A Wonderful Christmas

We had such a wonderful little Christmas here in San Antonio! Jonathan and I were commenting that Christmas is even more fun as a parent than as a child! It is so fun to make it special for our kids and to see their excitement :) We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve pajamas...

Adventures in Sewing

During the past year or so I have loved learning how to sew! My mom always sewed for us growing up, and recently I realized that I really wanted to be able to do that for my kids. I always seem to take on crazy projects, and this Christmas was no exception. I decided to make my kids a fabric play house that slips over a card table.

I found all sorts of pictures and ideas online, and from that I made plans for my play house. I was actually surprised how much fun it was to make this! I was only slightly stressed about it the last couple of days (well, late nights, really) leading up until Christmas trying to get it all done. I'm sort of a "wing it" and "eyeball it" kind of a gal. I just sat down and started cutting out felt - flowers, vegetables, a tree, leaves, etc. Then I just figured out how to put it all together. I ran into only a couple of problems along the way (like sewing windows and doors together before I should have turned the whole thing inside out to hem the bottom...oops!) but it all worked out great in the end. And the kids love it!

Here's pictures of all the sides:

The front. The mailbox opens up and there is a slot for letters. I ironed on the address above the door (our wedding anniversary, plus the road my in-laws live on, not to mention our last name :)). The door just flaps open and rests on top of the house to stay open.

I love how the little felt letters turned out. I love that my sewing machine can sew words!

An outside window. The flowers velcro to the flower pot, and the watering can velcros so they can take it off and "water" the flowers. The finished window is also lined with a checkered turquoise felt (the same as the front door). 

Apple tree! The apples stick on with velcro so they can "pick" them and put them in the basket. The dolly velcros to the swing (Ella LOVES the little dolly - so glad I made it!) The little knot in the tree opens up...

...and there is a little bird inside. The bird comes off and can be put up in the tree in place of one of the apples.

In the back of the house is a little garden! The corn comes off of the stalk, and the other vegetables stick in the ground in little pockets in the dirt. Now to the inside of the house...

Next to the front door (not cut out yet in this picture) is a little book shelf, with pockets for a couple of real books. The mail slot comes through the book shelf. I thought the curtain above the little window turned out cute!

Close-up of the book shelf. I sewed book titles on the spines of the books.

Inside of the big window. The finished window is edged with turquoise fabric. Ella loves to climb in and out of the house through this window!

The kitchen! This was really fun to make. I found a picture of a play house online that had a kitchen almost exactly like this (can't remember where I saw it). The hands of the clock move (with velcro); the oven opens up and there are cookies inside; the big pot is a pocket so you can put vegetables inside; the fridge and freezer open; inside the fridge is a bowl you can put food in.

Close-up of clock 

Cookies in the oven 

Inside fridge and oven

This is probably the wall I am most proud of! I wanted the house more personalized to our family and to the things important to us, so I decided to make a piano on one wall! The sheet music pages turn. Then I used an iron-on transfer to make a framed family picture on the wall, and then used felt to make a picture of the Salt Lake temple! I think it turned out pretty cute. Here's some close-ups:

Here are a couple more pictures of the finished product:

So it was a success! And surprisingly (even after also making Christmas pj's and some cute round cushions for the kids as well), I am already looking forward to my next sewing project! It's a lot of fun.

Caterpillar

Well, it's been way too long. Thought I'd blog! Woo-hoo!

Today at Stake Conference, James got the brilliant {and random} idea that when we got home we should make a caterpillar costume. He was playing with a stuffed caterpillar toy of Ella's, and he was just so excited about his idea.

He had it all planned out - we were going to use blankets, and then sew them with thread to make them "more beautiful," and have holes for the arms and legs, and I think a hole "for eating" as well, and of course it had to have buttons to fasten it together. We thought we could convince him to just use some blankets and drape them over him, but he would not be deterred in his dream.

So, I spent my Sunday evening sewing this...voila:

A caterpillar costume made out of an old bath towel (I knew there had to be something I could do with all of our millions of towels!). I sewed the top kind of like a hooded towel, cut arm holes and edged them with bias tape, then made antennae and feet out of felt and sewed a velcro square to fasten it. I think it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself! He was one happy caterpillar.

Easter Sunday

We had a lovely Easter Sunday with our little family. We of course had fun with our Easter baskets and James had a blast searching for way too many candy-filled eggs (most of which is stashed in the pantry, out of sight for small people who get very hyped up on sugar, but in handy parental view!) Ella loved her little puff cereal in her Easter eggs and her new dolly found in her Easter basket.

What a wonderful opportunity Easter is to remember our Savior's sacrifice for us and to teach our children about the Atonement. Our church meetings were wonderful, and Jonathan and I got to be heavily involved in the music for our Easter program in Sacrament Meeting...I am so grateful for all whose voices and other musical talents helped to make it so wonderful!

We took these pictures in our backyard after church - had to show off our new Easter clothes. (Thanks Mama & Popsy!) We had a nice relaxing afternoon/evening at home, took some naps, ate a nice dinner and enjoyed each other's company. I love my little family!

Beds

Each time I check on my sweet sleeping children, they have shifted positions in their beds. Head on this side, then head on that; curled up in balls and then legs outstretched. Sweaty sticky-ups of hair and sweet faces on a pillow, then not on a pillow. Little arms and legs through the crib bars; not-so-little-anymore legs hanging off the edge of the toddler bed, sometimes kneeling and then back in a curled-up ball on the mattress. Buddy Boy could sure use a bigger bed. My, how they grow! Developing little personalities and minds of their own (but with Daddy's good nature and my stubbornness) by day, then snuggling in, and rolling rolling rolling across the mattress til finding the perfect place by night. I love the quiet, when they are sound asleep and dreaming of whatever they dream of, and I forget about the cares and the time-outs and the peas flung across the room and the many happenings of the day. The quiet reminds me how much I love my babies. 

Then all at once she awakes and calls out with a sleepy, hoarse little cry. As I hold her in my arms he wanders in, bleary-eyed and carrying the essentials - car blankie, Llama Llama, pillow. I should send him back to his bed but I don't. I kind of like having everyone in here. Tuck him in on the floor, feed her a midnight snack, exchange some happy smiles and blow kisses back and forth (her latest trick), then all returns to quiet as we climb into our beds.

Remembering

Sometimes being a mom is hard. Like, for example, at five in the morning when your baby awakes for the second time in the same two-hour period (or so it seems, for time - as well as perspective - is blurred at such an early hour).

I change another diaper as Little Miss fusses and whines loudly. "Shhh, don't wake up the whole house, Sweet Pea." (You see, we are staying at Nana's for spring break.) I nurse her again to quiet her. As Daddy stirs, I whine and fuss a bit myself, but he quickly rolls over and goes back to sleep (as daddies often do).

I start to grumble as Little Miss starts to fill her diaper again; but then I stop myself short, and remember. You see, at an early hour such as this, it's easy to forget. So as I hold my little sweetheart with her happy little 5 a.m. smile, and as I listen to my four-year-old utter a sweet prayer that he won't have scary dreams, I remember. I remember why I love my babies so. I remember the joy I feel when I see these little smiling faces (especially during daylight hours). I remember what a privilege it is to be their mama.

Screaming match over a jar of carrots

Ella is very happy. And very vocal. 

Ella nods her head

We took this video about a month ago. Ella had started nodding her head a lot to communicate...what a smart girl :)