booster seat

A couple of weeks ago I made my first trip to IKEA. I have always heard that you either love or hate IKEA. Well I LOVE it! It was overwhelming with so much stuff that I didn't even know where to look and I didn't even come close to walking through the whole store. I had my mind set on fabric so thats where I headed to first.

They had so many great fabrics to choose from and the best part was that you got to cut it yourself. I felt so cool.

I got a great navy and white stripe and a oil cloth navy and white polka dot. They had lots of colors to choose from but I love a navy and it was hard for me to stray away from it:)

When I saw the polka dotted oil cloth I knew just what I wanted to make with it. (I love when that happens) I had made Ella a booster seat a while back that she uses all the time and I decided to make her another one. You can never have too many booster seats, right?

The booster seat pattern that I followed was from "One Yard Wonders" and it is super easy to make. Ella even loves helping out with this one. Her favorite part from the first booster seat I made her was pouring in the bulkwheat hulls so she couldn't wait to do it again.

Of course she made a huge mess on our friend Brittany's carpet but lucky for me Ella loves to vacuum:)

I love how it turned out and I can't wait to make my next trip to IKEA!

Put your Antlers up!

UNBELIEVABLE!
way to go rangers!!!
that was an amazing game.  and series! and team.  and how awesome was it that they celebrated with mountain dew for josh hamilton.  so awesome.
we have been going to games since we were kids.  my youngest brothers first words were raf-ae-l pal-mer-o and jul-io fran-co (using the same voice that the announcers use and pausing all the right places). this is the coolest thing that has happened in all my years as a rangers fan.  LOVE IT!!!
anyway, thanks rangers for bringing us a victory.  and taking us further than any other team has-ever.  and thank you nolan for owning us the right way! love you nolan ryan!

acl 2010

love me some acl.
we got to go on friday this year because my parents were so wonderful to keep my kids for the whole weekend.  so so thankful.

friday was such a fun day.  we saw so many bands and just hung out with all my family.  we also got to see some med school friends that we havent seen in forever, some a&m friends (hello kate!) and some high school friends! as well as party with heather's friends brandon and shae. it was a dream.
lindsey made us these fantastic hats that we got with a whole acl care package when we arrived.
big fans.

we are the dorky people that went to pat green, even though he clearly doesnt belong at acl for lots of reasons, but there were only about 15 other people watching him with us so, it made for a great show.   it brought me back to high school, when i used to drive around listening to "adios days" and all of his first two cds, and then when i listened to his music when i went to college and missed my high school friends.  jeff took up his music when we started dating and i love him now, even though he thinks he is hottest thing in music.

 amos lee is of course a favorite.  "sweet pea" is avery's song so we called her and held up our phones for her to hear, just like all the dorky old people there who think they still live in the 80's.
the strokes were great. loved them.  and missed the black keyes.  ok.  probably too much information.
my cousins and brothers showed us some cooler bands that we loved and, overall, it was a great day.
we got to meet lindsey's friends allison, craig, hayley and john and loved them all.  talk about a fun time.  those kids know how to have fun.


the next day we went to the festival and then we took a karaoke party bus (ill pause while you reread that) to dinner for my cousin alex's 21 birthday.






ya, pretty much the best day of my LIFE.  best day ever.  loved the bus and loved dinner.
we went to saltlick



then we went to 6th street


and pretended to dance but really we were trying to hold our eyes open.
lindsey, thank you for hosting, feeding, encouraging and loving us.  we had the best time and we are so so sad that you are moving to hawaii.  we are so proud of you but will miss you SO SO Much!!
and happy birthday alex!! love you!!

crochet circular scarf

on the way to acl (more pics of that to come) i started crocheting this circle scarf. i have knitted one in the  past, but this was my first crocheted one. 

i started out just making a rectangle and then crocheted the ends together so that made a circle.  i really like the idea of it, but i miss judged the size and it was HUGE!  i still rocked it the first day, even though it was hot, and i do like it.  i just maybe need to make it a little smaller and less bulky next time.

me, jeff and michael before we left lindsey's on friday. love acl and getting to go with my whole fam! ok, more on that later.
so, its huge, but i think when its cold in the winter it will be better...

barstad tent night

jeff took this week off for vacation (ie. hunting).  we went to see ashley this weekend, he hunted and we met back up on monday.  i took a "vacation day" (kid, cleaning, picking up after people, cooking FREE) on monday night and tuesday and spent the night in dallas and played around, the whole day tuesday.

earlier in the week, we decided we would go camping at tyler state park on wednesday night and let the kids skip school on thursday.  i have to admit that the thought of two two year olds, a four year old, jeff and i and two dogs all trying to sleep in a tent on wednesday night was not my idea of heaven.  now, i love camping. (allison and lindsay and a few girls from high school used to camp in our backyards and go to school the next day all the time.  some times our crazy guy friends would steal our phones and scare us...thats another story. i cant wait til ella and avery and kinely can have tent nights! and i used to camp in the colorado a lot growing up) and am all for it when my kids are just a little bit older (and maybe listen to you when you tell them its time to go to sleep).  

so jeff talked me into it and we corralled all our kids and riley and gracie into the car and drove to tyler state park.  

and,of course, i started getting excited.

the weather was gorgeous, i had packed all our warm clothes and shoes, and ben and sass were so excited to see the deer and fish and aves couldnt wait for the smores (smore what? how can i have some more of nothing?).  so i decided i was definitely super excited about this camping trip and started remembering how much i loved camping.

we finally find the place that we wanted to set up camp at (after driving around for the perfect spot for-ev-er) and we got out of the car and jeff quickly noticed that gas was leaking from his car.

awesome.

we got all the way out there, with the kids excited and everything packed, just to have to turn around and go home.
we could not roast marshmallows and make hot dogs right next to a gas leak...i guess.

(you're killin' me smalls).

we stayed for a little while to play at the park and then convinced them that camping at home would be wayyyyyy more fun.

at home we set up a little fire and roasted marshmallows

set up a tent,

and jeff, munch and her two baby dolls are sleeping out there (or pretending to) right now.

i dont know how long it will last, but it looks like tons of fun.

i would have put the babies and i out there, but, you know...they were tired and i just wasnt sure if they were ready for camping since it was already passed their bed time.

so i am about to watch glee and jeff is being dad of the year (or avery is being daughter of the year.   i'm not sure who wants to be out there more).
i cant wait for more tent nights. hopefully some will venture out of our back yard.