Week 6 - Here Birdie Birdie Birdie

We love to craft! This week we painted bird houses, made bird seed feeders, and put together a bag of items for birds to make their nests out of.

I think the painting of the bird houses was the biggest hit this week. I decided to make our craft mobile since we often have time to kill while waiting to go to different things "in town." We bought the supplies at JoAnn's (with coupons and student discount) and A.C. Moore (with coupons). It was a very affordable project. We found a table at the base park and the girls sat there and painted for over an hour. Charlie had to have her own set of paints because she likes to mix them. The other girls did really well sharing. Kailah and Charlie completed their houses that day, but Kairah and Kaijah still want to work on them. Once I get them hung up I will post some more pictures.
 
Another craft we made was bird feeders. I am thinking we kind of messed these up (that is why we do not have finished project pictures). Charlie, Kairah and Kaijah had fun making them. If I can make the project work out I will post more pictures.

On Friday, we used a mesh produce bag to put together some goodies for the birds to make their nests out of. We used dryer lint (thanks to all the rain I had to use my dryer most of the week), ribbon, yarn, and embroidery floss. From what I read the birds will collect these items and use them to build their nests and it is supposed to help you see the nests easier because the items are colorful. We shall see.

Outside time is so important and I am thankful we were able to squeeze some in this week.

A little rain did not stop Kairah and Charlie from playing on the playground at Hurlburt Field Community Park. I hung out in the tunnel for a bit to try to keep dry. It makes me so happy to see that even a 12 year old can still have fun at the playground.

Charlie played at Uptown Station while waiting on Kairah to get done with her Clarinet lessons. Charlie absolutely loves that playground. She was so proud of herself for climbing the rock wall all by herself. We are still working on getting her to go down the pole by herself. She is still a little bit scared. Although, Kaijah and Kailah did not play, they still got some fresh air while drawing outside.

Another hit at Uptown Station is the pet store. What kid does not like the pet store. Kaijah and Charlie had a great time looking at the birds and fish.

I was so excited that we were able to go to the Panhandle Butterfly House on Sunday. I love to sit on the bench and watch my children explore. Kairah ran around taking pictures of butterflies with her phone and Charlie loved looking a the flowers and "baby alligator" (a toy in the pond). Kaijah enjoyed talking to the ladies that work there. I think I might take Charlie here more once school starts back for my older girls.

One of the consequences of having 4 children with activities is sometimes overload. Charlie had an overload episode this week and all I could do to keep from going crazy was to document it. It kept my mind focused on taking the pictures. It really sucks when this happens, but there really is not much you can do about it. Even older children have melt downs; you just have to sit back and watch. When it is all over then you can hug them and try to make it better. Below is a happier Charlie riding the carousel at the mall on Saturday.

Does the outfit look familiar? It's the one I just finished last week. :D

Some other highlights of the week included a wonderful LtCol allowing us to sit with him at the BX (base Walmart) food court; made soap and cookies with Kailah; Kairah, Kaijah, Charlie and Lew went to see a movie on base; and made our Christmas wish lists (yes I made one too this time, it is so fun to wish for things).

Sometimes you need to say yes to yourself...

Disclaimer: not my photo - was passed a bazillion times on Facebook so I am not sure of the origin.

 A few days ago a friend of mine posted this picture on my Facebook after we had a long PM (private message) session and phone conversation about how overwhelmed and under-appreciated I have been feeling lately.  I love doing things for other people! There is no doubt about that, but sometimes I do not get "thanks yous" or any nice gestures in return and it hurts. Or sometimes I get complete meanness and attitude and that makes me angry. I know I have been told things like this picture, in the past, but it does not hurt to be reminded of it, especial from a friend out of love.

So, the last few days I have been thinking about what I have on my plate now (4 kids at home all day, 2 summer reading programs, clarinet lessons, craft projects, house cleaning, budgeting, appointments, grocery planning and shopping, etc.) and what I have to look forward to when my kids start back in school (lets tack on 15 credit hours for me, 2 Girl Scout meetings, soccer practice and games, gymnastics practice, and entertaining a toddler all by myself). I also had to keep in mind that my husband will be tagged to help me with most of this. I had to make some big decisions about some social groups I am a part of and try to compromise on some of my kids activities. It made me feel so sad and guilty, but it also has given me some relief.

I would like to say thank you to my friend for giving me some good advice without shoving it down my throat and being there for me no matter what my decisions are.

Sewing Challenge - Day 7

 I finished my sewing project in one week! Woo Hoo! I am so excited.

One of my challenges that I have been working to overcome is casings and hems. Using a template to iron my hems has drastically helped and today I discovered this little "duh" moment. I turned my garment inside out to "measure" where it should be placed to get my stitch as close to the edge of the casing as possible. Then I turn my garment right side out and line it up and sew. Genius! I only hit a slight snag when I veered a little to the left, but it was fixable.

I also used the time honored trick my Grandma Jean showed me. She was not able to teach me how to sew due to her arthritis, but she did teach me how to run something through a casing (usually a string through some sweat pants). I use a safety pin to attach one end of the elastic to the garment at the entrance. I use another safety pin to help me slide the elastic through. Scrunching a little bit over the safety pin at a time and then pulling a little to move it along.

 I finished the shorts first. So much different than I am used to. I usually make Charlie bloomers for all her dresses. I think they turned out cute, but I am worried they will swallow her skinny legs. I have to keep in mind that this is a size 4 pattern also. We shall see when I can convince her to try these on.

Lastly I added the button holes and buttons to the dress/shirt. You can barely see the buttons because I used cute little pink circles.

I love this fabric so much. I found it on sale last Black Friday in the quilting section. I have two more sets of fabric picked out for this pattern (also found in the quilting section). When I get those done I will share them also.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Week 5

This week we are working on projects to help us reduce, reuse and recycle even more than we already do.


I guess it was a real Monday in this house. No one, but me, wanted to get up and do much of anything. I did persuade Kairah to work on our craft project for the day.  She made a recycling center for items that we have not been recycling because our waste management does not take these items. She made a bin for plastic bags and a bag for batteries.

I am not sure if I told you this, but I detest plastic bags, but no matter what I do we seem to accumulate them. I keep reusable bags in both vehicles, but my husband and kids rarely use them and sometimes I forget. Sometimes I will carry my items out without a bag if I can carry them or put them in my purse (I feel like I am steeling ...lol). Either way, we still have these stupid bags. So we are going to put them in the bin and take them to our nearest store that recycles (every two weeks is our goal).


Batteries are a whole other story. I found out that I am not that smart about recycling and reducing waste because I have been tossing batteries in the trash (insert shocked sound here). So I did some research and I have only found places that charge you to recycle your batteries. I am determined to recycle them for free, so as I search for more options we are going to start putting them in our recycling bag.





Monday was also Lew's Birthday. We made him peach cobbler. It was yummy and Gluten Free. I am so proud of how my family supports mine and Kailah's food challenges. 







Tuesday was the first day for Kairah's Free Summer Clarinet Lessons at Playgroud Music. She seemed to like it and will continue to go twice a week until we go on vacation in August. I also double scheduled myself, so I am grateful that my husband was able to pick Kairah up for me and keep her until I was able to pick her up. Kailah was not feeling well today so she did not want to go to the Summer Reading program. I also got to enjoy some time with two of my favorite girl friends and their tots.  
Ahhhh...here is something exciting. I smoked my family out of the house while cooking dinner today. Lol! Other than that it was busy and boring full of running around and doing stuff like menus and grocery lists.

Wednesday is my errands day. I think my kids thought it was Monday because they did not want to get up or help with food prep or clean up. I just sucked it up and enjoyed the silence. I am so proud of myself because every thing on my list got accomplished accept for a missed sales meet up (that this person missed two times before). I even kept my cool at the school registrar when two folks annoyed the crap outta me. One lied and said he was next when he knew I had been there way before him and the other one just could not make a decision. Kailah was very helpful at the store and Charlie was well behaved. Kairah and Kaijah had fun at their Summer Reading program. Kairah was even so nice to buy me an insulated bag with her library money. I found an awesome deal at JoAnn's on fabric for Charlie's Birthday present. I only went in to check out what they had and the perfect fabric was on sale, plus I got 20% off for being a collage student.

Charlie waiting for her "new friends" to come over.

Thursday began with prepping the house for my first ever big play group. I joined a local mommies group and volunteered to hold a function at my house. I was so nervous because I only knew one of the moms that was coming. It went rather well. It seemed that all the kids had fun and the moms were as relaxed as you could be with toddlers and preschoolers running around. After the playgroup, my friend and I took our kids to lunch (she was minus one kid) at Logan's. I love eating at the place! My sewing debacle ended the night.

Kairah and Kailah's Tin Can Luminaries

Friday was rather uneventful. I pretty much took the day off. I let my kids sleep as long as they wanted and of course they complained about that too...darn middle schoolers....lol. I cleaned out my craft closet and separated MINE ONLY supplies from the shared supplies. It is so much easier to get my stuff out now. I moved the shared supplies to the linen closet in my spare bathroom that my older girls share. In the afternoon after I took a lovely nap, I let my kids make tin can luminaries. We put the cans with water in them in the freezer the night before. I made one while they watched, then I left and let them have at it. I had to save the rest of my sanity because it was in short supply this week (I am human, I have to remind myself sometimes). I ended the night with some sewing (see above link).

Sewing Challenge - Day 5

Whew! The last few days have been hectic.

Wednesday I was able to do some pinning on my fabric, but not much else.

Yesterday (Thursday), I started sewing and then I had to hit the brakes because I made a mistake with the pattern. It took me about an hour to figure out where I went wrong. I decided to try to work with it, but my toddler would not cooperate in trying on what I had so far to make sure it would due. My frustration level was extremely high due to all the running around the last few days, some middle schooler attitudes, a feisty toddler, and the heat. So, I decided to call it quits for the night.

After sleeping last night and resting most of the day today, if you call reorganizing things resting, I decided to fix the pattern and re-cut the fabric. After fixing the pattern, I found out that I did not have as much fabric as I thought. Then I was only left with using what I had. After finally convincing Charlie to try the darn thing on (found out she was scared of the pins...lol) I saw light at the end of the tunnel. 

Tonight I got loads done on the project. I am not a complete rule follower and pinking shears sure makes it easy to skip some steps sometimes. All I have left now is hemming the shorts and adding the elastic, buttons and button holes.


 




I realize the best part of sewing clothes for your child is you can adapt it to their body type. Charlie is rather long and thin which makes it hard to find pants, shorts and skirts. If I buy the size that fits her waist, then they are too short or vice-verse.

Garden Discoveries

I went out to my garden after our mini rain storm this evening to check things out. Kairah's bed is starting to get a few sprouts from her second planting of the season. All of a sudden Kairah shouts "look mom, our pineapples are growing." Sure enough, what once looked like sad little decaying pineapple tops, now look like pineapple plants. It will take at least 20 months to get pineapples, but I am just so darn excited that some of my kitchen scraps are going to good use.

I also discovered that our, late in the season, planted grape vines are finally recovering thanks to all the good rain we have been getting. I hope to have some grapes next year.


I love how well my garden is turning out. It is not perfect, but I am having so much fun learning and discovering.

Happy Gardening!

Sewing Challenge - Day 2

I have to admit, I sort of cheated on day 2. I had some free time....I know! What is that!?...last night and I worked a bit on my project.

I pinned my pattern to my fabric last night. I had a hard time reading where to put the pattern and I even had to refresh my memory on what a selvage is. The pattern showed the selvage on the top and right of the fabric, until I realized they had folded the fabric and could not label the bottom of the fabric that was folded up...whew! Then I had a hard time fitting the pattern on the way the picture showed, but I made it work.

Charlie likes to get into my sewing box(es) while I am working. Last night she decided to "measure [her] leg." It was quite comical to watch her and listen to her count.

Next, I cut out my pattern. I paid close attention to what I call the little tabby things (pictured to the right). About two years ago I invested in some really nice scissors (they were on sale) and I am so happy I did. My cuts are crisp and clean. If anyone even tries to use my sewing scissors, they get in big trouble ;)

While I was cutting, Charlie decided to help me pin the unused fabric (I always buy more than I need). She is very good at it I think. Look how she really tries hard. She is always by my side when I sew.

Anyhow, today I just marked my fabric that I cut based on the pattern. I had button holes, buttons, triangles, dots, lines etc to mark. I used a new tool that I bought and it is really light, so pictures would not have done much good. I also wrote the number of each piece with a fabric pencil.

I have used a fabric marker and pencil to mark everything before...it just takes patience and flipping the pattern up and down a bunch of times.

I do not think I will be getting much done tomorrow on this project since it is my errands day, but we will see.