Christmas

We had a great Christmas and we were lucky enough to have half of my family over to spend the evening and day with us. I had Max and Emily pick out a small gift for each other because I wanted them to start thinking about giving at Christmas, not just about what Santa was going to bring them. It took a little convincing to talk Max out of giving Emily a truck, but we finally got him to think of something SHE would like. They opened their gifts from each other on Christmas Eve, which was nice because they're gifts got a lot of attention instead of getting lost in the pile of presents the next morning.

Max picked out a Polly Pocket mermaid for Emily. She spent the rest of the evening "swimming" and singing for her little mermaid. Emily picked out a monster truck for Max. It's one of those cars that you can pull back and it will then propel itself forward. It was fun to see how excited they were to give their presents to each other.

And here's the reason I stopped blogging again last month:

I was spending all of me free time building this play kitchen for the kids for Christmas. It's hard to work on stuff like this with three kids, one of them a nursing baby. It turned out so cute, and I'm trying really hard to not nitpick about all the little imperfections. I got the plans from this website. She has free plans to build practically everything. I made the kids beds this spring from her site, that I never blogged about because I was lazy. Next on our plans is the play house with attached swing set. Oh, and a bed for our room. And some shelves to hold my fabric.

The kids played with their kitchen for a while and enjoyed their stockings while Jeff got breakfast in the oven and we waited for Seth and Jessica to arrive. The kids also got hooded bath towels that my wonderful friend engraved their names on, matching dresses for Emily and Jane, and Max got a piggy bank and his own soccer ball. He was trying to drag his dad and uncles outside all day to play soccer with him.

It was such a nice relaxing day, especially since I was finally done with my Christmas crafts. I've got to scale back next year because the holidays are not very fun when I have too much on my plate. Now I'm just trying to summon enough energy to take down the Christmas decorations.

Twice As Giving Holiday Boutique

I've been asked to participate in a Holiday Boutique on Saturday, November 7th. I am so excited and honored that I was asked, especially since I don't know the lady organizing the event. There will be over 15 vendors participating and 20% of the sales are going to be donated to A Golden Dawn Adoption Assistance. (They are a non-profit organization that helps families adopt orphans with special needs.)

It will be a great way to get some Christmas shopping done while helping out a wonderful organization and local artisans. Here are the details in case anyone would like to come check it out:

Saturday, November 7th
10:00 am to 7:00 pm
695 N 2475 W, Layton, Ut 84041

Directions:
Take the Hill Field Rd exit in Layton. Head west. Turn right onto 2200 West. Turn left onto 650 North. Turn right onto 2475 West.

Bathroom Redo, After

So, I've been putting off posting about the bathroom because it's not officially finished yet. But I finally decided that since the only thing we still need to do is the back-splash, and who knows how long it will be before we get it done, I better just go ahead and post some after pictures of our bathroom and be done with it.



Here's the bathroom before.




And here it is now. I am SO happy with how it turned out. I ended up painting the cabinets pink and I LOVE them! I want to get some glass knobs for the drawers, but I haven't been able to find what I want yet.

I actually ended up moving our shower curtain from the master bathroom because I couldn't find anything I liked. I love this shower curtain, but knew I didn't want to keep it in the master bath anyway. The walls are a butter yellow. I think it is such a happy and friendly yellow.

We ended up spending more than I had originally hoped, but at only $500 I feel like we still did a pretty good job on a small budget. That covers wallpaper removal; paint for the walls, ceiling, door, baseboards and cabinets; new light fixture, faucet, floor, baseboards, towel rod and toilet paper holder; new towels and bathmat; and accessories/decorations.

It makes me happy every time I walk by and look in my beautiful, clean, new bathroom. (I do have to say that I think it's kind of ironic that the first bathroom we redid was already the NICEST bathroom in the house, if you can believe that.)

Last night we went from this:

To this:

Doesn't it look lovely?! We're ready for your visit, Shannan, although there's no longer a toilet, just a hole in the floor. And the walls are sticky and yellow. Not to mention some remains of wallpaper in the tub. And the floor is partly torn up. And the cabinet is taken apart. Maybe there's still a little more work to do. ;) I am so very excited to have ONE bathroom that feels nice and clean - and colorful. I love me some color!

At least I can cross painting the hallway off my list:

P.S. I hate wallpaper.

Playing Catch-Up

I've been putting of posting several things, so I'm just going to do a quick summary of the last month and move on with my life. :)

Jeff took Max to the Stake Father and Son's camp out at the end of May. Max did great and I really enjoyed having only one child to take care of. It sure seemed easy putting just Emily to bed that night!

We were able to visit the zoo earlier this month while Meghan and Jay were here for Jay's brother's wedding. We had originally planned on going to Cherry Hill, but I think we were all glad we changed our plans since it rained off and on the whole day. I sure miss having all of my siblings close by, but I'm glad we get to see them as often as we do.

My booth went okay on Saturday. I only sold hair accessories, so I was glad I had added those into the mix. I'm not to worried about things, though. I had a lady ask if I taught lessons and since this is one of several people who have asked me this I think I might need to seriously consider teaching sewing. I also had a lady ask me about alterations, which seems to be something I've been doing a bit of lately through no effort on my part, really. I'm planning on listing my stuff in my Etsy and Artfire stores and then taking a little Foggy Notions vacation. I've got a cheap bathroom redo in mind that I'm pretty excited about and want to get done before my sister and her family come to visit next month.

Other things we've been up to include camping with Jeff's family last week. I didn't take a single picture, but we had a great time and it was a much needed vacation. Also, I took Max to his first movie in the theatre on Saturday. We thought that would be a good reward for being a big boy - you know, who doesn't wear diapers anymore. We saw "UP" which was cute, but had some parts that Max thought were a little scary. Now I just have to make it through the next few months of heat. I hate summer. It makes me hot and ornery. I think I might be the only person in Utah who has loved the long, cold, rainy spring this year.

Too tired to blog

I've noticed that I haven't been putting as much time into our family blog the last few months. Whenever I try to think of something to blog about I just feel tired and unmotivated. I think this is because I'm expending most of my creative energy with sewing and crafting. On Wednesday, a friend suggested that I should set up a booth to sell my stuff at our city's 4th of July celebration - which is actually next Saturday. I feel like I've been going, going, going since then. Life is non stop sewing, shopping and planning. I'm exhausted, but in a good way.

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Jeff!

Jeff had a birthday on Monday and I have been a big slacker about getting it posted. We celebrated with homemade pizza and chocolate cake and just had a nice quiet evening at home. When I asked Max if he thought Daddy would like his birthday cake he told me, "I think Max will like the birthday cake!"

For Jeff's birthday I made him a new bag for his church stuff since his old one is falling apart. I designed it myself and am really happy with how it turned out.

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is not only my best friend and favorite person to talk to, but helps me out so much with the kids and the house! Happy Birthday, Jeff!

A Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a great Valentine's Day at our house. Jeff got me the perfect gift (by this I mean something small - we are NOT big into Valentine's Day around here!), yummy chocolate covered strawberries. We spent a fun day hanging out and eating too many treats. Emily loved her chocolate! Max decided he wanted to wear Daddy's apron and then was finally convinced to wear the apron I made him months ago when Jeff's kept falling off. He also had a great time running around with his balloon. (Thanks, Heather!) Then he took some crazy pictures of me with the camera. We had such a fun and silly time together. What a great way to spend the day with the people I love most!

I've been seeing these cute mailboxes on the internet and really wanted to make some for Max and Emmy but didn't want to pay $4 for them. One day when we were killing time at the DI, I found these for 50 cents a piece! I decorated them so that we can pull them out throughout the year if we want, not just on Valentine's Day. Max is at such a fun age for stuff like this and was so excited to open his mailbox and see the treats he got.

And finally...

Here are the last of the Christmas crafts that I made: the aprons. I made three of these "Emmeline" aprons, one for me, one for my sister, Shannan, and one for my sister-in-law, Alese. (Here's a little secret: This was the real reason I wanted to separate the siblings into boys and girls when we drew for Christmas gifts this year. I really wanted to make this apron and needed a good excuse!) I love this apron! I think it is cute and girly and makes you want to put on your apron and bake all day.

Then one night I was watching Jeff cook in his old apron that was a gift from an ex-girlfriend and I thought, "I should make Jeff an apron, too!" I figured he wouldn't want a figure flattering Emmeline apron, so I went with a more traditional style.

Christmas Crafts, Part 2

Here are the cousin gifts that I made for Chloe and Hannah.

I made Chloe this girly placemat purse, which I thought turned out so cute. I also made her a few hair bows to go with it, but I forgot to take a picture of them. Max loved this little purse so I made him a "boy" version with bugs on it.

I made Hannah a special box that I put some cards, paper, embelishments and small stamps and ink into so that she can make little cards. I hope that her expression in this picture isn't how she felt about her gift! ;) After she's done with the stuff inside, she can use it as a jewelry box or somewhere to keep special items. I love this idea. You can buy these boxes for a few dollars at most craft stores and they come in a lot of different shapes/sizes. Then you can paint and/or modge podge cute paper or fabric onto them.

My Favorite Place

I was cleaning up my craft area today and decided I would finally do that post that I've been thinking about doing for the past 6 months or so. Now, like I said, I was cleaning today. This area of our house is NOT usually this clean, plus I left some stuff I'm working on out of the pictures and pulled the ironing board that seems to have taken up permanent residence in this area out of the way.

I'm sure you already know that I love to sew, scrapbook, stamp, quilt, and basically make things. When Jeff and I bought our house I was really hoping that we would be able to get a four bedroom house so I would have some room for my stuff, at least for a few years, but the minute I heard "Cape Cod style" and saw the pictures of our house I knew this was the house I wanted even though it only had three bedrooms and needed a lot of TLC. There are many things I love about my house, but one of these things is how big our Master bedroom is. Since I knew that I wouldn't be able to have my own room for my craft stuff, Jeff and I decided that I could have one of the walls/corners of our bedroom. (Yes, I painted our bedroom purple, and No, Jeff does not have a problem with it.)

Last fall I watched my neighbor Aimee's baby (and his older brother after school) twice a week during one of her graduate classes. Jeff and I decided that the money I earned was my special "fun money" that I could do whatever I wanted with and pretty much all of the money went into this space except for a small portion that bought me some new maternity clothes. I called it my Charlie money. I bought myself my own serger, which I had been wanting for years. I bought my shelves and baskets and a Cuttlebug machine along with a bunch of dies and embossing folders. And I bought my beautiful desk that I LOVE! I just have to say that I had been eyeing this desk for months but it was way out of my price range ($400's, on sale). Because of some unusual circumstances I was able to get it for $200. With limited space I really needed to maximize the area, so I added the shelves and the baskets to hold my stamps, ink, and extra ribbon and I just love how easy it is for me to find and use my stuff now. Much better than the dig through my piles of stuff on the floor method I was using before.

I did a similar layout with my sewing area with shelves and baskets over my sewing machine for all of my sewing supplies, patterns, and scrap fabric. So nice, especially with little kids because most of my stuff is way up out of their reach. I'm planning on adding an inspiration board to the wall next to the sewing machine and maybe some little wall quilts or vinyl lettering. Someday. Right now I just love having my own little area. It's so nice to have a place to do the things that I love doing. I think every mom should have a little area all her own to do the things that she loves.



On a related note: After I bought my desk, Jeff was a little sad that he didn't have a space of his own. I offered him joint custody of my desk, but him being the super nice, thoughtful person that he is told me I should have a space that was just mine. Instead of sharing my desk we bought Jeff this beaut off KSL for about $30. One of these days I'm going to paint it when he's not looking. We figure that in a few years it might make a good school desk for the kids. So now we both have a little wall in our room that is all our own. And since we also have our computer in our bedroom we have three desks in here. I tell ya, our room is stylin'!!

Christmas Crafts, part 1

I obviously can't post some of the Christmas presents I've been working on, but Emily doesn't keep up on the family blog so I think I'm okay to post this one. I love the flannel section at Joanne's and when I saw this yellow, flowery fabric I just had to have it. I really wish I could girl up Emily's "gender neutral" bedroom, but since it is the most done room in the house and we have so many other projects I want to do it just doesn't make sense to redo it, so this is a little bit of a compromise. I got to make a girly quilt and use the Christmas money to do it! The white squares are a really soft minky fabric that I just love. Emily's really into soft things so I think she'll really like her snuggly little quilt. Oh, and I found out that I could do free motion quilting with my sewing machine and it is so fun! (Although I'm not very good at it!)

My dreams have been SQUASHED!!

(Ha, ha, ha! The title is one that Jeff threw out when I asked,"What should I title my post?" and we had a good laugh over it so I decided to go ahead and use it.)

Anywho, we brought home several butternut squash from Jeff's parents after the wedding festivities a couple of weeks ago and I have had a wonderful time finding ways to use them. Who ever knew that cooking with squash could be so fun and yummy?!

The first squash I used to make baby food. I have been making my own baby food for Emily, and it is very satisfying and easy. I just cook up a bunch of sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, or whatever vegetable I want to add to her repertoire of food. Then I puree it in our blender, adding some water if needed to get the consistency I like. Then I pour it into ice cube trays. I store them in freezer bags after they're completely frozen. When it's time to feed her I just thaw 3 or 4 cubes in the microwave and viola! She loves her food and I love looking in the freezer at all the pretty colored bags of frozen fruits and veggies. Right now she has squash, carrots, green beans, and pears. (BTW, that one squash made enough to fill that whole freezer bag. We are down probably about a third of what we started out with.)

The next squash I used to make squash soup. Now, Jeff was not too excited about the prospect of squash soup for dinner, but he changed his mind after he tasted it. This was YUMMY!! Here's the recipe:

1 small onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
32 oz. chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
sour cream

Cover the vegetables with chicken stock. (I actually used part stock and part water and bouillon because that's what I had.) Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. (I actually used our hand wand and blended it right in the pot.) If needed, add more chicken stock to get the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with a dollop of sour cream. (Crackers go really good with this soup.)

The original recipe called for celery, but I didn't have any so I left it out. It also said to saute the vegetables in 2 T. butter first, but I skipped that part. Did I mention that this soup was yummy? It made enough for the four of us for dinner (with both Jeff and I having a second bowl of soup) and three lunches for me and Emily. (My brave little eater Max would not try this soup. He just kept pretending to take a bite and then would say, "I no like it, mommy!") Another thing that was great about this soup was that all the vegetables, minus the carrots, came from Bill's garden. Thanks for a yummy dinner, Bill!!

Yesterday I cooked up our third squash and made "Better Than Pumpkin Pie". Jeff and I both thought this was one of the best "pumpkin" pies we have ever had. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 egg, beaten
1 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground allspice
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground ginger
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell

Place squash in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and simmer over medium heat until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, and cool. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a blender or food processor, combine butternut squash, brown sugar, cornstarch, egg, milk, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. Process until smooth. Pour into the unbaked pie shell. Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes, or until a table knife comes out clean when inserted in the center.

Instead of cooking the squash on the stove, I actually pricked it with a fork several times and baked the entire thing in a 400 degree oven for an hour. Then I cut it in half, scooped out the seeds and blended the squash in our blender. It was a big squash and it was not cooked all the way through, so I ended up cooking some of it in the microwave for a few minutes. I only used 1/4 of the entire squash to make this pie.

Can I just say that I have had so much fun expanding my recipes to include squash! Who knew that I would love cooking with squash so much. I actually have one more butternut squash that I got from a neighbor and I've found a recipe for squash fries that is supposed to be even better than sweet potato fries. I'll let you know how they turn out. In the meantime, Bill and Deanne stopped by today and brought me a big red cabbage. I've already got what looks like a yummy recipe to try for tomorrow night!

(If you are looking for a place to find good recipes, check out Allrecipes. It is AWESOME!!)

Craft Tag

My friend tagged me to post a fun craft idea. (Sorry it's taken me a while to get mine posted, Kathryn!) :) I love this tag, because who can't use some good craft ideas, especially with Christmas coming?!

Anyway here are the rules:

1. Post a project that you have been working on lately or some thing you want to start soon.

2. Include pictures, a few instructions on how to make your fun project/craft idea, or a link to where you found the idea.

3. Then tag a few people to do the same!!

I'm doing my post on fabric covered buttons. If you haven't seen these before, they are so fun and so easy! You don't really need instructions - you'll find them on the package of buttons and they are super easy to make. The fun thing about these is that you can then turn them into magnets, push pins, pony tail holders, etc. The button part is removable, so you can take it out really easily with some pliers to make the magnets and push pins. (The ones I bought online had the option of a flat back or a button loop on the back.) I'm thinking of stamping little images on some plain muslin for some cute holiday magnets (probably for gifts) and am planning on also using them for embelishments on scrapbook pages and cards. You can buy them at the fabric store or online, which is actually cheaper if you want to buy more than just a few, and they come in about five different sizes. I'm tagging Erin, Shelly, Shannan, Tiffany, Meghan, Ines and anyone else who has a fun project or craft idea they want to share.

Applique for Emily

I have been picking up some bottoms for Emily next summer on the clearance racks but haven't had any luck finding tops to go with them, so I bought a package of onesies and appliquéd her some tops. I think I like the little bird the best. I just used some of my favorite fabric and then realized it would go really cute with the little corduroy skirt that I picked up for $2 or $3 at the Children's Place a few weeks before she was born. All five outfits together cost just under $25. What a steal!!

Trying my hand at applique

Recently I have stumbled onto some really cute craft blogs that have got my head full of so many fun and unique projects that I want to try out. One of the things I have seen several places is appliquéd onesies for baby gifts. They looked so cute and pretty easy and since I have a friend who is having a baby, and I love it when I can make a gift for someone, I thought I would give it a try. I made this little dinosaur tonight for my neighbor, Olga, and am all ready planning my next one to go with the other pair of pants I got for my other neighbor, Brittney. I am also planning on making some for my cute little Emily. So cute and so easy!! If you are interested in finding out how to make your own, check out this blog for some general instructions.

Catchin' up on crafts

One of my goals lately is to finish all of the craft projects that have built up over the last couple of years. I'm trying to get to the point where I do a project soon after I buy the stuff for it, not years later. One of the things I've been working on is Emily's bedroom. Until the last couple of weeks it still had a few things of Max's in there so I wanted to make it feel like her room. I mod podged some cute paper on some craft letters from Roberts and had so much fun I decided to use the leftover paper to make her some picture frames. I also did a couple of little projects to fill up the shelves in the nursery finally. (I've been meaning to do that since Max was born. I guess better late than never!) I'm not really thrilled with how the star pillow turned out, so it might be a do-over, we'll see.

I've also recently finished the pillows for the window seat in our living room. I finished the seat cushion about six months ago. (This project has also been in the works for a couple of years.) I figured it was time to get all of those pillows sewn and out of my storage room. Now we just need to paint the family room so that there isn't a couch sitting in front of all of that hard work! :)

I also made Max a clock to go with his new bedroom. My next projects are to finally do the touch up painting and finishing work on Max's room, paint the upstairs hall and the family room, paint the baseboards and wainscot in the entry way and kitchen that are finally installed (yeah!), and make the quilt for our bed. Piece of cake!!

Blessing Dress

I'm going to toot my own horn here and post a picture of Emily's blessing dress. I finished sewing it last night and was so happy with how it turned out. I don't always achieve what I envision when I sew something, so I'm always happy when something does turn out the way I hoped!