I tell ya, this summer thing is much easier to handle with the kids in summer classes from 8-12, four days a week!  I’ve been trying to keep them busy, but still have some fun…I think its working.

Heard “Every Body Wants To Rule The World” by Tears for Fears this morning and BAM, I was 7 years old, living in the sugar shack- wondering when the next school roller skating party was going to be & would my mom give me a dollar to by some sixlets at the rink.  Painting my nails with sheer purple sparkle nail polish to match my puff sleeved purple (similar to this) jacket.  It was a nice little trip down memory lane!

It never ceases to amaze me how powerful sounds and smells can be at triggering memories.

I feel a bit like I’ve been run over by a Mack Truck, I’m so tired.  I was out last night until past midnight with my 2 girlfriends Sara & Jenny.  Every year for the last 5 years we go out for a holiday dinner just the 3 of us.  Last night we tried LGO, since I had heard so much about it.

We had the mushroom party pizza, YUM, it really was so good!  There menu is small and the prices are high, but it was a fun splurge and we had such a good time.  Next door was a gelato place, so of course after dinner we stopped for dessert.

We always have such a good time together and we run the gamut of conversation, every year I look forward to our dinners….it’s the recovery that’s hard!  My husband was up at 5:30am today for work and I couldn’t fall back to sleep after he left.  I’m debating between a nap this afternoon or taking my daughter to the Princess & the Frog…..

Writing of my daughter, I just love this picture she drew this morning, I labled it so everyone could appreciate it’s Christmas goodness!

My son came home with a school assignment that required him to make a map of a town.  The map had to have a theme, a school, roads, a store, a park, a house and a railroad!  I asked the boy if he had any ideas…he did not.  I asked my facebook friends for suggestions, I asked other mothers for suggestions and was still left feeling stumped.

Monday morning  it hit me (the assignment is due today, wednesday), Halloween!  I decided a good theme would be Halloween or Spooky.  I asked the boy what he thought and he loved the idea!  With Micheal’s chock full of Halloween paraphernalia right now collecting items to use was pretty easy!

Without further ado, I give you Spooky Town!

The assignment clearly stated that this was a project that parents could help with, so it was something both my son and I did together.  He helped paint, choose placement of everything I hot glued down, did all the writing (except the train), glued the houses together and made trees!

I think our Spooky Town turned out great- I totally love that we added a cemetary with skeletons too!  Be sure you click here to see the image full size and check out all the great details(or you can check out all the photos individually here).  This would be a great project for any young kid learning about maps and directions.  With Thanksgiving right around the corner you could do a Colonial Town!

Things are moving at a snails pace over here.  My 7yo has the flu, he’s had a low fever since Sunday, and has not been at school.  In fact, he’s going to miss picture day tomorrow- good thing they have retakes!  My days have been spent trying to keep him and his sister engaged in things other than the television!

On the weekends- to achieve a balance- I let myself sew for pleasure and don’t feel guilty if there are orders still outstanding.  This weekend I bought some fabric to make a fall pillow, something along the lines of the one I did last year.  After I got everything washed and ironed, the project took a while new direction…

…and I ended up with this lovely new fall shirt for my daughter!  I used Simplicity 5537 and added a 1″ brown linen hem, and embroidered my own details on it.  Here is a close up of the tree and leaves.

I think it will look great paired with dark jeans and her brown mary-janes.  On the off chance that it actually cools down here (highs still over 100 and lows in the 80′s), she has a great cardigan sweater she can wear over it!

This afternoons craft also follows the fall theme- we made fall trees.

I cut out a bunch of maple and oak shaped leaves for the kids- they drew their own trees and then glued on the leaves.  I made the 7yo (tree on the left) write 5 things that happen in the fall on the back (gotta keep him learning even if he can’t go to school!).  I went ahead an uploaded a pdf of the leaf pattern if anyone else wanted to try this craft too.  Oh- and there is also the fall garland pdf from last year…