The Bun's in the Oven

(Julian sat like this watching and waiting while some cookies baked. Just too exciting.)

We had our ultra sound today and it looks like I'll be sewing tons over the next four months...

And it won't be with blue fabric :)

We brought the boys along to share the experience. Afterwards, Tanner asked the boys what we should name her. Julian thought for a second then replied with "Grandpa"-a sweet suggestion from a little boy that admires that name so much :)

First Night 2012

Score: 42 (very smart chess guy) to zero (everyone else), and he still had many hours to put everyone else to shame. The nerd smell was through the roof.

Thank you to the zoom feature on the camera. We knew we would need you sometime.

Creating Frenzy

I have been feeling less nauseous the last couple weeks so I went to work (you've got to cash in while you can!) Maybe you guys could try making one or some of these ideas. It was a lot of fun.

Being involved in the Relief Society in our church calls for transporting food to sick or needed people on many occasions, so when I saw these cool casserole carriers on homemadebyjill I've been wanting to make one. These were really fun to make and I liked Jill's edits she used from the original pattern.

I was looking on Etsy for some wooden toys when I came across some wooden peg toys that were hand painted. They were adorable, but a set of 10 was $165. Luckily, we have a unique craft store in town that sells pegs in different sizes for 33 cents each. That's a $161 savings for me :)  It was so fun to paint them for the boys' gift this year. They really like them. You can use painters putty to make Laya's hair and yoda's ears. Make sure it dries. Also use a finishing gloss to protect them. 

I was able to make the boys' Christmas jams this year. Julian has never had a pair of really soft pajamas and cried when I had to literally pull them off to be washed!

My friend shared her great idea to make a Christmas tree skirt and put her kids handprints around the edge through out all the years. Since I've been laying around sick I finally had time to make one. I think I will sew little Christmas characters like Rudolf and Santa and a candy canes etc. between each year of hand prints. I hope the boys will have good memories each year as we pull it out.

While thinking about the new baby coming, I thought it would be neat to knit a little sweater or something. I've always liked the knitted look of clothes compared to crocheting it, so thanks to youtube I was on my way to learn how to knit :) This will be a scarf. I hope I can make a sweater eventually. Have you guys been making anything lately too?

Keeping it Simple

This year I went to a Relief Society Christmas program given by our church. In it they talked about ways we can eliminate stress and busy-ness during the holiday season so we can be less frazzled and more Christ-like or thoughtful towards others during the season. Isn't that what we all would like to do?

I know many of us do presents pretty low key, but this program made me think about the other things I can eliminate or take down a notch as not to distract from the spirit of the season.  Consciously thinking about simplifying things and letting other things go has made this Christmas low key and un-stressful.

Last year we bought a Christmas tree at a local tree lot in town. It was snowing, so our tree was wet and we were stressed and ornery after hauling the big thing in our home and making our carpet a mess! 

This year we prepped ourselves ahead of time to try and prevent a bad and stressful experience. We decided to cut one down, which can be so stressful, but we went into the day consciously trying to be patient as we and the boys were cold and tired. Being prepared and going while it didn't snow also helped our experience to be a good memory.

Tanner is in the background with our prized tree :) A funny side note: we saw a couple other families trying to find trees that day. One man walked by singing Christmas songs in a beautiful voice as he tugged his tree. I told him that I could sing alto and Tanner tenor. He was all for it! Next year I will bring hot cocoa in the car and a sled to pull the kids on.

The boys were greeted with a couple items from Santa and they were grateful and delighted. I'm so grateful for my boys.

I wasn't able to give my neighbors gifts or give cards, but I realized this year it would have been too busy for me as I put effort on other things. Maybe another year we can, and we might have to eliminate something else to make up for it, but that's ok too. 

We appreciate and love all of you who think of us and have sent us beautiful cards and thoughts. Have a wonderful new year!

Hop-py Halloween

This year was so much fun. The boys decided to again be totally opposite characters on the spectrum of Halloween costumes. It made us smile.

My intentions, however, of making a costume that was warm for our less than tropic weather, turned into a super hero that looked like he had too many carbs. 

My 5 year old didn't notice. In fact, his cardboard claws and spandex undies made him feel pretty awesome. Tip: sew the black stripes on to the chest before you stuff with cotton.

After naming off a list of animals our sweet Julian decided on nothing less than darling for a costume: a bunny. I panicked when his mind was set. A bunny? Isn't that a girl costume?

 Luckily JoAnn's had some gray fur on hand and I reminded myself of the fun we'll have looking back (i.e. blackmail). Tip: make sure to take into account the extra material for your 3 yr old's belly when making their costume. 

 My sister made a great Halloween costume when she was pregnant, so I used that idea to make mine while announcing to our friends and neighbors our exciting news. Our baby's due next May :)