Building a fort

We don't always have some place planned to visit on Sundays. This was one of those days. Daddy felt in the mood to build his sons a fort. The colorful tube on the right is a tunnel that goes with a play tent which made for a perfect little person entry. I tried to go in that way before Trevor told me he had an "adult" entrance. I had to shimmy in on my belly. It was quite an effort, but it was worth it to see the proud look on my boy's face when I made it through!

My lnot-so-little baby

Sometimes I find myself trying to hold him like a baby...and then when it feels totally awkward because he is getting so big, I have to remind myself he's not such a little baby anymore. He's getting so big!!!!

Sunday at the park....a few weeks ago

Okay, so I realized I haven't posted enough family pictures. So here are a few from a recent outing.

Trevor passed this park a few times on his work route. He said every time he drove past it was littered with families and it just looked so inviting for kids. The playground area is huge. Instead of replacing areas it has just been added too. It even still had classic metal slides!! There aren't enough of those around these days...although I guess they are probably a little hot for the AZ sun. Enjoy!

July 4th

Finally Trevor got a day off, July 4th, though not as easily as we thought it would be. The sales guys still tried to talk him into working! We had a family day instead and we went to check out Ijams Nature Center. It was beautiful. We went for a fun little hike that met right up against the river a few places. Dashiel did great too. He was having a great time running and jumping.

There are so many trees here and these ones had great vines. They didn't look all that strong, but this one definitely held Trevor without a problem.

A view from the trail. Gorgeous!

We had a great time!

New project - Monogrammed Hand Towels

I enjoy making gifts for people's birthdays. It is so much more fun than just shopping, besides I never know where to start. So I started looking up some ideas on craft websites and got excited when I saw a tutorial on Martha Stewart for monogrammed hand towels.

                                             

It is such a classic look, but I couldn't just monogram, I had to do something to personalize it even more. The gift is for my sister-in-law and she loves toile. I got a cotton polyester blend of linen-look fabric (I didn't want to use linen because who wants to iron hand towels), and a small swatch of toile to sew on the end. Then to cover up the seam, I sewed the length of ribbon. The letter is from MS Word. I printed it and created a stencil. And ta-da! Tell me what you think!

The link to my inspiration:
http://www.marthastewart.com/273499/monogrammed-hand-towel?czone=holiday/santas-workshop/santas-handmade-gifts&czone=holiday/santas-workshop/santas-handmade-gifts&center=307035&gallery=275134&slide=273499

Sunday Drive

I remember my mother telling me when she was young her parents would take the family for a drive on Sundays. We did it occassionally when I was a kid, but it just got too expensive in the family van. Well, being in a new place for just a short time there is so much to see. Trevor ends up driving all over tarnation and gets to see lots and I'm pretty stuck in my route between grocery or craft store, park and library. So Sunday drives have been reinstated for our family. One of the things Trevor and I really enjoy admiring is architecture, and Knoxville is a traditional town of the East with plenty to offer. There are some beautiful brick homes with shutters, porches, and verandas and so so many bungalows! Oh how I love. Well, this last Sunday I took a picture of one of my favorites. It's not a bungalow, and it's not a brick, but it's beautiful and definitely not something one would easily find in Phoenix's East Valley. Let me know what you think!

Just simple and quaint with that swoop roof line over the door.

Look at that lawn! I bet they don't even have sprinklers!!!

It is a good day to be in Tennessee.

The kids and I took a little road trip today. Trevor forgot some equipment at the shop today and was an hour away. The kids and I were all loaded up with a fresh full tank, and were ready to head to the store to pick up a photo to send to Grandma and Grandpa when he called. So what did we do?  We headed way out to rescue Daddy, of course! I had to take a highway from the freeway after passing through downtown and could not believe my eyes when I saw the gas prices-- $2.99/gallon!!! I was suddenly disappointed at my $3.03 a gallon from Sam's Club. I know you are all jealous, but all I can say is WOOHOO!!