Summer happenings.

A few things to share from recent weeks...

Haircuts.  Yes, I consider that blog-worthy because I take them on my own.  And honestly, every time I go I wonder why I don't always tote around lollipop bribes.  It does wonders to keep them in the chairs...    

      

...an impromptu scavenger hunt orchestrated and executed by daddy as a wake-up treat for the oldest boys.  It sent them dashing up and down and every which way throughout the house.  They moved so quickly that my attempt to capture it all ended in a sad, blurry mess (I'm trying to shoot in manual these days and can't change camera settings very fast!)... 

As an extra bonus, the hunt included a gift for mom, too--some early morning quiet time as they enjoyed the fruits of their search (Star Wars books hidden in the washer)...

We're packing in a lot of activities and outings during these dwindling weeks of summer.  More to share soon.  Because I don't want to forget this special family time.  I'm smart enough to know that these summer days with my little ones only seem endless. 

Sandra

Jumpy.

Just a little thing that will pass all too quickly that I hope to remember:  Our little man loves to jump.  At a very young age (18 months), he could get both feet off the ground.  Now that he's two and a handful of months, he's incorporating deep squats for some extra oomph.  It's his favorite thing to do lately.  I love his chub chub, meatball feet and could stare at them all day. 

Summer, week one.

Who gets a stomach-bug-slash-head-cold in summer anyways?  I'll give you one guess.  It's the same person who usually never gets sick...I even amazed my nurse practitioner during all three pregnancies because I never caught a cold.  Not even the sniffles.

But this year--my goodness.  I've had more bouts of things here and there...too many to count, really.  And I've had it.  And so has my family.  I am a horrible sick person.  I want to be coddled while simultaneously left alone. 

Luckily this round hit me the first week of summer vacation with all the kidlets home full-time and looking to me for entertainment.

But I'm better now and here are some highlights of the week (trust me, you don't want the lowlights).

Max joined junior swim team.  It was not planned and the gusto with which he approaches practice is rather shocking--they practice every weekday.  A couple of weeks ago, this child could barely doggie paddle from short end to short end of the pool.  And that was only if you forced him--he much preferred hitching a ride on Charlie's or my back.  And the deep end?  Forget it.  He wouldn't even stick a toe in unless an adult  went with him.  Yet after practicing for 2 and 1/2 weeks, he swam his first meet.

Since nothing was planned, we had not yet bought him his team's swimming gear (that stuff is expensive!).  And he kind of stuck out.

It didn't help that he had no idea how to stuff his mop of hair into a cap...

or that he happened to be lined up with some bigger kids...

or that he had no idea what to do at the start line.  When the announcer said, "swimmers, take your mark," I could almost hear Max's mind saying, "who's 'mark' and where, exactly, am I taking him?"

He had no idea how to dive in, but once he saw what the others did, he just gave it a shot (a good two seconds after everyone else launched)...

Charlie and I weren't sure he could make it the entire length of the pool and exchanged some nervous glances.  But we knew they'd throw him a paddle board or give him a lifeguard (this was a B meet) if he needed it...

But he made it.  All on his own.

 

I know many folks have kids who take to water like fish.  But our two oldest have not so this is thrilling.  Leo starts swim lessons next week.  And we are very hopeful that Max's enthusiasm rubs off.

As for the crafting front, I did manage to cut out and prep some fabric for a little project I've hand in mind (for myself!) for ages.  Here is a sneak peek...

Happy Friday!

xxxx, Sandra

Memorial Day, 2010.

Here's hoping you enjoyed a nice holiday weekend--we certainly did.

One of the most entertaining and memorable events was a water fight.  Our next-door neighbors host a cookout each year over Memorial Day weekend.  And last year, their son and our two oldest got into a rather prolonged water fight.  There has been much talk of a rematch.

Even little William was called into action--after one or two lessons on the proper way to grip a water gun.  Such a natural...  

Good neighbor friends were drafted to join our side...

and Charlie was recruited to keep the armory stocked and offer strategic tips...

What's that?  Elaborate you say?  All this for a child's game?

Oh, right. 

I should mention, then, that the opponents were twenty-something-year-olds...

 

Sneaky twenty-something-year-olds.  With impressive and relentless aim...

The battle lasted a couple of hours, easy.  And oh goodness, did our boys ever sleep well that night.  We're pretty certain we know of what they dreamt...next Memorial Day cannot come soon enough.

Hooray for summer!  And double hooray for full-grown children who get wet and messy, happily entertaining the kidlets.  And who wisely know not to douse the dressed up mommy trying to document it all from the front lines (though I don't suppose I would have minded...)

xoxo, Sandra

Train love.

Another thing that added to our very full weekend was a birthday party for my dear friend's son, Elliot, who turned 3.  He had a train party, which is always a hit with my boys.  I think we did trains for one of Max's school parties and another may be in our future because of William--he is suddenly very into all things Thomas the Tank Engine.  He was in pure heaven at the party.

For the gift, I was tipped off as to which Thomas trains were missing from the birthday boy's collection.  And to make it more fun, I decided to make a coordinating bag.  I ended up slip covering a canvas tote with some Thomas fabric and added a patch to clue everyone in on what's inside. 

I hear it was a hit!

And speaking of hits, the boys loved the train ride at the party.

Though the older boys got a bit nervous riding in the seat by themselves--they held hands during the entire ride...

 

And William got a bit grumpy when I got up to shoot a few shots, but got over it as soon as I sat down and he heard the whistle...

Thanks for a fun morning Elliot (and family)!

xoxo, Sandra

p.s.  And thanks also to Elliot's folks who made it to the surprise party for my brother later that night at our home.  Kristin has known my brother as long as she's known me (good grief, is it 25 years??!!!) so naturally she and her husband were there.  And whenever we get together, we have fun!  A friend posted this shot of us on facebook so I downloaded and tweaked it vintage style.  I think I used just about every effect Picnik offers...

Cake pops roar.

Have I ever mentioned how much Leo loves lions? Well, he does. I suppose if parents choose to name their child Leo, you’ve got to see it coming…  

And so I knew lion cake pops were in order for the birthday boy’s school party yesterday. They were very fun and easy to do. I dipped them in yellow candy coating (then tried to make them textured a bit to look like fur, which only sort of worked), used chocolate for the mane, cheerios for the ears, a red sprinkle for the mouth, and red jimmies for the nose (originally bought for the Rudolphs but they ended up being too small).  

It made Leo very happy.

More cake pop posts here and here.  And here--yes, I need an intervention.  Actually, I just found out that the grown up party we’re hosting in a few days may include some younger guests (babysitting woes, you know how it goes...), so more cake pops may be in my near future.  Everything is more fun when you stick it on a stick, don’t you think?

 

Birthdays 2010.

The boys' birthday party was yesterday and it was a lot of fun.  We've never before held it outside of the home--definitely a new experience.  It takes A LOT of planning to make sure you haul everything with you.  But the zero post-party clean up was awesome.  Really awesome, actually.  And so I'm on the fence as to what we'll do next year.  Luckily, the boys have a year to decide--a fact they are none too happy about ("a whole year momma?").

The mini-theme I alluded to was 'spring'.  Not much of a theme, I know.  But we are planting a garden this year (Charlie just finished the raised garden bed!  More on that later...) and the boys are pretty excited.  So I made dirt cupcakes with mini shovel toppers.  To make the shovels, I assembled two types of pretzel bits to fashion a handle and used a cinnamon toast cereal bit for the blade.  It sort of worked...

Many shovels broke en route to the party, grrr.  The dirt cupcakes also sported sprinkles for 'seeds' and lots of gummy worms...

And because I was not 100% sure that the cupcakes looked even remotely like what I was shooting for (little garden plots), I put out a sign to hopefully clue everyone in...

 

For the favors, the boys helped me put together planter buckets.  We found tins in the $1 section at Target and we punched drainage holes in the bottom.  We threw in some rocks, bags of potting soil, and rounds of seed blanket (a butterfly garden mix that we cut down to size.  Found it at Home Depot--really hope it works!).

To top off the instructions on how to plant the seed blanket, I put together a "photo strip" of the boys with a little message (idea from Young House Love).

Once everything was assembled, I realized that some kids might be let down that there was no candy.  Specifically, my kids.  So I caved and added some gummy worms.

 

At the party, which was held at The Little Gym, the boys enjoyed stretching their muscles and running around like crazy ("run inside, momma?  Reeeeallly?!").

    

I completely forgot to take pictures of the decorated party room, but the background in some of the shots reveals that  the bunting did indeed make it.  Bunting makes me happy. 

And every year, after the party, I am reminded of a certain quote.  Some of you quote wise, historic figures.  But my mind holds onto quotes like these:  from over a decade ago, when my law school roommate, Jenn, and I were watching a Letterman interview with Janeane Garofalo (remember her?).  And in discussing her recent and significant weight loss, Ms. Garofalo revealed that her weight was a constant battle because she often "disguises the sin of gluttony in the nobility of not being wasteful."  Amen, sister.  I have more than a dozen cupcakes left over from the party.  And being wasteful is a terrible thing...

p.s.  I'm linking up to DIY Day over at A Soft Place to Land. 

Reverse applique, birthday shirts.

I finished the boys' birthday shirts today.  I used some coordinating tees and went with reverse applique.  I've previously posted on how I sometimes use phonebook paper for more detailed appliques when I'm too lazy or rushed to cut out detailed shapes.  But with simple shapes and numbers, here's how I do it.

First, I head to my computer and use a word processing program to pick a font that has nice clean lines (so it won't be fussy to sew around).  I scale it to the size I want by playing with the font size and bold option.  I print it and cut out the number.

Next, I turn the t-shirt inside out and pin my contrast fabric to the area I plan to embellish.  I then just tape the number down to hold it in place.  

I sew a smidge outside the paper template...

 

...then trim and cut the t-shirt fabric away from the top to reveal the applique. 

I then repeat two more times because Charlie has not yet taken over dressing the boys to "man" things up a bit.  I think I have a few years before that happens.  Or roughly three more outfits where I use turqoise--whichever comes first. 

I think the boys will look nice in their special bday tees at their no-themed-party party*.  I'll try to get some action shots.  Because let's face it.  I do these primarily for the photo op.  Happy Friday!

 

*Incidentally, I just might be sneaking a wee bit of a theme into the no-themed-party party.  And I am well aware that this will shock exactly no one.   

Birthday planning.

We are doing something different this year for the boys' combined birthday party.  Usually, we invite friends from all circles to come over to the house to celebrate.  It's great fun seeing everyone and the boys really love it.  They usually invite friends from school, preschool, the neighborhood, our play groups, as well as friends from their former day care...it's usually quite a group!  But this year, it's not really an option because our yard is a soggy marsh from all of the snow and recent rains.  And because we always rely on outdoor space for the kids to run around and play, we thought it best not to do it here in the spring.

Instead, the plan is to do a smaller party at a gym with each boy inviting a handful of classmates, along with other close family friends.  And we'll hold off throwing a big party until summer when our yard will hopefully dry out enough to set up some outdoor games.

So with that settled, I have discovered that I'm at a bit of a loss because there is very little to do in the way of planning for their party.  Usually we pick a theme and I go from there.  But since we're having it at a Little Gym location, the facility has their own format and timeline.  And there is a smallish room for food and cake after the gym play.  "Small" doesn't really work for the kind of food spread my family usually puts out at a party so I guess we'll go the pizza route?  But I'd still like to put out something for the grown ups to nibble on.  And I know I'll still do cake.  But can I fit in the dessert bar?  I think the boys might not know it's their birthday if there are no cut-out cookies.  And cake pops.  But we'd have to transport all of that, along with the kidlets.  Hmmmm.  Again, at a complete loss....

But I did send out the invitations.  I made three sets.  One for each of the older boys to give to their classmates and a combined one to give to family friends.  I was so excited when I saw this mini bunting card on How About Orange because I knew it would be perfect for my, er, I mean, the boys' non-themed-party party.  Because I'll tell you what.  Even if we're not doing any of the 5 (or 12) themes we started brainstorming about (think of how ahead we are for next year!), there will be bunting somewhere somehow in that little room.  My poor husband.

Happy Friday!

UFOs*, done.

*UFOs=unfinished objects, but you probably knew that.

I finally found time to cross off some overdue projects from my to-sew list.  A few of them are donations for a silent auction that two friends are organizing to benefit cystic fibrosis research.  And I also put together some things for a friend to gift to a new baby in her extended family. 

The baby is named Maxwell and I made him a set of personalized burpers and a matching boutique-style chenille blanket.  I was not making these items when our Maxwell was a newborn so it was fun seeing his name stitched onto a set....

I also put together a set for the auction--I kept it blank and will do the personalization per the winning bidder's choice.  I tried to select a print that would work for either a baby boy or girl...

Next up was a 'mommy and me' apron set for the auction.  For the mommy version, I used Amy Butler's Domestic Goddess apron pattern.  Overall, I liked the pattern but felt that the bottom portion needed a lining (the pattern does not call for one).  I thought of this after-the-fact, so had to retrofit the lining--and it was a complete pain.  Next time, I'll cut out two body pieces and double up during the construction process. 

Below are some pictures.  Now, I mostly sew at night, after the kids are in bed, so I apologize for the poor lighting.  And also for my oh-so-casual posing I tried to pull off...though it does make me laugh.

I didn't have a pattern for the mommy's helper apron, so I just made it up as I went along, using whatever was left from the full apron. 

I lined it as well...

Surprisingly, I did not make one of the older boys model it.  Okay, I tried but it was a no go--they saw the bow and ran...so hard-wired, I swear.  It turns out it can also make a cute craft apron on a grownup...

I now plan to make myself some aprons, so in actuality I did not net much of a shorter to-sew list.  I cannot believe I've never made an apron before these.  They are so fun!  If you are a new sewer, aprons are a great place to start.  I'm not sure why I didn't thank of that way back when.  I think my first project when I was a newbie getting back into sewing was Max's nursery set, including a quilt, crib bumper, crib skirt, mattress sheets, changing cover, and full-length, fully lined, pleated curtains.  All done in pricey of-the-moment French toile yardage that made me vex and worry every time I cut into it.  Not recommended.