hang your hat

It's no secret that I love a deal. To be fair, I probably enjoy the hunt for the deal more than the deal itself, but there's no denying the sense of accomplishment in finding a great deal. After working in retail for years, I find it virtually impossible to pay retail for anything. Unless, of course, I come across an incredible knockoff that costs less than $10 (as illustrated in the story below).

It all started when I saw these coatrack dots in the Design Within Reach catalog:

I wanted something to spruce up the blank walls in our little entryway--and honestly, a place to hang my bag--but I was not thrilled with the $149 price tag for a set of five wooden dots. Then the next day (literally) the CB2 catalog arrived in the mail, and I saw these...

a set of three dot coat hooks for $9.95. I couldn't believe it. I ordered two sets. The dots were backordered for two months, and I was sort of convinced they would never get here, but Saturday when we got home from the soccer game this box was waiting on our front porch:

Catcher couldn't wait to rip open the package to see what was inside. It doesn't matter what's inside. It's always exciting. Of course, more exciting than the coat dots was the bubble wrap:

This is what happened when Scout woke up from her nap on Saturday and thought there was no more bubble wrap left to pop. She cheered up after I brought out a piece I had saved for her, but we had to wait for Alex to get home on Monday to bring out the power tools and finish the project:

After selecting the right size bit, he handed the drill over to Scout. Two year-olds and power tools are a great combination. (Don't freak: Scout didn't really drill anything. She just looked cute holding it.)

And here's the end result. I like the look--kind of sculptural/artsy. I told Alex that although we technically have a place to hang "stuff" now, we (and I mean he) can't go junking it up with ESPN hats and dirty gym bags.

story time

Story time is a big deal around here. When all else fails, I call out "Who wants to hear a story?" The only thing better than Alex or me reading to the kids is when they start "reading" to themselves (or each other). Reading, of course, means reciting at this age. Scout has a few of her favorites memorized, and here she is "reading" them to Tillie before nap time this afternoon:

And then Tillie picked one for herself...

week in review

I know Sunday is technically the first day of the week, but there's something about it that feels like the last day of the week. Am I the only one who thinks this way? Sunday is the day that we eat pancakes for breakfast and the day that I clean the house. It's also the day when the New York Times arrives on my doorstep, and I have visions of reading the Sunday Styles while drinking coffee on the back--or front, I'm not picky about this, but I'm probably in pajamas so back is better--porch. In this daydream the children are playing quietly together to the gentle sounds of classical music.

I think I've eluded to this dream before. I'll let you know when it comes true. In the meantime, in the spirit of reflection, here's a look back at some of the outtakes from this week. (Or rather last week.)

the 2nd half of the day

Today was one of those impossibly long days. The whole gang was up at 6:30--to be accurate, I was having a dream when Catcher woke me up at 6:32--for an 8:00am soccer game. Collectively by noon we had had breakfast, attended the soccer game, worked out at the Y and devoured two snacks and lunch. The ladies were exhausted. When I put them down for their naps at 12:06 I knew it was going to be a long afternoon.

I'm not even sure what I did while the girls were napping. Catcher was insisting we play football in the front yard, but my excuse was not having any shoes (they were upstairs in my bedroom where Tillie was napping). I think we read some stories. Oh...and I took a shower while Catcher worked on his Legos. That was amazing.

When the girls woke up around 2:00, here is how the rest of our day transpired:

After napping it always takes Scout a few minutes to re-acclimate to the waking world.

Not pictured: the little guys had yet another snack and Tillie took five steps all by herself in the kitchen. I baited her with some goldfish. I tried getting a picture, but when she saw the camera she was only interested in me turning it around so she could look at the LCD screen. I swear it happened, though.

After the snack it was time for a little walk/scooter-bike ride that culminated in a rock climb (of sorts) at our neighborhood Sparky Park.

That was fun, but when we got home (still not even 4:00 yet) Catcher came up with the idea of having a pillow fight on my bed. The kids were sweaty and dirty. I thought about it. No way. Then I looked at the clock--3:38. Then I thought about it again. Sure...why not?

At 4:30 the kids were asking for dinner. I wasn't going to fight them on that one, so I threw together one of my specialties--shells and cheese for the girls and tomato soup for Catcher--and hoped it would take them three times as long to eat it as it took me to make it. Catcher picked out the "slow jams" playlist on my Songza app, so that created an interesting atmosphere at the table. 

After their baths I let the little crazies run wild around the house because it was still only 5:56pm.

Scout enjoys her naked time after the bath. She'll hate me some day for this picture, but seriously...how cute is that? I couldn't resist.

Catcher was prancing around the foot of his bed preaching about something. I'm sure he was trying to reason with me about how he should be able to watch two shows tonight because last night was movie night and he watched Shrek, which he tried to watch two Fridays ago but the DVD player wasn't working because the batteries in the remote were dead...and that somehow necessitated two new shows tonight.

But then leave it to Catcher to be a part of the day's sweetest moment. His kiss on Tillie's forehead was totally unscripted and I can't believe my luck in capturing it.

And that was Saturday. What will we do tomorrow?

i spy something...

I love it when one of the kids discovers a toy that they forgot they had, and it's new all over again. This afternoon Catcher found his missing binoculars--I didn't know they were missing until they were found--and he dragged me out on the porch with him so he could look at...something (anything).