Big Adventures!!!!

OK so, I've been wanting to write this for about a month now, but I've been swamped!!!! (Um- ok this isn't a new thing I haven't posted since December! Life is seriously in fast forward right now though!)

I'm turning 30 this year as are many of my friends. About 8 months ago I got a call from one of my best friends. It started like this: "Ok you can say no if you want to.... and I totally understand....buuuuut.... I want to go on a girls trip to Machu Picchu for my 30th birthday. I want you to come too!" Wow. Not you're everyday hi-how's-it-going phone call. My instinct screamed YES!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!! I WANT TO GO!!!! Then my brain took over and for months (literally) I went back and forth about this big trip. 1. Girls alone in another country (backpacking BTW) 2. Leaving my babe and hubby home- Lord what if something happened to me..... 3. Can I handle the physical demand of this trip- backpacking at 12,000-14,000ft isn't my everyday workout. For months I filled my head with "what ifs". Finally it was down to the wire we had to make reservations. Colin said, "I can't believe you're even thinking of not going! We'll be fine, you'll be fine. Just do it!" I love my husband. He pushes me to take risks that I want to take, but need that boost to really do it.

So, fast forward March 27. I'd been home 3 days on Spring Break (my "Golden Time" with Lill- that time that literally pushes me through some of the tough days) and I was headed to the airport to leave for pretty much the rest of my break. (8 days) As my plane took off, I felt like the most selfish mom in the world. I was excited and really looking forward to my adventure, but waves of guilt kept washing over my excitement. This was the longest I'd ever been away from my girl and the first time away from her on a solo trip. She was in good hands, great hands, surrounded by family who all chipped into care for her while Colin was at work during the week. This was my comfort.

Touch down in Houston! I met up with one of the girls in Houston (D) the other (J) ended up taking the direct flight to Lima. D and I made it on board our Lima flight. This was really happening now! Touch down in Lima and The Three Amigas were on the loose!!!! Look out Peru!

We hopped onto a flight to Cusco and arrived at our new home base for the next 2 days. Cusco was an amazing experience. The food was wonderful. Our hotel was THE BEST. If you're going to Cusco you need to check them out. We explored the city on foot and since we were there during Holy Week (for Easter) there was lots to see including a street fair selling the most delicious looking pastries. We checked in with our tour company for our backpacking trek along the Inca Trail and picked up various souvenirs in the markets.

The main part of our trip was the 4 day 3 night backpacking trek that would end in Machu Picchu. These 4 days turned into the most challenging and rewarding experience I've ever had on a vacation. I've decided that no amount of training (unless you're training at an altitude about 12,000ft) could really prepare you for this. I think if the same rigor of trek had occurred at sea level it would have been fairly easy. Anyways, we hiked through some of the most beautiful land I've every seen. I put this up there with Ireland and Yosemite. There were 2 other travelers in our party. Much to the relief of us all, we were all around the same age- ok they were more than 5 years younger than us. But, at the moment of the trip only 1 of us girls had turned 30. So technically, the majority of us, were in our 20s still!! (Sorry J!)

I learned a lot about pushing myself this trip and trusting my instincts. The food was very good- alpaca and guinea pig are very tasty!

Day 1: By far the most difficult day. At one point, J and I were literally drawing on our child birth breathing classes! Once you loose your breath at 12,000 feet it doesn't come back. So we found that the best thing to do was prevent loosing it. (It was a good idea in theory- it worked ok). We also decided that going slow was ok. We didn't need to be the fastest hikers on the trail. Plus, going slow gave us more time to enjoy the countryside that we most likely won't have the chance to ever see again. There were times when we would say, "Ok see that rock? Make it there and we get a 1 minute break." The biggest let down was when we arrived at a campsite we thought was ours. Not true. We had about 90 min more to hike. This didn't seem like much more!  This proved to be hands down the most difficult part of the entire trek. 90 min took us over 2 hours. It was non-stop steps (uneven steep steps!) up this GORGEOUS gully. There was an amazing river running right next to the trail with rapids and waterfalls. The landscape became jungle-like and I just was sure I'd see a puma lounging on the moss covered tree limbs. Even though, it was the most difficult part of the trail it was one of my favorites. The rest of our group was ahead at the campsite while we huffed and puffed our way up. D was a good 30 mins ahead of us and her pack weight was double ours. She is a ROCK STAR! We found a rhythm and a "system" that worked and we stuck with it. We also discovered that Ibuprofen helped dramatically! (I'm guessing bc it thins your blood and this helped with oxygen flow?) I'm really proud of how hard we all worked on the first day.

Day 2: This was the day we ascended to the highest pass of our trek, 13,800 ft. After the previous days' final hours of hiking, the this day seemed much more manageable. In hind sight, we were very glad that the campsite we had initially thought was our wasn't. Those poor people had to begin their day with those stairs and then complete this huge ascent! The view was very awesome from the top of the pass and the descent was equally beautiful. We had lunch in a place we dubbed "tent city". This was where most of the other tours were camping for the night. It was loud and stinky and we were glad we had only stopped there for lunch. Aside from the trail, which hugged the cliffs and dove behind rocks that formed tunnels, we got to explore several remains (in the States we'd call them ruins). It was so cool to be able to roam around these and see how advanced the engineering and design of these buildings were! Many of the fountains still have water flowing through them from the springs they were tapped from! Surprisingly, all these ruins were very non-touristy.

You can only get to them by doing this trek. Another neat experience was to see how the landscape changes with the altitude. It sounds silly and obvious, but all those things that you learn about in science, history, and geography came to life before our eyes and were more noticeable because we were walking! We also got to see some llamas roaming about. They were very patient with us. Our campsite for this night had the most gorgeous views at sunset and sunrise. Much more so than "tent city" which was down in a bit of a valley!

Day 3: This was an exciting day because we were heading to our last campsite before arriving in Machu Picchu. We saw more ruins along the trail and some beautiful butterflies. We only had to hike for 1/2 the day and we arrived at the campsite around 12:30pm. This gave us some much needed down time! This campsite actually has ruins (Wiñay Wayna) right next to it so we explored those shortly after lunch. Arriving so early was a blessing because we were one of the first groups to get to camp, which meant we had the entire ruins to ourselves for about an hour before we saw any other hikers!!!! This was one of my favorite places we explored. We had a delicious dinner that night and went to bed early because we had to be up at 3:30am to head to Machu Picchu!

Day 4: 3:30am and it was time to rise and shine! Today was the only day we had rain on the trail! Of course! We had a quick breakfast and then had to walk down to the bottom of the campground to the gate that separated the campground from the trail into Machu Picchu. Now, this gate didn't open up until 5:30am and it was literally a 4 minute walk to the gate. However, our tour company guide likes us to be one of the first groups in line. This was a good thing! The first hundred feet or so back from the gate was covered and had benches! it was just what we needed on this rainy (pouring rain) morning. Once the gates opened we hiked for about 90 minutes and we arrived at the Sun Gate (Intipuncu). We had to climb up 50 near-vertical steps (I"m not exaggerating!) and we were then rewarded with a glimpse of Machu Picchu. We were lucky because minutes after we arrived the clouds rolled in even more and totally blocked the view. We had made it!!!!! It was a great moment. I felt so proud of what we had accomplished. 26 miles of rough, high-altitude hiking, with (mostly) smiles on our faces. Our tour guide had been so nice and he knew so much about this land. We learned a lot.

It was odd, by the time we arrived in Machu Picchu we had already seen many ruins that were much more isolated, it made Machu Picchu seem crowded, which it was. I still loved seeing it and I'm in awe of the strength it took to build those buildings. It truly is amazing! I enjoyed the "magic" of visiting the more isolated remains though.

We had plenty of time to visit Aguas Calientas, the town below Machu Picchu. We opted out of visiting the hot springs there and opted in for some cold drinks and lunch! That evening we rode the train to Ollantaytambo and then had to take a taxi back to Cusco (90 min drive). This was all arranged for us by the tour company. We eventually arrived back in Cusco where we stayed at the same hotel as we had when we first arrived. What a wonderful thing that first warm shower was!!! We were ripe to say the least I'm sure!! The next morning we were off to the airport to fly back to Lima and then onto the US.

I was SO glad my husband pushed me to take this trip. He was right. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I'm changed because of it. As with anytime we travel, the world feels a bit smaller. I'm proud of my family for supporting Colin while I was away. I know that taking care of a almost 2 year old for 8 days is challenging. Having our family around to help made it much more manageable and it put me at ease. I wanted Colin to experience this too. No matter how detailed I get about describing it or how many pictures I show him he won't fully understand. It is one of those places that pictures don't even begin to capture how incredible it all is. But, it is what it is and I'm grateful for the chance to take this gals' trip. J, you made it a reality. We've always gone on adventures and I'm glad we we able to share this one.
 



Things I was glad I had on this trip:

• My back pack- I loved the one I picked out. It was perfect and it was carry on size for all the flights except the Cusco-Lima flight. It fit my sleeping back and all my clothes and other gear with ease.
• These AWESOME tote bags from IKEA. I used this as my personal bag on the plane and then as a "purse" while walking around the city. Before we left I added 4 snaps to the top of the bag bc I really wanted to be able to close it. It worked out perfectly and you can't beat the price!
• My phone and a handy app called Viber. Combine this with WiFi and I was able to talk to Colin and Lill without using my roaming minutes.
• My youth. Seriously. Well mainly my knees' youth. If you have any kind of knee issues normally and you want to see Machu Picchu it may be more wise to just take the train to see it and skip the hiking. This hike is rough on even young (ish) knees.

Originally posted in June 2013.





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Simple Cloth Diapering Set-up

The Set Up:

I found this to be the easiest set up for us. The bar below the diaper stacker (made by my rad mom) has hooks to hang damp, but still usable covers. It also has a bin from IKEA that holds dirty cloth wipes, dirty covers, dirty soakers (stink tip: give your over-night soaker a quick rinse in the sink before tossing in here- no one wants their room to smell like a bus stop.) Our clean covers all go in the top drawer of the dresser. I use IKEA modular drawer organizers for the covers and all the baby clothes. 

Inside the diaper pail I used Velcro tape to stick an Arm & Hammer deodorizing disk. I change this as needed.

We also have a wipe warmer (not pictured) that I put the cloth wipes in along with this solution:

1tbsp baby oil

1tbsp castill soap

1-2 drops tea tree oil

1 cup water

Lately, I've been tripling this solution and keeping the extra in a reusable water bottle. It makes refilling the wipes quick and easy.

If you come across this in the midst of a search for cloth diapering ideas I hope this helped. I like to keep this super simple and for us this set up works perfectly!

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It's October!!!

October means several things in our house. 1. The first moth of school is over! 2. First payday since last school year!!! 3. Birthday month (7 family members have Oct. birthdays!!!) 4. Halloween time!!!

I love Halloween time! And most recently I love dressing the girls up in fun costumes! Ok they have fun too. This year we will wear  San Diego Zoo themed costumes- Colin will be a zoo keeper, I'm going as a flamingo, Lill will be a jaguar, and Fi will be a peacock. It's going to be cute. BUUUUUUT as a little preHalloween fun......

 I couldn't resist the opportunity to dress the girlies up as some classic Disney gals. Lillian's favorite non-princess is Mary Poppins. I made her a skirt, a carpet bag, and the hat and pieced together the other items. I found THE cutest mermaid costume for Fi. It was on sale and cheap and I couldn't resist. Then, it happened that our favorite hotel near Disneyland threw a photo contest! I entered their pics. Regardless whether or not they win we had fun posing for pics.

Want to help us win? Just LIKE their pics via the link below. Voting ends Monday 10/06/2014 at 11:59pm. Thanks for helping! And I hope their costumes inspire you to get your littles dressed up to play.

Our Little Mermaid

Mary Poppins

Click here to LIKE our baby Ariel and Mary Poppins!







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The Water Fight that Healed a Heavy Heart

Sometimes you just need to have a water fight.

I know everyone says laughter can heal, but really until today, I didn't believe this. I guess I just figured laughter makes you feel ok for a few minutes, but then you're right back where you started before you began laughing. I don't think this anymore.

Rewind 11 weeks, our amazing daughter was born. Our lives changed in a bigger way than I thought it would. We've already got 1 child, how much different could 1 more be? Uh- a lot different!!!! Anyways, our older daughter seemed to be handling her new big sis role very well....too well one might say.... we held our breath waiting for the other shoe to drop. And it did, of course it did, mainly in her behavior right before nap time. Anyways, this time of day turned into a huge battle. Yes, we tried all sorts of things- even just a rest time. Still getting horrible results as nothing seemed to help. One day she'd be great then the next not so much. I write about this not for sleep advice, but so you know where I'm at right now. After almost 3 months of either a nap time battle or exhausted melt down because her sock was not on correctly, I found myself in a very fragile emotional state. I really can't even discuss it with the hubby without crying. I'm sick of watching the love of my life throw a fit every other day over something she has literally been doing her whole life- sleeping! Ah!

I was disappointed in myself for how hard I had to struggle to respond from a place of Love and Patience, which I know is what this little person needs more than anything. I know that in her tears, though she is saying, "Go away!" what she means is, "Why wasn't just having me good enough for you? Why did you think I needed a sister? I need your attention, mommy. Don't you know I love you, but I'm mad at you. I don't know how to handle those two emotions at the same time yet, please help me." Knowing this, also made me feel so much more awful for the times I've lost my patience. So I settled into what I thought was my new skin, just get through the day, make sure everyone is clean, fed, and having fun. But, this isn't me. It's not the girl my parents raised and it's not the woman my husband married. It is absolutely not the mom I want to be- just getting through the day!

So today, my sweet girl got her mommy back. It was like a ton of bricks just lifted off my heart. We went outside to play, this afternoon, on the grass. I noticed our tomato plants needed watering so I brought out the garden hose and let her have at it. While she water watering I began to pull up some grass that had sprouted on our bank (I'm constantly battling the grass there!). She then, accidentally, sprayed my feet- truly an honest accident. It was that moment I chose Love. It would have been easy to say, "That's it! No more watering for you, missy!" But I didn't. I'm SO glad I didn't.  responded instead with a silly, "Hey, watch out I'm gardening here! I don't want to be dirty or wet! So you better not spray me agaaaaaaaiiiiiin." Of course, she instantly caught on to my teasing and sprayed me again. She laughed SO hard- that belly laugh that melts my heart. I laughed SO hard. Harder than I've laughed in a while. The water fight ensued. And, we both couldn't stop laughing.

Colin arrived home from work, mid-water fight and gave me that knowing look of how much we needed that water fight. Then Lill and I sprayed him in the face and we all laughed until it hurt!

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1+1 >2

Yes, I know, 1+1 =2.... Normally. The basic properties of addition do not apply to having multiple children. I have learned this over the last 2 months.

9 weeks ago we met this little squish for the first time!!!

She arrived exactly on time, well if you know my family that means 10-30 min late. (I'm working on it ok! But I'm back a square 1 again with the newbie here!) she came 26 min after her due date. But, I cannot complain because she arrived very quickly and uneventfully, which in my book is a great delivery! At 6lbs 12oz 18.75" she is healthy and figured out nursing pretty quickly resulting in a 5lb 9oz increase in weight over the last 9 weeks!! She also spent that time growing 3.75", which explains all the sleeping and kicking! 

So, like I was saying 2 kids doesn't equal 2 times the work. It is more like 3 or 4 times depending on the time of day and mood of the kids. No one tells you this before hand! (Not that I would have believed them anyway- maybe someone did try to warn us then and we disregarded this piece of wisdom. Oops!)

Aside from the overwhelming exhaustion, that somehow your body just accepts as the new norm, Colin and I both have started to find a rhythm and flow. We've are pretty sure we could negotiate someone down off a ledge. A three-year old is an endless negotiation situation. We can also do even more things with one hand than we could when Lill was a newborn. We've got this whole nb thing under control. It's the three-year old thing that throws us for a loop every few days!

All that being said they are wonderful sisters. 

Lill has takes her big sis role very seriously. She pops pacifiers into her screaming mouth and tries to comfort her. She has explained the rules about the cats: not pulling fur or tails. She has helped with poopy diapers and bath times. And everyday she tells her how much she loves her. I hope that this relationship will grow and serve them well their whole lives.

So, even though it's definately more than twice the work, when I see my girls doing this it makes be forgot about the work and I just melt. I'm proud of them and have more love in my heart than I ever knew possible.

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The Good and the Bad

Sometimes it is important to remind yourself of things you are good at, especially when there are times all your short-comings seem to be bopping you on the head. It is also important to really sit your short-comings down and have an honest conversation with them to see if improvements can be made. So here we are.

Kerry, you ARE good at:

Cooking (most things)

Teaching

Being honest

Polishing silver

Bargain hunting

Negotiating

Organizing

Packing (suit cases, cars, moving boxes)

Multitasking

Traveling

Math (according to me, not my GRE score!)

Reading

Pushing out/having a baby 

Putting together IKEA furniture

Breast feeding our baby 

Throwing make believe tea parties 

Things I'm working on, but kind of suck at right now:

Being a consistent blogger

Getting my little one and newborn up and dressed and out the door on time in the morning 

Putting away the clean laundry

Finding time to clean the house AND play with Lill

Finding patience even though I'm exhausted.

Getting to church regularly- I love my church, but I just haven't been able to get there- see above & below.

Balancing time between two children- I think this is the biggest issue right now.

Remembering to make a shopping list

Burping a baby- thank goodness for my husband

So just in the short time it took me to write this, I already feel better about many of these things I'm working on. Others will take time to fix.  Knowing that I can control my thinking and perspective on them is a big step in bringing about change. Until then I can't just sit and wait- there are diapers to change and princesses to be rescued!!! I

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Up-cycling Onesies

Today, I finally got around to a project I've been wanting to do for months. (I love summer!) I was inspired a while ago by my friend, Heather, who did something similar with her son's onesies. (Check out her awesome cloth diapering fluff on her business's fb page or here!)  I made some old onesies into t-shirts and a dress.

Our sweet baby is officially growing up and potty training. Onesies are not the best wardrobe choice for the potty training 2 year old to manage. I have not been super impressed with most of the t-shirts I've seen lately. They're either plastered with junk, overly sassy phrases, or out of my price range for a toddler's t-shirt. I do, however, like the prints of many of the onesies. I also like that they are easy for my, "I do it all myself, Mama!" girl to get on by herself. The wider head hole doesn't hurt either. I also like that I own these already so in my brain that means they are free.

This was crazy easy. You may have seen other DIY posts on this, but this is how I did it. I hope it helps you on your quest for making more with less!

I spent a little less than an hour and ended up with 8 "new" t-shirts!!! I was on a roll (and Lill was sleeping) so I also threw together a dress made from one of the onesies and scrap fabric I had. The dress took about an hour, mainly because I wanted to make pleats and I'd never done them before so I was figuring that out. I bet it would take 15-20 min less for the next one.

Want to give this a try? Here is what I did. I hope it works for you!

Onesie Up-cycle T-shirt

Materials:
Cute onesie
Sewing machine and thread
Iron
pins
scissors (or better yet a rotary cutter & cutting mat)


Steps:
1.  Cut off the bottom of the onesie as close to the leg openings as possible.

What to do with the snap part??

2. Get your iron warmed up and give the onesie a once over. (Be sure it is inside out.) Then turn up the bottom edge about 3/4" and press. I do this first to be sure my bottom hem will be nice and
straight. Now, you have 2 options. I did it both ways and bother are suitable.
              a. Leave this as is and go on to step 3.
              b. Fold the raw edge under so it touches the inside of the hem you just pressed and press again. This will  give you a finished hem on the top and the bottom of it. I'm sure there is some technical  term for this, blah blah blah.

This is the hem as it looks on the outside of the shirt.

3. Using a straight stretch stitch, sew the hem all the way around the bottom of the shirt. Press the hem once more to set the stitches.

BAM! T-shirt! You're done! See? It is super simple!

8 "New" shirts!

Onesie Dress

To do the dress follow the above directions- I used option A for finishing the hem for the dress. Set this aside.

4. Then, using pretty much any coordinating fabric cut it to the desired length for the skirt. I wanted it to be a bit longer so I made it 9 3/4" AFTER it was hemmed. I cut 2 pieces of fabric to 11 3/4" x 34" and laid them right sides facing each other and stitched them together to make 1 long piece for the skirt. (This proved to be a little longer than I needed, but it was better to have more than not enough length.) **I made box pleats, so I needed more fabric. If I hadn't done pleats probably 1 piece at the above dimensions would have done it.** Here is a box pleat tutorial. I didn't do each other the steps in this tutorial, but read through it, got the idea and winged it. It worked fine for a 2 year old's dress. ;)

5. Hem the piece of skirt fabric on the top and bottom edges. I made a 1/4" hem at the top and a 3/4" following option B above.

With pleats: If you're doing pleats, use your iron and pins to set the pleats along the top. Press them really well and pin after each one. On your sewing machine, run a stitch along the top where you pinned to secure your pleats. Remove the pins and press one more time.

Without pleats: If your fabric is stretchy, run it through your sewing machine with a straight stretch stitch, but stretch it a bit so that when you release it is bunches up a little. This will look super cute once you attach the top.

Fold the skirt in half printed side to printed side and line up the edges. Secure with a couple pins. Sew the seam.


8.  Attach the skirt to the top you set aside. With the top right side out, pin the skirt to the shirt. When you're pinning the skirt should look like it is flipped up with the underside showing.

9. Sew the skirt and the top together on your machine. Iron the seams, remove all pins (duh!), snip all loose threads.

BAM! Dress!

Notes & Tips
I used size 18 month onesie for the dress & t-shirts.
You can use either the jersey type onesie or the more stiff t-shirt type. The first t-shirt I did was the latter- it was a little easier to work with until I got the hang of it. The jersey is more stretchy, but still manageable.

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Super Simple and Super Cute and Our Super Fun Halloween!

Halloween time was a whirlwind of a time in The Stronghold. The weekend before, we took our first airplane trip to South Carolina for my brother's wedding- more details of that adventure to come. So needless to say I was very behind on making our Halloween costumes this year. All my life I have worn homemade costumes- not once- ever, have I worn a store bought, packaged in plastic, made of paper thin polyester costume. It just worked out that way. It was our family tradition as a kid to head over to the fabric store and flip through the pattern books to choose the perfect get-up and then pick out the fabric. My mom is a wonderful seamstress and passed on that sewing to me, though I'm not as skilled as she.

Anyways, mix this with my type-A attention to detail in costumes and throwing something together the night before isn't easy, but I made it work. We'd planned on dressing up the toddler (!!!!!) as Jessie from Toy Story. I had several of the parts of the costume, but when we got back from Charleston it was my job to put it all together. Since our flight was delayed getting home I had 1 less day to do this. The costume still came out great. Below is what you'll need if you're so inclined to dress up you little one as a cowgirl or cowboy next year.

We kept our Halloween night SUPER simple this year. We had homemade pizza (thanks to my MIL) and Mummie Dogs (thanks mom) and witches fingers for dessert. There aren't many trick-or-treaters in my in-laws neighborhood so it was a pretty quiet evening. Ok- actually there were I think only 4 kids ALL NIGHT!!! So pretty much we just sat around the fire pit and watched our little Jessie run around "Yee-Ha-ing!" It was actually very refreshing to veg out after our big trip and after a wild day with my 3rd graders at school. Sometimes- no, a lot of times- less is more.

Here comes November!!!!!!

 Jessie Costume Materials:
Cowboy boots
Cheap pair of jeans
Long-sleeve white collared shirt (I used a boy's onesie)
Brown belt- attach a big western belt buckle to it for added cuteness
Jessie Hat (we bought our at Disneyland)

1/2 yard of yellow cotton fabric
1/4 yard (maybe more if your child is bigger) cow print fabric
red roping
fabric glue
1 package Heat n Bond Iron-on adhesive/ fusible interfacing
Peal/silver western style buttons 4-6 *optional for the detail freak ;)
2s sheets of newspaper to make your patterns
Iron on Velcro dots or strip that you'll cut into 1/2" squares
Red marker, fabric chalk or pencil

Prep your fabric:
I always wash & press cotton fabric before I sew it. So I did this a head of time.

**I didn't want to have to sew hem/seams to prevent fraying because honestly I didn't have time. You totally could do this, but I think the way I did it was much faster and it came out perfect. (If you were going to use this as dress up and needed to wash it many times though taking the time to cut out the pattern and then hem the edges of the yellow fabric may be worth it.) For Halloween it wasn't worth it to me.

1. Cut the yellow fabric in half. You're going to fuse these two pieces together to make a nice crisp, but flexible piece to cut the pattern from. To do this just cut a piece of the Heat n Bond to the size of the half. Follow the directions on the package for ironing temps/times. Peel off the paper backing and then place the other half and fuse them together by ironing again. *Now when you cut the fabric won't fray! :) Side note: before you fuse the fabric do a rough check on how big you'll actually need it to be for your child. I was able to cut the shirt piece and the two cuffs from doing it this way, but I have a little bitty 18 month old... I trimmed out the pieces in rough squares so I didn't need to fuse more than I'd use. Make sense? I hope so!

Making the Shirt: 
1. Take one piece of newspaper and fold it in half. Hang the white shirt on a hanger and poke a hole in the center of the newspaper (on the fold) to poke the hanger through. Trim the news paper so the edges go just to the shoulder seam on the shirt and so that it goes down the front and back just to below the arm pits (a little farther down in the front than the back since you'll be trimming more off the front to shape it.). Also mark how wide the neck hole needs to be.
2. Take the newspaper off and use a pen/pencil to outline the front edge of the yellow piece for the shirt. It kind of makes two shallow arches. I just did my best at eye-balling it. The points should end up where a pocket would be on the shirt.

3. Pin the newspaper to the yellow fabric (the pieces you fused together already) and cut along the lines you drew and the edges of the newspaper (where you trimmed it up to fit the shoulders). Remove the paper and cut out a neck hole. **You will need to make the neck hole bigger by cutting a slit down the back- just see how big of one you need for your kiddo's noggin' before cutting. Big heads gallop in our family! Give it a test by hanging it back over the shirt to see how it fits- trim accordingly.
4. Cut out, from the scraps of this, 2 rectangles approx. 2"x 8" for the cuffs (again if you're not sure on the sizing make a test run with the newspaper to assure a good fit). Sew on 1 button onto the end of each and cut a small button hole. *Be sure to fit this to your child's wrist before cutting the button hole so you can size it correctly. I also glued on a small piece of felt I'd cut to look like fringe. (Details people!) Use a red permanent marker to draw the loops on the cuffs. I guess you could use roping here too, but since our cuffs were so small the roping was a bit to bulky.
5. Use the iron on Velcro dots or cut pieces and apply them to the corners & middle of the yellow piece so it attaches to the white shirt. Iron the other part of the Velcro onto the shirt. I did this on the front and the back. I also added a piece where the slit is on the backside so it would stay closed after putting the thing over her head.
6. With the yellow fabric removed from the white shirt, use fabric chalk or a yellow highlighter to draw on where you'll glue the red roping. If you're awesome you can just wing it- I'm not. (Actually my hubby did this part, and it was a good call since he is also a perfectionist.) Then glue on the red roping in the same looping way as it is on Jessie's shirt. This will need to dry for several hours- over night is best.
7. **Optional Detail: If your shirt has buttons, remove the 2 that will show once the shirt is tucked in and the yellow fabric is in place. Attach the cute pearly buttons in their place.

Making the Pants/Chaps: (this is the easiest part and only take about 5 minutes)
1. Lay the cow print fabric out flat on the cutting board and then lay the jeans on top. Use fabric chalk or a pencil to make an outline of just the pant legs. The chaps will start just at about the same level at the crotch of the jeans and be the same length as the pant legs. Round the the corners on the bottoms. 2. Cut out the chaps. Cut out 2 small pieces of felt to make the fringe- glue onto the backside of the chaps on the outer edge.
3. Cut out two pieces of Heat N Bond the same width as the top of the chaps and about 3" long. Iron each piece onto the top edge of the chaps. Remove the paper baking and place the chaps onto the jeans where you want them to be. Iron the part that has the Heat N Bond on it. BAM! Jeans with chaps!


Sorry if my directions are a little vague and not with exact measurements. I hope you can follow them if you're looking for a way to make an adorable Jessie costume. It seriously was so fun to watch our daughter love wearing her costume. It was comfortable for her to wear and cheap to make (especially if you have some of the sewing materials laying around and if you buy the shirt/onsie, belt and jeans at a thrift store)

Happy creating!

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Summer Time Fun

I'm so blessed with a career that allows me to just be a mom for 2 months out of the year. (Please note that teachers only get paid for the days they work- so before you get all cranky about how you work all year keep in mind that you also get paid all year.) I absolutely love teaching. I'm passionate about giving ALL kiddos the access to high quality education. That being said.

Teachers are people too. For 2 months out of the year I get to just be with my family and not worry about other people's children. I get to rediscover the things I enjoy doing in my personal life that always get put on hold during the school year. I can devote 100% of my attention to my family, which Lord knows doesn't happen, as much as I try, during the school year. Even most weekends during the school year get filled with things to do for school. I get to relax, stay up late to watch movies, get up early to go running, reorganize my house, cook dinners that aren't ready in 30 minutes, and my favorite- part play all day long with our daughter. Summer is a magical time for me and if it were a location, rather than a season, I think it would be in Neverland... If you just squint your eyes you can see it all year in the not too distant future.

So. This summer is extra special. We won't take an official vacation, we didn't pack our schedule with things to do all summer. We are just playing it by ear week to week and day by day. The only place we have to be is at swim lessons twice a week. It is very freeing for me since all year I'm literally dictated by my iCal. (I couldn't get to all the places I need to be without it during school.) Here are a few highlights from our summer so far.

Talking, talking and more talking! Lill is such a chatter box! She went from saying mostly nouns to adding some adjectives and verbs and now she has complete and compound sentences. She also has big opinions about everything. She started changing the tone of her voice depending on how she feels about whatever she is saying. For example, "Hi." became "HI YA!!!Mama!!!!" *my heart melts for this one, especially when it is followed by a huge hug* 

Road trip! Immediately after school was out my dad, Lill and I took a road trip. We visited Santa Fe, Carlsbad Caverns, and Sedona. I learned that my daughter is a fabulous traveler! My mom's trick of the car bag full of new books & toys worked great!! The travel potty was also super helpful since she is almost potty trained- only 4 wet diapers in 1 week!

I love making homemade ice cream!!! Summer hits so far: chocolate with marshmallow fluff & pretzels, vanilla chocolate chip with black cherries, and mint chip. I will post recipes soon. 

The garden is bursting with zucchini, cucumbers, basil, mint, jalepeños, and watermelons. Our tomatoes are almost ripe and that means it's almost time to make fresh mozzarella! I'm also excited because we tried growing watermelons this year and we have 3 almost ripe ones and 5 little ones on the way!!!!!! I cut one open today. They need a week or so more. It's so tough to tell if they are ripe or not!

 
What do you love to do during summer with your family?

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We're Taking the Challenge!

How many times do you think you use your dryer each week? For us it was usually 3-6 times!!! When it was SO stinking hot here in July I just couldn't bring myself to turn on the dryer. I found a clothes line and started line drying everything. I loved it! The clothes were coming out a little crunchier than I'd hoped so in doing some searching for what to do, I came across a very fun blog! They happened to be doing monthly challenges and guess what August's challenge was? No Dryer! I wasn't brave enough to post this before bc I wasn't sure how long this no dryer thing would last for us, but it's been over 5 weeks now and I'm not missing it! Colin is even into it! So here's to the No Dryer Challenge- we did it and probably will keep it up for months to come!!! By the way, adding less detergent to the laundry made a big difference in how crunchy the clothes were once dry.



 

So for this month the next challenge is "Eat Your Pantry" Something we need to do. I know there are the makings for lots of good meals in there I just need to cook the stuff! Going to spend some time this week coming up with meals (or side dishes more likely) from what we have in there.



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What We Don't Do

"Sometimes I think what you don't do has a just as big- if not bigger- impact as what you do do." This thought popped into my head the other day as I watched my sweet girl have one of her first melt downs. I don't mean to say that doing things doesn't have an impact, of course it does. But, sometimes the things people don't do, especially when it comes to their children, can greatly impact (positively & negatively) the children's lives. I'm sure we could brainstorm tons of examples. I'm not going to. I'm just going to say that when I see children struggling in their lives a lot of times it's caused by things the adults in their lives aren't doing. It's also true that when I see successful children there is a list of things their parents aren't doing also. I guess the implication for me reflecting on this, as a new parent, is to be aware of the things I'm not doing. Then decide if by not doing these things I'm benefiting my children. Food for thought. Pin It Now!

Feeling Sew Crafty!

One of the nice things about summer is that I have time to catch-up on projects I've been putting on the back burner during the school year. Today, I checked one such project off my list that has been there since Fall!
I've really been unhappy with changing pads since my daughter has out-grown the one that came with one of our diaper bags (I think that one was maybe 20" long by 12" across.) I know this seems kind of trivial, but those public changing tables gross me out so much. I just want to sterilize the whole thing! I know there are disposable changing table covers, but since we are trying to be a waste & money conscious family I don't think those are up our alley. I shopped around a lot and the ones I liked all came with "changing kits" to hold wipes and diapers. If we were using disposable diapers or maybe even different cloth diapers these would work. However, with what we have they didn't fit well. Soooooo I made my own! I have to say I love how it turned out! It was SUPER easy. Check it out!

Making a changing pad:
Decide what size changing pad you want to end up with then add 1-inch to allow for a 1/2" seam then buy a little more than that so you can make sure you can trim it so all sides are straight.

Materials:
-PUL fabric (I used Babyville PUL fabric available from JoAnn for about 12.99-$14.99 per yard, but use a coupon for goodness sake! Note: They sell 3 packs of this fabric, but it is only 21" x 24" I wanted my changing pad to be longer so I bought the fabric off the bolt instead. If you're ok with a shorter pad then the 3-pack is a good option.
-Fleece or terrycloth to add absorbency and a little cushion (I used fleece for this one.)
-Cotton or flannel print fabric

Step 1: Cut the fabric to desired size including 1/2" seam allowance. 

I cut mine to 19" x 31"

Step 2: Pin the fleece to the back of the print.

Step 3: Stitch around several of the owls to tack down the print to the fleece. (This could be optional, but I think it looks nice and keeps these two fabrics snug together.)

This is how it looked from the back of the fleece.

Step 4: Lay the PUL fabric and print fabric face-to-face.

Step 5: Pin around the perimeter and several in the center to hold all three fabrics in place. Then stitch around the perimeter with 1/2" seam, leaving about 6" in the middle of the bottom open.

Step 6: Turn it right-side out.

Step 7:  Push out the corners & seams nice and tight. It's really important to then iron the seams flat. *This is before I ironed.

This is after.

Step 8: Finish the seams. I used a zig-zag stitch to finish the seam. I also ran 2 straight stitches down the length of it at 6" & 12" to hold it all together in the middle for washing and to make folding easier. I threw it in the dryer of 20 minutes to "seal" up the holes in the PUL fabric around the stitches per the manufactures recommendation.

Step 9: Come up with a closure. I sewed one end of a ribbon to the changing pad and attached a large button to it. I then sewed it into a loop at the other end of the ribbon, folded the changing pad into thirds and secured it shut with the ribbon. I'm sure snaps or Velcro could do a good job of closing it up too.

Folded up, not smashed down at all, it is about as tall as a spool of thread. It is able to be compressed much more though. if it was folded differently it could be thinner, but it would have a larger folded perimeter.

Folded up it is only  7" x 9" approximately! Nice and compact.

Unfolded it is 18" x 30"!!!!!

Ta-Da! It fits perfectly into my diaper bag!

I think it came out pretty well for my first attempt and I think it could easily be used for more than a changing pad. I like that it is waterproof so if she goes to the bathroom mid-diaper change it won't soak through. It could also be used a great outside tummy time blanket/picnic blanket if the grass is a damp. I obviously haven't washed it a bunch yet, but I imagine it will hold up well. I plan on line drying it with our CD covers since this is supposed to prolong the PUL's life.

I hope this has inspired you! If you like it & need more details please feel free to ask.


UPDATE:
I've now been using this changing pad for a year and it has been washed multiple times. It has held up beautifully! I always line dry it, though.  Pin It Now!

The Best Worst Camping Trip Ever

In 2009, my husband and I celebrated our 1st anniversary. We were entering that "almost broke, but at least we're broke together" phase of our relationship. We decided that to celebrate year #1 we'd take a cheap little camping trip up to Big Sur. The campground I really wanted to stay in was booked up (San Simeon Park). So I found another, private campground, that has plenty of sites open for the weekend. The website made is seem like it was a great place- with a stream large enough to play in and float around on tubes lazily. There was also a little store and bar beside it. There were several trail heads within walking distance of the campground and the sites were nestled in between Giant Sequoias. Beautiful, right?

We'd also be celebrating my birthday since it is only 2 days after our anniversary. For my birthday I'd asked for a new Colman camping stove. I received one, it wasn't Colman, but it seemed to work just fine so I was thrilled. (This becomes an important detail.) Now, I've been camping with my family since I was too young to remember. We usually went camping in a small trailer, but sometimes tents too. Over years of watching my meticulous mother, grandmother, and aunt pack for tons of camping trips, by osmosis, I inherited their type-A precision in packing all the necessary camping supplies, beyond the basic tent and sleeping bag. Everything we needed would fit into a.) the cook stove's storage bag, b.) the Rubbermade tub, which doubles and a nightstand in the tent or side table by the campfire, or c.) the ice chest.

We hit the road nice and early and drove to Anaheim. (Pit stop for the day at Disneyland!!) The next morning headed up the coast to Big Sur. Gorgeous drive once we got on the 1! We found the campground fairly easily got checked in, found our site and set to work pitching the tent.

The downward spiral:
The camp site was SOOOOOOOOOOOO small and sooooooooooo close to our neighbor's. We figured it'd be ok since no one else was checked in around us, and online the campground wasn't booked to capacity. WRONG! By nightfall it was packed was LOUD large camping groups. So whatever, we cracked open the wine, and got that fire going and cooked a delicious meal. Our nearest neighbors arrived after us and literally set their tent up within arms reach of our camp fire. Really!!! Who does that?

Camping Pet Peeve: Blasting loud music. I'm not a fuddy-duddy (well maybe a bit) but I go camping to get away from this kind of noise. I don't wanna hear your "Best of the 90s mix tape", R&B slow jams, or anything else for that matter. I just want to hear the sound on the wind in the tree, crickets, birds, crackling fires, and kids riding their bikes. That is it.

Then, all night, seriously all night one of the neighbors' infants cried and cried and cried. I'm talking like ear infection horrible screaming. Camping with babies is totally fine, but if your child is screaming for hours on end at 2am and you're tent camping.... go sit in the car, go for a drive- everyone in the campground will thank you. Poor baby. Poor baby's mom bc you know she was stressing out. Poor campers within earshot- it was baaaaad.

We should have known the day was not going to be quite as we planned. I got up and set to work whipping up some eggs, bacon and pancake batter for breakfast. Guess what wouldn't light? Yep- the dang camp stove (Note to self: buy the Coleman brand when it comes to things you really need to work well! So we had PB & J instead. :(

We were looking forward to a day of floating lazily in the water...... wrong! There were SOOOOO many people it was rediculous. It was more like a kid stew- yuck!

See that tent to the right of Colin- that's NOT ours!!

Plan B to the Rescue: Hit the road and explore Monterey. Neither of us had been since we were kids so it was a great adventure. The aquarium was awesome. The weather was beautiful. I love that my husband is easy going. Our nice relaxing camping trip turned into day tripping up and down the coast for the next few days, but we had a blast.

Seriously- how darn cute are these Sea Otters?!?!?

We got creative with our camping cooking. Yes, I know we had a fire, but we had planned on the cook stove so we didn't have the things more suited for fire cooking.

The trip could have been ruined. So what we didn't get to have all the delicious camping meals we'd planned. We could have been grumps and been cranky about the situation, but we made the best of it and ended up having a fantastic trip! What matters most is how we spend the time with those that we care about most- it doesn't really matter if everything goes as planned or not.

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Getting Going with Cloth Diapers

So... long before we even entertained the idea of having kids, I got it into my mind that I wanted to use cloth diapers. My mom had used them for my brother and me, but other than that I knew no one who was presently using them. I figured that I would just make it work when the time arrived. Well as soon as I found out I was pregnant, before we'd shared our good news, even before I'd even tiptoed into the huge world of baby stuff, I announced/asked to my husband "We're going to use cloth diapers, ok?" This question honestly wasn't really a question, but I put it that way to test the waters. To my surprise, Colin was pretty much on board. He had a lot more questions than I had even begun to think about, but we decided to make it work.

I did tons of research and I now know more about cloth diapers then I'd even imagined I would and there are still a few things I don't quite get, like wool covers for example. (More on this later.)

Anyways, I decided that an easy way for us to ensure that we would be able to continue cloth diapering through all stages of a pre-toilet trained toddler was to get diaper service. We are very fortunate to live a city that has diaper service available- Earthy Baby Diaper Service (update: Earthy Baby was bought by Pannalino Diaper Service- I've been super pleased with them!) is fabulous! (If we didn't I would be washing them myself though.) I'm the kind of wife that is great at somethings, but laundry is one of my LAST priorities. Luckily, Colin seems to be ok with this. We tend to put off laundry as long as we can and then once its clean I'm notorious for having 2 baskets of clean laundry sitting about for days. I know, I know it's a bad habit. I'm working on it.  I also was realistic with myself that washing diapers probably would be a higher priority, but not a task I was willing to take on with everything else especially once I went back to work. So our wonderful relationship with our diaper service began! There a bunches of sites out there that can walk you through starting up with cloth diapers (either with a service or self-washing them). After a year of using 99.9% cloth this is what we've found works the best for us.

Here is what our stash includes:

-Diaper Covers: Bummis & Thirsties have been our fav. I'd like to try making them, but haven't found the time to get sewing. Both brands' sizes run different so we used them at different weight stages. The Bummis x-small was perfect for my little 6lb 14oz 21 inch long!!! newborn. Talk about a string bean!

-Fleece liners: Helps to wick away moisture on long car rides and over night.

-Bio-degradable liners: Start using this when you start your babe on solid foods. Up until then all the poops wash right out and you don't have to remove it before washing. I've tried a couple brands- they both worked fine. I think I'll keep buying which ever is cheaper at the time. These you just lift out and plop into the toilet and flush away most of the mess. (Yes, sometimes you still have to rinse off poo that missed the liner, but really it's no worse than wiping up that cute patootie on your baby.)

-Diaper Pail, aka Trash Can with a good lid: Honestly the Simple Human rubbish cans are really nice, but so pricey that I couldn't bring myself to buy one. We use a Safety First diaper pail at my MILs house (she cares for our daughter during the week), but this pail is not big enough to hold a weeks worth of the larger diapers (I think it's only 10gal.). So this is a good purchase (cheap) if you'll be having someone else care for your baby during the day or if you're going to wash your own more than once per week. At our house we picked up a 13 gal. bin at Bed, Bath & Beyond, which is the perfect size for the large wet bag our diapers get delivered in. We also have mini trash can for wipes. (We use disposable wipes. I think this summer we'll switch to cloth, but for now this is what we use.)

-Extra wet bag for the diaper pail at our MILs house makes bringing them home e-a-s-y.

-Wet Bags for your diaper bag 2-3 to rotate. I've been though several kinds and my favorite is the Bummis small wet bag for day trips and the medium one for over night trips. Update: I found some time and made a bunch of wet bags in various sizes from PUL fabric I picked up at JoAnns.

I get most of our Fluff on amazon. The only down side is you can't touch it first, but once you find what you like its easy. Returning stuff to them isn't too tough either. There are several good baby stores in San Diego that carrier CDing supplies, but amazon has just been easier to buy from.

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