The Airplane

We survived the flight to San Diego.

Now we just have to survive the flight back!



Here's the girls playing on their Trunki's. They didn't play with them a lot but they did use them.

The big hit was the tray table tray I made. Which by the way, Eddie Bauer makes something similar but for the car. It's thicker and way bulkier but the same concept. We have this one for the car but I've yet to use it enough to give a review. The girls really used the trays as you can see. It helped tremendously to keep small items in check. The night before we flew I added elastic and two D rings to the underside so it would stay on the seat-back tray. It was perfect.

*click on picture to enlarge

This is what Ava did the 1st 3 hours of the 1st flight which was 10 hours long. She was good the rest of the flight except for a couple of melt downs but over all I was happy. She then turned into the devil when we landed in Atlanta and was awful while waiting on the runway for our turn (about 30 minutes) then passed out right before we took off and was asleep for the WHOLE 5 HOURS!!!!!! I had to shake her awake to leave the plane.

Here's a picture of the elastic for the tray table and also a picture of the Trunki insert which clips to the back of the seat in front of you. I highly recommend this if you buy the Trunki. We put the actual Trunki's up in the overhead bins. How many times can I say Trunki?

*click on picture to enlarge

The best toys for the plane for Ava were Popsicle sticks, large colored paper clips and pop beads. She didn't watch a lot of movies though. Emily's favorite toys were the pop beads and the plane ride itself!

Ava before we took off out of Atlanta. This is her being bad. She kept flopping on her back and kicking the window. then she'd lift the window shade up and down up and down. I almost had a heart attack!

Ribbon Wand

Ribbon wands I meant to post about back in July made for Emily's birthday party- for the goody bags.

Easy to make:

supplies:

1-36" dowel, 1/2" thick (makes 3 wands)

2 yards of 1.5" wide double faced satin ribbon for each wand

1 metal hook for each wand, see picture as I don't know the name of them (eye hook?)

1 split ring for each wand, about 1/2" round

spray paint and sparkle Mod Podge

blue painters tape (or masking tape)

Fray check or clear nail polish

**

1. cut one 36" dowel in to 3 equal parts (3 sticks at 12" each)
2. put dowel in a clamp and drill hole into one end of dowel, screw in hooks

3. cover hook with blue masking tape and while holding the blue taped end, spray paint dowel several coats

4. I then coated each dowel with sparkle Mod Podge several times

5. after it dries, take off blue painters tape

6. insert split ring on to hook (like picture) and tie ribbon on to split ring, real tight.

7. use fray check or clear nail polish on ends of ribbon knot and ends of ribbon so they won't fray.

Here's the girls playing with them.
*but please please disregard the super bright green of the photos! I had underexposed the pictures when I took them so then had to drastically edit them in photo shop.

The one above makes me think that the other Emilee (in pink shorts) is "telling off" my Emily with her ribbon wand.

They appear to really like them so I think they were a good idea:) They play with them in the house ALL the time.

**

The next post should be from the airplane ride and then DisneyLand.

We're having lots of fun here:)

Pillows for an Odd Duck

Ava's pillows covered in Lizy House, Red Letter Day, fabric with red ric rac and a zipper. oh, also lined in white muslin.



Ava loves these pillows. I mean LOVES them. They are her thing that she has to have (there are two and she knows it so don't try and fool her by handing her only one!). After I covered the pillows I documented the drama that ensued. This is the story:



Here's the pillows before (ugly, right?)

Now below is Ava discovering that I covered her beloved pillows. MELT DOWN. About 5 minutes of her yelling GET OUT! and STUCK! and crying like I killed her puppy.

While trying to calm her down, I asked her which duck was Ava and pointed to the red one and she immediatly stopped crying. I named every duck on that pillow after someone we know or a cartoon character. She was in love again (see below). Her pillows got hugs and some rolling around on them and all was right in the world.. until....

I asked Emily to hold one up so I could get a decent picture of it.

I'm not new to her and this love for the pillows so I don't know why I asked Emily to touch them. This (below) was the 2nd round of drama.

It's over. She so far has gotten the pillows freed from their fabric jail once and because I slaved over the covers, I refuse to let her win this. They got put back inside and she just has to deal with it!

I captured some back fat AND curls (although blurry).

Ava wearing the Simple Servant Frock that was Emily's. I think this pattern is not being sold anymore...(from here).

Goodbye Kee-na:(

My good bye gift to Corinnea. Pattern is Wig Wonderfuls from here.

Isn't she fabulous?? The hair is Anna maria Horner voile, appliqued. I had to use polyester ribbon for the ribbon embroidery becasue I didn't have any silk ribbon at the time.

Monday me and the girls spent time with Corinnea, Mary A. and Nicolas.

Corinnea & Emily.
After letting the kids play, eating really good food and talking about men, we said our goodbyes. I will see her one last time tonight though.

Corinnea & Ava.

Corinnea will leave for the States while I am visiting my family. So this is it:(

Pillow Case Top

Pattern is Indygo Junction, "shoulder tie topper",

but really it's a pillow case top:)

Blue floral fabric is Olivia's Holiday by Tina Givens for Freespirit. Yellow fabric is a very soft lightweight yellow and white gingham from Moda from many years ago.

Finally pictures of the girls together that I like!

My favorite is the one above.

Thanks for all the nice emails and comments about Emily's epilepsy.

They mean a lot to me:)

Grand Mal

Let me first say that I'm posting this because someone might have experience with this kind of thing and I welcome advice.

Yesterday we took Emily to the neurologist. The day after her 5th birthday she had a seizure here at home. I didn't witness the start of it it but I did hear her fall and came running. I saw the middle and end of it. It was soooo (add about 50 more O's to that) scary. We got her into see the base Dr.'s and they referred us to a neurologist. A month wen by (before she was seen) and nothing happened. I really did think they'd not find anything when they checked her brain waves. Well I was wrong. They found something. If you look at the graph I've pointed out the "blips". This is seizure stuff for lack of a better word. All the Dr.'s are german and most speak excellent English but it can still get confusing with the way they word stuff so I'm not sure what to call those "blips". brain waves, neurons firing...I don't know. They are not seizures but abnormalities in her brain waves.

Emily was SO good. I'm mean crazy good. She had to sit still for a very long time and close her eyes then open then close then open. that went on for a long time. then she was subjected to a strobe light for a long time (turn off turn on, close eyes open eyes, etc.). She never cried or thrashed or tried to get up but instead did everything the Dr. asked. I was shocked! She was so good, all 5 hours at the hospital that she got a special treat: The Last Unicorn dvd. the 1982 version! Now Ava on the other hand was...less than good. She did good the 1st hour or two but then got tired and crazy!
So Emily is now on medication, will have an MRI next Tuesday and follow up with another EEG and blood tests in October right before we move. Hopefully she'll not have any problems on the 10 hour +5 hour flights going home!
*

In case your interested, the Dr. thinks she has Focal epilepsy and or Rolandic epilepsy.

Something lighter.....
I took photos of Lisa's 3 beautiful Children the other night.

Airplane Tray

Hello Kitty for Emily

The Zoo for Nicolas A. (for his next trip)

And the 3 little Pigs for Ava.

They are airplane tray table..tray's.

As you know, I'm flying home in a week and a half. It's 10 hours to Atlanta then 5 hours to San Diego. I'm so so stressed about flying with Ava that I've been thinking a lot about how to make the flight better. I have tons of new DVDs and new toys put aside but then started thinking about how the Pop Beads among other things I got are going to roll off the tray and be all over the place. So I made a tray table tray. Below is what it looks like laid flat

If you're interested in making one too, here is how I did it:

It consists of 2 pieces of vinyl @ 16"x 9". The Hello Kitty vinyl is very thin and floppy so with that tray I used 1 layer of peltex in between the two pieces of vinyl.

1. pin two layers of vinyl wrong sides together (if using peltex, sandwich it between the two pieces of vinyl) pin all over the place.

2. Mark 2" out from your needle on your machine using tape (I use blue painters tape).

3. Sew all layers together 2" from edge, all around tray.

4. Sew double fold bias tape around raw edges making sure all layers are captured inside the bias tape.

5. When you sewed 2" all around the tray you will have made a large square in the middle with a 2"x2" square in each corner. Cut 2" wide velcro to fit corner square then cut velcro in half. Sew one male and one female piece of velcro in each corner (see picture above).

I cover my throat plate (except for the feed dogs) and the bottom of my presser foot with blue painters tape so the vinyl can slide over it easier. It still gets stucks sometimes but you can just guide it with your hands. I also used a size 16 needle. I did buy a Teflon foot for my machine but I keep forgetting I have it!

It can be rolled up and put in your purse! Or laid flat in the bottom of your carry on. I'm thinking of attaching elastic or ties on each short side so I can either slip the elastic over the tray to keep it in place or tie the ties under the table. i suppose it could double as a changing mat..

I got the measurements for the airplane tray tables on line so hopefully I made these to fit correctly. Also, they aren't hard/stable on the bottom so I don't know how holding it on the lap will work.
After we fly, I'll post as to whether this was a good idea!

Trunki Love

What's a Trunki? Check out this video.

I got these for our trip home and trips to come.

I had to include this picture of Frank the Tank becasue I caught him with his tongue out.

Ava got the tiger and Emily got the Gruffalo.

I had to buy the tiger on amazon.de and the Gruffalo on amazon.co.uk.

You can buy separate inserts (what Emily is holding) that can double as a messenger bag. So when we get on the plane we can pull out the separate insert and put the hard case up top in the overhead bin. Also with the insert, things don't spill out when you open the suitcase.

The girls love these suitcases! I will post after the trip whether I love them! I hope this wasn't a mistake.

They can ride on it buy using their own legs to push them forward or they can be pulled on it. It doesn't flip! They love to "race" on them in the house and pull each other. I'm hoping this keeps them occupied during layover's.

Or they can pull it on their own but I don't see that happening for long.

I have another airplane related thing to post in a day or two.

I just need pictures..