Monday, April 23, 2012

boy projects

I have been pretty unmotivated this pregnancy to do a lot of crafty things (unfortunately). But as the time is quickly approaching when baby boy will be here, I'm now motivated!! Here are a few things I've been working on.

Burp cloths. I've made these three so far. The two on the left are made using cloth diapers and I've sewn the fabric in the middle. You see these everywhere and they make great gifts! I had a bunch of this white chenille fabric left over, so when I saw Dana's version, I had to make one. The burp cloth on the right was made using Dana's tutorial. Three is a start, but I'd really like a bunch more. We'll see what I can do!

I made a receiving blanket. (This is the flannel I found at JoAnn's, but wasn't really thrilled about.) It's pretty cute though, right?

My mom made this one. It's already fun having new colors around this place!

This is my stack so far. I'm also in the process of making a quilt for baby. I had scraps leftover from another project that were perfect for another baby quilt! I just need to go out and buy the fabric for the back and then I can finish it! I'm hoping to get to the store today. We'll see. It seems lately like my girls have been AWFUL when we've gone into any store. So I find myself avoiding bringing both of them with me! But sometimes you gotta do it!

Oh and I found baskets to go in my changing table! The colors are perfect and match the quilt my mom is going to make. I think I'm gonna make some tags to hang on the baskets so I know what's inside each one. Then I'll take a picture :) 4 weeks from tomorrow is the due date! Yikes! I'm starting to think of the lovely labor process and well, that part doesn't make me excited!! But I can't wait to meet this guy that is moving all over the place!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Just arrived...

No, it's not the baby yet!! One of these arrived for me the other day. It's a laminator! I just decided that there are some things that I want laminated and it can be so expensive at a copy center. This was under $30 and I already have a few file folder games that need to be finished. With little kids I figure there are so many uses for it!

These books came in for me from the library. I kind of go in spurts of reading. I love to read. I read a few books, then go a while, then get more. I decided I need to read a few more books before the baby comes along and I only have extra time for naps :) I'm not sure I can read all of these before they're due, but I'll try!

Yay! Probably most exciting are these lovely graduation announcements that arrived! Justin graduates May 11th!! His last day of class is next week I believe. If I haven't already stated this, Justin accepted the job with his current law firm. He will become a full time employee after graduation, then after passing the bar he will be put on salary. The bar is July 24th and 25th, so by the middle or end of August he will be in an official career :) It almost makes me cry I'm so happy! The end always seems so far away when you are in school and we are almost there!

Many people ask us about house plans. Well, we are still figuring out paying back loans and that fun sort of thing (notice the sarcasm) so we aren't sure. But if we move, you'll be sure to know!

Me and my belly at 34 weeks! This is when Alison arrived. In the back of my mind I am slightly paranoid that this baby will somehow come early. I went to the dr. this week and had him check me just to be sure. I feel like this baby is sitting lower than the girls were, so I wanted to know if anything was happening yet. Nothing is going on. So that is good. I'm feeling pretty well, but sleep is getting more and more difficult because I'm flipping from side to side all night. I also notice my back hurting more after I sit for a long period of time. But baby seems happy and well, kicking often, so I have nothing to complain about!

Ok and then these babies. I know this is kind of funny. Do you have the same problem as us? We have a pillow top mattress and we have the hardest time finding a fitted sheet that will stay on ALL night! Every time I make the bed I have to pull it back over. And it bugs Justin because it's always happening on his side during the night and well, that's annoying. So we were looking for new sheets that are deep enough, but noticed these. Yep, they are called sheet huggers! I think we paid like $6 for them and it's this flimsy fabric that you put on all corners. But guess what? They work!! We are shocked and amazed that something like this, that looks like it could be sold on an infomercial actually works! It's from bed, bath and beyond if you are looking for something like this too :)

While I'm updating, here's a few things about the girls lately. Molly told me this a few weeks ago.
"Even though you are preganant (that's how she says it), I still love you!" Gee, thanks!
Molly is still her busy self. Her preschool teacher told me yesterday that they had brought in a bunch of different kinds and colors of artificial flowers and vases for the kids to play with. Molly worked very slowly and carefully to make up an arrangement and told her teachers that she wanted to give the flowers to her great grandpa. Isn't that so sweet? They told her she couldn't take them home since they belonged at the school, but that she could try a flower shop maybe. She is very thoughtful of others!

Ali is busy and getting into things and always managing to find candy in hidden places! Lately she wants to wear nightgowns every night (I think since Molly has several) and dresses. Good thing I have a few dresses that she can play in! She also has recently been determined at keeping her binky. A few months ago I attempted to take it away, but she wasn't taking a nap without it, so we decided to keep it until after the baby arrives. We keep telling her she's a big girl, but she says, no, I'm a baby! Silly girl! We also like to tease her and say, "Are you bopper?" (a nickname we have for her) and she will say, "No. I'm Ali!" It's pretty cute. She also wants to be held a lot. This makes me nervous with the baby coming soon. I've told my mom that Ali is going to become her baby pretty soon! She also has decided to go from calling my parents the traditional "grandma" and "grandpa" to calling them "grammy" and "grampy". I think my mom likes it because it sounds pretty cute and she's the only one who calls her that, but my dad isn't so sure. Probably because sometimes it sounds a bit like "grumpy"!!

Oh and before I forget...we are getting a new park in the area!! And it is going to have a SPLASH PAD!!!!! I am soooo dang excited! We don't have any splash parks or pads near us. I think the closest one is in Alpine, which is like 20 minutes away or so. For those who live by me, it's in Cottonwood Heights and it's called Mountview Park. You can google it. I passed by it today and decided to look it up because I've been dying to know if there would be a splash pad and yes!! There is one! It's supposed to open May 19th. I'm thinking we will spend lots of time there this summer!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

dishes and a tea party

Isn't this why you have kids?! ;) Just teasing! My dad had the girls helping with the dishes. They were actually quite excited about it, if you can believe that!

I don't know the next time it will happen, so we made sure to get proof here.

Yesterday after Molly came home from preschool, grandma promised we would have a tea party. She had her quilt group over and she always decorates everything, including the girl's little table they eat at. They were so excited to see it with a cute pink tablecloth!

We had apples and oranges, cupcakes and some easter treats and pink lemonade.

They were SO excited to have a tea party.

Can you tell by Ali's face? She's very good at the whole "cheese" business!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Easter 2012

 The Easter bunny left some signs for the girls to find their baskets in the back yard! Today has been beautiful and sunny, unlike 2 days ago when it snowed. Gotta love UT weather.



Found their baskets! Hiding by the shed in the wheel barrow!


So excited!
Once Ali got her candy, we couldn't get her to look at us or pose for a picture! Such is a 2 year old!

I attempted a really cool hair 'do on Molly today. It definitely didn't turn out quite like where I saw it (here), but it worked out ok I think! It's a bit more challenging with 9 am church, but for Easter you have to pull out all the stops, right?!

A view of the back.

My girls were so excited about their "Easter Dresses". I found Molly's at DI or Savers several months ago for $4 and paired it with this white sweater.

Ali's cute dress was a birthday present from her Pendleton grandparents. I didn't want her to wear a sweater since hers has short sleeves, but once Molly had one on, she needed one too of course.

I found a couple of Easter ideas that we also did/will do today. The ideas are from a blog called beinglds.blogspot.com. Anyway, I printed out the story of Jesus Christ from an old Friend magazine and we are going to do the resurrection rolls. You can check out her blog for these ideas and more! I hear Ali up from her nap, so we will do the rolls now!! We wanted to make sure the girls understand the real meaning of Easter and why we celebrate it. We read the little books about Christ and Molly surprised us by knowing a lot of the story of the resurrection. Happy Easter everyone!

Egg hunt #2 and a couple other things...

Yesterday we went to the easter egg hunt put on by Cottonwood Heights. They had the ages all split up, so my dad and I were with Molly (ages 3-4) and Justin went with Ali for the 0-2 age group.

The siren went off and there Molly went! She came back with a pretty full basket.

I went over to get a few pics of Justin and Ali. For the little ones, they had a person with a basket of eggs and you went around to the different people and got an egg at each.

Checking out her loot.

Very proud of their spoils!!

My dad said it well-it was a great event. It was quick (we were in and out in probably 30 minutes), fun and free!

We discovered that Molly seemed to have picked all of the larger eggs, which meant she got all of these mini stuffed animals!! Ha ha. We thought it was pretty funny. Next year we'll know I guess and tell her to get the small ones too! She did get a flower stamp and she was VERY excited about that! We weren't allowed to go with her since there were so many parents it would have been crazy. Although I did go over to take a few pics :)

Here is my most recent project. My mom found this changing table at DI for $20! I have been looking for something to put the baby's clothes in. My mom called and said she found this so I said buy it!! It looked like it was in storage for a while, so I just washed it all down, then spray painted it white. It looks great now! I will add some baskets for storage on the bottom 2 shelves and get a changing pad and viola! Done!

Molly was out of school this past week for spring break, so I decided I should knock out some baby projects. I made a receiving blanket, a burp cloth, and I'm working on a quilt made with some scraps I have. I still have a few other things to do, but I'm feeling better about being a bit more prepared. I will show you pics of the projects soon I hope.

Also, this past week, Justin has made it big!! He received an email on Monday while at work from a professor telling him he was on the front page of the university's paper!! Click here to read the article. Here's the picture.

Isn't this so Justin?! I love it. He has been in a counter-terrorism class this semester and they had a live simulation. He was randomly assigned as secretary of state and he worked with other classmates who were in other positions (President, VP, Sec. of Defense, etc.) in a simulation where they had to deal with terrorists. Anyway, he has really loved the class and his school is the only law school in the nation to offer a class like this. 



Sunday, April 1, 2012

Easter egg hunt!

We have been enjoying windy, rainy, snowy weather and conference the past two days. Today my sister Natalie and her kids came over (P was out of town) and had an Easter dinner and egg hunt with us.

The kids had a great time of course! All smiles.

We let Ali and Emery go first so they had a fair chance :) Each kid got to find 13 eggs. (We ended up stuffing 65, so divide by 5 and the magic number is 13!)



Here's the other 3 anxiously awaiting their turn to hunt!




My mom found these cute bunnies and chicks that you wind up and they hop. Each kid got one. They are pretty cute!

Molly, very happy with her basket!!

The crew: Major, Mitt, Molly, Emery and Ali

And here they are with their bunnies and chicks!