Re-introducing JonesTieDyes.com

Many of you know that I used to sell my tie-dyes online. It was my first website venture that I started when I got a job at StoresOnline. It was fun and a great learning experience but as orders became more regular, I realized that I was spending way more time in our old basement than I wanted to making tie-dyes till the wee hours of morning. So I stopped making tie-dyes and I took the site down a few months before Josh and Jane were born.

Well, I recently decided to re launch the site only this time I am not making the shirts, I have a wholesale supplier. I admit that they are not as nice as the ones I make but it has still been fun to get back into the tie-dye market even if it just means working on getting the website put together.

Check it out: http://www.jonestiedyes.com

This just makes me feel bad

So for Jane's third birthday I made her a princess cake with this
little number and she loved it, still talks about it all the time.
Well a few days ago she found miss "Suzy no legs" in the pantry with
other cake decorating supplies. She wanted to play with it so I
reluctantly let her see it. I didn't realize how much of an impact a
cake topper could make on my daughter. She wants to play with "her
doll" all the time now and it just makes me feel bad. I don't want to
get Jane involved with Barbies, tonight she told me her doll was a
Barbie, not a doll. Hmmm, but I don't really want her playing with
just half of one either.

As a little girl I played my little heart out with barbies, my sisters
and I loved them. I'm pretty sure all of them were second hand and a
lot of the clothes were homemade but we loved dressing them and
combing their hair. Someone gave us a Barbie Winebago and a much loved
Barbie Dream House and we poured hours and hours into aranging the
place and planning road trips. Okay I don't remember planning road
trips with my Barbies, I was not that cool, but what else could I be
doing with a Barbie camper??

Anyway, all the fun I had with my Barbies seems like a good reason to
get one for Jane's birthday this year, and I also feel like if I
withhold some thing reasonable she wants then it could turn into
something that ends in tears and years of threapy.

However, I really don't like Barbies, for so many obvious reasons and
have always sworn I will not give my girls Barbies to play with. So
what's a girl to do, let my daughter play with "No Leggies McGee" and
pretend Barbies with legs is just some wild and crazy idea thought up
as a marketing ploy, or brake down and buy her one?

Busy Day

We got off to a rough start yesterday, I layed on the couch and watched the kids play, and bemoaned my hurty back and sore legs. Then long about 10:30 it was warm enough outside to start our planting party so I got up. We planted herbs and veggies in yogurt containers that we will trasplant into the garden when the plants are big enough and are ready. I'm not sure if the kids will be able to leave all this dirt alone that long but so far so good.
The kids also had a great time with the new paints that we got last weekend while Kgordee was in So Cal. I love this picture of Josh because you can see the cute little Winnie the Pooh socks that Grandma and Grandpa Jones brought him back from Germany on his tootsies.


My biggest feat of the day however was removing the rest of the border in Elliot's room. I really hate most wall paper and this particular print is super lame. It was much more time consuming to remove then the last one in the twins room, but in the end I overcame and down it went. Hooray now let the painting begin.

Paragliders

Today I went to this place near Torrey Pines beach where a lot of
paragliders hang out high above the ocean. The constant wind coming up
from the water allows them to just hover in the air cruising back and
forth along the cliffs for as long as they want to or until they get
tired. It looked so fun but scary too. It was nice to take in some
great ocean views on such a beautiful day!

Sleeping Hosen, Hidden Dragon

When Jane sleeps it is such a beatuiful thing. She is so sweet and
quiet in her slumber that one might forget the beast within. Mosty
this happens after naps, though it has been known to happen in the
morning. Jane will wake up or be woken up and start demanding
everything under the sun. It is like she is the Emperor before his new
groove. Usually this will end in tears and a time out. Then as if
nothing was amiss she is suddenly sweet Jane again. This is not my
favorite game.

Am I too far gone?

So every time my niece comes over to babysit the kids she always brings over paper dolls for the kids to play with and they love them. So I thought I would take a look online and see what I can find in the paper doll department. Amazon had a great variety and guess what I found, yep these beauties, Pride and Prejudice paper dolls. Clearly not as dashing as the A&E version of the book, but also clearly very cool.

Yes, I know I'm thirty but I still have children who want to play with toys and want me to play with them. I can sit forever and play legos with Josh but Jane and I don't have a lot that we can do together except draw and play with play dough. So I'm really excited to get these in the mail. I also ordered some Flower Fairies dolls and some A Midsummers Night's Dream dolls.

I'm not sure who will have more fun playing with them, me or Jane.

Josh

I walked into Josh's room for a last goodnight kiss and here's what I get.

Josh: I want to be the President.

Me: That's great, you will do wonderful things for our Country.

Josh: I am United States.

Me: Cool.

Hey, only three and a half years old and he already knows what he wants.

Nesting

So this is the latest sweater for Elliot, this only makes two so far as I gave the other two away. I love this yarn, it's from KnitPicks.com and is super cottony and soft with a very pretty sheen. It's a worsted weight yarn so this sweater has knit up really fast and it will be nice and thick without being too warm.

I know, I know, it's the same sweater as the last one I knit up, but I can't help it, this pattern is so fun to make. Every time this pattern comes together I can't believe how simple it is. I love the curled neck line, it looks so sweet on babies. I'm going to make a hat to match and maybe a little blanket too.

Bunk Beds

We have been thinking for months about what kinds of sleeping arrangements would most likely work (keep the baby from bodily harm) after Elliot arrives. If we put the baby in with Josh, he wouldn't survive the night, if we put the baby in with Jane he might last a little longer but would eventually be "loved" to death. Neither of those options really work for us.

Michelle suggested bunk beds and we were all over that idea. So we put the kids in Josh's room while we painted and got their new shared room ready. I wanted to paint and redo things so that it would seem more like their room and less like Jane's old room.

I love this yellow even though it is a little bit brighter then I originally wanted and it's really hard to see the actual color in the pictures. The first color I had could not be color matched and was a little more mellow. Coincidentally the color we went with is called Mellow Yellow.

The painting went faster then I thought, due to the help of Danna and Kgordee but the prep work was super lame. I really hate wall paper borders, at least it came off okay, but it still took forever.

I still have a lot to work on in the room but at least the paint is done and the beds are up. Now I just have to worry about the kids jumping off the top bunk, hanging from the rails and being crazy.

Workingman's Blues

Josh loves to dress up as a "Working Man" almost as much as Jane likes to be a Princess. At the suggestion of a friend we picked up some dress up hats and things at a party planning store in town. He just puts on his boots (snow boots that Dorri sent) and any number of hats or capes and suddenly he is a super hero, Nacho Libra, a fireman, a train engineer, a pirate (my personal favorite) a cowboy or Jack the Pumpkin King. I love it, especially when he walks around saying "Arrgh Matey", "Walk the Plank" and "Shiver me Timbers".

In the first picture he is using his underwear as a tool belt, then we found his real tool belt and he was okay with that too. If you are wondering, pants don't usually factor in when choosing a costume.

Old McDonald

The twinners and I went to Home Depot a few days ago to get our garden started early this year, well compared to last years late-ish start. I have been saving large yogurt containers all year for just this reason, I'm starting indoors this year. To be honest I have no idea when I'm supposed to start sprouting said seeds. I could be seriously embarrassing myself in front the "home garden" community with my lack of know how, but whatev.

I'm just going to give it a whirl and see what happens. I'm excited though, I have all kinds of tomato seeds to start inside and soon will be procuring pepper seeds as well. We picked up some potting soil and some cow poop to get us started.

Last year my garden was very successful but quite unruly with it's twenty seven tomato plants and meandering gourd population. We are going for simplicity this year as I will also have a man child to care for in addition to the twins. So a few herbs, maybe seven or eight tomato plants and some small veggie action.

Since my compost dreams died a shameful death, I think I am going to regroup and come up with a better plan than the free for all it turned into last year. Hmm. Anyway, I'm looking forward to warmer weather and some fun garden time with the kids.