Sunday, August 19, 2012

Gifts for Nieces

Last week I made a couple of small things for my nieces, which of course couldn't be shared until I gave them to them yesterday. My oldest niece turned sixteen last week, and she'd asked for a special birthday shirt, like the one I made my daughter. Of course, I was happy to make her one!


There are some smudgy bits that I'm not happy with, but I stopped myself from pointing out each and every one to my niece. Once the first coat of paint had dried, I had to touch up a few spots, so I did, but those spots (don't know why) began to look different as they dried, so I covered the whole thing with an even coat of paint, but those touched-up spots still look different to my eye. This has never happened before with this paint, so I'm not sure what caused it or what to do differently next time. Other than that, I think it's adorable and it looked really nice on my terribly grown-up looking niece.

Since we were bringing gifts for my oldest niece and a gift for my nephew (whose birthday was last month, but I was a little late!), I thought it would be nice to bring something for the youngest in the family, a five-year-old who has to wait all the way until February for another birthday. Using her Zodiac sign of Pisces as inspiration, I painted her a rock.


Black is her favorite color, and I wanted to use silver on the black, and she also likes pink...and thus the color scheme was set.

And my husband and I received a HUGE gift of our own--we left all three of our children with my sister after the birthday party and we spent the night in Boston. From about 5 pm Saturday night until about 1 pm Sunday, we were in Boston just us, doing grown-up things. We got dressed up and went out to dinner. We had brunch and I didn't have to stop eating to cut anyone's food. (It was fairly easy to find safe places for me to eat in Boston. It is such a treat to simply go out to eat.) We talked without anybody interrupting us. We slept past 7 am. When I say we have rarely managed to date since having children, that is a huge, huge understatement. This was like a decade of dates rolled into one, and it was long past-due.

(I have the best sister, don't I?)

7 comments:

Shell said...

I loved hearing of your date with your husband Amy .. I know how hard it is to do something just for yourselves as a couple.
The last time me and my husband spent time together alone it was only for a day in Manchester on my birthday and I felt horrible for not bringing my youngest boy along as he loves the place.It nearly killed me not to drag him on the train at the last minute and all day I kept saying, he would love this, he would think this funny.
I think once you have children, it's really hard to switch off.

Donna Lee said...

We keep regular date nights now that our children are grown but I remember all too well the years of not going anywhere without someone in tow.

I'm glad you got to have an adult night. It's reaffirming of the relationship (and that's what it's all about, right?)

Anne said...

Love your painted rocks! I've just discovered your lovely blog, and am now following! So nice to "meet" you! ♥
Hugs,
Anne

Cameron said...

Oh man....an honest to goodness Date Night and Sleepover with your Hubby! Lucky girl!!

Those gifts are great! The fact that you made them yourself makes them all the more special :)

Helen said...

I'm so glad you both had a lovely time on Saturday night. Well done both of you!

Gorgeous gifts, too!

Rose Red said...

Those are great gifts! I can't see any smudges!

Yay for your sister and yay for date night! We had a similar surprise date night a few weeks ago - we went away for a long weekend to the town where my best school friend lives, and she offered to look after C so we could go out for dinner! Completely unexpected and it was lovely! Our first grown up dinner for ages!

Karen Isaacson said...

oh, I'm so happy for you! sounds like a wonderful getaway. love the way your t-shirt and rock turned out.