Potawatomi Festival 2017

For those that didn't know, my husband is part Indian. He is on the Potawatomi tribal rolls. Every year the tribe holds a festival on their land in Oklahoma. My husband's life revolves around this festival. I find it surprising that it doesn't have a post yet! I was sure to take some pictures this time and hopefully give you all a feel for what a tribal party is like! This year our Indian line (Peltier Family) that my husband descends from was honored.

The first stop is always horseshoes. The kids and I just hang out at the tent, dig in the dirt, eat rocks, drink water, and eat hot dogs. We like cheering on the people playing and the kids enjoy a little bit of outdoor freedom. They got super dirty, but hey, they were happy.

Usually after horseshoes, we play a group game called hand games. Basically we sit in our group for like two hours and take turns guessing which hand the marbles are in. It gets super long, and with kids it wasn't an option this year. Usually the drummers are in the middle singing and such. So it gives off a really native feel.

We also spontaneously did the dance contest this year. I always like to head over to this tent before we go to the hotel and dance with the girls. This year we were there when they called out a couples contest. Jordan and I won!! hahahah! We just did some swing dancing. Even though we only have like three moves, we look REALLY good doing them... obviously!

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served at the Indian festival. The food isn't always the greatest, but it feels our bellies and gives us time to chat with visiting family. They also have hotdogs and brats being served at all times as well as homemade fry bread with honey and powdered sugar! SOOOO good!

In the evening they have a Pow Wow type thing, or at least what I imagine a Pow Wow to be. I am not sure. However, we listen to the tribal singers, watch certain families dance to the beat, and listen to traditional songs.  I even included a short little clip of what it is like to give you a feel for the festival. Hope it works.

Now for the moment that Jordan waits for ALL year!! The basketball tournament. My husband does get the chance to play basketball at other times, but he loves this tournament. He loves playing with and against his cousins and uncles as well as winning the prize money. $100 each for first place. He can proudly say that this year he was undefeated. His men's team won as well as the coed division, which I took part in, but no one ever thinks to take a picture of that. It's just coed. No big deal. :) I'll take the $100 though!

Stenciled dance bag

Madison is starting dance! I couldn't be more excited and we will see how excited she is to go after her first class today. We will see.

Anyways, I made her a stenciled little ballet bag. My mom had a drawstring bag and then I created a vinyl stencil with the cricut and painted it on. It was easier then I thought! I shared some pictures below, because I learned a few things about using vinyl as stencils that I thought were really useful. The techniques can be applied to any stencil project.

p.s. I can't take credit for the design. I basically found a picture I liked on Pinterest and then created a look a like in my cricut program.

So first I created my design and then cut it out with my cricut on vinyl. (The sticky back plastic paper) I then pulled all of the design away, only leaving the outline and of course made sure to leave the middle parts of the pictures and letters.

I was a little nervous about getting those small, middle parts of the letters and pictures onto the bag and originally planned to do it by hand, but decided to use contact paper! I put the sticky side of the contact paper on the stencil and rubbed really hard to attach everything, even the little middle pieces to the sticky paper. I then carefully pulled the stencil away and stuck it to my flat draw string bag. I also really rubbed the stencil so it would adhere to the bag and then carefully pulled away the contact paper! It worked wonderfully. Just took a little bit of time.

I then used acrylic paint to sponge in the different graphics and words. I mixed in a little bit of fabric additive with the paint that I just purchased at a normal craft store. I used make-up sponges to dab the stencil. Easy Peasy!

I then let the paint dry then carefully peeled off the vinyl stencil.

And if course I am going to show off my tiny ballerina.

Iowa Camping

We went camping! Second time since being here in Iowa. So... much... fun! I love to camp. Mostly I just love to get away. Camping is hard work, especially with babies, however, it is a different work than being at home. Children are happier, there are no toys to fight over, the food is good, and there are no distractions. Sitting around a campfire, laughing and chatting doesn't feel like you are wasting time for some reason.

I got a little camera crazy! :) For some reason the lighting was perfect and my pictures were turning out awesome. Plus camping pictures are the best! Dirty faces and crazy hair just give the pictures character and authenticity.