Beat the Heat…(or at least embrace it)

I knew when I heard the air conditioner click on at 5:30am that we were in for a long, hot day. And somehow I actually convinced myself and the kids that hiking around the mountain near our house would be a good idea. Right? Isn’t it usually cooler in the mountains? So with that thinking in mind, we packed up a bunch a water and headed out. We were out there for about 10 minutes before realizing that was really poor judgment on my part. It was only mid morning and already in the 90s, but we made it this far and we must continue! It actually turned out okay. We took lots of water breaks and managed to still have fun.

By the time we got back home it was 100. What better way to cool off than to fill up the kiddie pool, whip up at batch of this delicious drink, and pretend you’re at the beach? This drink is seriously good and was so easy. Just 3 ingredients (4 counting ice). Just don’t look at the amount of calories and fat in a can of coconut milk because you will drink the whole thing yourself, you won’t want to share.

(This is the look you get for not sharing)

Good Things Will Come

Yesterday morning I woke up bright and early to the WordPress notification chime on my phone. I rolled over to check, thinking it was a comment, but it turned out to be a notification that my post on our fairy garden had been featured on The Magic Onions. Sarah was right next to me as I read Donni’s sweet words. Nothing like being noticed by a blogger you admire to put a zip in your step! Thank you. And if you never visited The Magic Onions go check it out. It’s a beautiful space filled with lots of crafts, photography, and general goodness.

Six Times Around the Sun

My sweet Sarah turned six on Thursday. Why are our children’s birthdays so bitter sweet, especially when it’s the baby of the family? We celebrated the day with a party at the park complete with a water balloon fight and piñata. I wish I had a few more pictures to share of the party but I was too busy getting soaked….those kids can be vicious with the water balloons! Don’t worry, Tim and I got each and every one of them back.  And poor SpongeBob didn’t last long before the vultures descended…it’s survival of the fittest out there…

Happy birthday to my child who is always laughing and constantly reminding me to savor the moment. Her beacon burns bright.

 

 

 

 

This Moment

Inspired by SouleMama. A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Our New Obsession

I’ve heard about geocaching on and off for a couple years. I’ve even been hiking while another family was seeking out their hidden box, but I never felt the draw to try it myself. Today on a whim I asked Daniel if he wanted to try this new fangled idea and was excited to give it a try. It didn’t hurt that the nearest cache was across the street from the park where we were playing.

We found 2 out of 3 today. The first one Daniel found so quickly that I think the kids expected them to all be so easy. The one we didn’t find is at our neighborhood park so I have no doubt it will be found. And the last cache had us walking through the waist high prickly weeds…in sandals and shorts. Ouch.

Was I the only one in the dark about geocaching? Maybe, but I’m glad I found it. I think it will be great fun this summer with all the different places we tend to visit. And if you were like me (apparently if you aren’t in the know about geocaching you are a muggle) then download the app and start exploring.

Getting it Done

I had a really productive weekend sewing and crafting. It was so nice to have the quiet time to focus on a project without distractions. This is the second time I’ve sewed this dress for Sarah and this time it went much more quickly. I swear the big pattern companies are out to make the most convoluted directions possible. It’s awful. The pattern is similar to Made By Rae’s Geranium Dress. While I don’t own it, she has a free version of the dress for 0-3 months size. I used those directions with my pattern pieces and it was a snap. The dress turned out so adorable. I can’t wait for her to wear it at her party on Thursday.

The kids and I also got busy making some patriotic fabric for our new porch chairs. I wish I had taken some pictures of the glue batik process, but it was really easy and we all were having too much fun painting. If you do give it a try, know that that the bright colors of the flag pillow were made using paint that only had a few drops of water to make it easier to spread. The more faded, watercolor looking pillow on the left was made by watering down the paint, a lot. Obvious in hindsight, but I wasn’t really  thinking about it while the kids were painting. The pillows turned out fabulously and I’m loving our front porch area at the moment.

I’ve linked up with Frontier Dreams KKCO.

The Sewing Queue

Even though the weather is near sweltering, I can’t stay away from my sewing machine for too long. The urge to sew comes at the perfect time since I have a quiet house this weekend while the kids are with their dad. I definitely need to finish start Sarah’s purple birthday dress. This week I finally bought (after 8 years in this house) two red Adirondack chairs for the front porch. They are screaming for some pillows and thought they’d look great with some sort of red, white, and blue fabric. I’m thinking  of making something really simple that Sarah can help me with…maybe even let her go crazy painting the fabric with the glue batik technique and then sewing up some simple pillow covers.  And finally, I happened upon this quilt blockthis morning and feel it’s meant to be.

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It is after all the summer solstice tomorrow. I love the color wheel aspect…hope I can dig up enough colored scraps to do it.  Or I might go with all yellows. It all depends on what I can find in the stash. I’ve always wanted to try paper piecing and this block seems like a simple enough one to get the basics. Plus there’s a great tutorial for it. Those three projects should keep me happily entertained for the next few days or weeks. Except for the dress…I must get that done for Thursday’s party. And to keep cool today the kids and I will make this frozen coconut limeade. I have no idea if they’ll like the flavor, but if not, more for me!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Happy Summer Solstice!

This Moment

Inspired by SouleMama.  Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Dream Fairies

Fairies really have been taking over Sarah’s imagination lately. The other day she accidently pulled down the butterfly mobile above her bed. I was a little sad. We did create it together after all, a few years ago out of watercolored coffee filters and clothespins (sorry no picture). But of course I saw this misfortune as an opportunity to create another mobile. I remember seeing these on Pinterest and thought I could put my own spin on it. While I was busy making yarn pompoms for the fairy dresses, Sarah sorted though some shell to find ones with holes along with some pretty beads and bells to string. I had the vision of many fairies dancing in the breeze, but getting those pompoms on the clothespins was a pain, really. So for now we have three fairies. Perfect for bring sweet dreams to my sweet girl.

(Sorry for the dark/blurry pictures. Sarah’s room is a lovely shade of purple, Benjamin Moore lily lavender to be exact, and doesn’t receive any direct light during the day. Good for sleep, bad for pictures.)

Linking up with Frontier Dreams KKCO

A Day at the Beach

I hope you all had a nice weekend. It was our first weekend of summer vacation…it got off to a rough start with all of us sort of grumpy and not getting along, but ended on a high note. I think it’s going to take a few days (hopefully not weeks) for us to become used to being around each other all day, everyday. On Sunday we headed to the Marin Headlands and Rodeo Beach. It was cool and overcast on the way there, but ended up being a beautiful day. The kids were so excited and ran straight into the ocean. Unbelievably, the water temperature wasn’t as bone chilling cold as it usually can be so the kids played for a couple of hours. And then we headed to the Marine Mammal Center, a wonderful organization that rescues, rehabilitates, and releases the mammals found along the California coast. I remember taking field trips there as a kid when the seals and sea lions were house in little pools and now it’s a state of art facility that cares for 600-800 animals a year. It’s a wonderful place that does great work. Any locals, I encourage to visit.