Sewing...

I've been able to do some sewing the last two days. Yesterday, I cleaned out all my fabric and organized it to fit better on the shelf in my closet. I did a practice block in the style of our Vintage Sheet Bee this month (only without the paper backing). I realized that the paper backing is probably a nice thing though as I was told it helps keep the fabric from stretching and mine did do that a little. Here is the new block I made as well as the previous blocks I made cut down to strip blocks (they are 6.5", 6", and 5"):

I also started working on the water bottle holders for the kids. I didn't get very far yesterday as I desperately needed pins before continuing that project. So I went out this morning and picked some up. Then I came back and got to work. I made these two holders with only a few calls to my sister and couple times removing bad stitching! =) This was also my first project using a stippling foot and doing pebble quilting. It's not anywhere close to perfect (and not that it can or ever will be) - but I did a decent job for my first time! I was quite pleased with them!

Today's Publix trip!

I didn't take a picture of my stuff from Publix today, but I still did really well. I spent $20.29 and got the following items: $16 worth of steak (it was on sale and we bought three good size steaks), 4 cans of diced tomatoes, 3 cans of tomato sauce, 2 eight ounce blocks of cheddar cheese, and 8 men's deodorants. Jon laughed at me (again) because I just bought him 8 deodorants at Costco and now we have 8 more. But they cost significantly less than what I paid there, so I went ahead and stocked up!

A new member of the cast club!

Well I have now had my first kid with a cast! And she's only 2 1/2!! My big girl hurt her arm at church last night and so we took her to the doctor today. At first we thought it was just nurse maid's elbow, but after a twist and a pull didn't fix the problem we were sent to an orthopedist. They took a couple x-rays and couldn't SEE anything wrong. But she was in so much pain they decided to immobilize her arm for a couple weeks to hopefully heal whatever is wrong. She was still saying it hurts, but is doing much better! The only issue now is finding her clothes to wear - since her normal clothes will not fit over the cast!

Improv blocks...

After toying with the idea of what to make today, I decided to make some improv blocks. I followed this basic idea only without the muslin backing. I don't quite like the scraps and colors I had, but essentially I just wanted to practice - so I wanted to use the scraps I liked the least for that. Anyway, here is the result:
These are the blocks before I cut them.

And after.

My Publix trip!

I was quite pleased with my Publix trip today. I spent $24.04 and got quite a bit of stuff - including a box of diapers that are normally $20 themselves! Now I wouldn't normally pay $20 for a box of diapers, but with all the other stuff too - I think I did pretty well!

I joined a sewing bee!

I don't know if I should jump for joy or ball up and cry. What am I getting myself into?!? Just kidding....I am excited though about joining this sewing bee. I want to learn more and more and hope this is a way I can do that. My sister suggested the idea to me and said she could help me out. It should be a lot of fun!

Sewing Project...

I have been wanting to make something again and today was going to be the day....but alas that didn't happen. But I figured out what I am going to do. I mentioned previously I had won some fabric from a blog for Sew Mama Sew's give away day. Since some of it is already cut and ready to go, I thought I'd work with that to make something! Once I actually pull it all out and look at the scraps and other pieces, I'll determine where to go, but that's a start anyway. Hopefully I will have my sewing day soon!

Puzzle pictures...

In the top photo, my son left the top few pieces off this 63 piece puzzle because they are all solid brown and he's not quite able to figure them out. The bottom photo is a 60 piece puzzle that would have been complete if the missing piece had not gotten mixed up with my daughter's puzzle.

Snow Fun!

I finally got around to uploading my pictures from the recent snow. The kids and I had a lot of fun! My husband did come out for a little bit, but preferred to stay inside with the baby. These are my favorites from our snow day:

My baby girl's new talent....

My baby girl has a new talent - she can get out of her car seat onto the floor. She does it in such a way as to slowly work her way down and out of it without hurting herself. (I've seen it done a couple times, but we still try to make sure she can't get out if it would be a problem.) This past time I caught her wiggling out, I decided to take pictures. Here's the result:

Monkey Joe's!

We love going to Monkey Joe's. This past Monday, we went with our playgroup and had a fun time. I wound up staying for almost five hours! We don't go that often, so when we do go, we make it an almost all day affair. The kids have gotten braver over the last few weeks, and they actually went down all the slides (including the BIG slide)! Here are some pictures of them:



And the resulting car ride home:

Comparisons....

I have a couple picture comparisons I wanted to post.


With this first one, I saw my big girl with the phone in her mouth again and it reminded me of the one where she was much younger (right around a year old).


The first one here is my big girl at 10 1/2 months wearing a certain dress. And the second is my baby girl at almost 6 months wearing the same dress!

Puzzles...

My big boy has really taken to puzzles in the last couple days. I had gotten a couple puzzles at the Dollar Tree several weeks ago, but just this week he's decided he really likes playing with them. I got one 25 piece puzzle and one 63 piece puzzle. The 63 is a little hard for him, but he just figured out how to do the 25 piece on his own. In fact, he's been spending so much time putting them together, that I went and got him another one - to have a little variety. My big boy, who has never really been one to spend much time on any one thing, has sat at the kitchen table for a couple hours at a time putting together the puzzle over and over. It is so sweet to watch!

On another note, my big girl continues to amaze us! She's only 28 months, and has already proved her ability to talk as well as a normal four year old. But now, she has taken to filling in the missing letters on the learning "Leap Top" computer. I don't think it is a case of knowing words or how to spell, but rather an ability to identify her letters. The game she goes to on the computer is one that leaves a letter out of a word (for example it will show D_G and then ask her to find the letter "O"). She can find them all! I have the materials to make her some words and I need to do it soon. I think she is ready and if I took the time with her, I think she'd be able to read relatively soon!

An ingenius computer...

Here is the most recent and up-to-date computer available:

I know it doesn't look like much, but it sure works well for the one who created it!

My big boy came up with this on his own and has been typing away at the "buttons"!

My baby girl's new favorite toy!

Check out some pictures of my sweet little girl and her new favorite "toy"!



And yes, I was keeping a VERY close eye on her to make sure she didn't hurt herself with the balloon!

The surprise that wasn't quite.....

I spent the last three to four weeks trying to keep from letting on to my husband that I had been planning a surprise 50th birthday party for him. He told me not to do something like that, and so I figured he wouldn't know (at first anyway). He's really good at figuring out those kind of things and the smallest little miss-step can give it away. Well, this past Saturday it was getting closer and closer to time for the dinner. My husband was still set on picking up steaks for dinner and grilling out at home, so I had his brother call and invite him out to eat. That worked! I thought we had managed to keep it a secret and it would all work out perfectly......until it didn't. My husband figured it out! Something clicked in his head about us going out to eat and we had done a similar "meet at the restaurant" type of thing for his sister-in-law's 50th birthday. So he came to our room - where I was on the computer - and started asking me over and over if I was up to anything and if there was a party of some kind going on. Now I cannot lie. I'm no good at it (and that's a great thing I know!) - but it certainly doesn't help when trying to make a thing a surprise. So I didn't really say much and he knew then and I had to say something.....but it was all fine. We had a great time and it didn't really matter. I just couldn't believe we were so close to pulling it off when he figured it out!