One Last Summer Field Trip

Our family loves to go to the National Naval Aviation Museum, so when I realized there was time for one last field trip before the end of summer I knew it was time for a trip back! We also were excited to see the Light House, located just down the street, was open after it's renovations. It has been closed every time we've come to visit in the past, so we jumped at the chance to take a tour of that as well!

Front Entrance

Lulu was scared to be in the cockpit

Book Worm

Offering Rides?

Me and the munchkins

Photographer Lulu!

Our lunch at the Cubi Bar Café

I let the kids use the camera while we waited for our food

This is so cool!

Yep, I was totally made to be in a jet.

Get me out of here!

JP sat down to watch the old war footage. "That ship has really big guns!"

Look who can point now!

WWII Exhibits

1940's Home

The Kiddie Hawk

My Blue Angels

Pensacola Lighthouse

See any ghosts?

The kids got to touch a "real" lighthouse.

PT!

I know I went over board with the pictures, but it's my blog, so I can do that. ;)

What a doll!

Immy was given this doll from a friend who no longer wanted it, but the little thing was in need of some clothes, so we set to work making her a dress. Immy picked out the fabric from my stash, and we cut out a very simple pattern by tracing around the doll. It took  few tries, and after a bit I realized this was becoming my project instead of hers. It was a little more involved than I thought it would be, and since I was figuring it out along the way there really wasn't much Immy could help with. The dress came together pretty quick, and after about an hour it was all done but the hand sewing.

Dress inside

A pink bead on the front

I finished up the hand sewing while waiting for the kids at gymnastics.

The bottom of the dress has velcro, but the top of the dress would not meet up (I'm definitely a beginner at the whole pattern drafting thing!), so we used a pretty clasp instead. Kind of a happy accident!

That night after Immy went to bed I took the doll back to reenforce some of the seams on the dress sleeves, and the doll seemed to need a little something extra, so I made a head band out of elastic, green ribbon, and left over scraps from the dress. Immy was very excited when she woke up the next morning, and now insists that the doll needs a pair of socks. I think I will let her work on that. ;)

Ponyo Dinner!

HAM!!

My kids love the movie Ponyo! It's like the Japanese version of The Little Mermaid, and I have to admit, I love it too. The illustrations are so fun, and the characters are so cute! 

To have a little fun I decided to try to recreate the Japanese soup from the movie, and have a Ponyo Dinner; the kids were so excited!

 To be totally honest, the broth left a lot to be desired, but the rest of it was pretty good. The kids ate it up!

 We will have to try it again later, it's always fun to throw new recipes in to the rotation. Maybe next time we will actually use HAM!! ;)

 Nom, Nom!

Garage Saling, or How To Clean Legos

One of my favorite hobbies is garage saling (Google said to spell it that way), because I am able to find so many goodies for my family at a fraction of the price that I could buy them -if I could buy them at all. We live in a military area that happens to be wonderful for garage saling, so I am lucky for that. I estimate that it saves us close to $2000 a year on clothes, toys, and household goods.

Every other Saturday at 6am I drag my poor friend out of bed (she really does have a good time after I feed her a little coffee.), and we head out on our treasure/scavenger hunt. I even have a "shopping" list of things to look for, and we usually find them. The only catch is that most of the time I get the goodies home and they need a thorough cleaning before I will let my little ones touch them. With clothes it's pretty easy, and Clorox wipes are awesome for the big stuff and books, but sometimes I have to get creative to clean things like, say, Legos.

 So here is my solution for cleaning a big box full of ridiculously-little plastic toys: 

• First, get a laundry bag like the one pictured below, that has a very small netting, no holes, and a tight closure at the top. 
• Next pour all the little pieces in the bag, close it tight, and put it in the washing machine. 
• Set the washer to the quick-wash with hot water, detergent, and bleach; and let the Legos wash as if they were an old towel. Speaking of, if you want to cut back some of the noise you can add a few towels to the wash -it is very loud and you would probably not want to do this while the baby is sleeping, husband is home, pope is visiting, etc. 
• When the wash is finished put the bag of Legos in the dryer and set it to a quick-dry on medium heat. Let it run for as long as you can stand it -it is very noisy, see above for tips on that. 
• When the dryer is done the Legos can be poured out onto a towel to dry further; and if you got these from a garage sale, this is also a good time to pick out all the non-Lego pieces that you really didn't want to pick out before they were cleaned.
• Done! Now you can give them to your kids and not be completely grossed out later when you find them in your baby's mouth.

Laundry bag with draw-string closure; zipper would be even better.

Babyhood...

Going,

Going,

Gone!

 It's official, he is a toddler now. Our little guy started walking about two weeks after his birthday. He looks so cute on those shaky little legs! I was so glad Dh was home that month, so he didn't have to miss it.

He has started imitating things like trying to brush his hair, color with a pen, eat with a spoon, etc; and his temper is fully developed now. If we take something away, or are not fast enough with his food, he will throw the most awful fit; but usually a distraction or a quick reprimand is all he needs, and he is right back to being a sweetheart. Then he will start to babbles in a sweet, gentle little voice as if he is telling me all about it; it just charms me every time!

Lavender Eye Pillows

Yikes! It's been so long since I've posted anything creative, and I do still create, even when I am really busy. So here is something I finished up a while ago, but am just now getting around to sharing: Lavender Eye Pillows!

 I made ten of these darling little pillows to include in Thank-You gift bags which were given to the board members of our local MOMS Club. 

 I started by making a basic patten out of paper. The top is straight and the bottom is notched in so it lays across the nose comfortably. I cut my pillows out about 1/2 inch smaller then the "pillow cases". 

I had these perfect-size white cotton rectangles in my fabric stash (that were from another project I have long since forgotten about), so I ended up altering my original design and going with straight sides, but rounded side are very pretty too.

The filling station.

 I decided to make my pillows with little removable "pillow cases" so that the moms could wash it if needed. (This was a suggestion from my sister who said her son put hers outside in the dirt, and it just didn't smell as nice after that...) I stitched up the three sides, leaving the small side open for filling, and filled it half full of rice. Then I added 2 tsp of lavender, and pinned the side closed. I tested this all along the way to check the comfort, that it was big enough to block out the light, not too heavy on the eyes, and that the scent was not too strong.

Three of my pillow cases ready to be sewn.

 I sewed the sides of the pillows closed (not shown), and then started on the cases by putting the two sides of my cases right sides together and folding down 1/2 inch on one end and ironing it down to create a hem. I then unpinned the hem end and stitched the hem on the front and back pieces separately. I repinned them together (right sides together still) and sewed all the way around leaving the hemmed side open for the pillow to slide in.

No hand sewing needed!

A fancier closure could have been put on the cases (zipper, button, velcro, ribbon), however I liked the simplicity of these and just left mine open like little pillow cases.

Ready to sooth some tired mommas!

 I put a pillow in each case and finished them of with a pretty bow and tag.

To warm put in the microwave for 20 seconds.

 To use just lay back, place it over your eyes, and breath deep.

 Try to relax.

 Think happy thoughts...

and try not to laugh too much.

Thanks go to:

My beautiful model, Immy. 

A friend from the MOMS Club who donated her beautiful quilting scraps for the covers, and

My darling husband who helped me pick the lavender in CA.

The only part of this I had to buy was the rice, so each pillow cost me around .50 cents to make! 

Thank you!