Travel Colorado

Copy 'cause it's right...on. But I got rights.

Sunshine in a Cup

I survived the first week of summer vacation and Canada Day long weekend! It has been very busy keeping the boys organized, meeting with doula clients, serving tables at The Bridge Bistro, and getting my lemonade stand ready for the first Mountain Market of the season. As I mentioned in my last post I'm determined to keep those boys busy this summer and so far I've been successful! On Friday we started the day with a gentle hatha yoga class from yogadownload.com The boys had so much fun. Grunting, during downward dog saying "I thought yoga was suppose to be relaxing!" It was a great way to set the tone for the day, and get them moving right away. The only thing I'll change, is getting some food in their bellies first, by the time the half hour class was over they were both pretty hungry.
I saw a great craft on Pinterest that just used scraps of paper and a hole punch! (That's my kind of craft)

The Virgo in me envisioned all the paper strips cut and ready to go, but my reality knocked that stars lined up vision outta my head, and I handed my boys their scissors. (Maybe this week I'll have all the crafts prepped ready to go) 

 I also added star and music note shaped hole punches to the mix, along with some silver glitter!

I even discovered a photo of myself enjoying this craft! Apparently Nesta has learned the art of elusive photography for blog purposes! I don't know where he could have learned that skill?

 I had so much fun! And my hole punch art is pretty groovy to boot!

 Lets see what's next? Oh yes! The boys got some media time while I cleaned up and got the kitchen organized to bake some cookies!

 Baking with the boys is one of my favourite things to do! Not only do you get baked goods out of it, but it's a great way to learn about measurement and fractions!
The rest of the day included a trip to the playground, and lots and lots of LEGO!

I had an appointment with one of my clients this week, and as we were discussing "Common Obstetric Interventions" I noticed the husband snap a shot of me rambling on! I asked him to text me the shot this morning and I just love it! I think it perfectly captured the way speak and depicts my passion for informed choice in childbirth! I can just imagine what I'm saying..."There's a vast amount of research that shows undisturbed birth is best for mothers and babies!" I LOVE my doula work!

The rest of the weekend I spent getting ready for another season of Mountain Markets!

You would think that after participating in the markets as a vendor every weekend last summer that I would have started preparing for the first market of the year ahead of time...that's just not my style...

I wanted to really jazz up my booth! Last year I decided my lemonade would be called Sunshine in a Cup! That much I had done! This year I really wanted to make some bunting for my tent, and make a new signt that looked a little more "crafty" I knew exactly the "look I wanted, the problem was when I went to get started on actually crafting these projects my desk looked like this...

So I got that taken care of...

 Then I could sit down and start crafting my bunting! I went to a wedding last summer and they had bunting strung across the reception hall, and the bride told me it was scrap book paper! I knew I wouldn't have time to sew the bunting so the weekend before I picked up a pad of scrapbook paper so I could try and figure out how to go about it...leave it to pinterest. I found great directions all over that site.

The only problem with scrapbook paper bunting, is that my lemonade stand operates rain or shine!
I decided to laminate the paper once I was done.  The following photos will give you an idea of the kind of crafting I did on Saturday...One day before the market!

And once that was finished I started on my sign! Which was extra exciting because I got to use MODGE PODGE...the best goo I've ever experienced!

Come and get'chya some SUNSHINE IN A CUP!

REDy or not... It's summer vacation!

I am so happy today! It's the last day of school and I get to have both my boys home for two whole months!
Nesta LOVED his teacher this year. I wanted to buy him a gift for being so darn awesome but I don't have a lot of extra money right now so I turned to Pinterest for an idea and found the cutest gift bag stuffed with all kinds of goodies that were orange and a gift tag that said "orange you glad it's summer?"

I'm too stubborn to use another persons idea so Nesta and I came up with our own twist...(no pun intended)

Yes, I'm that mother who has tears streaming down my cheeks at back to school time, but truth be told I have been experiencing a bit of anxiety about the summer time boredom epidemic. I remember being a kid and telling my mom I was bored. She would always tell me to draw, read, or write but she never offered to join me.  I would just roll my eyes and go back to watching the TV. I grew up watching a lot of TV in fact I can still remember the exact after school programming for the 3 channels I had. I guess I turned out okay, but there is a lot of literature that suggests we should limit our children's screen time to an hour a day. That includes tv, hand held devices, computers, and video games. I'm determined to have activities prepared for my kids when the inevitable words leave their mouths... "MOM! I'm bored!"
Again, I'm turning to Pinterest.  Some of the bloggers out there are so creative, organized and inspiring to me. I figured I's better start with the organizing thing...at the moment my favourite organizing blog is...i heart organizing I'm sure Jen would agree that the boy's room as it was, was not suitable for an organized summer. I live in a 3 bedroom 1500 sq/ft apartment, so we gave the boys the master bedroom, so it could double as their playroom, and we could still have a spare room/ office.  I'm not always thinking "I should blog about this", when I set out to accomplish a household task, so my 'before' picture is actually a '20 minutes in' picture...

Ughhh...it took a lot of nerve to actually post that shot! Don't judge me...this was a combination of a pre-existing disaster area...and the start of re-arranging the furniture. In the end though I think I achieved a more organized space for sleeping, playing, and crafting...

I found an awesome idea for taming the technology monster that is right in line with my philosophy on limiting screen time over at Organizing Made Fun! Check out these printables...

Just cut 'em out, and the kids get to choose their form of media in 15 minute intervals! GENIUS!

With Canada Day right around the corner, and 4th of July shortly after, I thought Winston and I would get right to it with the crafts after I saw this idea on...you guessed it...Pinterest

We're not celebrating the stars & stripes so here's our Canada Day version...

I've been pinning lots more 'boredom busting ideas on my board "Summer Projects" 

Let the boredom begin!!!