home again, home again, jiggety jig...

So, last week we had VBS from 9a to noon and Cub Scout Twilight Camp from 2p to 8:30p every day. I would like to state for the record: NEVER AGAIN will we combine any other anything with Twilight Camp week. Amen.

At camp Lynn was a walking den leader and I was a session leader. Caleb went to tot lot again this year and got to do swaps with all his little buddies there. Logan got to do all sorts of cool stuff (eventually I'll get some pictures posted - I don't have many since I had to set up my session station at 2p everyday). My session was the Smithy where the boys got to hammer out metal bowls using a disk of aluminum alloy and a wooden form. I would like to point out that I purposefully volunteered to help groups of twenty or so boys at a time hammer out metal bowls because I have some expertise in metal working. Amazingly my 33 decibel proof earplugs did the trick as far as headaches go...never had a one. However, the heat did nearly get me the first day. Fortunately I had time to get down flat on the concrete and put my feet up avoiding fainting in front of twenty some first graders and their parents. I figured out real quick my body doesn't care to try to process carbohydrates while tolerating extremely hot temperatures.

Lynn's parents came up last minute to keep Molly for us because we thought she was finally breaking out with the chicken pox. As it turns out, she did not, but it worked out great anyway. Molly and Grandma Mardee went swimming everyday. Poppa Lee mowed the yard for Lynn. They helped with kitchen duty and laundry duty. Mardee even washed my cell phone the night before the new iPhones dropped. Lucky for me it was time to get a new phone anyway.

This reminds me, if I had your numbers on my phone before, I do not have them now as I did not save anything to the sim card. So if you would be so kind as to email me your phone numbers again, I would be ever so thankful :).

After that crazy week we all got up early on Saturday and made way to the Gulf Coast for a few days while Lynn was down working in south Houston. Saturday we stayed in Seabrook and went to the Kemah Boardwalk after dinner.



We spent Father's Day at the Space Center Houston where the boys got to do some Star Wars and Indiana Jones themed stuff along with the usual NASA tour type stuff.



From the Space Center we headed down to Galveston where the kids and I vegged at the beach and hotel swimming pool all day. A word to the wise: don't count on an eight year old to apply adequate amounts of sunscreen to your back. In case you were wondering, I was the only one to get sunburned on this trip...

We made it home safe and sound last night and after a day of complete vegetation today, it's back to playing catch up for me. We have a big trip to the post office tomorrow and after that it's bill paying time (yuck) , getting the kids signed up for swimming lessons and fall soccer, and then maybe some sewing. Phew, so glad to be home!

my first born...

So, I have this boy, my first born child, and he is smart (he completed 2nd grade with straight A's - go Logan!!) and handsome and helpful and, sometimes, a handful. I love him to pieces! In a few minutes he'll be eight years old. EIGHT! I don't know where the time goes...

Happy Birthday, sweet boy! xo

a dress for my wee girl...

I bought some fabric a couple weeks ago with the intention of making a couple as-yet-undecided things for Molly and a bag for me. When the order arrived I was absolutely thrilled! The colors of the fabrics were so much nicer in person. As I was preparing to wash everything I noticed they sent more than the half yard of the Echino Grassy Plain I had ordered...a fortunate oversight in my favor. And just today I realized they sent me a different color way than I originally ordered, another fortunate oversight in my favor, because this colorway is WAY prettier than the one I ordered. Anyhoo, all signs pointed to a dress needing to be made for Molly instead of a bag for me.



I used the bottom portion of the print for this dress and still have the top half to do something else with...maybe another little dress or a top. And if you're wondering about the design process:

• I sewed the back seam first and then hemmed the dress.
• I placed the armholes and pinned the dress on Molly to fit her across the shoulders.
• Originally I was going to do the same treatment on the front as I did on the back, you know, easy peasy dress done in an hour and a half tops...ha.

• Then I decided to sew a bunch of tuxedo pleats across the front and it was cute.
• Since the dress ended up as long as it did, I decided it should be a fancy dress she could wear to church and my little sister's upcoming wedding...the pleats then seemed a little too casual. Hello smocking idea.
• I've never smocked anything before this, but I did have an understanding of the steps required. I laid out the all the tick marks and then machine stitched the smocking. It looked too casual again. s h i i i i i i i t.
  
• I busted out my seam ripper, a needle and thread and double tacked each and every one of those little points.
• I made some bias tape. The bias tape was machine sewn to the raw edges of the dress and then rolled and hand sewn to finish.
• I still need to iron it. But that would involve getting the ironing board out. When I'm sewing I just use a towel over my cutting board table pulled right up to my sewing table for pressing seams and whatnot. Some might call it lazy. I call it streamlining my work environment.
  

Overall I am extremely happy with the way this dress came together. If I didn't have so much time already invested in the smocking, I would have redone the the arc of the neckline. Now that this one is finished, I'm ready to cook something else up!

Also, we're going to need some sandals to go with this dress for the wedding...her little orange sandals from last year would've been perfect, sadly the style is discontinued. Leave me a link if you know of anything cute!

backyard experiments...

For the pièce de résistance of my homeroom mothering career I decided to do a backyard (or kitchen) scientist theme. I gathered up supplies for a handful of kitchen science experiments we've all done over the years and then put together little manuals for the kids to take home with them should they want to recreate any of the awesomeness.



You can make one of your very own by printing experiments one through four and five. I bought the sparkly blue A2 booklets for 50% off at the Paper Source store at Northpark Center, but you could just as easily cut a piece of cardstock in half and score it at one inch from the top and again at 6½ inches from the top. I wanted to use the two inch variety of this type of fastener but my local store didn't stock them so I went with what I had on hand: 3/16th brads. The labels are just Avery 8163 mailing labels.

I failed to get any pictures of the kids doing any of the experiments at the party because I was up to my elbows in goo the whole time! Luckily I had a very willing and able crew to help me re-enact all the experiments at the house this afternoon.

Goo from the "Bag of Slime" experiment:



Cauldron bubbles in action:



Bubble Snake Maker making bubble balls instead of snakes:



And last but not least, Volcano Lava:



I sent everyone home with a baggie of Borax too. One of my classroom moms offered to paint faces for the kids and that was a HUGE hit as well. We had monsters, kitties, tigers, Spidermen, zombies and butterflies running around with bags of goo. I overheard a few of the kids talking over lunch discussing how they hoped they were in Logan and H's class next year. I guess it's a safe bet that everyone had a good time!

and the winners are...

Cheryl said, "I love the necklace especially!" A serendipitous outcome! I love it!

Ariane said, "Wow! Very cute earrings and necklaces! I love them! Sorry to hear you missed the Sew Mama Sew deadline, but your friend posted that you were having a giveaway - so for those of who actually read the blogs, we can find your giveaway

Thanks for the chance to win!" Thanks for clicking over!

Ladies, please email me your addresses and I'll get these goodies out in the mail to you.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by last week, it was a treat to click around, find some new blogs to read and all the kind words were greatly appreciated too.