Pink Saturday: Handmade Masterpieces

This babydoll was made by one of my mother's aunts.  Her limbs are attached via very large buttons on sturdy cording which runs through the body. Her face is entirely embroidered, and her hair painstakingly sewn down, piece by piece.
She is the first doll that made me think that handmade dolls are better than factory made ones.
The dress is also handmade by the same great-aunt, of lovely white eyelet and light pink ribbon.  While I have learned to make dolls because I fell in love with the idea so long ago, mine aren't quite as lovey sweet.
My great aunt also inspired me to *try* to learn crochet, as she was a master with the hook.  Her mother, my great grandmother, had been quilter, another art I was inspired to learn, growing up surrounded by lovingly and carefully crafted items.  I continue to surround myself by handcrafted items, both heirloom family items, and ones carefully constructed by my contemporaries.  What can I say, they tickle me pink.

For more Pink Saturday, head over to How Sweet the Sound.

Pink Saturday: Longing for Spring

 Planted in my garden, these beauties from last summer are patiently waiting for it to get warmer so they can start growing again. I am trying to be patient too.

I'm not doing a very good job of being patient.  Deep down inside I can feel it getting warmer, and I'm looking forward to green grass and blooming flowers again. Even if my lilies won't be up for a few months still,
today, they look a lot like hope to me.
For more Pink Saturday, head on over to How Sweet the Sound.

Pink Saturday: Color Me Pretty

I love sugar skulls. I love the life in death in life and art mimicking death and life imitating art aspects of them.  As a result, I follow some exceedingly talented artists online who specialize in this sort of art.
One of them, Wenchkin, recently hosted a coloring competition.  Since I'm a five year old at heart, I happily busted out my favorite photoediting program and entered with giddy glee.
This is the picture we had to color:

Cool, isn't it?

This is what I did with it.

I decided to go spacey with it, because that's how I roll. If you haven't noticed, I geek harder than I rock.

Well, the model picked my picture as the winner, and so I got my own picture sugar-skull-ified by the very talented Wenchkin.  

I sent her this photo as a reference:

Ooh, pretty.

And this is what she came up with:

Absolutely amazing, isn't it?

And since I'm essentially still a five year old, I decided I needed to color it in too, with the same photo editing program, and this is what I came up with.

That was a lot of fun.

In any case, when the tween sees this, she's going to be very jealous, and I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.

If you want to see more of Wenchkin's art, check out her Facebook page.

For more Pink Saturday, check out How Sweet the Sound.

Pink Saturday: McPlaydate

A few years ago, if you had told me I'd be blithely spending an afternoon in a McDonald's, let alone the play area, I'd have thought you were hitting the cold syrup a little too hard.  This is doubly true because the cold syrup used to have more kick than it does these days.  Nonetheless, last weekend we had the opportunity to take the kids on a 4 hour car trip to meet a relative they'd never seen before, and McDonald's seemed just the place to go. 

Side note- you generally have to order something to play, so we ordered strawberry sundaes. The strawberry sauce tasted somewhat rancid.... I don't recommend them.

JabberWalky had a lot of fun learning to climb up the various platforms.

Mongoosine even taught him how to go down the slide, somewhat safely.

 The compartment with the little steering wheel was a particular favorite.

Ultimately, the most fun was had when JabberWalky and (Cousin Who Needs a Cute Nickname) were giving  grandpa impromptu dental exams.

If you've ever been in a McDonald's playplace, you're likely looking at this picture in a certain amount of horror.... That's right, hands that have been in the play place... in his mouth. 

We're expecting he'll be sick any day now.

The kids had a lot of fun, and the toddlers were pretty pleased with the existence of one another. Or rather, they didn't say otherwise... though JabberWalky's cousin *did* teach JabberWalky to say "No," and now I'm having to try to get him to say other things again. 

Either way, I'm still proud that he learned to say affirmative words "yay," "woohoo," "yes," "yeah," and "nice," before he started saying "no."

For more Pink Saturday, head on over to How Sweet the Sound

Pink Saturday: Kids at the dairy

Halfway between Indianapolis and Chicago on I-65 there is a dairy called Fair Oaks Farms. It is perfectly situated to stop for the toddler's patience when traveling between the two.  There are times we've tried to skip the stop, but alas, it leads to immediate waking and crying.  It seems he's learned to schedule his naps around watching the brine room and snacking on samples of Gouda and Emmentaller Swiss.
The tween likes it too.  She likes to peruse their hilarious gift shop (Moo Shoe Pork stuffed animals for the win!)
It's a great chance to sit down, enjoy the moo, I mean, view, sip some hormone and antibiotic free chocolate milk (except the toddler, chocolate milk gives him diaper rash) and enjoy a few calm minutes in a community collective, talking about the economics of cooperatives, how the holes get into the Swiss cheese, or you know, whether the Doctor could go back in time with some fresh cheese, drop it off, and have it be perfectly aged when he wanted it.  Because we geek that hard.
The toddler likes it because he gets to nurse. Spouse thinks the dairy should have a problem with that because I'm competing by bringing another milk source in.  I'm pretty sure they like the family business more than they care about where the toddler's getting his milk.  The toddler also loves watching the films on how they make the cheese. One of these days I'm hoping we'll get a chance to take the full tour, including stopping by the birthing barn to see a calf born.

Long story short, stopping off tickles us pink. :-)

For more Pink Saturday, head on over to How Sweet the Sound.

Pink Saturday: Pinktastic Hair

A friend of mine loved the flip-flops and Asian sandals fabric I made a doll out of and wanted one for her daughter, but she wanted something "different" for the hair, so this is what I came up with - red and pink!

I think I want to make her bangs come down a little further onto her face, but I really love the pink and red hair.

She also has a pink smile, pink eyebrows, pink eyelashes, and PINK POLKA DOTS! I am a sucker for pink polka dots.

If you want to check out more Pink Saturday, head on over to How Sweet the Sound.

Pink Saturday: So Long Ago

About this time of year some 7 years ago, Mongoosine was a tiny little girl who still wore pink for fun, instead of as an accent to black, and her best friend was my mom's friend's 12 year old daughter.
It's amazing to look back and see how little she used to be, then look at her and her brother and wonder how soon I'll look at pictures taken today with the same nostalgic wonderment.

Do you ever look at pictures of friends and family from way back when and marvel at how things have changed since so long ago?

For more Pink Saturday, swing on by to How Sweet the Sound.

Last week I stumbled upon a lovely blog, A Scrapbook of Inspiration, with a beautiful post on daisies.  Check her out for even more Pink Saturday.

Pink Saturday: Holidays at our house

No, I didn't clean. Shhh.Don't tell.

Around our house the holidays are marked with a few things. Christmas songs at the piano, the hauling out of the christmas skeletons (hanging on the wierd fence behind the piano, okay, they're left over from halloween) a tree full of handmade ornaments, and a little baby pink tree. That's right. a pink tree.

Pink Tree?

Spouse is exceedingly community service oriented, which is generally a good thing. However, the Christmas season before we met he started a multiple village tradition of a lighted parade route for a night-time parade the weekend after Thanksgiving, and he personally made sure that any public spaces between houses, like for instance, the school, would participate by purchasing and hanging the lights himself. This gargantuan effort involved things like lighting up the entire side of the high-school's baseball diamond with more lumens than an airport.  He even had the village run an extra line just for these lights by the highschool and special boxes installed along the riverfront for the lights.  Wonderful, isn't it.

Of course, when we got married, I rapidly learned that this meant all of his holiday spirit, time, energy, and money went into this area-wide overwhelming display, and NOT into things like setting up a tree in our own home or even so much as running a drooping string across the top of the porch.

So, Mongoosine and I decided that if Spouse wasn't going to get involved in decorating for Christmas, we were going to do it our way.  This meant PINK tree with pink lights, and a pink black and purple star shaped tree skirt.  That's right. We totally pinked it up, and we have been doing so every year since, right down to our Sun Fairy tree topper that we made.

For more Pink Saturday, stop by How Sweet the Sound

Pink Saturday: Holiday Recipe

In lieu of your regular Pink Saturday post, I'm linking you to my favorite pink seasonal dessert's recipe, and giving you a not-so-pink one, but yummy nonetheless. It's pretty quick and painless.

Pumpkin Cookies

1 tub or tube of premade sugar cookie dough*.
Pumpkin Butter

Roll dough into a log, refrigerate for at least three hours.  Slice dough into quarter inch disks, place on cookie sheet. Bake as per instructions. While still hot, spread a very thin layer of pumpkin butter on top.

Simplicity, but a little more fun than a plain old boring cookie straight from the oven and plain.

You CAN spread pumpkin butter on top before baking, which I prefer, but you have to transfer pumpkin butter to a separate dish before spreading so as to avoid raw cookie dough germs from contaminating the pumpkin butter.



* I like to get this from the refrigerated section in one of our local grocery store where they sell things they make in their bakery to be baked at home. You're more than welcome to make your own sugar cookie dough.

For more recipes, check out Beverly's Pink Saturday.

Pink Saturday: A Boy having Tutu Much Fun

Sometimes little boys want to play with trucks, and sometimes they want to dress up in a tutu. Who am I to judge?  The way I look at it is this- if he's happily playing, no one is getting hurt, it's safe, then why do I care if my son's wearing a tutu? I wouldn't suggest he wear one climbing trees, but I wouldn't suggest my daughter do that either. Too easy to snare it on something and that could be dangerous, right?
So Just like last week, where he was having a ball, I think it's delightful if he's ready for the ball too.

I just wish I had gotten more pictures of him. He wouldn't hold still, he was too busy spinning and turning, dancing and singing. Very sweet.

For more Pink Saturday, head on over to How Sweet the Sound.

Pink Saturday: Have a Ball

A Boy's Gotta Have A Ball...

Even if his mom has him hanging in a room with a scary pink carpet!

All in all, he had fun throwing the ball (which is also partially pink) chasing the ball, and watching it get little and big.

He was definitely having a ball.

So, tell me what you're doing this weekend to have a ball, and then stop by How Sweet the Sound for some more Pink Saturday.

Pink Saturday: My Adventurer

I have been meaning to share these photos for a while now.  A few months ago, on our way to visit relatives up in the Coulees, we came across this beautiful rock formation called Castle Rock.  When we got there there was a sand "path" around it and so we started to walk around it, and it was absolutely breathtaking.  However, at some point it became evident that the sand path was not actually a path, but rather the erosion of the rocks, as the path disappeared and left us somewhere about 40 feet higher than we'd like, without a good way to turn around. Fortunately, we were all feeling sure footed and managed to make our way back around to where we started without injury.  Mongoosine had a great time discovering crevasses, climbing, and showing off her agility.

"Oh no! It's a crack in the universe!"

"Look mom, I'm a tree"

"I'll take the stairs" 

 "Best seat in the house"

For more of Beverly's Pink Saturday, head on over to How Sweet the Sound.

You can also check out this nifty blog I found while on the Pink Saturday page- Bubblegum and Ducttape.

Pink Saturday: Lazy Summer Days

As the summer heat rises, I've noticed that someone likes to sleep more and more.  Not that he's sleeping well in all this warmth, but definitely more willing to consider a nap.  I think that it's his summer getaway plan.  But I've noticed something. He has a newfound love of pillows.  I don't really know where it came from, other than perhaps watching other people laying down, but whether propped up on one and chillaxing, or curled up beside one, Mr. Babypants likes him some pillows.

Really likes him some pillows.

Loves curling up beside them, playing with them, sometimes burying his face in them.  Loves him his pillows.


But it makes me wonder.  When should one start introducing pillows to their wee one.  He's only 14 months old but seems to be coming down pretty heavily on he side of "Likes Pillows, Prefarably Pink."

Do you think he's big enough, and are you enjoying your pillows these lazy summer days?

For more Pink Saturday, head on over to Beverly's Pink Saturday, and have a great weekend with your pillows.

Pink Saturday: Independent Punks

Happy Independence Day!

This year, independence day has inspired some crafty goodness around the house, including but not limited to the crafting of some rockin' sock monkeys I like to call my "Punkle Sam" series.  Okay, as of today, there's just the two of them.  This first one with the blue yarn fuzzy mohawk went to my husband's best friend's son who just graduated from high school.  

This Sock Punky was a lot of fun. I've never done button eyes before, and I found that I really enjoyed them, and I also learned a valuable lesson about mowhawking a punk.  Yarn good. The other lesson I learned about punking a monkey?  Embroidery floss bad.  Not bad as in ugly, but bad as in TIME CONSUMING.

That said, my first Punkle Sam?  Radtastic too.

See the raditude?

Admit it, you want a Sock Punky.

And since it's Beverly's PINK SATURDAY, I think I'll leave you with a bit of my pink princess enjoying a summer party as her 4th of July week of fun gets started.

The original Punk.

Pink Lemonade Anyone?

So when you're done here you can head over to Beverly's Pink Saturday for more fun pinktastic goodness, well, and maybe some red white and blue this weekend.  

Have a great weekend and remember, only you can prevent forest fires.  So stop barbecuing in the trees, silly.

Pink Saturday: Planetarium

So other than pink sunny cheeks and a little pink on her shirt, Mongoosine wasn't much more than tickled pink to go to the planetarium over Spring Break. But she did LOVE it.

She got to see scaled models of the planets, learn about telescopes and infrared light waves, she got to learn about stars, the complexities of trying to plan for life on the moon,and have a lot of fun.

Have you been anywhere tremendously fun lately?

For more Pink Saturday, head on over to How Sweet the Sound.

Her favorite thin

Pink Saturday: UFO

I love to quilt. my love of quilting is deep, wide, and abiding. This is one corner of a quilt I had begun to put together for my daughter about a year and a half ago. I was trying to decide which prints belonged together in each block, and how those blocks would relate to the rest of the colors.

I would lay the would be blocks out on my bed and spend hours arranging and rearranging them. My goal was to finish before the baby was born because I knew I wouldn't have much time to quilt with a new baby. Of course, when I'm pregnant I'm scatter brained and easily tired, so the quilt never got much farther than this before Snapdragon was born.

Well, it turns out I was right. I had no time to quilt with a new baby.

The problem is the ironing. I could, for a while, put Snapdragon in his sling and spend some quality time with my sewing machine. I could even get some cutting in, but alas, an iron is just too dangerous to be using while babywearing, and if you've ever pieced a quilt block, you know that they're pretty high-maintenance in terms of ironing.

Alas, this UFO is languishing between the pages of an old IKEA catalog (see, thy are good for something) and mocking me ever so quietly whenever I walk past.

Do you have any UFOs taunting you? Better still, any advice on how to create the time to get this project done?

Pink Saturday: Easter Eggs

This year, since Snapdragon is tiny, we I decided to make felt easter eggs, so I fouind this great felt eggs tutorial and made a handfull. My mom had me blow up the pattern for her & she made a few big ones which she decorated too. I think it's going to be a lovely firs easter egg hint for Snapdragon. Now to go find some punk goodies for my tween!

Check out Beverly's Pink Saturday for more pink and Eastery goodness.

Pink Saturday: Goofing Off

Lately I've been busing Monkeying Around instead of blogging. Some people might even call this "goofing off." But I promise, more diaper reviews and quasi-deep posts on babies, sustainability, parenting, and the like are not far off.

For more Pink Saturday (and less having someone stick their tongue out at you) check out Beverly's Pink Saturday. There are always some of the prettiest pictures linked up!

Pink Saturday: Love

The best Valentine, for me, is spending cuddly time with the people who mean the most to me, and some of them come in small, pink, and paisley packages.

If you haven't noticed, I LOVE babywearing.

In this case, Snapdragon and I are snuggling up in our Bohemian Bubblegum Mei Tai. I only mention the name of the Mei Tai, because I named it, and that makes me giggly happy.

Happy Valentine's Day

For more Pink Saturday, head on over to How Sweet The Sound.

Pink Saturday: Babywearing Gifts!

This year I got a most amazing gift. It wasn't a Christmas gift per-se, but a gift nonetheless. See it there? The pretty pink Mei Tai keeping Snapdragon all snuggly close to Mama?

It's the Bohemian Bubblegum Dittany Baby Mei Tai, and I LOVE it. Unlike the pouch sling you usually see me wearing around, it distributes his weight evenly and there's no bizarre sense of leaning the whole time I'm wearing him. It is totally made of win. And I also like the black and white reverse for when I'm feeling less like it's Saturday.

If you haven't noticed, I'm a huge fan of the babywearing. This winter I've decided that what I like the best about it is that I get to keep my arms free so if I need to steady myself on an ice patch, I can, without worrying about dropping either Snapdragon, or the both of us.

How do you wear your baby? And if you don't have a wee one, well, I'm sorry, because they're just the sweetest and cutest and cuddle-snuggle-lovable-est, and when they're close enough to kiss, well everything seems a little bit better.

For more Pink Saturday, head over to How Sweet The Sound.