Summer Break

I started to write this yesterday. Had a good 2 paragraphs and I somehow deleted the whole thing while typing. That exemplified what I was trying to write so I just closed my computer & went on with my day.

I'm noticing that some people are visiting me occasionally, I'm assuming because of my photos on KCWC. When I first got some activity from that, I was so excited! I was finally going to get this blog rolling! School was nearly out & I would make blogging a higher priority. I planned my Mommy Clothing Challenge. And then I had a change of heart. I was doing what I do: read blogs from front to back. I enjoy this so much - I love watching the children grow into babies, discover how the writer's style changed over time. This particular time though, I got embarrassed. I realized what a voyeur I am. And I thought, "I don't want people reading about me right now five years in the future." And that is probably the true block to me ever putting more effort into my blog. So there it is. I've finally given up the dream of a successful blog, but not because of lack of effort, which feels good.

So thanks for peeking in & maybe occasionally I'll post something, but don't count on it. :)

Enjoy your summer!

MCWC - Day 2

I can only claim the snaps towards today's hour. The rest was sewn over weeks and weeks as my project at my "Stitch n Bitch" group. Seriously, I can not believe how many Wednesdays it took me to finish these. But they are done now, snapped & sitting snugly in my drawer. COST: $0 - all supplies in stash
 
 And those flowers from yesterday? Here's what I did with them. Sorry for the dreary picture. It's raining today. On the first day of Summer Vacation. At least I'd already promised the kids a whole day of pajamas & me not telling them even once to turn off the TV or Wii. I did spend more time today than just an hour. The kids were playing Wii & I was listening to Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins on audio book. I just kept sewing. I was just covering up stains on this T-shirt. I was inspired by this dress over at - oh NO! I can't find it. Darn - why didn't I pin it! I'll have to go looking again. Anyone know a sewing blog who's hosting a sundress week? Well, I'll find it & let you know.
COST: $1 for the panel of lace at the thrift store

In the meantime, leave a link below to show me what you worked on today!

MCWC - Day 1

Yes, Yesterday was supposed to be day one. It took me until 10pm to start my hour. How 'bout you? After my hour of cutting flowers out of lace, I didn't take a pic or post. So here it is - my hour's work from Day 1. What did you make on Sunday? Leave a link below to your creation. I decided to not make a flickr group. And I planned a vacation right at the end of this week. So I won't even be participating in the last two days of my own challenge. Go me. Maybe I will tuck in some extra time here & there...

It's getting close to time

for the Mom's Clothing Sewing Week! I've been pinning & gathering inspiration for my week of sewing things for ME! I like to sew, & having 4 girls, you'd think I'd be all over sewing matchy-matchy (or at least coordinating) for them all the time. However, my sewing time comes in snippets & by the time I could get all four outfits done, the first one would be stained / outgrown, I'm sure. Plus they have SO MUCH already! I'm much more likely to appreciate all the hard work myself & I'll keep better care of the things I make. (Oh who am I kidding? I spill as much as they do!) But truly, I'm in desperate need of clothes! So join me as I sew for myself. Spend a little bit of time in the next few weeks browsing patterns & fabric, so that on June 3rd, you'll be ready to spend an hour a day sewing for yourself. The idea is simple - just like Elise Marley's Kid's Clothing Week Challenge, spend an hour a day for a whole week working on something for you. I think prepping the fabric, cutting, etc. all counts towards your hour a day - I mean, it all has to get done, right? But boy - fabric stores are a time vortex, aren't they? Better get the shopping done before! Or plan to do a lot of refashioning. LOTS of good blogs out there for that! There are so many online resources, I couldn't possibly link them all, but Alida at I Make Stuff had a Refashioning event last spring. The blog, Refashionista has lots of great, quick ideas for your $1 thrift store finds. There are many many others, but these are two I've been inspired by lately. And for online fabric shopping, you can't go wrong with fabric.com, and for that something special, I love drooling over at spoonflower.com. And if you'd like an idea of what I'm thinking about for this week, you can browse my pintrest board here. (There's some things on that board that aren't sewing related, but I'll bet you can figure that out.) Happy Monday!

Murphy's Law

I completely failed at KCWC. I sewed one day, crafted one day & that's it. I didn't even get a picture up of the felt flowers I made. The irony is, I've gotten many more page views with posting only 1 photo in the KCWC flickr group. If only I could have been more on the ball, maybe I would have a reader or two...Sigh. I do hope you visitors will come back. I am definitely going to have a Mommy's Clothing Week Challenge in June. I *need* new clothes & shopping always depresses me. So do come back & show off your creations for yourself!

KCWC - Day 4

Another bust. Not at home all day and then it was "clean for the cleaners." Once that was done I didn't feel like making a mess. So, I didn't. I have blocked off 2 hours on Sunday to "catch up." It worked for me last year, so I'm going to go with it this year too. So, sorry, no pic today. I did make some felt flowers for accessories on day 3, but I haven't taken pictures of them yet, so stay tuned for that. And I'm serious about the Mommy Clothing Week Challenge! I'm tentatively scheduling mine for the first week of summer vacation. I figure the girls won't want to get out of their pajamas all week long, so I should have a pretty good chance at getting some sewing for me done. Please join me!

KCWC - Day 2

A bust. Yeah, no sewing. No cutting, no ironing, no shopping for fabric. I had to take Twin B out for new shoes. Passing through the store, the easter dresses were on sale. She's a shopper. I say, "Mommy's finally finishing your polka dot dress this week!" She doesn't believe me, or the shiny newness on the hangers is too much. Somehow, I walked out of that store w/ a sparkly dress in a bag. Why? I don't know. Mommy guilt. So now, no time tonight for sewing. And no desire. That dress purchase took the wind right out of my sails. Instead I'm planning in my head a Mommy's Clothing Week Challenge. I need clothing more than she does, anyhow. And I'm super inspired by this site: Brand New Vintage . Anyone in with me?

Spring 2012 KCWC

Join Elsie Marley for her fantastic semi-annual Kids' Clothing Week Challenge. Commit to sewing for a little one in your life for 1 hour a day for 1 week. You can do it! Here's my efforts today. My youngest loves to be the baby. Anything she could delay, she has. That includes keeping her bed pee free overnight. (I do know that there is a genetic component at play here too.) I've been buying disposable pull ups, but I hate the money spent & I hate throwing away those yucky things every day. Last week I stopped at a local baby boutique and bought a washable pull up. I studied it's construction & knew I could make more. Today's design is not at all like the one I purchased, but I found this wide elastic in my elastic bin & thought I could put it to use. The cover is an upcycled wool sweater from the thrift store (50% off!). I used the Mile High Monkey pattern. Excellent pattern - preemie to XXL (my skinny 6 year old is only in the L size) & it fits so well.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments over at SouleMama for all to find and see.

Fastest, cheapest dog or toddler toy ever!

It took me longer to make the tutorial for this than it took to make the actual toy! So gather some supplies & entertain someone smaller than you!
I originally made this tutorial not too long after Easter, but I was having problems with photos & Blogger, so I put it off. So maybe you don't have any easter basket celophane sitting around. You can buy this stuff, too, if need be. Other things that work: the rinsed out and dried bags from cereal boxes and chips. Go see what you can find.

(I apparently am still having difficulties with Blogger and photos. But since I'm not winning any blogging awards anyway, I guess done is better than perfect, and I present to you my humble work.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments over at SouleMama for all to find and see.

Heavy Artillery

I had a rough week. My 38th birthday, my 20 year high school reunion, and PMS all within 4 days of each other. It's been very emotional and otherworldly. I had this feeling of not being stable in time. I spent yesterday in a fog - I thought I might just be hungover. And I was, but not in the alcoholic sense.

My adorable husband bought me a Cannon Rebel T3 for my birthday. It was an extravagence, and on my wish list for years. I didn't use it for 24 hours because I couldn't quite believe it was mine. I let the girls have turns on it yesterday (shhh! don't tell Hubby!), because I like to see their perspective on things. I got a lot of pictures of the carpet, or me with undone hair and a double chin, but I got some beauties too. Like this one:

This one punched me in the stomach. This is me: going through life popping bubbles with a hammer. Doing the job, totally enthusiastically, but it's just too much. I work SO HARD at everything: raising my children, budgeting, volunteering at the school, teaching, organizing my little life. I end up exhausted and wondering why the heck things aren't working perfectly since I work so hard at it. Well, my friends, my choice of tool is the problem. Twin A here could've used a chopstick, or heck, her finger, to do the same job. She would have popped the same amount of bubbles, but with less exertion and less danger.

I get it. I'm putting down the hammer. I'm going to try to not work so hard. I'm figuring out when my fingers will work just as well. Here's to another day of handing the kids the camera. (Shhh! Don't tell Hubby.)

{this moment}

Practicing with my birthday present: a Cannon Rebel T3! Squeeeeee!

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments over at SouleMama for all to find and see.

Story Telling Blocks

aka. one long time wished for project completed - in 15 minutes!

I've wanted some of these story telling blocks for a long time now. There are some beautiful ones out there. But as you know by now, I'm cheap. Plus, I wanted to "do it myself." (gee, where do my kids get it from?) One evening a couple weeks ago, I was purusing OnePrettyThing while the kiddos were eating dinner & found Teach Besides Me's tutorial for making these things. What was best was that she listed all the phrases she used, so I didn't have to use any brain power trying to think of clever words. One of the things that has stopped me from making these in the past has been buying the blocks. I either forget when I'm at the craft store, or they are way more expensive than I thought they would be, so I planned to come back with a coupon. Looking at Karyn's blocks, they seemed to be smallish...just the size of the cubes inside the blocks that my kids happened to have spread all over the floor that very minute! So I grabbed nine and a sharpie. While my girlies were munching, I scribbled away. They were so interested, they couldn't wait for me to be done and take a picture. Since the blocks' creation, they've been played with by my children and several others we've had over. I'd say they're a hit AND something crossed off my "someday" list! Crafting win!

(P/S - I realize the photo is upside down. I have been having such difficulty with this shifting of photographs with Blogger lately. (Fine on my computer, upside-down or sideways on the blog...) It has been hampering my bloging actually. SO in the interest of having an imperfect post up vs. not ever getting any post up, no matter how perfect, I'm leaving this upside-down-yet-understandable photo up. Thank you for your understanding!)

Who got a makeover?

That's right, I did! The twins brought out their stash of nail polish, face powder, and lipstick and did their mom up last night. We were trying to keep cool, enjoying the evening temperatures outside when they pounced on me. I had on four layers of lip stick/gloss by the time they were done, the most prominent layer being bright, bright pink. (Sorry, no photo of that.) The best part, while my nails were drying, they took turns giving me a massage! Now THAT made my day! It was the most fun, least fighting, and most positive interaction I've had with them in many a day.

Happy Summer to You!

Sorry, my dear Two Readers

I have written two, 2!, posts recently, and Blogger tries to load the pictures sideways, & I am not skilled in the ways of html to fix them. On top of that, the lazy days of summer that I was blissfully daydreaming of in very busy May? They haven't transpired. The two weeks of summer vacation so far have been whirlwind. "We are out of bread ALREADY?" A mom doesn't get summer vacation. She still has to do everything she usually has to do, just with EVERY child underfoot inbetween every impromptu playdate, beach gathering, and graduation party. Here's hoping your summer contains more lazing than mine thus far.

Happy Summering!

Sorry I've been absent. We had a big week here. First week of summer vacation, our dog's first birthday, and the first camping trip of the summer. (impromptu, too - awesome!) Here is Charley's first birthday cake, made lovingly by his "sisters". Yes, we lit a candle and sang to him. He just wondered when the heck they were going to put that delicious smelling pile of ground beef, potatoes, carrots and apples down where he could reach it!

Then we were able to acquire some camping in one of our national parks. I'll bet you can guess which one. We've been here before with the girls, but always in September, so they've never seen the waterfalls. It was a great trip, despite one child having an accident in their sleeping bag the first night, the super cold nights, and going to bed one night, leaving Charley tied to the picnic table - he almost was a bear snack! (Don't worry - he was only out there for about five minutes before I realized.) We had a minimal about of fighting - for our family.

Hope your first days of summer vacation are going great!

Summer Calendar

Today is the first day of summer break for us! Yea! I forgot to turn off my alarm, so guess who was up at 6:50am anyway? That's right, me. Actually I was up anyway, due to a very loud bird who has moved into the backyard. He announces from a very early time that he is up and doing all the bird things he needs to do.

My kids have a hard time with transitions. We need to explain what is happening when and give them lots of time to process. They are not good with surprises. Even though summer is more laid back, there are still days we need to be places on time (doctor's appointments, play dates, etc.). The calendar also lets them know if they even need to get dressed on a particular day!

I made my calendar in MS Publisher. It is three pages. The first page is just about the day: Monday, June 6th. The second page is titled "What We Are Doing". I thought of the activities that we will commonly be doing, like Pajama Day, Water Day, Field Trip, and listed these, with space to put the particulars, like which park we're going to. There is also an "other" field, of course. The last page is titled, "What You Can Do To Help". I'm really trying to encourage cooperation. Sometimes it takes so long to get out of the house, I'm exhausted by the time the fun activity has begun. So the "help" page lists some common getting ready activities, like "pack for a road trip: DS, drawing, DVDs", or "pack bathing suit, towel, and sunscreen". Then these pages are slid into Avery page protectors (I love these things - they work perfect for white board markers!) and taped onto the wall with painter's tape. I know the painter's tape is not beautiful, but we rent and it comes off easily without leaving residue.

Keep in mind that my kids are readers already. If you have pre-readers, choose some clip art to describe the activities. I'm really happy to share what I've made, but I encourage you to make your own, so you can add all your family's favorite activities. If you'd like me to email you what I have, leave a comment!

Happy Vacationing!

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments over at SouleMama for all to find and see.

Ever wonder why I don't post everyday?

This is why. Six family members. Today I unloaded the dishwasher twice and loaded it twice. And there were still dishes to do by hand.