New Game

Seattle Children's Museum

This is probably the best kids museum I've ever been to. And it didn't have any Sonoran desert theme. Crazy!

They did have a little ocean habitat to play in

Complete with rain jackets to keep you clothes from getting wet and to make you look like a pirate.

Arrg!

We went with some of Lil Sis' friends and played music together

There was also a really cool physics area with ping pong balls and air

There was also an aquarium that had J transfixed like zombie every time we passed it.

There was also over-sized produce to walk through, trucks to drive, and whales to eat you.

Then there was the piece de resistance for J, a mini grocery store complete with tiny metal shopping carts and fake food.

Note the fake food and toddler size check out counter.

 She loved it so much, she insisted on taking the shopping cart to the hardware store where she dressed up as a construction worker.

Seriously, we spent about four hours there, which is the equivalent to 3 days using the toddler time conversion system. I think it might have to make it a regular thing when we visit.

Shirring

I have a small problem with craft supplies hoarding. I've loved to look down the school supplies and craft aisles of stores since I was a kid, just to look at them all. Now the problem is worse because I can actually buy things. One of the more recent purchases that I had no project in mind for, but simply wanted was elastic thread. I knew you used it for shirring (that gathered part stretchy part on sun dresses) but hadn't actually done it before.

It sat there in my sewing drawer for months until I needed a baby shower gift. I may have left way too little time to finish it that morning so I consulted internet tutorials prayed it would work the first time. In a rare sewing miracle, it did! Friends, it is so easy. You just wrap elastic thread by hand for the bobbin and leave regular thread on the top. Sew a straight line and repeat. Boom. I had no idea those little sun dresses were so simple. It's pretty much my new favorite thing in the world, besides looking at craft supplies, of course.

I can't decide if the flower in the center looks dumb. It's a hair clip so easy to remove. Thoughts? I've been doing too much crocheting lately so I have no idea if my aesthetic is off.

Wedding Reception

Lil Sis in law got herself hitched back in October and I present to you some pictures, albeit poor ones since I was still setting up when the lighting was good. Ah well :)

These paper medallions are my new favorite decorating thing because they are faster than the tissue poms and have the same amount of pop.

We were going to do a big canopy of lights across the yard but every way I looked at doing it, it visual fought the big tree, so we decided to make that the focal point and it turned out marvelous.

The centerpieces were a cool idea via the internets. You take two nesting vases, place a candle in the center, and fill the space between the vases with colored water. It makes it look like the candle is burning under water. Unfortunately the inner vases kept floating up despite the marbles I placed in it. I ended up filling it with some wet sand for additional weight. The other centerpieces were the standard pillar candles on a cake plate. She didn't want mirrors so we did patterned scrapbook paper as an anchor. Also, if you want some added elegance without the mess and cost of chair covers, renting uniform white chairs makes a big difference. They usually go for about a $1 a chair, but scope out the rental place before you commit since some of them have chairs that look old and trashed. They look MUCH better than the beige folding ones you technically aren't supposed to remove from buildings.

And our wedding gift to them was the print. I found the frame for a steal at goodwill, with a yellow mat. Awesome.

We rented these lights along with the chairs to give more light to the backyard. They even have a little outlet on the bottom of them with was convenient. 

About now something demanded my attention so these are all the pictures I snapped. Thanks to everyone who helped out!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are beyond grateful this year for all our abundance. May you enjoy good health, good food, and good friends all year long.

Halloween in Seattle

Every time I offered her a choice of wing styles, she chose neither. Then she found a cheap veil in the mass of wedding stuff and wore it around the house for an hour straight. On a whim I packed it in our Seattle bag. She only wore the wings for a few minutes so I offered her the veil.

It was no contest.

So we had our Hocus Pocus style Halloween, with fall leaves, cloudy sky, and sidewalks full of kids that simply doesn't compare to an AZ Halloween. Our child bride picked up on the whole concept of taking candy from strangers like a champ. I figured she would take a piece, sit down and eat it. Nope, she seized the opportunity for more candy and guarded her "purse" fiercely. And when someone said "Take one!" She looked at them seriously and took two pieces without breaking eye contact.

And if you don't understand why I'm wearing a pig nose, please watch Penelope. It is a fabulous movie.

Pumpkin Festival

Madre Dos is a docent at the Desert Botanical Gardens and invited us all, including my parents, to enjoy the yearly pumpkin festival there. I was happy to have somewhere to wear her fancy Halloween outfit. Priorities I know.

They have a hay ride to a special section where the action is.

Then you have to wander through a little hay bale maze.

J was happy to find Grammy

It opens up into a pumpkin patch with hundreds on pumpkins littered about and everyone under 12 gets to choose one to take home. 

Some were too big

Some made good seats even though the lighting made a magically-mommy-blogger-pumpkin-patch photo impossible. Or maybe it was part J not cooperating and trying to avoid all the other mommies with their cameras trying to do the same thing.

Some made great goggles.

And one was just right

Then they decorated them with foam stickers and markers

J's face is classic in this one

After that we swung by the petting zoo

It was almost a literal cow lick.

Of course we had to sit on the tractor too.