It's Been Awhile!

Hello, Friends!
It has been awhile since I have posted. We just returned from our annual summer vacation trip to see our families in Vermont. It was a long car ride, but the girls did great and we thoroughly enjoyed getting quality time with our loved ones, and showing off Princess Ruthie for the first time! I also got to attend my 10 year high school reunion. I loved seeing friends from the past...

Poor Princess Natalie (who is almost NEVER ill) has come down with strep throat. She has been such a trooper! After a couple doses of the antibiotic, I could tell she was feeling much better, as she was certainly testing her limits yesterday. A good way to keep sanity in our house is bath time! Not only does it give me a few minutes where I personally don't have to entertain the kids, but it is a relaxing activity before bed. I plunked the two princesses in the tub and sat back to supervise. I love watching Princess N wash Princess R in the tub, share toys with her, and talk to her. Princess N decided to have a tea party in the tub with some of her toys. I totally respected her creativity, but then I had an idea...while unpacking from our vacation, I noticed many of N's plastic toys were looking rather grubby. I ran to her room and grabbed tea cups and a couple of other items that could serve as bath toys AND get a good washing at the same time! Genius :) I searched around for any other toys I could chuck in there. Ta da! Clean toys and happy princesses. If you don't like the idea of your kiddos bathing with toy "dirt", feel free to remove the children first, then use the tubby water to wash waterproof toys. You could even add the appropriate amount of bleach to the water for sanitizing. I was impressed with myself for coming up with this idea to save water by using bath water for cleaning toys! How green of me, huh? ;)

We had to skip church this morning as Princess N hadn't been on antibiotics for 24 hours yet and was, therefore, still contagious. We decided to get crafty! Before we left for Vermont, I had made all of my nieces bandana dresses/tops and my two nephews tie dyed tanks. The ones pictured below are the 4th of July outfits I made for the princesses:

I made the tanks using the permanent marker and rubbing alcohol technique. Have you heard of this?  It is very cool and easy peasy. This is where I found the directions, although I modified some of the steps. Since then, Princess Natalie has begged me to make her a shirt, too. I picked up a white onesie and a white shirt for the princesses on the clearance rack at Walmart the other day, so we decided today was the day to tackle these projects. I did all the marker work and allowed Princess N to help with the dropper and the rubbing alcohol, but if you have older children, they could definitely do all of this themselves with minimal supervision. We love how they turned out; just the right amount of handmade appeal :)

Princess R's flower onesie

Front of Princess N's heart shirt

Back of N's shirt

Later, we are going to test out how this technique works on paper...we have a birthday card to make for a very special someone, so this is the perfect opportunity.


Enjoy your Sunday!