The End

Today marks the last day Zoe will be in pre-kindergarten.  Actually all types of pre-schooling.  Next we enter the world of kindergarten and her schooling career.  It's an odd thing to realize.  To distract from all the weird emotions of this milestone, we made teacher gifts.

We painted a terra cotta pot black and wrote on it with a white paint pen to make it look like a chalkboard.  Then we planted a flower into it and made a card.  Inside the card it says, "thank you for helping me grow this year."  Zoe wrote her name and drew a sunflower.

Super cute, super easy. 

The Exploding Pineapple

Last November N, Zoe and I went to the great state of Texas to visit our family for Thanksgiving.  Also, not to mention, it was Zoe's and my first time there and we were introduced to Chick-fil-A.  I don't think I really need to say more than that, unless you've never had it.  Almost 365 days later, I still have cravings.  Sometimes they are so strong, the plane ticket to Texas doesn't seem too bad. 

That Chick-fil-A sauce can sure sidetrack me.  While we were there, Aunt DeeDee was gracious enough to drive me to a quilt store in north Austin.  Honey Bee Quilt Store was absolutely darling.  If I had been in town for another couple weeks, I would've definitely signed up for their Mariner Star quilt class.  So hard, but so beautiful. 

While at Honey Bee, I found a fabric that spoke to my heart.  It was Grease fabric.  If you know me, you'll know that has been one of my favorite movies since I was 4.  I know all the lines, know all the songs and even have the soundtrack on record.  When I was younger and my mom would have game nights, they'd usually play Trivial Pursuit.  Because I was too young to play that game, she would change all the questions to Grease questions for me.  Bless her heart.

It was hot pink, black and white.  I had zero idea what I was going to do with Grease fabric, but I knew I had to have it, much like Cha-Cha had to win that dance contest on national television. 

I figured I'd make a table runner and pull it out when I was feeling sassy.  Then I went to the Washington State Quilt Show and saw the Exploding Pineapple quilt.  My Grease fabric began to speak to me.  This is the result:

It's wild, bright and a total departure for me.  I LOVE it.  I have zero idea what I'm going to do with it.  N is a little paranoid that I'm going to want to hang it in our living room or something.  It still needs a couple borders and to be finished, but I think it's super fun.  Just looking at it makes me smile. 

It turned out TWOrific

I finally finished the invites for Zoe's TWOrific birthday party. I have been kicking around the idea of this butterfly/garden party for months now. I've purchased all the decor and plates. I settled on the card design in December.

I'm really good at having a vision. I know exactly what I want, even if I've never seen it before. Just ask my mom about the joy of my wedding reception centerpieces. She's more of a pattern girl. I'm more off-the-cuff.

Which is probably why I have so much fun planning Zoe's birthday parties. Ask N about the joy of months of talking, talking, talking about how great, oh how great and fun, lots of fun this party will be. How cute she'll be with all her little friends and the butterflies and the games, oh the games we'll play.

Imagine my frustration when I sat down to do the invites, only to discover the idea of the flowers that came from my new card making book, were hard. REALLY HARD. Like origami sometimes doesn't make sense when you put it into written directions hard. Fortunately N thinks like those people who write origami instructions and whipped out the first little petal as my template.

Then had to show me 5 more times "how do you that again?"

Without further ado, the finished product.

With 8 little 1.5" x 1.5" pieces of origami. Per invite. Times that by 20. That's 160 of those little bad boys. Pretty soon I'll be packing leftovers for N's lunch in foil shapes to keep up on my new origami skillz.

All the frustration and folding, hours of folding, were totally worth it. It's going to be a great time with all her little friends and the games and the food and the cake, shaped like a butterfly.

Sometimes I just can't stop myself.