The great pumpkin

We've driven past this door hundreds of times and we finally stopped for some pictures.

Look at the lines and textures and colors. Love.

The evolution of the old shirt dress. I post these creations here to tell you that you could totally make one of these. And I want Ruthie to see that I am applying the sewing tips she gives me (gathering in this case) 1. All you do is get an old shirt (its not that I'm totally tied to these old shirts but they're laying around, no trip to the fabric store, and this one in particular had the softest, nicest feel to it) 2. Lay the shirt down and then find another dress you like and lay it over and make a pattern of sorts (I draw right on the material which is probably totally wrong to do but it eliminates a step) You'll have to make it longer if she's outgrown the dress you are tracing (as is the case with mine) The beauty is that you already have the buttons from the shirt so she can get in an out. Also, you can choose to have the buttons in the front or the back. I did the front in this case. I made just a tank part this time then added a 3 inch band at the waist and then made a gathered skirt and then attached the gathered skirt to the tank part I made. Then whipped a little matching headband. Voila.
The pumpkin patch was so perfect this year.
Choosing the perfect one.
Where can I buy one of these?? It was this hill of tarp filled with air so you could bounce on it. Amazing!

Sometimes I want to write something really whitty and entertaining on this blog but by the time the pictures are up and i've journalled them I'm just ready to click publish now.

He's 10 months.

This is our little guy.

He turned 10 months yesterday.

This was a picture of him covered in Roseolla Rash. I think the face is sooo funny so I had to share it.

EZ is a pure delight.

He has really really blonde hair like his momma and everything else like his daddy. He is pretty much 97% Brad and a little me. I love his big dimples and his big hazel eyes. He makes you earn his smiles and when he smiles they're big and real and bright.
He has 7 teeth. He weighs a mere 18 pounds and stands a tall 27inches. He is in the 9th percentile and big in spirit.

I love how he lets me rock him to sleep at church. He loves to be held. But he's a wiggler. I have to hold his tummy down while I try to change his diaper or put his clothes on. He loves his big sister. She can make him laugh and help him if he needs something or if he's sad she comforts him. She even fed him his peaches the other night which was a huge help to me while I tried to get dinner on the table.

He crawls everywhere and stands and has recently realized that he can walk while holding onto things. He pinches my arms while I hold him. He looks at me to make sure it's okay if a stranger starts talking to him. He knows i'm his mom, and right now I'm his world and that makes my heart sing. He's started the "get-into-the-dogs-water-bowl-dump-it-all-over-time-and-time-again-stage". I sit him in the sink while I get ready so he can look at himself in the mirror and I know he won't get into anything. The other day he took a big bite of soap before I could catch him. Didn't seem to bother him a bit. This kid also gnaws on the chalk before we can get it away from him. I already see differences in him and Bluebird. He's such a curious little soul. He waves and claps and pats my arm. He also likes to make clicking sounds with his tongue but will only do it for mom and dad and once for Dr. P.

And to all of you...Thanks, thanks, thanks for reading my blog and commenting. I can think of a happy memory regarding each person that commented and each one of you has really enriched my/our life in a great way. I blog for the family in utah to see what's happening in our lives but along the way i've met so many many friends whose lives have touched my life. Your blogs inspire me and I'm glad that our little blog means something to you too.

The dress...finally!

We went to the zoo last week. Our free zoo. Well, free with all of my zoo coupons we earned at the library summer reading program. We also went to Chile's with our library coupons. I love those summer reading programs.

Anyway, look who said hi. This butterfly was absolutely stunning.

And the dress. I was immediately attracted to the colors of this shirt (recognize this Amy) and thought it'd make a cute jumper for Chloe. So, I cut it apart and then just kind of created a pattern and then realized it was too short so I had to add the bottom part and then realized the dimensions looked funny from the front so I added the tie to even things out and then realized the tie needed "something" and then it just sat on my table for weeks because I was just gonna toss it because it looked too homemade. Then I went back to it. When I used to draw and paint a lot this was part of my creative process so I guess sewing shouldn't be any different. I finally tweeked it a little more and this was what I came up with. I like it. Aside from all the flaws (I won't point those out) it was a fun experience and I will do another. (Kalleen these projects are all out of respect and awe for what you do! Wish we lived closer)

A first for us

Goodbye summer.

She's just such a happy little spirit and that little preschool is lucky to have her. The teacher told me today that they would be working on spelling her last name because she can already spell and write her first name. With Brad being gone so for these months she already knows his phone number and types it in each night that we call him. She knows the street we live on. Is this how it happens? Is this how your child just gets older and you just keep moving on??
School is close enough that we walk.
Look at the mug. The world is just AWESOME, Chloe!
And just like that, B-rad is gone for another month. Oh how we loved having him home. I do EVERYTHING with brad so when he's gone and those everythings become 'alonethings' it's just sad, but okay. We've geared up for it and are excited for what the days hold for us.

I'm not sure who reads this blog but it'd be real cool if you wrote a word or two because I so look forward to your comments, being out here in Illinois and all!

Cubs vs. Pirates

We went to a CUBS game. It was A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

We found tickets that were less than going to a movie. We drove to Chicago. We packed snacks. We ordered perfect weather. We scored on our parking spot. It was just THE perfect day and such a memory.

People were getting all excited while we were there and it turned out the owner-Ricketts something or other-of the Cubs was sitting 5 seats down. Guess our seats weren't too bad! He was signing autographs and such when I noticed he had some baseballs. Brad jumped up and took Chloe (the child is a ticket to free stuff) and the nice owner gave her a baseball. Cool souveneir.

Here we are before the game. We are all very excited.
Wrigley Field. Don't these people have jobs?? By the 3rd inning it was pretty well full.
In matching Cubs attire. My shirt was a gift, but I made everyone else's shirt for pennies.

Is this the shot from so many movies??

Ezra loved it. We had the perfect seats so he could play and not bother anyone. I love watching grown men walk by and stop and smile and play with this little baby. He brings out the best in people.
The atmosphere was awesome. A few sections down a big fight started and a guy was taken out in handcuffs. The pirates hit a home run and the Cubs fan through the ball back on the field in disgust. Just as we stood to leave, a pop fly came directly at us missing Chloe by inches. It hit the green rail (above) and fell back down into the crowd. To think we almost got 2 balls from the game. And...we had a hotdog. Brad got a photo of me eating said hotdog but, well, I'll spare you the delish details!!
Thanks to my B-rad for making this dream possible.

"Cinci"

Slowly, i'm checking off visiting the 50 states. This weekend we did 4 states in 4 days. Thursday we left Illinois, drove through Indiana (playing freeze tag at the state line pit stop) stayed in Ohio and visited Kentucky. We both just said to each other, "did you ever think you'd go to Kentucky in your lifetime?"

I admit I was very afraid to make this drive alone. It was 283 miles-thats 4.5 hours folks and I am no driver. I just get SO tired behind the wheel and I am constantly worrying about people texting or cellphone talking or getting dozy and then hitting us. Among a gazillion of things I love about that Brad of mine, I am SO glad he never makes me drive. But, we had to get there to see this cute face:

MY BRAD (standing in his somewhat bleak apartment, but thanks to that apartment we were all able to stay for 3 nights rather than the one we would've been able to afford had we had to get a hotel so yay for the apartment.

Crossing this impressive walking bridge from Cincinnati, Ohio to Newport, Kentucky
I could spend ALOT of time at this place if we end up here. It's this old train terminal turned into a museum center. The structure was magnificent.
He started crawling this weekend...just for dad! Poor kid has a constant bruise on his head now.
The city of Cincinnati behind us. We did it "all". We had the spaghetti with chili on top and a pound of cheese (really!) Skyline cafe was a pleasant surprise and way cheap. Next, we had to try a White Castle burger. Pretty low on my list but it was a 62 cent experience. No trip for the Chambers is complete without sampling the local fare of icecream. There's is known as Graeter's and we indulged. My it was good. It was homemade softish icecream on a cone. In Kentucky we decided we needed to check out what a real horserace was like. We missed the race by minutes but we did see the impressive track. I'm not a die-hard horse person by any stretch but it really was grand seeing that track. If we go back to Cincinnati for residency I will definitely have to see a race.
So thanks to my awesome museum pass my Brad bought for us we've been able to sample children's museums far and wide. Cincinnati's gets an A+ They had a full sized tree house jungle and a whole section of musical instruments from around the world plus more. Then we walked over to the Natural History museum and we got in free (with the pass of course) and that was a pretty awesome experience, too.
The city is set up on a hill and over looks the Ohio river.

p.s. the drive really wasn't that bad. On the way there I just stopped about ever 50 miles and on the way back it just seemed faster and the kids were napping so i just went for it and surprised myself by not even getting tired.

Merlin

I want to talk about customer service.

I don't know if any of you remember, but Chloe, Ezra and I missed our flight from Portland, home to Illinois. After a fun and long trip (almost 2 months) I couldn't imagine how crappy it would be to hear the words, "you won't be flying today." So, during this super frustrating hour of figuring out what to do next, I heard the worker mention to her customer that "people just think they deserve so much these days. They just think they should be treated like royalty". Umm...yeah, if that comment was directed at me, yes, I do deserve to be treated well when 1. it was the airlines fault, and 2. I paid ALOT of money to be on this flight. So, since then i've kind of been noticing my attitude toward what kind of service I DO expect as a customer. It kind of seems like customer service has sortof gotten this huge division. It's either amazing or really lame. Does anyone agree?

I got some really really bad service a little bit ago and I felt I deserved better. Long story short, I called the manager to mention how poorly we were treated (in light of the fact we paid for service that cost upward of 100 bucks so yes, I felt like we should've been treated pretty good) I have never called on bad service before. Have any of you? I did, because the service performed wasn't even satisfactory so I thought he should know about it. Anyway, he was super appreciative and a little sad at the fact that his employee was lame so he gave us a gift card. We went back to the store...awesome service this time. I went back just the other day...bad bad bad service, like mean mean service. So, I'm just not ever going back there and they won't miss my business. Have you ever been treated so poorly that you just almost wanted to burst?

So, the other day we were at McDonalds. I was waiting in the crowded line when Merlin appeared and asked my how many straws I would need. Would I like ketchup, napkins?? He quickly returned with all of my extras, a high chair, and cookies for the kids. He then followed me to my seat and then went to pick up my order for me AND got our drinks. Merlin, you are great. So, I went and told his manager how amazing the service was and that we were treated so great. I don't expect to be treated like royalty, but man he made me FEEL like royalty and it brought a smile to all of our faces (the kids, me, the lady he helped next to me, the lady he helped behind me..)

Once when I was a working lady, I used to go to Reams in Utah and there was this awesome worker there and I actually called a radio station to have them give a "shout out" to this worker. She probably never heard it, but she deserved the praise.

And that's what I want to say about customer service. Said it.