"These socks are my puppet friends!"

At my MOPS meeting there was a woman talking about playing with our kids.  We love playing at our house and we are always looking for new ways to play.  The one I was most excited about from her talk was sock puppets!

We've talked about buying puppets in the past and have a few finger puppets, but I thought it sounded fun.

We made a puppet!

He was... disappointing.

But I had a plan!  I know just who to call to spiff up my crafting, Alyssa!

So we tackeld sock puppets again.

WAY Better!

They were a huge hit with Colin.

He had so much fun imaging with his puppet.  The downside is that he now tends to think all unpaired socks are puppets!

Thank you Alyssa!

Creativity!

Between pregnancy, new motherhood, pregnancy, work, and being sick, it feels like it's been forever since I've had time for many personal creative pursuits.  Not to say motherhood doesn't open up a whole new world of creative thinking!

But over the last few weeks, I've taken on a few new creative projects.  First, a friend of mine was having a shower for her second baby who is due in a few weeks.  Since we met when we were both learning to feed our firstborn, I thought breastfeeding survival kits would be a great gift!

I was really happy with how the project came out.  Very rarely does my execution match my creative vision.  Also, I was happy to take on a project I knew I could successfully complete in my limited time.

Although I rarely wrap particularly pretty gifts, I did my best to match my little bag bows:

Inspired, when Alyssa called to tackle a new project, I signed on for that one too!  So we picked a night to set about destroying our kitchen being creative as we have done so many times before.

This time, we tackled a recipe for solid perfume that Alyssa had found.

It was a relatively simple project.  Alyssa grated the beeswax.

My biggest contribution was the creation of an effective and easy to use double boiler.  This was slightly more complicated than it seems at first.  Because the finished concoction cools rather quickly, we needed something shallow and easy to pour from.  A bowl was too deep, many of the other options had ledges, but I was happy with how it worked out and it wasn't too tedious to clean between scents.

Another challenging aspect was finding appropriate containers.  We didn't find exactly what we were after, but these worked okay.

In the end, I'm very hapy with the results.  We only used a few ingredients, didn't make too much of a mess and compared to our attempt at cutting wine bottles using string and fire, it was very very successful!

Not nearly so violent as this picture would make you believe.

Alyssa

Once upon a time, in a land far far away (and a land not so far away at all), there lived a girl with an incredible sense of adventure, an eye for the extraordinary, and a fun streak a mile wild.

  

There's a million things you can say about the friends who matter most.  But they are better said over the course of years during Veggie Wednesdays, Collage classes, Sunday morning hikes, last minute trips to the opposite side of the globe, late nights in dark hipsters bars and during the countless adventures that are yet to be experienced.

Happy Birthday, my friend.

Halloween!

It was Halloween!

I'm so late in posting.  Time seems to just slip away from me!  

Laid back at our house complete with full sized candy for trick-or-treaters.  Better updates coming... maybe. :)

The OC Fair... Let's eat!

 I'm always excited by the idea of the Fair.  But then I get there.  I remember that it's hot, crowded, greasy and FANTASTIC! 

Deep Fried Kool-Aid.  Gavin couldn't help himself.

And last but not least, introducing my bounty.  On the left is Minion, my new pet goldfish.  He's currently in his third week, vastly outliving all predictions for his lifespan.  On the right is my new minion named Goldfish.  He's my carpool buddy.  Sadly, I don't think he get's my HOV privileges...

Sunday Morning Hike

This morning Alyssa invited me for a hike...

There is no better way to spend a Sunday morning, I'm almost sure of it.

Sorry about the time and date... I took my old camera which is now my work camera. 

The Hike overall was decent.  A bit hot and the top was steep, but a ton of fun. If you want more info on the actual trail, this is an excellent and accurate report.