DIY Outdoor Fun

Those of you who know me, know I am not afraid to tackle any project.  I love trying out new ideas in the sewing room as much as I do in the garage or the yard.  Last summer the kids and I got a bee in our bonnet and decided to build some outdoor lawn games.  This isn't the first wood building project we have tackled together.  Now that the kids are older and stronger, especially my boys, I am amazed at how quickly things get done.  Well, almost.

We put together our ladder ball ladder within one day.  After a few coats of paint, chosen and painted by my daughter. (I know the pink and purple probably gave that away, didn't it).  We were ready to play.  It has been great fun for the entire family, and a wonderful thing to have when company is here.

Last summer we also put together a Cornhole set.  We built it and put one coat of primer on it and it has sat in the garage ever since.  I am not sure why we stalled out on it, but this year with my husbands, ah..encouragement, we finally finished it up.

Once again E and I were in charge of painting and designing the finished product.  We went with Scarlet,  Gray and White for a certain University.  Using contact paper to design the Block O and to trim out around the hole was a great tip provided by the Internet.

The directions for both I pulled of the Internet.  There are numerous patterns on the Internet for ladder ball.  The most common is the PVC type.  Since our original ladder ball set was PVC and the boys managed to mangle that within the course of one summer, we went the wood route. The Ladder ball game directions we used can be found here at This Old House.

The Cornhole we used directions can be found here at DIY network and here at This Old House.  It is a great way to get the kids away from the electronics and involved in something that we can all do together. Happy Gaming.

Showing Off

Today I want to show you two of the cutest kids EVER! (just a little biased)  My niece and nephew modeling a few of my sewing projects.
First off are the Christmas projects you may remember.. The toddler apron and chef's hat.

I am told his creations are as cute as he is.

The little baby bunting..

Only made cuter when you actually see a baby in it.. AWE...

The Hexie-Flower Quilt.

With

 the ever adoriable Cordelia showing it off.

There is no feeling greater, no love expressed more fully, no joy more rapturous then when you see your creations being used and enjoyed.

Great American Game

Last weekend Grandma and I took the kidos to the ballpark.  It took some time to recall but the last time we saw a game was in 2002!  It was then that we took the oldest to his first game, he was five and a half!  We were down at old Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, just a year before they tore it down.  I remember this because they were letting the kids run the bases before they tore it down.  OH! How times have changed!  

Our seats were quite high but the kids could have cared less.  The first two innings were touch and go and I wasn't sure if E was going to last! She entertained herself with the binoculars for a while, then the vendors started!   That kept her busy. Boy there is nothing like ballpark food!  Why do hot dogs always taste better there?

They stuffed their faces with it all!  We had hot dogs, bratts, peanuts, cotton candy, pizza, soft pretzels and nachos!  Yummy.  

We waddled out of there with a win! Go Reds!  This fortunate event entitled us to yet another Cincinnati favorite... LaRosa's Pizza! All in all a great day and a wonderful memory, even if it came with a little heartburn.

I am ... right?

My oldest had an in class essay to do sometime during the first week of school.  The essay was for English III honors. Keep this in mind as you are reading.  His stress level was high, which is the only consolation I am giving him.  *an aside*  (over the summer they were required to read an autobiography or biography.  M chose a book about Gary Paulson.  They had questions to answer regarding their selection and were told AHEAD that these questions would be used to write an in class essay.) 

The topic was something along the lines of, How did the person you chose to read about live or not live out the American dream?  Sorry I cannot be more specific, I am obviously not in English III.  Mark stressed about the essay, but seemed confident after it was over. (This should have been my first sign.)  He received the essay  back graded a week later.  He received a grade that neither he nor his father was happy about.  

When John questioned him, of course it was the teachers fault.   John looked M in the eye and said, "Let me read the essay."  John read the first paragraph and said, "You are lucky you passed this essay.  Your essay reads like a 4th grader wrote it.  The grammar is so atrocious I can't even see beyond it to tell if your context makes sense."  Well, M huffed and puffed as teens do, gave lots of eye rolls but John wouldn't relent.  John said, "This weekend you will re-write it for me. You have become a dependent clause and it is time you start recognizing one."  

Amazingly, M did rewrite the essay.  John, being far more knowledgeable in grammar than I, sat down with Mark and went sentence by sentence through the paper working on grammar.  When it was finished John said, "Now, I want you to email  the corrected version to your teacher.  I want you to ask her to re-read the paper.  Ask her to provide you with feedback and let her know that you want to do better. The worst that could happen is that she will say no."  Let me tell you I thought M was going to have a massive coronary when he heard this.  The look on M's face was priceless!  It took 3 days and more badgering and persistence than, well a badger , but finally M gave up the fight. 

All the while John was butting heads with M, John kept worrying about whether he was doing the right thing. Typical parental guilt, Am I being to hard on him? Am I expecting to much from him?  Is he really capable of the work I think he is?  If you are the parent, You know the drill, I am sure. 

His teacher agreed to re-read the essay and M, unwilling re-submitted his paper.  That evening John went with M to his meet the teacher night.  The first stop....English.  John said, that Mrs. W, M's English teacher, was completely blown away by M's willingness to better himself.  She said that this was the first time in 19 years of teaching that she has ever had a student ask for help just because they wanted to improve themselves, and not because they wanted their grade raised. (although that would have been OK )  As a matter of fact, Mrs. W. said she bragged about M in the teacher's lounge to her colleagues. John called me all excited about the positive response Mrs. W. had given.  He also spent time discussing the wealth of resources she has in her class room. Mrs. W personally invited John to bring M in to work on grammar.  She assured him he is welcome at any time. He was so happy that he was justified.  (I was just happy that I had nothing to do with any of it! :)

I talked with M the next day, and tried to give him praise for his hard work. M looked a little down.  When I asked what was wrong he replied, "All I was thinking the whole time Mrs. W was talking was, "Man, I cannot believe dad was right!"  The only thing that could have been more mortifying to M at that point, was if John had broken into his happy dance in the classroom.  It was mortifying enough to watch him do it in the Kitchen. 

The 3 R's

Well, it is finally here.  The first day of school. All three of my children went back to school this morning with smiles, laughs and giggles.  Oh, wait that was me.  I have to say it was an odd feeling this morning rising at 5:30, making breakfasts and lunches and realizing I would have the entire day to myself. (Pure Joy)  So odd in fact that I almost felt sad to have them growing older, entering a new grade and spending more time with their friends than with their family...almost.

In fact this morning there was no drama.  Emma was up SHOWERED and ready to go, Mark and Jack were equally motivated.  It was reassuring to know that they are growing more capable every year.

I only walked one child to their classroom, my youngest.  However, she soon saw that I was the only parent in the 5th grade hall and I was quickly dismissed with a "bye mom." over her shoulder. (Rule 1.  Do not acknowledge your parents around your friends.  They might realize you have them.)

Mark and Jack leaped from the car the moment I put the vehicle in park (I believe this was because they were filled with enthusiasm and vigor ready to start the new year.  Certainly not because they were embarrassed to be seen with me)  Once out they mumbled something that sounded like, "grumf"  or it could have been "brrmf."  Not sure.  I however interpreted this to be "Bye-mom!  Have a great day." in the ever shrinking vocabulary and language of the teenage boy.(I am becoming quite fluent you should be impressed. Really, you should.)

While my kids are off to study reading, writing and arithmetic and enjoying life without mom,  I am left home, alone.  Thinking happy little thoughts, dancing for joy and enjoying the sounds of silence.  Now that the shopping is done, the kitchen cleaned and my blog written I must finally get working on my three R's.  Reading, Rest and Riesling (not necessarily in that order.)  Happy First Day of School!

A home run.

Recently I was asked by my cousin and his wife to make a Cleveland Indians quilt for their new bundle of joy.  Since she is due in August, I realized I better get busy.  They had seen this quilt for a client last year and really liked the design.

To me this design doesn't scream BABY.  I went in search of baby quilt designs.  I ran across a few I thought would work and I drew up a plan.  Unfortunately the bold colors of red and blue along with the adult looking Indians panels did not get me a "baby quilt."  Nevertheless, I am happy with the design. 

I added multiple blocks embroidered with baseball terms, hoping to add to the educational level of the quilt.  (Never to early to learn).

It finished up at 48" x 48".  Quilted with an all over baseball pantograph, and backed with baseball fabric it just might inspire the little guy to play in the big leagues.  

Yellowstone.

As I mentioned in the last post we took off to Yellowstone 3 weeks ago (can that be right?)  This had to be one of the most wonderful family trips we have taken.  We flew into Salt Lake City and then had to make the 5 hour drive to West Yellowstone.  As we pulled into our cabin on Tuesday night snow had just started to fall.  Yes, I said Snow!  June 5 and it was still snowing!  It was no surprise when we woke Wednesday morning to find just enough snow to make a little snowman.  The kids loved it.

 (Believe it or not this was the first snow we had encountered this year. HA!)

We took in every thermal feature, waterfall and geyser they had, and I have the 460 photos to prove it.  I believe some editing will be required prior to making a photo album of this trip.

 We were lucky enough to see a ton of wildlife.

Bison, Pronghorn, Elk, Coyote, Bear, Big Horn Sheep, Mountain Goat, Bald Eagle, Raven, Trout, and Osprey were among the animals we watched.

The only animal we did not see in the wild was the Wolf.  Emma had hoped to spot one out but we never did.  Emma and I did make it over to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center to see some of the captive wolves.  While the girls learned about Grizzlies and Wolves, the guys headed out to learn to fly fish.  They had a wonderful trip and learned a great deal.  If you are ever in West Yellowstone we highly recommend The West Yellowstone Fly Shop.

  Between the 3 guys they caught 20 plus fish, both rainbow and brown trout.  Just when we started to tire of Bison, if you can imagine that, we headed over to Grand Teton National Park.  It remained cool, snowy and a bit cloudy, throughout the trip.

 But at 8000 feet above sea level you take what you get.  We did several day hikes and saw some really beautiful scenery.

We also caught a glimpse of a Moose, Beaver and Marmot. Overall it was a wonderful trip and one we will remember for years to come.

Teacher Appreciation Vase

This Week is Teacher Appreciation Week.  Our Homeroom Mother has a week full of gifts and activities to help Emma's teachers feel appreciated. In preparation for this weeks, 'Thanks for helping me Bloom" Day, Emma and I made up a couple of teacher vases to hold the flowers the kids will be bringing in.  Both were easily 20 minute projects and Thanks to the Dollar Store cost no more than 4$ each.

This vase used 4 packages of #2 pencils, a glass vase and some ribbon.

This vase used almost 4 packages of colored pencils, a empty powdered coffee creamer container and some ribbon.

With both vases we used hot glue to adhere the pencils to the jar.  The glass proved more difficult only because the pencils had a tendency to come unglued.  We wrapped the pencils with a rubber band and then hot glued the ribbon in place over the rubber band.  This does a great job of holding the pencils in place! We didn't follow a specific tutorial but mixed up a few tutorials and ideas together that we found floating on the internet (look here, here and here).  We also added, (not pictured) a printable  to each vase that says, "Thank You Teacher for a Great Year, that you can find here, at TipJunkie.

With all of these cute projects floating around on the web this year's teachers should feel very lucky!  Thank you to all the teachers who are out there!

it's official

Some how over the last 12 years he got bigger.

It seems like just yesterday he was my little man.

In what appeared to happen overnight, he grew.

Now he is taller than me. It's official.

Journal Covers--A curves project

A Blog is a type of journal, a very public view of the thoughts, ideas and feelings that are floating around in your head and through your life.  There is lots of debate among bloggers about the amount of information the writer should openly share.  I'll admit, while I do post quite a bit of personal information, I do consider how much I share.  The internet does make it all to easy for information to get into the wrong hands.

For that reason there is just no replacement for the good ol' fashion journal. While many journals are sold with fancy leather, cloth or decorated covers, some are as simple as a wire bound notebook or an inexpensive composition book.

My latest curves class solved the problem of an inexpensive journal with The Mod Bud Journal. (yes, another curves project.  There are far to many cute projects in this class to even think about leaving one out!)  With the end of the school year coming just 4 weeks away, (how did that happen?) I thought this would be a wonderful gift for the teachers.

I have been making end of the year teacher gifts for at least 4 years now and I think this is a great way to let the teachers know just how much you appreciate them. Nothing says "thank you" like a personally made gift. I made up four journal covers with fabric I already had in my stash.  (Love when that happens!)

I tried to pick fabrics that represented the subjects that the particular teacher taught.  (ie. music for the band teacher, geometry fabric for the math teacher.)  Each flower turned out just slightly different that the others, with makes them look personalized as well.  I am hoping that they will be well used and hold up through the rigors of Middle School teaching.

Lost in thought

This week the school district held school wide state standard testing.  It is not a favorite among the students or the teachers.  Emma has the most difficult time with standard testing.  I assure you this is because there is nothing standard about her.  As a type A personality she fretted and whimpered about the test for days.
When the day of the test finally did arrive she had worried herself into such a state, it's amazing she got through it at all.  These days the standardized testing delivers immediate results.  Within minutes she knew her score and she was not happy.  Not anywhere even close.
 After the tears slowed and self battering stopped she settled down to work on a new plan.  She was ready to improve in the areas she didn't know or understand on the test.  Emma finds comfort in knowing there is a way to "fix" the problem.
 On this test she had problems with vocabulary building.  We have tried various plans to increase her vocabulary.  While her vocab is growing, it is not growing to her satisfaction.  Her newest plan involved these little stickers.

Rather than sign anything, she decided she would use the arrows to point to words in her books that she didn't know.  Thanks to a rather organized friend of mine, Emma just happens to have several packages of these little stickers. ( You know who you ARE!)  She took 5 stickers from one package and she tries to find five new words every time she reads.  Amazingly, it is working.  She really, really enjoys looking for new words.  We will have to see if her comprehension suffers as her vocabulary grows.  Anyway.

Every night after she reads we discuss the new words she has marked.  Last night one of the words was Absentmindedly.
 First I asked her if she recognized any words within the word.  She picked out mind.  She knew what meant.  Then I asked if there were any others.  After a pause she said, "Absent?"  Correct!
Now we were movin'.  I asked what absent meant and she said, "not present"  Then she thought some more and said, "how does that work? Your mind is not present?"
I explained it was like the time she came downstairs and couldn't remember why?  or another example would be when someone cannot find their shoes.
 
The light bulb went off!  "OH!" she exclaimed, "Like when you cannot find your keys, or your phone or your purse?"
"Exactly!" I replied.
"Hey Mom!  You are Absentminded all the time!"
Ah. yea.  Great lesson.

It's over.

With the dawn this morning, Spring Break officially ended.  And If I had any doubts they were dispelled this morning as the back to school routine was in full swing. Here are a few revelations I had this morning.

You know Spring break is over when...

You hit the snooze button for 30 minutes before getting up.

The dog decides to sleep in. Even though she woke you at 5:30 a.m. everyday over break.

Your pre-teen daughter starts fighting with you at 6:50 because she "has nothing to wear." and quite obviously it is your fault.

Your oldest son suddenly has a desire to shower, at length, while his younger brother pounds on the door screaming, "Hurry Up! I need to brush my teeth"

No one is capable of locating their right shoe.

We have no chips, pretzels, cheese crackers, peanut butter crackers or anything "lunch worthy" to pack because it was all consumed while they were home.  Once again my fault.

It is 8:30 am.  I am enjoying this cloud free morning, peace and quite, and one great cup of coffee.
Cheers.

my "old" life

Last weekend the church bulletin listed the time and date for the next alter server class.  For those of you who  might not know, alter servers within the catholic church are usually school age boys and girls, members of the church, who assist the clergy during the mass or service. For years this was a duty only performed by boys and men.  When I was a girl I found this incredibly unfair and always thought it would be fun to be an alter server. I digress.

After I read the posting of the time and date for the next class, I approached my kids with the news.  Mark and Jack have both attended this type of training before,  Mark twice before. Regardless of previous training both boys are required by this church to attend their training.  Now that Emma has been through enough of her sacraments she is also allowed to perform the alter serving duties.  I thought Emma would be happy, excited even, to learn that she could finally do something the boys could.  I am forever hearing about how, "it's not fair...."  for what ever reason, that she isn't included in their boys' club.

With great enthusiasm I announced the next meeting time. My announcement was met with some resistance from the boys.  They failed to see why it was necessary that they attend yet another alter serving training.  I can understand and sympathize with their annoyance.  Yet, I can see both sides of the issue.

If the boys' reaction was not what I expected, Emma's was even less so.  She gave me a stern look and stated, "I do not want to serve.  When you serve you have to sit up on the alter and be good.  You cannot sit with your family.  And everyone in church is staring at you."  I was shocked at this response.  I have to admit it gave me pause for a moment.  Perhaps, I thought, she doesn't understand the honor associated with this position.  I thought I would let her know some of my feelings towards alter serving from when I was a girl.  Clearly then she would understand.  I turned around in the front seat and said to her, "Emma, when I was a girl, I always thought it would be a great honor to serve up on the alter and participate in mass.  But back when I was in school girls could not be alter servers.  I always thought that was unfair." Now she would see, wouldn't she?

She looked at me with complete sincerity and said, "Mom!  I am not you.  I cannot live your old life for you.  This is my life and I need to live it my way." Ah, okay.  That would be a No.

Weekend sewing and other projects

I am proud to say that I did manage to get a little bit of sewing done this weekend, even with the kids home for four days.  The wonderful thing about bigger kids is that they are usually pretty good at entertaining themselves, usually.  I'll admit I didn't get in as much sewing as I would have liked, but I don't know if that would ever be possible.

I finished binding and sewing on the flower centers on my baby quilt.  I made all of the centers out of a yellow print, added a small circle of batting and then hand stitched the onto the quilt.  I have to say, finishing this has only added to my desire to make more baby things.  I have been browsing through Anna Marie Horner's book Handmade Beginnings and I believe I want to make ever project!  I am going to start with the baby booties.  Too Cute.

I also managed to sneak in a few of these blocks for a Double Irish Chain Quilt.  A friend of mine, a really Great Friend, embroidered these shamrock centers for me.  They are perfect.  I have never been a big fan of the busy floral background print you sometimes see on the Irish Chain quilts.  These shamrocks are going to make this quilt.  Yeah! I only sewed up a few strips of the second block for this quilt.  It has many more pieces and will take more pinning.

Not only were the kids home for an extended weekend, but they all had projects due or tests to study for when they returned.  Jack had a poem about Giant Stingrays that needed to be finished up.  Mark had work due in AP Human Geography.  Emma had her revolutionary war hero project.  As per standard daughter protocol, Emma and I had to have an argument, which slowed things down.  (I do not know why I get drawn into arguments with a 10 year old! ) Emma did end up needing assistance with the hot glue gun, assistance I gladly gave.  Her project entailed decorating a canister as a revolutionary hero and adding items to the can to represent the character. Emma's revolutionary war hero was Molly Pitcher.  Her is her can.

 I will say this, she did manage to get several things out of the way herself, which was a miracle, while I brainstormed with Jack.  (ever tried to rhyme the word stingray?)  Painful, very painful.  After a quick email and phone conversation with dad, who thankfully has a better grasp of the English language than I(or is it me?)  Here is his final draft.

Giant stingrays are usually gray,

They live in the oceans, rivers and bays.

Close to the bottom they live and they stay.

On mollusks, worms and crustaceans they prey.

Large flat bodies with eyes high on their head.

Not made of bones but of cartilage instead.

Their long whip like tale is something to dread.

Almost as poisonous as snakebite, it’s said.

The eggs that are laid, hatched in the mother.

3 to 5 babies, sisters and brothers.

They must fight for themselves, not another.

Baby and dad, deadly as each other.

A mouth and 2 eyes are common features,

But because of its size, it’s a new creature,

14 feet long it’s bigger than teacher,

Hiding on bottom where you can’t reach her.

Endangered and hunted because of its size,

You better not hunt them if you are wise,

Future uncertain because they’re a prize,

Save them all before, we run out of tries .

 I don't know about you, but I am exhausted just reliving it all here! I am off to finally get a shower (shh don't tell. wink. wink;)