Sleeping, crafting and celebrating

I've mostly overcome my funk from last month. And it's time to catch up on all the stuff that's been going on in our lives. Sadly, some of the best moments will be lost because those are the little things that we don't remember forever. I guess that's what happens when you hold a pity party. :(

Chad caught this moment one night in May as we got ready for bed. This is an interesting twist on sleeping under a laundry basket! I think everyone should get a "Joseph" in their family! He and Sarah are best friends. Who wouldn't be smitten with a someone willing to sleep under their crib in such a fashion?

I showed you the shirts I made for the kids' last day of school. The kids made the shirts even better. We have received (and still receive) some great comments over these tees. Joseph even wears his turtleneck in 80+ degree weather.

The end of the year was an exciting time. Rebekah participated in a Kindergarten program and then the elementary had an awards assembly. Both Leah and Rebekah earned the "Teacher's Award" which is given to one girl and one boy from each class...chosen by their teacher. (Bet you didn't already figure that out.) There were field trips and class parties. Daniel's end-of-year was marked by a maturation presentation. He barely lived through it. (When I was making their shirts, Daniel asked if I could make his say, "I survived 'The Talk'." I didn't go for that idea.)

I used my Silhouette machine to make the shirts, as well as this family name grouping. (I have no idea what to call it. Anyone?) I ironed some heavy-duty Heat 'n' Bond to the back of the fabric, cut each letter out on my cutter, then ironed them onto the canvases. I bought the canvases in a 10 pack at Michael's and painted them.

This was a fun project, but also a learning experience. I would do it a little differently if there was a "next time".

Also on my cutter, I cut out these ties and the letters to make a Father's Day bunting for Chad. This was a pretty easy craft.

The letters from the middle of the white were given to the kids who made Chad a card. Amazingly enough, their message was the same as mine!

When we got home from church, we found that the cat had played with the bunting and the string was in three parts. It was a little shorter after we tied it back together. Fatherhood is like that sometimes...you survive the turmoil and get back on track. (I think this is a much better analogy than the one I came up with when I found my Mother's Day plant covered in little white bugs!)

Our EGGcellent Adventure

Easter was quickly approaching and our calendar was getting full, so we dug into decorating eggs on the Thursday before Easter. I purchased 5 DOZEN eggs a couple of weeks early, in hopes that they would be old enough to peel easily. It mostly worked.

So we set ourselves up with the eggs and dye and got right to work. As the years have gone by, I've gotten less traumatized by cracked eggs and colorful spills. That was helpful for this year because we now had six kids involved...of varying skill levels.

When you dye eggs, you have to be very patient. Nathan demonstrates this trait here.

It is fun to draw on the egg with crayon first to end up with a neat design after dyeing. Sarah was a quick study on this point. But she wasn't real skilled. The eggs suffered in her hands...or when they repeatedly left her hands.

Before too long, we had a nice collection of colored eggs. They were pretty!

The dye kit came with stickers. The girls put some on the eggs.

Leah put some on her face. Of course.

Sarah was nearly a decorated egg herself by the time we were finished. It did bother me a little, but mostly because she'd just had a bath that morning. (We are not every day bathers.) That onesie may be forever spotted.

My HECK! Another picture of my dirty house?!?

While we had 60 eggs to color, we did run out of them quickly. I had to snag 6 for myself before they were all gone. I used my Silhouette to cut some vinyl designs and stuck them on the eggs before slipping them into the dye cups.

I really like how they turned out!

These will be fun to search for! We're going to be eating a lot of eggs!

Decorating with vinyl scraps

I've already shown you some of my projects I've done with my Silhouette machine. I was busy with it a couple of weeks ago because I wanted to make a new sign for my front door.

What do you think?

Of course, I had a lot of space around the word and didn't want to waste the vinyl. So I filled it up with stuff. I ended up with these canister labels. I thought they turned out so cute!

I also decorated my dish washer, stand mixer, a light switch and the bedside lamps in my room (I'll spare you the pictures of those).

This was the day that Rebekah came home and decided to keep her coat and backpack on. She wore them for hours...including during lunch. We really do have heat in our house!

Wow...that computer desk is messy. Someone really should clean it up!