Happy 9th Birthday Captain C!

Captain C, a photo by mom2rays on Flickr.

For Charmie's Birthday we spent the weekend at Lake Hartwell, SC. We all had a blast with our new family toy, more deets on our recreational blog! I think this is a birthday he will remember!

The Desks are done!

We finally have finished the desks!!!  Well the tops may possibly have another step to finish them, but they are useable and I love them! Zuri decided to do some school today to try them out! I think she approves of her pink ultrasuede desk topper. Here's Zuri's desk unoccupied:
The boy's desks are also done. Here they are side by side:
And here's a closer view of Mardie's:
and Charmie's:

Details on the project:
After we bought the desks, clean and disassemble them.
repaint all painted surfaces
measure tops for template and discard
buy birch plywood and have cut into 24"x19" pieces at Lowes
Rocky routes the edges to round them Sand with 180 then 300 grit sandpaper all wood surfaces Reassemble desks

For the toppers since I chose to leave the wood unfinished
cut 24.25"x19.25" piece of clear urethane
cut a 24.25"x8.5" piece of fabric that for the most part is hardly seen
1 package of binding for the boys, 1" strip of ultrasuede for Z's desk
2-3.5" pieces of 1/4" elastic


turn lengthwise (long side) of fabric under twice and hem
attach walking foot to sewing machine
lay out lengthwise section of fabric on urethane
touching one edge with he hem towards the center
lay elastic in other two corners bind you will have to lift the urethane off of the sewing deck or use tissue paper as it will stick to the deck. These toppers protect the desks and are easy to clean. If I decide on a permanent solution in the future the desks tops will have been protected, and ready to go! It feels good to get the school "in order".

Western night

Western night, a photo by mom2rays on Flickr.

Each year the church that we do Awana through has a Western night. It is a lot of fun for the kids, and leaders alike. They encourage the kids to dress in country western wear. They take the Sparks and older groups on a hayride through local streets. Rocky and I pull the Puggles and Cubbies around on our trailer with the golf cart in the parking lot. They bring in a small petting "zoo/farm" outfit and a mechanical bull and also have a bonfire for roasting marshmallows and making s'mores.
We've never dressed the kids for the night. They never had western wear. This year for his birthday Charime asked for a cowboy costume, and trips to a few local goodwill stores last night yielded Zuri's and Mardie's western effects. The kids had a blast for Western Night!

Camper and mini camper

Camper and mini camper
Originally uploaded by mom2rays

Charmie and Mardie had great experiences this week, but it was hard on them to be separated. They are so used to each other's companionship, friendship, and council that being apart meant they had to either become self reliant or form new alliances. Both are good for them, and both happened. They still got to occasionally see eachother at meal times and certain activities. Here they share a special moment at breakfast. They are happy, but both has a look of longing for the other. My little boys are growing up so quickly into young men!

The last of the Snow days?

We have had snow for 3 weekends in a row. About 3-5 inches each time. This is the last snow day's remnants as it melted two days later. Charmie made a snowman, his first one ever by himself.

Early Christmas Presents

The boys are estatic, and are going down for bed as I type! We gave them "one" of their CHRISTmas presents early. A set of new bedding for their bunks and two new pajamas each. The sets are Superman themed. It's hard to tell from the picture since it's mostly of the blue with little detail showing.

This may become part of our Christmas tradition for the future. The boys liked it and they were ready for new bedding and new pj's!

Streamers for Praise

Our Church Congregation during the Praise portion of services invites the children of all ages to be like David and be "undignified". They provide streamers for expression of praise. They are a little long for toddlers, normally aren't enough to go around, and when dropped the kids fight over them as they all look the same.
Jenny made some beautiful streamers called Fairy Tales that inspired me to make these for Mardie

and Charmie

These have smaller handles so I don't have to worry about anybody getting whacked with them. They are also shorter which is perfect for shorter people. I can't wait for them to try them out on Sunday at our special CHRISTmas celebration!

Shhhhhh, can you help me keep a secret?

Here's a gift I made for Charmie. I still need to make Mardie's. This is an I Spy bag for those of you who have never seen one before. It's a bean bag with a clear window and filling that is pellets. Mixed in with the pellets are little charms and trinkets. Some are plastic, some are wood and and a few are bead, button, etc. type things. The goal is for the child to find or spy the items on the list, and some of them are very small so it's challenging to get them to rise up to the window for viewing.
I've been seeing these online for sale and I finally decided to try my hand at making one. It was more labor intensive than I originally imagined, but I think the 2nd and any subsequent ones will go faster.

On the back I have sewn on a list of the 40 things I've tucked inside for Charmie to find. This toy will probably be kept in the car for times when we need a quiet activity and are away from home.

Not Another Legwarmer

Today was a weird day. Well not weird really, we've had this kind of day before, but not for a while. Today we repurposed several things around our home, rearranged some major spaces and did some long needed cleaning and de-cluttering. It's hard to explain without going into details so here's the short:
1. removed tv, vcr, dvd, stereo from armiore to make room for Zuri's things
2. put stereo into boy's room for nite nite music and play music
3. move vcr to bonus room
4. remove old tape eating vcr from bonus room, get stereo in bonus to work w/o over heating, re set up all componets in bonus to run w/o having to unplug anything and store videos and toys in existing storage areas to eliminate extra pieces in room
5. dust everything that got emptied, moved, rearranged, etc. and surrounding areas.
At times it felt like a lot of piddling around. But the finished product at the end of the day left Rocky and I both pleased with our efforts. We either gained better functionality of an item or use of space and did it all with no cost other than our time and brain power.
On a completely different note for the first time Charmie wrote his name all by himself today. I'm so proud of him. Way to go son!

Also my kids use bibs. . . for messy times and times when they are wearing clothing I don't want stained they still do. I know many of my friends say that their lo's no longer use them, or no longer will use them, or they have never bothered with them, but my kids still use them at home and when we are out often they get a napkin kerchief to protect their clothes and save my sanity.
Sometimes though bibs aren't handy. Sometimes I only have a napkin that is too small to make a kerchief. That's where the below item comes into play. It's a ribbon with a clip on both ends. It's for Zuri, it works like the clips the dentist uses to hold the paper bib on you when you get your teeth cleaned. This one is a little longer than it needed to be so I'll just tie a knot into one side of it to shorten it. I have clips and ribbon to make more. . . I just have to find the ribbon.

Cookie Monsters and more legwarmers

I hate Halloween. . . But the Ray boys love it. Here are my cookie monsters after eating some mini oreos that they scored a few nights ago.

I made more legwarmers for Zuri today. I am getting excited to see these combined with her cloth diapers.

3 out of 4 rays prefer. . .

I made pizza tonight for the first time from scratch. . . well I didn't make the sauce from scratch, that's next time, and I didn't make the pepperoni or the cheese, but I think you get the idea, this wasn't frozen or a kit. I used the Pizza dough recipe from Whole Foods for Whole Families LLL cookbook. I need a 2nd pizza pan or baking stone. I had to make my cheese only pizza in my 9x13 pan and the crust was all folded over on the ends.
Charmie said he didn't like the skin, which meant the dough and crust, but Mardie ate 3 slices and Rok and I had our share too! I'll definately be making this whole wheat pizza from now on vs. buying the frozen ones from the store. I felt so much healthier serving this and I'm glad it was enjoyed by most of our family. Charmie is under the weather so maybe when he's feeling better he'll enjoy it too. That and I'll never say never, but I am not planning to buy any more of the frozen ones and we aren't eating out very much anymore so this is probably the only pizza he'll be getting for a while.

sewing Projects

Here's the cover for my MOPS notebook. Sorry the picture is sideways. It's a mini quilt and I used photo fabric to make a collage of family pics. I used MBK to embroider MOPS 2007, Creative Activities, Doreen Ray ad then put my lable onto it.

I got tired of those plasticy placemats. They slide around, they are hard to clean, they start to look cruddy. ICK. Here's my solutio. I quilted the boy's placemats. I let them pick out the front side and I chose the Veggie Tale backside. I will be making some more. Here they are after their first washing. The quilting fluffed up a little. The boys actually keep them cleaner and their area neater than with the yucky other ones.
Mardie's placemat.

Charmie's Placemat

View of the reverse fabric.

These placemats are the start of our "paperless" journey. We are starting to use cloth napkins and cloth towels in lieu of paper.

More of Charmie's pics

OK, on the last post first I thought I had all of the pics, and second I misspoke on when I told him about crooked pics. Here's his 5th shot and I hadn't told him yet, lol. It's of his beloved Beetle.

6th shot, of grass growing in our groundcover.

Here's one I took of Charmie with his camera, and with his permission.

Final shot before back to playing in the pool. A nearly straight shot of the 4wheeler!
As Charmie takes more pics I'll be sure to post.

Happy 4th Birthday Charmie

Charmie received a digital camera/video camera for one of his birthday gifts. He's been begging to use my camera to take pictures. Sometimes I let him. I figured it was time he got his own. Here are his first photos.

Daddy relaxing in the front yard watching the boys play.

Charmie's new birthday Pirate splash Pool. (another birthday gift)

Mardie holding Charmie's new compass, another gift for exploring that came with binoculars and a little telescope.

Daddy chillin with Mardie in his lap. Yes I have Rok's permission to publish this photo. It was at this point that I took the time to show Charmie the difference between crooked pictures and straight ones. I tried to help him see the difference on the view finder. His next picture was much straighter.

happy 4th birthday Charmie!

Well Charmie's birthday is tomorrow. My sweet firstborn will be 4! I cannot believe it, yet I have to, he's so big and mature. I'm one proud momma. For one of his gifts we wanted to get him a new case for his GameBoy Advance SP. His game collection has outgrown the first one, also Mardie needed a case for his. We found this larger case today and it was on clearance. Rocky suggested I embroider a design onto it for him and he picked one of his favorite heroes, Larry Boy!

On a completely different note here's a sock monkey I finished up last night while watching the season Finale of Grey's Annatomy. I don't know if it's a boy or girl yet. It's rather large. I made it from ladies knee socks. I LOVE SOCK MONKEYS! I think I will need to make some friends.

phone case

After two years (as usual) Rocky and I were finally eligible to upgrade our cel phones without penalty. I say as usual because we are normally pretty rough on our phones and by this time one or both of our phones is barely working. I had alredy had 2 replacement phones this time. My phone literally fell apart at the hinge during a conversation. I really do hate flip phones but I had no choice at that time that was what was free with Rocky's phone. I am pretty protective of my phones since I cannot afford to replace them so I normally keep them encased so that they don't receive scratches or damage from my purse contents. Evidently my protection measures were not child proof because I believe that one of my2rays is what happened to my phone.
Anyway as I needed to replace the phone I kept having to regress to previous models, first one that we had from the last upgrade, and when that died to one obtained from eBay that was even older and more antiquated.
When renewal time rolled around I was very happy to start to look for my phone but sad when all I could find from our carrier was flip or slider styles. Then I found out that the Motorola SLVR was going to be available! It's a candybar version of the RAZR and KRZR phones. Just what I was looking for. NO MOVING PARTS TO BREAK!!!! But still lots of phone to get scratched up.

The phone has been available for less than a month so unfortunately the Verizon store I purchased from had limited accessories or cases designed for it. I ordered first a clear silicone cover one online but that one sucked, nothing lined up from the key pad to the charge port or even the microphone hole so I ordered this one to replace it and it fits perfectly! It is hard plastic and solid pink.
I found these Butterfly rub-on transfers at Michaels.

Making Peanut Butter

Charmie makes some carob peanut butter. He had lots of fun. Mardie gave moral support.