whites and brights | how to host a tie dye party

A couple weeks ago I helped organize a sleepover for the girls in junior high at our church. We needed some sort of activity (other than eating Double Stuf Oreos and watching movies, that is) so I thought for a bit and decided that tie dyeing would be an easy and inexpensive crafty type thing that all the girls could participate in. We ended up spending hours in the garage soaking tee shirts in buckets filled with brightly colored water, and now I want to tie dye everything in sight. Here's what you need to throw your own tie dye party... 

plain white tees / Rit dye powder / salt / liquid laundry detergent

rubber gloves / five gallon bucket / hot water / rubber bands

Once you have all your supplies just follow the instructions on the inside of the Rit box. We (obviously) used the bucket method which is simple and involves no risk of dyeing the kitchen floor. As long as you don't bring the bucket in the kitchen. In case you were wondering, the colors we used were sunshine orange, lemon yellow, fuchsia, teal, and purple. Have you ever tried tie dyeing anything? It's one of my favorite things. 

image via my friend Missy's Instagram

camping 2012 | a recap in words and pictures

It's the Monday after our camping trip and although we've been home for a little more than twenty-four hours I still feel like I'm in recovery mode. Camping creates so much laundry! How was your weekend? Filled with fun things, I hope. Even though it's a lot of work to prepare for a camping trip - making the reservations, shopping, planning meals, packing, etc. - I'm always glad we go because it really is a lot of fun. Here are some highlights from our weekend...

no shoes inside the tent! 

 venison stew for dinner (thanks, Tom!)

 enough wood for nonstop fire burning

 long afternoon naps 

 the annual bocce ball tournament

(My friend John and I won! We unseated the two-time champions, Matt and Matt :)

 dinner prepared al fresco (and babies in diapers) 

 a visit to the playground

I didn't take as many pictures as I should have so there is a lot missing - volleyball, home run derby, ultimate frisbee, wiffleball, and lots of lounging around the fire. It's hard to believe but I'm already looking forward to next year's trip!

Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July! It's raining right now so I don't know what the fireworks will look like around here tonight. Hopefully the weather clears up soon! We haven't seen fireworks on the Fourth in three years because we've gone camping over the holiday weekend since 2009, so I'm excited to find a good display somewhere. It will be Ezra's first time... fingers crossed that he doesn't mind the noise! Go here to find a list of places in Rhode Island where you can watch the annual patriotic pyrotechnics. 

image by blueflash via facebook

go fly a kite | Brenton Point, Newport

Have you ever flown a kite? I only have a few times but Matt and I want to find a great kite flying location so we can go this summer with Ezra. Brenton Point in Newport is one of my favorite picnic spots and it's always full of tons of people flying kites. There's even a kite festival there every summer... I think we'll check it out this year. We'll be the ones flying a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kite :)

image by Paul Octavious via 20 x 200

and we're back!

Some of you may have realized that I promised to be back last week after camping if doing so with a baby didn't tire me out too badly.  Well it didn't, but we discovered upon our return that we were having internet difficulties so my planned posts went unwritten.  I'll be here every day this week (promise! unless the internet messes with me again) with some fresh ideas that have been popping up around our house lately.  

A few things about camping - I love having a tent larger than a two-person!  We bought an orange and gray Coleman 8-man that served us well.  I brought along a quilt that my mom made for us as bedding as well as fun polka dot sheets from Target, similar to these.  Ezra slumbered on after our first night at the campground, tuckered out from crawling around the expansive tent while we set up the rain fly.  And by we I mean Matt.  I already can't wait for next year.

I heart Sundaes

 Top three reasons why Sundaes is my favorite ice cream shop:
1. It's 1.2 miles from our house so we can walk there.
2. You can print coupons directly from the website like this one which allowed us to buy one cone & get one cone free on Friday night.
3. Most importantly, they have the best selection of flavors in the free world.  My favorite is chocolate peanut butter cup.  It's the only flavor of ice cream I have ordered since the summer of 2009.  Really.  It's that good.  (Side note: it started out as a joke between our friend Matt (who is not to be confused with Matt) and me... we each had a "flavor of the year" in 2008.  Coffee oreo for me and chocolate peanut butter cup for him.  In 2009 I became jealous of his chocolate cone of peanut buttery goodness and a new flavor of the year was born.  Chocolate peanut butter cup is so delicious that it became the flavor of the year in 2010 as well, and it looks as though 2011 will bring more of the same.  And I couldn't be more satisfied.  Thanks for the tip, Matt!)

And three more reasons why Sundaes is my favorite.  Because I realized the first three reasons weren't enough.
4. They have pink jimmies!  They also have Falcon jimmies for all you Falcons out there.  I'm looking at you, Western Cranston.
5. It's conveniently located right on the bike path so when Matt and I are out for a Saturday afternoon spin we can stop and get a cone.  
6. You can carry a Sundaes card which gets stamped every time you make a purchase.  Trade your stamps in for free jimmies, a Sundaes tee shirt, a gift card to Sundaes, or my favorite, a free kiddie cone.  Get two stamps if you're there when it's raining!  That's right... it was raining on Friday so we started the season off with two stamps.
All this talk about ice cream is making me want a cone right now.  Lucky for me, Sundaes is just over a mile away...

sticky red fingers

We began the night with two gigantic bowls of strawberries and several stalks of rhubarb.

I was the designated knife wielder and therefore spent most of the night hunched at the table feverishly slicing stems off the strawberries and cutting the rhubarb into more reasonable lengths.

Meghan was in charge of endless stirring and scooping.  My Auntie Mame directed us all night since she's the jam expert.  I think it's safe to say that we all enjoyed a very successful but looong night of canning.  Several hours and varying degrees of arm ache later we had churned out jars and jars of strawberry and strawberry rhubarb jam.  Tune in tomorrow for the finished product!

la la lemonade

As an intermittent but long-time Del's Lemonade employee I have a deep love for lemonade and all things lemon-y.  I start driving a lemonade truck next week and before I'm tempted by the sugary, frozen goodness that is a Del's, I wanted to make my own lemonade.  My search at tastespotting turned up this yummy sounding drink - Lavender Lemonade. 

 I began by gathering my materials - cutting board, santoku knife, hand juicer, measuring cups, small saucepan, wooden spoon, and um, anything else I needed.  I set the water to boil with the sugar and lavender and then I got to work cutting and juicing lemons.  It was quick work and in fact the longest wait time was while the syrup was steeping.  

After 45 minutes of lavender and sugar happily mingling in hot water I combined the syrup with the lemon juice and then added a little water to dilute the mixture.  Voilà!  Lavender lemonade.  It was a nice surprise to see that the syrup took on a pink hue as the lavender steeped and, happily, I ended up with pink lemonade!  Lastly, I made a quick trip out the side door and into the front flower bed to pick some more lavender as a garnish and I had a wonderfully refreshing first-day-of-summer-vacation drink. 

As you can see, my first glass didn't last long.  Luckily the recipe makes a decent amount so I can enjoy this tasty treat all weekend!