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).

Dreamy and Cursed Evolution

If you visit us in Austin I'm going to take you to Graffiti Park, whether you like it or not.

It's such a dreamy (and possibly dangerous) place.  

Note: You shouldn't wear wedge sandals, as I have several times, because it's hard to climb the steep hills to the top and there are the occasional broken beer bottle. 

The first few times I went there, I loved how everything was constantly evolving, like a rotating art gallery.  

However, when I decided to take my Persian Princess there, with a homemade stencil of Prince so we could commemorate her visit, I naively thought it'd be there forever - or at least 2 weeks. 

But 2 weeks after I tagged my first wall, we took our kids and it had been painted over. Darn you, creative Austin types!  But I get it, the beauty of Graffiti Park is that it's constantly changing blah blah blah. 

 The kids didn't seem to believe that I painted something there - oh! I should have shown them these photos . . . 

  .  .  .  Anyway, lesson learned, you can't control communal art and next time I'll paint somewhere no one can reach or even see, like this charming Arnold Jackson (remember he didn't legally change is name to Drummond).

...the twig and the tree...

My Dreamy NY Trip From Ages Ago

Ahh, remember when I used to live in NY?

I'd go to museums on my lunch break like it was no big deal?

And I saw my little Monkey sister everyday (because we were roommates)?

And we'd pretend to be annoyed at all the tourists at Christmas time but would still go to Rockefeller Center?

 And there were dinners with these ladies?  

And we'd go to see my Little Monkey sister perform at clubs all over downtown? (This was her nod to Sally Bowles, isn't she adorable?)

 And my bestie from college was always there?  (Well for 6 of my 8 years.)

For my last birthday (when I turned Old), Monkey flew we to New York to celebrate properly.

Which meant that Bergdorf Goodman was the first stop.  

One of my gifts was an appointment to the Braid Bar at the John Barrett salon which meant no washing my hair for a week!  My dream!

Then maybe I did a little shopping . . . 

Like at Forever 21 (which might be age-inappropriate)

And the sale department at Anthropologie.

 Valentine's Day Dress . . . Check.

Joe Fresh . . .Well, I wanted this one but when I sent this photo to Magic Man  . . . 

He sent this photo back to me:

So I decided I could not buy the crazy, silver, sequined blazer.  

Instead, I chose a demure black version:

 Ha! That'll show him.  

Or me when I try to sport this in Texas and get thrown out of everywhere.

Then there was my old NY stand-by, Necessary Clothing (THEY have a retail site and Joe Fresh doesn't?!)

This is my version of the oversized Dude Sweater.

And this killed me!

A blatant knock-off of a Dries van Noten pattern!?  

Like we would't notice.  

I didn't buy this one, by the way, out of respect for lovely Dries.  

Can we discuss the state of young people's clothing?  

These were being sold and not as a joke or for a costume and there were being worn too.  I don't get it. 

 Except for the high-waisted, elastic waist versions. But those make me feel guilty for even thinking of wearing them.  Too comfortable.

Back to my birthday celebration, my lovely friends and sister treated me to a luxe manicure.  

Can you spy my Marc Jacobs socks bought that day at Century 21?  My new new favorites.

And there was so much walking.  And so many wild animals.

And the best part, our traditional dinner at L'Asso.

 How is it possible this place is still a secret and we always get a banquet table for 8 like it's no big deal?  Heaven!

And I'm kind of in love with Kirk's camera.  You know Kirk, he's my friend who got a shout out from Uhh Yeah Dude from stage.    

It was a tres short trip but one that I'm still dreaming about.

Especially since College Bestie is leaving NY soon and Monkey just had HER birthday.