Two years

Today marks two years.

Two years that I have been a mother.

And you know what? It's just as awesome as everyone always said it would be. Sure there are ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

In honor of my little Easton, here he is in every month of his life. {warning: lots of pictures}

Birth
1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

1 year

13 months

14 months

15 months

16 months

17 months

18 months

19 months

20 months

21 months

22 months

23 months

2 years

Congrats if you made it to the end! He has his doctor's appointment tomorrow morning, so I'll be doing the "official" update on his blog after that.

And then I put my sewing machine away for a while

It's totally true. I finished all of the sewing crafts on my to-do list this week (well, I should clarify that I mean my immediate to-do list, not my "someday when I am super cool I will do that" to-do list).


It's a good thing that the recipient of these gifts is only 14 months old and doesn't get on my blog too often. Otherwise, I would be spoiling everything! (and yes, her mom already knows about everything).


First, I whipped up about 30 of these bad boys (most to be kept for future gifts). Bean bags.


Bean bags with real pinto beans in them. (Fabric squares cut at 5" and sewn with a 1/2" seam). It felt sooooo good to use up fabric I have had since 2003.


Next, I finally finished a project that I signed up for at my ward's fantastic Friday (craft night) in November. Eye Spy bags. I bought official "bean bag fill" at Roberts craft store in Utah and then added a few extra little do-dads for the kiddos to search for in addition to what was provided at the activity.

Church Flip Books. This was inspired at the ward's fantastic Friday, but I decided to beef it up a bit.

The pass-along cards were provided. I just mounted them on scrapbook paper.

Then I added pictures of churchy things A great source (that I didn't think of until I was done) is the "Behold, Your Little Ones" Nursery Manual.

And lastly put pictures of all of the family members. Hopefully this will help keep some little ones entertained during church.

Tag Blanket Tutorial

Remember a long time ago when I made a tag blanket for Easton? Well, the little tutorial I used for it was on a blog that has since gone private, so I can't refer people there anymore.

Time to make one of my own.

And don't you worry, I don't expect you all to hurry up and make these in the middle of your holiday season. It's just something on my to-do list that can now be crossed off. heavenly.

A glimpse of the finished project before we even begin.
Supplies:
12" x 12" square of cotton fabric
12" x 12" square of minky fabric*
24" of 4 kinds of ribbon
12 buttons
thread
pins
scissors
sewing machine

1. Cut your two fabrics to be 12" x 12" squares
2. Cut six (6) 4" strips of each of your four ribbons.

3. Gather your 12 buttons.

4. Begin by sewing (I machine sewed, but you could also hand sew) your buttons onto the right side of your cotton fabric. I do four groups of three buttons each.

5. Sew all of your ribbon strips into loops with your sewing machine. My machine allows me to do this continually with a space between each ribbon loop (see second picture) but check your machine before attempting this as some machines won't sew the empty spaces.

6. Pin your ribbon on the right side of the cotton fabric with the loop of the ribbon facing the middle. I put 6 ribbons on each side and attach them in an "order."

7. Sew around the edge of the cotton fabric to attach the ribbons. I triple stitch each ribbon (go over it once, reverse over the entire thing and then continue forward again).

8. Lay your two squares of fabric, right sides together and sew along three edges with a 1/4" seam. On the fourth side, leave a space open so you can turn the entire thing right side out again.

9. Machine (or hand) sew your opening closed.

10. Ta-da! A completed tag blanket. (You'll see my machine stitching on the bottom right corner of this blanket, I'm no perfectionist, that is for sure).

*Really, you can use any fabric that you want to use. Minky is really, really soft fabric (I don't know how else to describe it). Most often, you will see it with the dot pattern (as in this post). The blue I have here just happens to be plain. Soft flannel, or fleece would also work great.

I have a little rule

It goes something like this...

From December 1st to April 30th you can't complain about the weather in Laramie.

It's going to be bad. Cold and snowy and windy, so just deal with it.

So, I'll abide by my own rule today and just tell you how pretty it is outside with 3 inches on the ground and no signs of stopping.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The law school hosts Santa for all the kids. Obviously, Easton was not happy about it. I felt a little bad about making him sit there for not one, but two pictures...

...but then I decided that every kid needed a "screaming their head off on Santa's lap" picture and felt better.

Then, we bought a little (4 ft) tree and decorated it. Easton liked putting ornaments on, as long as it was the ornament that HE wanted to put on.

He also helped daddy do the star, which was quite possibly the cutest thing ever.

And here's our little tree.

I thought that little would be perfect. Small for the apartment, Easton's size (so to speak), etc. The one thing I didn't think about? Easton can reach EVERY branch. My nice porcelain ornaments that my Grammy makes every year had to stay packed up this year. boo.

A few Christmas Crafts

Since some of these have been given as gifts now, I can finally post them.

I made these countdown blocks in my ladies craft group. It's a great way to get together and chat the night away with some great ladies. Kit purchased here.

Ronnie's family does a handmade ornament exchange every year and aside from the stress it causes me when I am trying to come up with an idea, I LOVE it. My ornament this year was inspired by this one. {sorry the lighting and picture is so bad}

Finally, I ordered this calendar (magnet to mark the date not shown) for my mom from this place again. It is really hard to get a good picture of sheet metal (in case you are wondering).

I have a few other crafts that are going to have to wait a bit longer, so don't you worry--I'm still keeping busy!