July Neighborhood of the Month & A (Repeat) Gift

Last weekend was a fun weekend for Jeremy and I. On Saturday, we went to our niece, Sofia's 1st birthday party. She was such a big girl and really got into her little cake!

When I started this blog a couple years ago, I made a 1st birthday gift for my best friend's little girl, Grace. It was one of my first posts, but the pictures aren't showing up. I decided to give Sofia the same gift and repost the project.

The book has 18 pages, one for every birthday from ages one to eighteen. On every birthday, Sofia will answer the same 20 questions. For the first couple years, her parents will answer for her. Then, her parents will put a picture of her on her birthday next to the answers.

The project is pretty easy. Start with some cute paper.

Add it to a scrapbook. Glue in the question page and use stickers to number each year.

I really like this type of scrapbook because you can personalize the front with the child's name.

The following are the questions I glued in for every year.

1. What is your favorite color?

2. What is your favorite toy?

3. What is your favorite fruit?

4. What is your favorite TV show?

5. What is your favorite thing to do with Mom?

6. What is your favorite outfit?

7. What is your favorite game?

8. What is your favorite snack?

9. What is your favorite animal?

10. What is your favorite song?

11. What is your favorite book?

12. Who is your best friend?

13. What is your favorite movie?

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?

15. What is your favorite drink?

16. What is your favorite holiday?

17. What do you like to take to bed every night?

18. What is your favorite thing to do with Dad?

19. What do you want as your birthday dinner?

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?

And that's the project.

On Sunday, Jeremy and I went on our first Neigbhorhood of the Month date.

Skokie is a town just outside of Chicago. We headed up there in the early evening and started our date by walking through the Skokie Sculpture Park. It was a beautiful day and we had fun walking together and guessing the sculptures' names.

After the Sculpture Park, we went to this great restaurant called Kubal House. It's an Afghan restaurant. Neither Jeremy or I had ever had Afghan food and we were delighted at how much we liked it.

It was a great inaugural neighborhood of the month date. We are both looking forward to August's date.

Until next time, keep crafting.

SB  

Traditions

Happy Weekend All! This summer is flying by!

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved traditions. I loved waking up on Christmas morning, knowing we would open gifts, look in our stockings, then eat breakfast. I loved knowing that we would spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my mom's family, eating kielbasa. And that between Christmas and New Year's, we would see one of my dad's brothers and his family.

I loved waking up to Easter baskets and Easter egg hunts on Easter. I loved waking up to a donut on my birthday. I even loved knowing that every summer morning my mom would leave us a note starting with "Good Morning Girls" and containing instructions for chores to do and food to eat that day.

Mostly, I loved the summer traditions of my family. Every week, my Grandma or one of my mom's sisters would pick us up on a weekday morning. We would spend all day swimming in my Grandma's pool, spend the night, and swim until my parents picked us up after work. 

I loved spending a week each summer with my Grandma on my dad's side. We would go out on the boat, swim, play mini golf, get ice cream, and roast marshmallows. 

My parents would take us camping several times in the summer. There were always trips that lasted a week or two, exploring new areas, hiking, reading, Pizza Hut lunches, and a trip or two to Dairy Queen. 

The other week, my sister, my niece, Jeremy, and I headed up to my parent's cottage to spend some time together. My parents live on the same lake that my Grandma on my dad's side did, which makes it even more special to go up there.

While we were up there, I realized that now that we are adults, it's up to us to be a part of making our traditions. And I realized that we have already started making traditions for ourselves and the next generation.

Traditions like:

making the long trek up north,

Campfires by the lake,

playing with "cousins",

relaxing with Jeremy's parents,

hanging out on the boat,

gathering generations,

Mary Louise, Paula Louise, Emily Louise, Sofia Louise

kayaking trips,

enjoying sunsets,

and hanging out on the same dunes that I have since I was a little girl.

Jeremy and I have decided to make some traditions with our anniversary. In my last post, I mentioned that we were in Milwaukee as part of a new tradition. 

Jeremy and I were in Europe for our honeymoon. While we were there, we decided that we would like to spend every fifth anniversary visiting a new continent.

Right before our first anniversary, we decided that we want to spend all of our other anniversaries exploring a new city. We made this decision in June, so we decided to go to a place pretty close. So, we set off for Milwaukee.

We also decided that we should get a picture of us in front of some sort of sign or famous symbol that showed which city we were in last.

We started our tradition by posing in front of the Milwaukee Public Market.

When we got home, we had the picture blown up to an 8x10 and framed it.

We are looking forward to exploring new places together for years to come!

Next week, we are heading out to our first neighborhood of the month! 

Keep cool!

Mosby enjoying an ice cube

Until next time, keep crafting!

SB

Neighborhood of the Month

Happy July everyone!

WOW! I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted! June flew by. Jeremy started his new management position (still at the same company) and is loving it, I finished up a rocky school year, and Mosby turned TWO! 

There was also some "not as much fun" stuff that took up A LOT of time. You know, life gets in the way of being crafty sometimes.

BUT, I'm back. And ready to craft.

So, as an introduction back, I'm sharing some photos of Jeremy and I took in Milwaukee over the weekend. We were in Milwaukee for our first anniversary. (More on our budding anniversary traditions in a post later this month.)

We had a great time. It was Summerfest weekend (Milwaukee's big music fest), and while we didn't partake in those festivities, we still felt the effects.

We ended up staying in a Bed and Breakfast in the Historical Bed and Breakfast district (i.e. the ghetto) because all of the hotels closer to downtown were full and/or VERY expensive.

The B&B was great. However, we had some trouble getting a cab pick us up from the hotel. The pictures below are taken at the beginning of waiting for our cab. Our faces were not so happy after an hour of waiting.

*We decided to take cabs as we are both big beer drinkers and Milwaukee is a beer town. Don't drink and drive folks!

Anyway, eventually we were picked up by a very friendly cab driver who was just starting his shift. After running a couple errands with him (yup, really did!) and picking up three more stranded travelers (yup, did that too!), we made it to the Milwaukee Ale House in the Historic 3rd Ward. 

We went based on a recommendation from a native of Milwaukee who works with Jeremy. It was great! Good beers, good pretzels, great atmosphere!

After a beer or two in the 3rd Ward, we hailed a cab (with much more ease) and headed to Bay View, an up and coming, funky neighborhood on the south side. We had a top notch dinner at The Odd Duck. The restaurant focused on small plates, which Jeremy and I both love because you get to try more food on their menu!

The next morning, we enjoyed the breakfast half of the "bed and breakfast" and headed on our way.

We were told that we couldn't leave Milwaukee without enjoying a bloody mary (twist our arms!). So, on another recommendation, we ended up back in the 3rd Ward at The Wicked Hop. One of the best bloody marys I have ever had. Plus it came with lots of food accessories, which is the real reason everyone drinks bloodies in the first place! 

*Those are cheese whips, not fries on top. God bless Wisconsin and their love of cheese.

Our last stop was The Lakefront Brewery Tour. The tour was awesome. Our tour guide was hilarious!

We enjoyed their art....

Their silent disco...

*People wore wireless headphones that all played the same music. No one else could hear it; it was hilariously silly to watch people dance around in silence.

And of course, their beer!

We had a great, but short time. We were gone about 24 hours (thus all of our pictures included eating or drinking).

Of course, while we were gone, we exchanged gifts.

Jeremy made me a really thoughtful photo album with pictures from our first year of marriage.

My gift centered more on our upcoming year. Jeremy and I LOVE to go out to eat. It's the time where we really focus on each other and chatting. However, we have fallen into a rut. We go out to the same few restaurants in our neighborhood ALL the time. 

A couple weeks ago, we were in a different neighborhood grabbing dinner before the Of Monsters and Men concert (remember Jeremy's birthday gift?). Jeremy mentioned that it was fun to be in a different neighborhood and we should try to do it more often.

I agreed.

So I decided that would be his gift. I researched 12 different neighborhoods and very close cities around Chicago. I found something interesting to do in each place and a different restaurant.

*I can only show July, because Jeremy reads this blog too.

So, every month Jeremy gets one of these envelopes. 

When he opens it, the front of the card tells the name of the city or neighborhood.

And inside the card tells the restaurant, the activity, and the time of day we need to go.

He'll open the envelope on the first of every month and we will plan the day to go and put it on our calendars.

And there you have it, a gift that keeps giving. I'm thinking of doing monthly updates on which neighborhood we went to.

I'll leave you with some good advice from Milwaukee!

Until next time, keep crafting!

SB

Teacher Survival Kit

Signs of summer are definitely here! Jeremy and I are getting busier. Mosby is starting to pant the minute he walks out of the door. And, of course, two of the biggest signs of summer came this past week. First, Memorial Weekend, then the beginning of the end of my school year.

Jeremy and I go up to North Michigan to see our parents almost every Memorial weekend.

This year, we had great weather for being outside. Mosby loves going for hikes in the National Forest near my parent's place. One little lake nearby (that usually dries up midsummer) was SO high we had to walk through the woods to get around it. Mosby reluctantly practiced swimming after sticks and we had fun watching him leap over fallen logs.

We went for our first boat ride of the season, but it was too chilly to stay out too long.

My dad and Jeremy did a lot fishing, and it was just too nice to go inside, so Mosby, my mom, and I just hung out on the patio.

On Sunday, we spent all day and evening with Jeremy's folks at the campground. Mosby was pretty worn out from all his outside time, and spent most of the evening sleeping between Jeremy and his mom.

No trip up north is complete without a hike to Lake Michigan, so Mosby, my mom, and I snuck in  a hike while the guys snuck in one more fishing outing.

It was a lovely way to welcome summer.

My school is year round, so I have July off. I had my first student teacher this year. She was one of my aide for the first semester of school, so I got to know her really well. Friday was her last day, so I wanted to give her a little good bye gift. I decided to make her a "teacher survival kit". 

I started with a cute little yellow paint can that I had received some flowers in.

I put her name on the can using stickers. I thought she could use this to hold pens in her future classroom.

Now, I started with the real secret to surviving teaching as the base. No teacher can survive their first year without a little red wine. I used tissue paper to  cover the wine (as I was giving this to her at school) and placed it in the can.

Then I used wooden skewers and hot glue, and attached them to other "survival items". 

The list included:

chocolate

Alieve 

pens

notepad

cough drops

tissues

Dunkin Donuts gift card

Then I placed the skewers into the can around the wine.

I had a lot of fun picking out the items. I may use this as a repeat project for other special occasions.

Until next time, keep crafting!

SB

Birthday Balloons

Whew! Where did the time go? It's been a busy couple weeks!

Yesterday was our niece, Ava's 5th birthday. We were bummed that we couldn't be with this special girl on her big day. Especially since we had so much fun being with her brother on his birthday on our Texas trip in February.

I decided to do something special for her gift this year.

I went to Target and got little knick knacks. I concentrated on the little treasures that she DID NOT need and would probably be discouraged by her parents from buying. After all, this is what 5 years olds like anyway, right?

I took all of the treasures out of the packaging.

Then, I opened my balloons.

I started gently placing shoving little items into the balloons.

Then I blew them up.

I also including $20 in various bills in the balloons. Big money for a five year old.

As a testament to Jeremy and his patience with my endless crafting, he didn't bat an eyelash when he walked in from work and my first words were "Oh good, you're here. Help me shove this stuff into balloons for Ava's birthday." He just jumped right in.

We shipped off the balloons in a big box with instructions to pop the balloons on her birthday.

Ava called us last night. She was excited about popping the balloons, but especially about all her "monies".

Happy Birthday little girl.

Until next time, keep crafting.

SB