August things...

This last week was filled with mostly hanging around the house.  We celebrated Mike's birthday yesterday, and headed up over the mountain for some sun and bbq lunch at some restaurant we found in Cle Elum.  It was a day of roaming and discovery.  We found a great place to camp with lake access, a play structure, bbq pits, and lots of beautiful scenery.  Don't ask me what it is called, I can't remember!  You can also go there for day use.  We ended up parking in the free 15 minute parking and checking the place out, and I'm convinced that maybe one day we can camp there a night or two.  It completely reminded me of childhood camping....the smell, the people, the outdoorsy-ness of of (yes, I like to make up words!).  It had an ampitheatre that was scheduled to hold an "informative" on mooshing, where you could meet the dogs and learn about the event.  It took place in the evening, and I thought how cool that would be to partake in something like that with Mike and the kids. 
So, I didn't get any pictures from yesterday, but I did get some other pictures I wanted to share.

Reagan's new hat. A spin on the owl hat: love it!! It looks completely adorable on her, and she get many compliments:-)

Alyssa's new hat.  Another variation of the owl hat, the possibilities are endless on this hat. Alyssa chose her own yarn colors for this one. People love this one, too! I had one lady at Nordstroms the other day (she worked there) say she wanted to pass my info. along to some big baby photographer in L.A., as she would likely love my hats.  It never hurts to talk to people!

August wanted to be in on the girls photo shoot, so he grabbed a hat I had made for him way back when, and I got this cool photo (I'd say cute, but he'd probably get mad at me for using such a word to describe him!).

I made this hat for a trade for the banners at the bottom of this post.  Great trade and totally worth it! I love the girls banners:-)))

Alyssa goes out each morning and finds froggy friends to play with.  She loves them so much!! They are cute little things, if I do say so myself:-)

Somewhere over the "double" rainbow.  We live in paradise sometimes.  Our scenery can't be beat.

This is the view from the guest bedroom/Ryan's room/might soon be August's bedroom.  I feel like I'm losing the battle.

Getting ready for Fall with this apple hat.

Hold on though, it is STILL Summer!

I love our backyard. The only thing that would make it better is a fence.

The kids swim in the pool every day they can.  The boys make up "Wipe-out" obstacle courses, and have a lot of fun out there.  I think we will be buying a new pool every year if we must-we sure get our money's worth out of them.

This kid roller coaster has been great as well. It was gifted to us when we lived in Tigard, and the kids love it!

I love that this is our backyard. I don't know how this could ever really be topped!

Our backyard photo taken from me standing in the forest.

Alyssa got the cutest new suit EVER from Justice.  It is a one-piece, which is nice, and it is adorable!!

Okay, so check out the bookshelf I made for Reagan.  Cute!  She loves it, and likes having books next to her bed.  Also, check out the banners I had custom made for the girls to hang above their beds.  A lady on ETSY who made banners was eager to do a trade with me, and I wasn't sure I really needed a banner, but then I thought of her making a couple for the girls room, and I am in love with them!!! Totally worth the trade, which is the black and hot pink hat in the photo earlier on in this posting.

Here is Alyssa's banner.  I sent the lady a pic. of Alyssa's bedding and asked her to match the flowers in the sheets.  She did an amazing job, and had them made and shipped within 24 hours. I love ETSY!!

Swedish Opens Phase ONE

This post is a bit late, but better late then never! Swedish opened phase one of the hospital in early July, and these pictures were of the community open house.  Mike and I had attended the V.I.P. event the week before, so I had the chance to view the hospital before it was swarming with people.  What gorgeous work, and Mike has put in so much to help make this project such a success.  Phase two will open in November, so all the heat isn't off yet, but he is closing in on the finish line for this project.  It has been wonderful having his commute at less than 15 minutes, and sure helps aleviate some of the stress (but not all!).

Many goats we saw while waiting to turn into the event.  The kids liked them!

Inside the hospital.

Hmmm, where to go first?

The kids got to play this Passport game where they had to go to different parts of the building collecting stamps, and once they filled their passport, they could turn it in for a build-a-bear teddy bear.

See the shop in the background? On the first floor, you would hardly know you are in a hospital. It is quite fancy!

The Mad Hatter made the trip from Disneyland.  This guy was halarious!!! Alyssa wouldn't give him a hug, and he got mad and said, "fine. I don't want a hug from you anyway, Alice! You were RUDE to me the last time we had tea together!!" Then he stomped off.  It was funny, funny stuff.  When I pulled out my camera, he said, "oooh, lets go over here and pose like we are a big, happy family! I love family pictures!" And that is the picture you see. 

The passport is filled.  Time to go collect teddy!

Teddys for ALL!!

mini-golf outside.  They had lots of vendors outside, where "The Highlands Days" was going on.

The hospital.

Ryan gets Braces!!!

Yeah!!!  SOOOOO happy about this one:-) I know he wanted them and needed them more than anything, and we were in motion of making them happen when he left, but we just resumed the process down in California, and mission accomplished, as he now has his braces.  As a Mother, all you want is for your kids to get everything they want and need, and you want them to be happy, and especially when it comes to something like this, it is so important as a parent that you can come through for your child. 
I haven't seen Ryan in person yet with his braces, but Jessica was kind enough to send me some pictures.  Thank you!

Peach Pie and Homemade edible play-doh

Okay, so those two things don't go together AT ALL...just saying, don't go mixing the two!  These are two things I wanted to share.
First, a few weeks back when it was Reagan's birthday, if you remember correctly, I put quite a bit of effort into seeing that she got her eggless Ariel cake.  And not just any cake, but a nice, cute cake!  In the process of that adventure, I discovered something very cool: home-made marshmellow fondant.  Fondant, I realized, doubles as home-made edible play-doh.  Now, this isn't something advertised, but as I gave a whirl at making and working with it, I came upon this cool discovery, so I wanted to share the recipe in case anyone reading this wants to give it a try with their kids, or even if you don't have kids and want to try decorating a cake with the stuff (what it is meant for!).  Something to note, is that this stuff blows the expensive pre-made stuff out of the water in terms of both taste and moldability, based on my experience with the two.  We spent $15 at Michaels on the pre-made Wilton fondant, and wished we had just made extra of the home-made version.  We couldn't even eat the Wilton fondant..it was a bit gross, but marshmallow fondant...we couldn't put it down. Mold a little, eat a little. Mold a little, eat a little.  Your kids will LOVE it!
Here is the recipe:
http://candy.about.com/od/fondantcandyrecipes/r/mm_fondant.htm

Peach Pie!
Let's say you have a bunch of fresh peaches, and you are eating them as fast as you can, but soon realize that you aren't going to make it.  What to do with all that yummy-ness? Don't let them go to waste, but don't cook them and destroy them either.  Instead, try making a no-bake peach pie.  I actually just tried my first one, and it turned out great, very light and satisfying!  Basically, you ready a pie crust, I used a Marie Callendars crust, and then make a glaze with some mashed up peaches and a few other simple ingredients, then layer peaches in the crust with the glaze, and refrigerate.  That's it!  Try it sometime.  Here is the recipe I used, and some pictures of my results:

Ingredients

1 (9 inch) pie shell, baked
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups fresh peaches, pitted and mashed
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups fresh peaches - pitted, skinned, and sliced

Directions
1. Combine sugar, water, cornstarch, butter or margarine, mashed peaches, and nutmeg in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until clear and thick. Stir in vanilla.
2. Fill pie shell with sliced fresh peaches, alternating with the glaze. Refrigerate.

I had some without ice cream, and some with. It is delicious both ways!

Home-y Things

It is something about getting away from your home that makes you appreciate being back in it.  I find that when I leave, I come back with a new perspective, a clearer perspective.  I may realize that things are cleaner, dirtier, more or less cluttered, better, or worse, than I thought when I left them.  Anyhow, I came back from our vacation with a renewed sense of what needs to be, and what I would like our house to be.  While we don't have all the funding to make things exactly how I would like, what we do have is my creative brain and willingness to make the best of things we already have laying around the house.  I've spent this last couple weeks working on small projects here and there.  Here are some of them:

I tried out rustoleum for this oak table to turn it black.  Much improved! I applied a finishing coat of polyurethane to give it some shine. Now it matches the one you can't see on the other side of the couch.

Here it is in our living room.  I think adding some more furniture gives the house a cozier, home-like feel.

These were oak.  Blah oak! Now they are an espresso brown, to match our other darker furniture. 

Here they are in the bigger picture.

Again, blah oak.  I just don't love the look of oak.  Now....

This will go in the girls room and matches the one already in there. This one is for Reagan's books!

Downstairs bathroom improvements include the addition of this shelf, and an inspirational quote and art piece I found at....drum roll, please.....ROSS for $3.50.  It spoke to me, so I bought it:-)  Other things spoke to me as well, but they were more than $3.50, so they remain at Ross. I like the shelves in the bathroom, because I can decorate them according to season, or just keep some nice neutral accents on them.

Like the lovely art above the toilet? August made it at a fancy art studio a couple years ago, and it has been in our bathroom all along, but I freshened the look with a new frame and location within the bathroom. I think I'm going to purchase one more shelf to place directly above the toilet.  What do you think?

"Every journey begins with a single step" The candles you see around are from my candle lady.  I love her candles, and she loves my hats.  Great trades!

You can't tell in this photo, but the mat at the base of the sink is red, and I want to kick the red out of this bathroom.  As soon as I can figure out a replacement color, and find a steal on bath mat and matching hand towel, I will make my move.  Any ideas as to a good color for this bathroom?

This is a work in progress.  My craft area. OH, what a mess it was.  This is much better! I'm going to add a shelf along the wall next to the window to put things on as well.  I've discovered that sometimes going vertical is the only way to make a small space work!

I've also found my small fortune.  You are staring at it!  I wonder how much I've invested on yarn and ribbon and things, my goodness!  I need to get crackin' on some hats for sure!! And even though you think you are looking at all my yarn, the cupboard in the corner in filled with yarn as well.  I ran out of storage containers. 

I came across the first cupcake hat I ever made.  I decided to frame it and stick it on the wall.  It makes a great piece of art for my craft area, don't you think?!

My sister made this for me one year for Christmas, and I found the perfect place for it in the laundry room.  I love it!

Laundry room. The shelf used to be in Reagan's room.

Ryan's room turned guest room/empty room. I know these colors don't all match, but I did the best with what I had, and I'm pleased with the results.  I love to come in this room and lay on the bed and look out at the mountains.  Today, I decided that the Winnie-The-Pooh etchings would be the perfect decor for the wall in here. So sweet and simple.

These are great.  I love Pooh:-)

All new pillows, so soft and comfy.  Don't you want to come and visit me and stay in my guest room?!

I also had these shelves laying around.  They add so much to helping personalize our home. I made the bear on the lower shelf in college.  Who knew we'd end up living among bears just like this? The candle above is spicy pumpkin scented...mmmmmm!

A stuffed animal holder I added to August's room, also had laying around.  His room needs some work..talk about a toy bomb going off. Yikes!