Tuesday Twelve

1.  My attention to blogging has been very poor lately. 

2.  We're {finally} addressing our porch issue.  The porch has needed some attention for three years, you know since we freaking moved in quite a while.  

I've not taken any after shots, yet, but Chris has stained the floor a very nice gray and painted the risers a bright creamy white.

He's also removing the random 2x4 supports that were put on the base of each of the columns.  He's putting a block of wood under the center of each rail for support and trimming them out.  He does nothing halfway. . . it may have taken us some time to get to this project, but he'll do a great job.

We're currently debating about what will go on the porch when he's done....

3.  Katie and I took a quick trip to Massachusetts a few weeks ago.  We saw my BFF Michele and her family.  And yes, Michele and I purchased the same swimsuits for our girls and didn't know it.  That so doesn't surprise me.

Maggie is six months younger than Katie and about six inches taller.

4.  While we were in Massachusetts we saw my aunt and uncle and my cousin Sarah's little girl.  Katie LOVED the slip & slide they had.  Um, obviously.  And Em looks like she's auditioning for Zoolander.  I love this picture so much.

 5.  Katie was a champ on the plane.  She seriously acted like flying was an everyday thing for her. 

6.  We got to see our friend Kate and her TWO new babies.  They are delicious!  Katie and I were in baby snuggling heaven.

7.  My friend Jen took some fabulous photos of Katie and me.  She's so talented, and I love the pictures she got!

8.  We got to spend time with my Grammy and Grampy, which was fabulous.  My Grampy hadn't met Katie yet, and I think he was smitten.  Duh.

9.  We celebrated my birthday at the beginning of the month.  Jack drew me a card with everything on it that he wanted to buy me for my birthday.  He included a purse, lipstick, and a force field.  The three things that every mother needs.

We also celebrated Grampy's birthday!

10.  We had our last baseball game and our awards.

It was really sweet of the coach to include Katie in awards.  She was very excited, though it was hard to wait with everyone on the field until their team got called.  Waiting is hard!

I think this may be the year that Henry's number 5 gets retired.  He wasn't really jazzed about baseball this year, and I'll be surprised if he wants to play next year.

I got a little too much sun at the awards day. . . 

11.  Katie and Jack have started swimming lessons!

Katie is in the preschool level class, and she's doing great.

Jack is in level 1, and he's by far the strongest swimmer in that class.  He'll take level 2 during the next session to work more on strokes.

Lady K is also doing 6 weeks of therapeutic horseback riding through a {free} program.  It is amazing, and Katie absolutely loves it.

12.  I busted out my sewing machine and have been sewing like a madwoman.  It's all I want to do.  I wanted to call in sick yesterday to stay home and sew.  I started because I made a few things for Katie's birthday, and it's snowballed from there.

I made this skirt for Katie to wear on her actual birthday.  I'm going to make a little shirt to match.

And I made her this one, which I love!  Next up are a few gifts for friends, finishing off Kat's birthday gifts, and who knows what else.  

Have a great Tuesday!