brown bobbin: June 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

blisters

I have 2 blisters and 1 splinter.

Did a little gardening today on what seemed like the hottest day of the summer so far. Finally planted some plants in my large containers on my front patio area. We are also working on transitioning our landscaping into drought tolerant or California native landscaping. A good portion of or landscaping is this, but we are also working on taking out some of the grass areas and landscaping it...or I should say Andy is working on it.

I took some pictures of plants I like at the Fullerton Arboretum the last time we were there.

Love this tree, but that might be a little much.

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LOVE, love everything about this...colors, plants and the doors, love them!

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Rocks and concrete pieces will definitely be incorporated.

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Not landscaping, but I just love this gate...beautiful. I love when different materials are combined in interesting ways like this.

So much inspiration and so many ideas, I just hope we can pull it all together.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

time to get dirty

It's summer - time for exploring and getting dirty.

I love sitting back and watching the these guys play. They are so creative with their pretend play. I especially love the different voices that are used for the many different characters.

On this particular day, there was a mama wolf and a baby wolf working on building a den. They were doing a great job with their den and also with getting dirty.

I don't mind the dirty, I just want to be able to get them clean.

Ever since I saw the post by Soule Mama about homemade laundry powder I have been wanting to make my own also. I just love the idea of making my own and it's also nice to know all the ingredients in my laundry detergent.

Soule Mama's recipe

Homemade Laundry Powder

(Makes approximately 5 cups)

2 cups (finely) grated castile soap

1 cup borax

1 cup baking soda

1 cup soda ash (washing soda)

Mix and store in an airtight container.

I'm almost out of my store bought detergent and I have all the ingredients except the soda ash, so I am going to try it with what I have and see how it works. Man I'm impatient. Maybe if I just add a little more Borax and baking soda.

Time to go experiment!

Monday, June 28, 2010

A little 'moto' party!

This year Ella will turn 5 and this is somewhat monumental in early childhood, so the plan is to have a nice party for her. Julian turns 3 and the plan was to have a 'little' party for him this year.

I have been known to procrastinate and since this was just going to be a little party I was guilty. Why? I don't know, but I vow never to procrastinate again. It's now in writing.
He wanted a 'moto' (motorcycle) party with s'mores, so we had a 'moto' party with a little twist on s'mores.

The invite went out about a week and a half before the party. Andy and I were tuckered by the end of the party, but Julian had fun which that's all that matters.

The happy b-day banner.

Definitely making all my banners this way from now on, it was so much easier than ones I have made in the past. I folded a rectangular piece of fabric over a thick piece of yarn and sewed it across right under the yarn, so that the letters could still slide on the yarn. Painted the letters with a sponge brush and was done.

I found this motorcycle silhouette and pretty much branded it on everything, including this pinata...which was never used because like I said, I was plain tuckered out by the end of the party.

Andy cooked all of the delicious food for the taco bar (he really is the best) and my mom supplied the yummy rice and beans. Thank you, thank you!

A gunny sack race full of smiles, cheers, and of course some tears.

The birthday boy waiting patiently for a cupcake.

The waiting paid off.

Since he asked for s'mores I decided to make s'mores cupcakes, chocolate cupcake topped with crumbled graham crackers, mini marshmallows and a drizzle of just a little more chocolate. These were the large.

These were the small.

I think he was happy with the 'moto' cake.

I know he was very pleased with all of his 'moto' toys.

Right before going to bed, he spotted his cake on the counter and started singing 'Happy Birthday' to himself, so we all joined in and re-lit the candles...about 5 times.

A nice closer to a long day.

Love you big guy.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

he knows how to bust a lip

Now that he is 3 he wanted to make sure he is acting like a big 3 year old...with a busted lip.
Either his hat was too low or the little family of ducks were so intriguing that he walked right into a BBQ stand at the park and ended up with a mouth full of charcoal and this nice swollen lip. When we got home, he asked me to take a picture of his lip which made me laugh because I was already on my way to find the camera.
Off to work on a 'moto' party.

Monday, June 21, 2010

he turns 3!!!!

Today is the first day of summer and the longest day of the year, but what makes this day even more special is it's this boy's birthday!

Three years ago today, this sweet boy entered our lives.

I had no idea how I would be able to love another baby as much as my heart was so full of love for Ella.

It's pretty amazing how much capacity our hearts have.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
to our sweet, happy, energetic, extremely funny big boy.
We have a lot of celebrating to do today.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

a happy father's day

First off, Happy Father's Day to my dad!!

Truly an amazing dad.

I think he enjoyed our celebrations today.

Someone else was enjoying the day, also, before the celebrations began.

Happy Father's Day, Andy.

Thanks for being a great dad to our babies.

We celebrated the dad's at our house.

I just can't get enough of this cute girl,

and I don't think Ella could get enough of the apple pie a la mode.

I hope all the dad's were feeling the love today.

Happy Father's Day!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Started off...

celebrating Father's Day weekend with a maiden voyage

for the current project Andy has been working on for over a year to a car show.

Many hours of hard work and frustrations have gone into this car and well, again, another good looking car. Good job!! Andy hates any type of attention, but hey I get to brag a little, right?

For those who care, it's a '31 roadster with a flathead and a quickchange. That's about all I know with the car talk.

Nice weather and great food made for an enjoyable time.

This little guy even got a little nap in.

Our friend's truck.

The topper for the day was Andy driving it home successfully, which is the furthest he has driven it. I'm just bummed I had packed my camera in the back of the car and was not able to get a picture of him on the freeway.
Again, GOOD JOB!!