Family Projects

 I'm finally getting a little better at meal planning which means we've had some pretty fun meals lately. Like our living room picnic with the tents we just made with with the boys.

Jude and Hudson picked out their fabrics and helped us drill holes and sew edges (instructions on super-cute blog here). It was a fun, one afternoon-long family craft project! And already quite a few snack times, dinner times, story times, homework times, and snuggle times have happened under these tents.

 They are going on our go-to list for handmade kids' gifts for sure.

We're pretty deep into quite a few family projects at the moment, actually.

One major one is turning this less-than-homey corner of the basement into a cozy guest room for a college friend of ours who just moved in with us for a little while.

And the other is turning this embarrassingly cluttered closet into a cute, tidy, vintage nursery before Eli's quickly approaching arrival (7-ish more weeks!)

So, yeah, we're quiiiite busy around here. Daily trips to the hardware store and the fabric store...lots of thrifting and re-purposing. Fun but tiring but worth it in the end : )

Arian

Great, Great, Great.

Over the weekend we took a trip to visit what's left of the house my great, great, great grandfather built some time in the mid 1800's. Pretty amazing.

Happy adventurers.

My mom, grandpa, sis, bro-in-law, my boys, and my man : )

Here's a picture of what the house looked like back in the day.

 The house is full of amazing textures that tell stories of generations of inhabitants.

Papa--age 91. He's pretty much the man.

Jude holding a picture of George Henry and his wife who built the house-- his great, great, great, great grandparents. Wow.

George Henry's signature is still scribbled on the wall!

My sis and our matching baby bumps....30 and 32 weeks along : )

Jude the turtle whisperer.

It was quite a day. There was just something so cool about being pregnant and watching the boys hear stories from their great-grandpa while exploring the home their great (x4) grandparents built.  Generations past, generations to come!

Arian

The Weekend

 Our week of eating dinners outdoors and celebrating our hybrid version of Sukkot ended with a full day of eating, relaxing, and playing outside with lots of friends and family.

 Dinner was a gourmet hotdog feast! Everyone cooked their own hotdogs over the fire then loaded them up with various combinations of our 20 or so topping choices.

We decorated our back deck as our 2-level Sukkah. Not exactly a "temporary hut" but it worked for us : ) As our boys get older, I'm thinking we'll attempt some pretty epic sukkahs, like the ones they make for the Sukkah City competition in NYC. Or perhaps more like these temporary huts. Either way, it will be fun.

For decorations, we put flameless candles under lots of the vintage insulators I got from my grandpa's house. We covered the tables with paper and crayons and fall flowers.  We made autumn fabric buntings, crochet square buntings, yellow duct tape buntings, and paint chip buntings (yay, buntings!) and we hung lots of these little flameless candle lanterns we made from baby food jars.

It was pretty sweet. When God designs a party, it's a good idea to celebrate it : )

Well, today is my birthday (woohoo!) I think I will eat a cupcake for breakfast and then take it from there : )

Arian

Books, Tea, and Movies

We had such a great, quiet weekend...the first weekend in a looong time that wasn't filled with lots of people, traveling, or big events (though we LOVE people, traveling, and big events too)

We got to stick pretty closely to our "normal" weekend family rhythm. Saturday is house cleaning, Crossroads, and family dinner out at a fun restaurant. And Sunday is rest & play.

And watching a movie all cuddled in bed together is an Armstrong family weekend favorite.

So this weekend we read lots of books together (yay for hours in Barnes and Nobles and a fresh stack of books from the library), got cozy together, built couch cushion forts together, drank lots of tea with scones/biscotti/cookies together, and just enjoyed being together. Good times.

Hudson spent his allowance on a new book light. I have a feeling this boy will be a lot less reluctant to head to bed now : )

Arian : )

Paint Chip Bunting

I'm working on fall goal #1--decorating our (first) front porch. Plus, Sukkot at our home is coming up next week which, of course, is going to require some festive decorations. And my sister's fall-themed baby shower is right around the corner and, of course, I've happily volunteered to make all the decorations. In short, our dining room table has been overtaken by a mountain of fall-colored fabric, paper, ribbon, and general goodness.

Today I made what will likely be the first of many, many fall-colored buntings. This one I made with paint samples, clear packing tape, masking tape, and nylon string.

I cut the paint samples into triangles which I attached and, at the same time, laminated with clear packing tape so they'll (hopefully) survive rainy days on the front porch.

And between each paint sample flag is a little masking tape flag....folded over the string and cut into a triangle. Super easy!

One bunting down, who knows how many left to go!

Happy fall decorating!
Arian : )

Skirt to Scarf

I've wanted to try my hand at one of these hipster scarves I've had on my pinterest for awhile. This skirt had been a staple in my wardrobe for years but it was becoming a bit too short (thanks to approx. 232 trips through the dryer) and had a few little stains and holes so it was time to move on.  While Jude watched an episode of Word World and used his scissors to cut a piece of scrap fabric into tiny shreds on my bedroom floor. I used my scissors and turned this skirt into this scarf.

It's fun to wear so I will probably make another (it being scarf season and all!) And maybe I will even try making a new skirt to replace my old one! I found this crazy cute circle skirt pattern today...seems simple enough!

What is it about fall weather that turns us into crafting fiends? Must.....make.....something.....cozy.

Arian : )

Headed to the Country

 We fulfilled part of one of my fall goals this week---heading to the country. Lots of our friends celebrate the Old Testament holiday, Sukkot. Though mostly celebrated by only Jewish people, it's one of those festivals God put in place for great reasons. So we celebrate it because we can and want to! (some pics from Sukkot last year here)

(crocheting and chili cooked over a fire....yesssss.)

 For us, it's a week of spending most of our time outdoors, eating (and sometimes sleeping) in tents. It's a reminder that, like the Israelites wandering in the desert with hope of the Promised Land, we haven't yet reached our true home. This is just a temporary dwelling place.

 This week is the first of three weeks of Sukkot festivities various friends are hosting so we'll be hopping around from celebration to celebration and eventually hosting our own in early October. LOTS of good food, fresh fall air, and real conversations with good friends around campfires.

 Preeeeetty sweet.

I think Hudson and Jude are gonna grow up loving this whole Sukkot thing. : )

Arian