This to That Quickie

Grandma and Grandpa picked this cute little stroller up for the girls a while back and they love it (and fight over it constantly).  The only problem is that the seat kept slipping off the bottom and they would have a complete fit because they couldn't get it back on by them selves.  A few rectangles of scrap fabric, a little sewing, and an episode of Mickey Mouse Club House, and I came up with this.  No more slipping off, but still removable for washing.



Peanut is all ready for a stroll!  


Comic Store Maternity Photos

A few weeks back, my friend Erin was so kind as to take a Saturday and spend it shooting some maternity photos at TATE'S Comics+Videos+Toys+More.  Here are a few of my favorites!








 

 





Erin is so talented!  She takes amazing photography, is a crafty domestic maven, an awesome mom and a great friend!  Check out her blog Turquoise Violets

Big Girl Panties

Cherry desperately wants to wear panties

Thrifty finds

I don't normally come home with a ton of stuff on my thrifting adventures, either because my trip has been cut short by a misbehaving kid, or lack of funds, or guilt about bringing more "junk" into the house or I'm just plain not lucky.  But when I do find stuff, it's usually amazing!  Yesterday I stopped in Goodwill while Josh waited in the car with the kids.  I rushed in looking for clothes for Jasper and came out with a vintage Tupperware Pickle Saver (in Olive Green), a Little Golden Book to add to the collection, and a small vintage planter with working music box attached to the top.  Not bad for $3 and change.  Then today, I took Cherry with me to Community Thrift (where I had a $5 off coupon from the last time Josh shopped there), again in search of clothes for Jasper and emerged with another Little Golden Book, a Mickey Mouse book, a few onsies and this amazing suspendered outfit that blew my mind.  Thanks thrift gods for being kind to me and my wallet!





DIY Fabric Chair "Harness"

So Cherry is getting more and more difficult to get in and out of her high chair.  She is too big and too long and besides that, she is showing great interest in sitting in a regular chair at meal time.  Time to get out one of the girls old booster seats, but the thought of her sitting and staying put on it made me nervous, so I found this great tutorial on fabric Travel Chair.

Check out the great step by step instructions and images of her creation here This Mama Makes Stuff Blog

And here is what I came up with.  It's kinda hard to see how the contraption works, but basically you put the flap up between her legs, then cross the sides over in front (Velcro closure) then the flap folds down over the sides. 




We used it at all our meal and snack times today and she loved it.  I'm still a little weary of her tipping to the side too much and falling out, so I hover real close, but I think it was a success!  Oh, and the little booster seat was another DIY I did back when the girls transitioned from high chairs to regular chairs.  The tutorial for the booster seat was also a great one Prudent Baby Blog.

This to That - Retro Graphic Ts/ Onsies

Kids are all sick today so they are in TV land taking it easy.  I found the motivation today that was so lacking yesterday to get a few things done around the house, laundry, bathrooms, getting baby stuff all set up and ready (only 16 days left till my due date).  One of the projects I've been wanting to work on is some iron on shirts for the girls, and for Jasper.  Figured it was the perfect solution to those cheesy onesies with the cutesy sayings on them that I'm so against for my little guy.  I had no problem with the cartoony, adorable baby wear for my girls, but now that we have a boy on the way, I've become very picky and want my guy to be rugged and tough, LOL.  Here's the first round of iron on transfers.


The existing graphic shows through slightly on the turquoise onsie, but I don't think it's a huge deal.  I'll have to take that into consideration when choosing my images for future projects of this sort, and make sure the images I choose are dark where they need to cover something.


Took some long sleeve shirts and cut the sleeves and made the girls some princess shirts.


 These are the Iron on Transfers I use.  I've done a lot of projects with them and they seem to hold up pretty well and not crack or peel off.  I've found they are the cheapest at Wal*Mart.

This to That - Flowering Suitcase

So I've decided to drop the Tuesday off of my "This to That" posts, because lets face it, I can never get these things posted on the right day.  Here is my flowering suitcase project I wanted to finish up my courtyard makeover.  Found the suitcase at Salvation Army (along with a few other goodies) last week for a mere $3.99, the cheapest planter ever!  Popped in a few flowers from Lowe's and pow!  Cute conversation piece at the entry way.

What a fabulous weekend

The weeks have been long and exhausting for me lately.   I'm 8+ months pregnant lugging three kids around to dance class, story time and dr.s appointments with pretty much no patience, and aching back and constant desire to just sit and put my feet up. 

This weekend was a super special treat loaded with fun and family time.  I always get excited for the weekends because the extra help of my husband being home.  We woke up Saturday with no plan for the day.  Slowly got ready for the day with showers (not a quick thing with 5 people)  then we headed to the Lake Worth Easter Egg hunt.  It was a very poorly planned/ organized set up with circles fenced off for different age groups and huge lines.  They let a few kids in at a time and let them dig through the hay for 30 seconds to look for eggs.  Zoey found one egg and was nice enough to share her candy with Abby who found none.  Cherry found two eggs, but wasn't able to eat the inappropriate age candy inside.  As soon as Cherry finished her hunt, we RAN to the car to escape the looming rain clouds in just enough time to not get completely soaked. 

A quick discussion of what we wanted to eat for lunch took us driving down A1A to Delray Beach to eat at a trendy burger joint, Burger-Fi.  Now I've been here once before and loved it.  Saturday, however, it was jam packed with beach goers and our burgers were obviously thrown together just to get them out the door.  A little disappointing, but I mean, it was a burger and fries, so it wasn't all bad.  We journeyed back north up A1A, looking at the mansions and ocean and ended up at City Place to go to the book store.  We are in search of books about Airplanes to prep the girls for their first airplane ride this summer (which they are already having anxiety about).  Found a cut Richard Scarry book about the airport and picked up a hand full of other new books including Micky Mouse, My Little Pony, Thor and Captain America.  A quick ride on the little Choo Choo Train was followed by delicious ice cream from Sloan's.  We walked City Place a little longer and had a wonderful performance put on by the kids.  Still not sure where they picked this up from, but it was awesome.


 Realized it was past diner time, so we headed home, had some cereal for diner, read our new books and off to bed.  For a day with no plans, it ended up being one of the most fun days we've had in a long time.

Sunday ended up being just as enjoyable, filled with Easter Egg hunts, new My Little Pony Toys from the Easter Bunny, Mamie and Granddaddy, Waffles with Icecream and bacon for our "Easter Dinner" and fun in the kiddie pool.  The weather was spectacular, we even turned off the AC and opened the sliders for a bit. 

We only have a few more weekends of our current family dynamic before Baby Jasper enters the world and I truly hope they are as magical as this weekend!  






 

Outdoor Space

I've been working like a busy honey bee sprucing up our courtyard getting ready for spring/ summer and the massive amount of time I know we'll be spending out there.  Bought a few new plants and mulch, and got around to a hand full of DIY projects I've been wanting to do. 

 Been wanting to make some of these twine pendants for ever.  The hemp one was my first attempt.  Let me tell you, it is not a good project to work on with three kids demanding your attention.  There was lots of starts and stops and hand washing, but it went pretty smoothly.  I liked working with the yarn (the yellow one) much more.  I used a combination of about three different tutorials online for directions on making them.

 Bold striped pillows for my aching pregnant back


 Festive bunting made from vintage table cloth.  The other side has already started to fade from the sun, but I think it gives it even more character.



 My redone bench that I am still so in love with.




I would love to have an out door rug under our gazebo area to make it a little more cozy, but I've yet to come across an affordable one.  And the last DIY I want to work on for now is a vintage suit case planter for right next to the door. 


Inspiration