Big Sister Blues

Amelia: I need jammies on.

Me: What about a bath?

 Amelia: I don't want a bath, I just want to go to bed.

Me: You don't want a bath?!

Amelia: No, Marinn poops in it every time.

After cleaning up a mess the past two nights, I can't say that I blame the kid. Marinn, what are we going to do with you? So sad to think this sweet little face may have forever ruined baths for big sister.



A Very Merry Homemade Christmas:Sew With Me

As soon as Amelia was big enough to talk, if I was sitting at my sewing machine I would hear, "I sew with you?"

Much like anything else I do, she wanted to be a part of it. Not willing to risk little fingers getting poked or pinched I would hand her scraps of fabric to occupy her. As she's getting older she's not as easily entertained by mere fabric. She watches closely as I work on projects and mimics what I'm doing. When I saw her get a baby spoon out of the drawer to use as her needle I knew I needed to come up with something better for her.

This project was inspired by something I remember doing in grade school, sewing with laminated paper and yarn. I wanted something sturdier than paper so I opted for a piece of hardwood. Together with some yarn and yarn needles Amelia now has her own 'sewing kit.'

For this project you will need:
Saw
Drill
Sandpaper
Paint
Small detail paint brush
Spray laquer
Krazy glue
5 1/2" x 36" piece of hard wood
4 Wooden spools 1 3/16" x 5/16"
4 yarn pieces cut to 50"
4 Yarn needles
Optional: cute painted box with fabric modge podged into the top

Start by cutting the wood into four equal parts and sand the raw edgeds until smooth. Next draw your design onto a piece of paper and mark where your holes will be (I spaced mine 1" apart). Each piece of wood will need its own template.I did simple shapes for these using Micrsoft word.
Tape one template to a piece wood and using a drill with a size   drill bit, drill holes through paper and completely through the wood. Remove paper and sand any rough areas that may be around holes. Repeat with remaining pieces.
Using acrylic paint and a small paint brush number the holes as if it were a dot-to-dot puzzle, lable the shape and allow to dry completely.
Once dry, spray with a coat of laquer and allow to set the reccomended amount of time.
Next take a spool and use krazy glue to glue one end of one piece of yarn to the spool. Hold in place until set and allow to dry completely. On the other end of the yarn lace one yarn needle on, leaving a 1" tail. Using the glue again glue the tail back to the yarn, securing the needle onto the yarn. Once the gule is completely dry, wind the yarn around the spool and secure into place by tucking the needle into the yarn. Repeat with remianing spools.

Marinn Was Here

I have a dreaded feeling third grade Marinn will be in trouble for etching into a desk

 'Marinn was here."

Let It Snow!

I woke up entirely too early this morning to nurse my now one year old (seriously kid? I thought we would be done with this by now-or at least only do so during normal waking hours.) and looked out the window to see snow falling.

As an adult I find the snow less appealing than I did as a child. I guess when there is no such thing as a snow day and you DO feel when your fingers are going numb from being outside in the wet stuff too long, it looses a little bit of its magic. I also know my husband has to drive an hour to work in the stuff long before the plows make their appearance. I was a little annoyed by it all, kissed my husband good bye and went back to bed.

When morning came (the real morning, when the sun is at least starting to make its appearance and mostly when you cannot convince children to sleep any longer) Amelia came bouncing into the room and pulled the blinds to check to see if it was moring (and therefore if she could be up.) She started bouncing, yelling, "It's snowing time! It's snowing time!" She excitedly ran from room to room lifting blinds and announcing, "It's snowing time in my room! It's snowing time in the living room! It's snowing time in the kitchen too!"

The snow hasn't lost it's magic for her! She begged me to open the front door and she and Marinn watched out the screen door as the snow continued to fall. She cried when I told her we couldn't go out and play and informed me that she and Daddy would be making a snow man.

Because recently sick children will not be going out to play in this snow we made snowman pancakes to compensate. I'm sure it will only be a little while before she's begging to go outside, but for the moment she's satisfied!

 

 

 

I think there will be hot chocolate and Chritmas movies in our future today!

Cowboy Campfire Baby Shower

I had the privilege of hosting a shower for a friend today and I thought I would share a few pictures from it.

Once we knew she was having a boy I was certain of what I wanted to do for a shower theme. The baby's father's nickname is Cowboy Junior (Grandpa is "Cowboy") so Cowboy Junior-Junior needed a Cowboy campfire shower in his honor.

Homemade chicken noodle soup served out of tin cans, made from scratch biscuits, and a s'mores bar seemed appropriate for the occasion. (Is it weird that the tin cans were inspired by the scene in Dennis the Menace where the guy eats all the beans??) It was unseasonably warm, but comfort food was good none the less.

I used lots of bandannas incorporated into the decor courtesy of the farm/cowboy party from earlier this year and I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

A Very Merry Homemade Christmas:Pajamas

Every year as a child we were allowed to open one gift from under the tree on Christmas eve and that gift was always new pajamas. I don't know how the tradition was started but apparently it is a very common one. I tip my hat to the person who came up with the idea because I personally think there is something so great about new, warm pjs when you go to bed on a magical night like Christmas eve.

This year I made the girls pajamas to wrap and put under the tree. Pajama pants are a fairly easy project and inexpensive too!

Materials

1 yard snugly soft fabric (this made 1 pair 3T and 1 pair 12 month)
Elastic (1" thick)
Thread

Directions

To start I used a pair of well fitting pants, folded with legs together, as my template. Fold your fabric so that right sides are together the width of the widest part of your pants plus 1/2".  Lay pants on top of fabric with the front of the pants touching the fold of the fabric. Using a fabric pencil trace the back edge of the pants leaving a 1/2" allowance on the side, 2" at the bottom, and a 3" at the top. Cut through both layers of fabric, this will be your first pant leg.

Leaving the pant leg folded, sit it aside and reposition the remaining fabric so that it looks as it did when you began, with it folded onto itself the width of your pant leg. Place your first pant leg on top of the fabric and trace around it and cut.

Take one pant leg and sew the length of the leg to the crotch using a 1/4" seam allowance. (With the extra fabric at the top it may be easy to confuse the top with the leg so it may be helpful to mark one or the other.) To keep stray threads from tickling tiny legs sew the same seam using an overcasting stitch. Repeat with the second pant leg.

Now you're ready to hem the pants. I left a 1" allowance at the bottom to give me a 1/2" hem. Turn the bottom of the fabric up 1/2" and press. Fold again and press (you may want to pin at this point, however I find that pressing holds the fabric in place well enough.) Sew along the bottom edge of your pants using a 1/4" seam allowance. Repeat with second pant leg.

The next step is sewing the legs together. Turning one pant leg right side out, place it inside of the other pant leg and line up the raw edges. This should create a U shape. Starting at the center,where all the pieces/seams meet up, pin together. Sew along the U shape using a 1/4" seam allowance. Follow the seam using an overcast stitch. Pull the inside pant leg back out, making sure the pants are still inside out.

Now we can sew the waist band. I left a 3" allowance at the top giving me a 1 1/2" waistband. (I wanted enough room for my 1" elastic to slide in.) Like with the pants, begin by folding the fabric over 1 1/2" and press. Fold again and press. Sew along the bottom edge of the fold using a 1/8" seam allowance, leaving a 2" gap at the back seam.

Cut the elastic to size (you can find many different ways of determining the correct size, the way I did it was flat the pants out flat and measure across one and a half times) and using a safety pin attached to one end feed it through the pocket you made. Once all the way through pull until it overlaps the start by 1" and sew the two pieces together. Fold the gap closed and sew closed.

I may embellish the pink shirts I got to go along with these and if I come up with something good I'll share!

Updated 12/20/2012

I tried my hand at some embroidering and added the tree and moose to the plain pink shirts I bought. What do you think?

A Very Merry Homemade Christmas

The first Christmas that I was a mother I found myself quite concerned with what Christmas would be like for our family. I knew, above all, I was determined not to be excessive and to raise grateful children whose sense of appreciation for the holidays came more from the events than the gifts. That being said, I think there is something ingrained in us that makes us want to pile up the presents under the tree. There is an appeal to seeing little faces light up when they awake to a mountain of gifts that magically appeared overnight. Maybe it's because it makes me reminiscent of my childhood.

My husband and I have talked about this (and things like birthdays as well) and I think we have a good grasp on a healthy balance. We try to base our gift giving off of needs, what will have longevity in our house, and quality over quantity. The biggest thing I've had to do is STAY OUT OF THE STORES! It is so easy to get caught up in all the hype and advertisements (and finding great bargains seems to be my knack, but if we don't need it or won't use it for long how great of a deal is it really?) And we also are setting traditions like tree decorating, cookie baking, family movies nights, and other things to make sure the holiday season is more than the gifts on Christmas morning.

This year we have made a good effort for the majority of the things going under our tree to be homemade or something we have had our hands on in some way. I'm excited to see the girls rip open packages and find things to love that we have already poured so much love into. Amelia has helped with the making/baking of gifts for family and friends this year so hopefully she will feel that same excitement as we share them.

So far we have decorated our tree, hung our stockings, torn our rings off our paper chain, watched Christmas movies, baked breads and cookies, and sipped hot chocolate. Here's to a very merry homemade Christmas 2012!