12.30.2010

Quilt Redux

I swear I posted a year ago or maybe it was two about my failed Christmas present quilt to Judes but alas I can't seem to locate it. So here is a rough breakdown: I found a "simple" pattern online, bought supplies, waited way too long to get started on project, panicked and tried to get it done quickly, ended up making husband pack sewing machine in car for road trip to NC so I could work on it there, and finally failed to actually create a quilt. To this day, I like to blame the fuzzy, chenille blanket I bought as the backing (per instructions that said it was a quick and easy way to avoid using binding - I will confess they didn't suggest using chenille blanket but they also didn't tell me not to).
A good year passed and often I would think about that failure and have dreams of my poor mother freezing to death under a quilt that wasn't even a complete shape but it was the only one she had (yes, that last part is made up but play along).
So fast forward to a rainy night in maybe March when I left husband and children at home and risked my life at JoAnn's. I was not going to let that quilt haunt me anymore. I painstakingly (aka wished I had made someone go with me) selected fabrics based on new "simple" directions from Amy Butler (I am certain she will befriend me when she hears of my success even if I didn't use her fabrics). So I bought the fabric and as is par for the course it sat in my office for a long period of time. At first I planned on this being a Mom's Day gift, then I moved to a birthday present (June), then I moved to an Anniversary gift (August), and then I forced myself to acknowledge that this was going to be a Christmas present.
I worked on and off since about September (sad but true) but then got serious about two weeks before we were going to leave and this is where things got dicey and I made the decision to order a backup gift.  Call it Murphy's Law or call me a rock star but despite my one major set back (I managed to sew the entire quilt so the batting was on the outside), I was able to complete my first quilt. The only outstanding question is whether I need to put little ties in it to hold it together.


Riding on this success, I am mapping out some big plans for 2011.

12.29.2010

one last time

They are predicting some remarkably warm weather over the next few days (you can read that to be 40 degrees), which means the snow is going to melt (and Rick may thaw out a little). The boys are sad about the loss of snow so we decided to go out for one last spin.  The snow is in that weird melting and then refreeze, hard stage which means it is good for two things: making the sledding hill super fast and snowballs.




12.27.2010

Lake Ontario

We bundled up today and ran around town for a little bit. We drove by the lake at two different spots so we could see what it looks like in the winter.



I took both photos with this fun little app I loaded on my phone (Vignette).  This second one looks much more ominous than it actually was.

12.26.2010

Christmas in New York


It has been a busy but quiet Christmas week full of some Flisakowski traditions and a few other activities some that may be repeated.

Most of the week has been spent outside playing in the snow with one break to take a trip in town to visit the Children's Science and Technology Museum. Nana and I stayed back from the museum visit but the boys had a fabulous time and managed to get a trip in to Dinosaur BBQ, which we think may have been the reason Grandpa Pete and Rick were so eager to make the voyage in to Syracuse.

The boys have been asking since Thanksgiving to make a gingerbread house and Nana came through with a gingerbread kit. The boys had a blast but Nana and I didn't have our own houses and we both felt the need to decorate so I think next  year we will add this activity to our Christmas traditions but perhaps expand it. I will definitely be doing gingerbread house research as the day draws near for Christmas 2011.




We broke with the traditional cookies this year and opted to make cupcakes because Zachy got an early Christmas present. I am not sure we will have these every year but Zach enjoyed the change in tradition.



And of course it wouldn't be a Flisakowski Christmas if we didn't make pierogis. It went a bit faster this year because we had the whole family helping out. Zachy definitely had to be monitored as every now and again he would try to get creative with his technique but all in all it was a success. 





And finally, Christmas morning. We had a rough go of it Christmas night. Zach and JT were so excited that they had a hard time getting to sleep. About 3 AM Zach woke up crying about not being able to sleep so we rearranged sleeping partners only to have me wake up at 4 AM to find JT crying that he couldn't sleep because he had been out to the tree and knew that Santa had already stopped by. We ended up getting everyone to sleep until 7.


We all had a fabulous and relaxing day filled with legos, a few rounds of scrabble and some web chatting with Lauren.  We hope that you enjoyed your Christmas.

12.20.2010

it only took 8 years

or 5 years if you are Zach but the boys have finally gotten to experience snow.



JT absolutely loves being out in the snow. Zach goes out but isn't nearly as eager to stay out as JT is. I've been out once but Rick has yet to venture outside.

12.14.2010

12.11.2010

kid pitch tourney

JT and two of his buddies were asked if they wanted to play in a kid pitch tournament. While I was hesitant JT was ecstatic and talked about the tournament during the two weeks leading up to it. Why was I hesitant? I guess it is that silly mama bear syndrome, I was just worried for JT. Moving from coach pitch to kid pitch is a huge leap. The field is bigger, the rules change, and well you are batting against a "real" pitcher. 

The team was great, the tournament was great, JT played well for someone that has never played, and I managed to keep myself together the entire weekend. We lost all three games we played but it was a young team (most of them new to kid pitch) and a mix of kids that don't normally play together. Most importantly, all of the kids had fun. I admit that I am glad we have one more season of coach pitch and plenty of time to practice playing kid-pitch rules. I guarantee I will struggle with staying calm in the fall and not biting off my fingernails but I know JT will catch on quickly  (just like he has every other season) and will hopefully continue to love playing the game as much as I love to watch him.

The cutest part of the game was JT giving the "time" signal to the umpire. This is one of the many new rules from coach to kid and one that JT was ready to use.

It is great to see these photos after the game.  He has his eye on the ball just where it should be and didn't swing. It was close but looks like this one was inside.

JT checking his swing and looking to the ump for a call.

life in pville

There seems to be this odd trend in Pville of people moving. JT has two classmates that won't return after the holiday break because their parents have bought houses in Round Rock. Lucky for me I had the chance to chat with both parents at kid pick-up about their decision to leave. For both it sounds like a bigger house and just a good time to go. All of this moving has made me think about moving and whether we should move.
  1. A bigger house would be good but is it really necessary? When I think about what I would look for in a new house there are some "bells and whistles" that I would like but nothing essential. I think the only real thing I want  is one extra room; either a media/game room or an additional bedroom/office.
  2. The thought of cleaning out our closest sends shivers up and down my spine and makes me want to hide under the covers. It also makes me think that clean closest should be my #1 (or maybe #2) 2011 resolution.
  3. Where would I really want to live? We like Austin (maybe even bordering on love Austin) but I can't say that there is a neighborhood I dream of living in. Sure I wouldn't turn up a chance to find myself in a house in the Hyde Park neighborhood but I don't think we are suffering because of our location. And while we are constantly talking about moving closer to family, we aren't sure where that would be either.
  4. My dream is to live on a lake or the ocean and sometimes I feel like moving to anyplace other than that house sounds like too much work.
  5. And then I stop and think that all the above reasons are really silly and maybe we should start the process of looking.
And then there are nights like tonight, when we walk out our backyard and get to watch a parade go down the street. It makes me realize how lucky we are to live in a smaller neighborhood, to know everyone who lives around us, to recognize faces in a parade and say hi, to have a school where we know most of the teachers and they know us (or rather they know our kids). And then I revamp my list and realize that what really is  important to me right now is being/living in a community and being in a place where my kids can ride bikes with their friends, walk to a buddies house, and see a parade out their back door. The only thing that would make it perfect is to have everyone move here. (So come on Nguyens, get those boxes packed and get down here.)

The boys waiting for the parade to start.

The headliner of the parade.

12.08.2010

I Did It!

I can't tell you exactly what because it is a Christmas gift for someone but I promise you two things:
1) I will take some photos and post once I am sure the recipient has opened the gift
2) I am doing a happy dance around the house because of my success (and I think I am annoying Rick because I keep asking him if he likes it)

Now on to Christmas cards...

12.07.2010

Jedi Gingerman and Santa

Lord my last post depressed even me, which is really sad because being in possession of OK magazine (UK edition) is totally awesome.
But alas, nothing can be as awesome as what came home in Zach's folder the other day.

In case you are stumped, that is a Gingerbread Jedi Guy and for some very important reason he is linked to the tree. Not sure why but I was instructed to keep them together.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, we made an impromptu stop at an outdoor mall where we came upon Santa reading outside. JT didn't want to talk with Santa but Zach was definitely interested. I think JT logically questions the whole Santa thing but his imaginative side wants to hold on to the idea. Here are a few of the shots of Zach with the man in the red suit.




I love this shot because of his stiff legs. Hanging with Santa really causes some conflict with the entire Stranger-Danger message.

Big surprise but he asked for a spinning light saber and legos.

12.03.2010

Guilty Pleasure

As luck would have it or Murphy's Law, the next few weeks leading up to the holidays are packed with work. It seems like everyone wants something done prior to 12/17, which means my holiday spirit is a bit dampened. I am slowly coming to terms with the possibility of not making cookies or at least not making them at my house, who knows what will happen when we get to Nana's and Grandpa's and I have limited the holiday decorations. And of course we have a baseball tournament this weekend, which means two days will be lost (all for a good, enjoyable cause but lost all the same).

Despite my completely ridiculous workload and numerous holiday activities, the one thing I really want to do is curl up the following guilty pleasure that I was gifted to me when my sweet friend returned from her stay in London. Working from home has gotten me hooked on the Today show, which means I was closely following the big engagement!

11.26.2010

I ♥ Shutterfly

So you hung with me when I shamelessly promoted the blog and Shutterfly to help get my holiday cards. Well I have to tell you a few things:

1) My Christmas cards are ordered and I am excited. There were way too many choices and I may have over-photoed but I am excited all the same. I would love to give you a sneak-peek but I don't want to spoil the surprise.
2) Shutterfly is so absolutely awesome that over this past week they sent me a coupon for some free photos and on top of that they sent all sorts of other "deals" this week. I successfully knocked out a few gifts and projects.

I feel so accomplished I just don't know what to do with myself. I tried sharing my joy with Rick but his nose is stuck in a book and the boys are busy transforming the living room in to monster-train-track playground. So thanks for bearing with me as I shout my excitement about my recent experience on Shutterfly. I guess I will sit back and drink some wine and think about what to do next.

11.25.2010

Thanksgiving

We are all nestled in front of the TV while listening to the boys argue over how the blankets are arranged on their makeshift bed that is on the floor in our bedroom. Our Thanksgiving was quiet and delicious; the two best things you can ask for on a Thanksgiving. (And just as a side note: yes, we art sticking to our no cable experiment but AT&T is trying to suck us back in by giving us all the channels for free for this week.)

I didn't take any photos of our day but I am including one of a recent school project the boys worked on. Their school is having Diversity Day next week and each child was asked to create a family tree and then draw a person in traditional dress for a nationality (or is it ethnicity) in their family tree. They will have a parade through the school with their "doll."

JT selected Creek Indian, which is from Rick's maternal great-grandmother and Zachy picked Polish because it is from Grandpa Pete.

This picture doesn't do their artwork justice especially since you can't see the awesome glitter shoes that Zach created.

We hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving.

11.20.2010

Gearing up for the holidays

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I feel woefully behind. Rick's family will be in town to help us celebrate and we will partake in what is quickly becoming our own Thanksgiving traditions - long walks with the dog, a family trip to the big Half Price Books, and a trip to one of the art museums. I think we are trying the Blanton again this year because they have an Impressionist exhibit right now.

While I don't love Thanksgiving the way Rick does there are a few things that I do love - the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, having permission from Rick to start listening to Christmas music, and it is typically the weekend that I embark on one of my all-time favorite Christmas traditions: the Christmas card.

For those that know me well, they know that I absolutely love giving and getting Christmas cards. While social media has made it easier to stay in touch with friends that are far away it doesn't replace the intimacy and joy of receiving a photo card or a hand written greeting no matter how short. Imagine my surprise then when I learned that Shutterfly was offering this fabulous deal to bloggers (not to worry, you can sign up too - just visit http://bit.ly/sfly2010). I used to use Shutterfly all the time but then life got busy and I got lazy and I just started keeping all my photos on my computer and posting some of my favorites here on the blog. So now I am back on Shutterfly and I am looking forward to some Christmas card making and perhaps a few Christmas gifts!

There are a ton of cute options at Shutterfly.

I love this little girl but the card is cute too!


I like the design of this card and I could plug the blog with a note on the inside.


And this photo card is cute because it incorporates the letter.


It looks like I am going to be busy this Thanksgiving weekend trying to decide which card I want to use this year but despite the stress of it all, I am excited to get my cards together. I beg everyone to break away from facebook and order some cards. And if you aren't already, send me an email and I will be more than happy to add you to my growing Christmas card list.

11.16.2010

Rickwood Field

I am gearing up for some Christmas gifts that involve me gathering photos, which involved me admitting that I never finished going through my 800 photos from our summer vacation. And it means that I missed posting about what was one of the neatest parts of our trip, Rickwood Field.

Here is a brief overview (you can click on the link above to see the official website):

Rickwood Field, located in Birmingham, Alabama, is the oldest surviving professional baseball park in the United States. It was built for the Birmingham Barons in 1910 by industrialist and team-owner Rick Woodward and has served as the home park for the Birmingham Barons and the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues. Though the Barons have moved their home games to the suburbs, Rickwood Field has been preserved and is undergoing gradual restoration as a "working museum" where baseball's history can be experienced. Rickwood Field is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


Here are a few of my shots from that (very hot) day.








Fall Tourney

JT was asked to play in a fall tournament with some other kids from a Hutto team. It was an intense weekend of 6 games. The team managed to put together a stellar effort and went undefeated for the entire weekend. Even better was instead of adding another trophy to the already growing collect, each player was given a t-shirt.


Silly me for thinking baseball was over. Sounds like there is a chnace we will be playing in another one this weekend.

11.15.2010

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book Signing

JT's reading habits have been interesting. I think I have mentioned before that his first big, complete, read-it-on-my-own read was a biography about Roberto Clemente. After that he started some other books but he struggled with finding something that kept his attention until he bought Diary of Wimpy Kid #4 (for the record Rick purchased the book because I would have never sanctioned reading a series backwards) and then consumed 3, 2, and 1 (in reverse order because for some reason he thought it was fun).

Since then he has read other books although he started AR (Advanced Reading? or maybe Accelerated Reading?) at school this year and reading suddenly lost its enjoyment and became about a competition and being frustrated about not being able to read the Warrior books (which I think I am fine with him not reading - it is a series of books written by multiple people about a some warring factions of cats). And while he could read the Warrior books he can't check them out from the library because you can only get books within your AR level.

As usual I digress because what this is all about is that Diary of a Wimpy Kid #5 is out and thanks to the Largents being in the know we found out that Jeff Kinney would be at BookPeople for a signing. I took the little boys and Lexy took the big boys.

I should ask JT to provide a guest blog post to fully capture the event. He absolutely loved going. BookPeople had games set up, they got to meet the two stars of the movie, and of course they had their books autographed by Jeff Kinney, which when Rick and I asked JT if he told the kids at school about he responded with  "only certain moms and dads and a friend like Rhys would think having a book signed is cool."

Lexy has tons of cool shots that you can see, just click here.

And for the record although I have no photos to prove it, I took Zach and Griffin to Science Night at school. The teachers set up various experiments and activities throughout the school. The hit of the evening of course is the coke explosion, which is where they put a package of mentos in a 2-liter bottle of coke and it well, explodes or rather gushers out.

11.13.2010

I just wrote a letter to Santa!

I just wrote a letter to Santa!

For every letter received, Macy's will donate $1 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, up to $1,000,000. Help make wishes come true by writing your own letter to Santa!

11.11.2010

fall baseball

I have been storing this one up for a while and I am going to finally post some shots (sans commentary) of the boys from baseball. I can't take credit for any of these photos (thanks Lexy). I also wish I had time to put them in a collage or something fancy but instead you just get to scroll through some photos!






And now JT




This one requires some explanation. JT and Rhys are longtime Rangers fans. They both followed them religiously over the past few years and can tell you various random team facts.  The Rangers give each other the antlers when a player uses speed to make a play and they give a claw when a player used power on a play. This shot is of JT giving Rhys antlers for beating out a play at second (after JT hit the ball).