The Musical Drought Is Over

I love music. I mean I really LOVE music. Not in a music snob kind of way. You know like those who have to know what the next great indie group is and anything else is so yesterday, or to bubblegum pop, to mainstream. There is so much great stuff out there from all kinds of genres of music. Life is to short to live like that! My favorite way to access new music is to talk to people and see who they are listening to. A family member recently sent me a surprise package in mail containing all new music!!! LOVE THAT!!


My new music collection now includes the following.....


Over the Rhine - their latest is called The trumpet child. Great vocals and tunes on this album.

The Avett Brothers - Their latest is the album emotionalism. Again with the great tunes!

Regardless of what you may think of the mess that is Amy Winehouse, the lady has put out a great album. I have only heard a smattering of songs here and there. I have never heard the album in its entirety until recently. I know that I am the last person on the planet to give her a listen,but hey what is a busy mom to do.

Now I finally have some happy ears! If anyone has any new music suggestions, please feel free to pass it along!!!

Free Rice

I was sent this link, it's for a word game for you to play and grains of rice are donated to the United Nations World Food Program. Give it a try- at least once. You don't lose and you don't win. It doesn't make you compete against anyone except yourself and there is no scoring. It's fun and for a great cause... (slightly addictive-- be warned!)

What I Did On My Summer Vacation......

I love Michigan in the summer. Our favorite way to start summer is to spend a week out a cottage on a lake where we can fish, hike, swim, eat, and just be lazy. Well, as lazy as a mom can be with 2 little ones. We had a great time!

This is what I love! J.D. fishing with grandpa. He was catching little blue gills on a cane pole. He was so excited to bring in his catch of the day.

J.D. and his grandma made fish cookies to go with the fishing experience. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the finished product, but they were cute and very delicious!

Rory practiced his paddle skills. While we only had a canoe, he really seemed to favor the kayak paddle motion.

Rory got to celebrate his 2nd birthday out at the cottage. His favorite is anything made from cake. Dad did a great job making his confetti cake. Did I mention that we love to eat while out at the lake?!!! Must be all that fresh air!

It was a great week! We are now back daily living and ready to enjoy the wonderful days of summer. Can't wait to see what adventures lay around the corner!

Colorful Creations

The other day when I was blog reading I came across this idea from Wise Craft. A great cheap craft project to do with older kids. My husband, Cory had just cleaned the basement and found a whole tub of broken crayons the kids don't use and we have rocks in the backyard - so I knew this would be an easy yet fun thing to do. Carter was on hunt for smooth rocks. We baked the rocks and all helped with peeling the crayons. Cory heard what we were doing and helped peel and then stuck around to decorate the rocks too. It was fun, the kids would name their rocks. Carter only tried to pick it up once without a pot holder, but he wasn't burned badly. Here's our finished masterpieces:

What a Great Find!!

Yesterday I was letting myself get lost in the wonderful world of blogging. It was so nice to take the time to read browse and enjoy other people's blogs. Many were inspiring (I really need to learn how to sew), others I just love the craft ideas (I'll blog on that later), and one introduced me to something called Spoonflower. Spoonflower is a company that prints custom fabric designs. I am in awe of this. I am no graphic designer (my hubby has that talent), but oh would I love to design my own fabric or see what he could come up with. It is currently in beta testing, so it is by invite only, but it is still so interesting to me. The blog I found it on is The Black Apple. I was looking at some prints to purchase in the near future for my daughter's room from her shop on Etsy. In her blog she shows off some fabric she had designed - it is so cute. I wish I could do Joely's whole room in it (someday - she shares a room with her brother right now). Or maybe when she finally has a room to herself I can design my own fabric for it!

A Life Outside

When you have been so busy working on your crafty for business life, you forget to craft for yourself. This next I am going to take the time to do just that!. I am been sewing like a crazy woman these past few weeks. Anna and I have been making head scarfs for a woman who has just finished up her last round of Chemotherapy.

This is a picture of what our scarfs are looking like. Hers are a bit longer in the back so that she has better protection. The fabrics have been fabulous and it has been a very rewarding project. But after trying to sew my way through roughly 24 scarfs, it might be time for a break.

This next week I am heading off to our summer kick off at the cottage. Every year my parents rent a cottage on a lake and we spend the week playing in the water, fishing, cooking, and just having fun. This year I plan to take my yarn stash up with me to do a little knitting.

There is always sock yarn involved in the summer months. I also have some bamboo and the wonderfully light O-Wool. This yarn is organic wool and cotton. Can't wait to try it out! I know that I might not make it through all this, but the idea is to pick and choose and be as spontaneous as possible. After all, I am on vacation!! Also in preparation for this event my 4yr. old has requested some new p.j. shorts. I let him pick out his own material and I just surged them up.

He is very excited about them and they will be nice and cool. While it is not mom's favorite fabric print, I am learning to step back and let him make his own choices. I have to admit they are cute on him. And finally an amazing stash of fabric came in the mail!!!! I am so very very excited about this. They are to be more head scarfs, but I think I see a piece of fabric in there that may have to be for me.
I think a quick head scarf may do the trick as I sit on the deck looking at the water with needles in hand and yarn running through my fingers! Ahhhhhh, let the vacation begin.

Summer Vacation

Today is the last day of school. In three hours my two oldest children will be home for two and half months. Most years I have dreaded the long break, but this year I am so happy to have them home.
We have not been a family that takes a vacation together. A weekend in Chicago, a weekend to Grand Haven, MI to stay with my Dad, or grandparents offer to take the older two for a weekend of camping is the "vacationing" our family does (much to the kids' disappointment). So this this new trend of "staycationing" isn't new to us. We stay with grandparents for a weekend - my dad lives within walking distance of the shore of Lake Michigan. Nice and convenient to have a beach nearby. We plan to stay once or twice again this summer. Nearby parks, ice cream parlors, the pier, watching boats, and we can't forget the Coast Guard Parade. Their house is on route too. One thing the kids loved last year was playing on the sand dunes. Jumping off was fun too! But anywhere you can goof around and not get into trouble is fun for them
Camping has been fun for the kids to do too, after tenting three years ago in 90 degree weather with my asthma flaring up, I gave it up. My in-laws bought a trailer and frequently camp and graciously let Calla and Carter come with. Last year, we all spent one night out. Grandpa took Calla out kayaking and then Carter. My husband and his dad plan to go out and take the two kids with them this summer.
It seems like we end up doing a lot of divide and conquer, one parent with the older two kids, one with the toddler. Last summer Joely was less than a year, she spent the not quite so hot days outside playing the grass, and many days inside playing with mom. Now that she is a year older I am gearing up for a summer outside pushing her the swing and maybe buying a kiddie pool.For the first summer ever, our family gets to experience summer vacation as a whole family. My husband is an instructor for Ferris State University and has the summer off - kind of. He will teach a class every other week, prep for his fall classes, work on some training in 3D, but in his spare time he'll be home! So we plan to have some trips to the zoo, go to the beach, the parks, visit the nearby farmer's markets, go on many many bike rides, see some great movies coming out this summer, spend time with friends, and relax just enough.