sand & water

i have a hard time buying big toys for calvin. we don't have a huge house and i like to be able to put his toys in a basket and have them out of the way when he is not using them. the few biggish things that he has are played with a lot and can grow with him. and when his interest in something wains, i put it away for awhile.

as i have blogged about before, calvin is very into dirt (and water, especially the hose) so a few months ago we got this sand/water table for him. i chose this one because it is just a simple tub on a stand. i hope that we can use it for many years, filling it with a plethora of different things (sand, water, birdseed, cornstarch & water, playdough, maybe even a seasonal table like i saw in the creative family).

for now it is filled with sand and calvin can't get enough of it.

ps. calvin is also very into sweeping so i just ordered him a broom from here (i love this store. the stuff is well made and so frickin' cute!). it is another 'big' thing but something that i know he will love and will (hopefully) be in use often.

junk drawer

organized.

cross it off the summer to-do list.

(yippee!)

put a little guac on it

this is one of calvin's new favorite treats. guacamole on a tomatoes slice. (it may be hard to tell the scale there, but it is a small grape tomato slice) he has not been too into tomatoes and i was talking with a friend about how her daughter will eat anything with a little guacamole on it...then it came to me. put a little guac (can't decide if i love or hate that abbreviation) on a tomato slice and voila! he loves them. also i just found little 100 calorie packs of guacamole at the market! these are so cool. just enough for what i need and i don't have to deal with day old brown guacamole.

in the sewing arena... i am trying to take advantage of the summer and get to all of the little projects that i have not had time for in the last year or so. i made these little cafe curtains for our kitchen eating area. the sun comes in super strong in the morning, but we really like the morning light so i settled on a light cotton that still lets most of the light through, but mutes the sun a bit so we don't feel like we need sunglasses as we eat breakfast.

i used this sorta retro looking fabric that i got from a local fabric shop. i cut off the salvage so i don't know who made it (sorry). it is orange with a bit of yellow. they go well with our orange retro fiberglass chairs that we got at the elephant's trunk flea market last year.

photo booth

i love to get pictures taken at old black and white photo booths. we took this last week.

their innocent little eyes melt my heart and make me laugh simultaneously.

hearing aid

when mason was here visiting i made three new headbands to hold his bone conductive hearing aid. my sister picked out some great fabrics (the gray is cashmere) in very boy colors (he is often mistaken for a girl because he is wearing a 'headband').

i added five inches to his current headband, so that it will grow with him, but after i fully constructed the first one and tried it on him, it was way too big. I cut off about three inches from each one and now they fit. they are still a tad big, but wearable so *hopefully* they will fit for awhile. at 5 or 6 years old mason will probably get this so he will not need the headband anymore.

here is mason wearing the brown one i made him last december. it was already getting too small.

these headbands were fun to make and pretty easy. jessica said that they are hard to find, especially in boyish colors, so if you are looking for one email me.

family

the house is quiet. our family is gone... back in california... we can't wait until next year. here are some highlights:

fawn born in our backyard.

getting the last drop of strawberry ice cream on a hot and humid night.

picking blueberries. the boys must of ate hundreds, right off the bush. pick one, eat two, repeat.

playing with the hose. taking turns. getting each other very very wet.

learning how to hopsctoch with grandma.

animal cracker stories.

reading together.

farm animals.

wheelbarrow rides.

early morning muffin making.

car washing (and soap bubble eating...)

seals at the aquarium.

merry-g0-round rides with aunties.

eight layer birthday cakes.

wagon rides in parades.

cousins.

we went to some fun places and did some fun things, but just being together was enough. saying goodbye was rough. very rough.

done.

i am officially done with all of my master's degree classes. wow. this feels like yesterday. (although i know lucy now and we are friends in a loose sense of the word...i would never show her that picture!) it feels great to be done, but makes me a bit sad at the same time. on my last day of school i heard kylene beers speak. she is so amazingly dedicated to improving education for all students, especially for america's poorest students. her keynote speech was moving and moved me to unrelenting tears. i was blubbering. it was embarrassing. this day already marked the ending of a chapter in my life (i don't do well with endings), which caused me to be overly emotional and when kylene started a slide show of images of children displaced by katrina on the 20 foot screen before me, set to bette midler singing 'the wind beneath my wings' (which alone makes me cry) it was more than i could handle. the guy next to me handing me tissue.

the day progressed from there. i felt like i was on an emotional roller coaster...one minute i was giggling with excitement and looking forward to summer and the next tearing up because i would have to say goodbye to a friend or realize this would be the last time i would walk this hall as a student.

columbia only has one actual graduation ceremony (in May) so it felt a bit anti-climactic but i did get to have a nice lunch with a fellow graduate at kitchenette. the chick pea burger there is so yummy!

i came home and quickly got sewing. a good friend is getting married soon and i wanted to make her an apron so she can get all domestic with her soon to be hubby. they live in the BVI and so we can't make it to their three day wedding sailboat race and celebration. i know it is going to be amazing.

i love how the apron turned out. (bryn if you're reading this close your eyes)

i got the fabric awhile ago with bryn in mind and i think it looks super cute as an apron. i love the gathering at the top.

(i made sam model it so i could snap a pic...he is a good sport...sometimes)

the colors will be good for island living too. the pattern is the vintage apron from 'bend the rules sewing' by amy. i love that book!

we are off to the farmer's market. we still have lots of family here, so the days are filled... and fun.

(ps. today is our 5 year wedding anniversary. we are going out to dinner...all alone... and then maybe to a movie. wow! i can't wait!)