Watermelon Cake and Movie in the Yard (Year 2)

To see my first post on movies in the yard and watermelon cake, go here.

For my aunt's annual movie in the yard night, I was asked to make another watermelon cake. My first one was such fun, I was absolutely ready to do another one. Watermelon cakes have exploded in popularity and it's such fun to see how simple fruits turn into beautiful creations.

I ran into a serious setback this year. I cut open my watermelon, which I had spent entirely too long selecting, and found this.

Rotten. Ick. It was nothing but mush inside. When I went to shift it, half the insides went splat on the floor. I'm sure I said a word or two my daughters hopefully didn't hear.

After a quick phone call and a replacement watermelon, I got the rest of the fruit ready since I'd assemble the cake at my auntie's house. 

I can't remember where I got these cookie cutters, but I use them all the time to cut sandwiches and fruit into cute shapes. They're a hard plastic that takes the abuse of thick food. I figured out that if I sliced the cantaloupe from the outside headed inwards, I got slices that were big enough to do several shapes at a time.

As I was putting the cake together people started arriving so it was kind of fun to answer questions. I threw a bit of this and that wherever looked good while I was chatting. For this cake I used a little over half a watermelon and we still had leftover slices.

Sage Muffin was determined to get some of the fruit as I was putting it together. She'd wiggle in between my legs and the counter to push me away and then try to climb up to get to the cake. Lily was off and running as usual and I don't think I got a single picture of that girl the whole night. 

So there you have it. Watermelon cake version 2.0. It was delicious and the younger kids loved the skewers of fruit. Sage ate berries and watermelon and cheetos until I thought she'd be sick. Lily spent the entire movie whispering and eating candy with her cousins. There was tubs of popcorn and pickled cucumbers and fresh garden veggies and.. and...too much food. Too much delicious, tasty food.

Due to nasty weather, the movie was not actually on the yard. Instead we all loaded into the garage. It was kind of cozy. 

It doesn't look like it in this picture, but there was quite a few of us! (You can see my rainbow bag on the floor next to my chair! It fit two blankets, diapers, some yarn, and a couple other things!) We watched Wreck-It-Ralph. There is one line that just makes me snicker every time. "All right ladies! The kitten whispers and tickle fights stop now!" Hee hee hee. If that doesn't make you at least snort, I don't know what to do with you. 

Much fun, much food, and late nights. It was the perfect end to summer. I start school on Monday....

I have linked this post to Craft-o-Maniac Monday Inspiration Gallery Look What I made Wednesday!

Owls and rainbow bags...

I finished two great projects this week. I'm pretty proud of them.

 The bag is another one from Lucy at Attic 24. I think I've mentioned in the past how much I love her crochet patterns.

 The owl hat has the distinction of being the first crochet item I've ever sold. That's big for me because I've been pretty seriously thinking about selling my crochet through etsy or some such way. Having someone buy and appreciate what you've made is so extremely satisfying.

 
 I love the bright happy colors of the bag. I love that there was no rhyme or reason to the color stripes. I love that I can take it to the Saturday market and fill it up with the treasures I find there.

 This bag is BIG. In fact, big is not a big enough word for this bag. Gigantic. That would be a good word. It's really TOO big to use as a daily purse... but I have been anyways because it's so awesomely colored. Sage fits in this purse. With a teddy bear or two for company. (Hey, she crawled into it, I didn't put her there.)

You can read about Lucy's bag and find the tutorial here or here. I have yet to put on the flowers because I got too distracted by wearing the bag to the market.

 The owl hat was super fun too. I'm totally in love with owls. And since I can sneeze and probably hit something owl related every time I go into a store now, I know I'm not the only one. These hats are all over etsy and pinterest. Isn't it cute?

 
 It's part of a much more owlish Halloween costume that my dear friend is making for her adorable daughter. She still had to wear it at the park this morning, even though it was sweating, holy moly hot outside.

 
I didn't follow one single pattern, but I did use a few for inspiration. You can find them here and here.

For you yarn lovin' folks, I used Lily Sugar and Cream cotton yarn for the bag. I wanted it washable. My life is full of adventures, I need easy. I used plain Jain acrylic yarn for the hat. Wouldn't it be fun do do in some chunky, delicious yarn?

Summer's going by too fast. I don't have near enough time to crochet all the things I have saved up to do!! I wonder if there is a bachelor's degree in crochet that I could switch to for the fall? Would that fix the problem?

I linked this post to Hooking on Hump Day  Craft-O-Maniac Monday  Making the World Cuter Mondays  The Weekly Creative Link Party

Random Roundup: what I've been up to.

Those of you bloggers out there who do this regularly in the summer have my deepest respect! It's tough to fit in. I have five million things to blog about, but no time. So, I'm doing a roundup of things I have been wanting to blog about.

#1: My dreadlocks are now 4 years old! Happy dreadiversary!



I'm kind of to the point where I want to cut them. I have to do so in 6 months anyway, and I'm really loving on short hairstyles right now. Dreads are hot, yo. I'm waffling. I would keep them forever if I knew I could, but teaching with dreadlocks in my area is probably as possible as Lily eating broccoli. So now that I know I have to cut them, I want to cut them when I want to, not when I have to. And yes, I'm listening to how much sense I'm not making. I think it's time to break out some funky dye and do something wild. When in doubt, add a rainbow. That's my motto.

#2: Colored. Ice cubes.



I randomly saw this on pinterest and can't remember who had the original idea to credit. I threw some neon food dye in a batch of star shaped ice cubes and let the kids play with them in the pool. They were so entertained I was able to read a whole chapter in my book. That's rare during the monsters being awake portion of the day. You should probably put kiddos in older swimsuits in case of staining.

#3: The coolest mushroom in existence.



It's called a lionhead mushroom. It's furry. And delicious with a bunch of other mushrooms in mushroom risotto.

#4: ANT INFESTATION.



I feel like a mass murderer lately. They just won't. stop. coming. out. of my front porch. Normally I'm a let live type, but it's gross and Sage sits there and tries to eat them. Ugg. I have kids and dogs and can't use chemicals.  Tried a gazillion non-chemical remedies. Verdict? Soapy dishwater and cornmeal. Worked amazingly. My walkway is covered with the little ant bodies. (Note to self: spray off the walkway.)

#5: Lily left us last week. So Sage decided to practice for when she gets her Hogwarts letter.



She crawled into one of Dad's shirts and grabbed my wand off the bookshelf. Much hilarity ensued.

#6: Sage also had her first painting session! She painted almost as much as she ate the paint.



I simply put food dye into corn syrup. Once her masterpiece dried, I sprayed it with some top coat and I'm going to frame it for our wall. Clean up was not easy, but the rainbow colored water did look pretty.

#7: I made another baby shower gift. This time it was an owl lovey. Turned out super cute. It even rattled! Working on writing the pattern for it, possibly to share later.



#8: I wore makeup. Haha. I nearly made it to 60 days makeup free! Oh well. It was date night and the Hubster got all fancy, so I did too. I forgot how much fun makeup is when it's not a daily chore!!



So there you go. What we've been up to lately, if you leave out about half the stuff we're doing. Hehe. Who agrees with me that there needs to be at least two more hours added to the day?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Crochet Puppets are quite possibly the best thing ever.

I had this great idea earlier in the summer. Crochet. Puppets. 

Despite my ever growing crochet skills, I hadn't quite made the brain jump to make this idea work out. I tried about five different times.

Too big. 

Too small.

Mouth is too weird. 

And so on. Picky, picky.

Finally, I figured it out. A big part of that was due to this wonderful pattern from Stitch 11. I searched for hours trying to find a pattern just like this one. So then I tried it and that huge help to me led to these adorable little friends!

I kind of took the snake puppet idea and ran with it. These two puppets were for some of my friends of the shorter nature. A pair of 6 year old twins who were very particular when placing their orders. Twin #1 requested a blue and green puppet with an orange hat. Twin#2 requested a pink and purple puppet with yellow hair. I think I did pretty good. Aside from the basic idea of Stitch 11's pattern, the rest of the puppet such as the hat, eyes, hair and tongues were all my own. I even added eyelashes to the girl puppet! 

I wanted to also try playing around with crochet letters, and I had a lot of fun doing that part! 

The first letter of their name on their puppets was the icing on the cake for the twins. I was so cool for doing that part. There are some great letter tutorials out there and pattern diagrams, if you are interested. Each letter took less than 5 minutes to make and look how personalized of a detail it is! 

Lily and Sage were my product testers. About thirty seconds in to testing, I got the approval. I had to immediately promise Lily that I would make her a girl puppet. And a dragon. And a fish, because Sage likes fish. 

I have since started on Lily's list of puppets and I'll post more pictures of those later! I think these are my new favorite thing to crochet. I know, I know, I always say that. But look at these happy faces! There was no counting stitches, no worrying about perfection. These puppets are more charming because they aren't perfect. I think we all need a little less perfect in our life.

Now Lily is wanting a puppet show. She wants a stage and chairs and of course, an audience! So if you randomly get invited to a puppet show and the invitation is in crayon, you'll know where it came from! 

If you are interested in a pattern for the hat, eyes, hair, etc. please let me know. I can write those up if someone needs them! Also, for yarn buffs: I used Lily  Sugar and Creme 100% cotton yarn (you can guess why I picked this yarn I bet). These puppets can go on adventures and get wet and go in the wash. I wanted them played with after all! The colors I used were: Hot Blue, Hot Green, Grape, Hot Orange, Hot Pink, and Sunshine. Lot's of hotness up in here...

I loved making these and I am so proud of how they turned out! I just can't seem to stay away from making toys. Although, husbandy face even mentioned that he wants one of these puppets. HA!

If you use my puppet idea, please make sure to thank Stitch 11 for her pattern and also to link back here to my blog! I would love to see how you come up with some adornments and puppet friends! 

I have linked this post to: Hooking on Hump Day Frugal Friday Hooking Up with HOH Inspiration Gallery

Moose Babies.

Summer is in full swing at my house. What about your's?

We have had water days and play dates and kid crafts and movie nights.....Going, going, going! It's so much fun to be busy when it revolves around your kids and stuff you want to do. I've read 15 books already this summer. I've crocheted every single day. I've painted with my kids and done science experiments. It's so much fun! I've got my Super Mom cape on and I'm swinging it with some serious sass. 

Yesterday, we had an opportunity that is currently holding #1 in the list of our adventures. We road tripped to see twin baby moose, play with chickens, and stare at some gorgeous scenery. The kiddos were in heaven. I must admit, I was pretty over the moon as well.

Aren't the Grand Tetons beautiful? Sometimes I feel like, "Crap. I live in Idaho." Then I see mountains or landscapes like this and I'm like, "YEAH. I LIVE IN IDAHO!!!" Which undoubtedly makes me a redneck of some sort. I'm learning to live with that.

Now I've promised to not say exactly where, when, or why, but I can tell you that there are some people out in the world who have gone above and beyond to take care of these babies. They took in these little twins after the mama moose was found dead. Doesn't that just tug on the heart strings? They're caring for them until the moose can be taken to new homes.

 

We didn't actually pet these little babies, but Lily did get pretty close to one in the barn. The lamb in the picture kept following her around. Lily was in heaven running around after goats, lambs, ducks, and chickens. She'll be revving on this for weeks. 

Sage Muffin spent some time sitting on the fence and making animal noises. She's almost got chickens and sheep down. 

Lily and Sage were also able to feed some chickens. Sage "bock bocked" and would chase after them. Lily kept throwing out crumbs and jumping back like she was going to get eaten. Hehe. Side note: I freaking love chickens. I want a coop. I want smelly little fluff balls that I can name and walk around the yard. Makes no sense to me either, but I really, really want chickens someday.

I wasn't able to get a picture of both of the moose in one picture. Opportunity lost. All in all, a fantastic family fun filled night. Now we've got the fourth of July tomorrow... one of Lily's favorite holidays. I expect to eat too much, get sunburned, and get cranky at the fireworks going off at 2 in the morning like I do every blessed year. Happy fourth of July!!! 

Project Deconstruction... it's painful.

If you remember, I was working on the ugly awesome granny square blanket several months ago. School happened and it got thrown in my yarn box where it sat until two days ago. After finishing the giant granny lapghan and begrudgingly happily giving it as a wedding gift, I realized I wanted my own granny to snuggle. So I pulled out the ugly awesome granny. Whoa. If you ever want to realize just how much progress happens when you actually practice and improve a skill, forget about a crochet project for a few weeks.

The ugly awesome granny wasn't awesome. Well, the colors were. And the patterns. But I digress. It was horribly discombobulated. It was a not-so-happy granny.

If you notice my feet at the bottom, you'll realize just how far I had gotten on this project. Boo. If I had been attempting to make a ripple granny, I would have been spot on. Are there such things as ripple grannies? I think I just didn't pay as close attention to the joining as I should have. This attempt was done with the "join as you go" method. Easy in theory, but apparently it was not working out for me. I think  I'll try it again in the future with a smaller project. 

I've mentioned Attic 24 in the past and I'm going to do so again.

Lucy at Attic 24 is an amazing crochet lady. She has many fab tutorials. I'm currently working on a blind your eyes bright version of her crochet bag. Anyway, back on topic, she has a fantastic tutorial on how to join squares with single crochet after you have created all of them. (tutorial is here.) I think that's the method I'm going to try for this granny. That way if I screw it up, I can cut one string rather than a billion. One more side note: You should also read her non-crochet posts. She's an excellent writer.

So after huffing and puffing and asking my husband, "Do you think I should start over?" for the millionth time, I decided I couldn't go further. It was demo time. I wanted to save as many of the squares as I could because, hey, there's a lot of damn work and awesome ugliness there!

It took hours. Hours. I was trying to save squares and yarn. It was a painstaking process. I grumped at myself throughout the whole process. 

All that work wasted. But it was going to be better. It was going to be ugly awesome amazing. I managed to save most of my squares and quite a bit of the yarn for the rows I had to cut. 

Today, I spent quite a bit of time re-crocheting the rows I had to cut free. Now all but two grannies are five rows each. The other two are ten rows. I still like the idea of different sized squares, but I'm going to go at it less haphazardly this time. 

I still have about a gazillion ends to sew in as I didn't do that I as I went along either. Oh well. I'll get to it eventually. We really need to develop the technology to make ends sew in themselves. That's my least favorite part of this hobby. 

I WILL FINISH THIS AFGHAN THIS SUMMER. It will happen. After tearing it apart, I absolutely have to see it done again. The yarn demands it. Haha. Time also demands it, since I have several other projects promised to friends and family. I also want to finish my bag before too much longer. More about that later. 

Wish me luck! Here's to hoping round two does not end as painfully as round  one!

Flowers and teefers. Day in my life.

So it's my favorite time of year again.

The roses at my house are in bloom...making my house look much prettier than it usually does!

Every year, our rose bushes burst into sunny yellow happiness and remind me why I live in my tuna can of a house. For about a week or two, once a year, we're the prettiest house on the block. Provided that we've remembered to mow our yard and kill the dandelions.

There is no possible way to be grumpy when looking at my yard during this time of the year. It's fantastic. The girls wanted their pictures taken. Lily was being a ham, as usual.

She's wearing the tie her dad was supposed  to wear at my sister's wedding. He snuck out of it because I was so busy. Harummph. Lily also likes to smirk somewhat evilly at the camera to warn me that she's about to get into mischief. Or ask my a question/make a comment that makes my brain all explodey. Just the other day she golfed her first nine holes and loved it. She proceeded to tell me that she's going to be a better golfer than Tiger Woods. Seriously, how the heck does she know who Tiger Woods is? She wants golf lessons, so I guess we're adding that to the list of things to do this summer. Lily is interested in everything and that makes summer a crazy time for us as we try to get her into as many activities as possible so she can explore. So far this summer we're doing horse riding, golf, swimming, and art lessons. Possibly a Harry Potter Science Camp. I'm taking donations for all of this. Please be generous. *wink wink* I'm also constantly searching for books for her to read. She's reading faster than I can find book series for her.

Sage Muffin still has the cutest jack-o-lantern smile ever. I am really going to cry when she finally gets another tooth on the bottom.

She just got a fourth tooth and guess where it is? Yup. Still up top. Haha. This is the slowest teething child I have ever met. 18 months and 3.5 teeth. That has to be some kind of a record. Being mostly toothless does NOT slow down her eating. This kid eats. Lily doesn't. I've spent the last 8 years of my parenting life fighting for every morsel of food to go into Lily's mouth. Sage eats her portions AND Lily's portions AND mine AND Nic's. There's no stopping her. The other night at dinner out, she ate calamari, shrimp, bruschetta, brie, clam chowder, my mahi mahi, Grandma's steak, and a couple mouthfuls of pineapple salsa that was too hot for ME. Oh, and she chewed on a lemon wedge for about 10 minutes. We call her our hobbit eater. She has to have first breakfast, second breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, second lunch, afternoon tea (milk), supper, dinner....the list goes on. It's about 90% fruits and veggies, so I don't stop her. I'm going to have to up our bountiful baskets to two a week here soon to accommodate her! She also ate her first mouthful of dirt as we were planting Grandma's herbs. Possibly a bug or two. Heh. 

I can't help but smile at my flowers and my girls. That's what summer is all about to me. Playing hard, getting dirty, and sighing at the flowers. I can't wait to enjoy this sunshine and happy time!!! Just remind me in August when I'm ready for school to start again that I felt this way! By then I'll probably be ready to hide in the spider corner of my laundry room just for some quiet. ;)

While we're on the topic of flowers, can anyone tell me what type of clematis this is? Or if it is a clematis?

It's really pretty! I would love to find this variety to plant in my yard somewhere. Thanks in advance for your help!

Happy SUMMER!!!!!

I missed you. (heart hug)

So..... school kicked my butt this semester.

When I wasn't falling asleep at my computer in the middle of watching online lecture videos, I was living at the library trying to write papers or read. I'm lucky I have a husband who can raise my children for me... because that's what happened.

That's only about 3/4 of my school books. I had six other books for Anatomy and Physiology alone. Oi vey. Totally random selection, right? Plants, Marie Antoinette, and Ireland. With a bit of U.S. history thrown in. That's where my focus was... all over the place. Overall, it was an awesome semester. Exhausting, anxiety riddled, and sleepless, but awesome. Here's why:

1) I joined two honor societies: one for education and one for history. I am now an officer for the history honor's society and I will be presenting my research at a regional conference next spring. I will also be submitting a paper to a national competition for undergraduate research. Whoa.

2) I fell in love with my professor. Not in a creepy, stalker, icky way. I had one professor for two classes which meant I was seeing him four days a week. He had the best personality and experiences. I could and did talk to this guy for hours. He has become an amazing role model to me and really boosted my confidence about myself and my academics. It's because of him that I will be looking at Master's degrees in history rather than education and presenting my research. If I can ever become half the teacher he is, I'll be full of win. (stopping with teh fangirl)

3) I got to listen to real life Holocaust survivors speak about their experiences. Amazing.

4) I won a wicked cool zombie poster during Zombie Apocalypse week. Best. school. event. ever.

5) I found out that I am running out of financial aid and don't have enough money to finish school (enter breakdown and emotional angst here.) I applied for and received a $3000 scholarship to help pay for school. I'm waiting to hear back on a few others.

6) I was invited to attend a Professional Achievement Evening with my peers and professors in the College of Education and listened to some pretty impressive people speak. (This is where I was awarded my scholarship.)

7) I got to see some amazing friends graduate this semester. I'll miss them, but I can't wait to go visit their classrooms or help them sneak into classes on campus because they miss me.

8) I got a 101% in two classes. I got a perfect score on my final in another class. My final paper in yet another class is being considered for publication.

That's my roundup. I didn't get all A's this semester. I got a B in Anatomy and Physiology which I am completely ecstatic about because the class average was a low C. That class was tough. Uber tough.

I'm excited to remember that I have a blog. I'm even more excited to post on it. I found myself missing this little corner of the interwebz. Now that I have time to breathe (not even kidding) I've already started baking and crafting and getting my kids to do fun things with me. I can't wait to drive you all crazy with my on-going-on's. ;)

Talk soon!!!

Smorgasbord-orgishboard!

It's two days after the fair has ended, and I still feel like I am seeping grease from my pores.
It's a darn good thing that the fair is only one week out of the year, otherwise my body would shrivel up and beg for mercy.

I was able to go down twice. Once with my happy family and my mom, once with just my mom. Both times We conquered the food court like it was a life mission. Red velvet funnel cake. Scone nuggets. Fried green tomatoes (!!!) and candy apples. I think that's the real reason we went back the second time, just to make ourselves sick again.

While we chewed on fair food, Sage happily chewed her stroller. Yes, I tried to feed her human food, but she's like the little sister from Lemony Snicket. She chews everything.

I loved seeing the quilts and the photographs. Food, pretty things to look at, animals to coo over. I freaking love fair week. I was rather giddy that two of my friends took ribbons for their photographs! How sweet is that, right? I have awesome friends. Some of the quilts made my eyes go all bulgy out of my head. Not in a choking-on-delicious-fair-food kind of way, but in the whoa-that-is-amazingly-beautiful way.

I really loved this snowflake quilt I saw. It had hundreds of tiny rhinestones sewn on it. This quilt was INTENSE.I didn't bother taking a picture of it, it would have done an injustice to the quilt. I did get a quick picture of another blanket I liked. I want to make this. How do I make the little circles? Anyone?

My favorite animals to look at are the chickens. Yes, the chickens. I am obsessed with chickens. I want a chicken coop and I want chickens. This guy was my favorite. When I have chickens, I will have one that looks like this for pure comedic entertainment.

Lily got to ride a few rides and pet some rabbits. My daughter consistently asks when the fair is throughout the year. She's like her mama. Loves it. We rode the merry-go-round together and she was so very proud of her "most beautiful pony in the world!" She also sang the fair song from Charlotte's Webb the whole ride.

"The fair is a veritable smorgasbord - orgisbord... after the crowds have ceeeeeased!!!"

Like I said, way too much fun. I should be recovered from all the food about the time the next one rolls around. Oy. Too much foods!

Beachy vacation pictures part three.

So as part of our stay in Virginia beach at the house of wonders, we got a family photo session down at the beach.

Neato frito, right?

Seeing as how that portion of my family hadn't had a group shot in years and there were three more children added into the mix, it was perfect timing.

My mom, who is also an amateur photographer, took some pictures herself while we were down there.  These are all her photos, and they're so pretty!

My pretty baby Sage was just tickled by her soon to be uncle Mike. She was smiling and laughing. I adore this one. What a smile.

Nic and Lily took a walk down by the beach and my mom managed to grab some candid photos of them. They are so cute when they are in their own special world together. I swear, those two have their own secret language. Makes my heart happy.

Here's the one of all of us. Didn't it turn out great!?!?! Nice and simple, but I love the grass and sand in the background. She did an amazing job. I can't wait to see what the actual photographer turned up with. It will be great to have the family photo of all of us too.

Well, that's all the vacation photos I have to share! Now it's off to prepare for the first day of school (for me) tomorrow! Lily doesn't start for a week. Nic should have an interesting week at home with both our girls while I'm off expanding my knowledge and whatnot! :)