THEY WON! {cameraless view}

the brother mateys won the Summit Talent Show Friday night!   woo hoo.  Unfortunately I do not have a real camera...only my phone...and without glasses on, I can never tell if it is focused or not.....but...

after an almost all nighter Thursday night sewing a second Pirate coat for Taddy...{buttons buttons.....72 buttons between the two jackets  and 6 godets...oh my} the boys were ready for the spotlight.   Took Olivia shopping at Macy's for a Hollywood Redcarpet dress, Mary had a new one at home....and we were set.

The whole evening was a blast...my sweet momma and daddy were there....special friends Cyndi and Kelsi..and our table was right up front!  (how did that happen.)  After a little alarm that I could not find the tickets, we all still got in fine and had a yummy dinner....

The decorations were so cute.  All academy award and Hollywood glitz!

Then the performances...dancers, singers, contortionist, flautist.....and then my piratey drummer and guitarist.   Nick had played four overlaying tracks on the keyboard for their background music..and that played over the sound system, as he and Tad played electric guitar and drum over the top of it.   Cute and awesome.

There were three judges, we gave each constestant act feedback. (think American Idol)...and then made their votes. 

With dessert and anticipation we all enjoyed a comedy show by none other than Bob Smiley (one of the judges as well).    Then the moment we all waited for.   

Third place:  a tie between a wonderful dancer and a talented soloist, Second place: our beautiful flautist, friend, Karina McKaughan....at that point I was sure the boys did not make first place....so many talented children.  I was shocked when they opened the last envelope and annouced first place to the brotheres: Nick and Anthony!    I was proud and so happy.  Unexpected truly.

Tad and Nick with Bob Smiley

My papa was so sweet. He comes over to Anthony and Nick, with a copy of the night's program and had them both autograph it.   {so sweet}.      Excitement all around...and worth the late night sewing sessions.

So this week it is on to shadowing highschool for Nick, and getting ready for his Washington DC trip...and all of us getting ready for our camping roadtrip during Spring Break.  {And shopping for a real camera!}

Congratulations Nick and Tad!  I am so proud of you!

Godets, Wreaths, and the Perpetual Projects

So Nickster and Tad are in a talent show at their school on Friday.  And I have been sewing sewing sewing....and did I mention, sewing their costumes.  

I have made more gathers than I have seen since 4th grade granny dresses, {pirates wear lots of poof!} and I learned last night how to sew a "godet".   Prior to last night, I did not even know what a godet was.  

"A godet ( /ɡoʊˈdeɪ/ or /ɡoʊˈdɛt/)[1] is an extra piece of fabric in the shape of a circular sector which is set into a garment,2] The addition of a godet causes the article of clothing in question to flare, thus adding width and volume.[3] Adding a godet to a piece of clothing also gives the wearer a wider range of motion.[4]"



Alas, what kind of sewing master am I to not know a godet?  The 7th-grade-Home-Ec-teach-yourself-to-sew-a-pillow-cover type.   My challenge with sewing {like many of my creative projects} is that I have inspiration, passion, grandiose expectations and impatience.   Not a good combo.  I get bogged down in the details and often rush.   

Not so, this time around.  Although I just have a week of evenings to get two pirate shirts and one 'godet-enhanced' pirate jacket compete (with button holes galore, another miracle)..I KNEW my pattern was so complicated {14 pieces to the shirt and I had to make two, 22 pieces to the jacket} that I had to take it slow.

My first night...I kept repeating three phrases:

• slow, methodical,  HAPPY   slow, methodical,  HAPPY slow methodical Happy (while my kids squinted and cocked their heads...'what's up with mom?')
• the seam ripper is my friend (since I seem to avoid her, and am so hesitant to take the time to get to know her well.)
• The the final phrase, best...most inspiring...{a quote from the movie "The Edge, with Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins} "What one man can do, another man can do!" 

{And isn't that like life?  Sometimes you have to slow down and just take the next step..and find happiness in the journey.   Most things done, can be undone.   And I am finding out, I can do a lot more than I thought.   If one person can do it, why can't I?)

So here I sit with two shirts complete!  And the jacket should be done tonight.  {I have 10 of the 22 pieces in place, including 3 godets!}   "What one man can do, another man can do."

Along with being proud of my godets...I am proud of my eldest...Nick.  He has been studying for weeks, even in the car on the ride back from basketball games....for a "History Bowl" competition at school.   Finally the competition was held yesterday.   He and his good friend Bryan won! YEA!  There reward is the honor to lay out the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in their upcoming Washington DC trip.  YEA!  Way to go.   That boy of mine constantly amazes me.   God has surely blessed Him and he knows where the blessing comes from too. :) 

We are all growing with anticipation on our upcoming Road Trip to bring Cupcake home.... with that I realize I have an ever-growing, perpetual project list.  (15 bullet list on my chalkboard back door, and that isn't even all of them.)  One interesting thing I have found out about Pinterest...is that it gives you ALOT of ideas.   I did start a board called Pinned it then did it, because I HAVE done a lot of things on Pinterest.  However, it seems like each time I get to erase two off my list, I add four more. :)

But I have to admit..I love it.   I need my creative outlets...and I love trying something I have not before and seeing...hmmm I can do this. (What one man can do, another man can do.)   My papa is one that can build anything.  I want to learn more of that side of creativity from him..so many of the projects on my list are from my "papa make this" board on pinterest. :)   (Wish he lived in my backyard so we could work on them more often.)

So here is my latest brain child project.  I want to "redo" the decorating in a very UGLY bathroom....  And I saw these two pics on pinterest want to combine some elements from each.   I have always done this, pretend-like-you-are-in-Hawaii-while-you-potty bathroom theme, and I am tired of that.

via Pinterest

Via Pinterest

So what do you think?  Should it go to the bottom of my list, or top? 

Heaven knows I will need to decorate Cupcake when she gets home, and I have bookshelves to paint, and pillows covers to finish, and chairs to paint and an ottoman to cover and...  well you get the idea. :)

Happy Pinning...Happy Wednesday!

Cupcake

I can't believe it has been a month (almost) since I have blogged!   So much life has happened...


Songs sung, lessons taught, schools found, trips taken, joy happened, projects done, youth camps, e.... and...well the best for last..


Found a great school for Nick to attend next year...my boys gonna be in HIGH SCHOOL...what happened?  blink blink.   He is a couple weeks away from his Wash DC trip.



We took a Saturday roadtrip to Dillons Beach and San Francisco....and had a blast.   Even found a few treasures in a thrift store in Petaluma (can you say pink pyrex and little scooter)

buff alo beach boy



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Dillon beach babes





yum to some yuck to others





smiles on fishermans wharf

 We discovered Need to Breathe...and 4 cds later...are addicted. We listened to it all the way and back again on our roadtrip and put us all in such a good mood. Nick even lead their song Garden, in worship at church last Sunday... awesome...
















Have done a few around the house projects, like repainted and mod-podged some stools, and painted the play shed barn red.....

before

in process

after

The school Talent Show is coming up.. Nick and Tad are going to perform..so lots of practicing and momma sewing two costumes..I'll save pics and more hints on that one, after the event.




Fell in love with a little show on for only 13 weeks (watched it on netflix) called Off the Map. Some of it is a bit edgey and ..well not my values....but something about it grabbed me...and has stuck. This hidden message of finding the beauty put here and now {by God, even though they don't recognize who put it there} right in the middle of hard stuff and hard days and ...mess. Like Ann talks about all the time...God's gifts all around us.


Nick and Tad went to a great youth camp, with kids from youth group and another local church and had a blast. Inspired and wired!


and...{drumroll}....our big excited news?




We found her! The little vintage travel trailer I have been looking for. A 1964 Oasis. We are naming her Cupcake...(it is a hard tie between Cupcake and Hootie...which I also love, but I think Cupcake is winning out).  I have to thank Kelle for finding her and pointing her out to me....  I have "met" via the net, so many helpful and wonderful people in the vintage camping world...and Kelle is one of them. Check out her sweet little blog, Little Vintage Trailer.

Cupcake {the new name we are giving her}is a red and white beauty restored by a wonderful couple up in Washington.

















The inside is beautifully restored too, but beige is just not me. (Hello red, pink, white and aqua). So here are some pictures of her inside and out....but Cupcake will get my own personal touch on the inside.


Here are some more photos of her...inside and out...



We are planning a roadtrip in a few weeks, spring break, to bring her home! We are happy campers!

a bit of my father in me..... {roots or wings?}

"All who wander are not lost." -J.R.R. Tolkien

i took my children to the movies this weekend...the older ones.  dropped them off and picked them up.   once home, one remarked of another:

"mom, he cried during the preview of the Hobbit."  

i smiled. 

yes, Tolkien turns 'round our soul and draws us to places unknown...   i remember living in berkeley four stairwells up, reading for the lost-count time the nobility of stryder... closing the last page i walked out and up to our roof at night...sighing star ward, wondering where is nobility in our age? where are the disguised heroes? why do we long for what we cannot see?  searching for something we can't quite describe. 

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart;" Eccl 3:11

Tolkien is right, "all that wander are not lost."  we are longing for the beauty and eternity of God.

and we find a glimpse in unexpected places...or overwhelmed in the crashing of God's beauty in nature.



via pinterest

 as my son longs for the unfolding of Bilbo's story on the wide-screen,  today i long for the ocean.  the waves crashing..the sand below..the salt on the air....  

i have always dreamed of living by the ocean.  work, school, habits..livelihood has me inland.   but my heart is by the sea...

i think part of my hankering for a vintage shasta or relative thereof, is my desire to wander out into God's nature....

today...the day of love...i think of the love of beauty God puts in our hearts...the longing for eden....the desire {being made in his image} to create as our creator....   my son who chose to write a song for his girlfriend as his heart-day gift....my daughter who loved making her valentines and staging them beautiful in a basket overflowing with purple and red tissue paper...their momma who feels a day without making with her hands, is a day wasted....

we long to see and make beauty....  our king, our Lord...is enthralled with our beauty within....he put it there.... 

his plan for us was eden....robbed of that by a deceiver...he loves us so much he could not stand us missing eden....  so he took his best, his only, his son....and his son, one in love with his father, for the joy set before him...the joy of us being brought back to eden, endured the cross.....

so we wait....   we wait for eden....  wandering this earth looking for a glimpse of his beauty....  not lost....just waiting...  because you see, he loves so much...that he waits, for the fullness of time....for each to have a chance to accept the path back to eden....the path that starts at the foot of a cross....and wanders on heavenward.

"all that wander are not lost" - some are on a mission.

Happy heart day....

Via Seawashed.

SeaCottage...aka SeaWashed on Etsy, by Kerrie Sanderson has a bautiful artistic giveaway...

A perfect little treat for Valentines Day.

Check it out here: Burlap Luxe

Vist her blog, sea cottage, as well.  It is a breath of fresh salt air.



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My kids all left this morning with baskets or boxes of handmade Valentines for their class...and Nick finished his present for his special girl last night.  Hearts are in the air!

Happy Heart Day!

Papa's turning 79!......

...and we have been doing some baking.... 
and experimenting. :)  

My first attempt at fondant icing.... 


Here's a secret:  
It is not as hard as it looks...
{it is MUCH harder!}

but is was fun....in a my-hands-will-be-pink-for-the-rest-of-my-life kind of way. ...    I found this idea on pinterest....and tried to imitate it.  

{I have done many things I have found on pinterest...that is why I love it so much.  I started a new board, an idea I saw from someone else, called "I pinned it then I did it." 

So here is my version of the cupcakes...kind of cute...huh?

here is the original Pinterst idea made by some professional martha-stewart-type... (hee..cupcake envy).

via Pinterest



Didn't you like mine better before you saw theirs?  lol.  But I still like them!

We had a good day/night tonight.    Nick, Tad and Kelsi had worship band practice...Kelsi and Nick paying acoustic guitar...and Tad playing drum.   ... they were AWESOME!...

Then tonight... Nick, and his friend Bryan, put up a tent in the back yard and made a campfire.  Nick played funny Tim Hawkins version of songs...as they roasted marshmellows with Olivia, Mary, Tad...and our neighbor Jay.    It was fun hearing them...and smelling the campfire..as my pink hands made cupcakes.



Now I am off with my pink hands to wrap papa's presents!!!...

(using washi tape wrapping I saw of Pinterest...of course!)



via pinterest



Have a great weekend...and happy pinning.....

i have a hankering....



via pinterest



i have the vintage trailer jones...... 

 bad.....

find me one...find me one.... 

please.....

before summer...

gotta find me one.....

a little window box....

via pinterest

pink rims....

via pinterest

maybe a split door with a porthole...

scotty?  shasta? yellowstone?

I don't know...I just want one!

via pinterest

would you find me one?

campie love ~  campie love ~   campie love ~ campie love


via pinterest



i am loved.

Starbucks loves me. 

It's true. 

Look at my cup this morning. 

  A sure sign of affection, if I ever saw one!

  And I am not surprized.  All the money I spend there.  Time.  Thought.   Savoring.

   No wonder Starbucks loves me.

Follow Me on Pinterest

For that matter, Pinterest should be head-over-heels about me.

   Our little love addiction.  The gasps and ahs when oft' we meet.   The struggle at parting each night.   The preoccupation and obsessing over its beauty.

Pinterest and I are deeply into it.

sigh....


And, I think facebook has at least a warm crush on me.. Although he's always changing his looks and trying to get me to chat with other friends I don't even know....makes me wonder a bit.

but with the amount of time we spend together...connecting more than once or twice a day...I think there must be at least a warm crush...ya think? 

It's so nice, with the season of chocolates, lace hearts and affection-professed to know that I am loved.

grin...gotta go...my electronic heart-strings are tugging.

tuck me in - from boys to men

addendum: 3 gifts found in Him: (Joy Dare) 

1- He puts the lonely in families...(and isn't that me?)
2-children are a blessing and he warms my heart in love for them
3-new mercies every morning....and that it is never too late to wake up and see

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via pinterest

   when did it happen?

when was the last day i sat on his bed and read him a bedtime story? 

what happened the next day?   was i just busy? was he? did we forget? was i too tired?  was he reading a novel of his own?

we move through days and weeks and months and years..and then one day we look up and realize....he is too old to have me read him a bed time story.   A good night kiss becomes a hug, becomes a goodnight from the doorway.

my heart aches.....how quickly the scramble with little ones overtakes our days and grows into big boys with big shoes and toys and cds, and phones and dss.   

ah....how my little boy loved books.  his favorites, he could recite the lines before I even turned the page...("all owls think a lot!" -baby owls, "baby ant has stinky pants" - baby ant, "gonna catch a big one, i'm not scared!" -going on a bear hunt)

now he's reading of battles and warriors, of relationships and geometry.

yet, ...on those nights when momma is not too tired....when son is not staying up later than me....i walk in..and tuck him in...and his brother...and they smile that silly smile... little boys still in almost men bodies.

i must remember this.   it is too important to be too tired....you may not want me to read a story....

but I can tuck you in, say a sweet prayer, tell you I love you and kiss you goodnight...

from boys to men...too quickly....much too quickly.....

Nick and Papa

Nick

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(Join the joy dare)