Georgia Aquarium

Ok so my younger brother serving a mission has requested that I write in my blog. I think he would just like to see pictures of the family and play on the computer on his P-day haha! I don't mind it means at least one person is acknowledging this blogs existence. I certainly don't. ;)

Only problem is that the only pictures I have downloaded to my iPad at the moment are of last years Girl Scout trip to the Georgia Aquarium. Which was fantastic! I had so much fun! The only downside was Mae got sick right before time to go so the whole time there I was missing her terribly and thinking about how much she would have enjoyed it. 

I was able to take Liza and my youngest brother Daniel with me and we all had a really fun time. Just one tip for anyone thinking of going, take your food with you or eat elsewhere! I spent over 50.00 on just the three of us on a lunch that was nasty tasting! Blech! 

Anyhow I took way too many pictures, but I'll try to get the most fun ones in this post. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the dolphin show but it was really terrific, if your thinking of going, get a ticket for that one especially.

Ok, this thing is taking forever to load the pictures! I might only give you a few more fishy ones, then I have to go find out why the two year old is being so quiet,....! 

Mr. Poppers Penguins!! 

Teenagers are always so calm when sharks are floating up above,...hehe. 

We had recently done a Five In A Row lesson on the book Night of the Moonjellies, so Liza was super excited to see these! 

Ok I need to be done, I took hundreds of pictures, so be grateful that my iPad is so slow or you'd have to endure more torture. Hehe. 

Reading. It's what we do.

We are obsessed with books around here. Ask me about a book. Chances are I've read it. I didn't realized how much time we spend reading until I was organizing the pictures on my phone and I have a whole books worth of my kids reading!

A hobby that's been a long time in coming

I'm trying my hand at a new hobby. One that I've wanted since I was a little girl. Sewing. I've always wanted to be a great seamstress, making all my kids clothes, dolls, and other fun activities. Some of my best memories was my mom sewing, her machine running fast, clippings all over the floor for me to play with.

Unfortunately, having teach myself I'm not very motivated. I realized this last year that the girls are growing really fast, and if I'm going to have time to not only make thing for them, but also teach them a love of the art I better get crackin'! So I tried a very simple apron pattern for the first time, and I was on the phone with my mom A LOT, asking for help.
I think it turned out alright.

Then I had one of my best friends clean out her closets and ask for my help. While we were there Molly spotted this hideous fabric with dogs all over it that my friend was going to donate to goodwill. Molly is a puppy dog enthusiast to put it mildly. She went bonkers when my friend gave it to her! I was thinking GREAT, what on earth am I going to do with that?! Seeing Molly snuggle up to the fabric gave me an idea, a pillowcase is a simple project. And even though I know there are mistakes in it, she LOVES IT!! She would carry it everywhere if I let her.

My last project was an idea that came to me when Liza was complaining that she didn't have any "cool" summer p.j.'s. everything she had was too hot. I came up with a simple pattern on my own. It was very frustrating but I learned a lot. Liza loves her nightgown, and I've had requests from Mae and my niece Abbie for some. I don't have much time to sew, so it's taking me a long time to finish them. But I'm getting to it! I really want to see all three girls in matching nightgowns!

Wish me luck!

Family Garden

After some wonderful success with my tomatoes last year I was determined to have a bigger garden this year! So I did all my research and reading up and determined that square foot gardening is what's best for our family. (Keep in mind we still rent.)

I loved the idea of making an super powered mix of vermiculite, compost, and peat moss. All the results form others I've seen are out of this world! Tim however is more of a aeroponics type guy. So I compromised. I got regular veggies and flowers with Mel's Mix and Tim could grow the herbs in a tower garden.

The kids LOVED helping out mixing and building the garden, and we got it done in a day! So awesome! I've had a little bit of success, but I'm still waiting on a few things to blossom forth. Here's some pictures of building our square foot garden and our smaller flower garden.
The kids each got to pick out a flower, I wonder if my extended family could guess who picked out what. Lol!

I'm going to have to update this post later to let you see the finished product. ;)

Haircuts

THEY BEGGED ME! After Girl Scout camp, they said their hair was way too hot and they both wanted it chopped off. So after convincing the hairstylist that its was okay to cut those MOUNDS of long hair, the girls came out with really cute cropped heads. It's made for a cute, cool, fun summer. Plus the fact that they were able to donate their hair made it even better! <3 oh I love those girls!