McFarlands Visit // Weekend Recap

W's sister Ruth and family were up last week and over the weekend for her hubby's work classes. And the joy of homeschooling is everyone can come along! The kids and I met up with them two days during the week and they stayed the weekend with us before heading back down to SoCal. 

These two were like peas in a pod. Pretty much build in BFFs when you're four days apart and have such similar personalities. It was quite humorous watching them.

Over the weekend, we did quite a lot + here's the bits of what I captured: farmer's market...

picnic lunch...

creek time...

{like Papa, like son.}

Ruth and Michael keep Vesper and I company on dry land.

and of course some soft serve...

We had a tough time saying good-bye and can't wait until Thanksgiving.

Our {OC} Weekend

If you're an instagramer and follow, I filled up your feed with our adventure to visit W's family this past weekend. We were surprising my mother-in-law for her 70th birthday. It was a whirlwind trip and we packed it full of fun. 

Friday morning our AIS {ass-in-seat} time was set for 8:30 and I'm pleased to report that we made it by 8:35! The boys did pretty well in the car. Since facing Ezra toward us when he was one, he's been a fabulous traveler...Theo, not so much. But he did well.

We made great time and got to Wes and Carolyn's house by mid-afternoon. The boys set up for a cousin camp-out with the Papas. 

 The kids played, climbed trees and enjoyed the last sliver of sun. 

We got to see Shane and Alyson too because Ruth went to the hospital for Grandbaby #17's birth. My sis-in-law, Dorothy, brought Theron Joseph into the world that night. Following set-up, we had dinner and a movie {Wall-E}.

E did great sleeping in the tent! He's got Swenson Camping in his blood already. Saturday morning was lovely and slow; including a yummy bfast.

Then instead of naptime at the normal hour, we sneaked off to the beach for a few hours before the final prep for Mama Judy's party.

It was such a great time. There really wasn't much time left for extras this trip which made me sad {Ams, I wished we could have seen you!!!} so it was super nice to get at least one bonus activity in. For that, I'm grateful!

Then it was off to celebrate this lovely lady whom I'm blessed to call my mother-in-law!

She was beyond surprised and SO happy to see most of her children and grandchildren there. I really think she delighted over the whole deal. :) And of course, I caught some more cousin craziness!

 Eating a cupcake a la concrete.

 We all stayed up way too late, but as luck would have it, the boys slept in and we woke up in time to pack up, say good-byes, and load up the car before eleven. Then it was back on the road yet again. And who knew it would be so eventful...

We were right behind an accident on the last part of the grapevine. Since the CHP hadn't arrived yet, W got out to help and check in on the couple who's car was completely smashed up. Thankfully, they were fine and the CHP arrived shortly thereafter. And then not too long after we were back on the road after lunch, I got a call from our local police telling us our car had been hit and needed a tow. 

My parents came to give them the keys and snap some pictures so we could see. Yikes! So sad! This car has been my car for the last 13 years. Definitely an end of an era. Of course, at this point it's only W's commuter car, but horribly inconvenient for us nonetheless.

By the time we arrived home, the car was towed and turned over to insurance. I didn't even get to see it in person...probably better that way. But it definitely was the talk of the neighborhood since two others were hit. 

The boys did so outstanding the whole way back and we made really good time. Once back, we did some yummy fast food, biked a few times around the block for good measure, showered and put the boys to bed.

Quite the weekend, indeed!

More Time With Family

We stayed with Wes and Carolyn and their three kids for our Thanksgiving trip. We always love staying with them and just hanging out.

{Theo and Caedmon, only 2.5 months apart}

E loved the fact that he could ride indoors and that both his cousins loved bikes as much as he did!

They were so kind to let us get out for the first time--just the two of us-- to the pace where we met, The Gypsy Den. We got to sip our coffee and share a cigar.

W tried to re-pay the kindness by making a Swenson tradition for breakfast: Swedish pancakes.

But in the end, we may have completely worn them out. To be fair though, they were just coming off being sick. 

Thank you W+C for amazing hospitality!

We love ya.

Swenson Thanksgiving

Lots of people...

{that's Dof and her new husband...found out that day she's having grandbaby Swenson #17 in May!}

Lots of play...

And lots of good food...

We are so so glad we got to come down this year!

Head Dresses {The Kids' Table Favors}

 You just never know where inspiration will hit ya. I've been trying to come up with a more meaningful place card/favor for our Thanksgiving. But also one that didn't have me running out buying supplies either. What a tall order! And I wasn't having any luck.

Then over the weekend, E and W were playing with this felt head dress that I had picked up at JoAnn's in the $1 section a while back. It was too big for E but it was too cute not to pass up when I bought it. While they were playing, it hit me: I could make one for each cousin that will be there. And I'll personalize each to make it more memorable! So I immediately got to work by pulling out all my scraps. And I used the JoAnn's headband as my template.

First, I cut out my seven headband strips from brown. Then I embroidered all seven cousins' names.

Next, I traced the four different templates for the layered leaves in green, red, orange and brown felt. {which I wish I could show you my four pretty little stacks, but that picture somehow got deleted. bleh.}  Here's the back of the one I purchased to give you an idea of the templates I used.

I then cut little slits into the leaves, to make them more leaf-like. That was done by folding each leaf in half and making little downward cuts starting from the top of the leaf.

Now came the tricky part: assembly. 

I glue-gunned all my layers together. My first run-in with a problem. I came up with this finished product:

 Um, yeah. Not going to cut it for a warrior-like head dress, yo. I consulted with my other half who is THE problem-solver. And he suggested I do this:

I glued the rest of the overlaying parts of the leaves together to try to reinforce them. Viola! We're back in business!

I also glued a small extra piece in back to good measure.

I laid them all out to make sure I put the velcro pieces on the right sides.

Funny thing about velcro...when I only had three head dresses left to make, they suddenly disappeared. W and I started going through the downstairs wondering where we could have put them. Since I do my crafting on our dining table, it's not uncommon for materials to be re-located for meal times. W suddenly started laughing because he saw the velcro had totally done its job...to my butt!

It was hilarious; partly because a minor crisis had been adverted and I didn't need to re-do them.

Last steps were to pin and sew those puppies up!

And then they were done!

They are all packed up and ready for our long drive! Sure hope they like 'em. Now, how in the world will I be able to get all seven wearing them and smiling for the camera?!