Summer projects

June is almost over and I have found myself feeling ambitious and crafty.  When Ben was born, we received a couple of homemade bibs from one of Aaron’s coworkers.  After using them, they seemed to be very absorbent and larger than most bibs you can get at the store. So I decided to use them as a pattern and make some bibs for Ben.  Ben and I went to the store and bought fabric.  (Notice I couldn’t just buy a couple, I had to buy enough variety of cute fabric!)

During Ben’s nap, I created my first bib using scrap material I already had.  I thought the creation was a little small (compared to the original bib) and I  realized it wasn’t symmetrical.  So, I created a pattern.  I know, I was suppose to do that first but I really thought, “ah, this is no problem.”

Over the last two weeks, I have made six bibs and only used 1 pattern of material that I purchased.  (I have lots of bibs left to make this summer!! )

Here’s my handsome model showing off one of my bib’s before a meal!

Then yesterday on the way home from church, I had another crafty idea . . . an infant car seat pillow.   Ben had fallen asleep in the car and his poor head was titled forward in the car seat.  We had an adult neck pillow that I kept trying to wedge around his head/neck for support but it wasn’t quite doing the job.  So this morning, I used some left over material and created a pillow.

I used the bib pattern to determine the neck opening.  Then shortened the space, added some additional fabric in the back for some height, then sewed it.

Here’s the finished product.  Seems like it should do the job!!

And a summer project blog wouldn’t be complete without talking about our outdoor projects.  We spent half the day Saturday and a couple of hours on Sunday in the backyard constructing a play set.  We bought a box from Lowe’s with all the hardware and play components (except the slide).

Then we purchased all the lumber.  We spent about 1 hour cutting lumber, then about 5 hours constructing the main frame.  Yesterday, we put on the enclosures, including the tarp, and put together the rock wall.

We would like to add a platform/step area so Ben is able to access the slide a little more independently.  But here’s the project to date.

And that’s what has been keeping us busy.  As if climbing up and down the stairs after a one year old wasn’t enough.  Happy summer!!!

Summer time fun!

Summer vacation officially began this week. Ben and I have done things around the house as well as the community. We started off the week with grocery shopping. (It’s amazing how empty the store is when you are there on a weekday morning. It was nice!!!) Then Jack and Amanda stopped by to visit for a short while. Wednesday we went to the library for infant story time. Ben seemed to enjoy it. He sat in my lap for the first 20 minutes or so just taking everything in. Then the toys came out and he slowly started interacting with the other babies.  While we were there, I signed Ben up for the summer reading program.  Guess he’s taking this thing serious . . . . he was really interested in reading “What to Expected the Toddler Years” as a bedtime story the other night.

On Thursday, we met Aaron at the lake and had a chance to explore the beach! Ben was hesitant of the water at first but eventually he adjusted to the idea. He walked around and played in the sand for a while also.

Here was his first water experience of 2010. . . .

This was after he fell down.

And, here he is at Alum Creek . . .

Thankfully he adjusted better to the lake water than the backyard water.  Now we just need to keep going on a regular basis so he gets use to it!!  Be sure to check out more pictures in our photo gallery of both of these experiences.

This week Ben has also figured out that he can go down the stairs on his own.  (Thanks Jack!!)  So Ben and I have spent a couple of hours over the course of four days on the stairs, me sitting – ready to catch him – and him climbing happily up and down the steps.  Oh, the little joys of life.