Some crafts and randomness

I realize this one is a little late...since it's a turkey (for some reason I don't have brown paper...wouldn't you think that it would come in those big packages of construction paper? Yea, me too, but it doesn't).



Here is little man's hat I made him. It's the first hat I have ever knitted. And it turned out to be quite easy, with the help of my friend. :) I am now going to make Marlee one that is brown and pink. I wish you could touch this yarn. It is SO soft! If I could make socks, sweats, and a hoodie with it, I would. :) And I would live in it all day...until I had to go out of my house. :)



I have lot's to say, lot's to write about, and yet, at night I am too tired, and during the day I can't seem to get it together to write a post. Ugh. So the rest is some randomness...

Marlee is trying to quit taking naps. I am not loving this. I can't decide if it's a faze, or if she really is going to give them up. Today she was in her room for an hour, playing and talking...which is fine by me, and then I let her get up and she watched a show while I sewed some aprons. I am still going to implement quiet time at our house, even if she doesn't sleep. Although tonight, she didn't move once she laid down, that was kinda nice. :)

I am debating on putting the kids in one room and saving the other for company, and for maybe our computer, and stuff. I am still trying to decide. The ups would be that we would have a spare room, and that hopefully Marlee would sleep in there since little man will be in there too. The down side is I am not sure how I would implement quiet time-or room time-if the baby is trying to sleep, and she is playing. Still trying to figure it out. If you have two kiddos who sleep in the same room, please do tell me how it works for you. :)

Yesterday while A. was sleeping in the pack n play, Marlee had gotten up, took her diaper off (sleeping is the only time she wears one), took her shirt off, and got a new shirt out, put it over her neck, but couldn't figure out how to get her arms in, and went into the spare room and climbed into the pack n play. When I went back there, because I thought I heard her talking, of course A was awake, and she had his bottle in her mouth, and just looked at me....while putting the bottle down. She can talk as well as most 5 year olds, or sometimes even better, that I know, but because of A. she has regressed to talking like a baby half the time. IT. DRIVES. ME. NUTS.

She is loving music. She loves to sing. She sings jingle bells all the time now. Today during music, we were all singing and she was the loudest, and was singing faster than everyone else, so you could really here her. It was cracking me up! She is really coming out of her shell. When we first started going, she would barely participate at all, and now she is right in there, and she doesn't even have to sit on my lap. It makes it nice.

I didn't get any sort of advent stuff done. Nor will I this year. And I didn't get enough books for the book a day during December. So we aren't doing that one either. Maybe next year I will be more organized.

Mike has been sick for the past week and a half. Between him being up coughing at night, and Marlee getting up, I feel like I have been run over by a mac truck some days. Hence the lack of reading/commenting and also blogging on my own blog. If you have commented, and I haven't gotten back to you, I do really appreciate it!!! And I love getting the comments, just know most of the time I read them when Marlee is awake, and I usually get side tracked. :)  And thanks for everyone saying I look so cute prego. I don't necessarily agree, but thanks none the less! :) So now that it's 7:40 pm, I am going to go lay on the couch for a bit, and then head to bed.

Have a great night! :)

math manipulatives

I saw some math manipulative online that I could easily make. I posted them onto my pinterest, and then Katie wanted some for her boys too. So while I cut out mine, I also cut out hers. These are hers. Because I of course got hers done before I got mine done. :)



On pinterest they had the fraction written on there. I haven't decided if I am going to write the fraction on mine, or if I will just practice writing them and having Marlee find them. Maybe make a little card to go with each set...that way once she gets it (which I don't foresee super soon) I can just test her, instead of trying to hide the numbers on them. :)

aprons

Here is one of the aprons I made for Sarah and her son.

Cute, if I don't say so myself! :)

My little helper. She wanted to help me fold them. :)

Mommy and me set. :)

Thanks Sarah for being my first "client"! Head on over to her blog to see her and her son wearing them. :)

If you want one of these let me know. I am selling them for $15 a piece without the letter, and $17 with the letter of your choice. I have lot's of fabrics. And maybe someday I will actually set up an etsy shop, but for now, I think I will just settle for if you want one, let me know and I will make it for you. :)

I also have a TON of different fabrics. :)

Counting book

I wanted to join in on Amy's round robin, but unfortunately I don't have any new projects at the moment...a lot in progress, but not any that are finished.


Feel free to join in over at Amy's all day today! I would love to see your projects, recipes, it can be anything really. She just wants you to link up, and also to put her button in your post. Post's don't even have to be new, it can be something you want to share again! :) 


But I did have a really cute Easter Egg counting book that we did, and I think I am going to do one for the 4th of July. So I am going to show you the Easter Egg book, but just visualize it being with Red, white and Blue with maybe flags or something for the stickers. How fun! :) Or you could just print out flags and have your kids color them and cut them out, then glue them on to the page. :) The options are limit less! :) Or you could do one with frogs, or monsters, whatever you like. :)



Have fun and I hope you join in! :)

fabric

Sarah this is for you-finally!





Do you have a preference? I will probably make them the same, only with different letters on the front-since I pretty much have just the orange for the backing.

What do you think? Do you like either of those? If not I will keep looking! :)

Freedom comes with a price! :)

We have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off since Monday it feels like. Today we had class which we made some CUTE little sticker books with Easter egg stickers.






Then we were supposed to meet up with some friends to go swimming, but Marlee is pooped and frankly I am starting to feel the pressure-we still have to dye eggs, make home made bread for this weekend, and I want to get some meals made (for tonight's dinner) and also some to put in the freezer. We have been horrible about going out to eat, and I want to get back on the healthy track, and lets face it the cheaper track! :)

This weekend is going to be super busy since we have to go to Mike's parents house both days instead of just Sunday now. It will be fun, but I was expecting to have a few more days to practice this bread making. I guess I get to have one of my goals forced on me done this weekend. :) It's a little nerve racking. Not gonna lie. :) I did have someone tell me today that I am putting the pressure on myself, since I could just go buy already made dough and bake it that way. In my defense it's not just the bread making...it's all of it combined. :) And I am super excited to try it, I just feel like I am running out of time.

What are you making for Easter? Are you having a big shin dig or a small one?

Today is also my 4 week checkup since I had surgery. I can't believe it's been that long, yet at the same time since WOF it has seemed to have flown by. I guess because so many other things have happened since then. Wish me luck at the doctor today. :)

couponing?

Alright ladies. Are any of you coupon queens? I don't necessarily mean extreme couponing, but do any of you have a method for coupons? I have found my efforts to be pretty poor. I either forget my coupons, don't have the right ones, or find coupons I don't need-as in things we don't use. If I had a lot more money, I would just still buy those things, and donate them, but as is I just can't do that right now. Even though it sounds like a fantastic idea. :)

So if you use coupons, on any regular basis, how do you keep them organized? How also do you find coupons-only in the paper, or through coupon sites? And how do you know how much your grocery store is going to give you for them? (Someone said that some stores double the manufacturers coupon, and others say that not all stores do that-so how do you find out which do and which don't?) Also, I see these people who talk about getting things for free, because of their coupon, sales and maybe a store coupon too...??? Anyone have any good blogging friends who you could point me to? I have read some sites, but I don't get the lingo-So if you could help me out with this I would love it! :)

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Onto another subject. I have taught 2 preschool classes this week. Our theme is dinosaurs-which works out perfectly, since Marlee LOVES dinosaurs. She didn't get to participate today because we had more kids show up, and I didn't have my template to make her dinosaur, but it's all good. She is still more of a art for the process, not the product type of kid. We don't do many "projects" where I actually want it to look like something, mainly because she's not quite there yet. This has given me some great ideas for this summer though, because by then I think she will be more ready.

Some of the projects we did are stegosaurus, and long necks (it won't let me spell the dinosaur I want) today.  I didn't take my camera down there, since these aren't my friends, they are pretty much strangers since I have just met them this week. But I got my ideas off the internet, so you can see what and how we did them. :) Next week we are going to play with play-do with some dinosaur cookie cutters I have, and at the end we will make some fossils for the kids to take home, as well as a few other things. :)

We also got to go to co-op this morning. I have no idea if I will home school later or not, but for right now, it is fun to have something to go to, that I get to talk to other moms, as well as Marlee getting to play with other kids, that isn't completely chaotic.

What have ya'll been up to lately?

Oh Man this is CUTE!

Looking for a last minute teacher gift? Here is the perfect one! Over at a Bushel and  a Peck of Fun she made these awesome wreaths! :) go give her some blog love! :)

Too cute!

I made the purple hair clip holder for my niece for her birthday, since she's getting her quilt for Christmas. :) My friend Nina made the pink/black one. Aren't they so cute! The black one has a black ribbon, but because I took these at night it didn't take well.

What do you think?

Trip to the doctor...

I would say to the ER, but fortunately for some things you can just walk into our pediatricians office and he will see you. Marlee was running in our living room when she tripped on her pants, and fell into the step in between our kitchen and living room. You could hear it all the way in the other room (where Mike was at the computer, with music on). It was that loud. It swelled up between the size of a large marble and a golf ball in less than 30 seconds. It was a dark purple/red color with white in the middle, it was scary! In the pictures it had turned a normal goose egg color (which was good in my opinion!). But I took her right to the doctor, and thankfully I have a great mom who I babysit for and she came to get A as soon as Mike called her. Cause I left her here with him (which she was totally fine with!), but yea, I just walked out the door.

Marlee had already stopped screaming and crying actually by the time we got to the truck, and we have a mirror in there that she can look at herself as soon as she's in her seat, and she looked at it, and said Bonk, Mommy! Then she proceeded to talk to me all the way to the hospital which is a good sign. We passed Daddy's work, and the horses, and the park, which she commented on all the way there. And she also wanted to know why A wasn't in the car with us.

He told us that she could sleep in 30 minute bursts, which was good cause when we got home she conked out and I couldn't keep her awake for the life of me (because it was her nap time, and she had been ready for a nap for about 3 hours at this point in time). So I let her sleep, and took pictures of her. :) Cause I have to record this craziness!

Needless to say I think I will be doing her 21 month post tomorrow. I can't think about all the cool things she's doing at this point in time. It was hard to let her play this afternoon, every time she turned around I kept thinking she was going to fall or something. I am definitely jumpy now!

In this picture the goose egg is on the side closest to the couch, (farthest away from us) I was trying to show you how big off her head it is.

It doesn't even look as bad in these pictures as it does in real life, but you get the point!

Do you take your kids to the doctor for lot's of things or hardly anything? I barely take Marlee to the doctor, but when it comes to your head, and those types of things I wasn't wasting any time! :)

On another note, tonight we did some crafting, to get my mind off of these crazy events of the day!

What do you think?

Photo Board

YAY! Mike's parents gave us half a beef from the ones they butchered. I am so happy to start making some yummy dinners! :) Tomorrow is a roast. Which I am super excited about, although Mike won't be! He hates them, but I will get some other stuff for him and it will be all good! When I was in college I would get a roast and have my friends over for dinner. It brings back fun memories! :)

Unfortunately my class got canceled for this month, since we don't have enough kiddos participating, but I am hoping that there will be more next month to resume!

I had planned on having all of these super cute crafts done today, but I don't. I haven't felt that well yesterday or today, so I am just in recovery mode, and also get all the dishes done that have been put off since Sunday, since I haven't felt good. I do have some more cute felt food coming later this week, and I have to cut out 200 4x4 squares, and hopefully the rest of Gavin's quilt so I can start sewing it.  I joined an I spy swap, so I have to have my squares cut out by Friday, Sat. at the latest! But as soon as I do, I will post some pics of all the cute fabrics I got! :)

On another note, I have a photo board to share with you, since I have nothing else, and I want to keep the SUPER cute picture of Marlee for tomorrow when I do her late 21 month post.

What have you been up to today??

All the busy things we have been doing...

We made hair bows, and obviously BIG flowers for the girls hair! (My friend came over and we made them together!)

The pizza, finally complete! It didn't take long once I sat down and stitched it up, but I had been dreading it, because I thought it would be tedious, although it turned out quite nice for something to do while watching TV.

A little spider...my idea came from Kim, although her's is a lot cuter! I also made a smaller one (a lot more like hers, but gave the head band away before I took pictures. That one was much cuter!) Mine needs eyes I think, but I will probably throw him away soon, so I'm not going to bother! :)

And of course Marlee's painted pumpkin. She LOVES painting these days so she sat there for quite some time (at least 30 minutes, maybe longer!)

And as far as the wreath I posted about here, I finally found the link...I know it took forever! But it was over at Crunchy and Green....check her out, she has some fun ideas! I can't seem to find the apple tree post, but if I ever do it was great too! :)

I want to learn how to do this!

Over at Write it Down, she has been doing some embroidery. I on the other hand don't know much about embroidery, but I do love her project she's working on, as well as the one she got inspired by!The one below is the one she's inspired by...isn't that so awesome! I am trying to find the link to where she found this one...

Now seriously wouldn't that be so darn cute! You could do it in any colors! She's doing one with green and dark green polka dots!

This super cute idea came from Kim at Life of a Modern Mom, who I am great friends with and one of these days we will be in the same state so we can craft together! :) 

If you want to do this, the directions are at this site: Creative Jewish Mom. You need to start saving toilet paper rolls, and also, paper towel rolls! :)

And over at Crazy Mom Quilts, she does some amazing things! But this is so cool, as well, the next one I will show you from her! :)

And this one: which I may attempt at trying something similar, but the above, probably never! It took her two years, and she can finish a quilt top in a day!

The best part about her blog, is that she shows you her tricks...cause I would probably take a long time to figure out exactly how to piece that one together!

Stop on by some of these fabulous blogs! And wait (patiently) as I attempt some of these things myself! :)

A big bug...and a craft...

On Tuesday, before my mom came, I was going to ask Marlee to put my shoes by the front door, (we were cleaning like mad women before Grandma got here!) and I looked and there was this...HUGE cricket! He doesn't look so big on here, but he was huge! Thankfully he stayed on my shoe so I could throw him back outside. Mike asked me if I killed it, I said I would have had to find a boot! :)

My first wipes cover

Does it look horrible? The more I look at it on here, the more I hate it! 

 

Let me know if you guys hate it...cause if you do, I won't give it to the girl I was going to...Next time I won't be doing it quite like this. I think it looks horrible!

Some crafts...

My new friend Aleesha made me this awesome gift. We did a gift exchange,at craftaholics anonomous But anyways, we each had to make something to send to the next person on the list. So she got me, and I got someone else. I didn't take any pictures of the craft I made, because I felt like I was finishing it while we walked out the door. It was my second time doing modge podge, and apparently I think I need a little help! :)

But anyhow, Aleesha made me this awesome note holder, and these fun jewlery pieces!

And here is my dress that I finally have finished. Almost. I put it on Marlee and the straps are a little bit too long, but for now my sewing machine isn't working very well, so I am going to wait to fix it til next week when I go home to see my mom. While I am there, I am going to make the straps narrower...cause it looks a little silly this way when it's actually on.

Ready for Spring...

My spots are still here, but they are fading (which I am very grateful!). And it's been super nice, with some silly bouts of snow but hey I live in good ole WY, so of course it snows here, we may actually get some snow on the 4th of July. Yes, it has happened before. I am ready to decorate for spring. Get some colors around our house! I found this site: Craftaholics Anonyomous and she has the cutest things on here. I especially love this tutorial for felt flowers...that are bright and cute, and then you put them on a wreath...Now isn't this so cute! I LOVE it!

Photo and idea from Craftaholics Anonymous.

Doesn't it make you want to make one???!!! I found a wreath at hobby lobby for less than 3 dollars, my problem is that I think I have to pay shipping, since it would be online. I have lots of felt since I am in the process of making a quiet book.

So we will see if I actually make it or not. I am going to go visit our dollar store to see if they have any wreaths there before I have to pay shipping for one.

If you like this project, don't forget to go on over to her blog to show her some love! Please tell her I sent you! :)

Next time...

My butterfly cake will not look like this...I was playing around with whether or not I liked it smooth or with stars, and let me just tell you I can't decide which I like better. But I hate the designs (which again I was just playing around with) but I will not be usiing green and blue on here next week. I just don't like it...I can't explain it! But I am very dissapointed, and I know it's only my second cake and all, but still. Mike says I shouldn't be disapointed, and that it looks great for being brand new at decorating cakes, and that I'm not going to be like Buddy off of Carlos Bakery on my first attempt. So, with all the decorations aside (cause I know that part stinks, well at least the left side, which I did, the right side is cool, but my friend did that side!) tell me what you think...stars or smooth? The stars look really cool in real life, but so does smooth!

Because I don't have much time...

I posted my invitations that I made over at The Apple Attic. Please go there to look at them, and look around! We love comment love over there too! :)

Hope you're having a fantastic Tuesday!

A card...

To learn how to do this, and to see some more of the cards/gift card holders to to The Apple Attic, my other blog...all about crafts!

Some fun fall/halloween crafts...

While I know it is early, I also feel like it is very much fall here in Wyoming. It has prompted me into full halloween/fall decoration mode. And if you're like me, I have all sorts of good intentions to decorate, and make fun things, but then it just never happens. I think of fun things to do right before the holiday, and can't find the time to fit it in. So this year, I am looking at things early. It also helps that I don't have much money for this holiday season, so I want to hand make some gifts instead of buying all of them. Also, I know that my nieces and nephews have lots of toys so I thought I might make blankets for all of them, then they would have them for a long time.

Anyhow, some of these crafts are great, fun, easy and cheap! I really like the bats, and the spiders...which you may have already seen in years past of having kids. But they would be something fun for your kids to do on a cold day, which around here has been very frequent. We even had hail the size of dimes on Saturday night.

So if you want to (and this isn't a promo for the site, just one I thought if you are like more moms that I know, who want to do crafts with their kids, but don't have any fun ideas or want new ideas this is great!) go here.

Also if you and your little ones make any of these please put a link in the comment section, cause I would love to see them! And when I do actually make some of these decorations, I will post mine up too!

Have a fabulous Monday!