Romance

I felt encouraged after my apron got published in the winter issue of Belle Armoire in their 'Valentine's Day Art to Wear' section.  And with Valentine's day coming up, I've been feeling the need to create something sweet and romantic. 
So I've been experimenting with using stamps and permanent ink on white fabric (I've been recycling flat sheets that I no longer use) and then aging/dying the fabric with coffee to give it a vintage look.
I had this idea for a necklace where the pendant is made of fabric, and here is my first attempt.  













I hand stitched these, and even though I really like the look, hand stitching something small like this and then stuffing it with pollyfill for a 3D look was not very easy.  It was quite annoying trying to keep the pollyfill in.
I went to my beloved machine and tried machine stitching.  I think I like the machine stitch better, but I did have a similar problem with the polyfill.

To add the chain I cut tiny strips of fabric to make loops and stitched them on the back side of the heart.  

Knott's Berry Farm and Uncle Pavel

Our first family trip to an amusement park happened last weekend.  This was really my Christmas gift to my family (since I am a horrible gift buyer).
Even though the trip was short, it was packed with fun and family adventure times.  My uncle Pavel, is always so kind to let us stay with him.  It's been over 2 years since we've seen him and his family.  His daughter Athena is now 6 1/2yrs old and she loved playing with Patrick and Maggie.  And they loved playing with her.  When we arrived at their home, I said to my kids: this is Uncle Pavel's house.  They thought it was Uncle E. I think they understood that the only thing Uncle Pavel and E have in common is their mysterious nature.

At this age my kids were limited at what rides they can go on.  There were a couple of 'exciting' train rides where some outlaws asked us for our money and pointed a gun at us.

We went on a water ride, Timber Mountain Log ride where Patrick sat in front, in between my father's legs, I was right behind them with Maggie sqeezed between me and David.  This is a fun ride, but at one point there is darkness for a few moments, you feel water falling on you and a slight fall that gives you that weighless feeling.  We didn't get too soaked, but I think Patrick was bit scared and cautious after this.  He was more observant and selective about which ride he goes on.

Maggie was my little tomboy girl.  She actually makes me remember that I was somewhat of a tomboy myself, although I never thought of myself that way.  But she was eager and energetic and leading us to the next ride.  "Come on guys, lets go", I heard her say this a few times.  She acted fearless, but she did have that scared look on her face and got glued to me when we went on Lucy's Tugboat ride.  This ride actually made me little nauseated, but I had to stay calm and tough for my little girl.

Off course, the bumper cars were a must, but my little Maggie was too small to go on it, even riding with me.  She was pretty upset about this part and I had to trick her into cheering for Patrick, David and my dad.  I told her we have to be the cheerleaders as we were leaning on the wall, watching them and trying to take a few pictures.

Here they are, David and Patrick, and my dad behind.  Actually at one point during this ride, Patrick took his safety arm belts, and the whole ride stopped.  Some 30+ bumper car drivers were looking at eachother, as the attendant came to David and Patrick's car and asked Patrick to put back his safety belt.  Ah my boy....




Being at an amusement park with kids, limits the adults from going on big-scary-loopy-upside-down rides.  My dad and David went on the Ghostrider, which they reported to be bit scary.  I went on the WindSeeker ride twice, once with my dad, and then once with David.  This was quite fun, you could see the entire Orange County area.  It felt good, like a flying bird, it felt free and just beautiful.  My dad and I went on another roller coaster, the Jaguar and David and I were going to try the Sierra Sidewinder, but the line was long and moving slow, so we gave up.

We ended the day with all of us riding on the Merry-Go-Round.

Then we drove back at Uncle Pavel's house, tired from the long day of fun.  Patrick however was ready to still play with Athena.  And she was ready and waiting to play with Patrick as well.  The next day when we left they were sad.  Athena was sad to have her cousins leave.  And now as I am writing this, I realize that the two opportunities the kids got to play together was at night and I didn't take a single picture of them together.  What is wrong with me?!  I guess I will have to go back to Palm Springs and visit my Uncle Pavel again.

When you can't get snow for a snowball fight, pine cones will do the trick

My kids have never seen snow in their lives.  But I noticed that there must be something instinctive about snowball fights because my kids are doing it with pine cones.  We picked up a whole bag of them few weeks ago at the park across the street.  The kids wanted them, and refused to go home without them, so what a heck, I gave them a bag, packed them and thought I may get a chance to make something Christmasy with them.  Well I didn't.  So I dumped the entire bag in my desert landscaped front yard.
The kids divided them and Maggie had a bunch on one of the chairs in the front patio.  As I was sitting and enjoying a morning coffee one day, and they were riding their bicycles, I noticed they were throwing the pine cones at eachother.  Fortunately they can't throw far, so they never hit eachother with the pine cones, otherwise I am sure I'd be labeled an awful mother by neighbors and passerbys.  Half of these pine cones ended up on the driveway.

And here is Maggie, trying to charge at Patrick on the other side of the yard.

And Patrick hiding at the side of the house and picking up some pine cones, stocking his ammo bunker.

The Whole World Celebrates My Son's Birthday

It's no joke, he is that special, because his birthday is on New Year's Day.  I was due on the 31st December.  And my husband really wanted him to be born on the 31st.  Something about a tax break (read my wedding post).  So few days before my due date he made me walk a lot, but nothing happened.  Then he went to a health food store to buy a natural labor inducer, Blue Kohosh.  The lady that worked there wouldn't sell it to him because we didn't have a doula and we weren't going to have the baby at home.  The next day my husband made me go to the health food store.  The same woman was working and she had her suspicions about me. She asked if my husband had come the day before.  I couldn't lie to her.  She gave me this advice: in few days it's going to be a full moon and that always helps with labor and delivery.
For real?  She did look very hippie. 
My husband wouldn't give up and went to a completely different store and just purchased the darn 'potion'.  He put a few drops in my drink earlier in the day on the 31st.  Other than it being so gross, nothing else happened.  Then later he put it in a glass of water.  This was a whole lot more gross than the first time.  But still nothing happened.  It wasn't until sometimes after midnight and the new year had already arrived when I started not feeling right and started bleeding and eventually decided that it was time to go to the hospital.
My son was born at 11:26am on January 1.  Ha ha.......I love how life can be funny like that.

Happy Birthday my son, you are 5 today.