Embellished sweater

There was lots of stuff I wanted to write about today but it's family time now. So I'm just posting Day 8 creativity stuff.

I did this.

Here's mine. So easy! Probably took about 45 minutes just because cutting the flowers was a little tedious. If you cut the squares, fold in half and then cut the flowers, it moves quicker. And I did quick stitches, no major sewing. Will probably have to sew again to make sure the stitches hold.

And... I LOVE IT! I really like the color combo too.

Taking a picture of myself jumping.

I was laughing so hard at myself.

*I updated my blog header too. What do you think?

Productivity, I like you very much.

I love a productive day!

Up at 6:30am to get Holden ready for school and then work...at my kitchen table. After spending some time with the other boys and getting Luc to school at 11:20, I took turns working more and cleaning the house, getting it organized for summer break. There will be chaos in this house this summer with all 3 boys home all day long, so I need to have things in order before they destroy it all (again).

I organized their art supplies and piles of drawings and scrap paper, sorted Legos into baggies and stashed other stuff away that I just don't want to look at anymore. They probably won't notice anyway.

I also filled an entire trash bag full of school papers. I allowed myself to keep a large manilla envelope for each one with their art, best papers and writing from the school year. I have a few pieces of schoolwork from when I was young and I love to see what I wrote and reminisce.  I wish I had kept more of it.

I was staring at the trash bag and while I know it will be recycled and was used for something worthwhile originally, it still feels so wasteful! I decided to make something out of it... at least temporarily. Each of the boys gets out at different times on Thursday so I'm going to make them each a "Welcome to Summer" banner that they can break through when they come into the house.

I'm going to take their school papers and tape them together and then paint the banner. I think they'll love it and it will make more use out of their old papers, one last time.

And today I'm working on this. Will post pics when I'm done. I'm about halfway finished and I've spent an hour on it so far.

*edit* Day 6 - here's my wreath. Lookin' pretty lopsided, ha ha. But cute enough. The boys love it.

Tiny hands, big body

Today was Luc's class picnic at school. It's amazing to see how much the kids have grown and what they've learned in one year. Kindergarten is such a magical year because they start the school year as almost toddlers and then by the end, they're real big kids. For this get-together siblings were invited which was nice. Ash is pretty popular with Luc's classmates. He gets high fives all around every time we drop Lucas off at school.

My Big Boy

The High Five Ash Game

Playing Go Fish - "Do you have any fours?"

Showing off his dribbling skills

For Day 6 of 30 days of Creativity, I did a project with the boys. But I can't post it here because it's a gift for someone's birthday on June 9th. So that will have to be another one that I post later.

My awesome friend Alexis lent me Tina Fey's book. So I had to take a picture of myself with my own weird miniature arms and hands posing with the book like Tina. What do you mean you can see Holden's tuft of red hair behind me? No those are not his arms. I just have really tiny, tiny, tiny hands for my body.

This day, I'm not sure what to think of you.

I can't blame Bill for not wanting to do anything some days because I had every opportunity to take the boys to see the hot air balloons and I didn't do it. The idea of taking them alone while Bill worked/slept was exhausting before even attempting to set foot out of the house. Sometimes I feel like maybe I lug them around to do things against their will anyway, hoping (begging that) they'll enjoy doing something new and different. So I figured everyone just wanted to stay home and relax anyway. I comfort myself with this thought as an excuse for being so lazy.

For Day 5 of on my daily creativity journey, I crocheted a broomstick style bracelet. The tutorial for the bracelet is here, and the video for how to do a broomstick crochet can be found here. The chick talks too much though so just skip to the middle. (There's also a part 2.) I made 5 rows as opposed to 4 like the tutorial to fit my thick wrist, out of worsted lime green yarn and Lucas stole it. So I'm going to make another one for myself in a melon color.

I had a motivating day at David's Bridal yesterday. 2 months ago I ordered a bridesmaid dress for Vann's wedding in October. I went into the store to try it on and it was too big so I re-ordered a smaller size. I see results in the mirror and on the scale but clothing affirmations are the best. I know I'll be able to go down another size by the wedding, but getting down two more sizes would be even better. I need to stay away from brownies though in order to make this happen.

This morning I got news that a childhood friend passed away from cancer. She's been battling it for years now. I hate the disease so much especially after my mom's passing 3 years ago. It's hard to console one's self with the idea that a person you care about is no longer in pain when you wish they never had to go through it in the first place and instead got to live a long, happy life. But we tell ourselves lots of things to make it an easier pain to bear being without them. I'm happy she had a wonderful family and supportive friends to help through this, and was able to say good-bye and go on peacefully to a better place. She was a good, kind person, inspiring and will be remembered by many, many people. See you later, Metisha.

1st grade

Balloons and Bracelets

I wanted to go to movie night at the Berry Farm yesterday. Sitting on a quilt watching a movie on the side of a barn eating blueberries sounds like heaven to me. But as you can imagine, it sounds like hell for Bill. So I didn't force him to go. Insert big SIGH here.

HOWEVER, if I can get my kids up early enough tomorrow morning I'm taking them to the berry farm to see the hot air balloons take off. Granted, we have to be there by 7am. This should be fun and make for a good photo opp. I really wish I had a DSLR camera. Going to ask for one for my birthday. Or from Santa.

For Day 4, I followed this tutorial to make braided bracelets, the 2 finger version.  I just used an old grey jersey t-shirt as scraps. I made one loose and the other tight to get a different effect for each. These turned out really cute I think. Anytime I have some extra fabric scraps laying around, I'll make more. After cutting the strips, the weaving only took about 5 minutes. I'd say 10-15 minutes total for the entire project.

And throwing in one more picture of my outfits from my trip to Florida last month.

Getting mail and school annoyances

I love sending mail and getting mail.

Getting a letter or even a small little package in the mail just brightens even the gloomiest day and makes a good day even better.

Yesterday I started feeling sick (and still sick today, wah wah waaaah) but I got a little package in the mail with a beautiful new ring in it from jewelmint.com.

Today I'm sending:

• a book to a fellow bibliophile friend in Virginia (will post a pic after she gets it)
• a knitting book I had out on loan from a sock-knitting grandmother in Portland
• William & Kate magazines and another little surprise to a friend in Malaysia
• a handmade veil made by a friend for a soon-to-be-bride in Oklahoma
• a crochet bag for an old friend in Florida (she's not old, we've just been friends for a long time, unless you think 34 is old then yeah, she's old)
• this one is not as fun, but i'm sending a charm back to have it fixed so I can add 3 new beautiful charms with my boys' names and birthdays to my charm bracelet, excited to get this one back so I don't just have one charm on my bracelet (will post a pic when it's done)

{I sent a little poem and a tiny gift to a friend in Arkansas this week but I can't post a pic until she receives it}

= = =

I just went to school for a Volunteer Appreciation dessert get-together right before Luc's school starts so I had him and Ash with me. And the woman in charge actually blocked my way to the library and told me no kids were allowed. Usually things like this don't bother me because I can understand the reasoning and it's not a big deal anyway. But this really pissed me off and hurt my feelings.

I'm a mom of 3 kids, 2 of which go to this school. I work part-time. And I still am the room mom for Holden's class and volunteer Thursdays in Luc's class. I volunteer at almost every single event and donate lots of time and money to that school. Yet they couldn't allow me to go in for a few minutes with my kid to sit with his teacher and talk. They said they even turned away another mom earlier with her kid. Nowhere on the invite did it say "NO KIDS ALLOWED AT SCHOOL". Not to mention that this woman had the nerve to actually stand in my way as I was walking into the room. Although I did go in anyway to say hi to Luc's teacher and listen to her get fired up about it too. Still she couldn't convince them otherwise either. Putting together a letter to drop off at the principal's office later today. Just need to omit the expletives.

Wearing my new ring to calm me down.

And at least I had this little guy to cheer me up who snuck away with a lollipop.

Day 3's creativity project will be posted later today.
*Update*

Here's my attempt at this DIY shirt-making. I made it too small. Too much mom gut showing. Oh well. I'll try again with another shirt another day.

Buns and Braids

Started the day out doing something creative with my hair now that I've decided to just grow it out (because I'm too undecided about what haircut I'd want).  Just twisted, coiled and pinned it. I couldn't find any bobby pins so I just used these colorful barrettes that went with my green shirt and purple scarf.

Purple and Green - and wearing earrings made by my friend Vann. :)

Now for my actual project - a braided t-shirt necklace. I took an old t-shirt and cut it into strips, then braided them together. The strips were a little short for a necklace so I just tried together two strips to make it longer. I made 4 braids and then knotted them together with a bow. In the original inspiration, you're supposed to sew something around the sections that you connect to hide them, but I like the texture of the fringe so I left it. This took about an hour and I'm a fast braider. But it can be done while you're watching TV or whatever, and you only need an old tshirt and a pair of scissors.

And there you have it!