One month left in the summer? really?

The summer is flying by. I've only been to beach a few times, one time to the water park, a few times to Busch Gardens. I had so many plans for this summer. I have been doing a good job with my time - taking days off to spend with the kids and working in the evening as well. It is so very nice to have flexibility in job to go in whenever I want. Stress at work is lower than its been in a while - regardless of the looming fact that we could be closed and laid off at anytime. I'm contemplating getting masters since work would pay for it - so that I have to put on my resume in the event I am laid off. I'm not even sure a Master's degree would make that much of a difference, really. If I could use the degree to learn how to run my own business, now that would be a different story. Anyway - back to summer - I turned 40, DH turned 40. I've been traveling a lot for fun and not at all for work. Been to some amazing concerts and had some amazing experiences with all the traveling. No complaints, its been quite an awesome year so far. Now its time to plan for travel for the family. I'd like to go to Legoland in CA and Disney World in FL. We also still have Busch Garden's tickets to use.
We've been getting a ton of stuff done around the house. Since Lainey is bigger we actually have 20 mins or so at a time that might be uninterrupted or when she's actually not destroying something or putting herself in danger or running down the street. We still have a lot on the list to go - but I know we'll get a lot more done in the weekends to come! Its been very motivating!

Is it really the middle of Summer?

Alana had her first birthday already! wow - I can't believe it. My sister celebrated it with her when the family visited Virginia last month. Lainey really had a wonderful time and really enjoyed dressing up as a fairy!

Weather has been beautiful and we've been getting a lot done around the house and having a lot of fun. Mr. Cupcakes and I planned to make a special effort to be sure we planned fun time with the kids this summer and not just worked on projects all summer long. In fact Mr. C is at Kings Dominion right now - on a weekday - with Will. They've been texting me pictures all day long of all the roller coasters they've been on today. Will is having a great summer so far.

Lainey is swimming well in the pool, she's willing to go underwater on her own, holding her breath. She's not afraid anymore - so the next step is to add swimming and she'll be done!

OMG - my favorite knitting needles ever...

There really is a Santa Claus - because who else would have these available in December!!??!! Way cool. Way expensive, but way cool. hmmm - if you bought addi's at $12-$14 each, well then they'd pay for themselves after 10 purchases....oh so many ways to jusify the cost. *sigh*

We took the kids to Hunt Club Forest - it was a great time - they had a live nativity scene including a real camel! They had bonfires where you could roast hot dogs or s'mores. Santa Claus was there, there was a fully lit up with xmas lights petting zoo, play area, and an all new Christmas barn full of animated stuffed animals in a complete winter scene. It really was magical!

They also had this really cool maze of lights that, as you can see, Will enjoyed running through at top speeds and trying to get to the big christmas tree in the center and then find his way back out again. He has so much fun!

Life in Minature or Farts and Craps

I decided to do Arts and Crafts (or 'Farts and Craps' as Will likes to call it) with Will for a little fun. So I gave polymer clay a try. Its really very easy and rather addictive. We'll be making some christmas presents and spending time making stuff up. Will made sharks, squid, the Loch Ness Monster and other interesting stuff. I decided to make mugs of hot chocolate, coffee, and a cake. Here are some pictures of some of the items. I want to make more b/c its really pretty easy. The neat part is you just cook it at 275° for 15 mins and it completely cures it! Also, the clay doesn't air dry, its stays malleable for days. I want to give liquid polymer a try - there are some cool effects that can be done with liquid clay. Anyway - give it a try - here are some of our results. *PS - the wires are head pins that I will bake in the clay so I can turn them into beads for knitting stitch markers or bracelets or whatever....





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The sweetest thing...

I was looking around Ravelry and found this guy who knit the most beautiful blanket for his mom. I'd been wanting to make a wedding blanket for someone I know that had some celtic cables - and I came across this. He actually videotaped his mom recieving the blanket for her 50th birthday. For those of us who knit, making something like this would take hours and hours over months and months. Its just - well - the sweetest thing! The priceless part is how proud he is to give something so meaningful to his mom. Gush!