kirstencan

Random for summer

**Chelle is doing another summer reading program.  I love it.

Check it out here.

**The last few days we've been listening to a lot of Raffi.  We love Raffi.  Holy cow, we listened to TONS of his music when Princess was small.  His Christmas album is one of my holiday faves.  Somehow Monkey hasn't been exposed to him as much, and it's been so fun to see him light up at 'Teddy Bear Hug', 'Aikendrum', and 'Down by the Bay'.  I need to remember that though he's such a sophisticated little dude, he's only four and we need to make sure we do all the 'four stuff' with him.

**I would sure appreciate it if all the Pokemon dvd's the kids keep checking out from the library would magically return themselves.  Like today.

**SYTYCD was bumming me out (disappointing!) - until last week rocked.  Last night's was okay. 

**I saw a Summer Bingo idea here, which apparently originates here.  I made up my own version for my 8yo - if she uses it I'll do it up a little nicer.  I would have loved this idea as a kid.

**A few weeks ago I passed not only my 600th post, but my 3 year 'blogiversary'.  An average of 200 posts a year?  Not too shabby.
Anyway, thanks for being here, and one of these days I'll host a slightly-late giveaway.

**Blogging has been fun, but the past six months or so has been quite the pain.  Somehow, the last time Typepad upgraded itself left me unable to comment on any typepad blogs.  Which is seriously dumb, since I pay for this service.  I hate not being able to comment (not even on my own blog!).  I have made some good friends online and I feel like they think I'm being standoffish or that I don't like them anymore or something.  I try to comment on flickr, but it's just not the same.  I have a help ticket open with Typepad (again!!!) but they can't seem to find the problem.  Lovely.

** I was watching Gilmore Girls (again - season 5 - which is when I start losing all patience for that show - I will never watch season 6 or 7) and noticed a store window in Stars Hollow that says "Kirsten's".  Ha!

**Speaking of my name, you pronounce it 'KEER-sten', not 'Kur-sten'.  Just in case you were wondering!

**What are you guys up to this summer?

Princess - doll photographer

After her dance portraits last month, my daughter thought it would be fun to take dance photos of her dolls.  I set her up with my point-and-shoot on a tripod and she got to work posing her dolls.

It was pretty cute.  I want to give her more chances to take my camera out and discover photography.  Especially outside this summer.

Later, I taught her how to do simple photo editing in Digikam (rotate, crop, auto color-correction). 

Here are (a few) of her photos.

It was a fun afternoon - and a great summer activity for her!

Since then, we've checked out some 'Photography for Kids' books from the library, and she's wanted to take my camera out nearly every day!  Love it.

When I was her age, I LOVED taking pictures (with my Kodak Instamatic that I bought for $4 at a yard sale).

Oh, wait, I still do!

Our Independence Day

Wearing red, white, and blue to the movie theater (we saw 'Up' - all in all we liked it - but Thomas cried hysterically during the dog fighting parts).

Running through sprinklers in bathing suits and playing in the backyard with squirt guns.

Watching America Rock:

A classic American barbecue dinner - grilled and eaten outside - followed by root beer floats and ice cream cones.

And of course this:

The kids had more fun with the glo-necklaces (aka lightsabers) than the actual fireworks.  Next year we're just going to get a bunch of those.

All in all, a perfect fourth of July.

I hope you had a great weekend, too!

Teeny tiny shoes

Does it get cuter than teeny tiny baby shoes? 

Maybe teeny tiny baby feet.
But that's it.

Two sweet pairs of linen baby shoes made today.

I'm happy with how simple this pair is - linen upper, Minny Muu dotted lining and vintage buttons, with a double layer of soft blue cord for the sole.

They look very 'boy' but I'm hoping they'd work for a boy or a girl.

And for my sweet niece, Lucy, I embroidered the linen, and lined it with the softest vintage sheet ever.  You'll see more of this sheet, I promise.  The bottom soles of these are linen as well.

The tutorial I used is here - I've used it once before (robot booties for Lucy's brother Sam!), it's a really easy pattern to follow and the finished product is always so sweet!

I so wish I would have been able to find ideas like this when my babies were still babies!  My babies would always have had the prettiest shoes - and lots of soft t-shirt pants!

Return of the Bandanna Pants

The other day, I made some more bandanna pants for my boys.  I love bandanna pants.  So light and summery, so fast to make, so inexpensive, so cute!

I last made them two years ago for a camping trip, and two of those pairs are still alive and well and being worn.

But some days, all your summer shorts are in the laundry, and you just need new ones, right?

Pretty sure these will be the boys Fourth of July outfits.

I can spot these bright red shorts from one end of the street to the other - excellent for keeping an eye on my boy who likes to visit all the dogs on our street.

I let them wear the pants before I washed them, so they look a little stiff here - I generally don't do that - and what do you know, they played in a hose, got soaked, and their skin turned colors.  That's what I get.

Anyway, if you haven't tried making kids' pants (you should!  So easy!) check out bandanna pants - they really do only take a few minutes and two bandannas, and once you see how easy they are, you can make pants out of whatever fabric you want.

Tutorial here from Stefani.

Now does anyone know of any great bandanna sources (not Walmart).  I got these from Hobby Lobby for $.99, but I'd love some different colors without paying much more for them.

Old quilt finds new home

I picked up this beauty of a quilt at a yard sale this morning.  It is in really great condition, and entirely hand-pieced and hand-quilted.  I think the pattern might be called 'Grandmother's Flower Garden'?

I was checking it out and asked if it was indeed hand sewn, and the answer was "I don't know, it was a gift" and that I could have it for five dollars.

Well, I think the person who put the hours and hours into this lovely gift would be horrified by the price tag (besides the fact that they were selling it!), but would hopefully be comforted by the fact that it is appreciated by the buyer.

Not sure what we're doing with it yet - it may be a summer quilt for my daughter's bed.  It has a lot of different pinks in it - very pretty!

I couldn't very well leave it there, now could I?

I thought this day would never come!

Today was the first day I've been able to hang my laundry outside this year.  Hooray, hoorah!

After the cottonwoods were finally done 'snowing' and after three weeks of rain, the weather went straight for temp's in the 90's.  We kind of expected that, and no complaints here - at least we're under 100!

I have three lines in my backyard, and my awesome IKEA rack which can hold a whole load by itself (and is especially great for dishcloths, kids' tshirts, cloth napkins, underpants and socks).

I love hanging my laundry outside.  I love having the excuse to take a few minutes in my backyard under the cottonwood trees and hang or fold laundry, several times a day.  I love watching the kids play behind/under the flapping sheets.

I love that it's better for the earth, too.

Now where did all my clothespins go?  I ask that every year.  I really need a clothespin bag, I guess...

p.s. Go read Molly's post about hanging laundry, too.

EDITED TO ADD:

The first load dried very quickly on the line - the second one?  I had to take it in nearly dry... because of a thunderstorm. 

Aaaannd.... we're back.

Saturday mornings so far

I haven't shown you my yard sale scores from this summer yet!  There have been a few Saturdays I've gone out - most of them rainy, of course.  I haven't found any crazy amazing finds (yet), but plenty of moderately cool ones, which is happy.

The day before Princess' birthday, I found her a New In Box metronome.    I was wondering if I should get it or not when I peeked in the box and saw that it was cherry red!  Also, the price tag said $37, but the lady sold it to me for $3.  So that was good.

That day I also found some New In Box Freaky Little Girly Pet toys - for less than $1, and some manga.  Really, I should have wrapped this stuff up for her birthday...

Then I found this set of knitting looms for $1.  Now I need to figure out how to use them... Princess has tried crochet, but was having a hard time - I think this might be easier for her.

Last weekend I came home with only these three boxes - but I had a lovely morning listening to music and driving around downtown neighborhoods that I normally don't go to (and only spent $7).

See that box in the middle?  I'll bet you could only find Gocco stuff at the yard sale of a blogger.  It's a fabric kit!!!  I need to pick up a few more bulbs, though.

And we've been having fun playing the Lego Creator game with our little Lego Maniacs - although somehow there are always more people (clones) than we need - and some casualties.  Pretty sure that's not how you're supposed to play...

Speaking of clones... I stopped by one yard sale recently because I saw that they had lots of boys' clothes.  As I'm looking around I find a Star Wars clone costume.  One of those cheesy ones that I just won't buy for my kids (at least not full-price), that nearly every boy in our neighborhood had last Halloween (and still wear regularly for Star Wars battles).  Mask and all, I couldn't turn it down for less than $1.

I was driving home with my box of clothes wondering exactly how on earth my two boys were going to share the costume, and then when we unpacked the box... somehow there were TWO costumes.  I swear I only saw and picked up one, but I'm loving that somehow it multiplied in the box. ;) The boys dress in costumes often, so it's fun to have more stuff to throw in the dress-up box.

Let's see - that's the interesting stuff, but I've also picked up some clothes and books, cool letter stamps, and an outside table for the back patio (kinda seen here - last photo).  We'll eat outside more when it stops raining!

I have more on my list to look for this summer - what are you looking for?  Or have you found anything awesome?

p.s. I just noticed this is post #600!!!  A nice big round number, eh?

Long week...

...but we're almost done with it.

It's just been a tiring week.  Really slow and mellow, but tiring.  It always surprises me how much more quiet and calm it is when Thomas is sick.  I can definitely tell he's almost better today - if you know what I mean. :)

This week we've watched the rain.  Lots and lots of rain.  I think that maybe there's been one day in the past 2 weeks that didn't have a thunderstorm.  I think it even still rained that day, though.

We've picked (and eaten!) lots and lots of strawberries. From our garden.  I don't usually blog about our garden, but Aaron has such a green thumb, and we're lucky to get a lot of food out of it. 

We've eaten a lot of popsicles.

It's been the kind of week where the poor sick boy conks out sound asleep on the floor before 7:00pm - in the mis-matched pajamas he hadn't taken off since the night before. 

Heck, we've all been in our pajamas half the day anyway.

We've been woken up in the night - by both of the boys.  One because he's sick, and one just because.  Those kind of nights - they show up here and there, don't they?

All week Thomas has woken up before 6:00am, too - those mornings show up here and there, too.  Not my favorites.

We're tired.

Lots of vitamin C and hand washing to make sure no one else gets sick - it's worked so far!

To keep one kid still, we've all watched lots of movies - including introducing the kids to Castle in the Sky and Pokemon from the library.  I think I'm going to regret that last one, but it was slim pickin's at the library that day...

We got an awesome package from my pal Lori.  She made me this super cute bag!  I love it and have already used it - thanks, Lori!

Among the included goodies is this awesome hand-quilted coaster.  I love hand-quilting - it looks so cool.

She even made this doll quilt (!) and pillow for Princess' dolls.  Princess was thrilled, she says they 'needed' (ha!) a new quilt and especially a pillow. 
I just love the ticking stripes.  So pretty!

And here's a shot of Molly all snuggled up- for Aidin!

Thanks so much!

And now I'm going to get moving and make some pigs-in-a-blanket for dinner.  I haven't made that for years - but it's been that kind of week.

I might make cookies, too...

Dance teacher gifts

My daughter's dance recital is this week and this year has a 'Circus' theme.  I thought it would be fun to make a brooch for one of her teachers (who owns the studio) out of curled up carnival tickets.

I had the idea in my head, and it turned out pretty close - which is good, but it's one of those projects that I'm not sure is cool or totally stupid.  I used a giant vintage button for the middle.  It's not really meant to be an 'everyday' accessory - just for the recital.  Hmmmm....

This morning I whipped up two super fast drawstring bags for her dance teachers - to hold the 'Dancing Waters' (get it?) Bath and Body Works stuff that we found on sale this weekend - yeah!

The bags would be better slightly bigger, but I used a fat quarter that I had in my stash (that kinda matched) and got two bags out of it, so I'm calling it good.

And now to pray some more that Princess doesn't get sick this week and can actually attend her dance classes, dress rehearsal, and recital!  Aaron was sick last week, Thomas picked it up this weekend, and I'm just hoping that if the rest of us get it it's NEXT week!  She's worked so hard and knows her dances so well - she really wants to perform! 

Off to make some more orange juice!