aquarium adventures...

have you ever tried to take pictures while trying to watch a group of excited giggling girls that you are responsible for in a crowd in a dimly lit maze of rooms?

it's tough!

i went on ella's school field trip to the aquarium of the pacific last week and this was what i was trying to do.  

i got a couple of ok pictures, but more importantly i didn't lose any of my girls!!

this was our first time to this aquarium and it was really fun.

it's not as big as the aquarium in monterey bay but it is a good size for a half day trip.

ella loved all the little pools where you can touch the different animals.  

this girl is fearless!!  

she never hesitates to be the first to touch something new.

she really liked the sting rays, pictured above, and the jelly fish.

 i loved the sea horses...they are so beautiful and really don't even seem real.
i always find myself imagining that i am really small and can ride around on the back of the sea horse, ha, ha... wouldn't that be fun!

we will definitely have to plan another trip and spend a little more time looking around.

keeping track of 2 kiddos is a lot less stressful! 

Remember when...

 we used to dress up and put make-up on each other...

since ella doesn't have any sisters, I'm so thankful that she has cousins around her age

 to play with and create these special memories with.

ella is all about the less is more, subtle kind of make-up.

ha, ha...she's my little cupcake face.

DIY: old tie into 2 new bows

bows are fairly simple to make but I like to cut corners and save time any chance I get...who doesn't right?

well here is a way to repurpose an old tie and make two new bows with very minimal sewing.  

I suppose you could do it a no sew way with just fabric glue but I have a hard time waiting for glue to dry.

here we go...

1. get yourself an old tie 

2. cut about an 8-9 inch section that is about the same width.  

(Some of those old 70's ties really get fat and it is hard to find a part that is the same width)

most ties have an extra piece in the middle to help the tie keep it's form- pull that piece out.

3. fold the piece in half with seam side on the outside, or right sides together and sew.

4. flip right side out

5. cut a small piece of fabric about 2 inches by 2 inches and sew along one edge right sides together. inside out...this is going to be the piece that goes around the center of your bow.

6. wrap piece around the center of the bow and pull as tightly as you can and sew. (TIP- I usually move the needle position towards the outside to sew closer to the bow)  

you can try to flip that piece so that the seam is on the inside but it's a real pain and I it won't even show when it is worn.

7. ella likes to wear headbands lately 

so I just slide the bows on and off and that way she can change them whenever she wants and she only needs a couple of different actual headbands.

these can also be attached to clips or pretty much anything with fabric glue.

here is the second style of bow you can make with that same old tie...

it is made pretty much the same way except using the skinny side of the tie. I also used a much longer piece to make a long skinny bow.  

this bow was made with a pice about 16 inches long.

there you go...

pretty easy, right?

Collage

 I love collages of pictures on a wall.

I have found that what I love the most is a good mix of photographs and artwork.

I put this little collage together a while back and I think I might be changing it soon so I wanted to just get a few pictures of it before I change it.

here is what is in this collage starting from the top left and going clockwise...

ella playing at a beach in Barbados on a trip we took 5 years ago
a picture I painted a while back
a cat ella drew about a year ago...I love this drawing
a hot air balloon picture from a vintage book
julian hanging in the garage with andy when he was about 2 years old.
my mom's graduation picture wig and all...love it
andy and ella from pictures we had taken when I was pregnant with julian
ella in Barbados again
another hot air balloon
and the last one is hard to see but it's a picture of my dad when he was in the navy...love this one also.

she said YES!!!

last week I shot a little engagement shoot for my cousin and his now fiance. 

JOEL + GENNEVIVE

we planned the shoot for what turned out to be one of the most beautiful warm weekends in a while.  

besides crawling through the parking lot to find a parking spot it was a perfect evening.

they were so easy to shoot...they are so cute together.

 plus they were game for everything i suggested.

one of the things i love most about photography is capturing an emotion.  

candids are my favorite 

and the interaction between these two made it easy to capture the emotion between them.

these are a few I like

Soap making...

 There is something about making something new for the first time that is so exciting to me.  

My friend Christy asked me if I had seen the recipe on how to make liquid hand soap...I hadn't and I was really excited to see it especially since I had just bought a new smell good liquid hand soup and my little mister Julian decided to use the whole thing to 'clean the sink' for me.

Love this little guy, but the whole thing...really?

She sent me the link that day and this past weekend we made our liquid hand soap.

We used this recipe.

I couldn't find a Mrs. Meyers bar of soup so I just picked one that was big and smelled good when I stopped at Sprouts. 

I used a South of France bar and it worked.  

 We used the food processor to grate the soap.  This is the little trick I learned when making our laundry detergent.  It is way easier and the kiddos love to grate it.

We made it in the late afternoon and in the morning it was thick.  I is use the immersion blender to kind of smooth it out.  

It worked perfectly.  

Now we have plenty of hand soap for only $3.50

Yea!!

She wants to surf!!

This past Sunday we went to the beach in the late afternoon

 for a photo shoot I was going to shoot

 and also because Ella has been asking us to take her out surfing. 

 Our friends gave us a wetsuit a while back and she has not had a chance to use it.  

The weather was perfect and the surf was flat

 which was a perfect day to get Ella out on the board.

 She was so excited she put the wetsuit on at home about an hour before we were even going to leave.  I warned her she was going to get sweaty really fast but she didn't care...she lasted for about 15 minutes running around outside in the heat, ha, ha.

I didn't get any of her on the board because I had to get to work,

 but I heard all about her first day after... 

she preferred the body board and had fun paddling into the waves.

 They warmed their tummies with hot chocolate after...

this is kind of a tradition for Andy and I after surfing.

 We finished up the night filling up at Gina's.  

YUM, YUM!

This eggplant parmesan sandwich was perfect...I have been craving more since.

I'm so excited to see the kid's wanting to get into the water...I hope it sticks.

sewn shorts

 as the weather has been getting hotter, I have been going through the kid's clothes and noticed that both of them have really sprouted.  

I haven't sewn too much lately but I have really been wanted to set aside a little time to sew the kiddos some new clothes.  

I decided to start out pretty easy and make some shorts for Ella.

I blocked out a pair that still fits her and customized it a little.

 as soon as I had her try them on 

she said they would be perfect for practicing somersaults...

I think she was right.

they were also great for jumping off things and meeting new little friends.