Look what I made!

This was seriously the easiest project I have ever done.

I know it looks like a big pile of fluff but that just happens to be a tutu.

Want to make one? Get 2 yards of tulle (I got 1 yard of white and 1 of pink), a package of elastic (or you could use a ribbon), scissors (rotary cutters work wonderfully) and a needle and some thread. Measure the kids waist and cut the elastic to size. Sew the ends together. (If you use ribbon then I think you could just tie it every time.) Measure down your kids side to see how long you want the skirt to be (I did Emma's to her knees). Then cut the tulle into strips that are twice as long as you want the skirt to be. I wasn't really exact and I don't think it matters if they are all the same size. Then start tying the tulle onto the elastic so that the elastic goes in the middle of the tulle. I alternated between white and pink but you can do anything you want. I left some space in between the strips and it turned out really poofy. I guess it all depends on how big you want the skirt to be. As you can tell, Emma loves it and it only cost me about $3.50 to make!

I saw this on another site but I can't remember which one so I can't give credit where credit is due.

Keep your eyes open to see this skirt starring in it's premier role at Halloween.

Want to do something else really cool with tulle? Check out this idea...
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=12189&CMP=NLC-NL_Wkdr_0708_cool_canopy

Preschool...HERE WE COME!!

My little girl is all grown up and headed off to preschool. Isn't she cute?

And we can't neglect to mention the backpack that accompanied her on her first day!!

There's no place like home...

Joel graduated from Cleveland Chiropractic College last week so we decided to head out to Kansas for the event. Unfortunately, I was too far away to get a good picture of the hooding and walk across the stage but I did get a really good shot of the back of his head....

We also got some family pictures with everyone. All the kids were there (even Colin...kind of) so we took advantage of the opportunity. Is anyone wondering just how we accomplished a picture with Colin in it?? Well, Mom got a picture of him blown up and we just held him up next to us. Again, unfortunately, I didn't get any of those pictures but I am sure Mom will be sending them out shortly and I'll post them then.

It was a pretty quick weekend and we crammed alot of things into the few days that we were there. On Saturday, we took a break from all the craziness and took the kids to Gage Park. For those of you who aren't from Topeka, Gage Park is HUGE!! There is a zoo, a kids train, a carousel, a rose garden, a swimming TONS of room for the kids to get down and play. Mom had a bunch of train tickets, so we all decided to ride the train.

The kids really liked it. Lucas kept saying "Oooo, oooo" at everything we saw. He didn't really like it when everyone started screaming in the tunnel but he didn't want to get off at the end!

Of course, what trip to Gage Park would be complete without a trip to the cement animals and a couple cute pictures?


Michael said, "Hey get a picture of two walruses instead of one." So I did...

A few days later, the weather decided to give Emma her wish and pour buckets of rain down on us. I loved/hated it. I really miss the crazy thunderstorms that set the night on fire but I didn't really like the fact that it kept me up most of the night (I guess after not living with it for 10 years or so the thunder can really keep you up). Plus, I was worried that it would wake the kids up and freak them out. Luckily, they both slept right through it but my mom and I got up and watched her street fill up with water.

Why was Emma so excited for it to rain?? Because....you can't jump in rain puddles unless it does!!


She was soaking wet from head to toe by the time she got done. She had a BLAST!! That's what life is all about, right?

We loved our trip and can't wait to go back!!

Lucas' First Birthday!!

Lucas celebrated his first birthday on August 5. We had just a small family party at our house with my brothers, Damon and Joel and two of the nieces, Kaela and Ava. We got these HUGE cupcakes from Costco....as you can tell, they were a hit! Lucas LOVED it!!!

As you can see, he enjoyed himself quite a bit.

The final product.

It was a small but fun party. Plus, right before he got to our house, Joel found out that he got a job in Techachapi!! So, now there will be three of us kids within an hour of each other!! We are so excited to have them close by!!

I just have to say that Lucas is an amazing kid! He is so easy that sometimes I forget that I've got two kids. We are so blessed to have him in our lives and I am grateful and humbled for the chance that I have to be his mother.

Not for those with a weak stomach...

This story is from a few weeks ago but after much debating with myself, I have decided to share my humiliation with the world....this all happened when Grandpa Oz came to visit for Emma's birthday. He had flown into Burbank and rented an SUV for the time that he was here. Well, it didn't take us long to figure out that there was something wrong with the alignment or shocks in the vehicle, so that night, we headed back down to Burbank to switch it out for a mini van (they were all out here in Bako).

On the way down, I started to not feel all that great and just after we got out of the mountains and into the valley, I informed Michael that he might want to think about pulling over. "Why?", he said. "Cause I'm about to puke." I responded. Unfortunately, I waited a minute too long to tell him and just as he was pulling over the volcano erupted. Luckily, I was able to get the window down, so I ended up puking all down the side of the car. Too funny!! I was actually laughing while vomiting (if you can imagine such a sight) because of all the people driving by us on the freeway who got a free show.

Anyway, a few minutes later, we decided that we should probably try to find a car wash to rinse all the yumminess off before we had to turn the car in. Can you believe that we were in one of the largest cities in the US and couldn't find a car wash that was open???? We stopped at a gas station in Valencia to see if anything was open and while Grandpa Oz was in the store, he had an interesting conversation...

Some random guy, " Hey is that your SUV out in the parking lot?"
Grandpa Oz, " Yes."
Random Guy, "You know, you really shouldn't throw things out your window."
Grandpa Oz, "Umm, actually my daughter-in-law is pregnant and she got car sick."
Random Guy, "Oh."

We got a pretty good kick out of that one. Needless to say, we never did find an open car wash and ended up turning the car in with a little extra something all down the side. The look on the guy's face when we pulled up was priceless. I don't think he believed us that the car had problems until we explained exactly what is was that was on the side on the car. Oh, and amazingly, Michael was able to get some sick sacks from his work the next day (even though I had been telling him for months that he needed to bring some home). Definitely not one of my better nights, but as I told Michael, at least I got the window down in time.

P.S. Michael actually took pictures of the mess with his phone but I refused to put them up for everyone to see. :-)

NO KEN!! DON'T DO IT!!!

So the other morning, I looked over at Emma's doll house and saw this...

Poor Ken has had a rough time the last couple of weeks and I guess it all just got to be too much.

Emma had him outside a few weeks ago and was swinging him around and accidentally hit his head on the sidewalk and knocked it right off. Don't worry, we did surgery and repaired the damage. However, I think that Ken is now embarrassed by the "ring around his neck".

Don't worry Ken, you've got a good woman by your side. She loves you no matter what.

Our 4th of July weekend

Every year for Emma's birthday, Michael's dad, Grandpa Oz, comes for a visit. And since her birthday is right around the 4th of July, we always try to go and do something fun. This year, we decided to go to the coast and relax for a few days. I found an amazing place to stay online and off we went. We stayed in Cambria which is right by Hearst Castle. Our hotel was so COOL!!! They had these amazing gardens that were everywhere! Emma loved running in and out of them and exploring all the different gardens...

Her favorite one was the "secret garden". Every morning after breakfast, she would run out the door and head over to the "secret garden" to explore.

Emma leading the way...


It was so pretty.

On the 4th of july, we headed to Cayucos for a parade....

• 

Emma was not a big fan of the loud fire trucks.





Lucas fell asleep and I got a little tired myself, so we took a short break.

Can anyone guess who took this picture??? Hint - it wasn't me...

There is also a sand sculpture contest on the beach that we went and checked out...


This snake wound around the pier.

The sculptures were so cool and I can only imagine how long some of them must have taken.

We had lunch in Morro Bay....


where we saw some harbor seals laying out in the sun.


After that, the kids got a little tired...

so we went for a drive down the coast to Pismo Beach. It was pretty crowded so we ended up going to Shell Beach just a little north of Pismo and we found a little cove that we could go down to and play for a minute.



After all that, we ended up just going back to the hotel and watching fireworks from our parking lot and on TV ( New York puts on a really good show with a symphony and everything). The kids were pretty tired (and Mom got too much sun and not enough sleep so she wasn't feeling too hot either) so they fell asleep and didn't even realize what they were missing. It was a VERY fun and busy day.


PIEDRAS BLANCAS AND HEARST CASTLE

The next morning (after Emma explored the gardens again) we went up the coast to see the elephant seals. They were HUGE!!

They migrate down from Alaska to the same spot every year. Each month they come to do something different. We were there while the males were molting.


The big ones weigh about 5,000 pounds and they just lay on the beach. We really want to go back in January and February when the babies are born. The moms only nurse them for 4 weeks and then they leave them on the beach to fend for themselves.


These guys were just messing around (or so the guide said).

We had some time to kill before our tour of Hearst Castle so we decided to go check out San Simeon Pier and the beach. It was so pretty. It used to be the Hearst family beach and was totally private. It was perfect and not crowded at all.

We walked on the pier and looked at all the marine life. There were dolphins playing out in the ocean and some seals kept popping their heads up.

And we also saw this sea otter that was playing in the waves and eating some shell fish. So cool.

Lucas liked playing in the sand.

After we played for awhile, we went over to Hearst Castle for our tour.

The view on the way up to the castle.

One of the MANY amazing statues there.

One of three guesthouses. The thing was HUGE!! I think it had 9 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms or something like that! It was CRAZY!! And this was just a guesthouse!

One of the bedrooms. There was no flash photography allowed so it was really hard to get good pictures that do it all justice.


The ceiling. Our guide said that if it looked like gold, then it probably was.

Neptune pool and some of the statues that were in it.

Some of the beautiful gardens. I really want to go back and do a tour of just the gardens someday.

Casa Grande.

Unfortunatley, Lucas and Emma both kind of flipped out on the tour of the inside of the main house so I didn't get to see much of it. They both wanted to get down and play and got upset when we wouldn't let them. However, they do have a really nice "break" room for the kids that had some books and toys to occupy them. Lucas also kind of freaked out at the end of the tour when we saw the underground pool (I can't remember the official name) so I didn't get any pictures there either.

The whole castle reminded me of the castles I saw in Germany 12 years ago. I would highly recommend doing a tour of Hearst Castle to anyone interested. Oh, and we asked our guide, there have been talks about closing the castle at the end of the summer because of the budget crisis here in California but as of right now, they are keeping it open. So my advice, go while you still can.