Heidi Grace Apron & Hot pad

So.. I'm actually quite proud of myself! I made this apron without a pattern, and it actually looks like an apron!!! I used the Heidi Grace fabrics (SO CUTE!) and a little ric rack and VOILA! This one is just being "tested" by Brynley. It's going to her cousin Makayla for Christmas (who is getting a play kitchen) Brynley's apron will come later and will be more of a PINK version. Oh - and now Michael has come down with strep.. so we are just loving the antibiotics right now. Nothing like 2 office co-pays and 2 sets of antibiotics right before Christmas. HOPEFULLY the little one will be spared the wrath of the Strep bug.

More Strep

Yesterday Luke woke up complaining of a sore throat. I coudln't tell if he was coming down with a cold (the sore throat was his only complaint) so I gave him some motrin and took him to school a little late. (he didn't want to miss his last day before Christmas break!) When he came home he seemed fine, but as the motrin wore off he complained his throat was hurting agian. So.. more motrin, but by dinner (despite the motrin) he was breaking through with a fever and had a horrible stomachache. Luckily our clinic was open late (until 7) and waited for me to bring him in instead of telling me to wait until tomorrow (THANK-YOU DR. ROY!), where he tested positive for STREP! This is the second time in 2 months. Poor little dude. But thank-goodness for antibiotics! One dose and the fever and stomache ache are gone. He should be feeling even better by tomorrow or monday, and just in time for Christmas! We just hope the others don't end up with anything. We don't need to be spreading strep around at christmas time! (here's the little dude laying on the couch with his bowl of baby oranges, one of his favorite snacks! And yes, he still has his bear - sleeps on/with him every night still!)

OH SNOW!

The snow has arrived.. here are my little slaves out shoveling the sidewalks and driveway!

I ELFED my kids!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Card 2008 under construction

So here's my start.. I'm tempted to leave it at this. I'd like to add ribbon - but that would exponenetially increase the cost of my cards, or I could stamp a word on it - like Joy or something.. any ideas? Or should I just leave it as is and send them out! (well - I have to make them first, this is my "test" card!) If you're in the Boise area and you have a cute word stamp I could use - call me! Isn't this paper adorable? I was so bummed when it sold out at both archivers and paper cottage. I was in craft warehouse yesterday and this paper caught my eye as I was rushing by with brynley. They had TONS of it! And I mean like over 100 sheets of each paper in the line! I was so excited! If you're a digital gal - this entire line is online at sweet shoppe designs. There is even premade christmas cards, blog kit, and a mini album kit. I have it downloaded because I thought I was going to have to make digital cards since I couldn't find the paper! Now I'll just be using it to redo my blog! (and stationary for my christmas letter I'll stick inside the card). (sorry - my scanner really wanted to cut off the right side of this card)

So what do you think? Leave it? Stamp a word on it? Add some ribbon?

Fun Christmas ornament ideas

I've been searching the internet for cute/unique ornament ideas. (As IF I really need more projects.. there must be something wrong with me. I have finals coming up and I'm looking for more to add to my plate! HA!) Anyway... here are a few that I found that I might actually attempt here in the next week or two!

Sweet Lil Apron Ornament tutorial from pumpkinlittle.typepad.com

Acrilic Ornaments - from archiversonline.com Mine are actually going to be on little tags since they sold out of the postage stamp looking ones - and apparently can't get more in! Shame on them for making such a big deal and not supplying the demand! Oh well, mine will still be cute - and bigger.

and I'll be making these for sure.. Pottery barn looking ornaments from V & Co.

I've still got a few things on the "To Do" list as far as handmade stuff for Christmas - I'm beginning to wonder what I was thinking when I set out to do some homemade stuff this year!

Still Here!

Whew! Things have been crazy around here! I took a much needed blogging break and have been making things like crazy. My niece is turning 3 and we'll be coming home for her birthday party this weekend. I've gotten her doll blanket and pillow completed, now just to finish up her felt donuts! You can find for the felt donut tutorial here. (only one of mine is finished so far - and Brynley declared that it was hers!!!)

She's going to be getting a little "kitchen" so this will be something fun for her to play with! Brynley has approved the blanket and pillow - we even tried it with one of her dolls. Now to make something for Brynley's dolls too! (Grandma is getting her a doll cradle, so I need to make something that matches her bedding with the fabric I have).

Give-a-ways!!

I am thankful for giveaways - and for winning one! Check out what I will be getting from StudioJK vinyl here. One thing I am NOT grateful for today is a speeding ticket. ARGH! I honestly didn't even know or think I was speeding - and when I saw the cop and glanced down I wasn't speeding - so I must have spaced out while driving down the road. Luckily the tickets in Idaho aren't quite as spendy as other states!

I am thankful for visits from old friends!

There's nothing like a visit from an old friend to brighten the day (or week)!!! My friend Jovane came to stay for a few days while her husband was finishing up ISP training. When I lived in moscow I babysat her little guy (Cael) during the summer before we moved away. (Yes, I was somewhat insane taking on a 7 month old with my newborn Brynley!! But he was such a great boy and Brynley was such an easy baby) Now she's got another little guy - Eian! Brynley and Cael got along SO well! I was so impressed that there wasn't any fighting between those two! All the kids fought over who was going to hold baby Eian, and the boys think Cael is hilarious. They think he talks like a chipmunk. I think it's just because they are used to Brynley's voice and don't hear other little kids very often! Here's a few pics of the trampoline fun, and of course, holding baby eian! Thanks for visiting Jovane! It was great to see you again!

Look at that face!!! I don't think Cael had ever jumped on a trampoline before, but this was total excitement to him! He absolutely loved being bounced all over the place!!

All the kids needed their turn holding baby eian! Most of the time Eian didn't seem to mind too much! I even caught a few smiles and "cooing" from him!

M&M's and Pretty Panties!

For today I am thankful for M&M's and pretty panties. Brynley is now *knock on wood* potty trained. She LOVES having pretty gymboree panties (they really do have the best underwear for both boys and girls) AND she loves her M&M reward for using the potty. But the best part of all... Brynley waking up this morning and telling me she needed to go - and still had a dry pull-up! Yippee! I've even been so brave as to take her in public several times in panties successfully - with her even using public toilets! I think it's safe to say that she is potty trained!!

More 5 year old art...

My friend Lindsy is listing something she is grateful for on her blog every day. To get in the spirit of thanksgiving I thought I would give this a go too! So.. today I am thankful for 5-year old art.

This is a self portrait he drew at the beginning of the school year.

I love how he signs his name too!

Apple Art. Take an apple and cut it through the middle to show off that "STAR" in the middle! They had lots of fun stamping with Apples in class.
This is apology art. Luke has a hard time keeping his hands to himself, and when asked why he pinched the poor girl he said that she kept saying the same thing OVER AND OVER again and he pinched her to get her to stop. Ya. We're still working on the "using words" instead of hands thing. We're slowly making progress because he didn't hit... which used to be his thing.

Sorry if some of you find this next one a little offensive - or just plain bad. luke does draw us many nice pictures and "letters" but this was what I caught him draing the other day. This is what my sweet little 5 year old boys is into drawing lately. (where do they get this stuff?!!) I now have a folder on my desktop labeled "Luke's Art" because I don't want to miss any of it!

What am I going to do with this boy? It's a good thing he's so cute!

For Lindsy K.

This post is for my friend Lindsy (and any of her family that may stumble upon the blog today). I just wanted to let you know that I'm thinking of you today! I miss your dad too! He was such a great example to me! I love you!

5 year old artwork on little sister

OH Luke!!! If you're going to color on your sisters face then come down and tell me that she got a marker and did it to herself, don't sign your name across her forehead! (How did you know it was me mom? Um... let's see... Your sister can't write YOUR name on her own forehead!) At least it was a washable marker and not a Sharpie! (these are the kinds of things that happen while I'm trying to cook dinner!)

Family pictures and a hairclip holder

YAY! We had family pictures last night, and well.. they're up on the photographer's blog already! As soon as I get the CD I'll post them here! If you'd like a little preview click here.

I finally got sick of finding Brynley's clippies EVERYWHERE so I went to craft warehouse and picked up a canvas board, some pink polka dot material, and matching ribbon to made her a holder for all those clippies. It was SUPER fast and easy to make. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner! Everything cost me around $10.00 total (except for the staple gun that I ended up purchasing.. but that can be used for other things too!) And, it's much cuter than a little set of plastic drawers from Wally world! For those of you that have little girls... What do you do to keep track of all the clippies, headbands, elastics.. etc?

Boo at the Zoo... NEVER again!

Trying to get all my kids to look and smile (Nicely) at the same time. It usually doesn't happen as you can see!

We went to "Boo at the Zoo" today in hopes of having a good time! Let's just say there were WAY too many people, and all the parents were stressed out trying to watch their crazy costumed kids in all the madness! 2 hours was all we could take. We left with a screaming 2 year old and 2 whiney boys - and a very stressed out mama! The kids did get to see the new African Plains exhibit - giraffes and lions! I don't know what I was thinking. My first thought should have been to throw away the flyer when I noticed they were limiting admission to 13,000! The kids were NOT interested in pics at all. I did get a few of brynley that were cute - but would be MUCH cuter if she'd SMILE! Little Stinker!

Michael and Luke are "Mario and Luigi" Complete with plungers (which are getting them into a bit of trouble!)

Here's luke hanging from a huge tree branch. He LOVES to climb!

Such a cute little witch! We got the tutu from hannah's tutus. It's ADORABLE! She's still not fond of the hat though. I can usually only get it on her for a few seconds, then she wants it off!

AE Kids!

I am SO excited! American Eagle FINALLY launched their kids line!!! GO check it out! (AND.. a big bonus, I can use my all access rewards toward purchase of the kids stuff!! WHOO HOO!) I'm so in heaven right now!

PS For some reason if you try to get to ae kids from the regular AE site it doesn't work - click on my link and you'll be able to browse around the shop!

Lil' pumpkins

ON V & Co's blog the other day she had a tutorial on creating a quick little applique, and well, it got me thinking I could use some of her SIMPLY SCRUMPTIOUS scraps that I won from her blog a while back to make some little pumpkins on a shirt for Brynley. It's not really as bright as the photo shows - but I think it turned out kinda cute! Thanks for sparking a creative moment!

More Pumpkin Patch Fun

We finally hit the pumpin patch as a family yesterday. It was SO nice outside and despite Brynley's crankiness from being up too late the night before we had a good time. There were so many pumpkins! Luke grabbed the first one he saw, then proceded to look for corn. Brynley didn't like the vines tripping her, so we hunted for pumpkins with her attached to the hip. Michael looked at several and finally with mom's prompting picked one out. Here's a few (too many!) pics from the day.

Ready for the hayride

Scraping the mud off with a stick (they have to be clean you know!)

Look mom! More corn! (he was quite disappointed when we told him it would NOT be ok to eat it for dinner!)

OH! So heavy!

Best Buds