Owls!!

Well, the owl swap items I sent have been received, so I can post the pictures now.

They aren't the greatest pictures, but you get the idea.

Top left is a quilted pot holder, bottom left is an owl stamp I carved, middle is an owl pendant I made for her. Bottom right is and embroidered towel, and top right is my favorite. It's a notebook with owl cover. The wing snaps over to close it.

Here's a pic of the front open

And the back

We're Back!

Primarily we had a wonderful time. We hit a bit of a problem at the end, but we're all well, and we were only set back a bit, so I want to keep it on the positive note.

This was our first time taking all 3 kids on a long car ride, and I was a bit nervous, but they did wonderfully! There was very little bickering and they were all playing and being helpful to each other!! We re-listened to Harry Potter 6 (in anticipation of the new book coming soon.) They worked on their superhero projects, they played a few travel games (boggle, ziggity, chess, and uno are the current favorites.) We also made an I Spy Bottle, which they really spent a lot of time with. It was a little over 10 hours there (plus stops.)

We went to a park a little over half way which the kids loved.

you can't tell, but they are standing on a tiny little podium like the ones behind them.

Lore was deeply thinking about how to catch the ducks that kept illuding him.

We checked into our hotel and the kids all headed for the pool.

The second day (Friday) we checked out some local areas. And then enjoyed the Meet & Greet at the fairgrounds for Ironstock.

Saturday was the first official day of Ironstock. The boys found the children's area quite entertaining. They found oodles of things they wanted in the Vendor's Ally. They met some new friends, and even enjoyed some of the Demos, creating new wishlists of things they wanted to make for the upcoming haunt season.
We watched the coffin races and the boys all gave it there best during the tshirt toss.
We were all pretty hot and pooped and the boys really wanted to go swimming so we opted out of the Weasel Ball for family time. I guess our costumes will wait until next year!

Sunday the weather was much more mild. It was cloudy and we got a bit of rain. I didn't affect the amazing demos though. We learned so much. Liam purchased a dragon adorned box. Lore purchased a neat resin skull and a resin skull keychain, Levi purchased a skeleton figurine. Levi and Lore also purchased marshmallow guns. We had planned on these being a project this summer, but they HAD to have them. So I guess we'll do it with Liam.
We made a mini coffin racer (which is like a barbie sized soapbox race with a coffin theme.)
Ours did really well, but we bounced a bit on the last 2 runs, and popped over the partition. I don't know exactly what place we took, but we had lots of fun anyway!

More swimming Sunday after the rain passed. We packed the van and were ready to get under way in the morning.

Overall a great weekend! We weren't planning on going next year, as I think we need to see more parts of the country and if we only get one vacation.... but after being there it is really hard to not go back. We'll have to wait and see.

I will have more pictures and such uploaded later. I'm still settling in.

We are heading to Indiana

We are heading to Indiana, we are leaving on Wednesday night. We have gone for the last 2 years to a festival for haunters called Ironstock. We went alone the first year, we took Levi the second year, and this year all 3 boys are coming! It's a 10 hour drive each way! I'm hoping the boys won't drive us all nuts! I had all of these grandiose ideas for crafts to make to make the trip easier, but not enough time, so we'll due without. The boys decided on Saturday that they now wanted to make a coffin racer (go to Ironstock website click on activities and you can read about it.) So we quick through one together Sunday. We probably won't win, but enjoyed making it. I'll try to post some pictures of it before we leave. Everyone's getting excited, the boys are all packed and their suitcase is already in the van!

Swap, Swap!!

I was in an owl swap on craftster.org I had a wonderful swap partner who sent me a whole bunch of fabulous goodies!

Here is a picture of the apron she sent me. The owls are pockets!!!

Here is a picture of the hot pad she sent, along with an adorable crocheted stuffie, and a pincushion!! How lucky am I!

And if that wasn't enough, I also participated in a Favorite Children's Book Swap on Craftster.org My favorite Children's book is the Spider and the fly.

She stenclied this amazing book bag, notebooks with the characters on, some beautiful marble magnets and a wipe off board for the fridge. I am ashamed to say I haven't got pictures of the magnets or the board, I seem to have deleted them accidentally. I will try to get pics again later. But isn't it all fabulous! I wish my stencils looks that sharp!

Hot Granny Scooter Action!

Well, it's been quite busy here. And unfortunately the blog suffers. So here is a bit of catch up.


The weekend of the 9th we had my sister's memorial. Her ashes were buried in the cemetery of the cutest little church near my father's house. It was a lovely morning ceremony. After the ceremony we went back to my dad's house to celebrate an early Father's Day. We brought our tents along. We had my sister's daughters all there. My brother, his wife and their daughter camped too. It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend!



My brother, his wife (she's preggers, how freakn' cute is she!) and their daughter






The kids all climbed the apple trees.







Alyssa upside down in the tree








Levi in the tree










We found a turtle cruising through the yard behind our tent!












A friend of ours brought over their puppies. (Planning a birthday party, forget a clown or magician or any other entertainment, rent puppies!!) They went crazy! It was certainly puppy love!

Sleepy Puppies

Group Shot

Lore with a puppy (Liam in the background)






And lots of fun just hanging out, playing bocce, on the swings, and playing on the wagon.

Ambrosia doing Yoga

Liam with the telescope

Alia pushing Lore in the wagon




Ambrosia on the swing



And last, but not least, hot granny scooter action!

Summer School Has Begun!

My boys and I decided to have a bit of "Summer School" this year. To keep our brains active, to learn a few new things, and to just have fun. Well our first "chapter" is Super Heroes! We began it today.
We are in the brainstorming phase right now. Our plans are;

• Create an original superhero - including Secret Identity, SuperPowers, Vulnerability, Fighting For, Catch Phrases, Colors/Uniform, Reason For Angst, Insignia, How powers were acquired, Nemesis/Enemy, Sidekick/Helper
• Create a story
• Draw/Create a Comic book and have that published
• Translate that to a movie script
• Make it a movie
• Merchandising (make stuffies and t-shirts and such)

This may very well take up the whole summer. The boys are SOOOO excited. I'm not quite sure how to fit history, math, science, geography into it as much as I would have hoped, but I'm really glad to see them get as excited about this as they are. Maybe a little more "research" than they'd like to find out where our heroes live. Any ideas are certainly welcomed.

Related Links:

Hero Machine- Create a superhero look

Finished Teacher's Gifts

We finished the teacher's gifts just in time!

It's been raining non-stop here for quite awhile, so it's been hard to take

pictures. Here's a quick flash of sunshine!

Lore with the purple pillow, Levi with the red, white, and blue pillow, and Liam with the pink and brown pillow. They really had fun making them, and they turned out so cute!