Sunday, July 27, 2014

Projects

A while back, I was able to get a large tote full of fabric scraps and remnants for only $5.  The children's museum here in town closed down, and they had a huge sale to get rid of everything.  I got the fabric and a bunch of other great stuff for home and my classroom.
Anyway, I wasn't sure what to do with the fabric at first, but have discovered a few projects so far that used up some of it.  The first thing I made was some shade for our backyard.  We have a nice grassy yard, but not a single tree, plant, or bush to provide any kind of shade.  And if I want the boys to go out and play, then I wanted to provide them with a spot to sit and rest in.  So, I used some PVC pipe that we already had in the garage, and some pieces of the fabric, and voila! a fort just right for shading the kiddos!

My other project was new curtains for our bedroom.  The curtains that were up when we moved in have irritated my almost every night for the last year.  First of all they are very light colored and don't block out any light really.  At night this means I can see the stupid street lights shining in my room.  And they are on a tension rod mounted inside the window frame.  And when I say mounted, I mean they are crookedly hanging there waiting for Logan to pull them down.  Sooooo... I had enough of this wine colored floral fabric to whip out some panels.  Yep, I can sew (straight lines that is!).  Here is a before shot of the old curtains (sorry for the poor picture quality).
And here is the after, with the new curtains...

OK, so obviously neither of these projects is even close to being finished well, but I enjoyed sitting at my sewing machine and creating something useful.  

Monday, May 26, 2014

Stirling's Birthday!

I can't believe I have a six year old!  He is growing up so quickly and I am just amazed by what a neat kid he is becoming.  Stirling has been enjoying karate these past few months and is really into Legos right now.  He is amazingly good at building complicated designs by following even more complicated directions.  I see engineering in his future!  He loves playing with our neighbors, but has a harder time wanting to play with his little brother right now.  Overall he is a super kiddo and I am proud to be his mom!

On the 24th we had a few presents and a cupcake with the family.  See that cute smile!


On the 25th we had his party.  This is just the table I made for his "Mad Scientist" theme... beakers full of colored water and oil, test tubes with worms in them, some of his rock, seashell, and dinosaur collections.  

Our first experiment was making slime- what a chaotic mess!  Good thing my friend/neighbor stayed to help!

We also did the classic Diet Coke and Mentos reaction- a great thrill!


So Pinterest and "Cake Boss" on TV may have led me to take on a bit of a cake challenge- a beaker with Stirling's age in measurements!


And of course... Legos were the hit of the day!
  
I was completely exhausted after all of these shenanigins!  Time for bed!

New Bedrooms!

Recently, RJ and I decided that the boys finally needed seperate bedrooms.  Logan had been getting up out of bed at bedtime multiple times every night.  He is really good at coming up with reasons to not go to bed... a drink of water, his music box isn't working, he needs a hug, he can't find his truck, he needs two more trucks... etc!  Because he is such a busy little night owl, he was keeping Stirling up at night.  Stirling is much more of a morning person and was very unhappy with his brother.  It was time for them to have their own space.  Logan took over the playroom and we moved the craft cupboard and some of the toys into Stirling's bedroom.  While the move hasn't stopped Logan from getting up, it has helped, and Stirling is able to go to sleep much more quickly.  They are both enjoying having their own rooms and having to give permission for their brother to enter!

Taking down the playroom...

putting up nails for decorations...

enjoying Stirling's finished room...

and Logan's room!

Easter and my Birthday

 The boys did an egg hunt at a park here in Ellensburg.  Not really a hunt, so much as a race for eggs in a wide open field.  We did win a basket in the raffle, which was cool!




 The weekend after Easter, we went and did Easter round 2 with the Galvins.  Avery is getting so big!
Happy 34th to me!