Leah's 2nd birthday, cont'd...

Leah celebrated her birthday one more time ON the day of her birthday. Now she is officially "2"! She had breakfast scones with fresh strawberries (her favorite) and candles in her scone. We went out to lunch as a family and then decorated cupcakes in the afternoon to have after dinner. She definitely got her alloted dose of the Happy Birthday song for one day! Here she is with her dangly earrings acting all of her age already!

We are enoying the nice spring weather, and getting lots of things done outside...weeding, getting the camper ready for camping, kids playing, etc.

Leah's 2nd Birthday!

Leah just celebrated her 2nd birthday today, although the big day is not till later this week. She loved every minute of it, and I'm sure will continue in true MacQuilliam fashion by extending the festivities as long as she can! Heather made her a ladybug cake, and the kids made ladybug antennae to wear instead of party hats. While Leah was watching me make her cake, she kept saying, "That's my cake!", and to top it off, she had us sing the Birthday song twice and she blew out her candles twice! She would have had us do it again, but 2 times was plenty to hear "Happy Birthday" out of key :)

Dennis' sister and mom came over, as well as Heather's parents for the party. She loved her presents, and her big gift was a youth bed which used to be Heather's. We painted it white and put a cute flower garden on the headboard. Heather made sheets and a dust ruffle for it (it is an odd size) and hung a tulle canopy over her bed. She really loves it and sits there like a real princess. She took her first nap in her new bed this afternoon and did great! She is getting to be such a big girl.

Eric and Bay had fun testing out her new "girl toys", and Eric was a great big brother helping her unwrap her gifts, and reading all her cards to her.

She also got a couple of new outfits for gifts, and each time she would unwrap one, she would immediately start taking her clothes off so she could try on the new clothes. I don't think I have ever seen a little girl like trying on clothes so much. We really have got something in store for us in the future!

I only put one picture here, but follow the link to webshots to see a bunch of pics from the day's festivities. Hope you enjoy our cutie as much as we do!

Roman Shade

Not too much new has been done to the bedroom remodel lately. We've finished all the painting, got the drapes hung and I just made my first Roman shade for the casement window. It was fairly easy, except that I chose the same slippery fabric the hanging drapes were made of, and it was terribly difficult to lie straight and cut square. I backed the whole piece of fabric with black fusible interfacing for stiffness and to keep it from slipping and sliding while i sewed it. That worked wonderfully! It involved lots of measuring and dredging up those old math facts, but once the figuring was done, it was a cinch to put together! I am considering making 3 more for the sewing room, but using a much stiffer fabric this time!

Next big project underway is Leah's birthday present. Pictures to follow soon once all is completed and installed!

Mission Organization: Closet & Schoolroom

We have been diligently working to get some areas of the house more organized. We recently re-organized the school room and it is much more efficient and roomy! Can't wait to start school in it this week.

We also got our closet just about finished. For the past month or so, since the bedroom demolition has started, our clothes have been scattered throughout parts of the basement, sometimes we weren't even sure where they were! Anyways, except for a shoe rack on Heather's side and a closet door on Heather's side, the closet is painted and done!

We also added a set of french doors to our room (not painted and no hardwarde yet, but they're up) so we can close off our room and now officially say that we have a bedroom! Yay!

There are complete sets of the pictures in our Webshots link.

Seven Springs Ski Trip

We enjoyed a little winter vacation with Heather's parents up at Seven Springs in PA this past week. Although we had to leave a little earlier than expected to avoid the ice storm that came through, once we got there and started skiing, the weather was perfect...just cold enough, but not tooooo cold. We stayed slopeside, which makes it real easy for skiing in and out and taking turns on the babysitting shifts. Bay even tried skiing this year, and despite spending most of his time down on the snow as in the picture above, he really enjoyed it! He had such a great attitude, and really wanted to spend more time going fast down the big hills between a grown-up's skis than doing it on his own on the little hill.

Eric skiied up a storm this year, and was keeping up with the rest of us on the more advanced hills. I think we really wore him out a few times, but he had fun and is getting better and better each time we go.

Leah didn't make it onto skis this year, but she thoroughly enjoyed the cozy condo, her new dollhouse, coloring and reading books....and lots of attention!

As for falls and spills, the count was as follows: Gramps-1 big fall, Granni-1 fall in the lift line, Dennis-2 falls (they were more like rolls!), Heather-1 big fall, one silly fall getting off the lift, Eric-not really sure, but more than 1, Bay-at least 30!

Heather and Gramps did a NASTAR race (throught the gates like downhill races in the Olympics) which was fun. We headed back to do it again so Dennis could race, but they closed just before we got there. Oh well, maybe next year!

More pictures are on our Webshots page, so follow the link~