Tumbleweed Time

The Winter swim session was supposed to start this past Tuesday. However, the pool had a mechanical problem, and needed to be drained. It was sort of a good thing, because I learned that tumbling class for the 'very littles' follows right after swim, and we were able to get registered for that as well.

The pool was closed, but tumbling was on. Katelyn was a little intimidated at first, but slowly started to tackle the obstacle course, and other activities. She really enjoyed the hula hoops. She cared one around with her for the last half of the class. We're off this morning for day two!

With her friends Evelyn and Grace.

My Beautiful Sleeping Baby

I woke up on Saturday feeling like a terrible mother. I had already gotten up with Katelyn once that night, and when the sound of her crying trickled through the baby monitor again in the middle of the night- I turned it off like I normally do before tossing my legs over the bed to go sit with her. Except this time I was just far too tired. I dreamt that I was up and in her room when I never actually left my bed. (You know, like those odd times when you totally believe you are getting ready for work when the alarm clock goes off again, and you realize all you did was hit the snooze.)

It was 8:30 when I finally rolled out of bed for real, and Chris was still sound asleep. I jumped from the bed in a panic thinking Katelyn was going to hate me. I peeked in her crib to find her just like this. Curled up with the very cool pillow that Thom, Heidi, Matthew, and Andrew had sent her for Christmas and the Atlanta monkey she got from Greg, Cindy, and Sean . (Never mind the fact that she took her diaper off and tossed it out of the crib at some point.) She woke as happy as she normally does.

Picture Post

K Represents

Little Miss K was caught stealing daddy's beanie and representing Brasil. She was pointing to it like, "look where I want to go". Super cute.

Finger Paintin' Pumpkin

 

I know this post is way late with Thanksgiving just a week away, but I really wanted to share the pictures. I put them on FB, and forgot to post them here. I found some homemade Finger Paint recipes to try, and I must say that they turned out really cool, and Katelyn had a blast with them.

They are not exactly "edible" as in LUNCH, but there is nothing harmful in them for when they do eat it.

What You Need:

1/2 cup Corn Starch (or Flour)

3 TBS Sugar

1/2 tsp Salt

2 Cups Water

Food Coloring

Containers

 

For this simple fun time, just combine all but the food coloring into a saucepan. Stir with a wisk and Heat until sauce thickens. Remove from heat, let cool, spoon into containers. Add food coloring, and enjoy. I used empty baby food jars, and this amount filled four of them perfectly.

 

I was surprised that the coloring actually did not stain our skin that much. Blue was the first color that I made, and not thinking I put like 5 drops in it...it was very bright!

 

 

Here are some links to other sites for Finger Paints.

http://easiepeasie.blogspot.com/2010/07/homemade-finger-paints.html

http://www.momtastic.com/parenting/activities/171489-kids-activity-edible-homemade-fingerpaint

http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2011/06/squeezable-homemade-finger-paint/

http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2012/06/homemade-finger-paint/

Victoria got to carve her first pumpkin! It was awesome on the front porch.

Katelyn's Capelet

Another super easy- 20 minute (or less) project. It's a simple capelet. Pretty much, no skill required.  It's a little big for Katelyn at the moment, but I'd like for it to fit her in the Spring. My next project was going to be some super cute pajama shorts for myself, but I think I am going to attempt to manipulate a pattern to make a stroller cocoon-type-thing for Katelyn to keep warm this winter. We'll see!

I used Simplicity Pattern 4434

Puppy Love.

It started as a simple idea, but then I couldn't find any Dalmation spotted fabric...So, we had to hand stitch every single spot on to the costume (and it took forever!). I want to be sure to thank the special people for helping me. Victoria cut all the panels out. Ashley helped stitch some of the spots on, my mom stayed up all night stitching spots on, and Chris watched Katelyn when we got home the next night so I could stay up all night stitching on spots and sewing it together. I'm super happy with the costume- even though I was a dim-wit, and closed my casing for the elastic on the hat. (Never to find the time to fix my error, but we didn't stay out in the cold long, so it was ok.)

 

 We hit up the neighbors to show off her costume, and to see thier grandchildren's costumes, and then set up camp to hand out candy. Chris had the fire pit nice and toasty in the driveway for us when we returned from showing Victoria how we Trick-or-Treat in the United States. Next year Chris wants to have an Apple Cider Bar set up.

I used Simplicity Pattern 1797 as a guide. A little tweak here-and-there never hurt no one. ;)

Movie Monday

Katelyn is COLTSTRONG! This girl does not watch TV (no cartoons, no Sesame Street, nothing) - she has no interest in that big box, UNLESS... there is a Colts game on. She Bleeds Blue!


(Sorry, you have to stare at Chris crotch for a minute. We have to hide the video camera from her, because she LOVES to have the screen turned around so she can see herself.)

K's Birthday!

We celebrated K's first Birthday in Danville at Great Grandma's church. We loved the Minnie Mouse theme, and I think the guests did too! Our friend Lynnse made the cake, and proved once again just how talented she is. I had Katelyn's dress made just for her, and she looked like a superstar!

SUPER HUGE THANK YOU TOEVERYONE WHO CAME AND HELPED MAKE IT A MAGICAL BIRTHDAY!

Football Jersey to Toddler Dress

 

It's no secret that our house is a Colts house! With the mass exit of players this year, I'm stuck with 4 jerseys of players that don't exist on our team anymore. I only wear active player jerseys, so I had to do something with them.... and I decided to make Miss K a dress from one.

 

I did not take pictures of making it, but it is pretty basic. I did it with no pattern and in less than 3 hours.

 

You'll see in the picture below that the back is inside-out. This was by design. I got it by ripping the side seams and cutting the front, and cutting the back with the number side up. (I was originally thinking I would put WEST on the back, but decided I liked it as it is.)  

 

Step One: Choose your design.

My original sketch was a one shoulder dress with a ribbon on the opposite side, and a puff sleeve. (Hey, I'm no designer, just going with the little knowledge I have.)

 

Step Two: Gather your materials.

Jersey, Scissors, Ribbon, Thread, Marker, Sewing Machine

 

Step Three: Cut your material.

I eyeballed the measurements because it was pretty easy to guess the size on a dress like this for Katelyn, but you can always take a dress you do like and trace it on the fabric and cut it from there.

 

Step Four: Add Hem.

Fold over the bottom and stitch in a hem on both pieces. Add hem around the sholder piece (if you did one,) and the neck line.

 

Step Five: Make two become one.

Put the pieces together (wrong-to-wrong) and sew the top of the shoulder together. Then sew the sides together. (Be sure to leave a large enough arm hole.)

 

Step Six: Add your ties.

Cut 4 pieces of ribbon and sew into place.

 

Step Seven: Outside Trim.

Turn the dress right-side out. Smile at your handy work, and if you want to add the ribbon trim down the sides like I did, carefully stitch it down the left and right sides of the ribbon. .

 

It's that simple. You can make any shirt a No-SEW dress as well by using Steam-A-Hem, but it won't work so well for the jersey because the iron can't get hot enough on the material to melt the glue. (Trust me, I tried. it will melt the material quickly if you turn it up past nylon/low - and I sat it on the shirt for 20 minutes and it never melted the glue [or the fabric] lol.)

 

I guess I hope that makes sense! It's super simple, next to no skill required.

 

 

Picture Post!

Getting Ready to leave for Victoria's first NFL game!!

K assisting Daddy with lawn duty...



She's no fool. She knows the fun is all in the driving.

I love these two! I also love that Chris gets up with her in the middle of the night, so I can sleep.

Kissing daddy before he heads out the door for work!

Yum, Miss K loves her spaghetti!

We went to Garwood's Apple Orchard, and K picked her very first apple from the tree.

Victoria picked some too!
Chris made the most amazing Apple Pie ever with our apples.