Author: Wendy

This is What Happens…

Posted by on 4 Comments

when Mommy gets distracted:

image

image

image

Doesn’t he look guilty?

I was sweeping the living room yesterday and forgot that Small Fry is officially a crawler now. Munchkin had left his ink pad out on the floor of the dining room (adjacent to the living room), which I didn’t notice in time. Loose ink pad + crawling baby + distracted mom = disaster waiting to happen!

Fortunately the ink came off the floor and the baby with just water and a rag. It’s still underneath his fingernails a little, but it’ll eventually wear off. I hope.

Off to the Zoo

Posted by on 2 Comments

For Christmas last year, we promised our kids trips instead of buying them toys that would get played with for a week and then forgotten. It’s something we’d always talked about doing but never actually done; in our “poorer” years, it was easier to have a Dollar Store holiday than to make promises we couldn’t keep. We gifted them three trips: roller skating (which we did in January), a trip to the lava caves of Mount St. Helens (still to come – we’ve been told that’s a summertime activity), and a trip to the zoo. We did the zoo last Monday with my in-laws.

There were the “normal” animals…

Bears…

image

Monkeys…

image

Cougars…

image

And my personal favorite, elephants.

image

image

The baby, “Lily,” was born just last year. This was our first time seeing her. Even though she’s an elephant, she definitely had “baby” qualities. So adorable!

The African exhibit (which is my favorite, outside of the elephants – our zoo has Asian elephants) had giraffes:

image

There was a body of water (lake? pond? puddle? I’m not sure…) in the giraffe enclosure that, as Seahawk pointed out looked a lot like a giraffe head and neck, so I snapped a picture of that too.

image

There were also the obligatory sleeping hippos:

image

And flamingos. Yes, flamingos! I’d never seen them before; they were absolutely gorgeous birds. They even stood on one of their spindly legs like their stereotype. I suppose they’re stereotyped that way for a reason.

image

When they opened their wings, I was surprised to see that the tips were black. The black wingtips on the pink birds was absolutely gorgeous.

image

In the mongoose exhibit, they had a tunnel that kids could crawl through and be part of the exhibit.

image

There was a model of a bald eagle’s nest you could climb in. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t life size, though.

image

image

The zoo also boasts several statues for kids to climb on throughout.

image

image

I remember playing on some of them when I was a kid!

image

image

image

image

image

A lunch in the zoo cafe let me know why my mom always packed a picnic when I was a kid. Whew, that was overpriced! Lol!

That’s a pretty good overview of our trip :).

What’s your favorite zoo animal?

–Wendy

This Moment: Tired

Posted by on 2 Comments

Inspired by Soule Mama.

A Friday ritual. A single photograph – no words – that capture a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, remember.

If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find.

image

Have an amazing weekend!

–Wendy

Eight Down, Four to Go…

Posted by on 4 Comments

It’s amazing how much faster sewing projects go when you have a working sewing machine! Here are the next four Sunbonnet Sue All Year blocks for my quilt.

January:

image

July:

image

September:

image

November:

image

The marshmallow in the July block is actually a hot dog in the book, but I didn’t have any fabrics that would make a convincing looking frank. When I asked the kids for thoughts, Seahawk had the brilliant idea of making it a marshmallow instead. I’m raising geniuses! Lol!

–Wendy

A Trip to Fort Vancouver

Posted by on 5 Comments

image

We didn’t really know what we wanted to do on Saturday other than have a Family Day. So we got in the car and hubby started driving. We ended up in Fort Vancouver. Neither hubby nor I had been there in years, so it was a fun experience for all of us.

The day we were there was a great day to have gone; almost all of the attractions were open and staffed by volunteers in period clothing from the 1840s.

The kids loved seeing real (though no longer functional) cannons. We studied the Revolutionary War earlier this school year and are studying the Civil War now – plus they’re boys – so cannons are fascinating to them.

image

image

Both Seahawk and Munchkin reminded me as I was taking their pictures, “Don’t ever do this!”

Munchkin was fascinated by the old-fashioned wheelbarrow.

image

At one point in history, John McLoughlin lived at the fort. His house has been recreated for people to look at. The dishes behind the rope (so the ones in the photograph) are the real ones from the time; the ones the volunteers use (not pictured) are replicas.

image

Here’s the bastion. This is what I always picture when I think of an old military fort, but I now know there’s much more to it than this! We were actually able to go inside the bastion. It’s a 3-story building that’s empty except for the top floor, which you can tell from picture is much bigger than the bottom floors – the top houses several cannons.

image

I didn’t take pictures inside the two main “lessons” we had, but we learned all about 1840s medicine and the fur trade in the area at the time. The military fort was actually built to protect the assets – the furs. It turns out it was never needed; they were never challenged.

Just outside the fort was an amazing garden. They had loads of flowers, vegetables, and herbs growing. These are used for a summer camp they host: for a fee, people (kids and adults) can come to the fort and learn about the time, eat period food, wear period costumes, and stay the night.

image

image

image

Outside, there was a huge anchor that was drawn out of the Columbia River. They don’t know much about it except that it was made sometime between 1815 & 1850 and it is so huge it was from a ship likely weighing around 1,000 tons. What they don’t know was whether this ship was a freighter, a passenger liner, or something else.

image

image

image

To end the day, I bought a triangle that was actually made on the grounds by a real blacksmith (as opposed to a fictional one :p). I love that it’s made from completely natural materials – cast iron with a leather strap – and not plastic. I plan to use it to call the kids in from outside when they’re playing, like a dinner bell. It’ll be a real voice saver!

image

image

–Wendy

This Moment: 3 Brothers

Posted by on 5 Comments

Inspired by Soule Mama.

This moment: a Friday ritual. A single photograph – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to savor, remember.

If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to see.

“If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves.” -Maria Edgeworth

image

Have a blessed weekend.

–Wendy

Reusable Bags for Produce and Bulk Items

Posted by on 5 Comments

Eliminating – and even lessening – our waste has been a very frustrating undertaking. I got Zero Waste Home from the library last week and read it, but the main advice in the shopping chapter is “buy everything in bulk using your own containers.” While I’d love, love, love to do that (she even has access to shampoo and conditioner in bulk in her area!), the bulk foods near me are sadly lackluster. So I’m coming to the (unfortunate) conclusion that a true Zero Waste lifestyle just isn’t possible for my family. Unless the local stores start offering more than nuts and organic chocolate chips (at $9 a pound!) in bulk, we’re going to end up sending more than one quart of garbage a year to Junk Mountain. Especially since I have a friend who’s seen with her own eyes what I’ve suspected for years: the garbage company dumps our recyclables instead of recycling them, even when you take them directly to the recycling center (as opposed to using curbside service). I’m going to try to make additional strides this summer by canning my own tomatoes (never tried before…) and making my own freezer jam (did that once) in reusable glass jars. My first step, though, is a little less advantageous: I made reusable bags for the bulk items that are available (including produce). And with even a smidge of sewing experience, you can too! It’s super easy.

First, cut your fabric to whatever size you want your bag(s) to be. 12×15 is a pretty good size. For a nice strong bag, you want the bottom to be folded, not sewn, so for that 12×15 size, cut your fabric 12×31 (that extra inch allows room to insert your draw strings without compromising the size of your bag).

Next, fold over 1/4″ on each of the 12 inch sides. You can finger press or iron, whichever you’d prefer. Lay your drawstring material (I just use yarn – 18 inches is a good length, and you need 2 per bag) near the raw edge and fold it over again, capturing the yarn inside. Pin into place.

image

Sew that seam down on both sides of each bag, being careful not to catch the yarn – it needs to be free for the drawstring property to work.

I forgot to take a picture of the next step, but it’s easy; you should be able to figure it out. Fold your bags in half, right sides together, with the yarn ends lined up. Sew up the sides, again being careful not to catch the yarn in your seams.

Turn your bags right side out and knot the yarn together on both sides. This keeps it from from just sliding out of the casing.

You’re done! Now go enjoy using your new bags instead of the single-use plastic ones the store provides.

image

Feel free to leave me comments with questions; it’s possible I’ve forgotten some details.

–Wendy

Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Progress Report

Posted by on 4 Comments

You might remember that I bought a quilting book a few weeks ago – A Year in the Life of Sunbonnet Sue. It has patterns for 12 quilt blocks, one representing each month. There are options for making each one into a small wall quilt or you can combine them any way you like into larger bed quilts, i.e. one representing each season for a crib quilt, all 12 into one quilt for a queen size, or any other combination you can imagine. I don’t have any baby girls coming into my life soon to do a seasonal one for, and 12 small quilts for the walls isn’t something that really fits into our decor, so I’m tackling the “through the year” queen size for mine & hubby’s bed. I’ve finished 4 of the blocks so far…

February:

image

April:

image

May:

image

October:

image

When I have a few more done, I’ll do another update, and of course when the whole thing is completed as well :).

–Wendy

The Best Things in Life Aren’t Things

Posted by on 2 Comments

I hope all you mothers had a wonderful Mother’s Day with your children and mothers! My kids were super excited to wake up early and give me the gifts that our neighbor helped them make: little clay magnets

image

And they each painted a terra cotta pot and planted a flower.

image

Then, at church, their teacher had all the kids make paper flower bouquets for their moms.

image

Mine are now proudly hanging the sewing room :).

After church, hubby took us all out for lunch and then to JoAnn’s where he bought me a new sewing machine :D. Mine quit working about a month ago, and since there are no Singer authorized repair shops in my state, our only real option was replacement (which accomplishes one of my May goals). The no-waste side of me hates that it came to that, but on the other hand, it was only $100 and lasted through pretty heavy use for over 4 years. I’ll donate it to someone who can fix it if I’m amble to find such a person.

Anyway, here’s the new one:

image

The excitement of my kids and hubby in blessing me in such huge ways was worth way more than the things themselves. They (my family) are truly the best things in my life…

image

…even when they (*ahem* Small Fry *ahem*) aren’t totally happy.

–Wendy

Picture of the Week May 6-10

Posted by on 2 Comments

image

We picked the kids up from Club Mud on Tuesday (more on that here) and hubby and Seahawk put Small Fry down in the grass, expecting – at least on hubby’s part – that he would hate it. Well, he didn’t. He loved it. So they helped him walk until we got to the sidewalk. Small Fry is still shoeless (I don’t believe in putting shoes on kids until they walk outside often enough to need them), so he had to be carried once we hit the hot pavement.

It won’t be long now until Small Fry is walking on his own. All he needs is confidence.

Happy Mother’s Day to all who are moms. May God richly bless you and your families.

–Wendy