Hello from OHIO!

Terry is deployed here for anywhere from 10 weeks to maybe 4 months, SAD FACE! So we are visiting him for a short time, I miss him terribly while is away! He's busy working so the kids and I have been taking in the sights of Dublin, OH and surrounding areas! Love the staff at the hotel we are staying at! Kim and Megan are the Food Queens,making oh so nummy things for the guests. Kim was kind enough to give us some fresh cookies just for us last night! Which of course we all enjoyed! I'll have to snag a picture of her and Megan.

So far we have visited the Columbus Zoo, Scioto Park (Saw Leather Lips and his memorial sight), finally found Meijer and have yet to find Walmart. The streets are so different then by the bigger city of Chicago! Trees line the streets that it is hard to see what store is where and GPS is our friend! We hope to see the Ohio State Fair and the Dublin Irish Fest that starts next week.

On top of this the baby is cutting teeth and he seems to have a bit of the sniffles. Sleeping has been troubling for him, not sure if it's the new surroundings or not feeling 100%. So this makes for Zombie Mommie! As far as important stuff goes, I heard from the GAL for the placement of my girls and son, which if you are inclined can read about in my other blog- http://www.hopewhentherewasnone.blogspot.com/ .

So now for the pictures!

I found a wonderful gift shop called The Morgan House! Loved it! 3 floors of gifts, household items, sparkly things and fun stuff! I wish I could have took more pictures (better ones too) but I had the baby in one arm and forgot to bring the good camera in so the shots are taken with my cell. SIGH!

More to come! I feel inspired to do some crafts! Can't wait to fire up my glue gun and dig out some glitter!

I also found a Goodwill, a number of antique shops and thrift stores! WAHOO! Hoping to hit those next week.

More next week!

A corner of off of a business area by our hotel. These Corn Cobs are HUGE! Sympolizing the product of corn and the industry in Ohio! Pretty cool!

The Morgan House

OH I WANT TO LIVE HERE!

Big marble by food court at Tuttle Center Mall! It's pretty big, the girls were discussing (arguing) about what to eat and said, "Cool" and then continued to argue about lunch. SIGH! I thought it was really cool! You can move the marble around by your hand because it was a fountain the water allowed it to move.

Random baby shot from him hiding in the cabinet!

Happy Belated 4th of July!

We had a really nice time at our friend Michelle's house with her fav guy, Mike and her kiddos! After partaking in some tasty food, we headed out on 2 block long walk. Well at least that's what she told me! LOL! The walk was a little longer then that, but that's ok since I didn't work out (P90X) on that day.

I was so proud of myself for remembering to bring all the food, sunscreen, bubbles (for the kids and baby), and drinks!

BUT! I forgot my camera! AGH! I swear Mommy Brain strikes again! Luckily I had my trusty cell phone to take pictures with. Ok they aren't the best and for some random reason after the age of 35 my hands are not so steady anymore. What's up with that? Everything seemed to fall apart, my eyesight went to crap, my elasticity on my whole body is shot and the bladder! Well that's another story (I love my sling!)

Anyway...

The parade went on for over an 1 1/2 hours! I was surprised! I don't think I ever sat through a parade that long!  Afterwards we went back to the house and I stuffed myself with more yummy food and dessert! Though I missed out on the Chips Ahoy Summer cookies and I brought them! LOL! The kids went through their candy bags! They had quite a stash, there was so trading involved that took about a half hour. Luckily for me I really like Tootsie Rolls!

Didn't see any big fireworks. We were too pooped to deal with the traffic. I told the girls to go through the back of the apartment to look but neither one wanted to get bit up. All in all it was a fun time!

Retro Octopi!

I found an older Crafts mag from '08 that had an

adorable blue Octopus! Feeling so badly because I haven't crafted in a bit I scrounged for materials to make this.

You need 100 yards of yarn

2- 10" pieces of yarn or ribbon to tie around middle and neck

8- 1" pieces of ribbon or yarn to tie at ends of braids

1- 3" styrofoam ball- but I used a 1" ball

Google eyes (I did not use these as I have a little one that would probably chew or pull them off-choking hazard)

Tacky glue for eyes

Hold your hands about 3 ft apart and have your child wrap yarn around them to

form one large ring of yarn.

Knot one of the 10" pieces of yarn around the middle of the ring.

Place tied ring on tabletop and snip both loops.

Form the head by placing the center of the knot on top of the ball and drape the yarn so the ball is covered evenly.

Take last piece of 10" yarn and tie just below ball.

Braid your tentacles!

Divide the yarn strands into 8 equal bundles (I did it as closely as I could)

Start to braid

*TIP!

Have your child hold the head of your adorable Octopus to help the braiding process. This will give you tight braids. Please don't look closely at mine! LOL! I started off with the multi colored one and it looks funny and puffy on some of the tentacles until I had the lightbulb moment of calling Alex to give me a hand. Jess helped me with hers as well!

Have fun!