She Laughs!

It is official. Lou Lou laughs. For the last couple of days I thought she was laughing. I was pretty sure she was laughing. And then Bella started jumping on the bed where Lou Lou just happened to be watching. And she laughed.











I was so excited to catch Lou laughing when I started taking this video of Bella.



And this one you can hear Bella jumping on the bed.

Wood Projects!

I have always been a little bit intimidated by a blank piece of wood and a jar of paint, but lately I have been obsessed with wood projects. And I have a few on my table to finish this year.

First on my list is a fridge for Bella's play kitchen. She got a nice Pottery Barn sink and oven piece last year for Christmas/birthday and I have wanted to get a fridge for her as well. Unfortunately they are so darn expensive. I decided that since all it was was a cupboard with a shelf it wouldn't be rocket science to make one myself. And by make I mean find a cupboard and paint it. I found this one at Michaels and thought it would be perfect. And it is. It is just the right size. I didn't take a picture of the inside but it has a shelf inside.



I have almost finished painting it (not shown in the picture). I just need to paint the bottom, add a clear glossy coat and best of all I am going to add.....a chalkboard. I had this fabulous idea of painting a chalkboard on the top half. At first I thought maybe I was crazy but then I saw this one at Land of Nod. Definitely NOT crazy. Granted mine won't be quite so fancy, but still cool. You will see. (crossing my fingers it works out like it does inside my head). Oh, and you can find chalkboard paint in the spray paint section at Michaels (and probably a lot of other places too I am sure).

Also on my list (I am soooo excited about this one) are some wooden peg dolls and house for Bella's birthday. Check out this link and this one. I bought my peg dolls here and they actully sent me a few extra pieces. Sweet. I have looked and looked at my local Michaels for the CD tower house and was not able to find it. On our trip last week I went to a Michaels and realized that my Michaels stinks. s-t-i-n-k-s. The selection at the Michaels almost 2 hours away was waaayy better. So I picked up a couple of houses, some wood pieces to make furniture (wishing I got more), and a couple of wood purses to house the people and furniture - also to serve as a totable home. Would that be considered a "mobile home"? Anyways, can't wait to get started on that project!

Last on my list are some matryoshka dolls. I got the idea here and bought the dolls here. I also ordered a couple of matryoshka wooden eggs to paint for the kids for Easter. Time to tune up my painting skills.

Aprons for the Kids

I know, they look kind of funny hanging from a tree but seriously, the lighting in my house (or lack thereof) is almost impossible to work with, so what are you going to do?

I have been wanting to make aprons for Buddy and Bella for ages. When I am baking with the kids Bella pulls out one of my aprons and I have to fold it up, wrap it around her, cinch it up and make a really tight bow. It can be a little awkward. So finally here they are. And really, it is not like they took that long.

Bella's is a little bit wrinkly because we went for a shopping trip a few days ago and she insisted on wearing this in one of the stores (she put her little ponies (prounounced poo-nies) in her pocket). Of course she evenutally took it off and it ended up in a wad in my bag for a few days.


When I found the apples and pears fabric at JoAnn's I had to grab it. I always get excited when I see good Alexander Henry prints at JoAnn's. And with my new love of embroidery I added this little detail to the pocket.



I used this tutorial from Skip to my Lou. But I added a pocket instead of the flower. My kids need pockets.


I used this free pattern for Buddy's apron. It is a Montessori apron and I love it. I love the elastic neckband that can stretch over a child's head (think girls with pigtails) and I love the velcro waistband that the kids can do up themselves. Bella's waistband is also velcro. Both tutorials are on my sidebar for anyone interested.

Back At It

My sewing machine had a very lonely year last year, but this year is going to be different. I am officially out of whatever funk I was in last year (let's just call it pregnancy). One of my goals this year is to work on something crafty every week. I have missed it and I need that me time. My head has been reeling with projects I want to work on so we will see what I can actually get to.

My first project this year was a case for some books the kids got from Santa this year. They got a pack of 10 Disney books with a special pen that "reads" the words and pictures on the page and has different sound effects etc. They are really cool books and I can't find them online anywhere. We saw them at Costco around Christmas time. Anyways, when we got home from our trip I really wanted to make something to put all the books and the pen in to keep them together because I knew they would either get lost or severly crumpled. So this was born. The workmanship is a little sloppy since I was just making it up as I went. I used some left over Dick and Jane fabric that I had used to make an Amy Butler Birdie Sling bag that I use as a diaper bag. The problem with this print is it is almost impossible to not have cut off heads and legs. Oh well.




A few other sewing projects I would really love to work on this year are quilts for my two oldest kids for their beds, a few skirts and dresses for Bella, a car organizer, and an apron for me. And a few other projects that are more crafty and less sewing.

Don't you love the wooden sewing machine? We gave it to Bella for Christmas. I love simple wood toys and I was hoping that when I sat down to the sewing machine Bella could pull out hers too. She has really enjoyed playing with it. I bought it at this etsy store.. Check it out. He takes pieces of unwanted wood and makes really neat things with them. I think Bella's was made from an old door.

Happy sewing!

3 Months!

Our "Tootie Pie" is 3 months old!



"Tootie Pie" is Bella's way of saying "Cutie Pie" and we think it is adorable the way Bella goes up to Lou Lou and plants her face in front of Lou Lou's and says in an excited and somewhat loud voice "Hi tootie pie!". Yes, Bella is in love with our little cutie pie and so is Buddy and so are Hubby and I. And I'm pretty sure Lou Lou loves us too. Or at least she finds us quite amusing.

Lou Lou really is a perfect baby and I am not exaggerating an ounce. (Aren't all babies perfect? Really?) She is so sweet and she is always so happy and smiley. I love to just watch her and listen to her coo. I love those sweet, happy coos. And my favorite....

The full body smile



I know she is really happy to see me when waving arms and kicking feet accompany her toothless grin.

Three months doesn't seem like a lot right? But for me it feels like forever. It feels like Lou Lou has always been a part of our family and I can't imagine my life without her! I love you little Lou!

The Dress

I am a pretty practical person. When Buddy and Bella were blessed in church we didn't make a big fuss over what they wore. We got both of them outfits they could wear again. And they did. They both got a lot of wear out of their "blessing outfits". They were both nice but not super fancy. Buddy wore a white collared onsie with plaid pants that were white with small yellow and blue stripes. Here is a picture of him with my mom. Hard to tell what he is wearing since he wore a bib probably 95% of the time his first year of life. He was a super drooly baby and he was constantly soaked.



When I found this picture I had to include it. My dad falling asleep with Buddy. Precious. Reminds me of this time. (scroll to the bottom)



And here is what Bella wore. And I am sad to say that I really didn't get very good pictures of either of my children in their blessing outfits. That makes me really sad.




Since Lou Lou was born I have been pretty sentimental. Although I am still too practical to spend $100 on a dress that will only get used once, I thought If I can make something special (and not tooo frou frouy) then why wouldn't I? So that is what I did. I looked a little bit online to find some inspiration and came across this dress that I loved. I especially loved the texture of the material. And this one is totally gorgeous. I fell in love with the silk roses on it. After looking at some patterns online I remembered that I had this pattern(Simplicity 2767). I made one for Bella but hated the fabric and was waiting for a chance to try again. I was so happy when I realized it had a small enough size for Lou Lou. And now I know that fabric choice does make ALL the difference. I tried using the roses in the pattern but didn't like the way it looked with the Shantung silk so I used the silk spider web rose tutorial that was used for that gorgeous christening dress. I have to say that I am so proud of myself. This is kind of a fussy pattern but I think it turned out really well and I love the roses. I am planning on making a matching headband and some shoes as well, so we will see how that goes.





I love the net ruffle slip. It adds a little fluff underneath.


And my favorite detail - the roses. I used unhemed strips of silk so the raw slightly frayed edges gives a little more texture and character. Although now that I am looking at the pictures I am not entirely convinced I like the button. I thought I liked the little extra sparkle, but not sure...


This time I am going to try to get some better pics of The Girl in her Dress.

Activity Days: Embroidery (talents)

This week we took on the challenge of teaching our large group of girls to embroider. I think there was only one person that had really done it before, but I think everyone enjoyed it and some of them wanted to take their projects home. We decided to make bags with each of the girls' name embroidered on them. This week I got the fabric and cut one piece for each girl. I marked a square on the middle front so the girls knew where to write their name. We brought dress-making marking pencils for them to write their names. I also brought disappearing ink which is great, but since they didn't finish this week the ink should disappear before our next activity so I had to redo those ones with the pencils after they left. After the girls finish with the embroidery we will bring our sewing machines and have them sew their bags. I cut the fabric on a fold so they will only need to sew two seams on either side and then hem the top. For handles we are going to use ribbon so it will be easy peasy, but will give the girls some experience with working on a sewing machine. We made the bags big enough to fit their journals inside, but I am debating whether or not we should just let them take their bags home as we don't really need them for our journals.

Stitches we used or plan on using: stem stitch, outline stitch, running stitch, and back stitch. We mostly used the stem stitch because it was a little bit harder than just a running stitch but still easy enough for them to do. Also it is a nice one for outlining something simple like a word. I made a "cheat sheet" with all of those stitches so they could use as a reference for later, but when you are starting you really need to see someone do it and have help through the first few stitches.


We had one mother that was able to come and help us which was wonderful since our YW who comes to help with our activities/children was not able to come so we had a preschooler and two infants we were trying to entertain as well as trying to teach a dozen girls how to do everything from thread a needle to unpick a knotted stitch. We were very busy but it was a good learning activity and we all had fun. Hopefully the girls will continue to embroider at home. If they show interest in it, we may start a sampler and have them work on it whenever we get a few minutes.

Other notes: we started having it at the church and even though we were in a smallish class room, I like it A LOT better. It is very convenient to be able to use the nursery and kitchen when needed and I like not having to spread out in different rooms to accommodate everyone. Not to mention it is so nice not to have it at my house every time. No more spending hours getting a house cleaned and ready for guests - especially when I am already spending time trying to get other things prepared for the activity as well. We made sure they understood that even though we were in the church they had to stay in our classroom so we knew where everyone was at all times. Also, I discovered that most of the mom's preferred bringing their girls right after school and it was nice to have that extra 15 minutes for journal writing or in the future if we want to do some embroidery work at the beginning while we wait for everyone to arrive.

Since I haven't done a lot of embroidery myself, I had to "brush up". When my parents were here when Lou Lou was born my mom bought me this book. I was sooo excited about it since I have really really wanted to pick up embroidery and this book was perfect. I am a figure-it-out-on-your-own kind of person and learn best when I have to teach myself so this book was invaluable as I "brushed up" on my embroidery skills for this activity. The pictures are of a bag that I made for a cute little girl that I know. I will take some pictures of the girls' bags when they are all finished.



I think it is safe to say that I am hooked.