What a difference a seam makes...

I have been teaching myself to sew off and on for about 8 years. The last 2 years I have really learned a lot. I love making my toddler the crisscross back dresses with bloomers. While surfin' pinterest.com I saw this pin about a french seam. I was curious. It looked super simple and I thought I should try it. I wanted to share this tip in case anyone else would like to try this type of seam.

Here is a pair of bloomers that I made about a year ago. This is a regular seam like the directions called for. It is frayed and looks messy.

Here is the pair I just finished tonight. There are no exposed edges to fray and it just looks beautiful to me.

I also started using a piece of cardboard to measure my hems when I was ironing them. I got the idea from this pin on pinterest. It was so much easier and the hems are all uniform and awesome looking.

Marked measurements on the cardboard with pencil

First Installment of Gardening Information "posters"

I am working on making informational posters about taking care of my yard and garden so I do not have to keep going to the web. I plan on putting these in frames and hanging them in my garage near my lawn and garden equipment. Here is the first one I have finished. It took me almost three weeks to find all of this information.

I want to make these downloadable, so if anyone can help me with that, please comment. Thanks

Summer Week 4 - Under the Sea

Another busy week for us. I planned lots, but did not get to everything and I am slowly accepting that this happens sometimes.

Monday started off pretty smooth. We did our morning routine as usual (sans Charlie's hair being brushed...it was not worth the fight that day). We read Ocean Season by Rob Hirschi and did a craft inspired by the book. This is one of my most favorite art projects to do with the kids because you can do it many times with different themes and it is great to see how creative my girls can be. We did finger print art. I whipped out my old stamp pads and my special markers and let them go to town. Charlie had fun just putting her fingers in the colors and telling me what they were. Kairah and Kaijah were very creative with their pictures. It was a blast.

Charlie, Kairah and Kaijah making their pictures, The finished results.

I really need to start taking before pictures...this is after

The rest of the day we just relaxed and watch a movie. After dinner we worked on the yard a bit. Boy was that interesting. Our yard is covered in sand right now because we had a large mess of trees and vines removed after we bought our house. Well those trees and vines will just not quit popping up, so slowly we have been cutting them away and adding things to our yard like a vegetable garden and butterfly garden. So, on Monday we worked on raking up some debris from around our beautiful oak tree, the stump next to it and the table. The stump and table area are just about cleared out, but while raking the debris from around the oak tree we disturbed a bull ant nest. Ahhhhh - I freaked. So I quickly ran inside and researched how to safely destroy get rid of them. ( I know, I know...I am supposed to love nature, but these buggies were killing my oak tree and are mean little things). We put down some corn meal and watched them take the bait. My husband came outside wondering what we were doing just looking at the tree. After I explained it to him, he just shook his head and grabbed his gloves to help us dispose of the piles we created. (Update - the bull ants seem to be gone, I guess I will find out when I rake again). After all that, we were done for the evening.

Tuesday was also pretty smooth. In the morning while watering our plant on the patio, we discovered one of our baby birds did not survive, but when we checked the nest the rest had safely flew away (another to do being added to the list - clean off umbrella it is pretty dirty after housing those baby birds). I also discovered how annoying older elementary school and middle school children can be on this fine day. Do not get me wrong, I love my children, but boy can they cause a ruckus. For about 2 hours I had to keep telling them "stop making noise" because that is all they were doing. Geesh. I soon found out after my facebook rant, that I am not the only one with this problem and we all had a good laugh about it.

Our book for the day was Fish Had a Wish by Michael Garland. After reading the book, which Charlie really loved, we made fish out of CDs. I did not buy anything special for this, although most posts I found about this craft used glitter, spangles, and the like. I just grabbed old scrapbooking stuff I had the closet, along with some paper, glue and scissors. I think our fish came out great!

Fish L->R U->D Charlie, Kaijah Kailah, Kairah, Mine

After quiet movie time I did a craft with that was meant for the older girls, but Charlie joined at the table to watch (I even gave her an old stained shirt to keep her busy). We "updated" shoes. Kailah and Kairah found a bunch of pins on pinterest about decorating shoes, so we tried a few ideas. It was really fun, so much so, they did not want to stop when it was dinner time. That is my idea of a winning craft idea.

Shoes - ribbon wrap flip flops, puffy paint & glitter chucks, puffy paint skates, puffy paint flip flops, puffy paint heely's

In the evening I enjoyed reading this article: Dominos and Donuts, the Truth About Change . Check it out!

Wednesday was the 4th of July. I hit the commissary (grocery store) and whipped right through. I only had Kairah with me and the store was practically empty. We spent the afternoon and evening at a friends for a BBQ and swimming. It was a great time.

Charlie rocked a new do

Thursday was a hectic mess. Kailah had an appointment in the morning and Kairah needed an appointment because one of her wires broke (braces). So I got that scheduled and of course it was right smack in the middle of Kailah's appointment. Luckily the two places are down the street from each other, so I made it work.

1 year with braces

Kairah's appointment took way longer than expected, but they ended up cancelling the check up we already had scheduled which was a plus. She is half way done and is very excited to be done with the creepy headgear.

While we were in Fort Walton Beach I thought I would hit up the local Goodwill. I was completely surprised at how expensive the Goodwill has become. I did not buy anything, but Kailah and Kairah bought a pair of shoes and a shirt each. Since Kohl's was on the same street and I had a coupon, we popped in there. Let me tell you, I love this store!!! We scored some great deals. After shopping, we were all tired and went home. All four of the girls napped and I fought with the BBQ grill.

Friday was an even bigger mess. Lew and I were woke up by a loud thunderstorm at around 4:30am. Next, Kaijah came and got in the bed with us, then Kairah and Champ. Kailah was up, but did not come to my door. After about an hour of wrestling around and shushing folks, I gave up and got up. Charlie did not wake up until her sisters got loud at around 6am when Kairah and Kailah started fighting about a board game (did I ever mention that no one in my house is a morning person, but me). I got tired of listening to it and ignored them and went to sleep on the couch. Lew left for work late (thank goodness they called him for late reporting, because I was so worried about him being out in the storm) and kept an eye on the kids. I woke up to a quiet house at around 9am....all the girls went back to sleep. I called my hair salon to see if my stylist had any cancellations....SCORE! she did (as usual people do not like to go out in the rain). Had a wonderful time getting my haircut and catching up with my stylist. I was so refreshed after my appointment I did a little sewing with Kailah and Kairah.

Once again, we looked at some pins on pinterest and the girls decided they wanted to "modify" T-shirts. They made market bags. We used the blog as an inspiration, but kinda did our own thing. I used another blog to inspire my "updated" shirt. I am not quite finished with mine, but I sure do love sewing.

Kairah and her crazy hair :D did a great job on her bags, I am going to add better straps to my camp shirt

After lunch, we walked to the nearest red box to pick up a movie for the girls to watch.  Apparently no one in the house cared about their appearance on this fine day. Charlie was so chipper in her mismatched outfit with crazy un-brushed hair which was left over from Thursday cool hair do. Kairah and Kaijah were also crazy haired weirdos. It cracks me up when they are like this. I guess it could be worse. I could have girls that have to take an hour to get ready just to check the mail.

During the movie I got ready for my monthly Girls Night Out. I had a blast with some friends at TGIFriday and the movies. We went to see Magic Mike. It was so funny.

Well, that was my crazy week. 

30 Minute blog about Gardening

This is my 30 minute blog about 30 minutes of gardening today. I decided that since I have an extensive to do list today that I would commit only 30 minutes to each task. Lets see how this works ;)

I put on my gardening shoes (yes I have shoes just for gardening) and went to work.

I had been staring at these little seedling all week. These seedlings were not expected. You see, I reused some seed starting mix, partly because I am cheap frugal and partly because I saw nothing wrong with it. So I tried to re-seed my macadamia nut seeds I brought back from Hawaii. Now, the macadamia nut seeds still have not sprouted, but these little guys did. I have no idea what they are at this moment, either guava or papaya (also from Hawaii - I know I am weird...who brings seeds and plants back from a trip as souvenirs), but I thought I should give them a chance.

Mysterious Seedlings, A starting chance, Guava in the back - new seedling in the front

I also had a huge bucket of potting soil that I no longer needed from previous plants, so lets reuse that I thought. I read somewhere that as long as it is still retaining moisture the potting soil can be reused. I added some Epsom salt and organic fertilizer to each pot and started planting my seedlings. I am so excited to see what they turn into. They are a little leggy right now, so I watered them from the bottom, but I think they will turn out fine.

Plumeria (from Hawaii) is doing well, I still have Ti Ti to plant

 In addition to these little seedlings I noticed by orange mint was outgrowing its little pot and I just so happen to have an extra large pot sitting around (thanks to my mad rant while trying to light the bbq in the wind, I will post a note at the bottom about that). Oh, and then I noticed one of my thyme plants was looking sad and I re-potted him as well.

I watered everything on the patio and filled up my make-shift birdbaths. All of this while my awesome drip/spray irrigation system was working on the veggie garden.

Marigolds, this little bean plant is still trying to survive...how cute

As promised here is the note about the BBQ debacle. We have never had such a breezy summer since I lived in NW Florida for the last 5 years. This year we are trying to cook on the grill more to keep the house cooler, but this stinkin' wind is giving us a run for our money. So the other day I tried to start the grill and of course it would not start. I was tired and grouchy from the long day I had. So, to the left of the grill was a large pot full of pine cones (Charlie collects the "popcorn" for us when she plays outside) . We usually use one or two for kindling,but this day I dumped the rest of them on top of the coals and lit them. Boy did that fire get going...lol...bonus! - I had another large pot ready for a plant.

Introducing: My Family

What's up! It has been a loooooooonnnnnnggggg couple of weeks for me filled with running my children from activity to activity, canning over 750lbs of peaches with a local canning club, organizing my life and thoughts...the list just goes on and on.

With that being said, this blog post will be a little different. I finally got the hubster to read my blog and he insinuated that it was lame to not use our names. So without further ado, I would like to introduce myself and my family.

Clockwise - Hawaii, pretending to sleep, I love eating, my boyfriend, sleepin'

I am Christina. I am old and mom of four. I had an interesting childhood that created this weird, cooky, crazy person that I am. I served eleven and a half years in the United States Air Force (practically right out of High School). I was stationed in Nebraska, New Mexico, and Japan before moving to my last base in Florida. I served almost six month in Iraq during my enlistment. After marrying my third husband (yes I said third, which was my fourth marriage) I finally had someone who supported me no matter what, so I separated (for various reasons that just kept adding up). I attempted to get a few part time jobs (because I wanted to be with my children more) and failed, so off to college I went (because I got paid to go to school, thanks GI Bill). I was a horrible student when I was a child/teenager, but boy did I excel at it now. So, I am a mother, military spouse, and college student.

Clockwise - date night, Hawaiian shirt love, working in the yard

This is my husband Lew (of which he is 7 years younger than me, so not quite old yet). We met in 2005 at Misawa AB in the Enlisted Club (I know, I know, you are not supposed to find a husband in the club, but I did...woot woot). It has been a fun and interesting ride with him for almost five years of marriage and seven years together (nothing like my past relationships, thank goodness). He is in the Air Force (joined out of High School when he was only 17) and has been stationed in Korea, Japan, Turkey, and Florida. He has been deployed twice. I am thankful that his job does not deploy very much. He loves to play football (I have been nagging at him since we moved here to play again, I love watching). He is so loving and giving (I hope he reads this blog since all he thinks I do not have nice things to say about him :P) and a wonderful father to our 4 beautiful daughters (he chose to be a father to my older three, a big challenge for any man).

yes you can take my picture, no! don't take my picture

This is my oldest daughter Kailah and the only one I ever gave a pet name to (Kailah Bear - she hates it). She is 13 years old and by far the most challenging child that I have which is not always a bad thing. I would be extremely bored and complacent if it was not for her making me use my brain to parent her. Anyhow, her favorite colors are pink and black. I made the mistake one year of thinking that was the only colors she liked and everything I bought her was pink and black. She finally corrected me....lol. She has been playing the flute for a year and has expressed interest in learning how to do tumbling, so she can be a cheerleader in high school (compete shock to me :-O). She will be starting cheernastics (that is what they call this new tumbling only class) in the fall. She is extremely smart and I wish should would use it for good more than evil at times. She is a wonderful writer and artist. According to her pins on pinterest, she seems to want to be a crafter, clothes designer, hairdresser, nail tech, and comedian also. She is not very social, but when she does hold a conversation with someone it is either very intelligent and well thought out or completely goofy and silly.  She reminds me so much of myself at times. It is hard to show her that I love her, but I try everyday.

releasing our butterflies, tennis, ladder ball w/ Highway 98 Country Music station

This is Kairah, my second oldest. She is 12 years old. This is my little helper (although it is a good thing most of the time, it can get a little challenging when she tries to parent her siblings). She is very athletic and I push her to be better and she fights me on it all the time. She has participated in cheerleading, dance, football (flag and tackle) and soccer. I think she finally decided to play soccer "forever" now. She has played the clarinet for a year. She loves to be goofy and silly. She is a great big sister and babysitter to my youngest when she sets her mind to it (or to purpose as they would have said in ancient times...lol...I could not help myself). Out of my three oldest, she gets along best with her stepfather (or Dad as they call him). She has never been skiddish around much. She will get dirty helping in the yard, kill a spider in the house if needed, save a lizzard from her dog (Champ)...you name it. She will try almost anything.

loving Twister, meditating in-front of her scene she made

This is Kaijah, my third oldest or second to last youngest, however you want to look at it. She is 10 years old.  She was my baby for 8 years and she will never let me forget it. She refuses to grow up which is quite refreshing to me in this society where kids grow up too fast. I have not quite figured out her personality yet (probably because she refuses to grow-up and chose). She recently had to deal with her cat passing away. I am so proud of how mature she has handled this whole thing. She "adopted" her cat from my ex-sister-in-law after my deployment. Kaijah stayed with her while I was gone and fell in love with the cat and brought him along when we moved to Florida. She focuses all her time on playing and Girl Scouts. She is a great student, although 4th grade was hard for her, but I know she will be back on top next year.

"I'm pretty", reading at the library, riding the bus like a big girl

This is Charlie, my youngest. She is 2 years old (almost 3). After being married a year, my husband and I decided to have one last child before I got old (ha ha ha). Raising my youngest daughter has been interesting and challenging. It is my first time being a stay at home mom. She is so smart and loves to read, put puzzles together, and play outside. A regular kid, AWESOME! She is also very grown for her age in her thought process. She has to understand everything before she will do it. Her best friends are Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goody, Clairabel, Pete, The Octonauts, The Pirate Band, Annie, and June. She has learned everything she knows from Disney Jr. (so nnnmmmm :P to those who think TV is bad for kids).

On one final note, here are our new guests at our house:

Momma bird made an amazing nest in the fold of our umbrella outside. There are four of them, although you can only see 2.

Week 2 - Kids on Campus

DD2 (Tennis, Guitar, Mad Scientist), DD3 (Technical Theater, Guitar, Cartooning with Watercolor), DD1 (Mad Scientist, Bubbles & Slime, Jewelry Making), DD4

Welcome to another installment of "I spend too much time with my kids". :P

That above statement came from a conversation I had with a friend about how much time I spend with my kids and how much time parents spent with their children when I was a child. Interestingly enough, I believe I spend 50 times more time.  I am also waiting for the age when my kids decide that I am not cool enough to hang out with (I thought it was 10, 11, 12, 13ish). I guess I am just too cool to be uncool.

Anyhow, our week was super busy. This was the first week of Kids on Campus. Basically what this means is I had to find ways to entertain my toddler in another a city while my school age children went to fun learning experiences.

Monday

After getting the older girls all checked in for their classes, DD4 and I headed to Turkey Creek. It was interesting watching DD4 while we walked down the path. Her level of smarts is extremely high and I give all the credit to Mickey Mouse and his friends, The Little Einsteins, and The Octonauts. She amazed me with knowing the difference between left & right (of which some people in the military still have issues with this...not saying any names ;D) and her imagination. "Oh no! It's a hill!" or "Duck mommy" (when there was something above our head) were her favorite things to say.  We took frequent breaks and walked rather slow. Most folks that were there were exercising, so we were passed by quite often. At every opportunity I asked DD4 if she would like to put her feet in the water (we did not have swim suits - soooo not prepared). She would reply "no" every time. Finally, I was hot so I put my feet in the water. She freaked out. "No mommy, no!," rang out repeatedly. After I was done, can you guess what I hear? "My feet are hot" So we both walked back down the steps and put our feet in for a while. When we got to the end I finally convinced DD4 to get in the water. Unfortunately the water level was up to my knees, so it was up to her waist at least. It must be great to be a toddler, she got in in her underwear. It was a blast hearing her tell me about the sand, leaves, and fish. It was a long walk back. DD4 was tired and I carried her half the way back or more, on my back, shoulders and any other way I could carry her. It was so much fun and DD4 found out that she likes riding on mommy's shoulders. I quite frequently get asked to carry her "on my head" now-a-days.

running in, taking a break, mom's feet are hot, DD4's feet are hot, cooling off, turtle

After picking up the older girls from Kids on Campus we had a delicious lunch at Joey's Tomatoes. I was surprised to find labeled gluten free menu items. It is a small cafe and the food was yummy. My kinda place!

Tuesday

This morning was a beast. I could not get these kids out the door on time to save my life. We got to Kids on Campus and the girls were complaining to me about the lady yelling at them that they were late. I just said "you decided to leave late, not me." They did not like my answer....lol.  I decided that an inside activity was a good idea for DD4 and I. I decided to go to my most favorite library, The Valparaiso Library.  Here is a little background on how I discovered this gem:
     My first semester of college I took an American History Class with the best history teacher ever. He just so happened to be the manager of the ValP Library.  The fact that I was as big as a house (pregnant with DD4) and sat in the front gave great opportunity to make conversation with my teacher. He learned that I had 3 other children. Before the summer began, he repeatedly told me about how his library has lots for kids to do.  We went that summer (4 summers ago) and continued to go until moving to Navarre became a hindrance. I even took neighborhood children quite often. Every year the library programs just got better between their preschool programs, school age programs, teen programs, movies, and adult classes.
Anyhow, DD4 and I picked a great day to go. It was one of the three days that they provide a pre-school program. While we waited for the class to start we tried out the new Tag Reading System they have and colored. During the program DD4 decided that she really liked one of the books that the teacher had picked to read. She did not want to give it back. We did crafts and played. It was so much fun.

Tag Reading System, Coloring, Stolen Book, Still Reading Stolen Book, Crafting, Mom demonstrating said Craft

DD4 loves the colorful cushions.

 Oh, I forgot to mention, DD4 wanted to be a princess today. It was fun getting her dressed and doing her hair. She also reminded me (like she does every morning) "my toilet broken....daddy fix it....he get home."  It cracks me up every time. She has been saying this for about 2 weeks now. I think she misses her own potty.
This is one of the busy busy days for the week. DD1 also had Summer Reading Program, so after eating our packed lunch at the campus we headed to Hurlburt Field. The rest of us just hung out in the library reading and playing on the computer.



I was so exhausted after all this, but I still had work to do....that's right, Tuesday is my "office" day. Made a menu and grocery list. I was so tired that all I put on the menu for dinner was grilled chicken salad all week.

Wednesday

 Another busy day! We actually made it to Kids on Campus on time. I guess the girls did not like getting yelled at. On this day, I was well prepared for my outing with DD4. I researched the Niceville Children's Park. I made sure that DD4 had a bathing suit and towel. I was so excited about this park, but did not realize how awesome it was until we got there.

The park is large, clean and has plenty of choices. DD4 played on everything but the pink car while we waited for the splash pad to open. It amazed me how fearless she was climbing the rock wall. I was a little sad that she did not interact with other children, but what can I really do about that? The splash pad opened and off we went to the water. I thought for sure that DD4 would play in the water this time. It was hot! But noooo-ooooo, she wanted to sit around and watch. I even walked around with her, she was not having any of this crazy water play. We went back out to the playground and found a snow cone vendor....yum! We played a little more and when it was time to leave she did not want to go. That tells me this was a successful trip :D

After have our packed lunch at the campus, we headed for Hurlburt again for DD2&3's Summer Reading Program and some grocery shopping. The afternoon went rather well, but we were all extremely tired and I had just enough energy to put together 7 packets of marinaded chicken.

Thursday

Another day at Kids on Campus for the older girls.

DD4 and I went to the Destin Bridge. I have never been to the beach by the bridge, so I said "why not?" It was a little bit of a drive, but we had 3 hours to kill. It was a decent time. It probably would have been better had I wore a bathing suit. We played in the sand and watched fish swimming. There was the cutest little boy that brought his stuffed giraffe.  Apparently the giraffe wanted to swim and swim he did. It was so funny watching the dad try to stop this little one year old from taking his "friend" in the water.
We had a great view and now I want to get a boat and go to Crab Island where it seems all the fun happens :D .



We ate lunch at the campus cafeteria. It was decent fare, but a little pricey. After, we went to the ValP. Library for the family movie. Things sure have changed since the last time I went to a movie there. They now have a projector and screen plus lots of snacks, all for FREE. Awesome! DD4 ran around playing and reading books, so everyone was happy and entertained.

The rest of the afternoon we spent at home checking on the garden and playing. DD4 decided to "go catch gooey fish" with her bamboo pole and string (apparently I need a pond now too according to DD4) while DD2 and I tried to fix the bird eating our tomatoes problem. We researched and discovered that all we had to combat the birds were plastic grocery bags. According to one website, the noise scares the birds away. We clipped some bags to the bamboo poles next to my tomatoes.

Friday

I declared Friday to be Movie Marathon in our PJs Day! We each picked out a movie to watch and just kept playing them.

I did think that I would be able to sleep in, but the children who refused to get up early Monday through Thursday decided that Friday would be the day to get up early. DD2 made her dessert for the week: gluten free brownies. I had a lovely afternoon out with some friends. We went to lunch and got some nice freebies from Old Navy just for trying on some clothes.

Lets talk a little bit about my weekend also, why not!?

This weekend I realized I have a plant problem. I cannot seem to stop buying them. I am not sure if my husband has noticed, but we have two new plants thanks to my trip to the farmer's market Saturday, tarragon and lemongrass.

I had a great time at the movies with DD2. It was her special day with me. I did realize that there ARE some things that embarrass her. See below:

The beautiful glitter "make-up" DD4 gave me before heading to the movies. DD2 asked me to wipe it off while en-route.

 Sunday (today) has been a rough day. If this post seems a little off, it is because we are under a storm watch and my whole family has lost their minds from being cooped up in this house together all day. It has taken me almost the entire day to write this darn thing. So here I put this post out of its misery and say thanks for putting up with this mess of a post and good evening :D

Week In Review - Fairies, Butterflies, and Bees Day 2-5

The rest of this week was soooooo busy that I did not have time to write about it until now. Here goes:

Tuesday

After breakfast three of my girls worked on making caterpillar's made out of an egg carton. It was a simple craft, but even my older girls seemed to enjoy it. DD4 decided that painting her scrap paper under her egg carton was much more fun.

Then it was off to the lanes at Hurlburt Field to join the festivities of the awesome Hurlburt EFMP. I forgot how fun it was to spend some time with my family at the bowling alley. We did this a few times in Japan and the girls really loved it. I have yet to get DD4 to bowl, but she had a great time running around.

I even tied for first place the second game with my horrible bowling form. :D

 

After bowling, we went to the Hurlburt Spouse's Club Thrift Shop to find items for our fairy garden. Then, I took DD1 to the Hurlburt Library summer reading program for teens. Their theme is Hunger Games. She seems to like it and I am so happy. 

While we waited for her we went to the Base Exchange to get some things for our garden. I was researching why the leaves of my plants were yellow and why my plants seem so small. I found some awesome information about Epsom salt and iron supplements. I thought might as well try it and bought some. I also found some rooting hormone for a nice price and figured why not try out growing some new rosemary bushes from my huge bush on the side of the house. It did not take long to get what I needed, so I sat down and watch DD4 play with all the toys....what cheap entertainment for a toddler and she did not even make a mess.

We also had some fun playing at the Library's outdoor classroom area as always. 

After all this fun, I still had my Tuesday business to take care: menu, grocery list, coupon clipping, budget, bills, banking etc. Tuesday is my "office" day. I "follow" the flylady ideals for getting things done as much as possible. It really helps having this business day so I am prepared for grocery shopping and errands the next day.

Wednesday

This is usually my busy day no matter what because it is the day I do my grocery shopping and errands. We did not have time to craft today because everyone was so slow getting ready, but no one seemed to mind. I had an appointment in the morning and the girls were really great while waiting for me. 

Afterwards, we visited a friend at Elements of Divine Wisdom and went to Uptown Station Park for a picnic lunch. I was very pleased to hear that my DD2 loves when we pack a lunch much more than grabbing fast food. (BTW today is one of those beautiful Florida days that I wish I had a working laptop so I could blog outside)

DD3 won this shirt for having the fastest cardboard sail boat.

After the park it was time to take DD2&3 to their summer reading program at the Hurlburt Field Library. This was a great time to get my grocery shopping done. I only had two children to keep in check while doing my shopping and things went swimmingly.

DD4 let me take a picture of her with her baby watermelon.

That night we worked in the garden a bit and DD4 decided it was time to pluck a watermelon. She said "got it mommy" to which I replied "oh no!" to which she responded with loud sobbing.  I felt so bad. I hugged her and told her it was okay. I tried to explain to her why she needed to wait next time. I hope she gets it because last year we had no tomatoes because she kept pulling them off the plant too early (lol). I convinced her to let me cut it open and there was enough melon to get four bites.

Thursday

Thursday was full of fun crafts. We first worked on coffee filter butterflies. DD4 sure does love to not do the offered craft. This time she decided that coloring on the newspaper under her craft was way more entertaining.  If you look close enough in the photos you might notice that my older children decided to tattoo themselves with colored pencils and water. I guess this is one of the consequences of having a mother who loves getting tattoos. :D

Next, we worked on all natural bug repellent. (here are some links for information: Bug Spray 1, Bug Lotion, Bug Spray 2, Essential Oils that Repel Bugs, How To Blend Essential Oils ) I took information from all of these sites and created our bug repellent. I let my children pick three essential oils from the stock I have - 1 top note, 1 middle note, and 1 base note - and added the correct amount to their spray bottle. I had a master bottle that we now keep outside that I made myself.  We have not had the chance to test these out, but when we do I will report how they all did. 

Then, we worked on our fairy garden.

DD4 started working on this wonderful coloring page. I am so proud of how she stays in the lines already.

The rest of the day we were relaxing and I watched a cute movie, Monte Carlo, with my older girls.

Friday

This was a very unorganized day. We finished up the fairy garden and watched a movie, Stick It. 

I was frazzled by the end of the day. I guess most people would have been after two kids get glass in their foot at two different times and a crabby toddler. See my post about lunch breaks. (On a side note, lavender oil is the best antiseptic I have ever used)

Finished crafts: