Seriously Lounging...this does not look comfortable at all.

Projects

I had a couple of friends ask me to share my recent projects I have completed. I thought I would post some of my favorites to share. I can send the original links if anyone is interested. None of these ideas are original. I am one to find a great idea and modify it to what works best for me and my taste. The felt food was one of my favorite new projects this year. I had two other friends make a bunch too and we shared all that was made to give to our little girls. The ones I made are PB&J sandwiches (above), cinnamon rolls and poptarts. I have also included a picture of all the various items that were made and divided up. Looks like we are missing a few items...at least I know they are being played with.

Cinnamon Rolls

Poptarts

This is the whole collection - we have multiples of many of these. Cute bag my friend made to put everything in, poptarts, eggs, donuts, pancakes w/syrup and butter, cinnamon roll, orange slices, sandwich bread (missing the insides for now), crackers/cheese, taco and pizza (again missing the insides), sushi rolls, broccoli and chicken legs. I am hoping to continue adding to collection through the year.

Reversible fleece hats. I ended up making about 10 of these for family members at Christmas. Each one was an original color. You can see a couple more in the background of the picture.

This was my first attempt at a stuffed pig for our baby girl. At the time I made it we did not know what we were having so I thought the orange and white was a great unisex color. I had to make some modifications from the original tutorial I found to make it baby friendly so he doesn't really stand up the way the original did.

These are fun pin cushions I made - the first one was too little so I increased the size. Seth then used this same pattern to make the cutest stuffed bug for his baby sister. I will include all his fun projects in his homeschool album.

I took up loom knitting after Christmas and made these two matching hats for Seth and Kaila. I was originally just making one for Seth, but ended up making it too small so added in a couple of flowers to make Kaila's more girly.

This was a growth chart I made for Kaila's room. I got the original idea from a friend of mine and then just modified the design on the front to match Kaila's room. I love the verse I found to include. The flowers were actually left over from when Grandma made the valances for her room.

This a floor mat I made for Seth to put all his little legos on so they are all in one spot. This turned out to be a bigger project than I expected and I had to make a lot of adjustments from the original tutorial I found. The underside of this is squares of denim I sewed together - thankful for lots of holey jeans from years past from a boy who loves to be on his knees. There is a drawstring that pulls the whole thing together so it can then just be hung up for use later.

Another hat on the loom. This one was made with yarn that had elastic in it so it fits great and doesn't fall off easily.

I also made a set of bean bags for the kids and then Chad constructed targets. You can see those with Seth's birthday party pictures. We are planning to have Seth and Kaila paint their own design on the front of their targets.

7th Birthday Party

We had a wonderful birthday party this past weekend. Brother chose the theme of "Rocks" - I always let him decide and he makes my creative side work overtime. We decided to go with the layers of the Earth and just rocks in general. We had a lot of fun making paper mache rocks, treasure stones, a mural that showed the layers of the Earth for decorating, and an Earth layer cake. Food included meatballs (boulders), baked beans (pebbles), cheese balls, 7-layer salad, and a layered fruit salad. We also had rock "sugar" candy and rock "chocolate" candy.


The cake decorating was a little stressful at times as we almost experienced a shift in the tectonic plates of the Earth mid-decorating...so we secured the structure by wrapping bricks in foil.


Brother always does a great job with allowing his sister to help him unwrap his presents. She thought she would model his new work boots...we had some difficulty standing up at first.

Brother received a lot of really fun gifts that he has been spending a lot of time playing with since his party.


One of the activities we had was the painting/decorating of rocks. The kids had a ton of fun with this...as did some of the adults.







We played "rock" toss with some paper mache rocks.

I didn't get a picture of Sister's cousin in her princess attire, but Sister wanted to join in with this cute princess crown and shiny slippers.

We made treasure stones from used coffee grounds, flour, salt, and water and put quarters on the inside of them. The kids then were able to break them open and find the treasure inside.




I found some great Bible verses to add to our table tops - great way to tie into the theme Brother had chosen. We are so thankful for the blessings God has provided us in the lives of our children.

Turning 7...Where Did The Time Go?

Daddy started out the day making Happy Birthday pancakes - very fun! Brother and Daddy then spent the day in our garage with Daddy's 3rd deer of the season preparing it for our freezer. Brother really enjoyed running the grinder. We then had a wonderful spaghetti dinner per birthday boy's request and had yummy ice cream for dessert. Brother did a great job of letting his sister help open his gifts with him...I guess they get opened quicker this way.

Brother Stylin' Sister's Hair...With Kitchen Utensils

Tools Needed...



Brother decided it would be fun to style Sister's hair with kitchen utensils...they both seemed to be enjoying it!

December Rain

I should have posted this before Christmas pictures, but I forgot. These are some great pictures of our kids in their winter coats, fishing in rain puddles at the end of our driveway in mid-December.

Christmas Day 2011

Grandpa and Grandma C came and spent the night with us and were here on Christmas morning. We love this tradition of having them with us on Christmas day. We also spent the evening at Great Grandma's house eating yet more food and enjoying family time, but...I forgot the camera...





Hand made by Grandma D - love it.