Funny Girl

This is how I discovered Fefe one day:

Another day:

She really loves playing outside. One of her favorite things to do is find potato bugs.

Tie Dye Muslin Backdrop Tutorial

1. Save up several milk jugs (the number depends on how many colors you plan to use).

2. Purchase muslin (I dyed a couple very large pieces - about 10x20). Joanns is a good place to get this, especially with a 40% off coupon.

3. Sew edges of muslin - make a rod pocket at top if desired.

4. Boil water.

5. Shake the Rit dye well. Pour dye into milk jugs. A general amount is about 1/2 of a container of the Rit liquid dye (I do not recommend the powdered dye). It does take some experimentation to figure out how much you need to make it as dark or as light as you want.

6. Pour boiling water in the milk jugs. I used a large measuring cup. The jugs were in the sink while I poured to avoid messes since the water didn't go in all that easy.

7. While the jugs cool for a minute, lay your muslin flat on some grass. Soak it thoroughly. Scrunch it to about 1/3 it's size using grasping motions with your hand.

8. Shake the jug(s) over the muslin to coat it. You will need to wear oven mitts while doing this as the jugs will still be quite hot. Be careful, you will most likely get dye on yourself and the mitts.

9. Pull the muslin flat and shake dye over any bare spots. Other websites suggest putting it in a spray bottle to fill the gaps.

The red is before the first washing the and the gray is ready for it's second dyeing.

10. If you like how it looks, let it dry outside before washing. Washing will cause the color to bleed. I like this effect so I put it in the washer immediately. Use the rinse cycle with cold water. Once it is done put it in the dryer. I usually dye it a second time for a darker look.

11. Soak the grass afterwards to rinse out the dye, it will kill the grass otherwise.

I can't say I'm super happy with how this gray turned out. I'd like the blue I put in to stand out more, but it's at least a nice basic gray.

I was really worried how this red/brown was going. It is not at all what I was planning, but I like it nonetheless. My next project will be a true brown which I might actually achieved based on what I figured out in the tips below.

A few tips I've learned:

The rit brown dyes all tend towards a red tint. I discovered this the hard way. To combat this, add green to the brown. Rit's website has "recipes" to achieve the colors you want. It really does take some trial and error. You could probably try and be precise, but I didn't feel like wasting time on that. Hence my backdrops will probably always turn out not quite the way I planned, but ciest la vie.

Some people suggest adding salt to the rinse cycle to fix the dye. I've also read somewhere suggested soaking it in a tub of water with vinegar. This is definitely still a learning process, but it is so nice to have something beyond the standard black and white.

Horning's Hideout

After the groundbreaking ceremony we decided the day was too beautiful to waste. My friend has told me about a great place to catch salamanders. So, we packed up a lunch and headed out. The lake was positively teaming with salamanders. We spent about 2 1/2 hours there and the kids probably could have stayed the rest of the day.

Loofa's hands are covered in fish guts in this pic. The adults were having a hard time removing the hook and Loofa didn't mind getting his hands dirty. Yuck.

There are a couple play structures there. The first time Loofa slid down he launched and did quite the roll. I wish I had that on video. You can see the potential for it in this video though when J catches him.

Finally, A Stake Center

Our stake was created 3 years ago and we finally had the groundbreaking ceremony for the new stake center this past Saturday. It was pretty exciting. I hope we live here for the rest of our lives so it was fun to think about being here at the beginning.

*Explanation for the non-members: Yes, for the non-mormons reading my blog I did spell stake right. Our church is divided into units. The local congregations are divided into wards and then those wards are grouped into a stake. A few wards will meet in the stake center and the other wards will meet in our current building. We have stake meetings twice a year so it will be nice to have a building all our own to finally meet in.

All I wanted..

...for Mother's Day was a family picture. Out of 107 pictures we had 2 somewhat use-able ones. I was in quite the bad mood the rest of the day, partially since my older children were half the problem. I got over it though and now I'm glad we have updated pictures.

Once again, this one with all of us was a composite of 3 pictures.

Another Good Use

Fefe came up with this idea all on her own.

First Haircut

We finally chopped Fefe's hair a couple weeks ago. Most of you probably saw my post on Facebook. She did quite well. It really helped that she could watch a carton on the tv behind her through the mirror. She's pretty cute, but I miss her long hair. Ephant had layers cut during the same visit. I was surprised how much she loves them.

The End, We Thought

New kitchen counter tops was supposed to be the last big project, but now they are in, J has decided the cabinets just won't do. So instead of replacing them, we'll just paint them. I'm sure enjoying my new counter tops though. I can't tell you how tired I was of dealing with grout every time I wiped them down.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Before:

After:

Whoever owned our home before must have really loved blue. The house was blue, the carpets were blue and the counter tops were blue. No more! Blue is my favorite color, but I'm not obsessed like that.

The Nitty Gritty

It's been awhile since I've shared what the kids have been up to just in general, so here is your update.

Ephant is getting very excited to go to the upper elementary next year. For those that don't know, we have a really weird system in our school district. Elementary is K-4, Upper Elementary is 5-6, Middle School is 7-8 and High school is 9-12. So Ephant is ready to move on. We went on a tour of the school the other night and she could barely contain her excitement. She's especially excited for band and orchestra. She's planning to do both violin and flute. She started telling me all the instruments she wants to learn and told me I was going to have to get her private lessons since she won't be able to learn them all in school. I was trying to explain to her that she is going to have to specialize at some point because she (and I) will run out of time for all of that. Next year she also wants to take two dance classes. Can I say "overachiever". I'm glad she is so motivated though.

She has also been having tons of fun with her friend down the street. We drive her home from school and then she and Ephant run around the neighborhood for a few hours. The weather has been gorgeous lately so that has really helped.

Brother B keeps plugging along. For all his social reservations he seems to be quite popular at school. I think the kids all like the strong silent type. The girls in particular seem to like him. He's going to be quite the ladies man. He is very sweet. He's always helping out Fefe. I think she is the only one he is willing to get kisses from at this point. He's currently still taking gymnastics. I keep asking him if he wants to take other sports, but he's nowhere near as motivated as Ephant. He really likes to dabble. It's fine with me though. I did make him start taking piano lessons. He didn't want to at first, but I've been surprised how much he has actually been enjoying them. It helps that he has a very sweet teacher. Brother B is also doing very well academically. He just finished up testing for TAG and I can't imagine he won't pass. He has a fabulous teacher this year and I'll be sad when he moves up next year.

The thing I love best about Brother B right now is how much he loves talking to his mom. He really enjoys going places with just me and telling me about everything going on in his life. A few years ago I wondered if he would always be so hard to talk to, but he is really starting to open up and I love it.

Loofa continues to be our sweet little troublemaker. The child has a persistence streak like you would not believe when he really wants something. For all that though I still love him to pieces. He doesn't care for the all the smooches I still like to give him. I've had to stop kissing him when I drop him off at preschool now because of what a ruckus he would make. He loves his playdates with his friend A from church. Every Monday A comes to our house and Wednesdays Loofa goes to his house. It is a nice break for A's mom and I. I wish they could go to the same school next year. Of course, it might be good that they are not. Loofa is still very much into video games although he has gotten a bit better since we banned him from them a month ago for 2 weeks. The nice weather has certainly helped too. I'm glad I don't have to force the kids to go play outside, that they just naturally want to be out there. He and Brother B are great friends. The particularly love swinging or climbing trees together.

Fefe is in just the cutest stage right now. Her talking is so good and she is as sweet and polite as can be. She's a little social butterfly too. She already enjoys playing with other kids. I don't remember the other three really caring about playing with other kids this early. I guess that is what comes from being the youngest. I've probably mentioned before too that she is my first to really enjoy playing with figurines like Polly pockets and Barbie. I used to wonder what was wrong with my other kids that they didn't like toys like that, it is nice to have a normal one :) Fefe can't get enough of playing outside, especially on the swing. We have to make sure the back gates are always closed because she is constantly running into the backyard to play on the swings. She's been pretty sick with a high fever the last couples of days so I got a nice cuddle with her yesterday. It is fun to watch her grow, but sad to see my baby getting so big. Sometime soon we're going to take her in and get her her first real haircut. She's got a little bit of Farrah Fawcett going on some days.

We had a trip out to the Tulip Festival last Saturday. The pictures really turned out so so because it was so sunny. The flowers were beautiful. I wish bulbs lasted longer than they do. At least my roses are going to start blooming soon.

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

It's been 8 years, and the lovely blue carpet is finally gone from our home. We replaced the last of it yesterday in our bedroom. We chose a light color for the first time. Hopefully it'll be safe in our room. It took some getting used to, I've never had such a light color in a room before, but I'm really liking it now.

The best part of it all is what I found while taking the box springs downstairs. I heard some clinking as I walked down the stairs and Loofa said "What's this?". My wedding ring had fallen out of the box spring. What's funny is that I had wondered if I would find the ring while taking all the furniture out. Don't ask me how it got in there in the first place. I was getting tired of the cheap ring I was wearing and was about to break down and get another ring so this was just in time. (One of our many lost cat collars fell out as well)