summer musts

The count down is ON!  Summer break is just around the corner and this year I am really excited to be home with the kids all day.  Years past I was tending to babies or redirecting toddlers or working part time or biting my nails in frustration of coming up with ideas of something to DO.

This year I get to enjoy my school aged children and have a laid back attitude because I decide to.  And because I won't be working around nursing and napping schedules.  And because I am sleeping through the night uninterrupted by children or snoring husbands.  Oh, wait.  Never mind that last one.  The point is; I am not going into this summer break filled with anxiety and dread about entertaining my threesome.

And no, I do not have them scheduled for activities every week during the break.  I am a firm believer in teaching the children how to be b-o-r-e-d.  There is great value in having time spread out in front of you with no real plan.  This can also back-fire, but I have a solution for the inevitable 'Mooooooooooom, (sighing the word with lots of variations of tone) I don't have anything to doooooooooo. (again with the sigh and tonal inflection)

My 2 responses:

"Oh, good!  I have plenty of chores waiting in the wings for such a moment as this."

or

"Go look at your poster board."

I have been using the first response with great success for a couple of years now.  The second response comes from an idea I stole from ....... wait a minute ...... I just went to my bookmarks to find the link from the blog who came up with this great idea and now I can't find it. AAAAggggghhhh.


Anyway, if it is you, please claim it in the comments and I will give due credit.

May I present ::drumroll, please::  The Poster Board

Well, Maddi's poster board to be exact.  Ellie is still working on hers and she won't show it to me until it is finished.  Ben said he would do his later ........ and he only wants to swim and ride bikes.

Some of my sweet baby girl's (I know she is 12 but she will always be my baby girl) ideas include:

- win a staring contest

- build a tree swing

- read the dictionary

- make an ivy crown

- cover the entire driveway in sidewalk chalk

- learn the French, Spanish and English ABC's backwards

- ride a city bus

- drink a whole cup of coffee

- play the guitar in a public place

- make homemade ice cream

- dance in the rain

- visit farms

- use Morse Code

......... and more of the like.  I *love* this child. If you can help out with any of the things on the list, let me know.  I would be so happy if she could put a check next to everything on her list before she begins 7th grade.  

And ......... because I am starting to feel just a little bit of anxiety and dread at having to help her accomplish her summer list ;)

**update**  I found the link.  It was Meg over at Whatever.

crafty playdate

We know a wonderful family who happens to have three kids like us, but with 2 boys and 1 girl. We decided to have a play date today with me hosting the girls and the boys all at their house. Realizing a crafty opportunity when one drops in my lap, I was quick to plan out the entire day for me, um ....... I mean the girls.

First we rode our bikes to Hancock Fabrics. The girls were instructed to pick out 2 fabrics, a coordinating zipper and some funky trim. The funniest part was listening to the girls comment on how 'cute' the fabric was or picking out something they thought the other girl would like. Lots of giggles, jumping up and down at an 'adorable' find, and matching up colors 'just so.' I can only imagine what a trip to the mall will be like in a couple of years. I'd better stock up on some earplugs and alcohol. For me, of course.

I had seen THIS pencil case tutorial on the web a couple of weeks ago and knew right away it was going to be the project for this play date. School is starting back up in a couple of weeks and what better thing to make than a unique little bag for their supplies.

After a quick stop at Subway for lunch, we made it home and started right in. Yes, I let go of my anal retentiveness for a day and allowed the girls to use my rotary cutter, ::gasp:: my really expensive iron, ::yikes:: and my trusty sewing machine. ::faint::

I have to say, each one did a might fine job. It wasn't so bad for me, either, to give up control and allow them make their own mistakes. The end results were that much sweeter.

Awwwwwwwww.

Just for the record, I do NOT plan out and organize crafts when my kiddos have a play date. This one just seemed right ...... and I needed a sewing fix.

sneak peak of party flag banner

Since we didn't have our annual 4th of July party to attend, our holiday was pretty laid back. Dave did some more finish work on the drywall and I worked some magic on my sewing machine.

In a previous post, I've mentioned Ellie's backyard carnival party, and this flag banner is something I have been wanting to make. All of the fabric was in my stash, so all I purchased was some bias binding ...... because I am lazy and didn't want to make my own. Have you ever made bias binding? Mind numbing I tell you. If I had a fancy tool to make it go quicker I might reconsider making it; but probably not. We plan to hang the banner over our driveway so the guests can walk underneath it to enter the festival extravaganza!


Madison and a friend finished painting the bean-bag-toss game. Dave took a piece of MDF, cut 4 holes and spray painted the whole thing white. Mads planned out the design (seals) and drew it herself. She had a little trouble with the painting ...... still a learning curve to get over.


Ellie and I made the blue bean bags you see stacked on the floor. Other than party favors, we are just about ready for her party. I hope to tie up those loose ends this week. For now, I plan to clean up the craft room and pick a soft spot on the couch to read a book. Ahhhhhhh.

weaponry is best ....

When made with love in the safety of your own home. Maybe the heat and humidity has fried my 'common sense' brain cells, but when I saw this project I knew it would be something we HAD to make. Today. Luckily I had all the supplies we needed.

Being a professional crafter, I have in my possession a tube of E-6000.

This stuff makes me happy. Not only for the intense high from the fumes, but also for the adhesion properties. Our rubber band shooters were ready to decorate and fire in just under 4 hours.

Being the children of a crafty mom, the kiddos requested to personalize & decorate their shooters using Sharpies. "Why not? Mommy's still high as a kite! You all can probably get away with lollipops for dinner if you ask nicely"

Just look at my little man. One eye closed while steadily aiming at the critter (um, I mean pop can) in the distance. KAPOW!


My Maddie, being the anti-hunter, took aim at this:

She nailed him right between the eyes. That's my girl.

the way to my other daughter's heart

is also through crafting. Go figure. Since Madison and I made her Wicked bag, Ellie has been plotting and planning out a library bag. We started the project by riding our bikes to the fabric store and picking out the trim fabric. Then, last night, we spent some time on the computer coming up with various designs. Ellie woke up this morning and told me she was ready to get started .... "Come on, Mom!". Several hours and many mistakes later, the bag was born:

I am quite frustrated with the iron-on transfer paper. We purchased a different brand, and this one does not seem to 'set' as well as the one I did for Madison. You can see the peeling on the corners of a few of the book prints. This was from ironing the inside of the bag once it was pieced together. I'm not sure how it will hold up in the long run, but Ellie certainly is pleased and is excited to take it to the library tomorrow.

I asked Ben if he would like a bag and he looked at me with his quirky little grin and asked, "why?". I think he would be more happy if I could make him a new Matchbox car ... out of metal ... and painted perfectly. Um, yeah no. I'll pick one up for 99 cents the next time I stop at the store.

Our garden is looking great and we are doing some clean-up in the yard in preparation for Ellie's carnival party in mid-July. She has already had her birthday, but we decided to hold off on the party so we could spend some time planning, making decorations and getting creative with the games. I'm sure I will be posting more about the party and all of our ideas as time get's closer. Expect loads of pictures!

the way to my daughter's heart

is through crafting. M is extremely creative and if I take the time to slow down and help her, we can make those creative thoughts come to fruition.

Last month hubby, M and I traveled to Omaha to see the musical, Wicked. Grandma B graciously gifted the tickets to us last Christmas for the May production at the Orpheum Theatre. It was a wonderful night, not just for seeing the musical, but for an opportunity to have an evening alone with M in the city hubby and I grew up in. We took her to dinner at a favorite mexican restaurant, Fernandos, and then downtown to the old theatre. I wish I would have thought to bring my camera to take a snapshot of M underneath the marquee. Hubby and I have been to the Orpheum many times, both for personal performances and for taking in a show/production. We walked the halls of the theatre and pointed out all of the wonderful architecture of the place. Remembrances of hubby as a young boy puking in the hallway, to my whorish dance makeup used when I was performing in a dance recital. Ah, memories.

M was blown away by the show and has been obsessed with all things 'Wicked' since. She wears her T-shirt often and proudly, and downloaded the soundtrack to her iPod. Yesterday she wanted to create something with the 'Wicked' theme in mind, so we sat down and formed a plan. Since she is a wiz on the computer, she designed some artwork with pictures from the show. We printed them out on iron-on-transfer paper and decided a bag would be the perfect project. We finished it this morning and both of us are thrilled with the results.

She plans to add some finishing touches ........ names of the characters and the date, place and time of the production we attended. All in Sharpie of course; her favorite writing tool.