Spring Twin Visit

This is a late posting, it just took me a while to compile the pictures since there were a little of mine and a little of my mom's.

A few weeks ago, my mom got to keep my niece and nephew for a week's time. We packed in all kinds of fun play time, giving the kids plenty of time to play together and indoctrinating them to love to visit their Gram & Pops and Uncle Nick and Aunt Aubrey.

The first day we took them to the local park. It was our first time to visit this park, and I must say it's really nice. The kids ate it up.

All three trying to climb up.

Xander was a maniac on the playground. He would climb everything with no fear.

Selene being cute.

All three on the swings.

The boys riding the space shuttle.

Selene is such a spunky girl. Ryder finds it funny, apparently.

We took a snack break. This  picture is such a good depiction of each of their personalities. Selene is all out, Xander looks like he's trying to make sure everyone's got what they need, and Ryder is stuffing his face.

Later after nap time, the kids got to enjoy all Gram's new outside toys.

The next day we went into town. We grabbed some lunch and went to the Brookshire's Wildlife Museum.

Lunch at Wendy's meant chicken nuggets and fries (so healthy, I know). The twins loved it but Ryder only like the fries. That's my little vegetarian.

Xander giving Gram a serious face.

The Wildlife Museum was great, but the kids were really too young to appreciate it. Luckily they have a smashing playground.

The boys playing on the vintage fire truck.

Such climbers.

Ryder was obsessed.

Merry-go-round play.

Boys being boys. Trying to get into the locked train caboose.

Just chillin'.

Running around screaming was a favorite pastime of these two.

This is what happens after a day of hard play.

 The next day we took the kids to local library.

They enjoyed playing and checking out all the cool stuff in the children's room, but at some point they were ready for a little more rambunctious play than is proper for a library, so we took them back to Gram's.

The next day they came over to our house and played outside. The twins got to jump on the trampoline and enjoy swings, trikes, and just plain fun.

Unfortunately I didn't get any more pictures of their visit, we were all having too much fun. The twins are coming back for another week in July, and we are already booked up with things to do that week. It's so nice to get a chance to spend some time with them, especially for Ryder. He's getting to know his cousins really well and getting to an age where he really likes to play with other kids. We look forward to their next visit!

Summer Garden Time

It's been a while since I posted anything about my garden, which is slightly ironic since it's been doing better than I've ever had it do for me. The weather stayed cool in Texas for so long that we had an extended cold crop season. I've never had everything in my garden do well at the same time. I'm not bragging because clearly people have had much better gardens than this, but it's exciting for me as a young and inexperienced gardener.

Carrots!!! I've never had carrots do well! This was my "thinning out" crop to make room for the other plants to get bigger.

Spinach is going to seed, hoping to collect them. Onions are heading on out as well as the cilantro. Kale and broccoli are still going strong though.

Radishes are gone and beans are in their place (or will be when they come up). Lettuce is still massive but will be going to seed soon.

Potatoes and spaghetti squash (this spaghetti squash was from seeds I collected from a squash I bought from the store). There's watermelon too, but they're just getting going now that the weather has gotten warm.

Zucchini and yellow squash. There's pumpkin coming up in the front. It's my second attempt at planting it because I already lost some by the squash bugs.

Peppers already have blooms, that's a good sign in my book. Tomatoes are putting on too!

My tomato patch.

Blackberries! Our bushes didn't do well at all last year, but it looks as if they're having a better time this year. Maybe I'll get some jam made with them!

We also have mulberries galore, they're having a good year too. They're ripening too fast for me to get out there and pick them, I wasn't expecting them to be ready so soon. So we're just eating them when we feel like going out there. Ryder has been loving it.

Looking forward to much more fruit from the garden!

DIY Clutch: A Tutorial

With my pregnancy getting on in months, there are a few projects I've been wanting to finish up. Some have taken precedence over others. I wanted to make a small clutch to fit in a specific pocket in my diaper bag, to hold some important purse-like items for when I don't want to carry a purse and a diaper bag. It's a very simple thing to make, and I decided I'd share my method with you.

(Okay it's not really my method, my mom is actually the one who came up with the order of things.)

What you'll need:

18 1/2" x 10 1/2" piece of outer fabric, lining fabric, and stiff interfacing.

velcro

The piece will measure 10 1/2" by 7" with a 4 1/2" flap.

Adhere the interfacing to the wrong side of the outer fabric piece.

Put right sides of the outer and lining fabric together.

Measure down on the long side 4 1/2 inches for the flap.

Sew around the end and down the measured length, as shown by the pins.

Fold up remaining lining to where you stopped sewing, creating the inner pocket of the clutch.

Sew sides of lining pocket.

Now fold up the outer fabric, right sides together, and sew sides together.

Turn outer fabric inside out, creating the outer pocket of the clutch.

Turn the upper flap inside out (this is a picture of the back of the clutch, flap open).

Now turn the lining pocket inside out and tuck inside the outer pocket.

Turn in the remaining edges of the lining and outer fabric together.

You can either sew it on the machine or by hand, whatever you prefer.

Ta da!

Now for the velcro. Choose however you want it to be. I just wanted one piece, but you might want two on each side of the bag.

Sew the velcro to the bag.

Give it one last pressing and you're done! So simple and easy!

Perfect little clutch.