CORNROWS for RAGNAR

So my little sister Janae is competing in the RAGNAR this weekend. To show my support, since I wouldn't train with her, I willingly fixed her hair. To make it easy to manage on this long weekend and so she didn't have to worry about her hair flipping her in the face while she ran, she chose CORNROWS. She texted me Thursday morning on my way home from work and needed them done by Thursday night. That didn't give me very long to figure out how to do them. After a few pics online and a youtube video. I think I figured it out.

Janae was very patient with me.... and we ended up going back and undoing the first ones once I got the hang of it. If any white chick could really pull off cornrows it would be Janae. Check her out!
Good luck this weekend! We're cheering for you!

HOSE WREATH

This ended up being really easy to make and not your typical wreath. Here is what you'll need.A: an old hose (or a new one). I used about 25 ft. Cut off any extra but keep one of the metal ends. I think it gives it more character.

B:Garden tools, really you can use whatever you want, but I thought the rake and shovel looked good together.

C: a watering pale, make sure the size will work with the size of wreath you decided to make.

D: Anything to give it more character.... I used burlap (to cover up the wire that holds it all together), but any type of ribbon/rope/material would work. I also added sticks behind my gardening utensils.

E: a pair of gardening gloves, I chose pink so they would stand out from the hose.

F: WIRE (sorry no picture) This is what you'll use to put it all together.

Now the fun part, putting it together. I didn't take any picture because depending on your style and what you decided to use they will all look different.

First I wrapped my hose into a circle and looped it around about 5 times, whatever size you want your wreath. I then tied it with wire in three different spots, making sure to hide the cut end of my hose somewhere in the back. I also decided to let the end of the hose hang down, but it was cute tied up too.

Next I added my watering pale and secured it with wire. Then the sticks, then the shovel, then the gloves, then the rake. I found it was a lot easier to add each piece individually and secure it, before adding the next piece.

Next it was time to cover up all that wire. I just cut strips of burlap and knotted them on.

Last, give it something to hang on. I made a wire hanger attached to the the wires that were holding the hose in loops. I guess you could also go by a wreath frame from the craft store and build your wreath on it.

THAT'S IT! Now you have a fun wreath, great for the garden or your front door!

SUNSHINE!

We are loving the warm weather at our house. The kids love the chance to play outside and I love the chance to work in the yard! Last week right after getting home from a bike ride we decided to weed the flower beds. I got to work while Trevin and Cheyenne played on the swing set. After a few minute Trevin wanted to come help me, I helped him get his working gloves on and he started picking weeds. Then he noticed I was using a small gardening shovel, so he wanted one too. I sent him to the garage to go get one and this is what he found that was way cooler than a shovel! Dad's hard hat. He wore this around for most of the afternoon and even tried to convince Chey to try it on. I was so entertained by Trevin's new love for the hard hat that I didn't notice what Cheyenne had found to keep herself busy.... Go look at the first picture again. She found my flowers! This geranium didn't hold up to well against her. I guess I should just be thrilled that she didn't completely out of the ground.
Cheyenne was in trouble for just a minute. Then I figured she already pulled them off, I might as well let her play with the flowers. She loved getting to pull off all the petals. Trevin even brought one over to me a few minutes later and said "Flowers for you, smell it!"
YEAH... They're cute even when they're naughty!

WIPES CASE

I love making these wipie cases. My sister in law made one for me when I had my little girl (the one on the top left). I loved it so much that I thought I would make this my standard baby show gift. They are really simple and it makes the case of wipes so much cuter. On an even better note, you'll always know which wipe case belongs to you! I lose things all the time, but I've had my wipes case for over a year now (pretty impressive... I know!).

I've had a couple people ask me how to make them, so here it is.

STEP 1: Gather your supplies.... I've put on lots of pictures because I hate tutorials that tell you what to do and but don't show you (so I hope my pictures help).

1. A travel size Huggies hard wipe case with a small door in the top to pull wipes through.

2. Material, just enough to cover the case front and back, (7 inches x 10 inches, twice!)

3. Sewing Trim. There are so many different options. I try to pick ones that are about 3/4 cm wide. You'll need 1.5 yards in length.

4. Ribbon, 10 inches length, any width would work (mine are usually 1/4 -3/4 inch)

5. Batting, enough to cover the top of wipe case (7 inches x 10 inches), about 1/4-1/2 inch thick.

6. Buttons, I know they aren't in the picture, I didn't use any on this one, but I love adding buttons. I'll be sure to tell you when to add them in the steps.

7. Oh yeah, a hot glue gun and glue!

STEP 2: Hot glue the batting to the top of the wipe case, you'll be covering up the little door that is there. I use quite a bit of hot glue, I'd hate for this to fall apart on whoever I give it to. Once it is glued on trim the excess. You don't need the batting to hang over the edges at all, so just cut it to the shape of the case.

STEP 3: Lay your case on your material and cut a rectangle around the case, leaving about 1 inch of extra material on each side. Remember you need two pieces (double your material or cut it out twice).
STEP 4: A-Start with the short edge. Hot glue along the edge (not right on the edge you need to be able to trim off some material, See step 6) and then stick your material down (make sure if your using strips that you have them lined up before you glue it down).

B-Next, glue your material to the batting. I usually make 2-3 lines of hot glue then pull my material taut over the glue(I don't like fold/creases in the material). Work from the first edge that is glued down. Once you get to the opposite short end glue that edge down.

C- Last glue the long edges, this is easiest if you glue half the length at at time.
STEP 5: Glue down the corners. Put a small dot of glue in the corner and pull the corner of your material taut over it.
STEP 6: Trim the excess material, make sure to cut it down to expose some of the wipes case (only a little, about 1/4 cm), you'll need that so you can hot glue down the trim.
STEP 7: Repeat steps 4 and 5 to cover the bottom of the case. The only difference is the lack of batting. So just hot glue the material straight to the wipe case. You'll be able to feel the hot glue strips through the material, but don't worry about that. This is what your case should look like after competing step 7.
STEP 8: A- Cut your ribbon to about 10 inches long. If there is a pattern to you ribbon, make sure you have the part you want. Mine has words that I didn't want to cover up, so I didn't use buttons. If you have BUTTONS now is the time to sew them to your ribbon. I usually use 3 buttons and sew them on in a row, right next to each other. Then I place my ribbon so all the buttons are on the right side of the case (off center).

B- Hot glue the back of your ribbon, about 6 inches in the center of the ribbon.

C- Place your ribbon on your case. I usually do mine just down from the middle. Once you have it where you want it, glue down the remaining ribbon, on the edges trim off any excess, to be even with where you trimmed down your material.
STEP 9: This is where all your hard work comes together, and makes the case look like something you'd be willing to give as a gift.

A-Start on the bottom of the case, on the back side (NOT where the little tabs are that help you open it- that's the front). Place one dot of hot glue right at the back and stick your trim/edging on it. Most edgings will fray so, once it is stuck in place you want to add a small amount of hot glue on the top. This will glue the edges together and prevent it from fraying.

B- Put hot glue on the edge of the case, in a 1 -2 inch section.

C-Pull your trim/edging down over the glue, making sure not to over lap where the case should open, but making sure to cover the raw edge of your material.

Continue around the case until you are about 1/2 inch from where you started.
STEP 10: A-When you get to 1/2 inch from where you started, cut your edging so it will butt up to the starting edge.

B- Glue it down then add another small dot of hot glue to the top of the trim/edging, to prevent fraying.

Repeat steps 9 and 10 on the top of the case, it is usually easier to do this one with the case open. That way you can be sure to not glue the case shut. Line the edge of your trim/edging with the edge of the wipes case.
THAT'S IT! Now you have a cute wipes case!
The best part is picking out materials and ribbons. I have never made two that were the same, I try to match them to the personality of who I'm making it for. HAVE FUN!

FAMILY JEEPING

You can be excited for summer when the top comes off the jeep. That's usually the case but this year Gage decided to take the hard top off in MARCH... yeah that's a cold ride! The soft top went on shortly after and has been going up and down ever since. But I think that it's finally warm enough to stay down! Next step to indicate full on SUMMER, the doors will come off! Even with the crazy weather we have had we still found a weekend to take the kids out "JEEPING" for the first time. Gage has had a few spots he has wanted to try out and right after a few rainy days was the perfect time to go. The ride up was a little colder than we expected but once we got on the trail, it warmed up. The kids still wore their jackets just to save them from getting completely drenched and covered in mud. We found this fun hill, that when Gage looked at it he said... "I wanna try that!" At first I really thought he was kidding, I should have known better! Up we went until the tires started slipping then it was time to kick it into reverse and come down.

If your wondering which is worse... definitely coming down, I was a little nervous, heights aren't my favorite... but the kids loved it! Especially when the tree branches flipped past their seats.

We all survived coming down and were excited to do some more exploring... We drove for a while, Trevin made sure to tell us every time we went over a big bump (which was often). Cheyenne just smiled most of the time and said "Wow!" a lot.

We found our next obstacle, there were two dirt bikers at the bottom that just looked at us like we were crazy for even heading toward this climb. Gage like usual had full confidence in his Jeep and his driving abilities. UP we went. I forgot to take a picture of this trail at the bottom, but this is the look of it coming back down.

We made it to the top and got out to enjoy the view, and give our behinds a break from all the bumps. We even switched the seats around so Trevin got a better view heading back down the hill.


Back home, the kids liked cleaning the jeep almost as much as making it dirty!
Trevin was all hands on, scrubbing off the mud and using the hose.
Cheyenne mostly played in the water and steered clear of Trevin's aim with the hose.
There are a lot of great things about a jeep, but this next picture is one of the most convenient in my opinion.
Cleaning out the INSIDE of your car with a HOSE! Yep I definitely wish I could clean out the inside of my car like that. Thanks for bringing us all hose safe Gage.

FRISBEE...GOLF...FROLF?

We had a really great weekend. Friday night we had Mike and Sierra over for dinner and decided that Saturday we would head out Golfing... kind of... DISC GOLF that is! We got a couple of discs for Mike for Christmas and Gage has been looking for any chance to get a couple for himself. This was it, and it really was so worth it. Gage had to go into work for a couple of hours on Saturday, but that worked out really well since the Disc golf coarse is right next door (basically). This is the first hole. It took us a minute to find it, over a hill and far away! There was a couple of groups ahead of us that we waited for.(I couldn't believe how many people were there.) It only took a couple of holes and then they were well in front of us... lets just say I could definitely use some practice... I couldn't believe how far they could throw the discs! It did give us a great chance for some fun panoramic pictures!For all of you that are unfamiliar with the game, let me give you a quick run down. It is just like real golfing, except you use discs... Distance Drivers, Fairway Drivers, Midrange drivers, Putters, etc... and the holes aren't in the ground. And instead of having a nice mostly clear fairway.. you often go straight through the trees. We all had a lot of fun, we only had a couple of discs so we played on teams...Crabtrees vs. Coombs. We didn't keep score for very long.. we'll pretend that's because we all needed practice but in reality...we were losing! Gage starting out hole 7.
Trevin loved to play with the putter!
I was awful and definitely couldn't have kept up with the boys... I'm glad I was always up against Sierra, that way i only lost by a small margin. A sweet picture of Si, showing off her skills.
It usually took me and Sierra about 3 throws just to make it down the fairway. The holes were really far away. In this pic we already threw once.I must admit, half of the fun was trying to find your disc when a throw was way off... no wonder they make those discs neon colors!
I hope we get to go again soon.