Art Festival

I'm pretty sure that most cities have art festivals during the summer months. I love them. There's so much to see and so many beautiful and interesting things to look at. I love supporting artists, and keeping creativity alive in the world. There's a pretty big art festival that comes every summer here and lasts for about 2 months before closing. I didn't make it out to see it last summer so it was a definite must do this summer. Today was the day I took the kids to see it.

I was pretty amazed at the set-up. It was like other "art in the park" kind of set ups I've been to, with artisans varying from glass ware to painting, from leather to jewelry. The difference was instead of pitching camp under a quick shade for a weekend these stands were uniquely crafted permanent looking structures. They were laid out along a meandering path of wood chips under a beautifully landscaped canopy of trees. 

We had a nice surprise of finding a glass blower making some pieces on site. I love watching glass blowers work, it's very mesmerizing. But this was the first time my kids had seen the art in motion. My daughter was only interested for a second, and then something shiny far away caught her eye. My son, however, could have watched that guy all day! He thought that was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen and now it's topping the list of things he wants to learn how to do. I told him about a friend of ours in Michigan that owns a studio that I'm sure would show him some cool things. Now he can't wait to visit our friend and watch this art some more!

It was hard to get a good picture through the safety bars. It didn't feel like it while watching him, but this picture sure feels like one of the zoo pictures I just posted a few days ago.

We finished the day by stopping for ice cream on the way home. I think it's really special that my kids could see such wonderful things today. I think exposing them to all different kinds of art the world has to offer is so beneficial.

This was a really cool fountain in the back.

Magician's Secret Bag

Today's project turned out so cool! I'm giddy with my excitement about how neat it is that I hardly know where to start my story. I'll begin with saying that whenever the library offers a magic show we're there sitting front and center. My son is very intrigued by magic, and as cheesy as these school performers are they know their audience... grade school age boys are in awe. As we left he couldn't stop talking about doing magic when we got home. My mind went into overdrive to come up with a trick he could do. The library magician did a trick with bag that I was pretty sure I could duplicate. Here's instructions for my version of the magic bag.

Start by cutting 2 pieces of black fabric 9.75"x11" & 2 pieces of decorative fabric (the blue star fabric) 9.75"x12". You'll also need a 5" hoop, a 7"-8" zipper, and a strong magnet (you can buy these at craft stores, or save the ones from the backside of refrigerator to-do lists... they're great... super strong).

With right sides together stitch the black fabric along the long sides using a 5/8" hem. Do the same for the decorative fabric.

Attach the zipper to the bottom. Start by sewing the zipper to the decorative fabric, right sides together. Do this for both sides.

Bring the black fabric over the decorative fabric, wrong sides together. I hemmed the end first, or you can hem it at the same time you sew it to the zipper.

Stitch the black fabric to the zipper, sealing in the raw edge.

Turn bag right side out. Hem the tops of the fabric. This can be done by folding over the top just 1/4" to seal in the frayed ends, or by surging the ends like shown in the picture.

If using a refrigerator magnet cut it into 2 equal pieces. Sew one magnet onto the wrong side of one of the black pieces, using a small square of black fabric to hold it in place. It will actually go UNDER the square, not on top as shown in the picture. It's just there to show placing and pieces used on this step.

Sew the other magnet into the wrong side of the decorative pieces, again using a small square of black fabric to hold it's place. Put it where it lines up with the other magnet.

Use the hoop to measure how far to make a casing with the decorative fabric. Remove hoop and sew the casing, leaving a gap 1"-2" wide to insert hoop into later.

On the side of bag that does NOT have magnets stitch the black fabric to the decorative fabric along the same stitch line you just made in the casing. Leave the other side of the bag open.

Take the outer hoop and fold over the metal pieces that stick out. (I used some needle nose pliers for this part.)

Then thread hoop into the casing.

I left the gap open. You can close it up with some hand stitching. And you're done!

Now here's how to use the bag. Before performing trick take a piece of play food from the toy box and put it in the secrete pocket you've made in the bag between the black lining and the outer decorative fabric. Close the secrete pocket with the magnet. Open the zipper.

When ready to perform the trick say, "I brought a snack to share, it's just right here in my bag." Put your hand in the bag and it sticks right out the bottom. Act surprised that your bag has a hole and now you lost your snack. Close the zipper. Say some magic words, wave a magic wand if you have one. Reach back in the bag, only this time you secretly put your hand in the secrete pocket, and pull out the toy food. Ta-Da!! Take a bow and soak in the applause.

Olympic Pizza & Olympic Flags

From the time I was a little girl I've always adored the Olympics. My husband's a huge fan too and the kids have picked up on the energy as they've counted down the days to the opening ceremonies. With that much excitement flowing through our house of course I had to come up with a fun way to make a party out of tonight. Olympic Pizza was my answer!

I was going to make some pizza dough from scratch, which really isn't hard if you have a bread machine. Just dump the ingredients in the machine, turn it on, and come back and hour and a half later and you've got dough! But I spent too much time at the park with a friend, and so I stopped by the store on the way home and picked up some refrigerated pre-made roll dough. First divide the dough into 5 equal parts. Roll them out into a tube.

Connect the ends of each tube making a circle.

Place on cookie sheet in the shape of Olympic rings, 3 on top, 2 on bottom.

Now (this was my kids favorite part) smoosh the dough flat.

Cover with mozzarella cheese and bake according to package directions. Voila! When done serve with pizza sauce to dip it in.

The flags are such a big part of the parade of nations which made me think that the kids would like a flag of their own to wave while watching it. I started with a piece of off white canvas. I was going to hem it, but that seemed like too much work. So I just cut it with some pinking shears. It's approximately 6"x9".  I drew the Olympic rings on it with pencil, tracing around the base of a small glass to make a good circle.

The kids then painted their flags with fabric paint.

After the paint dried I hot glued a bamboo skewer to the backside of the flag, hiding the pointy side inside the folded over part of the fabric.

It all was a huge hit! The kids ate more of the pizza than they do when I make it the regular way. And the flags provided much entertainment for them, and I'm sure will continue to be waved enthusiastically the next several days.

A Trip to the Zoo

The last few days I might not have posted anything, but like before it's not because we weren't busy. My sister flew into town (whom I haven't seen in three and a half years) and the kids and I have been showing her the town. We've done many of the things I've already written about this summer, like paddle boarding and swimming. And we've done things that we don't normally do either, like take the time to look at the little unique shops in town. You know the ones. They don't have anything on your weekly grocery list and as you pass by them you think, "One of these days when I'm by myself and can take the time to look and not worry about the kids breaking anything". Well, I did those shops with the kids. But the highlight of the week was our trip to the zoo.

The kids couldn't wait to get there. Days beforehand the questions were coming, "Are we going to the zoo today?" "When can we go to the zoo?" "Is it time to go to the zoo yet?" Unfortunately my husband couldn't get the time off work, so I was flying solo with the kids. Thankfully the only thing I was worried about was getting overly tired (which I did).

We got there at about 11am and met my sister and her husband at the flamingos. We wandered around the monkeys and stopped for lunch after we found the tiger. I packed sandwiches and food I knew the kids would eat, but treated them to the biggest ice cream cones ever! Seriously, there was this teeny tiny cone stacked with a half gallon of soft serve on top! I put my daughters' in a cup for her to eat upside down before she dumped it on the ground. Score one for Mommy diverting the problem.

My brother in law really wanted to see the polar bears. What we thought would be an easy walk to their exhibit ended up being a 4 hour detour around a broken walkway! We were all so beat, and just pushed onward and upward on our mission to find those polar bears! We passed by some really cool animals along the way, elephants, this weird looking bird, and in the end we met our goal and found them!

I was so beat at the end of the day! After dinner and the highway drive I made it home at about 11:30pm! I spent most of today moving as little as possible recuperating from it all. But we all had so much fun, and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Thanks sis!

Summer Lawn Concert

Today was another "beat the heat" kind of day. Our house gets really hot in the afternoon. It's fine in the morning, and usually is good after 6 o'clock or so, but it has trouble keeping up when the temperatures get too high mid afternoon. So I planned an afternoon of outings in "cool" places (haha). We started at Toys R Us to spend some leftover birthday money from Nana. Then over to the Disney store to use up the last few dollars left on a gift card, and then finished up with a trip to the movie theater to see Madagascar 3.

There's a nice grassy area right outside the theater with stone seating embedded into the hillside. We noticed blankets spread out all over the hill, but I had no idea of why. After the movie (which I thought was only so-so, kind of a let down since I liked the first two movies in the series so well, but my son thought was amazing) we saw a HUGE crowd on the hillside. We went over to check it out and found a nice 80's cover band singing and many families hanging out in lawn chairs listening to them. We plopped down on the grass and enjoyed the atmosphere for a while. I love events like this. Simple, low key, and just a chance to slow down and appreciate life.

There's a fountain in that same area that we like to stop at when we're near by. We always like to throw a penny in the fountain and make a wish. The kids immediately asked for pennies and then went up to the fountain to touch the water. While I was digging around in my bag a security guard came up and told the kids they had to step away from the fountain! I asked him what was going on, and he said that the water needed to be kept clear, and they could watch the fountain from a few feet away, but couldn't be up close at the ledge. (Meanwhile, adults were sitting on the very ledge my children were told needed to be kept clear.) It really disrupted the mood, and my son didn't want to put his penny in after that, or even stick around. I know the guy was probably just doing his job, but it was kind of weird. I hope he didn't jinx my wish.

(Notice the people sitting on the fountain ledge in the far left corner.)

Painted Bird Houses

I think that paint in the craft drawers is just as much a staple in our house as food in the pantry. It just has to be there for when the urge strikes to paint something. That urge hit us today. I had to make a quick run out to Joanne Fabric store to buy a pattern I need for a project I'm trying to finish sewing before the weekend's over. I thought for sure the pattern would be the only thing I purchased (but I'm pretty sure my husband would laugh at that statement). And my husband would be right. First thing we saw when we walked in the door was a display of wooden bird houses that my son has been begging to get for months.

Today was the day I gave in and let them pick out their favorite house. It actually ended up being a good decision. It was so hot today, uncomfortably hot. We tried taking a walk around the neighborhood [me on foot, the kids on scooters] but I got overheated (and therefore cranky) and the kids faces were beet red. Going back home, turning the air conditioning on and sitting down made us all happy.

The kids painted and talked about the birds that are going to move into their houses. My daughter said that only girl birds can live in her house. And my son said that his is for a whole family of birds. As soon as the paint dried my son hung his up from the clothesline in the backyard. He then came inside and watched it closely, asking where the birds were. Why weren't they in the birdhouse yet? Time perspective is still something we're working on.

Backyard Bounce House

Oh my goodness, yesterday was such a tiring day I fell asleep typing this!! (So it never got posted.) Here's yesterday's treasure:

I love hosting friendly gatherings at my home. I used to host several things every month: play dates for the kids, sewing groups for mommies, wine socials during a good TV show, or whatever else I could dream up as an excuse to be surrounded by loving friendly faces. But since downsizing a year ago we haven't had as much company over and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it. I decided that it was time to put the size of my place aside and invite some friends over.

The kids helped me clean up the leaves in the backyard to make room to roll out the bounce house. We got our bounce house about 3 or 4 years ago on a clearance sale at a local sporting goods store. I think this is the time of year to look for deals like that, as places are starting to get rid of summer stock and will lower original prices pretty far. I wasn't sure how often we'd use it when we bought it, but it has paid for itself many times over. Some "rice crispy" treats (actually made from a healthy cereal made by Kashi) and a pitcher of Arnold Palmer's later and we were set up for action.

The place was crawling with activity and laughter. The kids had so much fun jumping and screaming with their friends. Towards the end of the play date the kids started to get creative with the food. They called it "science" as they swirled drinks from one glass to another, mixing lemonade with V-8. Then they threw in some popcorn, some grapes, and drank it! It literally looked like puke. I'm not sure how all the parents were OK with this mess, but somehow we all were. Maybe it was just knowing that our child "isn't the only one" to do things like that. Maybe that's a good enough reason to do these get togethers more often again.

Visor Pre-Made Kit

The morning started with a trip to the park. I love it when I'm organized enough to get to the park before the sun gets too high and too hot to enjoy being out and active. We went to one of my favorite ones that has lots of natural shade provided by a grove of beautiful trees. But seeing how we go to the park several days a week that wasn't our special activity for the day. I was low on ideas so we swung by Michael's craft store on the way home.

We found a great sale on pre-made craft projects. My son instantly fell in love with a kit to make foam visors, and everything else he saw was white noise after that. He couldn't wait for us to check and get home to get started. (That part wasn't totally good... I wanted to browse a little more than we did.)

The kids dove into the hats about 1.5 seconds after I unlocked the front door. My son got a little frustrated that the markers smudged on his hat, so I gave him some paint to cover it up But he didn't like that either so I had to wash it all off. He eventually came up with a design he liked (a baseball design on the underside). We have a few left over that we'll probably share with the friends we see in the next few days.

Swimming & Cool Whip Pie

A friend of ours recently made some improvements to their pool and invited us over this afternoon for a grand re-opening swim. Considering my children are half fish we hardly ever turn down a chance to swim with friends. This pool was great. It was a mother's dream for being able to relax in the pool with the kids. It had a big stair area, lots of seating nooks in every corner, and a wide stoop that was great for smaller kids to touch bottom and also made a great seating area for grown ups. The center only got to 5 foot at the deepest part, which meant beginning swimmers could play and dive, but never get too deep, and never be too far away from a ledge to hold on to.

I thought it'd be nice to bring a treat to share for when we got out of the pool. The question was what kind of goody to make. It had to be simple, because I wasn't in the mood for complicated. We had some left over graham crackers from all the s'mores we ate while camping last week (the kids devoured the chocolate and the marshmallows, not so much on the crackers) so a pie with a graham cracker crust seemed in order. Combine that with some cool whip and some jello and voila! The perfect light fluffy summer pie!

The pie was a hit! (With the moms and kids... not so much with the hubbies.) Here's my recipe:

Crust:
Melt
     1/3 c butter
Add
     1 1/2 c crushed graham cracker crumbs
     3 T sugar
Press into pie tin. Bake at 450 for 7-10 min. Let cool.

Filling:
Boil
     1 c water
Stir in
     1 box of your favorite jello (Flavors like strawberry & lemon work great. Grape... not so much)
Mix until dissolved, about 2 minutes.
Add
     1 c cold water
Let sit in fridge until cooled off, but not set, about 1 hour. Gently fold in
     1 package cool whip
Pour into prepared pie crust. If desired top with a topping, such as mini marshmallows, chocolate shavings, or sprinkles. Let sit in fridge till completely set, about 3-4 hrs. Eat up!

Blindfold Drawings

You can take any kind of everyday ordinary thing and turn it into something new and different with a blindfold. Blindfolds are simple, inexpensive, and yet open a world of creativity... and that's what we did today.

I took a sheet of paper and taped it to the wall at eye level height for my son. Then I pulled out one of my scarves and wrapped it around his eyes. I didn't intend on spinning him, but he insisted, so pinata style I spun him around a few times. Then, armed with a crayon he went after that sheet of paper. I told him to draw a picture of a dog.

My daughter and I laughed at him trying to draw, and he laughed at how hard it was, and then he took the blindfold off and we laughed some more at how funny his picture turned out. Then it was my daughters turn. I taped another piece of paper a little lower for her and we did the same thing. Her picture was of a sandwich.

I know, it doesn't look like much of a sandwich, but that just made for even more laughter. Next was my turn. I really didn't want to be spun around (I get motion sick on the smallest of rides) but the kids really wanted to spin me, so I let them. [Ugh.] Three times was too many, but I still managed to draw a decent cat, bunny, and sun.

Then the game got crazy. They wanted to keep making new drawings, but they got quite silly. My son didn't want to try and go to the paper to draw. Instead, he wanted to run around the living room dizzy, blindfolded, and with a crayon in his hand. Not a fun thing for a parent to watch! My daughter wasn't getting as crazy. She wanted to keep drawing, but she peeked an awful lot on this monkey (and sun)!

I called an end to the game after my son decided to take the scarf and tie it around his ankles and hop around... and fell (who'd have guessed that?). Even with the silliness that came out of the seemingly simple game, I'd still recommend this activity to try. Just be aware of what your children might want to do with a blindfold in their hands!