Secret Garden

Mitchell and Paul have planted a little garden in our backyard, and Mitchell is very, very proud. However, he won't tell anyone what's been planted, saying instead that it's a secret.

Several times a day, we have to go outside and check on the plants. I can't wait for them to produce some yummy veggies, including squash, several different peppers, tomatillos, green beans and even (though not a vegetable) tomatoes.

Awesomesauce

Anytime Noah sees the pantry door open, he goes in and brings me a tub of applesauce and says "Sauce." And, nine times out of ten, I distract him with something else as I take it away and throw it back in the snack basket. Every now and then, though, you just have to pull off his shirt and let him enjoy a sweet treat.

It always starts out good, using the spoon and all.

Then, he gives up the spoon and goes for the two-handed dip.

I'm (sometimes) a smart mommy, as I pulled off his shirt before ever plopping him in the chair. I will note that I had to replace his pants after he finished, as they were splattered with apples. His hair somehow escaped the stickiness this time. (His belly - not so lucky!)

A is for Adorable

For our friend Audrey's first birthday, I made her the tutu. I also made her a sweet little shirt with an A (for Adorable Audrey, of course!).

I used a scrap of fabric from another project then fused it on. Added a pink zigzag to enclose the edges. For a little more cuteness, I added little pearls to the centers of the flowers (the green centers on the fabric were a little too bright). The little pearl-centered pink bow at the neck was the perfect final touch.

Shop For a Cure

I'm hosting a fund-raising shopping event to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. If you're unable to attend, you can shop online:

Silpada – Browse Julie’s on-line catalog then shoot me an email with what you’d like to order. I’ll total it all up for you and arrange payment.

Southern Living at Home – Check out Sally’s on-line catalog. Click “How to Purchase” in the upper right-hand corner of the virtual catalog. Then, enter Mary Gannon in the hostess search fields.

Pampered Chef – Peggy’s catalog is set up for on-line purchase. Please enter Mary Anna Gannon as the hostess.

If you're interested in attending and need driving directions, please let me know.

You can also make a donation to the LLS via my Team in Training page. Just click the TNT logo to the left over there or click here.

Tutu Cute!

I finished a tutu for our friend's Audrey's first birthday. I hope she loves it! It was lots of fun to make, and I think I'll add them to my etsy shop.

Audrey's tutu is pale pink and white tulle with pink satin bows tied around the waist plus pearl-centered tiny satin bows sprinkled in.

To complete her first birthday gift, I'm appliqueing an A on a onesie. I have some cute scraps of pink and white floral fabric that I'm using.

Beautiful Artwork

Yesterday, Mitchell attended an art class at Artworks. Here are some of the paintings he created, with his own words to tell the story of the paintings. The last image is one of a leaf he took with my camera a while back (that I never got around to posting). Since this is all about his art, I thought it was a nice addition.

The cat jumped all the way up to the moon. The cat that jumped on the
moon had no problem. Someone was going to cook the cat and eat the cat.
Isn't that rude? So it jumped up to the moon. That's a black cat and that's for Halloween.


That picture has a little crack and then it has a door for an invisible castle.
That's all about that one.

This tree has a bendy branch. The gold glitter is the wind. The tree is
starting to lose its leaves. It's because the wind is blowing.

Two brown tire tracks. Someone else did the colored part.
Someone took away mine (tire track print) so I decided to add tracks to theirs.

The leaf fell into a hole.

This was the first time I've left Mitchell somewhere other than preschool. I was a little nervous when I dropped him off. But, he charged right in, grabbed a smock and brought it to me to put it on. He was "jumping right in" (his words for trying something new).

All was well until it came time to go and he couldn't find his tire track print. Apparently they were all hanging on a wall to dry and another child took his by mistake. The fantastic staff searched high and low for Mitchell's print but to no avail. Miss Lisa, who runs Artworks, sprung to the rescue and grabbed a stack of left artwork and encouraged Mitchell to add his tracks to it. He did it reluctantly, but he cried about his missing artwork for almost an hour.

Purse for Stefani

Stefani (my step-sister and very, very longtime friend) said she'd love to have a camo purse. So, I scoured Hancock and picked out the prettiest camo I could find. Right near it was some denim, and I thought the two would work well together.

I added a little gimp and some rhinestones for sparkle - and voila! A chic camo handbag.

The back and inside are all camo, and the straps are camo on one side and denim on the other. After a little (HUGE!) snafu, I think it turned out quite nice.

It's fun to step outside your "comfort zone" sometimes and work with something you wouldn't normally. (Camo isn't really my thing, but Stefani tells me "it's the new black." She may be on to something!)

The Things We Do

Mother is the one we count on for the things that matter most of all.
- Katherine Butler Hathaway
"The Journals and Letters of the Little Locksmith"

I am a mother. Aside from having two gorgeous boys to remind me of this day after day, I am reminded of this when I do the absurd.

For instance, just a few minutes ago ...

Paul takes Mitchell up to bed then rushes down asking if I know where Mr. Silly is.

(Mr. Silly is a rubbery gecko toy that Mitchell received in a goodie bag at a birthday party this weekend.)

Apparently, Mitchell decided that Mr. Silly needed to join us for tea in the backyard this afternoon, and Mitchell forgot to bring him back inside and tuck him safely into his bed.

So, at approximately 9:10 tonight, I grabbed a flashlight, turned on the outside lights, slipped on some shoes and began the search for Mr. Silly.

Yes, I searched the grass around the area where we had our tea party. I checked the chairs and tables on the patio. I even looked in the sandbox. In a moment of desperation, I climbed to the top of the playscape and looked all around before sliding down again.

(Note to self: You should really work on that Sir Mixx a Lot booty if you want to go down that slide much more.)

Then I remembered the struggle I had with Mitchell during the tea party when he insisted that Mr. Silly needed to take a bath. In the backyard. At that moment. With the water hose.

I walked over to the hose and found poor Mr. Silly with his head stuck inside.

I picked him up and whisked him away to Mitchell's room. We all bid him goodnight, and Paul tucked him into his little tissue bed which he fashioned on Sunday night.

Ah, the things we do for our children!

TNT Update

I'm really getting into the groove of running.

This past Saturday, I ran 4 miles in Brackenridge Park, around the zoo, down by the Witte Museum, down Avenue B past Walden Pond and The Acorn then up by the public golf course, turning in front of Joseph's to head past Bombay Bicycle Club and back to the zoo parking lot - and back to the corner and back again to make my last mile.

My pace group ran at a 2:1 pace, which means we'd run for 2 minutes then walk for 1. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

The coaches all say you should be able to run and comfortably carry on a conversation, and that's just what we did. It's so nice to get to know new people!

Afterward, a few of us headed to Joseph's to pick up breakfast. I had the most unbelievable kolache with homestyle sausage and hash browns inside. OH. MY. GOD. I could eat that everyday! I also brought home one with veggies inside - carrots, spinach and cheese - plus a humongous cinnamon roll for the boys to split. (Luckily they just picked off the icing, leaving the good, gooey stuff for Paul and me to pick at!)

I was amazed at how good I felt after the run. I was happily tired but not exhausted. I probably could have run the second leg of the training run, but since I'm training for the half marathon, I got to cut out early and cheer on the other runners and walkers as they finished.