanted to be a part of this project!

And how peanut butter ended up on his toes, I'll never know!

We hung the feeder right outside our kitchen window.

 It took our birds about 2 weeks to find it, but when they discovered it, the feeder became quite the hangout.  We learned that the little birds preferred it over the regular feeder.  We had Carolina Chickadees, Tit mouses, and Wrens.  What a joy it was to watch these birds.  McCord - as busy as this little guy is - would immediately quiet down and get real still when watching the birds.  He enjoyed watching so much, I would pull his highchair in front of the window so he could sit and watch while he ate. 

Update on our house:

We've been packing!  The official move date is IN TWO DAYS.  The washer, dryer, and fridge are coming tomorrow, and we've already had Terminix and a maid out.  Bo's been taking loads of boxes to the house every night. The painters came yesterday and did the first coat of paint on the walls, and I can't wait to show you the before and afters.  Pictures soon, promise!

A Dress for Bess

My friend Kasie throws spectacular parties (if you've been reading for a while, you might remember this post about our baby shower with more pictures here) and I know that her daughter Bess' 2nd birthday will be nothing short of fabulous! 

Kasie asked me to sew a dress for Bess to wear to her party.  The criteria was turquoise and orange, goldfish, and ric rac.  She sent me this dress on etsy as inspiration.   

...and here's what I came up with

The goldfish's body is tacked down, but the tail is loose so that it can swish on it's own as Bess skips about.



Ric rac peeking out of the pockets

Box pleats and buttons on the neckline

and buttons up the back

And this morning on our early morning walk, Bo spotted this beautiful tiny birds next.  It was abandoned and fell out of a tree in our front yard last night. 

It's hard to tell from this photo, but our little resourceful bird even incorporated the twine that wraps up pinestraw into the bricks and mortor of the nest! 

What we've been up to

This picture sums up life with a 10 month old...

So, if you've wondered why I haven't blogged lately, we've been on the go!  Here are a few pictures of what McCord's been up to. 

Playing with my toys

Watching Daddy work in the yard from the nursery window



Checking out my baby pool toys

Getting repeatedly smooched by my parents

Watching Daddy bathe Rocky

Playing in the back yard



Swinging in my cool hand me down hat from Cousin Bayer



Waiting on the water to warm up

Watching Daddy work in the yard from the deck {we also watch Daddy work in the yard from the driveway, the front porch, the front lawn, and wherever Daddy goes, I want to watch him!}

...and today, McCord saw the coolest thing ever after our morning walk: a turtle in our yard eating a snake!  This image is not for the faint of heart.

Today has been a great day for McCord and the turtle.

Not a great day for the snake.

Happy Monday!