I wish I had . . .

paid better attention in sewing class in high school it would have come in a lot more handy now as a mom. Hind sight right? Well this year I decided a bit reluctantly to make costumes for the kids. I wanted the kids to match or go together and I had some really cute ideas, but Brad saw the cost of costumes and suggested that they just be ghosts. I couldn't argue at least with the fact that costumes cost a lot of money. His other argument was " everyone will be a pirate no one dresses as a ghost anymore." I couldn't argue with that either. But my arguments were "if I put a sheet over their heads they won't keep it on and I can't sew!". In the end I pictured a cute idea in my head and decided to try it out. If my mom was coming down for the witches weekend then she might be able to help me out. And thankfully she did.

The costumes turned out cute enough although I am not sure that people will know they are ghosts. So I am not showing them here. That will have to wait for Halloween pictures. Plus I think I need to add a few touches. My only hope is that they will be cute and not dumb, but none the less the kids wont care and so I shouldn't care either, right? Right.

I am not contemplating taking a sewing class so that I will have this skill down pat for future reference.

I don't usually condone spitting, but . . .

Harvest

I feel pretty good about our gardens this year. We did mostly seed planting so we spent some time vamping up our soil, which is a lot like clay, and getting it ready earlier this spring. We planted a whole new flower garden as well as vegtables. Our flowers looked good I'd say they all grew to be pretty big and most of them were seeds. Our vegetables did really well too. We got a ton of zucchini and a good amount of tomatos and peppers. Unfortunately, I forgot to cover them the other night and therefore what was left of them is now ruined . . . all but one last crop. A neighbor reminded me about them by asking what they were.

While choosing our seeds at the store Garrett kept bringing me carrots so I decided that could be our little project together. So I took pictures at the beginning and then some at the end.

He helped me plant the seeds.

He helped water them.


And he helped pick them too!

I was impressed, we got a pretty nice haul on the carrots!

I didn't think I thinned them out enough. I thought they would turn out pretty whimpy or way mutated. They acutally weren't too bad a couple were probably store worthy, but most were about mid size. I was impressed with them anyway.

Wicked Witches!

A few days ago I hosted a Witches Tea party for some of my friends in the neighborhood. When handing out the invitations I was a little nervous that the girls wouldn't want to dress up, but hey I had no problems there. While rsvp- ing many of them told me they already ran out and got costumes! I was surprised but happy. A lot of them even said we need to do something like this every month! Ha! I guess girls, little or big, like to play dress up once in a while.
The tea party was a lot of fun my only regret is not being able to invite everyone I could think of!
We set up the garage (because I needed that much space) decorated and covered outdoor things with sheets. My mom gave instructions on how to make and drink your tea (herbal non-caf, no worries!) I had several flavors to choose from. Some people liked theirs some didn't. I would be among the "didn't" group. I had a mint tea and it tasted like drinking gum. UghK!
It was fun just like any girls night all you need is the girls really, we have our mouths what else do you need?

My mom gave a special reading of the history of the Salem witch trials. It was awesome!

The whole gang!

Thank you mom for always being so willing to help me with all my projects, whether it is a party or the day's dinner ideas. I love you! Wouldn't have been as fun without you!

The Aviary

Feels like we've been so busy lately going here and there, doing this and that. Sometimes I wish I could just sit at home, but then when I am at home I am not just sitting there any way, so we might as well take advantage of doing some fun things.

We went to the Tracy Aviary with play group last week and I snagged a couple pictures. It was a nice day! Here are the kids in the play group minus 2 that couldn't come. The macaw was Garrett's favorite bird at the bird show.

And he was so looking forward to seeing peacocks since he has a story in a book about them and of course they are blue. Gotta love the expression there.


Afterwards we went into Liberty Park to have lunch and found a fun little place with tiny rivers and bridges, fountains and waterfalls. Apparently the kids can get wet there too if they want; a good idea for next summer.

Skinny Jeans

I'm too sexy for my pants!
Poor Embrie (not to mention poor me)! We tried one pair of 6-9 month pants and they were too small I guess I can't be too surprised. And then I tried on the other 2 pairs that were 12month size and they were too small too!!!! They are all cute pants too! that is what makes me mad. Oh well, we had to laugh, it was pretty funny. So my daughter already has several pairs of "skinny jeans". You know, the ones you hang on to because you hope to fit into them again some day? Why do baby girl pants only come in long and skinny? What if your baby happens to be long and chubby?
Lucky for us I did later find one pair I'd forgotten about that does fit after all, yay!

See what I mean? They are all cute and embroidered. Bummer!

double weekend

We went to visit the rest of the family one day after the last trip. Busy weekend for us. Little cousin Molly had her 1 yr birthday but we weren't able to make it to the party so we came the next day. It was fun to see all of the cousins again. We've seen them more lately than we have been used to and that is a good thing. They love to play together.

We actually got the whole gang to sit still for a picture together!Garrett went climbing around at the foot of the hills behind Grandpa & Grandma's house.

This is daddy's old stompin' ground where he used to climb trees and catch frogs and what not.

Garrett was very intent on finding all of the cacti. I think it was because I told him that it would poke him through his shoe. So we had to find them all!

This monster of a rock is what they all call "Holey Rock". I guess cause it has holes in it???

Always the climber. Another fun trip down to Grandpa & Grandma Callahan's house!