Time + Inspiration = She's Crafty

This week, I have had so much fun getting crafty!  I am mostly a crafty wannabe...I love the idea of it, but rarely have the time, energy, resources,etc...to pull it off.  Thanks to the ideas in this blog: http://www.kellehampton.com/2010/11/craftastic.html, I was inspired to make time.  Her ideas were simple, and her background music makes me happy...reminds me of older days, not sure why.  So off to Hobby Lobby I went with the kids. 

First project:  Thanksgiving Turkey Placecards
The kids had a lot of fun with these, helping glue faces, eyes, beak, waddles, and feathers of course.  Oh, and they are cinnamon-scented pinecones, so they smell delicious! 

7 Turkeys ready to go for our Feast!



A closeup shot.  We're packing these puppies up and saving them for next year!



Second project:  Felt flower
These are super easy and only require 1 sheet of felt and a hot glue gun.  These came from a different blog.
http://shadandlizzie.blogspot.com/2010/08/felt-flower-headband-tutorial.html
These are so easy and you can make them in a bajillion of colors.  You can attach them to anything to spice it up.  Laynie loves her new headband...but of course, she already lost it.  We're still looking.  You can't see from my picture, but we glued a red jewel in the middle as well, making it extra fabulous to my easy-to-please 4 year old!

 

Third project:  Babylegs! 
I saw these silly knee high socks at Target and couldn't resist.  Why is there a whole section of knee-high socks at Target anyway...who wears those???  These take me about ten minutes to make.  Right up my alley. 



My deliciously sweet Josie, modeling her new babylegs.  She actually kept them on happily, even napped in them! 



Fourth Project:  Christmas banner
This idea comes from the first blog I mentioned.  She made a "Thankful" banner that inspired me.  Hobby Lobby had limited options for fabric, so I went with what I could find as 3 kids were slowly descending into meltdowns!  I thought about running to Joanne's "real quick"...but the kids impending meltdowns deterred me.  This project stretched my crafty brain.  It required multiple steps, lots of measuring and cutting....and instead of gluing everything, I chose to sew most everything except the letters.  But I had so much fun watching this come together!  I wasn't sure where I was going to hang it when I made it, but if I had known, I would have made the letters blue and the stars red...because the red does not pop nearly as well against the red well.  Oh well.  Finishing this project was a big step for me.  It says "Joy to the World" if you can't see it.



We ended the evening with a cozy fire, watching Polar Express with the big kids.  So much to be thankful for.  And yay Christmas time!

Thanksgiving Week Memories



Josie swinging at the new park on 518. I love her sweet, ridiculous smile!



Beautiful November park weather



2nd day at the same park.  This time with donuts (and baby Hippo)!  It is vacation :).




Ty has been into making paper airplanes this week.  Using his Klutz paper airplane design book, he created 3 himself and has been testing/racing/aiming and competing them, sometimes for points.  He even designed his own "windsock" out of cardstock and crate paper streamers to determine the wind direction outside.  He is so silly....and smart :).




3 silly kids and 2 big dogs = craziness and fun :)



Josie has decided that if eating involves a utensil, she must be in control of it.  Laynie was helping and encouraging Josie with her yogurt and they were both pretty proud of their success.



Thanksgiving feast with Ryan and Heather.  All of the food was delcicious and the kids had a great time with their Aunt and Uncle visiting!  Jason was the mastermind behind the turkey and continues to come up with creative ways to use the turkey...his first turkey and dumpling soup, turkey and broccoli quiche and more to come.  Yum!



Mancala has been the game of the week!  Ty has been playing mancala at school and we had an old board in the garage, so after bringing it in, it has become a hit!  Even Ty and Laynie can play together...it's great!  (until Laynie loses, but she's getting better :)).



This is one of Josie's many crazy moves lately.  She has officially become a climber.  She has no interest in toys right now, she only wants to climb the chairs at the table or climb onto the couch and over onto the end table.  She is pretty much a constant source of craziness and sillyness!



That's all for now!  Next post will include some of the fun crafts we've done this week!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Wiley

Wiley was such a special pet, he bridges so many memories.  After dating for 6 months in high school, Jason asked my mom if he could get me a kitty for a present...who does that?!  Surprisingly, she said yes!  He came home from the local SPCA around September of 1994.  The first couple of pics are hilarious to look back at, but I love them.  I love that Jason has been a part of my life for so long.  It is such a blessing that he got to know my mom before she passed away.  Wiley was there from our senior year in high school, through college, through our early years of marriage moving from Davis to Mountian View to Sunnyvale to San Jose...and finally to Texas!  All 3 of our kids have loved him.  (Although Ty has recently announced that he doesn't really like cats because according to him, cats somehow open his door at night and sneak into his room.  That would weird me out too, I suppose.) :) 

Jason with Wiley in my bedroom.  Our senior year in high school.  Gotta love the posters on the wall :).

Wiley was just a few months old here.  And yes, overalls were totally cool then ;).



The date is wrong in the corner of the pic.  I think this is around 1998/9 (our senior year in college) when Wiley was living at my Dad's house. 

Wiley at our apartment the year after we got married.



Wow, my hubby is hot!  :)  This is yesterday, saying goodbyes :(.



Cuddling my sweet Wiley.



Sweet Wiley Woodles.  We will all miss you around here. 

Dewberry Farm

On Saturday, we drove over to Dewberry Farm for some old fashioned fun!  It has been 5 years since our last trip and Ty was not even 2 years old then.  When Groupon had a half off deal, we couldn't pass it up!  It was pretty crowded and hotter than we expected, but the kids had a blast doing things that you don't find most places. 

Tyler on the rolling slide.

Laynie and Daddy on the rolling slide.  It's super bumpy!



Laynie, Daddy and Josie, and Tyler riding the "black mamba", it's like a giant swing!




L, T and J sitting on top of a giant hay bale.

 

Getting ready to ride the cow train...I jumped in with Laynie :).



On the cow train!



My little pumpkin.




This was after waiting in a really, really long line for bbq in the hot sun.  Delirious?!



Corn maze!

 

These were make your own snow cones.  They give you a cup with ice and then you enter the "flavor shack" and can pull about 20 different spigots of snow cone flavor.  Laynie chose a little bit of every flavor, except root beer :).

 

Good old fashioned duck races...the water pump pushed the ducks along!

 

Laynie's turn!



On the wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch. 

 

The end of a fun day at the pumpkin patch.

 The kids also loved playing in Fort DewHickey, a huge climbing structure, cheering on the pig races, swinging from rope swings off of hay bales, and visiting the animals in the barn.  This is one of those trips that is super fun and the kids definitely did not want to leave, but it's on our "once every five years or so" list.  With an hour travel time each way, the crowds and the heat, it is not for the faint of heart!  But, where else can you bump down a roller slide, get lost in a corn maze, swing on the black mamba, ride a cow train, rope swing from hay bales, etc.???!!!  Fun Fall memories!

11 years (16 really) of adventuring :)

Getting ready to drop off the kiddos with some super friends who offered to watch all 3 while we celebrated our 11th anniversary in Galveston!  Yay!

In front of the Villa B&B.  The lady who owns/runs this place does it all on her own!  And she cooks a delicious 3-course breakfast :). 

We were all excited that we found this beach in East Galveston, it looks just like a beach approach in California, the green vegetation with a path to the beautiful beach.  Unfortunately, halfway down the trail, we were swarmed by mosquitos and had to run.  We snuck a peak at the beach, snapped a quick pic (below) and ran back to the car with about a dozen bites.  Nice.

I am so grateful to be married to this man who loves God, me and his children deeply.  We started dating as juniors in highschool and never looked back.  It is amazing to see how God has grown us and changed us in the last 16 years.  God has been faithful when we have been scared, disobedient, grieving, apathetic (to name a few).  In the last 6 months, God has continued to stretch us through our finances.  We have been prioritizing our needs (mostly wants) for years and by God's grace we are learning how wasteful, excessive, tragic the "American dream" is.  We are learning about the joy and freedom of giving and giving freely.  We have so very far to go, but God is working (pounding) on our hearts...and we are so thankful. 

Mo Ranch 2010

Mo Ranch has quickly become the highlight of our summer! It is a week of family camp and we are blessed to be there with great friends.

Ty and Laynie getting ready to canoe up the river. Jason and I have lots of room for improvement in the rowing department :).

Family pic!

Jason, Ty and Laynie going down the rapids in the Guadalupe River. It's the perfect spot to be adventurous and enjoy God's creation!

A glimpse of the river.

Love this picture :). Crystal was giving Josie the "good stuff," including bbq brisket, and Josie was a fan for sure! Ha!

Josie did great in her floatie in the river!

Ty and Josie on the last day, while we packed up the cars.

Laynie's Dance Recital

Laynie LOVED her first dance recital. Of course, it was all about the costume and the makeup. She danced a tap dance to Gitchey, Gitchey, Goo from Phineas and Ferb. It was so fun to see her filled with so much joy as she got to dress up, dance and perform. And she loved to watch the other dance performances, she was truly mesmerized by them. God has blessed us with a girly girl through and through :). And if you knew me, you know that she didn't get it from me!