Dreamy DIY Or How My Mom Saved the Day

Last year we flew from MS to CA and even though I had planned and planned (it was my 1st time traveling with not just a child but 4 children) in the end, on a scale of 1- 10 it was Really Hard.

The bags I had filled with snacks and crayons and a notepad were depleted within 20 minutes.  

So when we started to plan our road trip to Louisiana (6 1/2 hours without kids, 8 with kids), I did a ton of research on how to make the drive fun (or just tolerable).  A lot of suggestions for games were either too pricey or had a lot of small parts and I was not going to deal with a million tiny toy parts all over our car because I'm mean.  

To start, I bought a pack of 4 small canvas bags from Michaels ($7) and drew little things that sort-of applied to each child.  

CC is obsessed with unicorns and Lil' Dude doesn't really care, so their bags were no-brainers.  Annie loves the song 'Take a Walk' (thanks radio) and the Little Mermaid, so her bag sort of reflects those two things.  Brinx likes everything, especially the color purple, so I decided to subtly push an appreciation for Prince on her.  

I made sock puppets without looking up directions (glue gun, old socks, pieces of felt and a permanent marker) . . .  

. . . And they looked awful, but the kids liked them.

The girls' bags had two books (1 from our library, 1 from Dollar Tree), a card game (3 for $1, again Dollar Tree magic), Road Trip Bingo (4 for $8), 

and the real splurge, but totally worth it, Crayola's Color Wonder kit. 

I got these at Walmart for $8 each, along with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Color Wonder coloring book and extra markers to hand out only when the girls got bored. It was pretty pricey, especially since our budget was $0, but lent itself to quiet time, which is worth $Priceless.

Lil' Dude's bag had books, a puppet, bingo and Dollar Tree toys and he was super content.

At the last minute (like pulling out of the drive way last minute) I threw in some pocket Etch a Sketchs which also bought more quiet time.

Magic Man rigged up our portable DVD player with some rope (maybe 10 minutes before we left, we love last minute) so everyone could see.  It made me love him.  

But here's the Real DIY and why my Mom saved the trip:

This adorable, perfect French company, Lale came out with a Travel Kit as a collaboration with the website Babyccino Kids.

Ugh! I wanted them so bad for the kiddies, but at 50 EUROS each and with 4 kids it would have been around $275USD. So I decided I'd make them for free - or a less-amazing version of them (minus the doll, that's just too hard to make).  

First I pillaged my fabric box and also used old sheets.

I drew patterns on regular paper but my mom (an expert sewer) suggested using tissue paper next time for a more accurate cut.  The eye mask turned into a Kitty Eye mask and the knapsack was more like a drawstring shoe bag. 

I used 'coordinating' fabrics for each side of the mask and put a layer of felt in the middle to help block out light (my mom's suggestion).  Mom had extra elastic for the straps and helped me sew since I didn't look up a How-To-Guide (master sewer, I tell you).

And of course, my mom knew how to sew a quick blanket (which is similar to This Tutorial).

I cut a horseshoe shape for the neck pillow but next time I'll look up a real pattern because the neck part was too thin and a little funny-shaped once we filled it (we cut up a regular pillow for the batting).  

Here's how it turned out. . . .

(My mom made up the pattern for the drawstring bags - she's my hero! - but These would work too)

Turquoise for Annie:

Royal Blue for Lil' Dude:

Purple for Brinx:

'Pink' for CC (or the closest thing I had to pink):

The best part?  

The kids actually used/loved them.

 After hours and hours (too many!) and seeing the results, I was happy that I had followed through with this and SO grateful for my mom's help.  

However, if I had tons of Euro to drop, I would buy the ready-made bag that comes in beautiful French fabric AND has a doll so fast.  

At least the kids used them again for their sleepover at Grandma and Popa's house (and we used Lil' Dude's in the hotel to make him a bed using linens I trusted).

My Dream In-Laws in LA

One of my favorite things to do is visit my In-Laws.  It's true- they're so funny and from the first time I met them they treated me like family.  In November they moved from Meridian, MS to West Monroe, LA so we road-tripped out to see them and check out their new home.

I know very little about Duck Dynasty, 

but apparently it takes place there.

 I usually get teased by my whole In-Law family about my wardrobe and what I chose to wear when, but I think I finally got it.  It was balmy and sprinkling on and off and my lightweight Free People dress (love those sales on sale) and my Melissa oxfords (best rain shoes ever) fit all situations I found myself in.

It proved to be the perfect outfit for checking out one of my new favorite lakes, the Black Bayou.  

 As you can see, we could Not contain ourselves.  

My brother-in-law also drove up which means even more fun.

   

 Can you tell it was windy?

Actually we had tornadoes that night - my first ever!

Magic Man was about to make it rain.

 As was the the sky.  

Magic Man accuses me of having too many 'favorites' or '#1's' but the lake was my first Bayou and I did truly love it.

And I love these guys.

We also checked out the mall, which Magic Man and I had once visited (well, we slept in the parking lot during a road trip).   

Do you miss Walter White too?

We ate non-stop (mostly healthy stuff like Mom's homemade bread  and Five Guys' grilled cheese) and watched The Christmas Story (Do You Like Santa? . . .  I Like the Wizard of Oz) while the tornado tore up part of the town.  

There was a frozen custard place I wanted to visit but we ran out of time.  It's fine, we'll be back to see our family and also so I can visit my most favorite lake ever of all time.