Lazy days of summer

Well, we had our first blackberry picking of the year. It strikes me how tired I look in this photo (and yet the boys look so well-rested, hmmm.) It was fun picking berries, but kind of tricky with a baby in a front-carry baby carrier. I was so worried his little legs were going to get scratched by thorns that I didn't get the large amount of berries I'm used to getting. But it was good having him so close at the same time, since whenever I picked a blackberry that was too soft to toss in the basket, it went right in his mouth! This is him after I cleaned up his face (mostly.) Jack got good and juicy.

 Here are some art projects that Jack came up with. He's into creating landscapes and pasting things on top of them. The first one is a forest, the second, dinosaurs of course. I love the pterodactyl. And look, it's even got a volcano!

 Finally, these are some shorts I made. I got so sick of trying on shorts in stores that were just too short or too long or too old-lady-looking, I just made my own. I used a pair of pajama pants as a pattern and followed this tutorial for attaching the elastic. I always just tried to wing it with elastic before, which is ridiculous because my projects never really came out the way I wanted them too. It took like 5 minutes to watch the tutorial, and it's so fricking easy, I'm kicking myself for not learning this basic skill earlier. Still, there's something to be said for trying to figure something out on your own, no?

Not the snazziest material I know, but it was all I had a large enough quantity of (that's why I should always buy yards of fabric I love when I see it--duh.) But they are perfect for playing with the boys and going for walks in this heat.

Finally, a super easy, massive amount of time-filling activity for little ones. Get a big bowl of water, fill it halfway and have your 3-4 year-old gather little objects to see which ones will sink and which will float. We are on day three of this and Jack still loves it. As a bonus, he can now use the word 'hypothesis' in a sentence.

Salt clay creatures

On a rainy day, Jack and I crafted some of these salt clay creatures. He just loves them. You make the clay and bake it in the oven until totally dry, then cover with paint. We did these a few weeks ago and they are holding up very well, minus one little snake that broke in half. The recipe for the salt clay is below, we used acrylic paint on them (nontoxic, of course.)

Salt Clay:

3/4 cup salt

2 cups flour

3/4 cup water

To make: Mix the dry ingredients together. Then add the water gradually. When the dough forms a ball, knead it well, adding more water if it's too crumbly. Shape it into snakes, roll it out and cut it with cookie cutters, the sky's the limit here. Just make sure no pieces are too thick, as they may not dry thoroughly in the oven. Bake them on a cookie sheet (ungreased) in a 300 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until they are dry and the bottoms get a little brown. Wait for them to cool, then paint!

50 Awesome tips for an easier life

I saw this awesome post, the image above is from it. It's kind of an updated Martha Stewart's Good Things for the rest of us. Another idea is below. Bah! Love stuff like this!

My sister's birthday gift

I made this video for my sister's birthday recently. I used Windows Live Movie Maker, which was really simple to learn and use.

It was inspired by this video that Wendy showed me, which is awesome embarrassingly accurate.

The Freebie List

So for those of you who may not know, a freebie list is a list of celebrities with whom, were you given the opportunity, you could hook up with no negative consequences from your partner. My husband and I were discussing our's yesterday on a long drive to Oakland. Here is my list:

Russell Crowe

Once, I saw an interview with Mr. Crowe on Inside the Actor's Studio. When asked the infamous question, "What turns you on?" he replied "A well-constructed sentence." Humuhnuh humuhnuh humuhnuh. And Russell, "The tree was aglow with iridescent lights that shone on the myriad onlookers with proud luminescence." Now how's that for a well-constructed sentence?  

It also goes without saying that all of my choices would be plucked from their prime and would of course, still be alive. I'd choose Russell from his LA Confidential days, not the perhaps more popular Gladiator days, and most certainly not now, because well, he's just too old. Sorry Russell.

Next, we have

Adam Brody

This guy is just smoking hot. And this outfit kills me. In fact, this picture was once my desktop background when I briefly worked an office job. I love Adam Brody because he's got the hot nerd thing going on and that is such a turn on, no? I even watched that stupid show, The OC, just because he was on it. Where have you gone, you hot nerd?

River Phoenix

My only blonde entry, and perhaps the only blonde I ever truly loved-- the fiercely talented River Phoenix. He was my #1 childhood crush: I had his posters on my little girl walls, read the Teen Beat articles in which he talked about being a vegetarian (which was like, the coolest thing when you're 11.) I loved him so much that on the day he died, my mom let me stay home from school. He was the guy with real character--a blonde with a dark aura--the sensitive, tortured artist. I miss him.

Robert Pattinson

I know, I know. I'm a little embarrassed. But seriously, I can't help it if this guy is ridiculously hot. He smolders. It may have something to do with the fact that I read all the Twilight books and really, I see him as Edward (again, I know, I'm so ashamed.) But in my defense, there are moms everywhere dreaming about this guy every night, so I am not alone. And have you seen him in interviews? He's just plain odd, and that's kinda sexy too. I wouldn't kick this greasy-haired kid out of bed for eating crackers.

So ladies, I'd like to know--who's on your freebie list?