Surprise Gift!

Rebecca came home from Wilmington one weekend earlier in the summer & told me Mama had sent something to me....
Little did i know (or would EVER expect) what a great gift it was going to be! A sewing machine!
I was pretty thrilled because i had been borrowing Rebecca's to learn on & now i had my very own....
My mom said she got a good basic one that should be good for a beginner. I couldn't help but get tickled at the box: "The natural choice for new sewers." Yeah.... that is definitely ME! And my first project on this baby?! I made a cute little shirt for Eli. I used a zig zag stitch for the first time & i sewed along a curve for the first time. It is supposed to look messy & fringed too. And because i didn't know if it was going to look decent i didn't want to go buy fabric. Sooooo..... i went into Randy's closet & pulled out a pair of old boxer shorts that shrunk in the wash (that's the wave fabric) & then pulled out an old red t-shirt of his from the goodwill pile. Voila- now i had a little piece of red for the bottom! I all it "upcycling"...... Eli likes it, I like it... all is well! Here is a tutorial for the shirt if you are interested: HERE.

2 and counting....

Yep... we've lost another tooth! That makes it 2 & counting... 2 bucks & 2 teeth so far for the big guy. And if it hadn't been for Aunt Becca, this one would have been lost at the pool! What does the tooth fairy do then!?

And check out that tooth that had already come in behind the loose one.... yikes! Luckily, it has already straightened itself up almost entirely!

VBS: Joseph's Journey

{The Pharoah.....}

Randy & I were family leaders at VBS this year. Whew! It was tiring! The theme was Joseph's Journey: From prison to palace & all the costumes & stations were themed based off Egypt. There was a marketplace where the kids got to visit each place (like brickmaking, barbershop/salon, food shop, enbalming station, jewelry making, etc). The kids really had a wonderful time. We had Kaleb over to stay the night one night with us & we took him each night. This was my first experience getting 3 boys up & ready in the morning all by myself!
Each night we had "family time" where we told the story for the evening & there was an object lesson each night about how God gives us hope & a future. Eli was thrilled to be in his Daddy's "family".
Our family name was the Pithoms. And as luck would have it, our family was literally all family with the exception of little Riley. He was so stinkin' cute too!

We visited Joseph each night too... The first night he was in prison (& i hate that i didn't get a photo because it was an AWESOME set up built into the basement of the church building. Can we say, creepy?!) Then each night after, he was in the palace....The kids got their names printed in Heiroglyphics..... which was pretty cool....And the brickmaking was eye opening. I can't imagine how the Hebrew slaves in Egpyt had the patience to make each brick in such a time consuming way. THere were outdoor games to keep the kids cool....

And I think Jackson's favorite activity was making this headband. He still wears it.... in public...However, the biggest hit of all was the food shop. Oh, Eli was in heaven!!
And i have to admit that it was very yummy. I went out that week & bought my very own bag of pomegranite seeds! Yummy!

It was a very busy & time consuming week, but the kids had so much fun & learned so much that it was so very worth it! Until next year.....

Hot Rocks

So, i dropped the ball on updating pictures every week for our crafty summer. However, we did do plenty of them! Here is an easy one that the boys enjoyed: I had them each go out in the yard & gather up a pile of rocks each. Then i placed them in the oven to heat them up for about 15 minutes (i think!) & then gave them crayons. The rocks melt the crayon as they draw on them, making beautiful rocks! Eli had a harder time wtih his because he was paranoid about getting burned (which did happen, as luck would have it!), but he still ended up enjoying the project...
They turned out pretty cool i thought! And i got the idea here at eighteen 25.

Where to begin?

I am so far behind on blogging that i don't even know where to begin. Sooo, i will recap the summer for you! It was a busy one with trips every week to the big pool (where i actually didn't get a single picture! Gasp!) as well as some trips to Wilmington to see the grandparents. There was plenty of pool time at Nanny's though & by the end of the summer, the kids were little fish! Jackson has been super confident in the water since last summer, but this year, Eli began to catch up some!


This summer, we also went to see Toy Story 3, where i bawled my eyes out at the end. Something about Andy going off to college & giving his toys away really hit me hard! Rebecca told me i was a nutjob, but i told her that after seeing Toy Story 1 & 2 a GAZILLION times with the boys, that i was just a tiny bit emotionally invested with the characters. Can't help it! Here are the kids after the movie.... We set off sparklers this year & watched the neighbors fireworks at Nanny's over the 4th of July..... I still can't believe that my boys actually held a sparkler.... that was a huge milestone because they are timid about these kind of things!


We got a LOT of good cousin time in with Emma & Leah... It was a great summer! I can't believe that in 2 days, Jackson will be starting 1st grade! Our summer just flew by!

Ski-does....

One of the current cutest things Eli says.....


I couldn't resist! One day, i am going to miss all the cute ways he says things!

And on another note, i am WAY behind on blogging, so i will try to get caught up soon. I have many pictures to go through!

Sharing the Love... (of crafting)...

So, pretty often, i get emails asking where i find all my craft ideas from. And even though i usually try to link within each post to the specific blog or site for that craft, i don't always remember. So today, i have gone into the setup of this blog & added a list on the side of all the craft blogs that i check in on. Some i check daily, others every week or so. But they are all great! Some just update more than others with ideas. Some have cooking, photography, crafts, sewing, or just crafts in general.... So, check them out & get your crafty bug on! I have basically just shared my entire bookmarks list with you (well those under "crafts" anyway! lol!) And if you are looking to find a specific craft i have done, you can click on the word "crafts" on the right hand side where the "labels" are and it will pull up all the posts that i have categorized under that label. Hope this helps!

Our first game

Last tuesday was Jackson's first game of the season. It was so fun to watch all the little kids learning as they went. Jackson hit the ball the first pitch when he went to bat the first time. Then the second time at bat, he didn't hit it the first pitch, but he did the third pitch & got a triple out of it! Way to go big guy!



Watching the game with Daddy. This was before Daddy took over as third base coach about halfway through the game. We needed one... badly!

2 Forgotten Projects!

When i was uploading pictures to my computer to update the blog- i realized that i had forgotten 2 projects that i wanted to share. The first one i completed MONTHS ago & i have it hanging in my laundry room. I have always had a problem with where to put that single sock when it is missing it's partner. Now i have a place.... introducing my "lost socks" board....
Not only is it cute, but it is super functional. It really works to help me keep the socks handy until the wayward sock shows up. The kids even look for their socks there if they are missing one. This idea wasn't original to me- i , of course, found it in the blogosphere somewhere! I painted a scrap board we had, then adhered the vinyl letters (cut with the Cricut). I painted & covered clothespins with scrapbooking paper & then glued them to the board with E6000 glue. That stuff is amazing. Voila!

The other forgotten project wasn't really forgotten as much as set aside. Randy made this table for me from plans we found at www.knockoffwood.com . We LOVE that site & have gotten very inspired by it. I wanted a Lego table & the plan was to make the table, paint it & then adhere a lego mat to the top. Randy did his part, but i dropped the ball. BIG time. It has been in the garage for about 3 months now. I started to paint it red, but i hated it that color & i had to brush the red on which was taking too long & i would have to use several coats. Blahhhhh. So i left it alone. Then i decided one day that i had looked at it long enough. I grabbed the can of black spray paint that i had in the garage & got to spraying. In less than an hour (including dry time)... the sucker was painted. So i glued on the lego mat (again with E6000 glue) And hauled it upstairs to the playroom & stashed the lego bin underneath. The rest is history. The kids have done a LOT of building already! SUCCESS!
Although, Jackson did mention this morning that he wished it was blue. Sorry, buddy!

Summer Craft Camp: Project 2

This morning was the morning i decided was perfect for another good craft with the boys. They had been up for a total of 15 minutes before the bickering began, so it was "get 'em busy or lose my mind!" time.

I went upstairs with a screwdriver in hand & came back downstairs carrying their light switch plates. I had seen on a blog that a woman had let her child paint hers & i thought, "Eh, why not?!" They are literally less than a buck to replace later & i could always make them use colors that would match the room.

So that is what i did. I made them turn their shirts inside out (because we used acrylic paints & they are NOT washable!) and we got to painting. I gave each one some red, blue, light blue, & clear glitter paint.
Jackson had some method to his painting... however- Eli just painted. And painted a LOT!But in the end, i thought they turned out great! They were so proud. I love it when they take such pride in a completed project!
Here is a close-up of Eli's... And a close up of Jackson's.....
Great job, boys!