A week ago . . .

Ava was just getting back from camp.  My sister's husband is a pastor at their church and he took the youth.  We thought this would be a great opportunity for Ava to go to camp and have an adult family member with her.  That way we didn't worry as much she would feel more comfortable being away from home.  While they went to camp, Adrianna was with my Mom visiting my sister for the week.  I missed them so much! 

Aaron and I were able to catch up on some movies and TV shows that we don't watch when the kids are around and I got to spend some time in my craft room :)

Pillowcase with crocheted trim

I stopped by the Hospice flea market one afternoon. . .

Got a red Pyrex bowl, mini salad spinner (Yay!!) and a teacup.  Not sure why I bought the teacup but it was only 50 cent.  The salad spinner was $2.00!  I couldn't believe it.  I had just told Aaron I would like to have one.  And I can't remember what I paid for the Pyrex bowl. . .

Adrianna came home the day before Ava did . . .

She had so much fun with my Mom and sister but she was glad to be home.  My Mom brought her to me at work and she jumped in my arms and gave me the biggest hug when she saw me. 

My neighbor shared some squash, cucumbers and tomatoes from her garden with us that evening.  She let Adrianna pick the cucumbers.

Adrianna and I had a lunch date with while we were waiting on Ava to get home that Friday.

Ava had tons of fun at camp!  I was worried about her going and she did have a moment of homesickness before she actually got to camp but quickly got over it when camp actually started.  She had a blast!

But she was really tired when she got home!

This past weekend we decided we would take the girls bowling and let them use some of their free bowling passes they earned at school.

We really should go more often!

It was kinda late when we went . . . Ava was tired

I took the girls to the fireworks Wednesday night.  The Mr. had to work so he missed it.  We decorated our own 4th of July t-shirts the night before.  You can see them in this post.  I didn't want to fight the crowd and traffic at the Arts Center where the fireworks were going to be so we did the same thing as last year and found a good spot in a parking lot close by, set up our chairs, and enjoyed the show from there.  Then we packed it up as fast as we could and high tailed it outta there and beat all the traffic leaving!  Yay!

Today the girls and I spent 5 hours shopping.  Not sure how that happened and we didn't even get much.  But we rewarded ourselves with a Mocha Coconut Frappuccino from Starbucks while we were in Barnes and Noble.

Anyway, that's what's been going on in my (instagram) life!

I still need to blog about what I did for my birthday!  I'll get to it!

Natalie

This Land Was Made for You and Me

Ah, the 4th of July.  Independence Day.  The day we, Americans, celebrate our Independence.  And how do we do this?  With picnics, cookouts, family gatherings, parties, and playing outside (so long as the weather isn't scorching).  The day where Americans stuff their faces with hotdogs, hamburgers, baked beans, potato salads, corn on the cob, watermelons, and homemade ice cream all in the name of freedom!  The day where, sparklers, parades, desserts, patriotic crafts made by kids, and homes and stores are adorned in colors of red, white, and blue are all part of our prideful celebration.  The stars and stripes of the American flag are everywhere!

We watch wonderful displays of fireworks and "oooh" and "ahhh" in fascination as the beautiful lights dance in the sky.  There is something about the patriotic songs mixed with the display of fireworks that brings tears to Americans eyes as they reflect on the country they love so much.

I'm not sure how this full feeling of pride comes about in Americans.  Is it the history behind what our ancestors set out to achieve, the fact that brave men and women still fight in honor of our country, or is it because we are brought up with these traditions?  Or could it be that it's something we are born with?  I don't know.

I usually buy the girls a fun 4th of July type shirt every year.  I have to buy one every year because Ava grows out of hers each year and Adrianna feels left out if I get Ava something and not her.  Anyway, this year I decided we would make our own fun 4th t-shirts!  I bought a couple of cheap t's for the girls at Old Navy and some fabric pens and let the girls do what they wanted.

Ava loves peace signs so I described a shirt I saw at Old Navy and helped her design her shirt.  Adrianna wanted something with a flower (of course) so I made an iron on transfer for her so she could color in her design.  I think they turned out great!

In case you are wondering . . . here's how we did it.

For this project you will need:
a plain white t-shirt
fabric pens or fabric paint
cardboard
(I used electrical tape to make the peace sign outline on Ava's shirt)

put a piece of cardboard inside your t-shirt before you start so the paint doesn't go through to the back

I used electrical tape to make the outline of the peace sign

Ava's started filling in her flag design from the bottom up and go a little off course.  The flag was supposed to stop at the bottom of the peace sign but we ended up having to fudge it a little to make the circle turn out right.  The middle line should have continued straight through to the bottom of the circle.  Oh well, it looks great anyway!

Ava's shirt

Adrianna's shirt

Let the shirts dry over night and you're good to go!

I opted to go with a simple bleach pen design of fireworks on my red t-shirt.  I bought a new red shirt at Old Navy, because it was cheap, and used a bleach pens to draw my design.  I put a piece of cardboard under the top of my shirt so the bleach wouldn't run through.  I left the bleach on the shirt for about 20 minutes but I don't think it bleached it out enough.  In retrospect, I should've washed my shirt a couple of times first because I read that newer shirts that haven't been washed won't bleach as well.  Since I bought the shirt yesterday, there wasn't time to wash it a few times and dry it.  I also read not to leave the bleach on for too long as the bleach would eat through the fabric.  Eek!  I didn't want holes in my shirt so I washed it out after 20 minutes.  There's always next year!!

photo credits go to Ava for these two pics!

We'll wear our new shirts tonight when we go watch the fireworks!

To all the men and women who have served or are serving in the Armed Forces and their families, thank you!  Without your sacrifices, we could not celebrate our freedom and this great country we live in!

I'll leave you with a little piece of history . . .

In a letter form John Adams to his wife Abigail:
"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

[July 2 was the day that the Continental Congress had voted in favor of independence.  July 4th was when the Declaration of Independence was formally adopted.]

I think we, as Americans, have upheld the expectations of John Adams.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun day!  Happy 4th y'all!!

Natalie

P.S. - Google prompted the title for this post.  Check it out ;)

Waffles on the Weekend

During the week my breakfast consists of Greek yogurt with granola and coffee.  Sometimes a piece of fruit if I'm really hungry.  I'm not really a breakfast person unless it after 9:00.  I don't like really sweet stuff for breakfast and I can't eat cereal in the mornings.  I would love to have bacon every morning for breakfast but I don't.  I probably have bacon about once every 2 or 3 months.  So all and all my breakfast is pretty much the same everyday.  Except on the weekends . . .

I'm off on Friday's so I include this day in my "weekend" breakfast change up.  I say "change up" but it's the same thing every time.  I LOVE waffles on the weekends.  I know I just said I don't like sweet stuff for breakfast but I don't use a lot of syrup.  Just a little bit.  I use a little bit of butter and a little bit of syrup and enjoy my waffles with my coffee. 

I'm also completely obsessed with the British version of Antiques Roadshow.  This happens to come on Friday morning at 8:00 on Ovation.  This means that on Friday mornings I get nothing done!  I make my 2 waffles and a cup of coffee, sit down on the couch, turn on AR and stay there for about 2 hours (because they usually show 2 episodes that are an hour each).  Anyway.  If you know me though, you have probably have guessed that after I finish my breakfast I'm not just sitting on the couch on front of the TV for 2 hours.  Nope.  I most likely have some craft going on . . . embroidery, crocheting, quilting.  My husband doesn't understand why I just can't sit and watch a movie without yarn or thread in my hands.  I JUST CAN'T.  It's not possible.  I can't go anywhere without a ball of yarn and a hook or a book in my purse either, least I have to wait somewhere with nothing to do.  If you are a crafter, especially a knitter or crocheter, you know what I'm talking about.

Back to the waffles . . . I just want to make one thing clear.  I did not "make" the waffles.  I don't have a waffle maker.  I think I might like a waffle maker but really I'm more of an instant gratification girl when it comes to my waffles.  Eggos it is. 

I'm not the only girl in the house that enjoys a waffle on the weekend . . .

What is something that you only do on the weekends?

Natalie

Living on the Edge

That's right.  We were brave this weekend.  Well, Adrianna was brave.  She has been begging Aaron to take her training wheels off of her bike.  We've been putting it off because this girl has no fear and we could foresee terrible accidents, scraped knees and elbows.  I had a feeling she would do great actually riding the bike but knew she would get too comfortable too quickly, hence the avoidance.

Aaron had promised he would take her training wheels off this weekend.  He avoided it for most of the day.  She didn't let him forget and reminded him every once in a while about taking her training wheels off.  So he did.  And she did great!!  

She was so excited!!  I grabbed my camera to document this milestone and ran outside.  When she saw me she was smiling and laughing.  Instead of watching what she was doing, she kept looking towards me to smile for her pictures which in turn made her wobbly and lose control.  No accidents, Aaron was there to catch her, but seeing that I was a distraction I went back inside.

A little while later she was flying down the road!

Poor Ava was sick all weekend :(  She spent most of the weekend on the couch watching movies.  The first few days that she was sick, I was tethered to the other couch so I got a lot of reading done on Friday and Saturday.

By Sunday, Ava was feeling better so I decided to live on the edge as well.  Crochet edge, that is.  I had started pillow cases for the girls with intention of putting a crocheted edge on them.  I finally spent the day in my craft room working on these.  I just love them, they are so pretty and girly :)

 The pillowcase has a pocket on the open end to hide your pillow that is stuffed inside ;)

backside of the pillowcase

 I had enough fabric to make two of each of these!

Well, that's all for now!  Nothing else really exciting here . . .

Natalie

 

 

Mother's Day and Sugar Scrub

I'm at home with a sick girl today so I thought I'd write a "little" post about Mother's Day.  I know, I know, Mother's Day was a few weeks ago but it really seems to be the trend that I write about things that happened 2 weeks ago.

So here goes!

Let me start with the fact that I totally missed teacher appreciation day at school.  I don't know how that happened but I guess I had my focus elsewhere that week.  So I decided that I would make some lemon sugar scrub for the teachers, my Mom and MIL for Mother's Day.  This actually worked out well and the girls took the gifts to their teachers on the Monday after Mother's Day. Not too late!  Adrianna helped me make the sugar scrub and I failed to get pictures of her doing that.  Another example of my absent mindedness.  But here are the finished products!

Don't they look pretty!

I got the sugar scrub idea from Pinterest.  I have pinned several different versions of the sugar scrub but didn't follow any one version by exact directions.  The ingredients I used were:  Sugar, Olive Oil, and lemon juice.  I started by measuring ingredients but found that I needed way more sugar than called for.  I ended up filling the jar up to about an inch from the top with sugar then adding olive oil (again, no measuring) and about 2 Tbsp of lemon juice.  I basically went by looking for the consistency I wanted and feel.  Adrianna's job was to stir it up then we put the top on and tied some twine around it.  We had so much fun making these that we made 3 more for the ladies that I work with for Mother's Day gifts for them.

If you want to see the sugar scrub versions I went by from Pinterest, you can click my "Follow me on Pinterest" button to the right.  I think I pinned all of the sugar scrub ideas to my "make" board.

For my Mom, I decided that I would make her a set of 8 cotton dinner napkins and embroider something pretty on them.  I decided on a Celtic knot "S" for her last name.  I started by cutting my cotton fabric into 16 - 13"x13" squares.  I transferred the "S" onto 8 of those and got busy.  It didn't take me long to hand embroider those and as soon as I finished I sewed them all together.  The only problem was I didn't have matching thread for my sewing machine and I wanted a pretty border around the edges.  No problem, just hand stitch the border.  That's all fine if you didn't wait until the week before the big day to even start on these things.  I searched ideas for hand embroidered edging and decided on the fly stitch.  It looked pretty and is a fairly easy stitch.  It is an easy stitch but as I found out, very time consuming.  So with all that being said, I was able to complete 5 of the napkins to give to my Mom and am still trying to finish those other 3.  I'll get them done, I promise. 

The finished product!

All eight five napkins wrapped and ready to go!

Mom loved the napkins and was understanding about the ones yet to be finished!  She and my MIL also loved the sugar scrub :)

To celebrate Mother's Day, we went to my Mom's to hang with the family and cook out.  We were excited about a spur of the moment visit from my sister and her family!!!  But before they got there, my kids had to test the pool out.  Just to put this in perspective, it was not a pretty day.  As a matter of fact it was a gray, cloudy, rainy, overcast day.  Also, the pool temp had not warmed up yet.  No stopping these girls . . .

After they turned blue, we made them get out.  I'm joking!  They weren't all the way blue.  We had a great time.  After lunch, we had ice cream and played outside in the sprinkling rain. 

Noah and Isaac getting their ice cream.  This is the best picture I got of them.  They aren't still long enough!

Mom and Ava also played their instruments for us as Clara danced . . .

Mom playing the Mandolin and Ava playing the Violin

My niece, Clara, dancing

Badminton, anyone?  In the rain?

Or how about a game of air hockey?

Me, Mom, Jenna

We had a great time at Mom's for Mother's day.  I forgot to take a picture of the gift Adrianna made me.  I'm actually wearing it in the above picture.  It's a medallion with her finger print pressed into it and strung onto a necklace.  She made it at school and it is so precious!  She also made me not one but TWO cards :)

This says "You are the best Mother.  You are nice.  You cook good."

Awww, so sweet!  She thinks I'm nice and I cook good.  Those are such great compliments!!  Ava also gave me a card and some flowers she planted.

I took this last picture with the iPhone app instagram.  If you have a Droid or an iPhone, this is an awesome camera app to have!  I'm a little obsessed and like to document my life in instagram photos.  You can follow on instagram, search @nataliebg. 

So that was Mother's day.  It was a great day spent with my family :)

Natalie