Adventures in Life

I had the opportunity to try Nothing But Soap's Eucalyptus Hemp & Tea Tree olive oil, hemp oil & shea butter soap. Below is the description of the soap on the site.

Intense Eucalyptus and rich Tea Tree with peppermint leaves make this an eye opening treat. The eucalyptus will energize your day while hemp, shea butter and a wonderful base cleanse your skin. Eucalyptus and tea tree essential oils are known for their medicinal properties in anti-fungal and anti-staph capabilities. Peppermint leaves are added for additional exfoliation. An intense experience to remember.

Try showering with this soap when you have cold-like congestion or sinus allergies to create a soothing vapor.

The soap smelled wonderful! It was a nice treat to use it after exercising and it left my skin unbelievably soft. So, head on over to Nothing But Soap and check out everything that is available. The soap is VERY reasonably priced. I currently have my eye on the Raspberry Rush Natural soap with Olive oil and Shea Butter.

Alex turned 8 months old on Sunday. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to taking a picture until Monday. So, here is the 8 month, 1 day picture.

Alex 8 months, 1 day old (next to a 12 month outfit)

Check out my other monthly posts here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Role Models actually turned out to be an ok movie during the second half. We have also recently watched Paul Blart: Mall Cop and The Pink Panther 2. Paul Blart had its funny moments and The Pink Panther wasn't that bad either.

Saturday we did make it to the mall and I did find a swimsuit. I also found Alex a really cute onesie.

We had a dinner guest on Saturday and after dinner we played some Wii and Trivial Pursuit. Sunday we relaxed and watched a couple of movies. I did manage to clean out the office and the closet, but I still need to clean off my desk.

Sometime today I need to book a hotel for a conference that I need to attend. Gabe left me in charge of the hotel accommodations. Well, not really (he told me which hotel to book). The task of booking hotels has been taken away from since the Paris hotel incident of 2005.

As a side note, I did cook the cake batter for the ice cream cone cupcakes in the cones. Here is the link to the instructions. I just sat the cones up in a pan and cooked them that way.

Picture of Alex sitting. I have been playing around with some photo editing software.

Alex

Clara & Elsa

I am not sure what we are doing this week. We will most likely watch some fireworks this weekend.

Well, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an interesting movie, but not one that I would want to watch again. I think I should have just quit watching after the first half of the movie. Aging in reverse is just weird. I never read the F. Scott Fitzgerald book, maybe that would have made a difference.

We went to a party on Saturday the 13th. It was actually pool party, but we didn't swim. Alex has taken to hating his baths again. So we were pretty sure he would scream the entire time just like he does during a bath.

Alex & Gabe

Sunday the 14th was a very busy day. After church at the lake, we had brunch and then headed back home. We decided to try out Alex's little pool in our back yard. He loved it! He absolutely loved splashing around in it. Maybe we should have let him splash at the pool in the party.

Splashing in the pool.

Alex very happy after splashing in the pool.

Stephanie & Alex

Next we decided to head out to the zoo. On the way back we stopped by Border's for a free Seattle's Best beverage (courtesy of our rewards card).

Stephanie, Alex, & Giraffe

Cute African Spotted-Necked Otter

The capybara is the world's largest rodent, related to guinea pigs.

Once we were back home again we had dinner and decided to go to our neighborhood pool around 7:30 p.m. Even though it was 90 out it was too cold for Alex. When there is no humidity it feels like air conditioning for any part of your body that is out of the water. I stayed in for a little while, while Alex and Gabe sat on the edge.

I started watching the new season of The Next Food Network Star. I must say I don't miss Jenn and I was happy to see Brett go. It was a tossup between Eddie and Teddy, but I do hope that Teddy goes home next week. I just wouldn't watch a show with him as the star. Gabe thinks that Debbie is going to win, but as of right now I guess I am voting for Jeffrey. No one has really gained my "vote" yet.

Wednesday the 17th Dawn D. and I went for a walk in the morning (Gabe and I usually go in the evenings). She left for Illinois on Monday for three weeks. She was nice enough to drop off an exersaucer for Alex before she left.

Friday the 19th I scrapbooked with Cheri (originally we had plans to do it on Thursday) until around 3:00 p.m. and then we had Victor over for dinner. I cooked Greek food. I really loved the feta and cream cheese dip that I made. I will have to post the recipe the next time I make it (that way I can post a picture).

Saturday the 20th we went out to eat at Macaroni Grill for Father's Day. We were going to eat out on Sunday, but we switched it Saturday and went to a BBQ at one of our neighbor's. Wednesday we had some people over for dinner.

"Ice Cream" Cupcakes that I took to the BBQ. They were ice cream cones filled with chocolate cake, frosted, and then topped with sprinkles.

Gabe & Alex on Father's Day.

We watched Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. I actually preferred the first Underworld movie. Rise of the Lycans is a prequel and takes a five minute portion of the movie and expands it into a full length movie. Slumdog Millionaire was ok. It wasn't my favorite movie. We are currently watching Role Models. I think we should have watched Confessions of a Shopaholic instead.

After dinner we went on our nightly walk. We were going to head out to Old Navy to check out he $5.00 swimsuit and shorts sale, but we both decided to relax instead. We are going to go tomorrow instead. We also having Mike D. over for dinner tomorrow. I have plans to clean out and organize my office this weekend. We will see how it goes.

A very special Happy 1st Father's Day to Gabe!

Graphic courtesy of Pat's Web Graphics.

Just like the first Father's Day Gift that I posted, I think that this one will become a tradition too. I plan on making one of these each year. The original idea came from Brassy Apple. You could certainly take three 4x6 pictures and print them out. I was going to do this with the same frame that I used to make the first gift, but I decided to do something a little different. I used the collage print function (5x7) at Wal-Greens and bought a 5x7 frame. The collage print allowed me to easily add a title to the print. The lady at the photo counter commented on how cute the picture was. Oh, instead of buying the letters I just cut out some white corrugated cardboard that I had around. I was just going to cut the letters out of paper, but Alex loves to crinkle paper up. The entire project cost less than $3.00!

Please ignore the terrible photography. In case you are wondering, in the first picture he is biting on the "D". In the second picture he is holding the "A" and smiling. Finally, in the third picture, he is looking through the "D". I ended up taking around 30 pictures to end up with the three that I ultimately used.

I have had a couple of people ask how to make my coasters. The original idea came from DIY Maven. I made of couple of alterations to better suit what I wanted to do.

I don't actually use this set as coasters, but instead I display them on wire stands.

Here is what you need to make the coasters: plain ceramic tile(s), alcohol, something to wipe the alcohol, Mod Podge, foam brush, napkin(s) of your choice, polyurethane, craft paint brush, self-sticking felt

Wipe down each of the tiles with alcohol. Wait for them dry. Cut the napkins into more manageable sized pieces and remove all layers but the very top. Place Mod Podge on the tile using the foam brush (top and sides). Then, lay the napkin across the tile smoothing as you go along (top and sides). Allow to dry for a couple of hours.

After the coasters are dry, brush a small amount of Mod Podge along the edges of the back of the coaster.

Fold the excess napkin over the back and remove excess napkin.

Using the small craft brush apply three coats of polyurethane. Make sure and wait at least three hours between coats. After the final coat allow the coaster to dry for at least twenty-four hours before continuing.

Cut self-sticking felt and apply to the back of the tile. Your coasters are ready to use (or display).

While we were on cruise in Alaska I came up with an idea. Alex loves to play with paper (he loves the noise it makes), but it always ends up in his mouth. So, I decided when we returned from our vacation, I would make him a mini-blanket with the plastic inside (the type used in other crinkly baby toys). I figured I could buy some a craft store. Well, my idea turned out to not be so original. Joy's Hope already posted something very similar to what I was going to do, but she had a few improvements over my idea. She used the plastic from a package of baby wipes and she added fun pieces of ribbon.

Other than a sewing machine and thread, you will need two squares of material (I used 9.5" x 9.5" flannel). You will also need a selection of ribbon (I used 4" pieces, 3 pieces on each side) and something that makes the crinkly noise (I use a baby wipes package) cut into a 9" x 9" square. I decided on the size of the mini-blanket by the maximum amount of baby wipes packaging I could use.

Pin the ribbon (folded in half) between the two pieces of material (wrong sides together). Instead of pinning the ribbon flush, I like to have it stick out a little bit from the flannel. This way it definitely gets sewn down. Also, do not pin in one piece of ribbon. This will be the area where everything is turned right side out. The ribbon can be sewn in at that time. Start just below the area where the ribbon will be added later and sew around the square. Make sure and leave a gap to add the last piece of ribbon and so the material can be turned right side out.

After sewing, turn the material right side out. Make sure and push the corners out. I did not sew the plastic with the material. Instead, I placed it through the opening.

Next, fold in the opening and add the ribbon. This time sew all the way around the square, making sure to sew the ribbon in place and the opening closed. Since the plastic material was not sewn in place earlier, I sewed three lines down the square of material (sort of like quilting). If I do another one, I might do a waves or the letter "A" for Alex.