The Crafts

Let's start with the bad. I really dislike the newest Huggies mailing. Seriously...why?  Is this kid doing his business in the ad? Ugly...just ugly.  What a terrible ad. But I'll stop complaining. Now onto the good stuff. This past Tuesday was the annual Cyclone Carnival. It is an event filled with Cyclone athletes, coaches, bouncy tents and food. Matt and Kate were in heaven. Not that I didn't have fun because I really did...but the event is really more tailored for Matt. He was literally a kid in the candy store with all the ISU football players and various coaches. CJ had fun too...although she was extremely skeptical of CY. Above right is a photo of football player Leonard Johnson lifting Kate to shoot a basket. Below is pics of a football player I don't recognize.  Hopefully I don't get in trouble with Matt for saying that. I did look him up on the ISU roster but didn't find him so he must not be that awesome.  :) All the guys were super nice to Kate. 

Have I said it before? I really, really love my girls. I love having two girls.  I love almost everything about it. Sure I get frustrated with them and think of selling them to the zoo...but I really love them. As we all know, Monday was awfully hot and humid.  Is it July? So we made a quick trip to Target to purchase an inflatable pool. Kate spotted a Disney princess pool.  And as you may have guessed, she wouldn't look at another pool. I set up the pool beneath the shade tree in our yard. 'We' swam outside from 10:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Grandma Smith came for a visit with hot fudge malts in hand. Hot fudge malts = true love! This is where I spent most of my time. Lounging in a chair with my newest sewing project. Doesn't this look so relaxing? I'm a very lucky mama and wife.

We tried to make a birthday video for Grandpa Craft. It was ridiculous...so I had to include all of our attempts. The first seems to be the most 'normal' of the bunch and they just get weird from there on out. Happy birthday, Grandpa Craft! And my favorite of the bunch... What goes through this girl's head?

I will have a Freebie Friday post later this afternoon. But right now I wanted to share what I made last night. It is my very first ever sewing project. I didn't follow a pattern. I'm my dad's daughter...I don't follow directions. As a result, I had to rip a lot of seams (thanks  Heather  for reminding me to buy a seam ripper!) and I already see a couple of mistakes. BUT...I'm still really super proud of my work! Notice my reflection in the window trying to take a photo.  Ha! Kate digs her new pillow.  This morning I tossed it on her lap.  She let out a big, impressive WHOA!  I think she reacted that way because her new pillow is pink. Here she is relaxing on it. I couldn't find a fun patterned fabric for the front of the pillow and my two 'helpers' were becoming impatient. So I bought two coordinating polk-a-dot fabrics and used scraps from CJ's curtains to make my own pattern. Next up; pillows for the antique porch glider we found in the base

Except for this small tidbit... Tonight is women's golf league... A night out socializing and golfing... I CANNOT WAIT!!! Oh, and the pics below are from our trip this morning to City Park with some friends. This park won't be around long.  It is slated to be demolished in a week or so. But a new one is going in it's place. Kate is beyond ecstatic.

Have you seen that new Target commercial? The one with the little girl who falls in love with a new color each day. Monday she loves everything red, Tuesday everything green, Wednesday everything orange and so on... That is me. I love so many colors that I seem to choose a new favorite every time I turn around. This makes it very difficult to decorate. One month I think, I want my whole house to be draped in blue...only to change my mind the next month. I really don't know anything about decorating. I am a very spontaneous person so most of my decorating decisions I have made without much thought. But you know what, I kind of like it that way. Nothing in my house matches, really. But that also means my house isn't matchy, matchy. I don't like matchy, matchy...at least not for my own house. I like an eclectic collection of stuff I love. Right now I really love most of my house. That's not to say I haven't made some decorating mistakes.  Just take a look at this..

Friday morning we packed up the car for Grand Harbor in Dubuque. We said good-bye to this little one...which made me a little sad, actually. But I knew the other kiddo was going to have a blast...and was I ever right! We went down each and every slide about 100 times. We were sprayed by dozens of fountains with giant smiles on our faces. I don't know Kate ever stopped giggling. Kate jumped off the side of the pool once, twice, four hundred times. And after 6 1/2 total hours in the pool, Kate surprisingly decided she was ready to go. Everyone had a fabulous time and everyone is ready for a long, long, long sleep, despite what Kate may say.

Sleep rehab. Learning to sew. Food rehab. Laundry, laundry and more laundry. Long, scenic runs on the trails. Grapes of Wrath...my new read. Sleepy Beauty, the Golden Book series...Kate's new read. Great weekend.  Now we must move into recovery mode. Whew! Many, many, many pics to follow.

Freebie Friday is taking a vacation this week. Why? Because the Crafts are taking a vacation, too. Except for this Craft... But don't feel bad for her.  She gets to spend Friday and Saturday with these two... Kate, Matt and I are going here... And this time when we go I won't look like this... Which means I can do that... Shhh...don't tell Kate where we are going yet.  Otherwise we will have to hear this...