Working on photography!

Study, take pictures, study more, take more pictures... Well, I feel like I am finally starting to get somewhere. More people to photograph helps me a bit, too! Sometimes I still struggle a little with ideas, but I think I was on a ball with today's shoot!

This is one of my favorites from today! I have been playing with aperture a lot lately.


Anyway, There are a few more from today added to the gallery on my photography blog.

Play Car Mat to-go....

Christian likes to tote his cars everywhere we go... I made him a little roll to hold his cars... similar to a crayon roll. Well, I put together this little mat so he can have a place to play with his cars. Not that he needed it, but he likes the idea of them driving on a "road". So here is the mat... it rolls up and ties closed for portability.

*note* you can see little Alissa hanging out in my sewing room while I put this together... LOL.

Where have I been?

Well lets start with SUMMER IS HERE! In Alaska we have learned to take advantage of having sunlight, well, all the time! The warm weather and sun means we spend a lot of time outdoors taking the kids to the lakes and rivers, camping, hiking, making s'mores...!
One of my little sisters is here visiting. Hopefully enjoying her visit, too. Though I think she finds us a little crazy.

Also, for a while I was huge and pregnant and it felt like a chore just walking down the hall! And of course my due date came and went with no baby! Luckily she showed up only 2 days after!

Miss Alissa Faith arrived Memorial day morning weighing only 8 lbs. 5 oz.!

We took Alissa to the beach at birch lake, that was pretty uneventful because she just slept the whole time.
She went on her first hiking trip when she was 2 weeks old. I wonder if she is the youngest person to ever hike in Denali Park? Anyway, she slept through the hike, too.
Not like you can expect a little one to do anything else anyway. LOL. Anyway, our trips lately have been memorable enough for us, just uneventful for her.

So we have been keeping fairly busy... besides enjoying the new baby and the great Alaska outdoors, the other kids have been keeping us busy as well. Madison and Liberty had a dance recital recently. They did very well... Liberty got a little lost, but she was still very cute! Christian has started T-ball. His first game is coming up this week! We have also been continuing storytime at the library, participating in the summer reading program, visiting the gym so mommy can get back in shape, and hitting the farmers market when the schedule permits.

So there you have it...Where we have been and what we have been up to.

Sitting in front of the sewing machine...

The Apron I made for myself... I wanted something for when we are at booth sales :). I still need to add our troop numbers to it... and maybe some patches :) I included a few pockets for pens and receipt books! However... This would probably work better if my big belly would fit behind it. Maybe I should try to make another designed around my round tummy.

And of course... the patch I put on Christian's pants earlier this week! BATMAN!! He wore these pants all week...LOL. I put a layer of material then the felt pieces.

Oh My Valentine... hair

Made Madison a St. Valentine's dress and did her hair for her party at school.

Explore and Observe : Freezing!

We made ice cream today as part of Christian's lessons. We have been working on our senses (sight, smell, sound, feel, and taste) this week and this tied in well to those. It also worked for us because Christian thinks that when you put things in the freezer, they melt. So our "bag freezer" is going to help him see what happens to liquids in the freezer first hand and the difference between frozen and melted. Anyway... on to the instructions.

Ice Cream in a bag:
You will need:

1. 1 cup of milk
2. 2 tablespoons of sugar
3. 1/4 cup of salt
4. ice cubes
5. 2 resealable sandwich bags (ziplock or other brand)
6. 1 larger resealable bag
7. towel
8. plastic shopping bag
9. string or twist tie

First add the sugar and milk to a small resealable bag. I let the kids taste it, mush it, and we used the term "melted". Let some of the air out and seal it. Then put your milk bag into another small resealable bag.
Next, Put ice cubes in the big resealable bag. We put just enough to fill the bottom to start with. Add the small bags of milk and surround with more ice. We put just enough to reach the top of the milk. Put salt on top of the ice and let a little air out when you seal the large resealable bag.Then, Wrap a towel around the bag of ice. Tie up your towel to keep it around the bags. Place the bundle into a plastic shopping bag and then tie.

After you have everything sealed and tied shake the bag! Have fun with it... get friends to help... but continue to shake for 15 minutes. We ended up sitting in a circle and tossed the bag around.


Finally, when the 15 minutes is up take the small bag out and rinse off the salt. I let the kids put it in a small bowl and describe the changes, before digging in and enjoying the ice cream!

A hat for Christian

Christian has been asking for a hat for sometime now. I think he feels a little left out that he doesn't get leg warmers made for him. So I started this later last year, and finally finished it up the other night. He loves it. I crocheted the whole thing, of course without a pattern. One of these days, I will learn to read patterns so I can make things without having to build the design up myself. With this hat, I was sweating it the whole time! Just praying that it would actually look like a hat. LOL. I think it came out pretty good now, and the best part is Christian LOVES it. He never leaves the house without it now.