Stitches.

Well who would have known that all those five petal flowers, stars and silly doodles I have been drawing all my life would come to serve a purpose. Those little "cartoons" as I called them, were just meant to be embroidered. I have found a new hobby and can be caught up very late stitching away. I am doing my own renegade-style embroidery but that is O.K. I think I can still call it embroidery...right?

I have finished two pieces, both shown unfinished here. One is an ode to the beloved sunflowers. (I know, enough with the sunflowers already.) I am going to wrap both around some wood or something else recycled perhaps and hang them with ribbon.

I also got some transfers in a little book called Sublime Stitching Craft Pad. I think I will find I want to do my own designs though. So fun.

So much fun in fact, the boys love it too! We are going to do their names and the whole alphabet, then cut each piece into a triangle and string them like a banner. (Thanks again to The Creative Family, for ideas.) 

My 4 year old is quite steady and prefers a nice tiny stitch. I am amazed at his coordination and attention to detail. I swear it happened over night. I guess he really IS ready for Kindergarten. (Don't get me started, I don't have kleenex close by.) 

My big boy took pride in how fast he was. "Done! Ready for the next letter Mom!"

Well, I will be stitching up a storm over here this weekend. But only after we party with a certain one year old we know. 

Hope you have a great weekend and get to party-it-up too!

RIP 2XEN144.

So the old girl has finally passed on. Her poor old body will be towed tomorrow. Off to a better place.

She had a long productive life though.

Many a 15 year old Streeter Kid learned to drive behind her sleek grey wheel.

She safely got a gaggle of girls to and from school many, many times. You can still hear the echos of giggles and tears behind that sliding door.

On one memorable occasion, one of the above mentioned Streeter kids (not to be named) made an attempt to be cool and "cruise Mendo".  She busted a sharp u-turn at the end of the strip only to see all of her and her friends singles tapes (remember those?) slide across the dash and out the passenger window, never to be seen again. The old van hugged us and made us happy that we didn't tip or fly out the windows ourselves.

In her golden years she started a new life as an emergency response vehicle. She was the first to arrive on scene for many accidents and fires here in Two Rock. She brought comfort to people just waiting for SOMEONE to show up. It usually was the old girl and within her, a trusty Volunteer Firefighter/EMT. Help had arrived.

The mini-van was dependable and with a style all her own, she always got us where we needed to go.

Thanks for everything, it has been a great ride.

Camp Uniform.

Swimsuits are perfect for...

eatin' brownies high in a tree,

and scramblin' around down low on the ground.

They are also just the thing for...

nappin' on a speeding boat, 

and drying off under the evening sun.

Ahhh summer...

Dirt. Glorious Dirt.

We are home! 

We have spent almost every weekend this month camping. I think the boys are feeling more at home in a tent or cabin than in their own house!

We had a fun-filled weekend at the lake playing, swimming, wake-boarding and all around gettin' dirty. Our little girl has never been so dirty in her 13 months of life. She seemed quite comfortable under that layer of campground dust. We have another pro camper on our hands!

Speaking of pros, Sully is gettting so good on a wake-board that we probably have to invest in a youth board for him and lil' bro-when he is ready. I am sure at some point Sully will want something other than his Auntie's sparkly pink number. It certainly isn't stopping him though. I am still in shock that he just pops up and glides along as if it is the easiest thing in the world. 

On a dirtier note- all three boys LIVED in their swimsuits. I am talking THE WHOLE TIME. They played, went swimming, roasted marshmallows, played frisbee and SLEPT in them! We had to peel those things off! They came home with two duffle bags of clean clothing though. Not too shabby.

Well, I have some more fun pictures that need to be sorted, but I will share later on.

For now I have to get back to camp laundry (again!). I am finding that good ol' camp dust all over the place, from our floors and pockets to our pillowcases and ears...

Dirt, glorious dirt.

End Of A Project, Beginning Of Our Weekend.

Just wanted to show ya that mini rag rug all finished!

For all you rag rug pros and purists you will see it ain't perfect. I don't think I was using the right stitch but I tell ya, I had a great time doing it! It's sturdy yet soft to stand or sit on. It will certainly do the job. It is even cute on the backside with all the dang knots and ties that ended up there because I cut ALL SIX blankets wrong. I had to tie on a bunch of short pieces throughout the process. Like I said, it is still pretty cute. (Minna likes the back best.)

It took me two days of sneaking stitches in when I could. I broke two hooks and got the bruised hands to prove it! I insisted on pulling so snug and tight even when warned not to. Oh well, next time I will try to hang loose a bit.

Here is M busily playing in her nook which is so nicely accented with her own teeny rug. (Please excuse the zebra bum in the background.)

With that done and done, I am working on some embroidery. (I was inspired by The Creative Family, By Amanda Blake Soule.) My husband whom is apparently expert in all things needle and thread, has informed me that I am not doing a proper stitch. Turns out he is right but I am still happy with the way it looks. I want to stretch the finished piece over some wood and hang it above Minna's changing table. More on that later...

Tomorrow we are off on ANOTHER camping adventure! The kids are ready for more dirt, water and S'mores. (I must admit, so am I.) I'll be back Sunday with a million photos I am sure...

Hope you get a long weekend too! 

Master Carter.

Congratulations Julie, Justin and Madeline! 

Welcome-welcome Carter! I could never do that handsome little face justice but I sure had fun meeting him. 

What a sweet family...

Can't talk about the new baby without giving big sis some props. Being the bigger kid is a hard job!

Awe, she even smiled for me...

Now back to late-night laundry folding.  Just needed a shot of newborn.

Little Miss Hammock Hooligan.

Have I mentioned how much we love our hammock?

Well... 

...it's really fun and we really love it.

Right down to the smallest of us.

Sully And Me Time.

So I have noticed over the past year that out of all of us, my Sully-boy has had the hardest time adjusting to a new baby in the house. 

I was surprised because he is already a seasoned big brother and really had no problem with Colyer moving on in almost 5 years ago. The only difference this time was that he was in school and away from us for a huge chunk of the day.

I started getting some very non-Sully attitude after school and felt he was somehow angry with me and little sis quite often. I thought he was feeling left out when he went off to class and for all he knew, the other kids and I were off to the amusement park or camping out at the toy store.  Then when he got home, we would dive into homework and dinner and all the while I had a baby attached to me. 

So more Sully and Mom time was in tall order! Extra books of his choosing, running into the store-just him and I, impromptu swings on the hammock or bike rides with no siblings to compete with have really helped. The little but big things to a kid.

Just the two of us took a hike to the blackberry bush at the bottom of the property. I had no idea if there were ripe blackberries or not and neither of us cared.

We had fun,

walking and talking.

We had time to stop and make a wish because I wasn't chasing a toddler to keep her out of the cow-pond.

Sully got a turn behind the camera which I think was a highlight for him. He took 100 pictures, all lovely. Note the shot above.

The highlight for me?  A bright and true Sully-boy smile.

Have a great Monday!

PS- Speaking of new babies, I get to meet Carter Aaron tonight, yay!

State Of The Sunflowers Address.

Ahhh, yet another busy summery weekend coming to a close. 

Not doing much now but basking in Minna-nap-time, going through some photographs and looking at the sunflowers. 

Almost all of them have opened and to my surprise, some are even bowing their heads already! 

Lots of the petals are looking wilty and brownish, kinda sad. I was expecting them to last much longer. 

That's o.k. The bees are lovin' them and those little late-bloomers will let us enjoy the color 'til fall, I hope...

Also hope you are enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon of your own.

Summer, Summer, Summertime.

Divin' in,

and soakin' it up,

is always best with friends.

The Rag Rug Odyssey, REVISITED

I am making a mini rag rug for Minna's little kitchen area that the boys and I made for her (and me:) months ago. Here is the tutorial I used from the neat-o blog, thisvintagechica.

The fabric balls you can make once you cut your fabric into strips is one of the reasons I really wanted to make a rug. These balls are some of Minna's receiving blankets that came in matchy-match packages. Plus I included one of the little blankets I got in Italy when Sully was a baby. Cute huh? Again, I am so easily amused...

Here I am at 2:00am, in the dark trying to re-teach myself how to crochet. Turns out it's not like riding a bike, at least for me it isn't.

Over the hump and kind of getting it. I am happy with the color combo so far. Thank you matchy-match packs!

Here it is as of yesterday afternoon. 

Only two more fabric balls to go and I got myself an imperfect rag rug for my girl. She sure loves to lay her head on it and feel the knots and frays of fabric between her fingers. We will see how it looks when I am finished, tomorrow perhaps!

For now, off to have some pizza and fun with our Pleasant Hill folk. 

Have a great Friday!

One More...

One photo got left out and it is an important one,

the prime example of a cousins group picture. 

Just love it...

Something Neat About Cousins.

I know I have been talking about the cousins a lot lately but being with them is something special around here. 

They used to live far enough away that we didn't see them as much as we wanted. Now they are much closer so we gotta make up for lost time! 

Some of my favorite kid memories are going "back east" to see my cousins that we never got to see. We made forts and went swimming and explored just as my kids did this past week. 

Well, we sure had some fun-filled days that I hope got those memory banks off to a good start...

A Hit!

So we are home. All showered, dirty camp laundry going and the kids relaxing. 

I just wanted to stop in before I finish getting life back in order and say that the pancake breakfast was a success! I don't know yet how many tickets were sold or the numbers brought in from the raffle, but I do know that it was bigger and better than last year and that is a good sign. 

Thanks to all who came out to support Two Rock Fire and to see Jeff cooking up eggs. They were the best.

Also, for the next few days I will be posting updates on some little projects and on our time with the cousins this past week. It has been so busy I just now got all the pictures in order! 

Hope you all are having a good week and staying cool. We came home to some heat...

The Frizz. AKA, Frizz The Great.

Frizz the hamster died last night. 

Never was there a cuter, frizzier hamster to run a wheel. He had a frizzy band of fur that skirted his waist which gave him his name. He was an acrobat and scaled slick walls and balanced on the skinniest of ledges that your average hamster would never attempt. 

Most of all he was sweet and he taught my oldest boy how to care and nurture someone other than himself. He taught all of us that love and friendship can come in the smallest and frizziest of packages. Frizz, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that.

Above is a card that Sully made to leave for Frizz when we were going to be away for the night a while back. Frizzy will be deeply missed.

On a brighter note, we are off for some pancakes and some campin' with Grammie and Grampie. Swimmin' and marshmallow roastin' will do us all some good. Fresh air and family will start to mend a sad little heart.

Have a great rest of your weekend and hug your friends... big and small. 

Pancakes Anyone?

Do you have any Sunday morn breakfast plans yet? I know it is short notice but I have a great suggestion...

THE TWO ROCK VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT-ANNUAL PANCAKE BREAKFAST!

Come see our neat fire station and social hall and help support a great community and an amazing group of volunteers.

Hope to see you there!

Here They Are!

So I Am Sewing Again...

After the first-birthday-disaster-dress, see that here, I put away the sewing machine just to give it a break. 

I have been re-inspired by a super easy pair of shorts for my middle boy made from two bandanas. Sounds easy enough right? 

I got the idea and directions from Blue Yonder and you can get the hand drawn directions, or just peek at the irresistable art-work here. The little cartoons are one of the main reasons I wanted to do this project I think. Hey, no matter the reason, at least it got my machine out of hiding right?

So with the machine out,

and this little lady next to me biting on my shirt,
and this grumpy boy standing behind me on my chair,

I WAS ABLE TO SEW A PAIR OF REAL-LIFE WORKING SHORTS! 

It's a miracle.

Just to add to the excitement, I made a little skirt for Minna. Very pink and cute. I have an order in for my bigger boy in black. 

Comin' right up! So are pictures of the finished products...

Hammock Hooligans-Part Two.

It never gets old...

Cousins Among Us.

We get to be with "THE COUSINS" this week! 

More on our time together, plus a peek at a couple of new projects-coming soon. 

For now, bed... 

I got FIVE kids to keep up with come morning when they crawl out of their fancy fort, bright eyed and ready for a new day on the ranch. 

Cousin time is the best!

Going...

...where only Grampie can take you. 

Who gets to climb around big, loud, scary bowling pin machines? 

Sully and Cauley, that's who!

Thanks Grampie for being so neat.

PS-Turn back the clock about 25 years and a certain long haired girl we all know was doing the same with her lil' brother and sis. Deja vu, I tell ya...