A Parade Down My Street

Last night was the carnival parade. It comes right down our street. We live on a dead end, so we have to walk to the corner to watch.

Let the festivities begin.

This first picture is for Kim and Nikki. They couldn't believe I was trying to take a picture of it.

A roach clip, anyone?

I did not know these things were still around.

Or legal.

We used to want them when we were younger.

Until our mother told us what they were used for.

Taylor and Carter "in position" to run after the candy being tossed to the children.

My favorite part of any parade is always the marching band(s).

Apparently Kallie and Spenser thought so, too. They were dancing to the music.

Another favorite? This band in the back of the wagon. See all the stuffed animals at the top? There is also a large animated dragon on the top of the van pulling the wagon. It is in every parade in our town. It's all fun.

Tomorrow I will post some of my sewing projects. I have been a teensy bit crafty this carnival week.

More Fun

Fake surfing.
Memorial Day parade watching.
Bubble popping.
A few stolen minutes of embroidering (in my new Memorial Day skirt) while little ones swam, popped bubbles, got out of the pool, fake surfed, got in the pool, played with wooden kitchen foods, got out of the pool, played dress up, got in the pool, rode the mini four wheeler, got out of the pool, jumped on the trampoline, got in the pool, etc.
And last night: waiting in line for the first carnival ride of the season.

Winning fish. The fish who will hopefully eat the mosquitoes in our rain barrel. (Mason ran into the house this morning screaming the fish are dead. I will have to run down back and check them.)

Joe sneaking back for carnival food after the kids are in bed. Look at that Old Bay on the fries. Yum!

Did I mention the carnival is a block away from our house? It's closer than our post office. In fact, we can see the top of the ferris wheel from Spenser's bedroom window through the treetops. I love my town.

I actually got on a ride last night. It was supposed to be a "kiddie" ride. I still think I'm dizzy. It was a ride that you controlled your spinning by turning the wheel. The boys went a little crazy.

I used to love rides. Before I got old. Before I endured many months of morning sickness. In fact, I calculated how many months of morning sickness I've had.

6 kids x 5 months (minimum) of morning sickness

= 30 months of morning sickness

or 2 1/2 years

I have no desire to re-create the feeling of morning sickness by getting on a ride. I think I'll stay with both feet on the ground from now on.

Three-Day Weekend

We had a great long weekend. It felt like a mini vacation. Here is a snippet of it.

Riding on the mini four wheeler.

Another Lowe's workshop for kids (the Lowe's race car).

A new pool filling with water. And a little girl falling in the new pool filling with water.

Painting race car.

Swimming in ice-cold pool just because it's ready.

WIPs

On Tuesday night (after the children were in bed), I cut out a pattern for a new skirt. I'm using some of the vintage fabric that I recently acquired. I think I'm going to call it my "Memorial Day (parade) skirt." It's kind of red, white and blue. Or maybe it's black instead of blue. I'm not sure. I'm going to finish it and wear it to the parade on Monday morning.

And here is the start of a quilt. I cut these late one night over the weekend when I probably should have been sleeping instead. It's a stack of 4 1/2" squares and some more fabric to cut. All from the same vintage fabric stash. I was planning to make a quilt, but got diverted and made the doll quilt first. I think I was just testing the waters there. And I know I should invest in a walking foot. (Thanks to all the suggestions!)

And I couldn't post today without saying that my littlest man is 8 months old today. Can you believe it? I truly cannot. I am so in love with this little man. He crawls, pulls himself up to standing, tries to creep (is that the word for it? I can't remember); and is learning to go up steps. I accidentally left a baby gate down while I was fixing dinner the other night and he fell head first into the kitchen from the back set of stairs. Broke my heart, I tell ya. Broke. My. Heart.

One thing I always say to Sawyer is "Baby, just be a baby." He is trying to grow up too fast. Now Taylor tells him that all the time.

* * * *Mason eye update: * * * *

According to the doctor, Mason just has pinkeye. He gave him a different kind of eye drop, a sulfur-based one. He said if he's not better by Tuesday (Tuesday!!) to call back.

Play Day

At the Play Day there was:

a three-legged race (Carter);

sno-cones (Taylor, Spenser and Mason);

toe eating;

third place in the 200-meter;

(Notice the boy in the very back? He lost a shoe during the race! He kept going.)

hill rolling (Spenser and Mason);

and Mason falling asleep during dinner. Or actually before dinner.

A horrible eye infection or pink eye (?) I started giving him eye drops and antihistamines yesterday, but it's not helping. A call to the doctor might be necessary. They don't open until 11:30 a.m. today.

(Jack's kindergarten play day is next week.)

The Winner(s) and a Doll Quilt

The winner(s) from yesterday's vintage doll dress giveaway: Sara ! AND Heidi ! With only two real entries, how could I pick only one? I will send both of you a set of doll dresses. Please email me with your addresses. (Sara, I know you're in the process of moving, so tell me where to send yours.)

And here is the doll quilt I just finished. I use the term "doll quilt" loosely here, as it was really only two panels of fabric, batting and binding. There was no patchworking or piecing involved. Maybe I shouldn't use the term "quilt," as to not offend real quilts.

The fabric is from this thrifted sheet. I used some vintage fabric for the binding.



This was my first ever attempt at quilting. It's not very pretty. There was some puckering along the way. (See the line across the back? And at the binding? And ...) And a lot of blind-stitch confusion. (If it's supposed to be "blind," why is it so visible??? Am I doing it wrong? I know not.)

Spenser was happy to see the finished product this morning. She has been trying to put her beloved baby in it for the past couple of days, pins and all.

Giveaway

You guys are too nice. Really.

I never knew how many people have had their hair permanently changed due to pregnancy. I smiled with each of your comments. Especially those from my wavy-haired comrades. It seems that everyone, except Beki, had their hair turn wavy or curly after pregnancy. Beki was the odd-woman out. Her hair went straight. Lucky girl.

The next time I see a wavy-haired lady, I'm going to "know" she's a mother. I might just even wink and nod at her in approval, like we're in a secret club together. Um. Okay. Maybe not.


The real reason for this post is for a doll dress giveaway. Yep. It's time. I was waiting to give some to my sisters and friends, but for some reason, I keep forgetting to drag this big box of dresses with me everywhere I go. I decided to just offer two of the dresses that I have multiples of.

First up, one blue floral and one yellow floral vintage doll dress with matching bloomers. These dresses have not been laundered by me (I'm afraid what might happen to them if I tried). And there is no closure on the back of the dress. That part is up to you.

If you are interested in the set of dresses, leave a comment. I will be picking a winner tomorrow.

Ask

and ye shall receive:

I really did not expect so many requests to see my new 'do. I posted that WIP because I was unproductive on the craft side last week.

My hair is still a WIP. It's definitely not looking like the girl in the magazine (hee hee hee). It's supposed to be choppy and piecey at the ends. Still working on that part.

My hair was always straight growing up. Six children later, I have wavy (sometimes curly) hair. (Pregnancy does some weird things to your body.) I have been blow drying it with a paddle brush and then straightening it with a flat iron. According to the last picture, it's more straight than usual, but still not straight enough. Oh well. I can't see that side.

My original goal (before getting my hair cut) was to keep it long enough for a ponytail. We abandoned that idea before the first snip of the scissors. I love that my stylist is adventurous and flexible.

I didn't take a "before" shot. The only thing that comes close to seeing the back of my hair is this Easter photo. I almost always wore my hair up. Either in a single chignon or a double chignon. Sometimes a low ponytail. Baby grabbed it too much if it was down. Those underneath hairs that really hurt. It had to go.

On Friday night, my boys and Spenser spent the night with my in-laws. Joe and I went out to dinner semi-alone with Sawyer. It was the first time we've been out "alone" in almost a year. I think it was June or July last time.

Joe had to work on Saturday. So what did I do with some "alone" time? I vacuumed. Did the dishes. Put away laundry. When Sawyer woke up, we walked to the post office and downtown. I say "downtown" as if there is anything there. In a one red light town, there's not much of a downtown. We did visit the general store.

I was a little more productive in the crafting department on Saturday during Sawyer's afternoon nap: a second bib apron for Spenser; the start of a doll quilt; and the start of another project.

This Week's WIP

On Monday morning, I got my hair cut. Yup. That's a lot of hair. The initial cut was 10" long. I had to purchase a flat iron and a paddle brush. Never used either one of them before now. This week's WIP has been trying to style this coif ... and it may be for awhile.

Enjoy your weekend. I see sewing in the forecast.

Look!

It's Carter!

Pants and Pretzels

Spenser is in need of new spring/summer clothes. What's new? She's the only girl and doesn't have any hand-me-downs, unless our little friend Kallie has some for her. Really, I don't mind. It gives me an excuse to sew. Not that I need an excuse, you know.

Yesterday I made her some capris and a matching appliqued shirt. It's a stick-figure girl. I draw them for her all the time because she likes them. I thought a simple stick-figure shirt would be perfect. She loves it.

And ever since we visited Aunt Lettie, I can't get enough of these spiced pretzels. She gave me a baggie of them and I ate the whole bag that night. The boys were sorely disappointed when they saw the bag in the trash the next morning. I tried her recipe yesterday and they were just as yummy as hers. (Minus the dill weed, which I didn't have.)

Spiced Pretzels

1 1/2 lbs. broken pretzels (bite size)

3/4 cup popcorn oil*

1 envelope powdered ranch dressing

1 tsp. lemon pepper

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. dill weed.

Preheat oven to 250 F. Spread pretzels on large baking sheet. Pour oil over pretzels. In small bowl mix dry ingredients. Sprinkle over pretzels and toss. Bake for 40 minutes, turning every 10 minutes. Remove from oven and drain on brown grocery bag.

*Aunt Lettie uses canola or vegetable oil.

A Visit with Aunt Lettie

This is Aunt Lettie. She is Joe's great aunt. She's a wonderful and generous lady, who has been a widow for as long as I've known her. She could never have any children of her own, so I have adopted her to be one of my grandmothers.

We stopped by her house on Monday night to visit and give her a Mothers Day gift. She held Sawyer, who is almost as big as she is. She's a tiny little lady.

While I sat and chatted with her, Joe and the older children were outside. They were playing ball, running around her big backyard, and climbing trees. If you look very closely, you will see skin at the top of the tree. That's Taylor. (Yikes, I know! But remember, I was inside, oblivious to what was happening under Joe's supervision.)

And apparently there was sitting upon rooftops, unbeknownst to me (I just now saw this picture for the first time).

Aunt Lettie went into a back room and brought out a Raggedy Ann doll. She handed it to Spenser and told her she could keep it. Then she told us how she's had this doll since before she was married. She was married in 1941. It's handmade and in incredible shape. (I guess because Aunt Lettie never had children to mess it up.)

It's so nice to be able to visit our older family members. It's hard to leave ... not sure when we will visit with them again. Even when they live close by. Life gets busy. We really just need to take the time and do it more often. It's so wonderful when we do.

Weekend Crafting

I finished a few of my old WIPs just in time on Friday and Saturday.

For the baby shower (for a new nephew that is coming in June):

A baby kimono/jacket. This is the same vintage pattern that I used for Sawyer. It's definitely a keeper. In fact, I think this may be the gift I make for all new babies. I really like the pattern. I lined the jacket in white cotton and used a red vintage button.

I hope it's not too over the top, but I made a matching bib, burp cloth, and diaper/wipe case. I made the diaper case a little wider than my last one to accommodate a larger wipe container. It, too, is lined in white cotton with a matching red vintage button. The bib and burp cloth are backed in white chenille. My brother loved it. It surprised me that a man would say that, but I was very happy that he did.
And finally, I finished all the cards for my mother and mother-in-law and packaged them. I made two sizes of cards: greeting card size and note cards. I used the Amy Butler scrapbook paper that I just love.

And following the suggestion of a first-time commenter, Kim, I made some patchwork picture frames from the Denyse Schmidt book. (Thank you, Kim, for the wonderful suggestion!) I worked on these Saturday. I made larger ones for our mothers (5x7" picture in 8x10" frame) and smaller ones for our grandmothers and Great-Aunt Lettie (4x6" picture in 5x7" frame). I used our Easter photo and the two larger frames had scraps of the children's Easter outfits.

Too Much Fun

We had a crazy-filled weekend. A baby shower, visits with mothers and grandmothers, planting of a garden and:

Herb planters times 4 boys (at Lowe's).
(basil, parsley, oregano, marjoram)
A walk to our town's "Depot Days" with 3 Wilburs.
Fresh-cut french fries with vinegar, ketchup and salt. (We wanted Old Bay, but it is too spicy for the little ones.)
Sno-cones while listening to a high school choral group.

And my favorite:

This had me cackling! This a paper that Jack filled in for me for Mothers Day. He had forgotten to give it to me yesterday, but I found it in his bookbag last night after he had gone to bed. I think it's the best thing I could have received ... many belly-aching laughs. (Joe was in the next room saying "What? ... What? ... What?! ... What?!?")