Trip Toys.

Since we started talking about taking our kids on more fun trips, mainly because we don't have to carry anyone all the time anymore, I have had car seat organizers in mind for any and all trips we may take. Now, I must again send out a disclaimer that I often times "wing-it", which is not usually the way to go. The car organizers that I whipped up are not perfect by any means, and quite honestly will be discarded as soon as I get new ones made taking the many lessons I learned from these with me, but they will do for now.

When making these, it was so spontaneous that I just used things I already had. I always have a ton of remnants, and fat quarters around for this reason. 

This is just our oldest's organizer. As hard as I tried I couldn't get any good pictures of them in the car. boo. 

Weigh-in Wednesday.

The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince. 

-Vincent Lombardi

Today's Weigh in: -2 lbs.

WOOOOHOOOO!! I am Awesome!

Boys, Boys, Boys!

I have been immersing myself in a couple of amazing blogs lately. 

There is never a shortage of really amazing ideas for cute girl clothes, toys, parties, etc, they are everywhere.
I however, have a girl AND a boy, a boy who should have fun stuff to wear, play and celebrate with too. Scoot on over here to see what awesome boy related fun you can find!

Just from stalking the many awesome posts I have come up with at least 5 projects to do when I get back from our trip! 

I am Momma Hear me Roar! 
Check out the amazing Super hero room!!

Dana from Made decided that the entire month of March should Celebrate the boy!

From these two places the world of boys opens up! I can't wait to get started!

30 Days of Bound Love.

Day 30 – What book are you reading right now? 

The Squid is reading Vortex, which is the latest in the Fate of the Jedi series.

I am reading Emperor Mage, which is the 3rd in the Immortals series. I have a stack of "to be reads" in a pile for our trip.

Packing It All In.

I don't have anything great to post about today. I have spent the majority of the today and yesterday packing, cleaning and planning. All the delightful things that come along with a major trip like the one we'll start later this week. In planning our trip to Texas I came across a couple of "must do" things since I am not sure when we'll get to go back. 

1. Roller Derby. The Houston Psych Ward Sirens are starting their season while we are in the area, so.....why not!?!? Brauds & Beers, how can you go wrong?

2. Discovery on the Green-Toddler Tuesdays. The week we can go is "Story Time with Buzz and Woody". Ummmm, Sweet.

3. A trip to our local Farmers Market with the in-laws. I really, really love Farmers Markets. Plus, my mother in law speaks very highly of this one and I trust her completely. 

I am still searching but, I am super excited about these and our trip in general. I have to warn all of my lovely followers that I'm going to be posting sporadically while we are gone, so I am apoligizing in advance.

30 Days of Bound Love.

 

Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)

Saddest character death: for me as an adult, was Dumbledore. When I was a kid I read Where the Red Fern Grows and at the end of that book I cried and cried. It's been ages since I read that book, but I loved it when I read it. The loss of a pet can be as tragic as loosing a person.

Most Satisfying: by far, the loss of Voldemort, am I right?! Stupid Dark Lord!

I Dress Her With Quarters.

One day during a moment of boredom, and I do mean moment since I don't usually have time to be bored, I came upon a couple of adorable fat quarters I had bought on sale. I bought them with the intent to make a little skirt for my girlie, so figured what better time then that particular time. It was so very easy to do:

Put the right sides together,
Sew up the sides,
Hem the bottom,
Fold the top down and sew a casing for your elastic,
Stitch almost all the way around and
Insert your elastic.
Stitch the ends of the elastic together and stitch up the hole, turn it inside out, and there you have it.

Super easy and wicked cute. The whole thing cost me less than 2 dollars for the quarters. I used elastic I took out of a pair of her shorts that managed to get ruined, so that cost me nothing at all. The skirt came out great, and she loves it. Not bad for 2 hours of work.

30 Days of Bound Love.

Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession

The Squid-The Hardy Boys, he read almost everyone of them.

Me- I will admit here that my very first series obsession was Sweet Valley High.............................. There, I said it.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-in #32

It's Friday my loyal and appreciated followers, and you know what that means. Thanks again to Wifey for hosting, & head on over to Wife of a Sailor to join in the fun!

1. During military separations (whether short or long) how do you keep yourself positive and motivated? submitted by Married/Single Parent........................Crafting, reading, and blogging. These things get done far more often when The Squid is gone. Filling the nights and weekends is really important. Those are the worst for me.

2. What is your favorite concert you have ever been to? submitted by Young but Not (Completely) Dumb..................Easy,  12th Annual Vans Warp Tour. First of all I saw Bouncing Souls for the first time ever and got a drum stick held, and sweated on by Michael McDermott. I had just given in to a date with The Squid when I went to the Warp Tour with a family friend. Somehow, The Squid ended up going with some friends also, and we "bumped" into each other. We watched Motion City Soundtrack together and I had a blast.

3. What do you miss most about your “hometown”?  submitted by A Florida Girl and Her Soldier...........My family is of course the first and formost on my "miss" list, but a close next, the grocery store HEB, Sonic, La Casita (fav restaurant), knowing all the secret side roads, best places to eat, and worst traffic times, etc. So much, so so much. I will say though, I wouldn't trade my life for anything.

4. If you could run in any race, which charity would you choose to support? submitted by Wookie & Co...........................Breast Cancer, a charity for abused/abandoned kids, Military Charity such as The Fisher House. 

5. You find out Willy Wonka is your father, what 3 course meal do you INSIST he create in that stick of gum?  submitted by A{muse}ing Mommy on a Pink Park Bench.......................OMG Great question!! Here goes, 

First Course: Fuji Apple Salad from Panera Bread w/extra dressing.

Second Course:  Black Truffle Meat Loaf w/ Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Honeyed Carrots From Cork YUMMM!

Last Course: Real Deal Smores. Campfire taste and everything!

Great, now I'm hungry!

30 Days of Bound Love.

Day 27 – If a book contains _____, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!

I am not sure how I am going to answer this one.  I really like reading books with strong female characters, magic of any kind, and/or a sweet cover. 

 The books on my mind right now,

Tricksters Choice

Tricksters Queen

Both by: You guessed it, Tamora Pierce

ThreadBending.

It sounds kind of lame, but since we are going on vacation our little girl didn't get a big party or anything, because all our money is going towards the trip. Instead, we just grilled some burgers and had the neighbors and MikeKilo over. We didn't want to make a lot of fuss, but I still wanted to thank people for coming and for the lovely gifts they brought(even though they know they don't have too).  
Avatar: The Last Airbender is our squidlets latest obssesion, so we were going to have it playing during her "party" and I was looking in that direction for favors but, with no luck. Since the show is kind of old, there isn't alot of merchandise available. Trying to think outside the box, I found this site, that had all kinds of Airbender pages. That's when I got the idea to make an Airbender coloring book. I based mine off the book I found  here. (I love the book she came up with, but since I came up with this idea the day before, I think my end result was pretty awesome). Anyway, here is how I did it. 

1. I picked and printed off 11 pictures from the coloring site. 

2. I arranged them in the order that I wanted, and decided that I wanted my book to open upwards so that I could hide some writing. 

3. I then took my sewing machine and stitched the pages together. That's right I used my sewing machine and sewed them all together.

**Note: Like I said I printed off 11 pictures. I think that 12 would have been the limit for my machine. Also, using an older needle would be preferable since the paper is probably going to kind of dull it. I have an old one I keep around just for paper.**

4. After I stitched them all together, I picked out a sheet of paper to cover the tops with. I measured strips 2 inches wide(I wanted it to cover about an inch on each side) and 8.5 inches long and cut each of them out.

5. Grabbing my handy dandy glue stick I glued one side down then I folded the paper over and glued it to the other side. **Note: I made sure to glue the ends of the thread down inward and covered them.**

6. Lastly, I took my ruler and ran it along both sides of the glued paper just to make sure it was down well. 

Well, that's it. I was going to give each girl these stickers I picked up at the Dollar store, plus a little package of 8 crayons, but stickers might not be the greatest idea just yet, and time was an issue. They made great little favors, but the whole package would have been awesome. Eh, what can you do? Next time will be better.

Hope you like it and show off any books of your own!

30 Days of Bound Love.

Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending

I don't really remember reading a book that I was particularly annoyed with the ending. I am sure the the books I just find annoying had annoying endings too. 

Lemony Snicket's 

 Series of Unfortunate Events

I just found every part of these books so very annoying.

See You Later Stanley.

I previously mentioned, that we had Flat Stanley as a guest. After a great visit, we sent him back to my niece in Texas on Saturday.

I also mentioned that my mom and I wanted to start a similar project with our Owl and Owlet. So, we said see you later Stanley and started taking pictures of all sorts of fun stuff with Owl so, when we go home later this month we can personally hand her over. Here is to snail mail fun! 

In the same vein of thought, the Squidlets and I have signed up for a pen pal over at Twig & Toadstools. We have gotten our pals so this week we are getting to the pen!

If my kiddos were just a little bit older I think a stationary set would be in order, but that is for a later date. Although, I might make one anyway. Right now we are sticking with drawings and any crafts I can come up with.
Do you or did you have a pen pal while you were growing up? I didn't, but I think it would be amazing for my kids to have one, and for their whole lives, living in different places, and seeing different things.Since we are planning on being "lifers" any sort of constant in my kids life is good, particularly a friend of any sort.

Weigh-in Wednesday.

Car trouble prevents weigh-in today.

30 Days of Bound Love.

Day 25 – Any five books from your “to be read” stack.

I have an embarrassingly long list of "to be read" stack, once I had my oldest it became increasingly harder to find the time to sit down and read a menu let alone a book. Thankfully now that both my kids are a little older I have had time to read at least 2 books in the last 2 months. I hope I can keep it up. 

1. Eyes Like Stars -Lisa Mantchev

2. Incarceron -Catherine Fisher

3. Anansi Boys -Neil Gaiman

4. Syren -Angie Sage

5. Finnikin of the Rock -Melina Marchetta

3

My oldest just turned 3!
 I honestly can't believe it has been that long since she came into this world. She was the best and most wonderful surprise I have ever gotten. 

Happy Birthday my sweet girl! We love you so much!

30 Days of Bound Love.

Day 24 – Best quote from a novel.

The number of good quotes that came to mind was ridiculous.

I narrowed it down to these.

The Immortals Quartet

Wild Magic 

Daine: "Does your ma know you're this silly?"

Numair: "The few grey hairs she has on her head are my doing. But, I send her plenty of money, so she can have them dyed!"

Onua: "I hope she beat you as a child."

Protector of the Small Quartet

Lady Knight

"Mistresses, have you ever noticed that when we disagree with a male

- I hesitate to say 'man'- 

or find ourselves in a position over males, 

the first comment they make is always about our reputations or our monthlies?" -Kel

Daughter of the Lioness

Trickster's Choice

"Must you be so obsessed? I know all of this already. When you were my age you'd killed ten giants, armed with only a stick and a handful of pebbles. Then you went on to fly through the air on a winged steed, to return with the Dominion Jewel in your pocket and the most beautiful princess in all the world for your king to marry." - Aly (to her mother)

30 Days of Bound Love.

Day 23 – Most annoying character ever

Okay, so this was REALLY easy for me. The most annoying character in a book for me was:

Dolores Umbridge

Harry Potter and The Order Of the Pheonix

The entire time I read this book I wanted to seriously injure this woman.

Texas Bound.

I am really jazzed! Our little family has decided to brave the drive home to Texas. I have been home-sick lately, and being able to see our friends and family is awesome. It's been months since we have seen either and in some cases over a year.

There are so many things I am looking forward to, like Sonic, my favorite bra store(sorry if that is tmi),  my sisters birthday and a family fishing tournament, all the grandparents, well, all our family in general, HEB(a grocery store), so many lovely things. I can't wait!

The only down-side I can see to all this is that we are driving.....with a 3yr old......and a 1yr old. The thought of being stuck in a car for 24hrs makes me cringe, I can't imagine what they will be feeling. I am so glad that I just put together a travel kit for the L girls, now I have great ideas for my own kiddos! Both of them have clipboards that I made them for Christmas, we have an audio book (the 4th Harry Potter), kids movies for the laptop, kids CD's, books to read and to color, and of course we'll have plenty of snacks.What do you do for your kiddos during a long trip?
In addition to the many "must need" items we will be hauling there for our kids, like pillows and toys, there are also the diapers. I have read countless articles, and blog posts of ladies that have successfully traveled long distances and for extended periods of time using cloth, so I know I can do it, I am just a little nervous about it. It's two weeks, so we'll see. (although, I am kind of excited to show off my stash.) In preparation for our up coming trip I got out all of my diapers to sort and pick through, ordered 3 more Happy Hieny's,  which came in on Friday and are awesome! A new bag of Rockin' Green & I made sure no one minded me using their washing machine. I think I am ready to go. Although, I kind of feel like I am forgetting something already.

I have so much to do before we leave, sorting through the kids clothes, putting away all the winter stuff, a birthday, cleaning the house before we leave, crafts to take, did I mention cleaning the house? The list seems never ending! Do you have to have a spotless house to come home to like I do?
I swear, if the house cleaning doesn't get me, the nervous excitement will. 

MilSpouse Friday Fill-in #32

Welcome, Welcome! It is Friday again folks, and that means Wifey at Wife of a Sailor once again is hosting MilSpouse Friday Fill-in. Head over and check it out!

Do you or your {spouse} ever wish your {spouse} was in a different branch of the military? submitted by The Turner Family.......................No way! I mean we love and respect all branches, but my dad was a Navy man and the Navy was always my first choice.

What duty station(s) are on your “No Way, Hell No, Not Going, Have Fun Unaccompanied” list and why? submitted by Every Branch..........................I really don't know that there is one bad enough that I would do an unaccompanied tour. I really don't want to go back to Hawaii, I had really bad Island Fever. I would love to go and visit though, I miss saimen from McDonalds, Sushi in malls, Drive-in movie theaters, beautiful beaches, & beautiful weather. I could go on and on. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, weird that I'd like to go to Japan.

If you could be one age forever, what age would you choose and why? submitted by Three Krakens....................... 

30.
I think that it is a great age. I'm not trying to convince myself. Really I'm not. I'm still young, and can do fun stuff , I just am old enough to know better.

If you were a breakfast cereal, which one would you be? submitted by the C.W.......................... I am not sure what cereal I would be. My favorite cereal right now is frosted mini wheats. Tiny, sweet, good for you, yeah, that sounds like me.

What is your morning beverage of choice and why?  submitted by NH Girl Displaced................. My morning beverage of choice is ENTIRELY dependant on how my night went. Awesome night with no midnight screaming I reach for yummy Earl Grey, HoneyBush Vanilla, or Constant Comment tea. Horrible teething night that consists of at least one squidlet waking up screaming every 2 hours, diet pepsi or a yummy coffee.

**side note: I'll be having coffee this morning, my youngest got shots yesterday, and last night was up at 3am with a fever and stiff legs. Yikes!**

30 Days of Bound Love.

Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)

I love all kinds of relationships, I mean that's what makes a book right? I am not sure I can pick out just one. I know this sounds like a cop out, but seriously, ANY Tamora Pierce book. ANY!

Shower.

This past weekend we threw a second baby sprinkle for one of our lovely Fort Ladies. It was so much fun to gather together and show her our love and support. With the second of two girls on the way there was little that our new mommy needed, but we all chipped in and will be presenting her with a brand new sit and stand stroller! We had a lovely tea, the mommies left with a beautiful teacup filled with tea, and the little girls left with variations of a petal hat (which you can find here). My job as photographer was once again an epic fail, but these are the few I did get.

Beautiful garland made by Jade, gorgeous!

Petal hats, tissues, and mommy favors.

Our awesome spread!

Webby and Duckling!

New mommy and Big Sister!

Messy Mermaid!

My squidlet!

Lady E!

Missy E!

Lovely Josie new hair and all!

I hope everyone had a great time, and it was amazing to be able to celebrate another beautiful baby.