2 homemade gifts for audrey

this christmas i made 2 homemade gifts for audrey, a felt cake and some dress up clothes.
the felt cake turned out really cute. i used rickrack for the icing and felt dots, flowers and candles for decoration. i can always add to that later too.
for the dress up i made a wedding dress and veil from an old lace nightie, some fairy wings and a chef's hat and apron.

our kids enjoyed their christmas gifts

from the pictures you can see that miles enjoys his tunnel (that boy loves an obstacle course) and that audrey loves her doll. i wanted to scale back alittle this christmas so we got each kid a few gifts, but we made sure that we got them one thing that we knew they would love. mission accomplished! merry christmas!

birthday cake for Jesus

we made a birthday cake for Jesus this year to celebrate Jesus' birth. Audrey helped me mix the cake and then decorate with frosting and sprinkles (we used half the bottle).

in our stockings

this year i had the good idea that we should have something other than gifts in our stockings. so we are doing little love notes to each other. i am also finding verses about God's love for us to tuck into them, just a little thing to remind us the real reason for the season.

decorating without a tree

so we decided to forego using our christmas tree this year because of our little mr. destructo in the house. i didnt feel like putting the tree back up every 2 minutes. and yes, he can be taught not to mess with it but we are still working on that with the remotes, daddy's laptop and the telephone. so i had to be creative with some extra decorating.1. i used small ball ornaments and arranged them in the shape of a tree by hanging them on pushpins.
2. i took our framed art and covered it with green or red construction paper and then hung our snowflake ornaments in the frame.
i think my improvised decorating turned out nice. merry christmas!

tortilla and paper snowflakes

today audrey and i made snowflakes. we made paper ones and tortilla ones (thanks to my friend chrissy for the recipe and idea). the tortilla ones are just tortillas cut up to make snowflakes and then brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar (and sprinkles) and then put into a 375 degree oven for about 5 minutes. they were warm and crunchy and sweet when done.

pretzel treats

we made pretzel treats for jake's team at school, for me for a cookie exchange and we will be making them for audrey and miles' teachers. they turned out awesome.
they are just pretzels with melted candy cane hershey kisses on them and then a m & m pressed on top. be careful, they are addictive.

baby bedding

here's some baby bedding i made. i love how it turned out and the fabric my client picked.

my sleepy boy

ain't he cute. that face just brightens up my day.

miles in overalls

this is miles' "im not going to take a nap today mommy" face. i took the picture because i love babies in overalls.

i made this pendant

my friend and i got together today and made some tree of life pendants that we had seen on pinterest. it was fun and not too hard once you got the hang of it. i still think hers turned out better but oh well.

cheap workout

if you want to workout but you need to do it cheap then go to your local library and see what workout dvds they have. you can see if you like them and if you do then buy them. or just keep checking them out for free, like i do.
and if you didnt know many cans of food, like spaghettios, are almost exactly 1 lb. so now you have cheap hand weights too.

just a few things im thankful for

im most thankful that no matter what I have HOPE in Jesus and that His promises will always come true.

im thankful for God's provision for my family as i started the adventure of being a stay-at-home mom this year.
im thankful that i get more time with my kids. more time with audrey before she goes to school next fall. more time to help miles with his development.
im thankful for every new milestone that miles hits. he is such a miracle baby and i love the JOY that he exudes.
im thankful for my husband of 10 years and many more to come.
and im thankful that i can sew.

so that's just a few.

yummy snack

i got this idea from my mom's cousin, mavis. thanks mavis, this is such a delicious idea.
it's just buttered toast with a red bartlet pear cut on top.

thanksgiving projects

my audrey and i had 2 projects to do this thanksgiving. we made rice crispie turkey pops and toilet paper tube turkey placecards.
the turkey pops were less turkey pops when we made them because i didnt have anything to put the sticks for the chocolate to dry. so we just did them flat. but they still turned out cute and were, of course, delicious.while making the toilet paper tube turkey placecards audrey said it was the funnest craft she had done. so i say it was a success.

audrey singing the song from their feast

this is the song the "pilgrims" (4 and 5 year olds) sing to the "indians" (3 year olds) when they start their feast. i guess audrey starts over because she messed up a bit and then decided not to finish.

thanksgiving feast

this was audrey's last year to do her thanksgiving feast at work. she has loved these every year. i am very thankful to all her teachers and the director at childcare for making the feast so special for all the kids.
and i even got to be a part of it this year since it happened on the day i volunteer.

more stuff ive made from pinterest

i have made myself some scarfs and a shirt with an attached scarf all from ideas i have found on pinterest. i even made a hoodie into a cardigan and i love it even more now.
thanks pinterest.

cookie idea from pinterest

audrey and i needed to make some christmas cookies for our mommy group christmas party. so i of course wanted to try something that i saw on pinterest. they used sugar cookies and pressed m and m's to make designs. we used chocolate chip cookies (they didnt have any sugar cookie dough when i went to the store) and used m and m's but apparently our cookies were too small for their tree design so we improvised. i think they still turned out cute and tasted great. audrey really enjoyed the decorating process too, she told me that she loved me in the middle of it. i need to cook with her more since she loves it so much.

budding artists

we did pudding paint again and this time miles got to participate. and he LOVED it!!
enjoy the pictures.

2 kids, 1 basket

why is it so fun to play in a laundry basket? my kids had a great time sitting in it and throwing balls in and out and taking little rides today. so if you need to find something to keep your kids busy, try an empty laundry basket.

my husband the pretzel maker and kitty wrangler

my husband made some awesome pretzels the other night. it was fun to watch him concentrate on getting them the right shape. they were pretty good but the dough just reminded me of biscuits. later he wrangled our cats up for bedtime.