My New Favorite

I think every time I make a new outfit, it becomes my favorite. This one was made for a friend of mine who has a two year old. I love the fabric and I love the way it turned out. This was my first time making "fancy shorts" and they are so sweet.


Close up of the dress...


Close up of the "fancy shorts"....

And matching hair accessory (of course)!

Our Free(ish) Summer - Hubers Orchard and Winery

Last week my mom and I decided to take the boys out to Hubers to do a little picking. We had been talking about going for a while, but once I heard it was blackberry picking time, I knew it was time to go. You see, Hubers has the most delicious blackberries I have ever had. Straight off the branch, there is nothing better. So we packed up the kids and headed out on what was quite possibly the hottest day of the year. I thought we would probably be the only ones crazy enough to go on such a hot day, so imagine my surprise when we ran into my friend B and her family out in the blackberry fields! Guess we both were craving those berries!

There are quite a few fun activites here besides just the picking fields.

You can talk to a talking tree...

pretend to be vegetables...

hang out with (and feed) the ducks...

go on a tractor ride (but hold on tight!)...

there is also a petting zoo, mountain slide, pony rides, a cheese/ice cream shop, market/gift shop, and winery/restaurant. We like to grab lunch there and cool off after all of the picking. They also have various festivals throughout the year which are fun and family friendly. So my advice to you is: Go, go now while the blackberries and peaches are in season, but try not to go on the hottest day of the year!

Fun - 4 (out of 5)

Cost - well you have to purchase everything that you pick, I think we spent about $40 on blackberries, bluberries, and peaches

Mom Stress Level - 1 (easy to keep track of everyone, but takes a while for the tractors to come back to the fields to pick you up)

Then go home with your delicious fruit and whip up a blackberry peach cobbler!

A Big Blur

The nephews were in town all last week. And, oh, the fun we had. We went swimming, jumped off diving boards, went to the movies, went to Noah's Ark, Henry's Ark, played in basements, had other neighbors over for get togethers, went to Wild Eggs (the most delicious place around), wrestled around, laughed ( a lot), cried (a little), fought ( some), played at grammys, made cookies, fed carrots to zebras, made big messes, built castles and forts, and much much more. I am sad to see those guys head home, but boy am I tired! To next time!

Our Free(ish) Summer - Louisville Waterfront

I'm back (I'm back in the saddle again). Sorry, that song has been jumping into my head all day. Can't make it stop! Anyways, we have had an AMAZING and BUSY summer so far. I can't believe we are halfway through July already! We have done lots of free things and lots of not-so-free things. I would like to say that this has been a great summer for not spending a lot of money on activities, but honestly, that would not be true. We have saved money on some things, and then spent it the next day on other things. But we sure have had fun doing it. I am going to try and get caught up the next few weeks, starting with today's post - The Louisville Waterfront


Cost - Free (we did pick up some ice cream afterwards for a total of $8)
Fun - 5, lots of fun, lots to do
Mom Stress Level - High, very very HIGH

Although this place is great and we had a fabulous time, I do not recommend anyone going there alone with 3 kids. You definitely should have a 1 to 1 kid to adult ratio. I can not stress this enough. Luckily, my friends B and B joined me with their kids, but it was still very hard to keep up with everyone. This place is huge. There is a big splash area with spray hoses and fountains; and there are also 3 (or maybe 4) other playgrounds. The kids had a blast. They went from one thing to the next and then back and forth, back and forth. It was sort of like a whirlwind of activity. We started out in the splash area



where you can let the water spray you in the eye...


or you can crawl under the water tunnels...

but then make sure you go to the first playground and look for your friends coming down the slide.

Then decide maybe you would rather be back at the water area...

and run under some more water tunnels.

Then you spot another playground in the distance, this one even bigger than the last, so you run over and climb the mountain a few times, walk across the bridges, go down the slides...

and then it's back to the water area again.

And it wouldn't quite be a perfect visit to the water park without a drink from the fountain!

All in all, a great time. Free, fun, and fabulous!

Stay tuned for more FREE Activities!

To tide you over

I've been busy. I am sure you have too. I promise to get back to posting soon. Hopefully this week. Until then, enjoy this picture of my girlie wearing a bathing suit her grammy made her. Super cute if I do say so myself!

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!

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.