Just Pin it

      Pinterest strikes again.  It's like a library of things I want to do.  I pin and I pin.  I have pinned so many organizing and cleaning ideas and solutions that my house should be pristine.  But I think I fall a little short on the execution most of the time.  So it isn't pristine.  It isn't even remotely organized.   Luckily I pinned a nice sign idea that says "Please excuse the mess the children are busy making memories."  Pretty sure that guilt sign will stop anyone from saying anything about the utter chaos I live in. 
       Recently I pinned an "easy sewing tutorial."   I thought... ok see, everyone is saying how easy it was to make this diaper stacker.  Surely I could do this!  And then I could add grey and yellow into the room more (because I have been trying to get his room re do done since like May).  This will be great.  I went to Joann's and I bought all the stuff I needed (spent way more than I would have on BUYING a diaper stacker though...) and came home and went to work.
      It started out easy enough.  I used my new cutter (the silhouette cameo which I adore) and cut some space themed shapes.  Went off without a hitch!   Then I took out the scissors and the directions and this is where the trouble started.  The 1st problem is that I cannot cut a straight line.  Like not even remotely.  The 2nd problem is I cannot think inside out and upside down like you need to when you sew.  This "easy" tutorial might as well have been written half in Chinese for the amount of understanding I was lacking at the different parts.  Thread was ripped, fingers were poked, colorful words were uttered and I nearly threw in the towel 3 different times.  I was ready to be D-O-N-E with the stupid sewing ideas on pinterest.   Realizing not only would I never quilt like my mom but my husband would still be farming out to get his button replaced on his shirt.  Eventually I muddled through thinking just finish the &*%!@$( thing!!   Who cares if it's wrong at this point.  And then it was done.
     And you know what??  A seamstress would absolutely notice that my corners were more like curves and my pleats were uneven and that everything doesn't line up perfectly.  And the OCD part of me wants to remove the applique rocket and Saturn and stars and change them so they are dead center.  But without inspection it looks like it could have been STORE BOUGHT!   Holy crap I did it.  AND the diapers actually fit in there.  And the hanger did too.  WOOT WOOT.  Touche Pinterest. 
  I might actually use this for a few months as the little one doesn't appear to have any looming interest in potty training, despite the many Pinterest boards dedicated to the subject.

Playing With The Sun

         Why does it seem like the summer is a mix of weeks flying by and days juts dragging on and on.   We have tried doing a couple of small trips this summer but without summer camp some of the home days seem to have 36 hours full of needy squabbling kids.  So I have tried to come up with a few new cool ideas to keep things fresh and new.  I should be working with them on multiplication or something but that takes way more dedication than I have.  I hear the whining in my head before I even suggest it and I run for the hills!!!   So instead on this day we made some fun with the sun.  We made Sun Prints. Since Steve Spangler has done it then it totally qualifies as educational right!?
        The Sun Print paper comes in a black bag with a thick piece of plexi glass.  You take out the paper you want (inside not out in the sun).  You choose some fun objects of any kind to lay on top of the paper and cover with the plexiglass.  Then you go outside and lay it in the sun until the paper turns a very pale blue.  In the FL sun that takes only 40 seconds.  (A lesson in sun screen anyone?)  You then bring it inside and "fix" (remember when we had to DEVELOP film?) it with water and a couple drops of lemon juice.  The lemon juice just makes the blue darker but it is not a requirement.  Then you lay it flat to dry.  Pretty neat stuff!

The purple is the folder we used underneath

laying out in the sun under the plexiglass

just after rinsing

done!

Key West Survival

We have returned from Key West.  It's easy to forget just how long of a state Florida is.  While the drive was relatively easy, and the kids were rock stars as far as patience goes, it still took 7.5 - 8 hours to get from Tampa to Key West.  And in case you didn't know it's flipping HOT in Florida in July.  The humidity in Key West is worse than here so it was sort of like vacationing in a hot steaming bowl of soup.  With great views of course.  The boys (well not the littlest boy) went fishing and brought us back some delicious looking mahi that I will cook tonight.  We went on a glass bottom boat ride that I nearly tossed my cookies on and regretted every second of.  I couldn't even LOOK out the glass bottom without turning green.  Remind me not to do that again... We window shopped up and down Duval & Front streets and Mallory Square.  We paid a bit too much money to see Hemingway's house and some cats, and we ate more desserts than we should have had all month.  You know, a typical successful family vacation.  Nicholas loved looking for roosters and chickens (which roam all over the place in K.W.).  AJ most enjoyed the fishing trip and eating mussels twice.  Maddie was mostly a fan of the pool and the sun deck views on the roof of the hotel.  My favorite thing was just seeing something new.  What I like about summer is the ability to whisk off somewhere for 3 - 4 days without worry about missing school or school work.  Enjoy the tourist pictures below. 

bored

Maddie always watching out for Nick

morning view off the hotel dock

morning at the hotel

looking for crabs

lizard eating a crab!

coolest toy store ever

magician in the toy store

random rooster

waiting to feed the tarpon and shark

mama chicken and her babies in a parking lot

beef carpacchio

strolling down Duval street

Nick is ready to go

reading in the back seat

hard at work

historic Key West

fishing for Mahi

morning at the hotel

Key Lime Muffin

silly boys in Key Largo

Road Trip!

Help... tomorrow I will be trapped in the car with all 3 kids for approximately 8 hours.  Have I mentioned that I like road trips for about 3.5 hours and then I look for the eject button?  Yeah...  Too bad for me as we live in FL so I really need to suck it up so we can drive to Key West.  Thank God my husband does all the driving on these trips.  Packed up some new Blue's Clue's episodes for the little one.  Thank God because I cannot listen to Mr Salt & Mrs Pepper having a baby AGAIN... For the older two I made the coolest travel binders though.  Thank you Pinterest for some printables and some ideas.  The rest I made with photo shop.  Hopefully this buys us some "Are we there yet?" free hours.
Each kid gets:
 a binder with a clip and paper

time "tickets" tear one up every 30 min

 Those cool colored pencils that have a bunch of colors mixed up in them and dry erase markers with erasers to play the games below (all laminated).

Each kid has a different bingo card

Write On Wipe Off Battleship

How many state's plates can you find

And a road map so they can track the progress

little one gets a mini box of goodies