School Days!

School, around here, looks a little different than last year.

 

Our lives are full of new adventures right now!

Our Summer so Far

Wow, I did not intend to be away from blogging for so long. Things got a little hectic around here and, being the inexperienced blogger that I am, I didn't realize how putting off posting a few times could so quickly turn into an epic absence. Well, to quickly catch you up, here is a snapshot, or snapshots, of our summer so far.

Tackling uncles in Grandma's front yard.

I say so far because there is still plenty of summer left to enjoy.

1st time 4-wheel rides thanks to some awesome, crazy (he let my 9 yr old drive!) friends.

I cling to summer for as long as humanly possible so you wont see me admitting it's late summer until most kids are back in school.

Checking the pressure in his tires. He's serious about his bike riding.

In fact I was quite shocked and disappointed the first year I sent my oldest off to school and realized just how much shorter our summers together were going to be.

Exploring our amazing Lake Michigan sand dunes while camping at the shore.

And it's not officially autumn, until I've picked my first apple and had to wear my jacket at least 5 days in a row. Yes, 5 days in a row, anything less could just be the freaky Michigan weather playing a trick on you. So even though we have all been enjoying the warm summer sun for a while now I think I still have time to wish everyone. . .

 "Our Lake"

Happy Summer!

"The World is Almost Filled With Dandelions!"

A favorite quote from my son last spring.

I hope everyone is enjoying their spring. We are buried, once again, in dandelions and loving it.

 We are also taking walks to visit the horses who live nearby,  playing in the mud, and truly loving the outdoors. Inspired by 5 Orange Potatoes Outdoor Challenge.

For more inspiration to get outdoors with kids:
The Magnifying Glass
Children Nature and You
Blue Yonder Ranch
The Boys Book of Survival
Last Child in the Woods
And don't forget your local parks and recreation sites.

If you have any that you'd like to add, let us know in the comments. We'd love to hear about them.

Happy Spring to you!

Today, He Wanted to be an Elephant!

When I turned from the computer while checking e-mails this morning, I saw this little guy busily cutting, drawing and gluing. It was serious business.

Little sis was happy to play along.

He's a little irritated that I took the photos before the glue for the strap was dry, forcing him to hold it up to his face instead of wearing it as he intended.

Yay for Babywearing!

If you haven't heard yet, you need to check out the great stories, pictures and giveaways, going on all week, to celebrate babywearing over at Clean! Here's a pic of my youngest in her Moby wrap on a hike that no stroller could have tackled.

I was slow to the babywearing crowd and didn't start until number two. I had lots of time for cuddling with number one, but when baby 2 showed up 18 months later, things got a little tougher. I started wearing her around the house so I could get things done and I was soon hooked. She slept better, cried less and we were able to bond in a way we never would have been able to if I didn't wear her. For my son I fashioned a home made sling with a large piece of fabric, he loved sleeping in there. And for my last baby I finally invested in a Moby wrap and loved it. It's comfy and soft and you can slip a sleepy baby out of it without waking them when you need to, plus it's the most affordable carrier that comfortably fit our big, strong daddy man. The most helpful time for me to wear my babies was at the grocery store. It's so much easier than carting around a big, heavy car seat and the babies slept the whole time so I could focus on getting the job done, not trying to find a discrete place to nurse. There was also a lot less toddler chasing because there was plenty of room for them to sit in the cart. If you spend time with a baby, plan to have a baby, or you just want to know what all this babywearing stuff is about you need to head over to Clean for the Babywearing Celebration.

Story Time Missed

Someone stayed up too late last night and woke up too early this morning.

When I looked up after cleaning the morning mess and doing some laundry, I saw the picture above, she was waiting for me to come read her a story. I wish I'd stopped working long enough for her to drift off to sleep with her story.

Cowboy Vest Tutorial

Howdy Pardner! The discovery of some long lost toys after cleaning the basement, has spurred a new interest for my son. Cowboys! We have borrowed books from the library about the rodeo, watched clips from old westerns with Daddy, learned about how cowboy hats are made, and then, we just had to have a cowboy costume of our very own.

Now we share our fairly simple vest with you here.

 You'll need,

• An old pair of  pants you don't want any more.(or any other cowboy vest like fabric)
• A t-shirt, tank top or vest, that fits the vest wearer well, to trace.
• Matching thread.
• Tracing pen or pencil.
• Fabric Scissors.

If your pants haven't been used for another project already, like mine, you should be able to use a side seam as the seam in the middle back of the vest. Use the t-shirt as a guide for the vest. Pay particular attention to the neck line and arm holes. I traced the arm holes at the seam where the sleeves are attached with a pencil first, making dots as I lifted the sleeve, then cut along the dotted line.

 You need to do this for the front and back, folding the shirt one way then the other to trace it, since the neckline for the front and back are different.

Now, sew the two back pieces together, if you weren't able to use the side seam of your pants. Then you sew the side seams of the vest from the armholes, down. Your vest is basically done here, you can try it on and make any adjustments.

To make fringes make a small zigzag around the armhole where you want the fringes to stop then snip snip snip. You can make more fringes in the same way on the bottom and around the front and neck of the vest if you want.  Or attach ribbon that is fringed like this.

The front may require some shaping since we traced it from a t-shirt meant to be closed all the way to the neck. Just trim away a nice curve from the front middle to the shoulders to make it lay flat. I had my son put the vest on then just cut away along the line that the fabric folded at. (Um, it's probably safer to mark the line then take off the vest to cut it, I don't want to be responsible for any boo boo's.)

My son wanted all fringes removed so I cut them off the arms and rolled all raw edges under then I used a decorative stitch to hem them.

And there you have it, the 6 Berries Cowboy/Cowgirl Vest (because of course little sissy will be needing one soon, maybe pink, definitely fringed.)

A quick update: My son has since moved on to dinosaurs, as I mentioned before. Wouldn't you know it, I actually invest a little time into a costume and today, I have to beg him to try it on for one last photo shoot. The mustache was all it took to convince him though. I made it out of felt and a piece of soft elastic last year and it just goes so well with this cowboy outfit. Don't you think?