In the land of mini vans

Unlike the majority of people I know I have nothing against mini vans. They are roomy and comfy, and I even like how they look, of course I often like the look of function. That being said there is nothing like a good German engineered wagon. Having driven one for a few years they are all that catch my eye when searching for cars.
The Audi all road is a favorite, but of course there is also the swedish Volvo cx70, even a nice subaru (the japanese know whats up too)can make me look twice, and of course there is always BMW which has been my favorite since I was old enough to know there even were different kinds of cars.

Right now we are in the process of buying a Chrysler town and country mini van. Not a dream car for most but I like it and am grateful for the convenience and comfort it will give over the next few months. I am grateful we can pay cash for it, and I am hopeful for a day that I can buy something that makes me go oo and aah. Even if that car is in fact a newer mini van :)

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A beautiful kind of busy

This has been a very busy week. Lots of phone calls about insurance and car stuff, rental cars, young women's girls camp yard sale( did I mention I am in charge of girls camp! And it is in one month) best friends moving/ graduation, plus normal life stuff. I am exhausted. We have spent the last 2 days trying to recover from our exhaustion and enjoy the super warm spring weather, 75-80 degrees! eating and playing outside every chance we get.

Tuesday's are Jones only day off so after dealing with some car things we {literally} stuffed our kids in the rental having to slam the doors so all the car seats could fit, and went off for ice cream. I still love the feeling of putting everyone I love most in the car with me and heading out for unknown not tied down fun. We decided fishing would be an appropriate activity, so we headed south a little to a kid friendly easy fishin reservoir. The kids played on the 'beach', in the water, at the play ground, and helped Jones real in the line. C pulled in a fish his very first time and proudly exclaimed 'ok! Now let's it him!'. I beamed. :) Tober cakes walked around like a girl hand on hip, socializing with other little girls, squealing in the water and yelling come on guys! And our little Alfred sat next to me picking up the rough sand and letting it slip through his fingers over and over again, occasionally standing up and walking(yes walking!) around to find a better spot to do it in.
{ tangent, when I picked the kids up at my mom's, which is where they were when we got hit thank goodness, she said "why didn't you tell me Alfred is walking?" m response, "he's walking!!?!" :) and he has been doin it ever since}
By the time we left the reservoir it was past bedtime, and we were all happily ready to be home in our beds.

The next day I had a morning appointment and Jones didn't need to be at work until 1 so I left him with the kids. When I got home he had taken the tires that I got from the YW yard sale and his old climbing rope and put up two tire swings in the front yard. I could feel just how big my smile was when I pulled in the driveway. Then C who has been practicing on a two wheel bike and letting us know he can't ride it til he's six( which is exactly what he said about his scooter two weeks ago) rode past me doing figure 8s saying look at me look at me.

Life hasn't exactly slowed down, but it has been busy and full in just the way I like it :)
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Fender bender

Ugh. Somebody rear ended us yesterday, making my life. Mess of phone calls and question marks today.


Hopefully we can have answers by Monday
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Long sleeve to short

I have had this long sleeve purple shirt for a few years and I can count on my hands the number of times I have worn it. So I had no qualms about chopping the sleeves and turning it into a short sleeve top.


I


I also bought this beautiful blue skirt from forever 21 that is awesome and Flowy and unfortunately was a mini underneath. So I added some plaid and made it modest and fun.


Yay for quick fixes.
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Sweet boy

C has always been a sweet boy. He gives his love easily and doesn't shy away from his emotions. Today when watching a cartoon called phineus and Ferb, perry the platypus' secret identity was revealed and he couldn't live with Phineus and Ferb anymore. Clark stopped the show and came to the craft room where I was sewing with tears in his eyes to tell me about it. I reassured him and sent him to watch more to see what happens. I love his awareness of other peoples feelings and his empathy and compassion. I hope he never grows out of that.


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Red head

So I Have wanted honey brunette hair every spring summer since I was pregnant with Tober cakes. Yesterday I went ahead and attempted to strip my hair of color and then dye it a pretty brown. I knew my hair was pitch black and would take a lot to get blonde enough to dye. So it is a work in progress. At one point last night it was yellow with orange highlights. So I dyed it to even it out. I might keep going with the lightening but right now I am loving my red brown hair. :) after all I have always had a thing for red heads








The process I took made some hairs blonde and left some darker giving my hair lots of tones. I like the peek a boo of the particularly blonde strip in the first photo, makes me think I do want to go lighter?!
We'll have to wait and see I guess.


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Mommy Easter

This Easter I had plans. I call them Mom plans because they are the kind of plans that depend on Mom making them work cause everyone else in the family is going to just ask 'why?' I wanted to get up on Sunday morning and go on a walk. Being outside has always been more spiritual for me, and I like the idea of an Easter morning walk as a way of setting the tone for the day. When my kids are older I would give them questions to think about and journal writing time afterwards. Unfortunately we went on a long walk on Saturday evening and I thought it might be over kill to wake up and do it again. It was also just one of those days when I didn't have the positive energy to make things happen when getting negative energy in return. So family photos turned into a few shots of the kids with the iPad and thats it. No pics of me in my new dress, or the whole gang together in front of our cute house. I felt like a mom. I know of moments when my Mom and MIL hoped for one outcome only to be unappreciated and have a mutiny of sorts from the family. Oh well I will continue to try and be the upbeat pulse that insures family photos and memorable moments along the way, cause that's my job, and someday they will grateful, right?










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Washi tape

I am a fan of washi tape. I pretty much can't get enough. My 'need' for them doesn't always match my budget. I was grateful when wasting time the other day at Target til I could pick Jones up from work that I found a nifty little pack of washi-like tape $4 for 4 tapes :)


I still love my etsy shop tapes but it is good to know I can still count on target for my relatively cheap quick fix :)



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Easter around the corner, so is the Army

With Easter almost here I am finishing up some crafts, like a few ties




And getting our looks together for a fabulous family Easter pic.
Jes was Darling enough to put my hair in pin curls last night so we are gonna test that out out.



Have I mentioned that Jes and Kirbs are bosom buds and are moving in 2 weeks! I think I might actually cry. This town just won't be the same.

In other BIG news, Jones has transferred from the national guard to the army! We are excited for this opportunity for him to work more head on with the military. This was an easy decision for me and I felt safe and comfortable with him perusing this course of action but honestly do not want to move! So I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when he came home and told me that the wouldn't be sending him to training til September, and it will be the new year before we move to Maryland(!) where we will be stationed, so until then C will still play baseball in June and start school in the fall. I can keep playing volleyball on tuesdays :) and I don't have to worry that that wall mount for the tv I just put up was a waste of time. But I can look forward to our life in the army and be excited for husband to work as a linguist, and become one step closer to becoming Jack Ryan :)

Now off to dye eggs and clean house, happy weekend all


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Dress pattern

Angela,
Here are the basic shapes of the pattern and how I altered it(after shaving an inch off size 12) I am a dress size 4/6



I got the pattern at Wal-Mart for $2.94, New Look #6094














I also kept the skirt longer and hemmed it to just hit my knee. If I were to do it again I would cut the size 10 pattern and probably still do the alterations just not as heavy. I kept trying it on and pinning it to my needs. Ironing and trying on, life savers! Also try a longer, rather than tight stitch when first putting it together. I used a small tight stitch an when I realized it was ginormous I had to cut the pieces a part rather than being able to quickly unstitch it.

Hope this helps.


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Sewing again

It has been quite a while since I have been at my machine, but this last week a few ideas stuck in my mind and had to make the. The first was a diaper bag for a baby shower I attended.















With no pattern, I am really glad with how it turned out. My favorite part is th tags and it's ginormous size :)

The second thing that has taken over our home is a dress, I wanted a bold floral hot pink dress with a high/wide v neck line and a pencil/flared skirt. I found a pattern that was decent and a fabric I liked and made it work.






I basically made this dress about three times, the first time I followed the pattern and it was HUGE. So I took it apart, trimmed it, put it back together, and then began the process of making the dress work for my body. By the time I was done the dress has a few flaws and unfortunately does not fit like a glove, but does however make me very insecure about my growing instead of shrinking belly (and no I am not pregnant) this shape dress has been one that I admire from a far but stick with skirts and shirts or high wasted skirts that go out with my widening body. I chose to do this shape {with help from Jones}because it is different than my go to shape. Hopefully I will grow more confident and love wearing it. Now I just need some nude leggings, some pumps{as long as I can walk in them!} And some hot pink lipstick and I have the look I'd imagined :)


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