Pirate Ship & Mermaid Island

 

  

  You could say that I'm navigating my way back to normal posts with this one...

With all the heartache and miracles (more on that one in a bit) around here, I have learned from past experiences that sometimes the best thing for me to do is to redirect my energy elsewhere. Creating has always been a great way for me to move forward and through the harder parts of this crazy beautiful life. I think it's important to show our little ones also that there can always be something to get us through, a happy surprise around the corner. 

I don't claim to be a master crafter, and I have no idea how long this pirate ship will hold up, but we seem to have had pretty good luck so far in creating with cardboard, it's surprisingly sturdy. I almost always hot glue two pieces together for a little extra support. I made the base of the pirate ship with some of the left over cardboard tubing that I used for the tree house (scroll down on my blog if you don't remember that one, it wasn't that long ago.) So far, the girls love this project. I'm not even sure what they love more, the idea of the pirate ship (sadly we have no actual pirates) or the mermaid island. There has been talk of making eye patches for some of her dollhouse dolls and also hopes of the elves leaving "real" wooden pirates in her Christmas stocking (yes, talk of Christmas already, gasp!) Honestly, I did not spend more than a few dollars on this whole set up. I bought some cheap fabric that at first glance I deemed ugly, only to realize that it would be perfect for the water. I really can't think of anything else I bought for this, other than a new bag of hot glue sticks. The mermaids I crafted from one of Sunny's favorite shirts that she has just recently outgrown. By the time I cut them all out, there were a total of about ten mermaids, or two sets. I didn't get a chance to hand sew the bottom of the mermaids shut because the girls wanted to play with them right away, but that ended up working out just fine because now they can double as finger puppets! Believe it or not, I still have more of the cardboard tubing left over after two big projects... so any ideas as to what I should make next? There has already been mention of an igloo and penguins too. Hmmm....

Now, on to the really good news!

Baby Liam just turned a week old today! He came through surgery with flying colors earlier this week. They successfully moved his small intestine, large intestine, and part of his spleen from his lung area and placed everything back in it's proper spots. Everything was intact and his heart remains strong. As a matter of fact, he has already made great improvements and has been able to be taken off some of his pain medications. 

So, Happy Birthday to my dear friends sweet little baby boy, he is quite the trooper!

xo