Birthdays, Christmas Parades and More Milestones

My mom's birthday was Friday, but due to my dad's work schedule, we celebrated on Saturday. Natalie and I brought a gift over on Thursday when I came to pick up cake pans (I probably should have asked for some for Christmas, now that I think about it!) and I baked the cake on Friday. Thanks to this Pinterest pin, I made crowd-pleasing cake for both my mother-in-law's birthday in October and my mom's birthday. I used only the recipe for the cheesecake and chocolate butter cream frosting and used this Taste of Home recipe for doctoring up a box cake mix. The whole from-scratch cake thing intimidates me, and starting with a box mix and adding a few extra ingredients worked out well. I hope I can find a similar recipe to doctor up a white or yellow cake for Natalie's birthday.

After we got home, Natalie and Alex took a nap together (a rare occurrence) and then we went to our local Christmas parade. Natalie didn't like all the firetruck sirens (I don't blame her), but we gave her a lollipop (what kind of mother am I!?) and all anxiety subsided. It was so funny to me that she immediately knew what to do with it. And then she just chilled out sucking on it until it was all gone. I swear, I was never going to give my kids sugar until I actually became a mom and someone else took over my body!

All the excitement of the day continued after we got home from the parade. My sugar-energized baby decided to take more steps to her daddy and me! She kept walking back and forth between us with this big smile on her face. We cheered and cheered and she just ate it up.

Natalie must have been pretty worn out from the day because SHE FINALLY SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!!! She did wake up an hour earlier than usual in the morning, but I can handle a 7 am wake up call better than a 3 or 4 or 5 am wake up call first. Unfortunately, she woke up at 3 am the next night and was awake for 2 hours! Hopefully she'll decide that sleeping is the better option!

Easter

Was it really February when I last blogged? Sheesh! Well, life after baby has finally settled into a more predictable routine, so hopefully that means I'll have some more time to write down what's happening in our lives. We're loving spending time outdoors enjoying the early Spring weather and my creative side has been let loose after a long sabbatical. I've sewn Easter dresses and matching diaper covers for Natalie and a friend's baby girl, a receiving blanket and nursing cover for a baby shower, cloth wipes for Natalie, and a tote bag for my niece's birthday. Pinterest is way too much fun when you have a baby to make things for! I've pinned a bunch of dress tutorials and inspirations for wall art and mobiles for the nursery...now if there were just a few more hours in the day so that I didn't have to choose between housework and crafting during nap time! I feel so blessed to be able to stay at home full-time and not miss a moment of my precious baby's childhood. Natalie absolutely positively LOVES being outdoors, so we've been taking the dog for walks and playing fetch and swinging on the porch swing a lot lately. Our neighbors all have beautiful red bud or dogwood trees that have been in bloom and make for some gorgeous scenery. One of these days I'd like to plant a dogwood tree. They were my grandma's favorite tree and I've grown to love them, too - especially the pink ones! Alex's entire family went to my parents house for Easter and we all had a really good time. We finally took another family picture, the first once since Christmas,when Natalie was 4 days old!

She was almost ready for a nap, so we couldn't get her to smile!

A few days before Easter, I realized that my focus had been on Easter dresses, egg hunt preparations, housework, pretty much everything except what I should have been thinking about: Jesus. I felt disappointed in myself for once again getting swept up in secular "stuff", for lack of a better word. I don't want to lose sight of what my Savior did for me. I don't want to forget His sacrifice. I don't want to be desensitized, to take anything for granted, to get my priorities out of whack. I want to keep my eyes fixed on the author and perfecter of my faith so that I set a good example for my daughter and am adequately prepared to teach her about the Easter story when she's older. Sure, getting her all dressed up is ridiculously enjoyable and planning an egg hunt for our nieces and nephew is all in good fun, but that should never have been the first thing that came to mind when I thought about Easter approaching. Next year will be different. I'll probably sew another dress for Natalie and plan the annual egg hunt for the kids again, but I want to do those things AFTER figuring out how to incorporate the real Easter story into our celebration, AFTER I stop and thank the Lord for what He did for me on the cross, AFTER I stop to consider all he endured to forgive me of my sins so that I could have eternal life. Hallelujah, HE IS RISEN!

Thankful for Answered Prayers

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you all enjoyed precious time with family and friends! I have so many things to be thankful for. Just yesterday, I saw the hand of God at work in our lives and it feels so amazing (more about that in a sec)! God cares about the little things. He loves the details. Why else would He have created a world with such a beautiful array of colors and creatures? He could have made everything in black and white, you know? Or He could have just made maple trees. Instead, He made about 100,000 different types of trees (just a random fact I Googled).

I've been listening to a sermon about why God created America and our history as a Christian nation. Some of the names were familiar from history class, but I had so quickly forgotten the details. The Pilgrims literally risked everything to gain religious freedom, but I'm too afraid to tell my family about Christ for fear of rejection and "feeling uncomfortable". I have so far to grow.

Despite my shortcomings, God loved me enough to save me and be in a personal relationship with me. He heard my prayers and recently brought Alex the opportunity to start a new position at work. My prayer had been that Alex would enjoy his work and would find favor with management. He has had favor in several situations over the four and a half years that he has worked for his company, but had become burned out from his current responsibilities. After growing up watching my dad work at jobs that he hated, that exhausted him physically, mentally and emotionally, I didn't want that for my husband or our family. My dad is an incredible man for sticking with it through the hard times and doing whatever it took to provide for us and I am so thankful for his sacrifice. He is a wonderful example to me. I was concerned for Alex because, #1: I wanted him to enjoy work and not dread going in every day and #2: I knew that the added pressure of being the sole financial supporter of our family once Natalie is born would only be magnified if he wasn't happy at work. Thank God that He provided this new opportunity! I'm so excited for Alex and can already see that he is happier.

Our second answered prayer was regarding me leaving my job at the bank to stay at home after Natalie is born. Some policy changes were recently made that would prevent me for getting paid for time that I've earned this year. I was anticipating the extra income to put into our emergency fund to give us some more financial security, but was told that the money wouldn't be coming after all. I prayed that God would work in my favor, but the decision was made and I had to live with it. Ok, no big deal. It would all work out. God would provide for our finances. Then, yesterday my boss told me that something else had worked out and that I would get paid after all! What a blessing! Thank you, Lord, for providing for us in Your perfect timing and for hearing our prayers! Finding our that we would be parents this year was an amazing gift and now my due date is less than five weeks away. What a blessing it is to anticipate her arrival and know that God is working out all the details so that it comes together just like He planned :)

Eco-Easter T-Shirt Bags

After whipping up my first t-shirt bag without a hitch, I headed to Goodwill to see what I could find to make bags for our nieces and nephew. It took just 30 minutes to make 4 bags. How's that for a quick and easy sewing project?! Here's how they turned out:


The little knots on the shoulders were made out of the shirt sleeves since I found long-sleeved shirts for the older girls. The princess shirt was a hooded sweatshirt.


Strawberry Shortcake was a pajama top.


(I didn't want to lose the purple ruffled trim on this one, so I stitched it closed on the outside instead of turning it inside out.)


Sky has graduated from infatuation with Spiderman to quite an interest in Transformers.

On one hand, they just look like tank tops, but once you hold them up as bags I think they're a lot cuter. Now to get the Easter eggs ready for hunting!

T-shirt Bag Tutorial

I'm putting together an Easter egg hunt for our nieces and nephew again this year and was on the hunt for a thrifty easter basket/bag/bucket idea. I bought $1 buckets last year and they were ok, but I didn't really want to buy something like that again since they end up getting thrown away. A friend found an idea in a kids magazine that I fell in love with instantly: a t-shirt bag. Before I went to Goodwill to buy shirts for the kids' bags, I did a test run using an old t-shirt I already had. The logo on it is for our children's ministry at church, so I made it to give to the children's pastor's wife. Start with a shirt (can be long or short-sleeved) and cut off the sleeves and collar and trim off the bottom hem if you want to make the bag shorter. I've found that it helps to turn the shirt inside-out so you can more easily see to cut all the hem off. Jersey knit doesn't fray, so you don't have to worry about having raw edges!


With the shirt inside-out, straight stitch across the bottom of the shirt:



Using the neck hole, turn it right-side out.


Voila! The arm holes are now the handles of your bag! I added ribbon bows to the handles for a little decoration and to make it look a little less like a t-shirt.


I think I'm going to dig around for some more shirts so I can make reusable shopping bags. Stay tuned for the Eco-Easter Edition of the t-shirt bag! I found some cute shirts for the kiddos!

Christmas Cards 2010

My computer has been giving me trouble lately, so my computer-nerd hubby is going to reinstall Windows soon. I figured I'd better blog one last time before he does that since I may or may not have access to my photos any time soon if he doesn't get it all worked out right away (I know, all you Mac lovers out there never have problems like this. Rub it in.). I need to finish making our Christmas cards tonight so I can mail them out tomorrow for our family out of state. Because I LOVE Stampin' Up's medallion stamp so much, I had to use it for our cards!


I found this card idea/color combo while Googling images of the medallion stamp. I used Versamark to stamp the design and then used white embossing powder to make it stand out. It kind of looks like a snowflake, I think. Now, if only we'd get some more snow and have a white Christmas this year! Fingers crossed! I finally finished my shopping yesterday. Are you ready for your holiday festivities?

A Homemade Christmas Part 4

Today is the last part of the Homemade Christmas "mini-series". You survived! ;) This last gift was probably the most fun to make because what started as a simple ruffled skirt for my five-year old niece ended up as a skirt with a cute bow and a matching hair clip and purse. Of course, I can't take all the credit, because a friend gave me a LOT of supplies, made the rosette for the hair clip and suggested that I make a purse. Two really are better than one. I love it when a second person can add to ideas that you already have and then the end result becomes way better than you originally imagined. I hope Caitlin enjoys her new flirty skirt and accessories! And, I must add, that I reeeeeeeally wanted to ask Alex to model the hair clip and purse for your entertainment pleasure, but I just didn't have the guts to subject him to that. What a great photo that would have been for some Christmas cards! :)


Hair clip:


And because every girl needs a matching purse:


I'm getting more in the Christmas spirit with each passing day. Christmas will be here before we know it! Now I have to make and mail cards, mail gifts and wrap presents!

A Homemade Christmas Part 3

Welcome back! I can't believe that the year is almost over! Why does time go by faster and faster the older you get? I'm not so sure that I like it...

Before I show you my next sewing project, I have a confession to make. I'm not entirely in the Christmas spirit. There. I said it. Don't throw things at me! I've decided that I really don't like Christmas music unless it's instrumental only. Well, I'll make an exception for certain classic songs, but don't give me any of the stuff by Brittney Spears or anything like that. My halls aren't decked with holly and I don't turn on my tree lights in order to save electricity (Alex has always been the tree light Nazi. He wants them on all. the. time.). I haven't even baked the first batch of Christmas cookies or candy and I really don't want to. In fact, I'm craving Sour Patch Kids instead. But, despite my lack of traditional Christmas spirit, I am really in the giving mood. It's been fun to try and find the perfect gifts to give loved ones. I've so deeply enjoyed sewing these gifts for the kids and learning more about sewing that I want to do it all year long. I especially want to keep making stuffed animals like the ones that I made for our youngest nieces. Remember the lion and the cat stuffed animals? Well, I wanted to try my hand at another animal, so I made little Kalei a bunny rabbit. This is the first animal that I've made entirely on my own, but I did have guidance from a friend when I appliquéd the face. The zig-zag stitch is very scary, if you ask me!



The face and inside of the ears is soft, fuzzy fabric perfect for cuddling up with. I hope Kalei enjoys playing or snuggling with this little friend!

A Homemade Christmas Part 2

My second Christmas project was a tool belt for our nephew, Sky. He is quite the little handy man, even at 5 years old! I came up with the pattern on my own and put it together with a little experimentation. The main fabric (red) is heavy weight canvas from JoAnn's and the striped fabric was leftover from the play tent that I made for his birthday. It is actually a piece from the top of one of the bed sheets that I chose it because of the horizontal stripe detail and the finished edges, which meant less hemming for me! I also had some blue ribbon leftover from the tent as well, which were perfect for the ties. Here's how it turned out:




I'd like to get his name monogrammed across the top in the middle of the horizontal stripes to finish it off. My mom is looking for some kid-sized real tools to accompany this gift for Christmas. I hope Sky likes it!

A Homemade Christmas Part 1

As I've said before, I'm making gifts for our nieces and nephew for Christmas this year. By the end of my vacation (Why does it have to end!? Back to work tomorrow...), I had finished gifts for all the kids. I thought I'd show you one gift a day for the next few days so as not to overwhelm you with pictures all at once (and it's motivation for me to blog more!). The first gift I finished was a tote bag for my oldest niece, Ashley. She's only 7, but she picked out the pattern and, as it turns out, the bag is as big as she is! I hope she likes it and can use it for many years to come!

Pleated front


Button detail


Inside (I couldn't find the right shade or brown, pink, or turquoise to line it with, so I went with boring white)


Here's the pattern I used, on sale at Hobby Lobby for .99 cents! Sure beats Wal-Mart's price of $8 or $9!


Stay tuned to more sewing projects throughout the rest of the week!

Happy Veteran's Day and Some Wall Art

Thank you to all our military, past and present, that have given their lives to protect our country's freedom! And thank you to all the military families who also sacrifice by moving where every duty calls and enduring long separations from loved ones. You are all heroes in my book.

Today is Veteran's Day and I'm off work. I'm glad that banks observe this holiday because I was excited to get away from the piles of tax returns sitting on my desk ;) I went to a friend's house, whom I happen to work with, to cut out a saying for her foyer wall. She's been planning for weeks how she wanted it to look and I finally came up with something she liked. After four hours or so, this is what we ended up with:


Having to cut it out in 4 sections and then piece it all together was hard, and I don't think that all the words are perfectly level, but by the end, I was too tired to try and fix it. Beverly was able to straighten it out after I left (she's brave to attempt that!) This is another design we made a few weeks ago:


She has always loved this little saying because she has three dachshunds that are, of course, long and short and oh so cute! I'm vinyl wall decor-ed out! Nap time! Well, more like clean-the-house-so-Alex-doesn't-come-home-from-work-and-think-I've-been-lazy-all-day time. Maybe I'll get a nap in this weekend. A girl can dream!