waterplay yesterday

Mud play and then clean-up water play!

Waterfall Baptism

My Nature Man loves his trails and waterfalls more than anything. We go there often. As in every week. So what better place to plan his baptism? The park was great about working with us for it. :-)
We made a day of it...well, as soon as Fred got off work. Yes, he worked all day Saturday. Hey, he has work and I'm not complaining!

First horseshoes. Rather dangerous activity for four little kids, if you ask me.

Then down the trail. I love the trail. Even if I do get bugs and leaves blown into my big curly hair. ;-)

Spotting the turtle. It was one of many.
They must have heard the news and all come out to celebrate!

Big sucker, he was.

Dash wore his new cape most of the time (that I made from a t-shirt, using this idea.)

Down by the falls. Dash is excited. I'm sure you couldn't tell.

Pastor Burnside (aka "Papaw," Dash's great-grandpa)
reading aloud from the Bible,
before they began their descent to the water.

If you are interested in what we believe about baptism, you can read it here.

I love love love this picture. Look at the light streaming in!!
It's my visual reminder that God is there. Right there with us.

“buried with Him through baptism into death and raised to walk in newness of life” Romans 6:1-7I would post more pictures, but I was videotaping!! When my mom posts hers, I'll link to it. :-)
Four generations in the above picture!! Fred holding Little Lad, then me, Dash, my Dad, the Artist, my Papaw with Nature Man, and then my Mom.

Papaw and Nature Man
Below, you can see the "baptism sandals." Papaw wears them for all of his baptisms, from the beaches of the Pacific coast to the waterfalls of the Bible Belt. These sandals have seen some good times!!


"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children
are walking in the truth."

I pray that Dash and Little Lad continue to follow along in the footsteps of their older sister and brother!

I'm perfectly biased!

Do you ever start a project, and it comes together so perfectly that you become giddy??
Squuuueeeeeeal!! (That's me being giddy and excited.)

Why?
Don't laugh.
I found the perfect bias tape.
There. I said it.

The best part? It's for a project that I had stopped working on, due to not having the "YES!" lace and other accessories. Plus I snagged two packages of this bias tape for a quarter at a sale the other day. Lookie! See the fabric I was using? And the "new" yard sale bias tape? They are a perfect match! Fun, fun!


And so the fun continues. Which buttons??? Hmmmm....
I went with Mary Englebreit buttons and white hearts for the bib. And lots of lace. Lots. Which I also bought at the yard sale.

(Thank you, non-sewer-person. Hmph. Sewer? Seamstress. Yeah. I need to go to bed soon.)

So, after all the hemming and bias, lace, buttons...now it is DONE! This is my favorite one so far. And the most work.
Uh. I AM wearing clothes under that apron, just so you know. It was hot today. I had on athletic shorts and a tank top. Really.
Check out the other things people have made at Everything Etsy.

Ruffling the chick

So, I've been using my evenings to sew. And right now I'm stuck on ruffles. Ohhhhh, I do love thee, Ruffles.
This was my new gift to the Artist chick: froggy ruffly shorts, matching belt, and matching bag (big enough for her sketch pad and art supplies, naturally! (I can't thank you enough, CM, for the great material!!) I have enough material left over to make some boy shorts for a little man.

My darling then decided that she needs to start making things for herself and for others as well. So we spent the naptime yesterday working on some sewing projects. Nature Man got quite a few lessons, too. Artist chick made these shorts for herself, by herself!! I just watched from behind, and she did it!!

Whippin' up some cowboys

During our "quiet time," while Little Lad was napping, I decided to whip up some cowboy ruffle pants for the horse-obsessed-Artist. I'm seriously considering opening an Etsy account soon. I can't sit still, so I might as well sew, paint, create to relax and help my family while I'm at it. ;-)

After I make tons of stuff for my own kids, that is.
They get all the goodies (oft through trial-and-error) before the general public gets a shot!

(btw, the lengths ARE the same on both legs; it's just the way she's standing in that second pic!)

Forget Dick and Jane! It's Bill and Minnie that do it all!

See the old man? See the old man run?

And pull wagons, loaded with four squirming and squealing children.
Oh, yes, they were delighted!!

See the old man? See the old man garden?
See the old man climb up a play set tower and hoist a 2-year old to the top?
That there is 75-years worth of bumbling energy.
He has the stamina of a toddler, I'm telling you!

We had a relaxingly fabulous day at the park last week. Just sunshine, cousins, and a great-grandpa to play with. Ahhhh, summer days. (well, it felt like summer that day!)

This evening we went to my folks' house to eat supper with Mimi and Papaw. Fred had to give the doggies some extra attention while their loving masters are away on a brief business excursion.

Gotta love a great-grandma who will wear googly eyes and pose for pictures!! She's always had a great sense of humor. And, really, Mimi looks great in anything!

Love the pic below. Just love it. Dash's personality shines bright & bold!

My dirty little man posing ever-so-sweetly.

Little Lad is rather wary of the doggies that are larger than he is, so he stayed safely caged up on the deck with his Mimi!

It's supposed to be good for the skin

Mud baths are relaxing. Being cocooned and buoyed up in the warm, soft mixture simply sucks all the stress out. The temperature makes you perspire, which cleans the pores. Mud baths have been claimed to improve the complexion, relieve joint and muscle pain and remove toxins.

Yeah, that's what he was thinking.