Snow gauge

We have a swing at our cabin.  This is what it looks like during the summer.  (Sorry, the picture is terrible - I had to crop in on a very different picture.  Hence, the circle to help you out.)

Two weeks ago, this is what the swing looked like.  (For lack of an indoor place to store it over the winter, we just unhook the seat and let it be.)

And this is what it looked like this weekend.  I think that makes . . . 5 feet?  Maybe 6?



Wow.  In other news, I can see the grass in my lawn at home.

I need more tutoring students.

I have been tutoring math students ever since Tyler was a few months old.  And I love it.  One year I had about 8-10 appointments a week, but lately it was more like 3-5.  And right now I am down to one.

Apparently it is not enough.

Last week I noticed that some fabric in Wal-mart I had been debating on making a church bag out of went on clearance.  So I got some.  And made a church bag on a Sunday afternoon.  My old bag was a bit awkward to carry, very non-descript, and bigger than it needs to be right now.  Right now I just need my little manual, a couple of small toys for the kids, and my ipod (which has my scriptures on it).  I was especially happy that the ipod will now have its own pocket, rather than floating around with my keys and books.  I used a free pattern online - well, actually, I spent an hour and made that pattern bigger so that it would fit the books I needed it to fit.  And changed the pleats a bit.

But as I admired my new, awesome bag, I realized that I don't wear brown that often.  A majority of my church outfits are worn with black shoes.  Which would make this bag not quite as awesome.  So I took another afternoon, and made another bag.  That's what any sane person would do, right?

I think the total cost for both was under $10.  You can see I even dug into my leather stash for the black one.

Then, I had a few friends over to make hairbows.  You'd think that would get the crafting out of my system, but no.

Made by Rae does a month long event every year called "Celebrate the Boy", and they feature some really awesome ideas.  I saw the car cosy and debated on making one for Tyler, but then in church yesterday Tyler sealed the deal.  He loves running little matchbox cars on everything in sight - it is kinda his security thing.  And he was doing that yesterday when I gave him the small doodle pad to play with.  He happily took the doodle pad, drew a dashed line down the middle, and then ran his car along his new "road".

Yup, time to make the kid a real road.  Once again, I altered the tutorial a lot.  I didn't see any reason to pack along 6 matchbox cars.  That's just more toys to get lost.  Two would do, and that gives more room for road.  I also made the pockets a little bigger so that the construction-y vehicles would fit, not just the streamlined sportscars.  This is what it looks like all rolled up.  I went with a truck that has button wheels, and put the velcro off to the side.  And added a handle so Tyler can carry it.

And then it unrolls to this.  The best part of this project, to me, is that it was free.  The fabric was all from my scrap bin - the black suit material from the vests a couple weeks ago, flannel from pajamas I made in college, a handle leftover from the Digibags, etc.  It might not be super-cute car fabric, but I think it works just fine.

But most importantly, Tyler loves it!  This will be great to stick in my purse and pull out when we get somewhere.  He loves running the cars on the road, and even seems to like how they have a "garage" to park in too.

I would try and tell you I am going off crafts for a while, but my next project is even bigger.  It is high time I tackled a quilt that I have had the fabric kicking around in my basement for over the past couple of years.  I've never done a quilt before, so I guess we'll see how this goes!

Finally finished!

There are some people who are dedicated to their tasks, from start to finish.  My husband is one of those people - man, I love that guy so much for it.  I, on the other hand, usually end up starting a project, getting to the hard part, and then "multi-tasking" to something else for "a little while" and then never coming back.

Well, I had a day or two this week where I decided to just GET IT DONE!  And boy, it felt good.

It all started that morning when I was thinking about the meeting I had with Tyler's teacher last week.  For years, speech therapists have told me about having a board with pictures the kids can point to so they can get what they want.  And I have just never gotten around to it.  But now they are actually using it in snack time at school.  They it in front of them, and at the bottom it has "I" and "Want" with a velcro spot next to it.  They pick what they want from the top row of velcro, pull it off and put it on the bottom of their sentence, and then tap the pictures as they say "I want cracker" or whatever on the bottom.  Each time they do that, they get one more cracker.  That might seem odd, but for these kiddos, they need to learn the cause and effect of it all.  I would say Tyler has only seen the concept of "I get what I ask for specifically" for less than a year, and often he still just waits around and hopes he gets something without asking.  Food is the best motivator to use for them to understand this cause and effect.

Well, after the meeting, I thought through our meals with Tyler.  Obviously dinner looks different every day, and even snacks are rather random.  But breakfast looks pretty much the same every day.  I debated on just taking pictures as I made things over the next few weeks, but  . . . I knew I would never get around to finishing it.  So I made a little of everything that I usually make for breakfast, and Kaitlyn and I made a very odd lunch out of all ot it.  (Thankfully, some things - like cereal - can be put right back, since I didn't pour the milk on).  I took pictures of everything, added the labels in photoshop, and . . . voila!

I can't tell you how many people have laughed themselves silly that I made all the food in one go, but -by golly - I was getting this one done instead of debating about it for another year or two.

We even had tons of photo paper I never thought I would have a use for, a pre-cut board I was going to use for something else and didn't, and velcro.  More about the velcro in a minute. 

Obviously, the "I" and "want" pictures are missing for now - the teacher is going to email them to me soon.  It still works anyway.  So now every morning I put the stuff on the first two rows that Tyler can have that day. Usually he starts out by just pointing to it and saying the name ("Strawberries!") and we have to encourage him a bit to say "I want strawberries" instead.  That is the purpose of the whole thing, after all.  Sometimes he has used it to get a drink when I normally wouldn't have thought to give him one - jackpot!  Once he asked for something he didn't actually want, and then eventually had to figure out to ask for what he really wanted.  But it really is a great thing for him.

Well, back to the velcro. I had velco in my basement from a long forgotten project.  We started these in a group craft night at church YEARS ago.  And since I didn't get to finish that night, I ended up borrowing the rolls of sticky-backed, industrial strength velcro, so I could make mine and give back the rest.  I never touched it again.  Since the person I borrowed it from moved to California, I guess it is  . . . um, mine now.  (I owe you one, Erica!)

But this wasn't ignore half done projects day!  This was GET IT DONE day!  So I finally sat down, placed the velcro, and finished the dang thing.  (There is velcro on all the pieces so that I can switch out the USA to say BYU or have the spring flowers on it instead.)

The funniest part is that I actually have no idea where I am going to hang this thing now.  I decided to make it three years ago, so heaven only knows where I planned to hang it back then.

Then I saw a bowl where I had gathered the beads from Kaitlyn's broken necklace.  Stretchy necklaces are not a good idea for toddlers - they just stretch them until they break.  So I strung them back on regular thread and attached it to a stretchy ribbon.  Now it will stretch over her head and not snap.  On a roll!

In the meantime, my husband caught the bug.  We have had a broken ice maker for 3 years now - ever since Kaitlyn was born.  We have always hoped that if we emptied the fridge and freezer and let things thaw out it would come back to life.  But who wants to actually do that project?  Well, Christopher finally decided he had had enough last week and took the entire thing apart.  He figured out exactly which part was broken, ordered a new ice maker, and now WE HAVE ICE!

I know this must seem like the lamest thing in the world, but you have no idea how wonderful ice is until you go without it for years. 

Christpher has also been meaning to run a triathalon for some time now.  But he finally got a tri suit and signed up for the Spudman in July with some friends.  It should be great!  His other "been meaning to" are his new "shoes".  One of my brothers and one of his co-workers swear by these things, and so he finally bought a pair to try out.  Apparently, they are much better for your feet to run in than regular shoes.  He has only tried them once so far, and decided they take some more getting used to.

And while I am blogging, I can mention what I did today.  Sometimes I see craft ideas online, and make them because I really want one.  Today I can honestly say I made this craft because it had to be a lie.  There was no way this works.  Well, it did.

This is a very hard little disk for a necklace.  Can you guess what it is made of?  A red, plastic SOLO cup.  You cut the bottom, doodle with permanent marker, and melt it in the oven like a shrinky dink. 

You've got to be kidding me.

Well, now I know what I am doing with my Activity Day girls on Tuesday, at least.

Ahh . . . snow

Snow is good for many things.  Snowball fights . . .

Running . . .

And snowmen.

Sewing fun!

So, I was bored last Sunday, and started surfing around sewing blogs.  I love seeing what everyone makes - especially turning thrift store junk into awesome stuff!  After a bit of that, I ended up asking Christopher if there was anything in his closet he didn't want anymore.  After a bit of searching (finding some jems he will actually use buried in there) we came up with a couple of suits and some corderoy pants.  Awesome!  Tyler is modeling one of the suit jackets for you here.  (Oh, and the construction hat.  He honestly wears that 80% of the time he is home, so I forget that it is on sometimes.)

After a couple of hours of work, I had this:


A reversible vest!  The inspiration came from this blog, but after my experience with the Woody vest I knew a better way to put it together. Not that hers doesn't work, but . . . anyway.  I love this little vest though - from the blue side, to the black side, to the fake little pocket.

But there was so much fabric left over!  The blue suit was a jacket and pants, though the black suit only had a jacket.  So the next day I decided I needed to do something with the leftovers.  So I made a hairbow for Kaitlyn.  Annnd a skirt.  With flowers on it.

The skirt is more stiff than the flowy I was going for, but that's fine. Unfortunately, the other problem is that the vest is too skinny for Tyler - but the skirt is too long for Kaitlyn. At least she will grow into hers.

The action shots are a bit lacking - it is too cold to go outside for the natural lighting.  But the models are sure willing anyway!  Oh, but here's one more of the before shots - because I love this smile.