Birthday

We plan to celebrate my birthday and my sister's (hers is on the 17th) together when we visit California in a week so I hadn't anything planned for today.  And I actually completely forgot it was my birthday until I checked my email this morning and saw happy birthday wishes from my bank.  Gotta love impersonal automated birthday wishes and it is very sad that I needed it to jog my memory.  Of course even if my bank hadn't reminded me, a quick check of Facebook made it clear that today is my day.  And to help my husband out, I texted him that it was my birthday.  To which he responded, after wishing me a happy birthday, asking what I got for myself from him.  It's my parents' marriage all over again (and that isn't a bad thing because they were very happy).

So besides a lovely poop filled diaper Miss T presented to me, the only birthday present so far is an apple pie the girls and I picked up at Fresh Market.  I got the no sugar added pie because who in this day and age needs all the extra sugar in our diets.  The girls certainly don't need to start on that this early in life.  It tasted plenty sweet though and really hit the spot.  The only thing I can think of that would have been better is blueberry pie from fresh picked blueberries.  It is not yet blueberry season though and it looks like with our month long trip to California, we may miss blueberry picking this year.  So sad. 

The girls are currently "napping" while I get some time to myself.  By napping I mean T is fast asleep while D talks to herself.  She used to be the type that no matter how riled up be before bed, if you put her in the crib within a couple minutes she would pass out.  Now she babbles and sometimes cries 15-30 minutes each time after I put them down before falling asleep. Two reasons I can think that might affect her sleep are that she is no longer sucking her thumb (she sucked it too much two weeks ago and left her thumb swollen, callused and with the outer layer of skin missing) and she has started getting more into potty training.  Both of them have both been waking up an hour early for over a week now.  I miss sleeping in the extra hour. 

 

Yesterday we went to a playground at Burns Park for the first time.  We met up with two boys the girls have been pals with all their short lives.  There is a great area there designed for the 2-5 age group.  They had a lot of fun riding the horse merry-go-round, sliding down the slides and hanging on the bars. 

 

This afternoon we are going to make footprint butterflies on canvas with acrylic paint.  I plan to lay cardboard down on the floor for protection but I really hope they don't make a mess.  They will be Mother's Day presents for Oma and Leila.  I'll keep one for myself too but am not sure if I'll count it as a birthday present or Mother's Day present. 

Tying Up Loose Ends Before CA

These are some last projects I've been hoping to get done before we travel to California tomorrow.  All four of us are going this time; Kevin's first visit in 2 1/2 years.  The girls are excited to see their Oma, Leila and Pho Pho even though they really don't understand what is going to happen.  I've been reading a book to them about a family that takes a trip on an airplane.  Maybe some of it will seem familiar tomorrow.

 

I made ornaments of the girls' hand prints out of salt dough for their grandparents for Christmas and I finally got around to making some for me in the past couple days.  I tried out a cornstarch dough for my ornaments but they all cracked, so I will stick with salt dough I used with the first ornaments.  And since I only needed enough for two ornaments for myself, I used the extra dough for an Anna paw print ornament.

 

I knitted a neat looking lattice design headband for my sister-in-law.  I love the design.  It is one I will probably incorporate into other projects like hats in the future.  I am also almost finished with the gloves I have been working on for my father-in-law.  Three fingers left to do!

Bows! Bows! Bows!  Three to be exact.  I finally put some of those bow tutorials I pinned on Pinterest to good use and made the girls some bows to go with an outfit their Leila got them.  I made the third to give to my sister at her shower so that my future niece will get to match her cousins.  They all look pretty nice but I can still tell the difference between the first one I made and the last one.  It did not take long to get the hang of maneuvering the ribbon and glue gun though. 

 

Last on the list of things that need to be done or at least in a state where I can complete them once I get to California is a Hot Wheels travel bag for my nephew Holden.  I saw a great tutorial on Pinterest for it.  Unfortunately, I don't get a lot of chances to access the sewing machine with my rugrats under foot so I opted for the quicker approach of felt and a glue gun.  It doesn't look as nice but it will do the job.  It has slots for 4 cars and they are numbered so he can practice counting.  All that is left to do is the buttons.

 

Well we are mostly packed, the boarding passes are printing and here is hoping for a good trip!

What a week!

What a week!  On Christmas Day we had a horrible storm that knock out power to thousands of people in our area for days.  Ours was out for 49 hours and man did it get cold in here.  It also dumped quiet a few inches of snow on us.

We were lucky that none of our trees fell over or large branches broke.  At a house up the street from us, one of their large oaks fell over and hit the roof.  Luckily for them, another tree next to it bore most of the weight so it did not go crashing through.  But it still caused damage to their roof. 

Our back fence looks a little bent from our neighbors large bushes.  But we are hoping that with the ice and snow melted, the bushes will recover and lift up off the fence.  Hopefully we won't have to repair anything. 

Kevin spent three hours shoveling snow off of our driveway.  He could not make it into work because the entrance to the cul de sac is too steep to get out of with all the snow.  Instead he spent his day doing what he could for us to survive without power for awhile and helping neighbors to clear the street so we could drive out.  He is a great husband.

The girls got their first chance to play in the snow, although I didn't really let them play because they had no boots and no mittens.  I had to tie plastic bags around their shoes so they could walk around in it for a couple minutes.  The snow was up to their knees and they did not really know what to make of it.  If we had heat inside, I would have brought a bowl of it into the kitchen for them to play with but we were freezing as it was.

 

 

Before the power outage, we had a good Christmas morning.  We helped the girls open a few presents from relatives.  Miss T was such a doll and smiled at the camera when I asked her to.

 

Both girls loved the sweet smelling puppy dogs their aunt got them.  Here is D hugging the one I have named Vanna.  For some reason I feel uncomfortable naming all their animals and dolls (we still refer to both of their dolls as 'doll'), but I thought I'd try it out this time.  I chose the very imaginative names of Vanna (for the vanilla colored one) and Chocco (for the chocolate colored one). 

We had a very nice, warm Christmas morning as a family.  I love getting pictures with my girls and am so thankful they are my babies. 

Fall Knitting Projects

I have been knitting when I can and have gotten a few projects done over the past few weeks.  The girls are slowly learning not to grab at Momma's yarn and needles so I can get some knitting done while I watch them which is helpful.  Some are gifts, others are for the girls and hopefully soon I'll get to knit something for me. 

 

 

I knitted three basic wash cloths out of cotton yarn for my cousin who just had a baby girl.  I got two and a half washcloths out of one ball of yarn.  I just loved the colors on it for a baby girl: Peaches and Cream Azalea.  I finished the incomplete washcloth with a yellow, green, white of the same brand of yarn.  Wrap them in each other like a rose petals and the odd color washcloth becomes a leaf.  A friend had knitted a few of them for my girls last year and they are great for bath time.

 

 

My nephew turns TWO the day after tomorrow.  Hard to believe it; he's such a big boy.  Since his birthday is in October, I wanted to knit him something he could use for Halloween.  I got the pattern from Jean Adel's book of Knitted Critters.  Some of them are so adorable.  But the sizing seems too small.  It is supposed to be for a three year old and yet it fits the girls just fine.  So I hope Holden will be able to get some use out of it before he gets too big. 

 

I did alter the mittens.  In the pattern the mittens have ears and a stripe which I thought looked silly.  Instead I knitted up a plain mitten and I glued felt paws on with a glue gun.  It turned out adorable.  We'll see if he'll actually wear them though.  You never know how much they will cooperate.

 

 

 

For my mother's birthday, I knitted her a scarf out of a lace weight mohair/ silk blend yarn.  It turned out beautiful and is such a nice deep purple color.  I love how this yarn looks but it is such a pain to work with.  Beautiful but so frustrating.  I have a couple more balls in a deep red that I want to knit up for me, but I need a break from it for awhile.





 

Colder days are here and my babies need protection from the chill.  So I set to work on these basic roll brim hats to keep their noggins warm.  I used Lion Brand's Amazing yarn which is really pretty with its changing colors. 

 



 

I ran out of the ball of yarn I was using called Pink Sand so I switched over to Vineyard to finish off the hat that Tess is modelling.  It looks a little odd but still nice so I'm leaving it.  

 

 

And then there are pumpkin and acorn squash seeds.  I did not knit them, or eat them while knitting since the oil would make a mess, but I did bake them and enjoy them so much. Thought I'd throw them in here.

 

Happy fall and happy crafting!

Small Projects

I have been getting small projects finished although my larger projects have been either languishing (still need to resize the butterfly squares of baby quilt #2) or progressing very slowly (their growth charts are getting there and I will have photos soon). 

But in the mean time, here are the Father's Day gifts the girls and I made for their Daddy and their Pho Pho.  Scrub caps with the girls handprints and name (great gift for doctors that spend a lot of time in the OR).   I had planned to post these on Father's Day but got a bit overwhelmed with the girls birthday planning and photos. 



I thought taking their footprints was a messy process.  It doesn't even compare to handprints.  Dara managed to grab the strings of one of the caps while I was trying to get Tess' prints and got paint splotches everywhere. 

Tess didn't like the feel of the paint on her hands and started crying.  She is much more sensitive to sensory experiences than Dara is.  I think I need to start doing more sensory activities with them so she doesn't get upset so easily with the different textures. 

You can also see where Dara got some paint on her fingers of the hand I wasn't printing and started grabbing the scrub cap.  I touched up the handprints using a tooth pick with the white paint and tried to cover some of the wayward splotches with black paint.  But Dara's left handprint on my husband's cap was just too messy so I left the white splotches as is.  Their chubby little handprints still look cute, even if it they are messy. 

I saw this project on Pinterest and thought it would be a great idea for the girls' and my summer travels in CA.  I got a hand towel on sale at Target and made the tie out of the same material I'm using for the growth chart binding.  It was really fast to make; the tie took the longest but shoe laces or ribbon would be an easy no-sew alternative to the tie I made.  I have slots for our tooth brushes (even Kevin's for future trips), tooth paste, dental floss, my deoderant and then a large slot at the end for anything else I think I need.

Rolled up, it makes a nice and convenient bundle that protects your toothbrushes.

Got to love Pinterest!

Mother's Day Tote

This year I am celebrating my first Mother's Day as a mother.  Mother's Day has always been a bit special to me.  I was born on Mother's Day and my birthday has landed on it a handful of times since then.  So for my first Mother's Day, the girls are giving me a tote with their feet print on it (they made them for their Leila and Oma too).

I had planned to actually sew the tote my self with a square of fabric that had their feet print on it.  Then I saw these totes at Michael's and realized how much time that would save me.  They don't look as good and are not as sturdy as if I had made them myself but my time these days that is budgeted for crafts is minimal so I had to make due. 

It was pretty easy and inexpensive to do.  All you need is a tote, non-toxic fabric paint (one bottle for the feet and the other for the writing), paper towels, a piece of cardboard, and a baby.

 

I did it while the girls were in their high chairs to keep them from moving too much.  Place a piece of cardboard on the inside of  the tote where you want the foot print to go.  It will give you a firm surface for the print. 

Using the paper towel, swab the the foot with paint. You want it well coated but not too thick.  Line up the baby's foot where you want it on the tote and press it firmly all at once.   I started out placing the heel down and then rolling the rest of the foot down so they would spread out their toes more.  Unfortunately that caught too much of the heel and made the foot print longer than the actual foot is.  So press the whole foot at once, even if they curl their toes in a little.

Then write the date or how many months old the baby is with paint that has the nozzle and let it dry for four hours.  And that's it.  All done except for the clean up.  For the most part, the paint comes off easily although the girls did had black paint under their toe nails for a day or two after.