Summer Camp


Ahhh summer camp, how I love it. This week I’ve been volunteering at a camp for foster kids separated from their siblings called Camp to Belong. The camp is at the Y camp at the Silver Falls State Park. I happened to go to a horse camp here when I was younger, so total flashbacks!

Of course I can’t show you pictures of the wonderful kids, just imagine happy smiling children and break your heart stories of them being separated in their living situations. For this week they get to be together and make lots of wonderful memories.

Gotta dig this style 🙂
This is for sure the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to photograph. There are 70+ kids, 25 sets of siblings, a huge camp all spread out, big fields of bright sunlight…. But the real challenge are kids who have much more on their minds than most kids. So many of them have these masks. I actually had one boy tell me he never smiles anymore. It’s been two days and already they are loosening up.  This is such a different view of foster kids than I get working on my CASA case. I have to say I think I am making a difference with CASA, but working on the paperwork side of thing, going to court, it’s not the same as actually spending a day with these kids. I have an awesome co-photographer working who is staying full time. I’m coming home at night, but man it’s still a lot of work! And fun, and ya, maybe I’ll have more words next week.
Oh and I’ll try hard not to steal one of these pool baskets.

 

I know you told me not to…

Yes, yes, you were all against the chalkboard table. And actually once I really thought about the points you brought up I was too. But I just couldn’t shake the idea of some chalkboard in my house. The problem was the dust issue. I have wanted to do the chalkboard for a while but thinking about not getting it clean and the dust… well I might go crazy. But then I found bistro markers.

Have you wondered how they do it on those signs outside cute little shops? This is how! These things are liquid chalk markers. Ohhhh so awesome. I picked mine up at the most awesome local stationary store: Cooke’s in downtown Salem. You might also try a restaurant supply place. I bought this Wallies Peel and Stick Chalkboard thinking it was huge. Um, it’s not. It’s tiny. I came up with a use for it though, in my kitchen.

Keeping it real by showing you the least favorite part of the kitchen. We have these shelves and one drawer for our food. I am planning on carving out more space in the basement for stuff I want to can this summer. Oh I got sidetracked! The two sheets I had I used for a meal plan guide (we’ve never succeeded at this, but I’m giving it another go, starting next week). And since Bj always buys the herbs I have right outside I made him a little cheat sheet. It also lets us know other fresh food outside and what is coming up, in case we encounter a recipe with say figs, we can store it for fig season (hoping we have one this year, last year the weather was all wrong).
So after playing with these tiny 9×12 inch sheets I was itching for more chalkboard. I decided to see if a master schedule/organization center on the back of my craft room door would work.

I had this piece of paper so I taped it up and used it for a day to see what I thought. No one will see this unless they go into my craft room and shut the door. So pretty much just Tuesday and I. I love it!

Like the idea of having the week laid out right here. And our daily routine I am starting in the hopes of getting Tuesday to sleep before eleven on a regular basis. Oh yes, you read that right.
So ya, the first coat is now on the door. I have to wait 24 hours between coats, and then another 24 to use. Good thing I’m busy at camp!

custom

First off thank you so much for the kind words. Someone in our extended family had a medical problem, and while I wish I could say it was all fixed up it turns out medical mysteries are not solved as quickly as House would have you believe. But we are home now, and I’m happy for that. I might still be a little sporadic this week though, as I’m volunteering at Camp to Belong to photograph sibling sets. Luckily the rain has let up… finally!
I have a few fun things to show you this week, including some of the custom shirts I’ve been making for Tuesday.

This one with the drum kit on the front and “noisy” on the back was carmen’s idea. I’m always amazed at the intricate designs that the Silhouette can cut out, and the drum kit is no exception (it’s from the Silhouette store). I used heat transfer vinyl from this online store.
Now Tuesday was more interested in our freshly made smoothies than taking photos…

But at least that gave me an excuse to change her outfit. This next one is my favorite. Tuesday can’t read, but we told her what it says so she loves the shirt too.

It’s says, “BOOM BABY -tutu” Like it’s a quote from a famous person, but it’s just a quote from her. I have no idea where it came from or what makes her say it, but dang is it funny. She just puts it into a conversation at the right moment too. Say we’re doing dishes and something drops, “boom baby” or if we’re talking about a bad outfit we saw on the street (must remember that she listens so well), “boom baby”. The best was at the grocery store, a woman commented on Tuesday’s dress herself style and she got a “boom baby”. Of course toddlers are best understood by their parents so she didn’t get it, but I laughed so hard when we go to the next aisle.
The first shirt was a Target brand one, and the second a Gap tee from a second hand store.
Now I just need more ideas for shirts, since nothing is safe! Here are some that Carmen did when she was visiting, and you might remember these cow shirts for her twin friends. So got anything clever for me to put on a 2.5 year old’s shirt?

Quick Question

Ok, this is my dining room. It’s what you see when you walk in the house. I’m thinking of painting this table black… with chalkboard paint. Thoughts? I already bought the white paint to do high gloss white, but now, I don’t know, I’m not feeling it. I tried to paint one of the chairs an acid/lime green color but it just wasn’t happening. Now I’m just not sure.

It’s looking a little lived in right now 🙂 The rug I like, but I’m not sold on (cheap, from Ikea). I want to get the doors back on the side cabinets (took them off um, five years ago). And Bj might, might be coming around on my french door wish. Here is the only picture I could find of the doors we eventually got rid of, but that were orignal to the house:

Do you see them up there in this old picture of our super tiny garage? They were so awesome. We kept all the hardware and I know I took better pictures for reference. I’m also thinking of those awesome screens that go into the door frame, does anyone know what I’m talking about? They meet in the middle so you can throw your doors open all the way and still have it screened, but then fully disappear when not in use. Ahhh a girl can dream.

Girls trip

Before I had Tuesday if I wanted to pack up and go somewhere it was no big deal to give Bj a kiss, throw my stuff in the car and road trip. Since I’ve had Tuesday that has happened, um, never. Not without lots of planning and packing and list checking. Well last week we had a play date cancel, Bj was going to be busy so I figured what the heck, road trip! We drove a little over four hours to get to my in-laws. The best part of the surprise was their weather, it was sunny! The worst part was my mom calling about 190 miles in telling me that hey, “did I know there was a suitcase sitting on the bottom of my steps?” UGH! Yes, I left all our clothes, toiletries, and the fan Tuesday sleeps with at home. I wish I could say I’d never done this before but Ceara and I were all the way into northern California, stoping at an In-n-Out Burger when I realized I’d done the same thing (maybe 2000?) hours into our Madonna concert trip. On the way to the pay phone I decided to get a sweatshirt to go over my cute road tripping outfit. No bag. Bill had come home asking my mom why there was a suitcase in the drive way. I guess they got a pretty good laugh about it.
Well after a Target run we had a few clothes and toothbrushes. I tried to give my mother in law as little notice as possible since she always goes over the top making us delicious food and planning fun stuff for us to do. I just wanted her to be able to relax. She still picked up our favorite stuff at the store, I think it’s impossible for her not to make her guests super comfortable. Luckily she also had a toddler swimsuit from when she used to baby sit a friend’s girl. So Tuesday got to check out the neighborhood pool (I had my jeans rolled up to my knees and was sweating in the shade).

Even though I didn’t get to swim because I wasn’t going to skinny dip in a public pool I am still cherishing this moment of  sun. It is currently raining and I want summer (and so do my plants!).
After 24 hours in Washington we went back to Oregon and stopped at Erin’s. This was perfect because it cut the return trip into two much more manageable parts. Tuesday loves Erin (and her soon to be husband Aarron). When I told Tutu that we were going to visit Erin she said, “no, TWO Erin’s” hehehe. The night we rolled in they cooked for us, including a yummy dessert that Tuesday was all too happy to help with.


Why exactly do I not make cobble more often? So yummy.

Tuesday just says yes to whipped toppings.
Tuesday also says yes to gardening. And while the weather wasn’t quite as nice as the tri-cities, we still had fun.

And when I say it wasn’t quite as nice in Hood River. I mean it was windy and freaking cold! I do not know how anyone stands that gorge wind I think it would drive me insane. But Erin braves it to garden. Check out her plot. She chronicles her gardening on her blog if you want details. Oh while I’m thinking of it, anyone know what that tree is right behind them, the deciduous one? Here is an up close of some berries on it right now:

Erin would like to know what it is, and if those things are (or are going to be) edible.

I know I’ve mentioned this before but Tuesday really likes to week, like a lot. Like screams for more weeds when she can’t find any in our yard. So this was bliss for her. And when she did get sick of weeding she found something else she could do:

Rock collecting! A toddler’s dream world really. Then she was done with her work and decided she needed a little snack from the garden.

I’m hoping the fact that she chose to eat onion top after onion top doesn’t mean she has some kind of deficiency, but it certainly was weird. And she smelled like onions for days!

You already saw a picture of Tuesday feeding the chickens. She loved going to visit the girls, Erin has five sweet chicken and each one lays a slightly different color/size of egg.

Tuesday found this one in the nest box. I no longer have a problem getting her to eat eggs. Erin made one for Tuesday after we explained they were from her girls. She made it with the yoke runny (sunny side up?) in the middle of the white. Tuesday gobbled it up and has had two more since we’ve been home. When I run out of Erin’s eggs I might have to start telling a few white lies to get this behavior to continue.
The drive home was fairly traffic free. I only had to pump my own gas once, I remembered to tell the Target cashier that I was an Oregon resident so I didn’t have to pay sales tax, I managed the car in all the wind. I think I did a pretty good job. You know, minus forgetting the clothes part. Still I think we’ll try a girls trip again, though we do love having papa along… and I’m not just saying that so I don’t have to pump gas in Washington!

Al fresco

I am so excited about my yard this year.  All three of us are obsessed with it I think. I’m having fun seeing how many plants I can cram in, so many nurseries, so many choices!

Bj is more practical and pointed out that we needed something to eat on out there and maybe we should take care of that (side note, check out what my yard was up to last year, crazy!).

On one of Bj’s days off last week we decided to just bite the bullet, drive to the big city and go to every outdoor furniture place until we found something we liked.

After a lot of misses we found this teak set from a wholesaler (who is all word of mouth, so I’m saying it: check out Greentoko). Less than half the price of any other set we even came close to liking. I had my heart set on a bench for one side so we could squeeze in extra guests (or a bunch of kids). They sell everything individually so it worked out to mix and match. We also got two little one person benches that we will use around the garden and bring in when extra seating is needed. The plan is to let it weather to a silver grey, which will be no problem, as it is currently getting rained on as I type this (I did take in the cushions).
So happy and so looking forward to many happy gatherings in our beautiful backyard!

Tea party!

When Tuesday and I found out Chloe was coming to visit we asked our little play group if we could skip art time and do a tea party instead. In true Amber fashion I got a bit over my head, but we still had fun. I made these cute invites on the Silhouette, trying the print and cut feature for the first time, it really works!

Now of the actual tea party you will not see many pictures. It turns out five 2&3 year olds plus three babies is a bit chaotic!

(sheet covering up the bookcase) Can you see Chloe’s darling skirt? Carmen and I spent a little too much time working on cute skirts (need to take a proper picture of Tuesday’s) and not enough time cooking, cleaning, etc. Well I guess since I was the host that was my bad. The place mats were our craft for the morning.

Similar to this project, only with either another piece of contact paper or tissue behind.

This is Lachlan’s “cheese” face. Needless to say when I took his family photos I did not say cheese! We used my great grandmother’s china (the stuff I wasn’t sure what to do with). Flowers were left over from mother’s day.

I really should get a better picture of these tissue paper poof things. They were very easy (this tutorial is the one I used). I also hung up the often used birthday garland. As for the food I made little tea sandwiches, 2 kinds (and this was done while the guests were here, oops!). Type A was white bread + cream cheese + cucumber. Type B was Danish salami + little mayo + white bread. Both cut into little squares with out the crusts. For the moms I was like, oops I forgot about us, here’s a do it yourself sandwich bar! Haha. We also had fruit. Oh and crackers and butter with little butter knifes to keep them busy when we first came down (of course my kid has to try and eat the whole stick of butter). Another guest brought chocolate chip banana bread. I ate a lot of it.
And we served tea! Very weak and with milk. Tuesday does like tea, but without milk I think. And I think she likes it because I drink it a lot and she loves getting the little tea cups. Then I had to go really crazy and make these little petit fours that I saw on Pinterest. Ok so maybe it wasn’t a good idea to try to whip up a from scratch cake and frosting at the last minute. Bj totally ended up making me the cake the night before because, “please babe, I have to have petit fours!!!” They were super pretty (used a gel food coloring) but not so tasty, I’m sad to say.

It was a bit of a rush job. I think I should have researched the right cake to use. This one was rated for making the little things, but the bad qualities (texture & flavor) outweighed the good (holds together when cut).
So there you have it our first “real” tea party. First of many I’m sure!