All Hallow's Eve

Happy Halloween!

It was a great weekend here. Grandma and Papa came up to visit us! We spent the whole weekend getting hugs and kisses and getting spoiled! Thanks again, we love you!

I made up some last minute costumes for the girls. Amara is going to be a Yip Yip alien from Sesame Street. We made the costume a little different because Amara wanted to add her Fairy Baby's wings to the costume. So, we have a Flying Fairy Yip Yip!

We had a little bear suit that GranGran gave Amara for her first Halloween. So for Ani's first Halloween, she will be a Brown Barbaloot, from Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax."

We are going trick-or-treating with our friends tonight, and are very excited!!

Hope you all get lots of treats!!! Have fun and be safe!

This Moment

{this moment} - 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.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see...inspired by soulemama @ http://www.soulemama.com/



Have a great weekend!

Happy Un-Birthday Grant!

I can hardly believe that it is already Thursday!?! We have so much going on the next few weeks, months! Grandma and Papa are coming this weekend and we are very excited! We also have a dual-birthday(twins)  party to go to, and Monday is Halloween, and then we head to Gran Gran's for a quick overnight visit, and then we are off, St. Louie bound to visit ol'Lou (and Hollyn and Alex, and Pootie, too!)! Whew!...It doesn't end there either, enter "The Holidays." I'm ready!

Thanks to Nikki for the motivation to finally complete this WAY overdue project. I am just excited that Granty will still be able to enjoy it!

Let's begin.

I bought a solid hoodie from, sorry to say it, Walmart. I drew, traced, cut-out, and Heat-N-Bonded a guitar and a star from some felt and scrap fabric. 

Setting

As you see, I sewed a tight zigzag

I'll get better with time, but I mean well! :)
Happy Un-Birthday Granty!

Play-Doh!

A storm rolled in today. So far we've only had some rain and a brief hail storm. So brief, that by the time I finished running outside to bring the tomato plants in, it had stopped hailing. So, since the weather is a little less than ideal, what better use of our time than making play-doh! This is an adaptation of a recipe from http://www.sewliberated.com/. I kind of went out on my own.

You are going to need:

1/2 cup flour plus
2 TBS salt
2 Tsp oil
1/4 cup water
food coloring

and a helper!

Amara and I usually make a few batches at a time because we like to have a variety of colors. Grab the same amount of containers with lids and colors you will be using. Measure into each container the flour, salt, and veg oil. Give a little stir.

Next put a few drops of food coloring into the water, add to flour mixture, and stir it a little more!

Work it out on the table at this point. I always add more flour, I never measure how much, just keep adding flour until it is a nice consistency and no longer sticky. You got yourself some play-doh!

Now hours of fun begins!



Still Life With Play-Doh



Play-doh bracelet

Play-doh ring

Behind the scenes

Snosty the Gnome

 You can bake your creations in the oven to preserve them a little longer. Have fun!

Happy Monday

How was your weekend? Ours was pretty darn good! We scored ourselves a 20 cubic ft freezer for super cheap, thank you craigslist!

You might be wondering why we need such a large freezer. Do you know what a 1/4 cow looks like? I didn't until this weekend. Sam and I had been discussing whether or not we should purchase part of a cow. We knew we were going to need a freezer. Sam will be going hunting for the first time this season, and the plan is to either get an elk or a deer for meat for the winter/year. But what if he isn't successful? I am not trying to be a "Negative Nancy," but we need to be realistic. So in comes this local, grass-fed, already processed, 119 lbs of beef. All we have to do is go pick it up!

So there it is. One quarter cow. And still plenty of room :)!



{this moment}

{this moment}

{this moment} - 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.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see...inspired by soulemama @ http://www.soulemama.com/

. . . . . . . .

Have a restful weekend!

Loving...

...the way Autumn seems to be hanging around a little longer this year.

...how Amara sings all day long about what is going on around her.

...our playdates with our new friends.

...the bounty of this years garden.

...my sweet little red head.

...my family.

...Karma.

Library Day

I really enjoy going to the library. Always have, ever since I was a little girl. I remember being in the 4th grade (I think that was the year we learned the Dewey Decimal System), and I remember being allowed to volunteer and stay and "work" at the library stamping books, sorting books, pushing the book cart and placing each book in its very own designated spot according to Mr. Dewey. I loved every minute of it. Now I find myself carefully reading each title in the children's section, re-living the early days of my adolescence.

It was a quiet day. I like quiet days, they are too and far between. It's kind of funny. Sam has spent the past 2 days whispering. He developed a hoarse throat, and through self-diagnosis and recovery, has decided through thorough and extensive research that whispering is the remedy! Love him, love the quiet!

Recent Projects

With the weather changing and fluctuating 30 degrees, I realized that Mama needs to start on some sewing projects. Last week I was able to knock out 2 pairs of pants for Ani, a pair of pants for Amara and also some slipper socks for Amara. I like using fabrics that I have on hand, and re-purpose many things as well. Ani's pants were made out of a pouch sling that I made for a friend's baby shower a few years back. I really love the flannel fabric. The other pants are reversible with purple corduroy on the other side.

Amara's pants were made out of a pair of corduroys I got from the local thrift. They were ridiculously simple, I used the already hemmed bottoms and the sides of the pants, put some patches on 'em, put elastic in the waist, and they were done!

These slippers were so easy to make! I think they seriously took me 5 minutes total including sewing. I used an old pair of Amara's pajamas with footies. I cut the footie above the elastic, leaving enough fabric to sew it onto another piece. I then cut the sleeves, using the elastic around the wrist for the top of the slipper. You can cut at whatever length you want (however high up you want the slipper to go :) ). Turn both pieces inside out, pin right sides together, and sew. Turn right-side facing out and you got yourself a slipper sock!

There are still many projects in the works, and there are piles of fabric waiting to be made into the next bag, backpacks, shirt. But tonight, the bed is calling my name. Goodnight!

Our Sun Day

The weather has been absolutely beautiful around here. All of the Autumn colors are just spectacular! We are taking advantage of these gorgeous days because we know that Grandmother Winter is patiently waiting to cover us with her snowy blanket.

Good Morning Ani! Are you ready for a wagon ride?

Daddy's working hard taking out those T-posts.



This special guy has been with me for 11 years. Isn't he handsome!





We couldn't go for our walk without bringing "bunny" and "Snosty the Snowman" with us. According to Amara, Snosty is Frosty's uncle. Cracks me up!



How was your weekend?

These early mornings...

Mornings come awfully early in our house. Let me just start by saying that I love my sweet, sweet Amara with all of my heart, but I so wish that she would just sleep until 7:30. Every morning she comes into our room around 6:00 am, when it is still dark out. Upon entrance she says, "I'm hungry!" and then starts pulling her books off of the shelf, and begins to read to herself out loud. Eventually either Sam or myself rolls out of the bed, giving into the 2 year old, and so our day begins :)

Today was the farmer's market. First things first, a stop to see Matt for a quick hello and a delicious cup of coffee before we made our rounds. Making sure that we stuck to our list, we weaved through the crowd from booth to booth gathering  onions, broccoli, a couple different varities of winter squash, and some cabbage. We gathered all the veggies that we will be needing for the week, besides the veggies we harvested from our garden. It's always fun going to the market. It is pretty small, but everybody is super friendly and there is a great selection to choose from! Not to mention that every week there is a different musician delightfully entertaining both vendors and shoppers. The gentleman today played a wonderful acoustic version of "Pancho and Lefty," a special treat for me, it's one of my favorites! After the market, we headed up to another farm stand to purchase some local cheese and some grass-fed beef. Our goal is to try and eat as locally as possible. The area we live in makes it pretty easy for us to do that. In addition to all the veggie farms, there are also hay farms, bean farms, vineyards, and historic apple orchards, bee farms, a local grain mill, and a few micro breweries to name a few! We are also lucky that we can get farm fresh eggs from our neighbor down the road. What else do you need, right? We attempted raising chickens last spring, but I'll just say the dogs won. It was very upsetting. My sweet little chickies, how traumatic for them! Maybe we'll try again soon. I'd like to, but Sam still needs some convincing. He'd rather get a dairy cow!

The rest of the day was spent outside prepping garden beds and laying in the grass watching Ani try to master the art of crawling. After nap we took a lovely walk down the road, passing fields of sage and hay, pastures of cows, hundred old cottonwood and apple trees with changing leaves, and the little creek that is always flowing providing water for Mak and Arlo when they need it most. Today was a good day indeed! How was your Saturday?

I am making a note to self right now. START TAKING THE CAMERA WITH YOU!!! Sorry there are no photos. It's only day two, this is still an adjustment for me. I promise I will get better!

DIY Air Pruning Pots

Well, it's official, this is the FIRST post! What are we up to on this beautiful autumn Friday? Homemade Air Pots! You might be wondering what exactly an air pot is. It is a pot that air prunes your roots, forcing roots to fill up the entire pot instead of only having roots on the outsides. This means less up-potting, bigger plants in smaller pots, and more root develoment, which means, more root = more fruit!

We are always finding ways to save, save, save and we came across some left over weed fabric. You can purchase these from your local garden stores, but they can run anywhere between $5-$25, depending on what size you need. So, we decided to make our own! This is a super easy project, that doesn't take much time.
All you need is weed fabric, a pair of scissors, a sewing machine, some pins, and a pot of any size you want the air pruning pot to be (we are using a #3 plastic nursery pot). And a marker.

Let's get started!

First, trace and cut out pieces.

Next wrap fabric around pot and pin in place to make a mold. Sew the fabric together.

Now pin the bottom to the sides and sew together.

Turn inside out, trim off excess, and Voila! You got yourself an air pot!

We will be filling these pots with recycled soil and planting heirloom tomato clones into them for a winter supply of fresh homegrown tomatoes! We'll share with you how we do this in another post. Thanks for stopping by!