boy play: color

Boys. Tactile. Active. Rambunctious. Most days just plain crazy!
I never believed these gender stereotypes to be true but then I had two sons and I couldn't agree with them more. My boys never stop moving.

So Pinterest has become my new best friend for ideas of what to do with them and how to keep them busy.

This activity was a good one that kept us busy for at least a half hour- maybe even 45 minutes. Plus all the things you need should be in your cupboards so its a quick one.

Color:
water
food coloring
cupcake pan
syringe or dropper

We started with just the primary colors and let him play with the water for quite some time. One thing I learned as a teacher; when you introduce new things let them play before trying to direct anything. Once he had mastered the syringe we started with new water and I walked him through making the secondary colors. Mae loved this!

Maybe his favorite was mixing them all at the end, where he exclaimed "brown, kind of like Bailey dog".

home again

Just returned from the east side of the state, again.
Tons of fun to be had.

Dirt.

Donkeys.

Bike racing.

Walking practice.

Horse ride.

Wheat.

Tattoos.

Love.

No wonder they didn't want to come home.

On another note I found lots of knit at my favorite thrift store. All of this, each piece being at least a yard,  for less than twenty dollars!

growing

Both of them have been but especially Mae. I feel like I make a whole bunch of something for him and they're suddenly too small. So I've been making more tops for him which this specific one is a tad big but that was purposeful hoping to make it last a bit longer.

This fabric is quite possibly one of my best finds. Of course it was thrifted, in Walla Walla, as most my good knit is. It is old school knit that was actually still in the round and cost me like $1.75. I have held onto it for months but realized I only needed half of it for this tee so still have another piece. It's perfect for Mae who is just recognizing his numbers. When he first put it on he spent quite some time picking out the numbers he knew.

I used the Raglan Tee pattern from Sewing For Boys. Not only did I make it big but I edited it some to make it my own. Most obvious is the seams which I put inside instead of leaving them raw. I love the raw exterior look but my serger is much faster than my machine. Made the sleeves three-quarters length and added cuffs to finish them; two different cuffs, similar to this shirt. Instead of using a bias type neck, I cut the neck bigger and added ribbing as a neck band.

Funny story. Was going to leave the sleeves uncuffed but could not get the image of Bill Belichick with his cut off hoodie out of my head. So went with the cuffs instead of the cut off look.

Working on a couple more tops using some other patterns and even one I self drafted for Case. We'll see how quickly I can finish them up.

Father's Day Gift

Eeeek...it's happening Sunday. Wasn't so sure I would have my act pulled together to have much for Sam but this was a relative quick and easy gift. Plus, even with boys who wouldn't hold still for the life of them, I love the way it turned out.

All you need is some paper, marker, and camera. I decided on 'love you apa' so wrote each word on a card. Gave a card to each of our boys and tried to get a decent shot. Go figure the picture of Bailey dog turned out the best of all.

Picked my favorites (the three above), printed them out, and stuck them in a three part frame.

I think I enjoy the outtakes of the photos just as much as the final product.

Happy weekend and enjoy celebrating all the apa's in your life!

giraffe

A giraffe pillow that is!

Awhile ago I bought this fabric thinking it was a similar color to the rug in our main room and its almost an exact match. Weeks, maybe months, have gone by and I have done nothing with it. We have a huge grey couch in the same room that has no fun pillows on it- until now!

I almost just made a simple rectangular cover for the pillow but then saw this tutorial for a girls top and thought it'd be perfect for the pillow. Adding a little detail but not too much because the print itself is a bit overwhelming.

So we now have one little pillow to add some color to a huge couch. Will get around to making some more...eventually.

lemonade

I love lemonade. I think the tartness of the lemons is what gets me- yum!


When we were on vacation last month my mom had made this lemonade pie in baby canning jars. Oh my, so so tasty! So when we had people over for dinner this past weekend I made a batch real quick and it was a hit. I didn't have baby canning jars but instead used nine ounce plastic cups which actually worked out perfect for the two years who both dropped their cups. 


I only used a little more than a tablespoon of graham cracker crust in each cup and maybe four ounces of filling so ended up with 12 desserts. I wasn't sure the serving size was going to be big enough but it was perfect; too big for the two year olds to finish and just right for most the adults.

Lemonade Pie
(from Our Best Bites)
1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs
1/3 c sugar
6 Tbls melted butter

Mix the crust ingredients together and press into the bottom of 12 plastic cups, a heaping tablespoon in each. (Don't press super hard so that it will stay partially crumbly.)

12 ounces Cool Whip
1can sweetened condensed milk
2/3 can thawed lemonade concentrate

Mix the topping ingredients together and spoon onto graham crackers crust. Freeze.

Let sit at room temperature for a few minutes before serving. 

digging in

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Thank goodness it's Friday! It has definitely been a week; with sick boys the last couple days I'm ready for the weekend. I have a couple projects I've been working on but they were postponed for sleep, thanks to middle of the night feedings, again. Next week hopefully.

Here is a super quick and easy project, perfect for Friday. Scarves are my new love; light weight knit scarves that is. I pretty much wear jeans and a dark tee daily- no lie. So the scarf adds a little more interest to my ensemble and keeps my hair away from Case and his chubby fingers.

I bought this cool piece of pink stripey knit at the thrift store recently for something like $2 and it's huge! Maybe two yards? So late last night I cut off a piece, pulled the edges to roll them a bit, and tied the ends together. That's it. New scarf for Friday and another to add to the rotation.

Happy Friday!

What to do? What to do?

The placket in knit...oh my. Wherever I read plackets are easier on a woven than a knit was no joke. It's not hard on a knit just trickier and knit is so much less forgiving.

This one still has a pucker to it that I couldn't perfect that will irk me every time Mae wears it. Oh and no buttons. Small detail.

I did learn how to use the button hole foot on my machine and I did successfully make multiple button holes. Just none of them were on this actual shirt. I attempted two on this green shirt and after spending over a half hour tearing them out I admitted defeat. At least next time I know the button holes need to go in prior to finishing the placket and the neckline.

So what do I do with this placket?
Leave it open?
Sew it closed and add the buttons just for looks?
Or add snaps?

Hmmmmm...I'm really leaning towards snaps. Then at least the process of adding the placket wasn't in vain.

this kid

Carrot Whoopie Pies

My mother-in-law had her birthday this past week so we waited until the weekend to celebrate so that my brother-in-law could join us. She had decided on carrot cake but I wanted to mix it up a bit so decided to do whoopie pies. I really wanted to make these that I had pinned but when I went to make them Saturday morning I realized I only had quick oats not old fashioned, bummer!

With a quick search of the internet I found these which looked just as yummy and I had all the ingredients. I did change just a couple things:

• I made most of them mini, using a tablespoon scoop for each half. 
• I also scooped them immediately after mixing and then refrigerated hoping they would hold their shape better. 
• I did make a few larger ones, two tablespoons, but in the end the mini were more popular. 
• After frosting I thinned the frosting a bit and added drizzle and then rainbow jimmies.

Definitely will make them again but will do all mini this time- they actually tasted better. Is that even possible? Maybe the ratio of frosting to pie was better in the little ones?