Our new Tire Swing!

Happy April!

This past weekend we competed a project that we've wanted to do since we moved into our new house 10 months ago, we put up a tire swing for the kids. At a playground the tire swing is always the first thing they go for so I knew they'd love it. Last Saturday we set out to make it, we used these instructions that seemed very clear and straight forward.

First thing, we went to a tire store and asked them for an old tire, when we explained that it was for a tire swing they were happy to let us go out back and choose our tire from the pile of old tires that they were getting rid of.

When we got back excitement was running high! 

We have a few large old trees in our yard, and this Live Oak in the front yard has the perfect limb for our tire swing, far enough away from the tree's trunk that there is no chance of a collision! Frank chose the spot where we'd hang the swing in the crook of a branch.

After a couple of trips back and forth to the hardware store for just the right parts. Then, giving the tire a good scrubbing,

and rinsing,

and some monkeying around.

Frank finally had the tire swing strung up, gave it a daddy test and all looked good,

So away they went, soaring round and round with huge smiles. They love it and for the past few days its been the first thing they want to do in the morning and the last thing they want to do before coming inside in the evening.

Yahoo for handy Daddies with lots of patience!

Tutorial: Wrist Ribbons

These wrist ribbons are one of the fun things that I have made for some of the kids in the Stocking Stuffer Swap, and they are so easy and fun that I wanted to share a tutorial with you so that you can make your own. Maybe even to stuff in a little one's Christmas stocking?

The supplies that I used are three different colors of ribbon all the same width, thin elastic (about 3/4 inch wide), needle and thread, and also a hot glue gun.

I measured my children's wrist and then cut a 6 inch strip of the elastic. I make this into a circle with about an inch of overlap,

I like to begin by putting a line of hot glue on that inch of over lap,

and then press together until set.

Here are my freshly glued elastic wrist circles,

Then I take my three different colors of ribbon, cut into about 1 yard long sections, and stack them lining the cut ends up. I've got my needle and thread ready to sew. If you don't have a glue gun you can begin at this point and just secure everything with your needle and thread.

I place the stacked ribbons against the part of the elastic that I just glued,

and sew, crisscrossing the thread on the side that will be visible when worn,

so that when I am done sewing the stiches look like a little star.

Now they are done and the fun begins, they get put on the wrists,

and away we go!

They seem to make dancing, running, spinning and even gazing just more fun!

Christmas crafting

Its hard to even be typing the word Christmas, since there is so much to do between here and then, and really it still feels so far off, but...I have started my Christmas crafting already! I was invited by my friend Em to be part of a group of mamas with young children who do a hand-made gift exchange for their little ones each year at Christmas time. The age spread of the children ranges from 12 down to 2, so I've been getting lots of ideas organized for each child. It has been really fun, and my own children have been helping me by test-playing with each thing that I make, giving them their seal of approval.

So far, I've got a flock of these needle felted blue birds. I really want to hug each one.

There are also some families of these little fairies in the works,  although before I could even start on the ones to give away Jasper and Carys put their orders in for fairies for themselves.

Some bumble bees, 

Some of these things are going to be a bit hard to part with, but we are really excited to find out what the other moms will send us at Christmas! I'll make sure to post about all of the gifts as I finish them, crafting with a purpose is so satisfying and it feels so sweet and special to be thinking about the other children opening the packages and enjoying my crafts.

August Break: Magic tree house

Along with renovating a Brooklyn Brownstone another of Frank's dreams has always been to build a tree house for his kids "someday"...and suddenly, with our new yard we had lots of trees to choose from and "someday" became "now" this summer. Frank got to work at the beginning of July, first making sketches and reading the Black & Decker The Complete Guide: Build Your Kids a Treehouse (Black & Decker Complete Guide) 

What started with four posts cemented into the ground behind Jasper above, quickly become this...

and then this, all done...

with places for telling secrets,

and playing house.

One of my favorite parts is the clear plastic roof to let lots of light inside.

The next step will be picking out a perfect outdoor fabric to make some window and door curtains, to make it a real "hide-out". Frank also plans to build some shelves on the walls so the kids can leave treasures in the tree house and really make it their own. We are also throwing around ideas for painting the tree house, but getting these two to agree on a color is hard! I'm voting for just little pops of color (turquoise!) here and there.

In a case of perfect timing we have been visiting our local library and reading our way through this fun series, the Magic Tree House Boxed Set, Books 1-28 , about a brother and sister who find a magic tree house and go on adventures through the books that they find inside. So the kids are even more excited to have their own tree house now, as if that were possible.

After dinner

After dinner, and before bedtime, a special time has developed at our house. A time for goofing around, playing family games, getting out instruments...

A time for snake charmers,

and tired princesses,

to come together and put on a show,

for the best sort of audience, for a very amused and proud mama and papa! Watching my children's imaginative play is truly one of the great joys of my life.