We’ve been busy filling our weekends with adventures of late. They usually involve a trip down south to San Diego, and there are always pit stops to plant nurseries involved. Ben bought two more citrus trees (and he still wants more!), and we picked up some Reed avocados. Oh my guacamole… those things are huge and so creamy! A Reed avocado tree is on our tree wish list, but we haven’t readied the space for any avocado trees yet. Ben’s itching to do so, but he’s always itching to add this or that to the garden all the time. The project list for the backyard never ends, and since we really haven’t spent any weekends at home, that list keeps getting longer and longer.

I love this easy DIY that Mer Mag did for Minted, so one afternoon, the girls and I made our own for our homeschool table. The project just involved cardboard canisters, one was a coco powder container and the other meringue powder container, and duct tape. I didn’t follow the DIY exactly since we did a different pattern, and also I thought that using an X-acto knife wasn’t as kid friendly, so we used my non-stick scissors instead. They are a must when trying to cut shapes from duct tape. We even used scented duct tape and the girls were ooh-ing and ahh-ing over it! The colorful containers were the perfect thing to house our pencils.

I quickly sewed this up last Friday afternoon for her birthday dress (the next day). I originally wanted the girls to draw animals and then hand embroider their drawings, but there just wasn’t time. I did an elastic collar and waist, it was originally supposed to have longer sleeves, but I got scissor happy and cut them off one side, so I had to do it to the other, but then one side happened to be shorter than the other, so oh well. It ended up cute anyway. The girls said the top looked like lemur tails, so I guess it was perfect for her birthday outing to the zoo.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

I was thankful for some silence this week, but missed the girls like crazy, so we are so happy they are home now! We love hearing about all the memories they made with their Grammy and Grumpy. They were totally spoiled by them!

My felt floral creations made for the Misha Lulu Art Show are now available for purchase here.

Love chowing down on these delicious bars. It’s kind of like the Toms of food bars; you buy a bar, and they give food to a child in need.

My girls would love these doodle books. Christmas is still pretty far, but I’m thinking that they might make good stocking stuffers.

The shibori dyeing classes held at the Bloesem shop looked amazing. I love the whole Bloesem team and love watching everything they are doing from my part of the world. This class coming up looks amazing.

Thankful for some coming changes as uncomfortable as they might be.

This bag from Ms. Tips is awesome!

Thankful that after 6 days are insane temperatures, things cooled down a little.

So happy to have been able to meet Erika from Miko Design this week (she was visiting from Holland). We’ve been following each other’s blogs for several years now, and it’s so nice to actually be able to meet in person.

We have Halloween costumes figured out. Now, just gotta make them… oy!

My weekend posts have totally been off these past few weeks, but hopefully I’ll get back in the rhythm again.

This week, the girls have been off on vacation galavanting with my parents. We stayed in San Diego this past weekend, and my parents happened to plan a trip there for the week, so we dropped the girls off with them on Sunday night at their hotel. It’s been so quiet here and I’m getting lots done, but I miss the happy (and chaotic) noise here. We worked hard these past couple weeks to get ahead in school work to be able to allow them to go, so I’ve been using my time to catch up on projects and house stuff.

I’m learning everyday how to be a better parent. There’s always room for improvement, so I’m trying. While I do miss them, it is also a welcomed break, but I think some time off from the everyday does everyone some good from time to time. My parents still work, thus they don’t really get to spend time with the girls that often, so I’m sure they’re loving getting to shower them with love (and probably other things) for a whole week. I’m sure we will have to do a little bit of reseting when they get back, but I’m so glad they get to create memories with their grandparents. Ben had a much harder time letting them go off for a week, but he understood that I welcomed the break and that they get to enjoy their Grammy and Grumpy.

on me: dress, she inside (awhile back). shoes, steve madden (from about 5 years ago). on true: denim shirt dress & leopard sneakers, c/o old navy. on brave: dress, vintage. denim shirt & ballet slippers, c/o old navy. on soul: heart tee & striped mini, c/o old navy. shoes, salt-waters. on glow: play dress, c/o old navy. shoes, vintage.

This post is sponsored by Old Navy. I’m thankful for your continuous support of this space and the brands I partner with.

Glow turned 3 (what?! 3?!) this past weekend, and while we all went off on a weekend getaway to celebrate, we did all the birthday festivities the morning of her birthday. She was served the family tradition of breakfast in bed, but this time breakfast was birthday cake. It was totally not a healthy one, I made a salted caramel cake, but dietitian dad is even okay with breaking the rules once in awhile. Plus, her only requests for her birthday was cake and to see Georgie. Translated: I want to go to the zoo to see monkeys.

She was sitting in our bed, when we all came in singing “Happy Birthday” wearing animal masks because she loves animals so much! She calls all animals her “babies.” They devoured the cake, and then she opened the present we got her. We just got her a panda-dressed Monchichi that we picked up this past summer when we had a layover in Tokyo. It was much cheaper to buy it in Tokyo than it is on Amazon ($20 cheaper). Immediately after she opened her present, she was just loving on that panda-Monchichi. Her sisters have their own Monchichis and now she finally has her own too (no need to steal theirs anymore). Then, she claimed the panda off her cake and wanting to see pandas were added to her birthday request.

We spent the weekend in San Diego visiting both the Safari Park and Zoo, and spending as much time as we could at the hotel pool. Swimming at the hotel pool is always their favorite part of any vacation. I priceline-ed the hotel the day before because Priceline’s usually the way we go to book hotels (we do the name your price thing) and I always hope that last minute gets me the best deal.

Our weekend was full of fun as we fulfilled her birthday request and got to enjoy a little getaway together. I’m happy to report that we have a very happy 3 year old!