Crafty Christmas

Remember when I said I had a long bookmark list of Halloween ideas? Well, my craft ideas list is even longer.

I've decided to take the commercialism out of Christmas this year. I'm going to make all most of the kids' presents this year, cut majorly back on the number of gifts they receive (I'm sick of picking up tons of toys around the house) and turn it into a more Christ centered/giving holiday. We've already started giving stuff away for Christmas gifts for less fortunate people this year. The stake was collecting new or gently used toys for the Bishop's Christmas this year and I thought this would be a great place to start. What a great way to teach the girls to give and get rid of toys they don't play with at the same time. They were a little reluctant at first, but as soon as I pointed out that they 1) didn't play with them any more and 2) would make some kid really happy at Christmas they were happy to do it. Problem solved. We'll probably do some more later in the year.

So, after Alyssa pointed out a great craft blog (see list at right) I decided to see what all I could find in the mom-blog-craft world. There are TONS of great ideas out there. I'm not even going to limit it to Christmas presents. I'm going to make all kinds of stuff that will make my life much easier...and prettier.

After extensive searching, I've come up with a lot of things I would like to share with everyone. Why keep it to myself? These ladies were kind enough to share them, why not pass it on?

"I Spy" Bags and here too.
I love the books. I'll be honest, I checked them out at the library feigning an interest for the girls to get into it. They were really for me. Maybe I'll get some for them.

Monogram Taggie
Seth loves tags. He'll be getting one.

Cloth baby rings and cloth baby blocks. I saw these wooden blocks and wanted a little more "chew" friendly blocks for baby. I'm a little concerned about him slobbering on ModPodge. I might make some wooden ones for decoration or a mobile for his car seat or something.

I love this cupcake stand. I just don't know how much I would use it or where I would store it, but I definitely love the idea. I even saw some awesome antique type plates and cups at a thrift store the next day. Unfortunately the cups were too short and fat to pull this off.  This one might me more practical for a specific party.

I can't wait 'til Seth is older and I can make him this car mat. I loved playing with our huge mat and matchbox cars on the floor at home when I was little. Boy toys are just more fun than girl toys. Maybe that's the engineer in me coming out.

I'll also be making this dry erase board soon, I think. Maybe I'll just put a frame around my existing dry erase board for my dinner menu.

Fortunately I don't have this problem with trash in my car but the girls have been collecting trash in the back. I got a center console for the van. I didn't know they even made them. I saw it at Walmart. It's unbelievably convenient. Tons of cup holders, a couple of trays to hold pens, sunglasses and random stuff as well as a little closed compartment to put a trash bag. I think this little car trash bag would be perfect for the girls in the back. They can't reach the front trash and having them hand me their trash with my arm all bent out of shape is getting old. Do you remember that mom? haha, memories.

With all these awesome ideas, you can use whatever fabric you want to make all this stuff really cute and unique, instead of just buying it from a store. Plus, you an make it cheaper in most cases, if you know how to shop.

I think that's enough for now. I'll post some more of my favorite stuff later. In the meantime, enjoy these sites and look around. I have...for hours.

Loves: Halloween and thrift stores.

Alright, it's getting in to the holiday season. My absolute favorite time of the year.

I start thinking about Halloween in September. Can I just say I love Halloween? Not for the gore or the scary stuff. I like decorating with cute spiders and ghosts and lights.

 These little ghosts were preprinted faces on little sacks I bought at the 99cent store. They slowed down the fan enough on low speed that it was awesome! They floated around nicely. I also like spider webbing. This green stuff was supposed to be glow in the dark. It worked better in the black light I had set up under my frame. We also taped up butcher paper to draw on with highlighters, which also looks cool under black light. This was when we first moved into our house and had a big Halloween party.

 These giant spiders were made from balloons and black party streamers. I taped pennies in the middle of the legs to make them hang to a point. The balloons started to lose air and constrict, pulling on the tape and causing them to pop. I won't do them so early this year. They look so cool and kind of creepy. I scared myself once, forgetting the reflection I saw in my metal mixing bowl was the spider on the ceiling and not a real spider.

I also love coming up with themed Halloween costumes and figuring out ways to make cute costumes from stuff I already have or can buy super cheap at thrift stores or $1 stores. I absolutely love 22nd st Thrift Store (for those of you in Tucson). I love getting already cheap stuff at 50% off with their coupons. Plus, they have old, crazy stuff that makes for great costumes.

For instance, a few years ago we did a Lord of the Rings theme. Don't laugh. It was awesome, and yes, we are nerds. (for crying out loud, we've been watching old episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation online...they are quite intriguing). Anyways, half the stuff from our costumes was from said thrift store.

My gown was a spaghetti strap for $2. I added a collar and sleeves to match and make it like Arwen's dress. Honestly I was inspired when I saw the dress at the store. I couldn't pass it up and tried to think what I could do with it. Thus, Lord of the Rings was born. My headpiece was an old necklace I had. It's too fancy and sparkly for practical use, but is nice for special occasions.

The girls' Hobbit costumes were vests and brown corduroy pants from a thrift store. I hemmed the bottoms to make them more like hobbit pants. Justin's costume and the girls' swords and capes were costume sets I bought online. Overall, not a cheap theme when you put it all together, but it was cheaper with my thrift store goodies. And, it was a lot more fun to figure out how to make it cheaper. If you look closely you can see little gold rings hanging from their necks. "It is a heavy burden you carry". A guy at the trunk-or-treat actually said that. It was all really funny and we were by far the best costumes of the night...I think anyways.

This year, I don't think we're going to have a Halloween party. We aren't going to have the money :( But that didn't stop me from looking up all kinds of cool food and decorating ideas. I like to bookmark all kinds of sites and put them in folders on my web browser. Justin totally laughed at me when he saw how long my Halloween list was. He knows I love Halloween, he didn't have to laugh!

By far the coolest thing I found was glow-in-the-dark food and drinks. I'm saving that one for next year's party, if we have one. Another really good treat is pumpkin pie milkshakes. Definitely going to be making those this year. I LOVE pumpkin pie. And, it's a pie in a shake! Can we say clogged arteries? It reminds me of a restaurant here called Something Sweet. It's just a dessert place where you can go and play games and order all kinds of desserts like pie milkshakes. I first thought that was just a piece of pie shoved in a glass with milkshake poured all over it. You're picturing it aren't you? No, Justin ordered one (it doesn't surprise me) and it's all blended up. It's quite good.

For some reason that also brings up a mental image of fish sauce. Do you know what fish sauce is? It's a sauce used in Asian food recipes. I was introduced to it by Justin's roommate while we were engaged. They both served in Cambodia and fish sauce is a staple over there, along with MSG. I love using it. The flavor it creates can't be duplicated. I was a little concerned about what it was made out of though. It smells like dead, rotten fish. I pictured the manufacturers taking little fish and stretching their mouths over a lemon juicer...and twisting. It's actually much sicker than that. They pack little sardine-type fish into wooden barrels with brine (salt) and let it sit. Then they collect the runoff. Needless to say it attracts flies and skeptical children before you cook out the stank. Back to Halloween.

So, this year I will still do my favorite Halloween decorations minus the party. We're also doing a Labyrinth theme this year. It's been Justin's secret desire for a long time to dress up as the Goblin King. He loves tight pants! We have a baby boy the perfect size to pull it off, too. Thrift stores, here I come. I already got some awesome dress-ups for the girls that they will be using as their costumes. $8 and $4. Can't beat that, especially when I saw one of them at Joann's for $50 new. Pictures will be forthcoming...well, as soon as Halloween finally comes around. I'm drumming my fingers with impatience.

Climbing, Crawling and Soccer

Last weekend Justin's mom and brother visited for a couple of days on their way back down to Texas from Utah/Idaho. It was a nice visit but it's never long enough. We took them rock climbing on Saturday. I think we'll eventually take everyone climbing, whenever we see you ;). I like it more and more every time I go. This time we went to the same place, Windy Point, but a different spot on the wall. It was a lot craggier (not sure that's a word) so it was easier to climb. We were there for like 5-6 hours. There was some group training next to us, using the other part of the wall. I think they were either soldiers or firefighters doing emergency response training. They had a lot of equipment and were out on the wall longer than we were.

Anyways, I was able to climb all the way up this time. Yay! Climbing shoes are awesome. It's scary to learn to trust them. I'm finding out that's what's so scary about rock climbing - trusting your equipment.

I was starting to get scared about halfway up when I didn't see a place to grab on to and the wind was starting to pick up. And, of course, I always like to see how bad it could really get. This might be a serious character flaw, or at least a dangerous one. I made myself look down at that point to freak myself out and practice calming myself down. I'm so weird.

It was kind of like the time Justin and I went to the mall when we still lived in Utah. That particular evening was already bad (i.e. losing our keys, crying baby, too late at night, and many others that I can't even remember) but I really wanted to go and get something. I can't even remember what it was. But, when I get it in my head to get something I hate to wait. This is also a bad thing. We decided to go anyways just to see how bad it could really get. Surely it couldn't get any worse than it already had. Bad idea.

Anyways, Justin took Meagan to play at the play place while I did my shopping. The mall was closing but the store I was in stayed open an hour later, so I felt no rush. Well, I told Justin I would meet him at the play place when I was done. They locked the doors to the mall and wouldn't let me in to go find my husband. So, I had to go around to the main entrance to find my way in. It was also locked, and no husband and baby to be found. Apparently Justin went to the doors of the store to look for me while I went around the outside of the mall. We didn't meet up for at least half an hour. I had gone to the car to see if he was there and he went around to the outside entrance of the store to find me. We found each other half way in between that point. I think Meagan was tired and hungry and crying, we were both frustrated, and I didn't find what I went shopping for in the first place. Ugh, it was a really bad night. Never tempt a bad night. So that's what I mean by, "hmmm, let's see how bad it could really get". CRAZY! Now back to rock climbing.

This is on the other side of a huge gap across from the climbing spot. What a cute picture.












Here's the view from where we were sitting. That's Justin and Jared setting up the ropes.

I was making faces at him. He loves me!

Wow mom, I didn't know you had such balance.

Here she is fulfilling a lifelong desire to rappel. Way to go!

Here's Jared scaling the wall like a mountain man. He went up in record time right before this run. Now he's using the raptors. Those make your feet feel oh so nice. They turn your foot into a claw so you can use teeny ledges half the width of your finger to step on. He didn't go very fast this time for two reasons. 1) He was looking for really tiny places to step on to the utilize the awesomeness of the shoes, and 2) his feet HURT and he didn't want to step on them any more. Still very impressive J-Rad.

Candace was brave enough to try climbing this time. I think she was getting a boost of confidence because she was climbing around on a nearby tree and wanted to try the wall like everyone else was. She did really good. She was so tiny and cute. Oh...well...here she was starting to lose confidence and Justin was pulling her up on the rope.

...and here was the rescue. 

She was screaming and crying because she wasn't strong enough to step on the wall, lean back and rappel down. It made me tear up a little because she was so scared. I gave her a big hug afterward and we all told her how awesome she was. That made her feel a little better. I was really impressed that she went that far. I doubt she'll do it again though.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...(drum roll please)

Seth can crawl! I love that little baby so much. He's way too cute for his own good. I love picking him up and holding him because he always stops crying and gives me a big smile. Then he grabs on to me like a monkey and bounces up and down and pants like a dog to show me how excited he is.

Now, for the soccer.

The girls have had their first two practices already. We got them outfitted for the second one. They were totally unprepared the first practice. Candace didn't even have tennis shoes. She's been wearing sandals all summer and none of the tennis shoes we had fit her. She even let me put a pony tail in her hair. That tells you how excited they were to practice in their soccer clothes.

She was even happy about the pony tail when we got in the car. She said, "hey, I don't have to move my hair out of the way to strap in!" Yes Candace, doing your hair is a good thing. It's not the torture you think I'm putting you through.

I finally got some recent pictures of them on the wall. The girls' pictures were taken by Aunt Alyssa when everyone was down for Thanksgiving. They were so great, thanks Alyssa. You're a good photographer. Poor Sethy boy only had pictures taken by me. I printed the best ones we had of him. They're kind of lacking.

What a great soccer pose Candace.

Here's some practice time. I love how Candace is so cute and distracted in the video.

They were supposed to kick a "goal" between the two cones.

Meagan is quite good. I'm proud of her. Candace struggled to keep up with everyone else. She was getting so tired half way through the practice. One of the coaches was trying to get her to dribble the ball and she didn't want to do it any more. She told Candace to pretend the ball was a puppy and she could only walk it with her feet, and to stop the ball she had to pretend she was petting the puppy. She totally agreed to do it after that. What a crazy girl.

Labor Day climbing

Who wants to wake up at 6 a.m. to go rock climbing? Anyone? Well, we did. After staying up 'til midnight the night before. I need more sleep.

We got to Mt Lemmon a little before 8 am. Can I just say some bicyclists bug me? We must have passed 30-40 on the way up the mountain. They wouldn't stay in their bicycle lane. Why in the world would you bike on a winding mountain road and not move out of the street when a car was trying to drive around you?! You have your own special bike lane people! Moving on...

Justin was getting scout training for climbing and rappelling and wanted to take us. I wanted to go too, since I've never done it before, aside from a fake climbing wall once.

It probably took an hour or more to get all the ropes untangled and tied up to the hooks embedded in the rock. I went down second, after Samantha. Scariest thing I've done in a really long time.

I couldn't look down. The hardest part was getting over that first ledge. The next hardest part was trusting that rope and my own strength to stop it so I wouldn't go down too fast. Oh man, gets my adrenaline rushing just thinking about it again.

Here I go! I think this was my second time though. I wouldn't have gone down with a backpack my first try. It was a little less scary the second time.

There was this crazy old hippie that was rappelling next to us on the left. I think that guy had a few screws loose but he was a really good, experienced rock climber. He had been climbing for either 15 or 50 years. I couldn't tell what he said. He kept telling me to let go of the rope with my left hand because I didn't need it, I would just use up my strength needlessly. He may have been right, but there was no way I was going to let go for too long, and certainly not while I was descending. My right arm was getting tired and my hand was starting to get rope burn after a while.

You can't see it but there's a hoop in front of me that's got the rope wrapped around it to take a lot of friction and slow me down a lot. You just bring the rope out to your right to go down a little.

This was just a really cool shot, not much further down than the previous one.

Whew, my nerves were tired when I finally made it down. So were my arms.

Here's the master. He was a lot faster than the rest of us. He stayed at the top to belay the rest of us and then rappelled down so we could start climbing. There was a little path off around to the left where we could hike back up, for those of us with babies and strollers and no skill for climbing all the way to the top. :)

Go Meagy, go! Look at that skinny little thing! She loves climbing. She went up several times and would have gone up more but there were some serious rain clouds coming in and we had to go before she could.

Such skill. I can't believe she wasn't scared.

Here she's at the highest she can go, and will now rappel down.

Here's Meagan rappelling. She was so funny. She really liked jumping down and kept telling everyone else to do the same.

Our group, minus me and Justin at the top and Samantha off with her baby.

Here's Justin at the part where I stopped climbing. You can even see the smoother rock up ahead.

Look at that form! He could go higher with those climbing shoes on. Painful things! Well, not those so much, the other pair we brought.

Victory! King of the Mountain. He made it all the way.

And now, for a brief break in climbing for a little spelunking.

Candace was not interested in climbing at all. She did have fun with rocks and sticks though.

Here's my attempt. I got scared right at about this point. I couldn't get my right leg any higher. Plus, my right hand was getting scraped on the rock. Luckily Justin talked me through it and gave me a little more confidence. I'm glad he did. It made me overcome my fear and I was able to go higher when I didn't think I could.

There's my limit. Nice little safe ledge. It was fun to rappel down when Justin had the ropes instead of me.

How we all felt by the end. Poor little guy tuckered himself out playing with all those grapes and crackers. He ate the whole time. What a mess!

We'll go again soon. Really fun. Definitely need climbing shoes, helmets and gloves for the next time. There's nothing like conquering your fear and doing something you didn't think you could do.

Changes

Lots of changes around here lately.

First off the runway is our Plumeria tree which is blooming beautifully, with tons of flowers for the first time. This is what it looked like when we got it...dang, I don't even remember - 3-4 years ago or something.

Yep, that's little Meagan watering the tree.

Now it looks like this.

A tropical oasis in the desert...next to our weed garden. We don't have a lawnmower. Not that I'd mow that. Way too dangerous with all the rocks. I'd have to get out there with hedge clippers and snip it all down, which I've already done once this summer. I'll just wait 'til it dies in winter. That's good enough.

Now, here is a closeup of the blooms.

Ah Hawaii, how do I love thee. Let me count the days until I see you. How I would love to make lovely leis with your plethora of blooms, but alas...there are not enough.

Next up is...

Oh yes, I made a skirt. Here is the lovely Candace holding it up for display for me. Good little helper. I'm sick of not finding skirts long enough. So, being the crafty little mamma I am, I bought a pattern and fabric and whipped one out.

This next bit isn't really something new but I thought it was pretty funny. Imagine finding this when you go to take a shower.

Looks like somebody's living in there. Luckily, that was Justin's towel. Hahahaha!

Of course little Sethy boy is growing lots too. He does a funny little lip flip with his fingers. How else do you describe that? You can hear me trying to get him to do it in the video. Why do kids never perform when you bring out the camera? He stopped as soon as I started filming.

This is what he does when he's really excited about something...which is all the time...except when he's hungry...which is also all the time. *sigh*...boys. It doesn't have a lot of action. Probably the only people that will enjoy watching this is Granny and Grandma, or anyone that hasn't seen him in a really long time.

And last, but not least. This next picture screams MOOOOOMMMMM APPROACHING!!!!!

I've succumbed to the soccer mom minivan. Which is also ironic because we're signing the girls up for soccer tomorrow. What's happened to me?!

It's a 2002 Chevy Venture. We traded this other scout leader for our CR-V. He wanted a CR-V and we wanted a minivan. What a coincidence. I just didn't think I could take another road trip in our small car packed in like sardines. We literally swim in suitcases, backpacks and ice chests every time we go somewhere and the kids' car seats are so tight there is absolutely no room from the left door to the right...sardines. Plus, we want to have another baby in the near future. Kinda need a bigger car for that, but we had no way to afford it. So, we told the Lord "If you want us to have another one, you'll have to get us a car". Whalla! I'm not preggers or anything. Don't worry. I want to go skiing in February.

Probably the best feature is the push-button, automatic sliding doors on both sides. Oh, and REAR A/C FOR LIVING IN TUCSON! My poor baby's were always dripping in sweat when I'd get them out of their car seats.

I felt like I was giving away a child when I gave him the keys though. I've had that little CR-V for almost 9 years. :( So sad to see her go. We'll miss you, little CR-V. May you find easy paths to travel and lots of road to eat on your new journey.