Grandparents Weekend

Catch up. Yes, I know. The story of my life. In my defense though, not much has been happening. We know our days of freedom are coming to an end, so we are squandering them-doing very little, and just enjoying being together. If you are interested, a snippet of our goings-on can be found at my picture-a-day blog, linked on the sidebar.

And now onto the rest of the post.

My parents came this weekend-one last chance to see the Grandkids before they leave the country for 18 months. We had a great time, mostly just visiting, but we did make a great trip to deception pass (separate post), and picked blackberries for syrup (also separate post-sorry, it's how my OCD brain works best.) My mom also consented to allow me the use of her serger while she is gone (still trying to figure it out- way, way, more confusing than my sewing machine), and brought a bunch of canning stuff, and a project that I will be working on for Baby Sister's Christmas (Stay tuned). Overall - really good weekend. Thanks for visiting Gramma Gramma, and Grampa Grampa.

The boys, with Grandpa.

Voices

Beefy is getting a cold, and when I mentioned to him that he sounded sick he looked at me and said, "I'm not sick, I'm just talking like a girl."

Vinyl Crazy

I've been cutting a lot of vinyl lately for my sister who is a preschool teacher. She is getting ready to go back to school next week, and needed some stuff for her classroom. Well, me being one who hates wasted space, added a few of my own vinyl projects onto her leftovers.

I hate it when garbage ends up in my recycle bin - which it does, a lot. Hopefully this will help.

Sign for the boys room. The part above just says their names and denotes it as their room.

Lighting in the kid's bathroom sucks.

Pretty Kitchen Aid. I love it even more now.

My friend Melissa came over one day, and we made some vinyl for her too. You can check it out here.

I have a no soliciting sign too, but it's pretty basic and boring, so no picture.

YW Handouts

I wanted to share this idea. I think it turned out kind of cute.

So the lesson I'm teaching in YW today is on obeying the laws of your country, and patriotism. I wanted to do a cute handout to go with it, something patriotic that still tied in with the lesson. This is what I came up with.

A vinyl cutout on a piece of 1x3x3 scrap wood, painted red, with the related scripture mod-podged onto the back. They were alot easier to make then they looked, and the girls have a cute little patriotic decoration they can display now.
I also made a bigger version on a 2x6x6, to display during the lesson.

Thanks for reading.

Cute Fabric Flowers

I made these a while ago and have been meaning to post them. They are embarrassingly easy and super fun and there are tons of tutorials online (a good one is here). Anyway here is a sample of what I've made, with some tips I've learned along the way.

First off - Fabrics I've used are Tulle, Organza, and Taffeta. I've tried satin, and it didn't work so hot, but I might give it another try. I think I just wasn't paitent enough.

With the tulle, I used almost 20 layers for each flower. It's pretty thin, and it takes that many to make it look right.

I had a candle lit, and sitting nearby so I didn't have to keep using my lighter, much easier.

Also, I sewed my layers together instead of gluing. I think it looks nicer.


The rhinestone centers are just cheapo ones I found at the craft store for like 99 cents a pack. The others are from an antique brad set (love them) that I got from Stampin' up.

Can I just say how much I am loving this headband. I took 3 small flowers and glued them onto a $1.95 ForLove21 headband. Super happy with it. (The headband I mean, not so much the picture- but my husband thinks I needed a shot of me wearing it.)

Can't wait to make more.

Chips

A while back we had the good fortune to come into the possession of a food dehydrator. Right after we got it, we used it a bit to dry some fruit and make some jerky but it has sat in our closet not being used for a few months now.

I pulled it out again this week to dry some apples that the kids weren't eating, and some bananas that were going bad. Well, apparently that is all it took. They downed the first batch of apples within minutes (literally) and we had to make a second batch. They helped with that one.
These are definitely going into the school lunch rotation. Now if only I can come up with other ideas to keep his lunches interesting. (Feel free to add your ideas in the comments!)

Look how domestic I'm becoming (good grief). I've already done strawberry jam this year, now I'm drying fruit - and this week we are canning 50# of peaches (minus the ones we've eaten), making blackberry jam and syrup and just might try blueberry syrup if I can get some picked in time. If any of you have good syrup recipes you can share them too. ; )

Just call me Martha!

While Mom's Away...

...The boys will play.

I went to girls camp for a day this week. It was fun, and going for a day (then coming home to shower) is kind of a nice thing. Anyway - Daddy and the boys have a tradition when I am gone, of making bready guys. It started out as bready bears, then last time it morphed into bready Yodas (we were in a Star Wars phase) and this time - bready Sonic and Pokemon guys. It's a good thing they have good imaginations I guess.

Pikachu and Drifloon

Amy and Sonic

Ready to be baked.

Finally!

Its official. As of about Monday this week, we finally have a walker. I shouldn't complain - at 16 1/2 months she is still way earlier than her brothers - but she's been working on this for a while. It's nice to finally have her off her hands and knees and on her feet.

Just Because

Just because they're cute.

Pretty Quiet on the Home Front

There's not much new around here. Summer has finally come to the great northwest, so our days have been spent playing outside and relaxing inside-reading, playing or watching TV - parked in front of our sad little window-mount a/c unit. (Whoever told us that central air isn't necessary in WA was LYING!)

I've been working on a few craft projects (hopefully pics soon), and getting my to do list ready for all of my Christmas projects. Now before you start calling me crazy - yes, I know it's July, but I also know that it will take me a while to finish all of my gifts this year (there are a few big projects in there). Plus -I like to be finished with the whole "Christmas Shopping/Crafting" thing well before Thanksgiving. It helps with my stress levels.

The boys chose to forgo swimming lessons this summer. When I asked them if they wanted to do it, Buggy responded with an emphatic, "Of course not!" So, rather than make them do it anyway, I saved myself a bunch of cash, and opened up some more free time for us. Hopefully we will be able to put it to good use.

They are signed up for soccer in the fall. I think that, plus all day school for Bug, preschool for Beef, our usual twice-a-month therapy with Sister, my piano students, and my (and my husband's) church responsibilities will make for plenty to keep us busy. It's a good thing we have some free time now to enjoy.

So, that's what's new with us. Just for fun...Here are a few shots from some recent park trips (two different ones) for your enjoyment.