Thirty-Six

Today is my birthday and I am 36. I usually try to sail right on through my birthday straight to Harper's. I am not a big birthday person so I actually like that my birthday often gets overshadowed by Harper's birthday. Is that strange? I am now officially closer to 40 than 30 and honestly it makes me a little sad mostly because I still feel like I am 25. How is it possible that I am 36? I mean I can remember when my parents were 36 and they were old. (Sorry mom and dad) I am trying to take it all in stride. The fact that my kids are now 5 and 7 (well she will be tomorrow) is not helping matters.

Moving on....let's talk about what is going on with me, since we are on the subject. : ) I am slowing trying to get back to running. I have a long way to go before I am back to where I was before I started having hip broblems, but I am taking it day by day. After the half marathon, I did not try running at all for 2 weeks. My body, specifically my hips, were very sore. I stuck to walking, strenth training and yoga. I have also switched my workouts to the morning, so I have been getting up at 5:15 and exercising. As a result, I go to bed not too long after the kids go to bed. So far this is going well. I love having the afternoons free and not having to worry about working out after dinner. Plus it is a lot cooler running in the morning. It is also really quiet in the house so yoga is much more enjoyable and peaceful. If you are looking for a good yoga podcast, I have really been enjoying Sarah B. Yoga.

The garden is looking good. I planted my herb garden like I do every year. I have lots of basil, cilantro, dill, and parsley. We also have tomato plants, squash, watermelon, and a pumpkin plant Harper brought home from school. It has been in the high 90's here so we (mostly Mitch) have been doing lots of watering. We need some rain so we can fill our rain barrel back up.

I am still drinking a green smoothie most days, but recently have been adding protein powder for extra staying power. The chocolate Vega Whole Food Optimizer and the vanilla almond Vega Shake and Go Smoothie are my favorites. I just add 2 scoops to the blender with all the rest of my smoothie ingredients. I have also been adding dandelion greens and kale for variety.

I have not been sewing too much, but have lots of ideas jotted down in my notebook. That has to count for something, right? Finding time to sit down and sew for an extended amount of time has been challenging lately. I am hoping after this weekend things will mellow out a bit and I will find some time to sew.

I did finally find time to put some of my photos in these frames and my awesome husband hung it in our bathroom. I love how it turned out.

The cicadas are almost all gone. I did enjoy the novelty of the cicadas, but I am not sad to see them gone.

I hope 36 will be as great as 35.

Girl's Romper

I have been seeing one piece romper for girls and women everywhere this year. I have been really wanting to make one for Harper. She was supposed to dress up like a farm girl today for camp, so I thought this romper would make a cute outfit. Since I was working on a serious deadline, I cut a few corners like not hemming the shorts. She did wear it today though so I guess it wasn't too bad.

I used the tutorial from Crafterhours as a starting point. Instead of shirring the top I just used elastic around the top and added a ruffle. I only did two lines of shirring at the waist. It could probably use a couple more lines so I might go back and do that when I hem the shorts.

It really came together pretty easily. I made notes on all of the measurements and things I would do differently so I can make another one. I think next time I might try an elastic waistband.

Miller's Birthday Party

We had a full blown out birthday party for Miller this year. He decided he wanted to have a water party in the backyard. He invited all the kids from his class, plus all his cousins and the neighbors.

Here's Miller on his actual birthday.

We ended up with 18 kids at the party and there was no major drama. Yea!!

We had sprinklers, water guns, and ended the party with a water balloon fight.

All of the birthday party pictures were taken by my sister and brother in law. Thanks guys!!!

There were tons of photos, but I don't like to show photos of other people's kids unless I get their permission.

One party down...one to go. Harper's birthday is Saturday and she is having her party at the Skate Center. Woohoo.

Once all the birthday craziness settles down, hopefully I can find some time to sew.

52 Weeks of Me- Connection

I know I have been lazy about my 52 weeks of me shots. It was cloudy and rainy for a few weeks and I was not able to get the shots I had planned. Then I just never made time to catch up. All of the sudden several weeks had passed. Yikes. Enough excuses though. I am jumping back in this week and hope I can keep it up. I know it shouldn't be too hard, but these self portraits are really hard for me. Usually I wait until the weekend then I am grungy and not photo worthy. I need to try to get photos during the week. Anyways, this week we are doing connection.

I knew that I wanted my husband in the shot. This was not what I envisioned, but ended up being my favorite.

This was what I had in mind, but it lacked something.

I really liked this shot too, but decided to go with the kissing shot instead.

It's never too late to join in on the fun.

Happy Birthday Miller

Dear Miller,

I really can't believe you are 5 today. You have grown up so much this year. You have accepted the fact that you are starting Kindergarten in the fall, even though I haven't yet. The last few weeks you have become so independent. You want to do EVERYTHING yourself. You are stubborn. Things have to be done a certain way or it drives you crazy. You are still sensitive and have the most tender heart. Your feelings are easily hurt, which always breaks my heart. You are thoughtful, give compliments freely, and always think to ask about our day. You want to know how to spell every word that pops into your mind. You can spell all of your color words and can even spell and recognize several sight words. You love to help around the house. When asked to help with a chore, your answer is always sure. You are content as long as someone is nearby to keep you company. You love your sister very much. In fact you love her so much that if she is not paying attention to you, you do whatever it takes to get her to pay attention to you. You really enjoyed playing baseball this year. I hope you won't be as timid about trying other sports now. Although you are still shy and soft spoken around people you don't know well, you are starting to learn to speak up.

I want you to know that I am so proud of you. I love you all the way across the ocean up to the moon and back. I hope you have the best birthday ever.

Love,

Mom

4 Day Weekend

I am coming off a four day weekend and trying to adjust back to reality. There was absolutely no crafting going on this weekend. Since there were no messes being made around my sewing machine, I was actually able to clean up my sewing area though.

Here are a few highlights from the extra long weekend.

On Friday we joined all the cousins for a trip to the zoo. The weather was perfect and we had a blast.

The rest of the weekend was spent on the yard. We are having Miller's birthday party in our backyard next weekend so there was a lot to do. We weeded, we planted and we picked up a gazillion sticks and branches from the storm last week.

The kids entertained themselves for hours with these squirt guns. The best $10 ever spent.

The daylilies even decided to start blooming by the end of weekend.

We did go creek stomping yesterday to relax a little bit. Then we went to see Kung Fu Panda 2. It was a perfect way to spend the long weekend.

Team-Up Thursday- Panning

Cara and I are panning this week along with the rest of the Team-Thursday crew. I have to admit that I googled panning just to make sure I knew exactly what we were supposed to do for the theme this week. I read a quick article on it and I was off. I set my shutterspeed to 1/30 and tried to follow my kids with the camera as they scootered around the driveway. There were lots of blurry ones. There were also a few cool ones, but half of the kids heads were cut off. So I settled on this one.

I love all the motion in Cara's shot. I can't look at it too long though because it starts making me dizzy.

Head over to Mental Inventory for more Team-Up Thursday.