Sculpey Oven Bake Clay

The oven bake sculpey clay we got has been a major hit.  The boys knew just what to do with it.

It took a minute for them to figure out how to knead it (in small amounts to soften it), but they were off and running from there.

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Upcycling: Velvet Curtain into Travel Booster Seat Bag (for 2 seats)

We chose the old velvet curtain for this project because velvet is sturdy and soft, and the color is dark and will hide some travel marks.  We wanted a bag to hold the booster seats and possibly make it easier to get through the airport.  If that's possible.  

 To make it, we stacked the two booster seats together then cut the curtain to fit around while still giving space to get the seats in and out.

I added a pocket for a card with our contact info.

Snaps go across the opening (they are black).  

I made a strap from the top of the curtain because those rings are so cool, and we can hang a name tag from there, or strap it to another bag through the holes if needed.  To make the strap, I hemmed the width of the cut side (the other side still had its hem).  I used a box stitch to attach it.  I chose the length by trying to walk while having the full bag over a shoulder.  It is shorter than I expected.

Wish us luck traveling!

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Kids' Book Review: It's So Amazing!

This book, It's So Amazing, is so amazing!

It says the book is for ages seven and older, and has sister books for younger and older kids.  I read it to my older son when I was pregnant beginning when he was just under two and a half years old.  My younger son is now three years and three months old, and he is interested and engaged in the book (which is not the case for every book, as it was for my older son at this age).  I chose this book instead of the book for younger kids because I wanted more detail to answer their questions.  I also use the drawings as a jumping point for me to explain things, rather than reading all of the words.

This is a great book because it talks about how boys and girls are different, and what our body parts are called, and how they change throughout our lives.  I think it is important to give kids the words for the things they notice and are curious about and to normalize them.

It also discusses love and sex, and what eggs and sperm are, and what happens as and after they meet.  The kids love the real-size images of a fetus and fetus to-be.  The page with the actual birth description has nice images for explaining how a baby comes out of a mommy.  It even touches on the different gestation periods of different mammals, multiple births, adoptions, preemies, and "not-nice" touches.

Both boys, 3 and 6, are interested in this book.  The younger one thinks it is interesting that boys won't have babies inside them, and that they will always have a penis, and never a vagina.  The placenta, umbilical cord, and birth process are also interesting.  He wanted to see his baby pictures after reading it, then his brother's, then mine and his daddy's.

My older son likes the differences between the gestation periods of different animals, and loves the page with the fetus (and fetus to-be) at different stages and sizes.  Both enjoy learning that they will hit puberty someday, and seeing how their bodies will change.

This is an excellent staple for a young child's library.  It has given us a great framework for many discussions and helps the boys understand human bodies a little better.

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We Skype from our Living Room TV

The kids love being the Jetsons.  They haven't know any other way.  Isn't that odd?

We used to use Vid and now we switched to Skype (Vid is no longer).  And we do it from our living room TV using a Logitech camera. It is awesome because:

1. We don't have to sit in my little office
2. It is a wide screen (gets the whole room) but still zooms in and out if you want
3. It sends great video
4. It is always "on" to receive calls (my husband was recently traveling and called at odd hours from China and we heard the TV ringing) -- this is a huge complaint of mine for video calling- nobody is there to call!

And no, they didn't sponsor this post. I just like the camera. It just sits on your tv and has its own remote when you want to use it. Easy.




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Boys' Wedding Suits - Toddler and Little Boy Dress Up

My cousin just got married (congrats again!), and the boys were given the honor of joining in the Kids' Flower Brigade in front of the bride.   The wedding color was eggplant purple for the ladies, and the men were dressed in grey and/ or pinstriped suits.

 The boys and I took off to the fabric store after failing to find anything cute enough online (yes, I was going to buy them off-the-rack outfits).  I am so happy I couldn't find what I wanted because this was a really fun project.  It was especially fun because I have made the pieces before and already had the patterns and had done the dry run of each part already (here is my previous suit and here are the pants (here they are as shorts and here is about the buttonhole elastic I made myself)~ and here is the suit jacket I did not make and am happy about skipping because it was way too hot and would have hidden the vests).

We found eggplant purple synthetic soft material in the remnant bin (otherwise I would be more specific about the type of fabric!) and grey pinstriped suiting with blue and white and grey stripes. Perfect!  We were off and running. 

The pants are the "Little Heartbreaker Pants" from the Sewing For Boys book.  I made them in size 2T and 4T and added an inch to each pattern.  The boys currently wear 4T and 6T, but, having made her patterns before, I knew they run very big.  I also skipped the bottom binding and hemmed them instead.  I used the purple to line the pockets and waistband.  I haven't made this pattern for a while, so I forgot that I was confused by the faux fly instructions and had to rip it out the first time.  They ended up a bit baggier than I had expected, and the front pleats both go the same direction instead of the same direction in relation to the midline.  Oops.  I also chose to stitch the front waistband lining down as part of the front piece instead of as part of the whole waistband after they were constructed.  This made it easier to put it together, but it did make the topstitching look uneven from the outside.  I don't think anyone but me noticed.  I made my own buttonhole elastic for the waistband.

The vests were made with Simplicity 8442 again.  I did it without the vest buckles in back, and just stitched the adjustable ends together.  I did this because I didn't have any buckles, and the width of each was ok on the kids-- they didn't need to be pulled in at all with a buckle.  I used the same sizing I did previously and made one a couple of inches longer than the other.  They could have both been wider, and the larger size could have used wider arm holes.  Each could have also been an inch or two longer still.  When I made these before, I struggled with sewing the front and back together under the arms.  This time, I innovated by stitching the outer layer first (after turning and before topstitching), then stitching the inner layer and covering the seam with a sort of Hong Kong Finish (this is a fancy way of saying I cut a strip of the purple as if it was bias tape and covered the seam with it).  I did this because suiting ravels and looks sloppy fairly quickly at the seams.  I should have also done it with the pants; it was my first time doing this and was really easy and made the inside look a lot sharper.  I perfected buttonholes on my machine (finally) and they went quickly. Next time, I will buy matching buttons... though I was lucky enough to find two and three that matched from my collection~ even though I wanted five! With the topsticthing, I used a wider straight stitch and could have gone even wider.

 Lastly, the bow ties were made using Little Londyn's Little Guy Ties pattern.  I had to cut my velcro in half to make it narrow enough to fit, and it worked.  I had forgotten that I was confused the first time I made it about how to finish the ends of the neckband.  The pattern directs you to another description when finishing the ends.  It would have been far easier to make the band a half inch longer and turned the ends inward a quarter of an inch on both sides than to think about it after stitching the velcro on.  

We were all really happy with how the ensembles turned out.  The off-the-rack chambray shirts were cute, although each was a tiny bit big on the boys and somehow their shirts kept coming untucked.

The bow ties and vests were comfortable enough for them to leave on for many hours.  

Overall, the project was a success.  Cute boys, nice outfits, nice wedding...  

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Carrying Twins

 No, not me.  The boys.

They each had to have two babies in their carriers at the same time.

One carrier is the DIY Child's Ergo I made, and the other is the child-sized Moby I made.

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Special Delivery!

 

How fun for me to come out from putting "the baby" to sleep for his nap and have my little mailman deliver this package!

Spoiler alert: inside was a spiral notebook full of blank paper.

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Self Directed Painting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Keepin' Cool in the Heat

These are old Home Depot buckets with hose water in them.

Ahhh.... cool water...

Man, it's hot....

Maybe if I dip my hat....

Nah... maybe if I dip my feet, and stay in the shade....

Hey- if he did it, maybe it works??!!??

 

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Restaurant Survival Strategies

Going to a restaurant isn't always a walk in the park with kids.  We do better in certain restaurants than others, and have always~ well, post-kids always, chosen restaurants which have key features like booths or crayons.  Booths are so the kid isn't confined and crayons are for entertainment.  The best entertainment is actually the local pizza joint with a booth and they give the kids dough and the kitchen is open to watch.  Triple whammy.  Oh- and did I mention they have coupons all over town, the pizza is good, and we can bike there? Note to Local Lamorinda Folks: check out Mangia in Lafayette.

But lately we have been trying a different strategy.  We packed up a bag of toys, and this bag is only opened at restaurants.  It is full of fabulous toys like:

• a train car and 3 wooden train tracks
• an excavator truck
• a few wooden cars
• crayons
• coloring sheets
• parts of a plastic train city set we have- the fire station (it has an opening door) and a Hot Wheels to go in it

Ok, maybe these toys aren't fabulous.  But they are great because they have a bit of a novelty factor if the kids don't normally play with them.  They are also great for independent play at the table so Mom and Dad can chat or read the menu.  They are also interactive if Mom and Dad want to play.

I have seen similar bags labeled as "busy bags" on other blogs and Pintrest if you want to see what other folks are up to.  But these have been great for us, since we don't want to resort to calling in our order in advance, or ordering as soon as we sit down -- which are two tried and true strategies.  We want to linger for a bit and chat and enjoy the ambiance.

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Home Depot Work Aprons

I had been thinking about sewing some half aprons for me and the boys for our gardening tools.  There are a ton of tutorials out there, and I had in mind to choose one and make them.

Then we were at Home Depot with both boys driving the race car shopping cart (aka heaven for all of us) and in the tool corral area looking for a gift for Daddy's birthday.

We decided against a tool belt for him made of leather because it was so heavy empty, then stumbled upon these beauties.  Made of sturdy heavyweight canvas and priced at 77 cents each, I bought three.

So far, they have served as garden aprons, mailman belts, and treasure pockets.



Plus, they are adorable and useful.

 

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Homemade Ice Cream -Sugar Free

We have talked about vanilla ice cream before, but we are at it again.  And this time with two munchkins at the spoon.

Oy.

 

p.s. It's sugar-free because I skipped the maple syrup/ honey. They don't even notice.

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