Twirl

What does a busy mom do with 2 kids in school.  Make a cool twirl skirt for the 3rd kid.  She loves to twirl around in it.

1st day of schoool

We have completed the 1st week of school, and I am finally getting around to posting pictures of the 1st Day. 

We also had to take a picture on the 2nd day too.  Just because she looked so cute in her wrinkled shirt.

Day downtown

As we were preparing to go back to school, I have had some fun outings with the kids.  We spent one day last week going downtown.  We went to the main library to play, then took a bunch of mermaid pictures and  I let the kids play in the fountains downtown.  They loved it, and we discovered they have lawn games at the downtown park for free.  It was a great day spent just being tourists at home.

Mermaid - 25

This is the end of a day of pictures. This is in front of a random dentist office/ office building near Wards corner.

Wards Corner - Mermaid - 24

We are discovering some challenges with our mermaid pictures.  There are several mermaids like this one.  Mounted on rooftops, or high on the side of a building. We found 3 of these on one day.  This is in Wards Corner shopping center.  There was also one on the 2nd floor of the World trade center and one on the roof of another downtown office building.  I could have asked to go into the office buildings, but all 3 kids were in bathing suits, so I thought I should wait before walking into a professional building.

Literacy - Mermaid - 23

This is in front of the local newspaper office.  

Maid In Voyage - Mermaid - 22

This is in front of the Sail Norfolk office in downtown Norfolk.  The kids pointed out that it had another mermaid on the front of the mermaid. One of the coolest mermaids we have seen.

Ocean Patina - Mermaid - 21

This is on the Norfolk Waterfront.

Bowling

We took the kids bowling for the first time ever. We met Daddy after work since the bowling alley is across the street from his office. They loved it, and the bumpers would go up for the kids and then down when it was the adults turn.  The kids beat us on the first game, but that may be due to the fact that they had bumpers and they had this neat little ramp.  Munchkin actually won the first game, with help aiming the ramp, but Daddy rebounded to win the second game. By the way Aunty R.  If you come to visit this fall,  the kids REALLY want to take their cousins bowling. Buddy thinks he can beat his cousin C.

Buddy was very excited for each frame and could not wait for his turn.

The ball was a little heavy for Munchkin, but somehow she managed. She dropped it once, but thankfully not on anyone's toes or fingers.

Low Tide - Mermaid - 20

In front of Joe's Crab Shack at Waterside, Downtown Norfolk. 

Waterside - Mermaid - 19

This is not the typical mermaid, but the kids spotted it and really wanted to take a picture of it.  Of course we took the picture, and princess in her ballerina pose.

Other project

This is another little project I completed.  I was planning on making burp cloths, but must have been distracted when buying fabric, I only got 1/4 yard, and that is really narrow.  Not even wide enough for a burp cloth.  So I ended up making doll diapers for the kids.  It was a fun afternoon, and the kids LOVE them.  I had to make several so they could change the diapers when they got dirty.  Now Princess carries around a backpack with her baby and the diaper bag for her baby.

Ship Ahoy - Mermaid - 18

Mermaid in front of the Hampton Roads Shipping Association, this is the only one we have found that has been mounted this way. Most likely because it is in a tight spot, and wouldn't fit the other way.

Back to sewing!!

My sewing machine has had a few problems lately.  It stopped working and I took it to the wrong shop to get fixed. He kept it for 8 weeks and told me 4 times he was waiting for parts.  When I finally complained and yelled enough he told me it was permanently broken and couldn't fix it. Of course I took it to another shop.  He called me THE NEXT MORNING to tell me that it would take one $250 part to fully fix it (if he could find a new part on ebay) but he had fixed it enough to do a straight stitch.  He said it was filthy and the other guy probably never even opened the case.  Since the machine is old, and he couldn't guarantee that he could find the part.  It makes a huge difference who does repairs and now I know that the Tidewater Sew & Vac on Tidewater drive is Horrible and I won't even buy vaccuum bags from him., but the Tidewater Sew & Vac at Kemps River off of Indian River Road is FANTASTIC.   I took my machine home and am loving beang able to do some projects again. (by the way, I do have another machine on its way here.  thanks Mom!!) 

This is a toy blanket that has tags and velcro that I made for my sister-in-law and our new niece.  See here for the link to directions.I love it and will probably make more for other gifts.  It is cuddly on one side and has lots of toys attached to the others.

My kids loved it, so I am hoping my new niece likes it too.

Maid on Time -Mermaid - 17

This is front of the Norfolk Public Library main branch.

Buddy's Bike

If you remember a long time ago I posted a picture of Buddy riding a bike without training wheels.  I didn't last, he was not ready and wanted them back on his bike.  He kept telling me he was going to ride when he was 5 years old.  Well, he is 5 and the training wheels came off, and he is off and riding all on his own.  He is not a little guy anymore.

Additional Botanical Gardens pictures

We couldn't go to the Botanical Gardens without visiting the WOW Childrens Area.  Playing in the fountains, walking through the green tunnel, and climbing trees.

This time we even rode the tram back to the parking lot. The kids and mommy were all a little tired. But Buddy had such a good day he even willingly smiled at the camera.

Botanical Gardens Mermaid - 16

This mermaid was really well done and had some cool details. The kids had to point out all the bugs.

Botanical Gardens

The Norfolk Botanical Gardens is fantastic.  This summer they have a special play area call the Enchanted Story Book Forest.  It has a bunch of storybook houses constructed for the kids to play in... check it out.

The Crooked Man -

Huckleberry Finn's adventures - The raft wobbles like a real raft and the 2 per seesaw was cool.

The Grandmother's house from Little Red Riding Hood - the kids favorite house.

The Old Lady Who lived in a Shoe and had so many Children she didn't know what to do -

The Tree Trek, where the Botanical Gardens took some of the 40 plus trees they lost in the Nor-Easter in November and put a trail for the kids to walk.  It also had signs and info sheets explaining the different types of trees.

Old McDonalds Farm - I didn't get pictures of the barn, but Buddy LOVED the horse swing.

The Three little pigs - There was actually 3 houses, but the others were blown down by the wolf, the kids climbed under the remains, but I didn't get pictures.

Alice in Wonderland - had tea set play sets inside the house.

Jack and the Beanstalk had a pretty good vegetable garden too with Pumpkins, tomatoes eggplant and lots of other stuff.

They also had a bunch of gnome homes that they built and sticks and garden pots with extra gnomes so the kids could build their own.

I didn't get pictures of the lots of other stuff for the kids to do, or the Butterfly garden which was pretty simple last year, but this year has gotten huge with LOTS more butterflies. 

If the weather stays cool, we will have to go back again this week.  It was a GREAT time, and the kids could have easily spent several days there. Plus the fountains and other stuff to do there. It is a great place.