crafts

Boys’ Baseball Bedrooms on a Budget

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Who needs a Fathead? For the cost of a single Fathead we were able to do all this with Jacob's room.
Who needs a Fathead? For the cost of a single Fathead we were able to do most of this with Jacob’s room.

Each time we move, we try to come up with ways to make the PCS appealing for the boys. You know, something to look forward to. In the past we have given them gifts, and we’ve also given the boys some liberties with decorating their bedrooms.

(Truth be told, the boys absolutely love it here…they’re really enjoying the hiking and the views of the mountains from throughout our house.)

For the past two houses we were in rentals, so we weren’t able to do much with the bedrooms, but in our current house we let them have a little fun. We told the boys they could come up with a theme with which we’d be willing to paint the room. They quickly agreed on baseball-themed rooms.

As always, I came up with a Pinterest board with the boys’ ideas.

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Since I’m Stuck in the House…Let’s Share a Craft!

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A gift for a GeekMom writers’ gift exchange last June.

We and our house is doing just fine with Issac.  It’s no worse than tropical storm-strength here, but my neighbors and our family are all puzzled by this dull roar that we’re hearing outside.

In the meantime, we are all stuck in the house, and the kids are off of school both today and tomorrow.  This is a quiet week for me, some Air War College reading, and preparing the family for this weekend’s trip to Atlanta for a Braves/Phillies game and Dragon*Con.

I had just realized today that I didn’t share a craft I had done this past June!  So here we go!

The ribbon wreath.

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A Fun Seashell Activity

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Our family likes to go to the beach on weekends.  It’s Dave’s and my little indulgence on Sunday mornings these days: we head out around 10am and come home in time for a late lunch around 1pm.

You never know how the Gulf is going to behave on a given trip to the beach.  Sometimes there’s a ton of seaweed, sometimes there are jellyfish, sometimes the water is really deep at our favorite spot, sometimes it’s really shallow.

On our last trip, two weekends ago, the seashells were out in force and we enjoyed collecting several.

The kids have brought home buckets full of small seashells before, and they’ve mainly sat in our garage awaiting an idea.  This time the kids begged me to help them do something more fruitful than have them sit in the garage.

So I offered to buy the kids a vase and they could fill the vase with the shells.  I went to Walmart and took a look at the glass vases in the craft/candles section and thought to myself “That’s going to take forever”.

I found a hurricane glass and chose a sand-colored candle to add to the glass.  The kids filled the hurricane glass with the shells and it now sits in the bathroom to match their surf-shop bathroom look.

First we washed the shells and sat them out in the sun to dry.

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Summer Crafting

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Getting the family ready for Dragon*Con, Halloween and the Disney Princess running weekend all at once! I found the iron-on for stretchy-fabric paper at our local A.C. Moore.

The weather continues to get the best of us this week.  We were still able to hit the Pensacola MESS Hall again on Wednesday, and today I had some meetings on base while the kids stayed home and our neighbor’s son watched them.  With thunderstorms all around us this afternoon squelching our pool plans, I was able to catch up on some craft stuff.

Such as putting finishing touches on our Incredibles costumes.

“What in the world do you need Incredibles costumes for?”

Over Labor Day weekend, the family is heading up to Atlanta.  We got some Braves-Phillies tickets on August 31st, and then on Sept. 1-2, we are planning to visit Dragon*Con for the first time.

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The Annual Holiday Open House…Cute Party Idea and Recipes to Share

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Why invest in those complicated key-ring-like wine charms when you might have a house full of THESE? I’d heard about it from one of the GeekMoms.  I can’t remember whether it was on GeekMom itself, or one of the GeekMoms referencing another website with this idea. I went through my kids’ THOUSANDS of Silly Bandz … Read more

A Quick Holiday Craft Idea

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I’ve been contemplating holiday crafts for Dave’s squadron’s Christmas party.  I’m helping to set it up. (Oops, did I say “Christmas?”  I mean, um, “Holiday“.) I recalled doing God’s Eyes in Girl Scouts and Sunday school when I was growing up.  With all these remnants of yarn hanging around from my HAP afghan rectangles, and a … Read more

Timmy’s Apple Tree

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About a month ago, when our friends the Goldmans were visiting from North Carolina, Timmy and Johnny had apples as a snack. “Um, okay…I guess that’s exciting…” Wait, there’s more!  I promise! Timmy typically makes one pass around an apple, taking off the skin and any flesh underneath that the first set of bites will … Read more