Beach Bag

As the weather grew hotter in April and May, we spent a lot of time at the beach. Seriously, I feel like I'm living a childhood dream. Will my kids take it for granted?  I hope not.

I love the beach for lots of reasons--the water, sunshine and sandcastles to start. It's also a great place to tire out the kids an ensure an afternoon nap.  Rarely do I also get to partake in that nap, because all the sand requires major post-beach cleanup.  One solution--a beach bag that lets the sand sift out.  I used screening leftover from hubby enclosing the deck and ribbon that I bought for a previous project.  Here's the mesh bag tutorial from Martha Stewart.

Photography courtesy of four-year old C, who also insisted on a photo of her "ballet shoes".

C's not taking ballet, these are just some sparkly shoes I bought on Target clearance.  That's her swimsuit peaking out.  She's become quite a fish already and I think we've found a perfect outlet for her energy.  We all knew she had the stamina, but I am seriously surprised by how quickly she's caught on considering she hadn't previously spent any significant amount of time in the pool.  I also owe a lot of credit to her amazing swim coach--another mom on the island who has graciously been teaching a few of the kids to swim.

P.S. Do you recognize my skirt?  I never fixed all that wonky sewing.  I figure who is really going to inspect the stitches that closely?  As long as the skirt stays on, I'm wearing it.  I did get a new sewing machine, though, and am loving it!

No Knead Bread

My sister-in-law has inspired me to start making homemade bread.  Here's my first attempt.

It was yummy.  Nice crunchy crust and a soft center, although mine could have used five more minutes in the oven.  I found the recipe here on the Steamy Kitchen blog.  I figured if a four-year-old can do it, I should certainly try.

Variations to the recipe can be found here.  I'm looking forward to trying the olive parmesan.

Happy Birthday!

Our little man has turned TWO!  He had a wonderful birthday.  We went to the beach, ate spaghetti and meatballs, and Grandma was here to help celebrate.  S looooved being sang to and blowing out the candles on his Elmo cake.  He kept saying "More, more!" so of course we gave in and did it again and again.  No actual pictures of him blowing out candles (you know I like to keep the kids' faces private), but here's Elmo!

I made a number "2" for the birthday boy's crown.

It's not my idea, but I can't find the original source to credit...the crown has a velcro patch so each year I can just make a new number.  This year I actually sewed it by hand, which I've found is a really nice activity during road trips.  Even C did some hand sewing and I made an extra to send on to a friend (Happy Birthday, J!).

My favorite project for S is the "2" shirt and Madras plaid shorts.  Is this fabric really popular everywhere, or is it an island thing???  Of course, I used my favorite pattern, Big Butt Baby Pants.  I've got this pattern down to a science and can whip out some shorts in under an hour.  C got a matching skirt, too, which she loves because it is very similar to Daddy's shorts.

 Happy Birthday, Little Man!  We love you!

Turning Two!

Our little man and one of my nieces both turn two next week.  I've been busy sewing and will share the projects for S soon, but wanted to quickly share this one for my niece.  Bub Bub modeled for the pic and he had quite a bit of fun twirling!

Happy 2nd Birthday to our other "S" who lives in Ohio!  We love you!

We made it! (a ramble)

It's been quite awhile since I've visited my blog.  The last 6 weeks have been a bit of a blur.  My sewing machines are still packed and prepared for a trip to Jacksonville, hoping for a decent trade on a brand new machine.  In the mean time, we've been doing lots of this:

That's a rocket ship, can't you tell?

Here is where C set up "school" for S.  We've since acquired an adult-sized kitchen table and chairs, thank goodness.

This is one of my favorite things, actually.  Above the windows in our kitchen we've installed an "art wire".  It's actually a curtain system from Ikea, but the clips are an easy way of displaying the kids art work.  It's since been filled with all kinds of creations.  Can you see the marsh outside?  Past the clutter on the deck???

Here is a better photo.

We look out over the intracoastal waterway and enjoy seeing boats run across, and storms roll out from the mainland. C thinks a pirate lives out there, and he'll make her eat grasshoppers if she doesn't behave.

This is a foggy sunrise, with C's bench in the foreground.

The kids enjoy seeing rain!  It's still a novelty coming from NM.  They've developed quite a little friendship over the course of this move.  It's definitely been a difficult transition for C, but having her brother around has helped immensely.  And on a totally random note, she learned to ride her bike without training wheels!  I just loved seeing how proud she was!!!

Happy Birthday!

Today's my sister's birthday and lucky me, it's mine, too!  You know, since we are twins and all.  She's older, though, just in case you are keeping track, four whole minutes.

My sister means the world to me, and I'll save the mushy stuff for her birthday card, but I will share that I am so, so, SO excited we'll be living only four hours away!  This is the closest we've lived since 2000!  And now that she has the cutest baby girl ever, I'll get to see my niece a lot more often, too.

My sister had inspired me to be and do a lot of things and here's one of her ideas that anyone can do:  keep a notebook in your bag to write stuff down.  It's not really a journal, just more of a list/idea/planning book.  Mine has all kind of random things in it.  It's the place I can rid my brain of those mental things that bog me down.  I save the books when I'm finished, because years from now it will be fun to see  how I planned C's birthday party, the measurements of that skirt I made, or what my Ikea shopping list was.

So, in honor of my twin sister's birthday, I decorated one for her.

Happy Birthday, Sis!

Crafting Caddy

Here's a quick project C and I made to store her pencils, markers, scissors, etc.

We've been using empty cans to store these things, but the twine pretties them up a bit.  I've seen this done with paper and other embellishments, but I was afraid the paper would get easily torn.  Plus, I like the natural look.  Once we were finished, I hot glued four cans together so we can grab and go.

This is the can opener I used, so no worries about sharp edges.