Alligators, Birds, and SPIDERS!!!

On Labour Day we went to the Brazos Bend National Park. Famous for the Alligators, we set out early in the morning on their nature walk to see if we could spot any of the large green reptiles. We spotted them alright, but more scary were the Gi-normous spiders that had made their home above us across the trees. Dozens of huge spiders webs arched across the path and made it very nerve-wracking to cross underneath. We braved up though, and made our way to the sludgy pond to check out our gator friends. Eve and Asher loved them all.

A blue hereon ( I will get it right!!!)

Look close, it is difficult to see, but there is a spider hanging from the tree!



Eve and Asher looking for Gators (you can actually see the alligator, it looks like a rock in the water).





Asher loved touching the corn snake; Eve refused


She did, however, pet a baby alligator. It was so cute.


Just for your enjoyment. Eve thinks that the 'coon skin hat' is like hair and wears it whenever she is playing princess. The headband is her tiara.

How to fix my blog

I finally decided to do a pretty back drop for my blog, but it seems too small. I chose the widest layout. What am I doing wrong? I want it all to blend and right now it looks like it is in three parts: the backdrop, the header, and the layout. Argh!!!! I want it all to fit and match my backdrop. Any advice please help me. This is my first attempt, but since I am not a patient woman, I am starting to give up. If anyone knows how to fix it, so my blog entries are more narrow and I can blend them in with my backdrop, then figure out how to make the header blend I am all ears.

Tinker Bell

This is the Tinker Bell costume. I didn't really have a pattern. Next time I will. The skirt isn't as full as I wanted it to be. I think I will make a full skirt next time with the points added and the shirt will be similar only longer. I would also add little yellow points on the sleeves and put bells on them too. The points have tiny bells sewn to them.


These last two photos were Eve's idea. She chose the pose. I don't know where she comes from, but she liked her tinker bell costume and I promised her we would get wings, a wand, and slippers to match.

The Snow White Costumes.

I have been rattling off about these forever. Well, they are done. Eve's dress took about a week of late nights to sew, the dolls took only a day. I think I like making doll clothes better:) But they are done and I am soooooo glad. I was worried I would get bored and give up before I finished. Thankfully I didn't.

I am being way to ambitious. It must be nesting;) Well, I made one last pillowcase dress for Eve before I attempted the Snow White costume. Both are done and the costume looks great. I will post a picture of it once I get the doll dress to match finished. I also added the aprons we made for Eve's friend Camille for her Birthday. Eve insisted she have a doll apron to match, so we made one. Eve said it needed to have a cake on it, so with her creative inspiration we made a little doll apron with a cake and a apron for Camille with a flower on it.
I think that once I finish their Halloween costumes I might be done with sewing for a bit, it is sooo time consuming and addicting.

A fish tale and a SHARKATHON!!!

This was a fun weekend! Mark is a leader in a young men's group at church and this weekend the participated in an annual, overnight fishing derby/tournament. Off they went to the gulf of mexico near the texas/louisiana border. After setting up camp on the beach, the tournament began at 9:30PM Friday and went through until 10:00AM Saturday morning. After several hours of casting to nets into the surf to catch "mullet" or bait, one of the other teams reeled in this big 45 pound "Bull Red" aka Drum fish. In fact, several of these were pulled in over the course of the tourney.

While Mark and some of the other die-hards continued to fish, some of the other boys fled to one of the other leader's trucks in order to escape the 45 pound mosquitos (well, they sure seemed quite large and very numerous). After several minute's one of the boys said to the others "Cool, look at the toy snake that ****** has on his steering wheel!" When they realized that the "toy" was moving, they figured it was a good time to exit the car. Turns out it was a live "copperhead", which is a poisonous snake. What was funny about the situation was that the leader's wife had actually seen the same snake on the hood of the car 1 week earlier and about 2.5 hours northwest in houston. Which means this snake had actually been living in the car for the week. When trying to get it out, our slithering friend slid right into the A/C vent. No problem, after a few minutes with the heat on full blast, the snake decided he had enough and left the vehicle.

This was no typical fishing tournament. And although the goal was shark, the rules stipulated that we must utilize these sea kayaks to get the job done. So out we would go into the pitch black surf with nothing between us and a sea of hungry sharks but these kayaks and a hook. Sometimes we'd go of the coast about a mile before setting our bait. An exhilarating experience even without catching anything.

Well, about 1:45AM we set, fought, and reeled in this approximately 5ft, 75-80lb lady. A bull shark (man eater)! 100 points for a shark and 100 points for the biggest fish along with the plenty of other 10pt catfish that our team caught assured us the "golden chum bucket". We were the tournament winners! (Must have had something to do with Mark's lucky shark swimsuit)

Here is a picture of the young angler who finished pulling her in. This was certainly no fishtale but a SHARKATHON!! Yes, we did fillet the shark and will enjoy some nice shark steaks in the coming days.

Eve's Dress

This is the first time I have ever made two posts in one day. I also posted on Wednesday, so this is a very productive week as far as blogging goes. It is probably the last time I will ever post twice in one day. I was just so proud of the dress I made Eve, which really isn't much, but I made it AND I didn't unstitch a single seam (that is a miracle). I am now gearing up for the costume I am making for Eve for her birthday (it is 4 months away, but it will take me forever). She wants a Snow White costume so bad.... here goes.


*the middle picture is of the appliqued butterfly I put on it. She wouldn't wear it unless it had a butterfly on it. Oh, and her pose in the 2nd shot, all her own. I am not sure my daughter is going to be a model any time soon. It was like pulling teeth to get her to stand still, and I only got the one shot out of her. I think the other picture looks a bit like a pin-up girl