First Day of First Grade

*Sniffle sniffle* Our boy keeps growing up.

That, of course, is both happy and exciting and sad all at the same time.

Ugggggg....no one ever told me that being a parent would just be a never-ending ball of emotions. :-/

Evander in his cubby at open house

Cereal by fingers, not spoon ;-)

Watching for the bus about 30 minutes too early

By his tree. Who is taller?

See you later, Lilo!

Still waiting excitedly for the bus

It's time! 

Evander---I miss you when you are gone. I am sad that time is moving so quickly and you aren't as little as you once were. I am thankful you are growing healthy and strong. I am happy you have a thirst for knowledge and can pursue that with great people who will guide you while away from home. I am excited that you will be discovering new things. I look forward to seeing all of the doodles and art work you will bring home. I enjoy that there is less teasing and fighting in the house while you're at school. I enjoy watching your brother, the middle child, be the "big kid" in the house. But mostly, I think I just miss you while you are away at school. I pray for you while you while you are gone.

You, Too, Can Win a Ribbon at the Fair...

...if you enter an item in an obscure category! ;-)

Well...the County Fair is over, which means that summer is o-o-o-o-ver, too.  I know there are fair-haters out there, but I like to think of the negatives associated with it (increased traffic, increased foul smells, increased interactions with questionable people ha) as just something that only needs to be tolerated ONE week out of the year!

I think I am a bit sentimental about the fair. It reminds me so much of being a teenager and just running around with friends (hello!? No bills! No stress of child-rearing! No big responsibilities!). Nick and I went to the Lonestar concert at the fair as one of our first dates 11 years ago! Phew. Time flies.

After strolling through the craft barns year after year after year and saying, "I should enter something!" this year I did for the first time.  It was an afterthought, so I was not thinking that these items would be judged while I was making them.  Next year, I will plan a little better to fit into the specifications of each category.

I entered my granny-square quilt and it didn't win anything:...

My favorite part of this pic is the little hands grabbing for Momma.

...An apron, and it didn't win anything:...

Nicely displayed there, huh? ;-)

...My balloon wreath, and it didn't win anything:...

...and a stocking, which won 1st place!  First out of one in its category. Ha.

Again, I am so impressed how they display these!  I am also so sarcastic.

I have to tell you, that the most fun part of it all was waiting in line to pick up the items at the end of the fair.  It was chatty time between the ladies, "What did you make?" "Oh that's beautiful!" "How do they judge these things?" The most joy came in receiving my quilt back, and unfolding it to show the ladies in the line. One woman said and I quote, "Aren't you a little young to be quilting?" and I felt like answering Phineas and Ferb style, "Why yes. Yes, I am." ;-)

The fair volunteer who took my claim tickets said that I did great and to "PLEASE" enter next year. Hmmm....I wonder if she was a judge whose opinion got vetoed by the other judges. ;-) She probably says that to everyone, but it really made me feel happy.

My thoughts are that the judges are likely old ladies.  No offense if you are an old lady!  It's just...they have very different tastes.  I noticed throughout the craft barn that the judges favor the traditional over something that looks fresh and more modern. But that's okay...it *is* a county fair after all where traditions run deep. I'm guessing, too, that the judges are sticklers on sewing quality after one of the ladies said she heard they use a magnifying glass!  Not sure if that's true or not...but *that's* why I didn't win! ;-)

One of the best surprises was what I found on the back of my quilt ticket:

Well, thank you!

Of course, no trip to the fair is complete without a visit to this booth:

Other fun fair pics:

Birthday Skirt

It's my sissy's birthday today.  We got to celebrate this past weekend with family at Maumee Bay State Park...we swam A LOT with the kids and played around, but mostly we "celebrated" by eating Mom's chocolate cake. :-)

Oh, and I made this skirt for her!

Sorry for the picture quality...I just downloaded it off of Facebook. :-)

I made the comment to my sis that she is so easy to make things for.  She has strong passions and likes, one of them being hippy-type skirts. Ha.

I love scrappy pieces (and by "scrappy," I mean the fabrics used are what I already have...things I've used in other projects) because you can look at the finished piece and say, "Hey...I remember that fabric!  I used that for that person."  Mere's skirt includes older fabric that our grandma crafted with, and fabrics that I used on an apron for our mom.

The skirt consists of four rows of 8" squares.  The top row has eight squares, then 12, 16 and 20.  The rows are ruffled and then sewn together.  There is a waistband and tie at the top that you cannot see in the pic.

Again, poor picture quality from ripping off of Facebook...but it's also poor because I was using a fancy smancy camera, that I obviously don't know how to use.

Can I just inject here that photography stresses me out?!?!?  Ha!  For one, with the camera...I just want the darn thing to work.  Just work for me, please.  I do not want to work for you to work.  (Wow, it's personal...I'm referring to the camera as "you.")  Secondly, I am burdened by pictures.  Burdened over the "need" to take pictures...the guilt of not printing pictures or hanging pictures in my house...the burden of discarding (putting away in a box) old pictures....the burden of all of the emotions that pictures elicit.

Phew!  Glad I got that off of my chest. ;-) Does anyone else ever feel this way...or is it just Crazy Michelle?

Subway Art

You've probably seen subway signs all over magazines and Pinterest...large black signs that list the stops of a subway or bus line: "Broad St.," "Euclid Av.," "Coney Island," etc.

I knew I wanted to make one that was personal to us to hang up in the "new living room." I keep calling our living room new since I painted, but haven't really managed to put decor back on the walls. I hope I get my act together soon! ;-)

I considered painting the letters for my sign, but opted to use my Cricut Machine.  I ordered super cheap vinyl from Wall Words Crafter Supplies.  I was so excited to dive in as I had never cut vinyl with my Cricut before.

And here is the final product:

I am SO incredibly pleased with how it turned out!

I bought the 15" x 30" canvas from JoAnn for $7.99 (yay for 50% off coupons!) and painted it black.  I knew I was dealing with nine words, so I marked the middle of the canvas lightly with pencil to place the word "Clinton."  The rest of the words are spaced about an inch from each other.

To aid in the process, I bought a small roll of transfer tape off of Amazon. Transfer tape is definitely not necessary for vinyl applications...but it is especially helpful when you are working with words.  All of the letters line up nicely and evenly because you can apply them all at once, not individually.

If you haven't used vinyl on your Cricut...I highly recommend it. I might just go crazy vinyling everything in sight!  There are several YouTube videos that demonstrate how to cut vinyl with your Cricut.

You can see how beautiful the letters look

I used the Printing Press cartridge for Cricut and kept my "Real Dial Size" button on. Which means all of the letters would be cut the same height, even though normally some of the letters (like "G" and "Y") would go below the line with this font.  The "G" and the "Y" and the "A" and the "R" ended up different-looking than the rest of the letters...but I like it!  I tend to like things a little different...a little wonky...a little imperfect. :-)

If you know what all of these words have in common, then let me give you a generous virtual pat on the back.  Better yet, how about a hug?

Here is a pic of Subway art from Restoration Hardware:

Baby Poop Dip

Sounds yummy, huh?

I haven't posted a recipe in a while and I made this tonight, so thought I would share.

It's actually called "Raw Spinach Dip" and the recipe can be found here: Raw Spinach Dip.  The times I have made it, though, it has *never* looked as white as it does in the picture.

If you are looking for a healthier-than-ranch dip for your raw veggies---this is it!!!  I've been pounding down the raw broccoli due to this dip.

If you like guacamole, then you will definitely love this.  I would venture to say that this dip is less fatty and has fewer calories than guac, just because there is less avocado and spinach is added.  You just can't go wrong with spinach, right?

And this is all you need!  Yum, yum and yum.

Okay, you will need more spinach than what is pictured, but this was a pretty amount. :-)

1 box of organic spinach (5 oz. maybe? I forgot to look)
1 avocado
1/2 c chopped red onion
1 clove of garlic
juice of one lemon

Place it all in a food processor and process, baby.  The first time I made it, I processed it too much and it was a little too runny...so don't do that!

Ploop and plop!  Did the baby eat peas or green beans?

In addition to "Baby Poop Dip," I've also called this "Hulk Happy Dip" in an attempt to get the kids to eat it.  This was Evander's reaction when I placed the bowl on the floor where he was playing for him to try:

He backed himself under the kitchen table!  Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!  He did try it, though, and so did the other two.  :-)

Enjoy!