Happy One Year!

I have a friend who has had her blog for a year. That's a long time seeing as I just started mine. So Happy One Year Rachel! She is also having a free give-away! Check it out.

http://rachelferkovich.com/

White Afro Lamb

Around 8:00pm last night I went into the boys closet to put together some kind of outfit for Isaac to wear to The Masters Kids which we were having today. Moms and kiddos were supposed to dress up as something that you would find on the farm. I had it in the back of my mind that he needed a costume, but had not actually made it into the closet to figure it out.
I thought maybe a farmer? I must have gone through every piece of clothing trying to find something that I could put together and make an outfit that would work. NOTHING. Not a plaid shirt, hat, shoes, bandana, nothing, nothing, and nothing!
Then I started thinking animals....pig (nothing pink), cow (nothing brown or black), rooster, dog, lamb...Ok, maybe I can work with that. Light colored clothing. Check. Black tennis shoes would work as hooves. Check. Fleece.  Um, NOPE. Seeing as that is the distinguishing feature, it is a must.
I'm not sure why, but I looked up on the top shelf and saw diapers. Then my mind jumped to the kids playing with them on their heads like they were hats before and.... they are white. So I started my creative process.

10 minutes later I had this. Two stapled together diapers with the ends gathered and ribbon to tie it around his chin. Crazy, I know, but I had in mind what I wanted it to be.

Next I added ears. It took about 3 tries to get them in the right place. It started out as a rabbit with really short ears.

By this point IV was in bed and I used my cookie jar as a model. I had started gluing on balls of polyfil from a pillow. I didn't have cotton balls and it was the next best thing.

Here is a picture of the finished product. It looked like an afro wig. I almost felt bad that IV was going to have to wear it. But then again it was the only thing I had and I thought it might actually look cute.

 

 It did look little like a white fro wig but not as bad as I thought! After all, lambs are fluffy right? Maybe he was a lamb in the winter time. He really liked it and I was excited that he did!
I also made him a tail and a bell. I used a stuffed sock and glued polyfil balls to the outside and paper for the bell.

It turned out pretty good for a last minute, hour and a half lamb outfit.

Cookies, Cards, and Jedi

WARNING!
These last couple of days have been kind of busy with various projects.
The computer needed repairs so I was unable to blog them seperately.
Therefore......you get them in one long blog. I guess I could do them seperate. But I'm not. Sorry.

First up:

I was in charge of the snacks for Cubbies this week. This was a good thing as I was itching to make some fall cookies but needed an excuse. So anywho, I made the dough during the boys nap time.  Let it chill until after the boys went to bed for the night and then started the baking and icing. I think I ended up with 4 doz. iced cookies around midnight. A few for cubbies, a few for J's coworkers, a few for a friend, and a few for us!

 Here's the fall leaves. You can't see it very well but I mixed yellow and red icings to get all different shades of colors. Trying to make it look like a real fall leaf.

  Here's some pumpkins. Nothing too special.

Here's the ghosts...OOOOOoooooooo....scary!

And here's an after shot of what it looked like towards the end.

 I'm pretty particular on trying to keep things fairly clean and organized as I go so that it's not a complete disaster area to deal with later.

In the end all cookies went to loving tummies!

Next up:
Cards!!!
I've been trying to be better about keeping up a little extra stock instead of just making the batches that I need at that time. So I'm stocking up on some more fall cards right now. 

 I love fall colors! I also love mixing in some light blues with them. I try to make them not so much matchy-matchy but more vintage eclectic. Each card has mixed papers, various buttons, leaves, and stamps. I like to make each and every one different in some way. It keeps it fresh and interesting.

And more.

After that:

Jedi younglings.

Ok, so I'm going for the over all, from far away, it's a Jedi look. Don't look for distinguishing details because they probably aren't there.

IV has really been into Star Wars lately and asked to be a Jedi for Halloween. He decided that he's  going to be Obi Won Kenobi and Z is going to be Anakin. I'm surprised at how much Z tries to participate with Isaac in their own light saber wars here around the house. We haven't broken down and bought the real thing so they have to use their imagination. So far they have used wrapping paper rolls, western guns, grill tongs, wooden spoons, and most recently baby spoons. I'm working on a way to make some so that they don't have to carry baby spoons and tongs on Halloween.

To make the robes I tried to think of something to use around the house because I would rather make it than buy it. I ended up using an old cream sheet. By no means was it at all really thought out. I doubled over the sheet and laid them both on it with their arms out. Traced around their bodies leaving extra room so that it would be a little flow-y. I wish I would have left a little more-oh well. I hemmed the edges that needed it, made and hood, and then sewed it together. Wah-La! Jedi robes for free! I paired it with a belt, khakis, and a pieced of fabric wrapped around their shoulders for the undershirt thingy (technical term).

The Finished result.

Notice the "light saber".

Finally:
More cards.
Halloween cards.

The outside.

The inside.

Yep, that was a lot.

A Beaver

I have two really cute and really funny boys for those of you who might not know.

Z is my youngest. 19 months. Loves to eat. Tries to shoot rubber bands like daddy. Loves to eat. Likes to bother, I mean, play with brother. Likes to color. Does a really funny seizure thing when he's excited. (I just realized he's actually doing it in this picture) Tells me when he's "poop-y." Likes to give hugs. Has a blankie with airplanes on it. Loves to do "tickle bombs."

IV is my oldest. 4 years. Likes to eat too. But not meals, just snacks. Loves to color. Has a blankie that is light green which he calls "boo bankie" because he couldn't say blue nor did he know his colors. He is really into Toy Story. Likes to make coffee with daddy. Loves to go to bible study, The Masters Kids, and Awanas. Likes to ask a lot of questions. Will talk to anybody.

I have a lot of pictures of them eating. I don't know why. Maybe because they love to eat and that's when they stay still the longest....I don't know. 

The Vaughn house was pretty low key today. The only thing that we left the house for was to take our car to the shop to have some repairs done. Normally, we try to go outside for a mile or so walk to burn off some pent up energy but today it was burnt cleaning and cuddling.

Z was in need of some extra cuddling as he was running a temp. and not his normal busy self. He likes to cuddle, get his back scratched, arms and legs tickled, and head rubbed. Isaac on the other hand would much rather cuddle with daddy. I don't blame him.

Anyway, as we were cuddling on the couch and watching Star Wars Clone Wars which Isaac has recently really gotten into, I was occasionally taking Z's temp. to see if had gone down. IV was doing what any normal 4 year old would do by asking 101 questions.

"What is that mommy?"

-A thermometer.

"Why do you put it under his arm mommy?"

-To see what his temperature is.

"What are those letters mommy?"

-You mean numbers.

"Yeah numbers. What do those numbers mean?"

-That tells me how high of a fever he is running.

"Z has a beaver mommy?"

-(Trying hard not to laugh) Not beaver. FEVER.

"Oh, ok. I will pat him mommy to make him feel better." (He starts patting Z's head like a dog)

It's abnormally quiet for several minutes as we cuddle, pat heads, and watch Anakin fight General Grevious. I think that's who was fighting. I'm not sure, I lose track sometimes.

Then I get this question and it made my day.

"Mommy, where is Z's beaver? I want see it."

Trash to Treasure

Confession: I'm a trash picker....but only of things that I see potential in. Namely, furniture. My problem is that our car is an Altima and with two car seats in the backseat there's not much space left to pick up my soon to be treasures.

The other night we were on our way to bible study when we passed two chairs sitting out next to the street. I said "J look! Those are awesome chairs!" he said "We don't have room." and kept on driving. He would have totally stopped but we really didn't have the room.  Luckily, I have a great friend who is known to trash pick too! She happens to attend the same bible study. She just so happens to also have an SUV. She has turned several pieces of trash into wonderful treasures and has a heart to help others with the same addiction! We picked them up that night and with the help of another friend got them back to my house. Correction. The one that I'm working on is at my house. The other is at a friend's house who was kind enough to store it until I finish this one.

So far I have stripped off all of old upholstery, padding, tack strips, and staples. I've sanded down the chipped and rough paint, filled cracks and chips with wood filler, stabilized a couple of the joints, and re-sanded after the wood filler dried. I also removed the back of the chair and the seat because they were made of particle wood and not very stable. I'll have to find a way to cut and replace those.

It's currently awaiting paint. I'm tossing around different ideas for colors. White wood, robins egg colored upholstery, sanded down for a shabby chic look? Black wood with light white wash on the edges, olive tone upholstery (more on the green side)? Light brown paint with a crackle finish with a light pink or salmon colored upholstery? So many choices!!!

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3.........

Ok, on to the next adventure....Blogging. No guarantees that there will always be a new post or that it will be exciting in anyway to anybody but I wanted a place to journal about what is going on in the Vaughn household for myself, family, friends, and anyone else who has nothing else to do.  So here I am!  I'm not a natural writer nor am I great at conversations so this should be a challenge for me. What you can expect:  horrible spelling and grammar (if spell check doesn't catch it neither do I), projects/crafts/art that I'm currently working on (I always have something), stories about my kids and hubby, updates on our family, baking adventures, and other crazy stuff. Currently I'm just trying to figure out how I want the page to look (I don't like most of the templates) and how it actually works (fun stuff). Anyway, check back soon and hopefully I'll have stuff started!