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Monday, June 28, 2010

8 Months (and I'm back!)


I am feeling a little sentimental today, not only is my baby 8 months today, but last night I went through all of our (little) baby stuff and took it to the consignment store today. I had three bags of clothes, a swing, a chair, a highchair, bumbo, etc. Don't get me wrong, I am always happy to get rid of clutter, but it made me sad to think that this is the last time I will have any of this baby stuff around. Oh well, I am sure we will soon be filling the house with barbies, ponies, and American Girl dolls, right?

To my sweet Baby C: You are 8 months old today. Since you came around our lives have been filled with more joy than we could have imagined. Your bright and beautiful smile melts my heart more and more each minute of each day. And it's not just me, your brothers are under your spell as well. They would do anything for you and love taking care of you and playing with you. Joe Finney calls you CaraBeana, and B4 calls you LenaGirl. And you love them too. You are really good at giving "kiss attacks" right now and love when your brothers spend time playing with you. As of today, you have four teeth, two on top and two on the bottom. It's a good thing too, because you are LOVING trying new foods now and don't want mommy to cut anything up. Just tonight you ate a whole banana without any help!

You are starting to scoot around a little and will probably be crawling in the next week or two. We took you to the beach for the first time last week and you loved it. Your favorite part is when we would sit down by the ocean and let the waves hit our legs. You would splash around and try to eat the sand. You would also fall asleep in my arms every day and we would take naps on the beach. Oh, my girl, how I love you! I am trying to take it slow and cherish every minute.


More tomorrow on our trip to Fripp Island. See the dresses I made her (above) for our trip last week? Didn't wear them once. I WAY over packed and she wore about 1/3 of what I brought for her!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Crafty Business

So I made this little outfit last night for the daughter of a yoga friend of mine and I am pretty sure it is my favorite thing I have made so far. This picture doesn't do it justice, it really is so adorable and was fairly easy to make. Or maybe I just like it because I didn't use a pattern (I strongly dislike reading patterns) and because the top is sort of Matilda Jane-ish.


So I am looking for opinions...is this something I should make for the Bazaar we are doing in December? Should I do a variation on it to make it more winter-y? What do you think? This will be my first shot at selling this stuff so I don't really know what to expect! Would love any advice/opinions for any of you who have experience with these craft shows!

P.S. The Beatles Fabric featured in the last post was purchased at Ben Franklin here in Louisville.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Our Free(ish) Summer - Abbey Road Festival

I have been wanting to write about this for a while now. 2 weeks to be exact. The Abbey Road on the River Festival. You can read more about it here if you want. I love this festival, we have gone the past three years and it gets better every time. Here are the stats:

Kid Fun Level - 5
Mom Fun Level - 5
Mom Stress Level - 2 (maybe even 1)
Cost - $25 for my ticket (kids were free); $4 parking; $10 ice cream

Okay so this isn't exactly free and it really isn't even that cheap, but it is lots and lots of fun, and sometimes that is all that matters when looking for an activity to keep the kids (and you) happy. If you live in the Louisville area, this festival is a "must do". I usually go every year with my friend B, but since she has a brand new baby this year, I had my dad and sister tag along with us. Basically, this festival is where a bunch (and I mean a BUNCH) of bands get together and play Beatles songs. This goes on for like 4 days. I would describe it as a very small kid friendly version of Woodstock. Or of what I imagine Woodstock was probably like. All different types of people sitting (and dancing and laying) around listening to really great music. So was it kid friendly? Yes, and it gets more kid friendly every year. There are so many things the kids can do here. You can listen to music


Or you can enjoy some ice cream


You can relax with your family

Or maybe you want to dress up like a Yellow Submarine.


Or maybe you would prefer to be a robot




And since you are on the river, let's check out the view




And draw some pictures with sidewalk chalk





But please don't forget to dance with your Aunt





and hang with your grandpa.




Did you notice those specially made Beatles outfits the kids were wearing? You can't go to a Beatles Festival without those! Thanks, Mom!







Sunday, June 13, 2010

Busy

I have to take a minute to apologize. I know I have been M.I.A the past couple of weeks, but I have a good excuse. We have been busy. Extremely busy, but it has been the fun kind of busy so I can't complain. That being said, we have been doing all sorts of things that have good "blog" potential, just no time to write it all down. So, in an effort to clear my mind of all of these blog posts, I am committing myself to a post a day the next week. I know, I know, I am setting my standards high, but I really want to get back into a good routine here. So I am sure you are wondering what we have been up to. Well, we have been hanging out a lot with these guys:


and going to this place:



and checking out this festival:

and making these dresses:



and also this dress:



and celebrating birthdays, going to aquatic centers, hanging out with friends and neighbors, and visiting family out of town, and making more dresses and hair accessories....whew, sounds exhausting! Lots of free and not-so-free activities to share with you all. Looking forward to our Week of Posts!




Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Our Free(ish) Summer - Week 2

Where do I start? Week two was filled with so many free (and not so free) activities!! The beginning of the week brought us to the Louisville Nature Center, so we will start there...

Louisville Nature Center
Cost: Free
Fun Level: 4
Mom Stress Level: 1

On Tuesday afternoon we made our way to the LNC in the early afternoon. This was sort of spur of the moment, so it was just me and the kids. I wasn't really sure what to expect; I had checked out the website, but it didn't really show many pictures or give too much info so we kind of went into it blind. Basically, it is just what the name says it is, a Nature Center. Everything you do here revolves around nature, being outside, looking at birds, bugs, flowers, plants, things like that. Good, if you have a kid who is "nature -y". Bad, if you have a kid who doesn't like getting dirty or who doesn't like walking or bugs. I happen to have one of each (plus one who is too little to know yet). When you pull into the parking lot this is what you will see:





a small cinder block building surrounded by trees and "nature". They have a lot of the plants and trees labeled in case you are interested in checking that out. Once inside the building you can...

check out your wingspan. Joe Finney happened to have the wingspan of a mallard. Or you can...

stick your hands in small boxes to figure out what sort of "nature-y" things are in the box. The boys loved this. I, however, am a little creeped out by sticking my hands into dark boxes. There is also a (very) small library inside, and that is about it inside. Then you walk through the building to the outside of the center. Here you have a couple of options; you can walk on the trail, which happens to be 1.5 miles long, or you can go into the bird blind. We did both. Well, we didn't actually walk the whole trail since it was just me with all three kids, but we did walk some of the trail. On the trail you could...


look at worms and bugs. Here joe Finney was attempting to step on a worm, which I quickly put a halt to. As much as I dislike bugs, they are God's creatures too and I don't need my kids trying to stomp them! Sidenote: if you go here, bring bug spray. Lots of it. The bugs are rampant here. We all came out with our fair share of bug bites each. You have been warned! You can also look and listen for different types of animals, birds, etc. They have signs around telling you what sorts of things you should be looking for. We ended up seeing some sort of woodpecker.
Next you can...



try to walk the trail. Or you can walk for about 5 minutes and then turn around like we did! Next time I will bring help so that we can walk the entire trail, which runs by Beargrass Creek.
After your trail walk, you can check out the bird blind. The Bird Blind is a small building (sort of like a shed or something like that) with a big window where you can watch birds. There is also a notebook where they want you to record what you see. I am assuming this is what the serious birdwatchers do. We, however, are not serious birdwatchers and actually did not see one single bird while we were in the bird blind. The boys were very interested in why the building smelled and looked the way it did, though.
There is also a gazebo and picnic tables, so this would be a great place to bring a picnic for after your hike. So, all in all, a good trip. Will I go back here? Absolutely. Will I bring help with me next time? You bet. That way we will be able to go on our hike!
Also this week we checked out Beef O Brady's on Tuesday for kids eat free night. We live right down the road, but for some reason, have never been here for kids eat free. We will be going back. They had a kids movie playing on the big screen t.v., the food was quick and the portions were generous. We were in and out in under 45 minutes and $20. Two thumbs up from the Saylor Camp!
More activities to come!