Summer Sewing

I've gotten to do a little sewing over the past few months, trying new things out, which has been fun. Here are a few pics of things I've done.











My friend, Angie, told me about this pattern you can use to make a dress from a men's button-down shirt, and it looked SO cute....mine didn't turn out nearly as cute. The back of the shirt will be the front of the dress and the buttons will go down the back, pretty clever. I messed up quite a few things with it, but I love the idea and might try it again some day. It's tricky finding a cute men's shirt in the right size. I was supposed to use a men's medium to get the right size for the straps, and one of my problems was that I thought I could get a women's small to work....not so much. But it was fun to try. If you want to try it, here's the link.

I loved this pattern, but it came out about 3 times smaller than I have much use for. But I'd love to try it again and just size it up. I used some canvas I ordered on JCaroline's canvas blowout sale, and I loved the way it worked for this shoulder bag. It's a great bag for my camera, a little cash, some chapstick, and my keys. Or just my wallet and nothing else. :-) But it was fun to make and I'll hopefully try it again and make it a little bigger. Here's the link for this pattern.

I thought it would be fun to try to make some small balls out of scrap fabric. I made one, but I'd like to try to make some coordinating sets of varying sizes. Angie's baby boy (coming really soon!) will get to play with this one when he's a bit older.

This was a fun bag to make for Angie's birthday. It would be good for the library or the pool or even a grocery bag! I loved the fabric. Here's the link for this pattern.

I love the model's pose in this picture!! I made matching dresses for Angie's girls, Emma and Addie. I think both of them came out way too short, but owell. Angie's my guinee pig for all my sewing projects I think! Can you tell what this is made out of? Here's the link.

My friend, Charlie, asked if I'd make her a purse, so I had fun picking out fabric for her. I love this bag. It's fun and easy to make and I love the style. Here's the link for this pattern.

I have a lot of things on my project list....it's just finding the time and energy to do them! I love creating things, it makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something tangible and it's fun to see how things turn out.

A Weekend with the Girls

Jason and some of his buddies from college have been getting together every year for a long weekend to have some fun and refreshing guy-time. This year a few of their wives (Kelli, Byranie & Ashley) came to stay at our house for the weekend so we could have some fun while they were away. It was a great weekend, albeit a tad crazy at times with 7 kids 4 & under and 4 of us moms in our place. But we had fun and so did the kids. I think by the end of the weekend we were surprised (or at least I was!) that we had only left the house for a total of about 4 hours. It was a beautiful weekend, and it's too bad we didn't get to spend more time outside, especially since Ashley had never been to California!, but it was just hard with all the various napping schedules of everyone! We had great conversations on the couch after the kids had gone down for bed, and it was just fun to get to know each other better and just to be together. I hope we can do it again.

And before the girls came, we got to have Jason's sister Bridget and her family from Colorado stay with us for a night as they drove up the coast. It was a bummer he missed them, but we had a good time together, and it was fun to get to show them where we've lived for the past 5 years!

Livi, Brianna, Carson, Sean

Carson, Micah, Elias, Ashley in the background with baby Natalie sleeping in the tent, and Leif....I love that he's putting the bucket on his head. :-)

Reese

Kelli & Leif

Livi

A highlight of the weekend was jumping on Livi's bed to some Bible music, especially the B-I-B-L-E song, it was cute. They had so much fun.

One of our outings was to the park and a walk to get coffee.

Livi adored baby Natalie.

The girls (and Carson)...Byranie, Ashley, me, Kelli

4th of July Fun

We weren't able to have fireworks in our town this year due to all the fires all around the state, but that didn't keep us from having fun. We started off with our traditional red, white, and blue breakfast of waffles with strawberries and blueberries and whipped cream, yum! We went to Mission Springs Camp for their annual carnival where the kids played games, went on the bouncy slide, and overloaded on sugar....cotton candy and snowcones. They were thrilled they got both. It was a fun time. We were going to go to the parade on Scotts Valley Dr., but we were all tired and needed a rest before we went to Skypark for another fun time of music and food and carnival-type games. Carson got a try on a rockwall & Livi amazingly wanted to go into the bounce house and had a blast. Livi was putting on quite the dance moves to the band that was playing, she was cracking us up, as usual. It was a good day of celebration.

Ice Cream Anyone??

Middle of the night ponderings

Carson's always been very strategic, dare I say manipulative, when it comes to not wanting us to leave his room when it's time to say goodnight. Last night he woke up close to 4am, and at first he was barely awake, but wanted his music back on. Sometimes that's all it takes, but other times, like last night, it becomes at least an hour of going up and down the stairs to his room trying to get him to go back to sleep. Last night he had some questions he just had to ask. The first one was "Why are there bad people in the world?" Such deep thoughts for a young mind in the middle of the night, but we talked about it briefly, till he was on to his next question..."How do they make yogurt, and how do they make it fluffy?" And then, the last one of the night..."How fast does Bumpa's (Grandpa's) car go?" He seemed satisfied with my answers, and we left on a positive note. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to handle his middle of the night wakings, which don't happen very often, but when they do, they're usually not brief and I end up getting mad...that technique doesn't work. I guess I just need to be grateful that he is usually a great sleeper. I do feel tired today, as it was a tad hard to fall back asleep when it was getting light at 5am! I can't believe how early it starts getting light now! And the birds are so happy at that time of day.

On another sleeping note....Livi is on night 4 of sleeping in the day bed that has been in her room. She likes it and has slept great every night. I'm so glad. Last night we had to convince her that she really did want to sleep in her "big bed", cuz she thought it would be more fun to sleep in her crib again, but we didn't want to do the back-and-forth thing, so Jason, in all of his wonderful daddy-ness got her to realize how cool it was and she snuggled right in. So tonight Jason took the crib down. Meanwhile I was in Carson's room cleaning up from what looked like a tornado had come through, and I just couldn't bare to go in and see the process, it made me so sad. Not that Livi was growing out of it, but just wondering if there would ever be another baby in our family to use that crib. After 5 years of having it up and being used, it's sad to see it go down, not knowing if that was our last time in that phase of life. We'll have to see what the Lord brings about.

Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Soup

This recipe is awesome. Lemon juice in chicken soup, who'da thunk.....but it is SO good. It makes for a great summer meal, especially when combined with these. You gotta try it!

summer

Thing I love about summer:

1. Warm cement after the sun has gone down and it's dark outside.

2. Fresh flowers or herbs in a mason jar on the dining room table.

3. Water.....pools, lakes, oceans, rivers, sprinklers, hoses, in a cup, ice.

4. Fresh breaths of morning air, so thick with sweetness and warmth.

5. Everything just feels a little free-er, relaxed schedules, longer days of light, lighter clothes.

6. Farmer's markets!!!!!!!!

7. The best fruits of the year....nectarines, peaches, cherries, strawberries...yum!

8. Bike-riding to get ice cream.

9. Picnics

10. Reading outside with an Arnold Palmer (lemonade & tea)

Rowboat at Loch Lomond

Today we were looking for something fun to do, something different, something outside. We had remembered a friend telling us about Loch Lomond, a beautiful lake only about 20 minutes from us. So we checked it out online to get a bit more info and decided to head up there. We had such a fabulous time! We rented a little electric motorized rowboat for 2 hours and headed out on the water. It was a perfect day...warm, no wind, just right. It was so gorgeous and still up there. And the colors of the blues and greens were awesome. We had a little picnic lunch on the boat in a little cove and docked it for a few minutes on a little island. The kids had a great time, and we definitely plan to do it again soon. This little treasure is so close by, I'd highly recommend it for any locals or visitors!

31st Birthday Fun

I had such a great birthday on Tuesday! I received so many wonderful birthday greetings, thank you everyone for making my day so special!

Jason woke up early (amazing for him!!!!!!) and made me some blueberry muffins (a tradition since I was a little girl) and brought them to me in bed along with some delicious orange juice. So we snuggled in bed with our muffins, it was great. He fell back asleep while I finished up my Bible study for our meeting that morning (I'd HIGHLY recommend Priscilla Shirer's studies, she rocks!)

Then my awesome friend, Robyn, brought me my favorite coffee....a hazelnut latte...to Bible Study, so sweet, especially considering she had to lug her two small children into Starbucks on the way to church, a major feat when you are in a hurry! And she made me a REALLY cool apron, the likes of which you will soon see debuted on Etsy.com :-)

After Bible study I took the kids down to Target, which we don't do too often since it's not too close by (which is probably good for the pocketbook!). We spent, yes, 3 hours (!) there. The kids did awesome. We ate our way thru the store....peanuts, yogurt, fruitsnacks, baked chips, the healthiest things I could find in the "grocery" aisle.
I bought a tent that was on sale, it's amazing how inexpensive tents are nowadays. I'm super excited to be able to go camping as a family now, I'm hoping to go somewhere along the coast this summer....anyone know of any good places?

When we got home from Target, I went into the kitchen and there on the counter was a chocolate cake that Jason had made for me when he came home for lunch.....what a sweetie! Baking for me twice in one day...wow!!!

To end the day we went out to Bruno's BBQ for dinner, a place we hadn't tried before. It was alright, what I ordered wasn't wonderful, but I might be up for trying it again. We got to sit outside, and I didn't have to cook, so that made it good. :-)

And then we came home and had the delicious chocolate cake for dessert.

Cards in the mail, e-cards on the computer, phone calls, chalk-written notes from the neighbor kids, notes on my "wall" on Facebook, lovies from the kids and hubby, sweet gifts, and an awesome blog post from a dear friend all made for a special day. Bring it on 31!

Fun times with Grandma

My mom was in town last week and we had such a great time together. She works at a school, so as soon as she was done with work for the summer she hopped on out here from Colorado. We went strawberry picking and made a pie, we went to the beach a couple times, went shopping, went to the library and swim lessons and just had a great time hanging out. The kids were all over her the whole week, having such fun playing with her. They all slept in the same room which was so fun for the kids. I didn't get very many pictures from the week, but we sure had a great time. Thanks for making it such a wonderful week for us, Mom! We love you tons!!!!!

We came home with 15 lbs of delicious berries

Livi was SO tuckered out from all the fun during the week, she just couldn't make it till dinner.

The Garden

A friend of ours offered us a piece of their land to have a little garden plot. I was so excited since we don't have any type of yard where we're at, and even small garden boxes would be hard to do. So we went and picked out our veggies at the garden shop and headed over to their house. We had to till the land and work up all the dirt and weeds, it was quite a workout!
We ended up planting a couple rows of lettuce, a red bell pepper plant, a green pepper plant, a couple rows of red onions and a tomato plant. We'll see how they turn out! I went over there last week and the lettuce was completely gone....not sure if the bugs got to it or the really hot days we had 2 weeks ago. We might have to replant something in it's place.

Livi the Joy

Haircut

I got 10 inches cut off my hair on Wednesday, it was so fun! It was just enough for Locks of Love. That was one of my goals for the year, and I just couldn't wait any longer, so I'm glad it was exactly what they needed. It sure was weird to see my hair sitting on the counter in a pony tail! I love it short, it feels so fresh and fun.

A couple weeks ago we had a cookout with our friends at the camp where they live. We had such fun being outside with the kids running all around, good food, great friends, frisbee, bubbles, homemade ice cream by the Andersons (which is always guaranteed to make for a good time) Welcome summertime!

Love these girls (Christi & Robyn)! I should have been wearing my cool glasses, too! :-)

The Ickies

We are on day 3 of the icky sickies. Gracie (the dog) started it on Monday morning and then Livi got it on Monday afternoon (not that I think they are related, but just a funny coincidence).
Carson woke up Monday morning and has been getting into the habit of making his bed, so he did, and came upstairs, and after a short time I started smelling something nasty coming from downstairs, so I went down there and Gracie had pooped 2 big piles and barfed 2 big piles right on Carson's bed! It was SO nasty to say the least. And I was so mad that she didn't even try to let us know that she had to go outside, this was not the first time she's done that, so gross. I guess she couldn't control it.

We had a great day on Monday, rode our bikes to Skypark, played for a while, then went and played tennis for a while, had a picnic, and then rode home. Livi took a nice nap and then complained of a tummy ache when she woke up and wanted to go right back to bed. So we put her in her bed and a little while later when Jason went back down to check on her, she threw up. It was her first time getting sick, it's so sad, isn't it? They seem so helpless.

So it was a long night with short bits of sleep, and she doesn't seem to be able to keep much of anything down. I think she has a small piece of bread in her belly now, but that's it.

I'm SO thankful for a washing machine, that's for sure. We've definitely been using it!
We got out for a little walk today, I bundled Livi up in the stroller and we took a couple rounds about the neighborhood, it felt good.

Fun things to make

I have come across a couple fun free pdf patterns and tutorials, so I thought I'd share the love. Enjoy!

Hangtags at Lula Louise
How to cover wooden drawers at Lula Louise
Simple notecard with buttons at How About Orange (LOVE her blog)
An emergency downloadable birthday card & envelope at How About Orange

There are tons more, I'm sure, but wanted to share those with you. It's so fun finding these!

The muddy firefighter

Carson is pretty determined to fly. He's been watching birds lately trying to figure out what makes them able to fly and not him. We've tried gently explaining that God made our bones different and all the other parts of our bodies that are just completely different, but he's holding out hope that some day he'll lift off (and catch a fish with those crazy talons!) :-)

Goggles and Bubbles

I just feel so bubbly with love for my kids. Sometimes I think my heart just might burst with love for them. Sometimes the hard times make the good/sweet times so much brighter. I just love who God made them to be....Livi's sweet, happy, funny, imaginative nature, Carson's creative, active, contemplative nature, they are both such wonders. I love watching them grow. And I hope I never forget these precious days.

Lovin' the Tile

We used to have carpet in our bathroom. The people that sold us our place had offered for us to keep the bathroom rugs, and we thought, sure, how nice! Upon moving in we understood why....there was a dinner plate-sized bleach stain in the middle of the bathroom floor which they had covered with a rug. The former owners are very nice and we see the lady probably once a week as she is a FedEx driver in our neighborhood, so we just had to laugh.

Carpet in a bathroom can just be nasty. Boys, potty training, toothpaste, water + carpet does not equal goodness.

So we finally got some tile in there a couple weeks ago and we are loving it. They tile guy was awesome and he did a really nice job. It's so much easier to keep clean and it definitely looks nicer.

The Dark Cloud

I feel like a dark cloud that's been lingering over my life has blown away today. It's just been a rough week, or couple weeks, but especially this week.

God is so awesome to give us new mercies every morning, and I feel like today after I spent a little time realizing that I've been giving in to the temptation to feel defeated and discouraged and stressed, etc., and confessing that I wasn't letting the Lord be on the throne in my life in every area, and just putting some things down in an email to a friend, I just feel lighter.

Jesus says: "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest".....so I did, and he did. What a wonderful God.

I also decided I need to be taking better care of myself...so I tried to eat better today and drink more water and I think it resulted in more energy and clearer thinking. I read in my Real Simple magazine a long while back that drinking water helps with clear thinking, and it makes sense. I never really put the two together, but I really think it's true.

Nothing huge going on, just dealing with trying to get the kids to behave in public, and to have them be more respectful in the way they talk to me, etc. Carson had a mega-tantrum as we were leaving Costco....I thought we were done with those....but he was so mad that I wouldn't let us eat pizza there since he wouldn't listen to me while we were standing in line. I had asked him to stop chasing Livi around because it makes her crazy and she screams with glee, but it just gets out of hand, especially in a place where there are so many people around. So when he continued to do it, we just stepped out of line and walked out the door....fortunately he didn't realize what was going on till we got outside, but it wasn't pretty on our way to the car.....screaming, crying, boy was he mad, mad, mad. He must have said "but I want to eat pizza here!!!" thru all the crying at least 65 times....the whole way home. It was not fun.

Then later in the day yesterday we had to go to the post office and we had to wait a long time, and they were just being crazy and I couldn't get control of them. I was feeling really hot and sweaty from the stress. The clerk offered them stickers once we finally got to the counter, but I told them we weren't going to be able to take them today, can't reward that kind of behavior. Arggg. So we left and on our way home Carson made some sort of snotty "na-na-na-na-na" comment and it just set me over the top and I started crying, cried the whole way home. And he got a spanking for disobeying me, but at dinner he told Livi with a smile that it didn't hurt.

Gee whiz, this mom thing can be rough, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. With Mother's Day approaching, I've just been thinking about my precious little kiddos and all the wonder that they are. I'm so grateful to be their mom, I just pray that God will give me the grace to lead them in the way they should go, and that He would help me not go crazy in the mean time! :-)