Thursday, August 27, 2015

Family Adventures {July to August}

In no particular order...


E just keeps growing up... her speech is continuously improving and her vocabulary is expanding. She still loves books and fruit snacks and dancing. She has started keeping her sunglasses on for longer than 5 seconds, she goes in spurts of letting me put bows in her hair, requesting two bows at a time, and then refuses bows on other days. One day she decided to reach for the moon.



We attending a family camp mini-session at Mt. Carmel in Minnesota. It really was a wonderful few days... 



... we attended with Dan's parents and sister's family. E went on her first kayak ride. We were in cabin 9 :)



We spent quite a bit of time with my family - both at my parents' lake cabin and at their home. My older brother's family was around for a couple weeks and we wanted to get in lots of cousin time! (E found a Mickey fishing box at a rummage sale and now thinks fishing is just so much fun!).



Then we had to say good by to that family (the top picture shows my other brother and his wife doing a good-bye selfie with our nephew)... they are off on a 2 year adventure to Guam where my brother is now one of the general surgeons at the naval hospital. E said good-bye to Lolo... the only other girl cousin on my side (she has 2 girl cousins on Dan's side). Two years will go by quickly, but the kiddos will surely have changed a lot!!



Last but not least... we froze some corn :) Our garden produced quite a bit of sweet corn, potatoes and cherry tomatoes. The carrots grew but they are not the best. We have a few pumpkins ripening still along with some decorative gourds. While the garden produced broccoli and okra, the broccoli never grew big enough heads and the okra was picked too late. We enjoyed this first year in our garden and look forward to applying what we learned next year!

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

James at 4 Months {JT Update}

Hip, Hip Horay for this little guy being 4 months old! 



We definitely turned a corner on his fussiness around 3.5 months... he still doesn't like his carseat all the time, and I'm pretty sure we've hit the 4 month sleep regression... but he is so much happier than he used to be! Praises!!



We celebrated his baptism. Doing so had us serving lunch to around 50 family members and friends at our house. It was our first big hosting event and it really went well! It was so wonderful celebrating James' special day surrounded by so many family and friends! I figure we won't have to worry about hosting that many people again until high school graduations (just a few years away, ha!), as hosting holidays or even birthdays will never be to such a large group. A big thanks to my mom for helping clean the house and to everyone who helped in the kitchen on that day. I appreciate all of you!



This outfit was one that Dan wore, so I had to to make sure to take pictures in it before James outgrew it! Future baseball player? We'll just have to wait and see...



The many faces of James :) 
The top two are during breaks from the carseat going to and from family camp.
Then we have a smile of stealing Sister's chair after she had gone to bed... and then I was trying to teach him how to play with his toes.
What?! He's not crying in his carseat? Yay James! And, special daddy-son bonding time.



Cute toes during a nap :)



Time with cousin Lolo and with Grandpa Tim.



Sister time!!



More special people... 2nd cousins, first cousins and mommy's running friends!


Stats:

  • Size 2 diapers
  • Slowly transitioning from 3-6 month clothing to 6-9 month clothing
  • Lots of drool and finger chewing, but his doctor doesn't think his teeth are even close to coming in
  • He can finally keep the pacifier in by himself, although we try to only use it if he really needs it - like in the car, hanging out with anyone other than me, and if he's just being super fussy
  • He loves his crinkly book and softie
  • He has a very strong grip!
  • He loves to stand and smile and chuckle
  • Rocking is still the quickest way to get him to sleep
  • For most of the past month, he had been waking about once a night to eat
  • He still doesn't like bath time
  • He loves his sister (except when his sister pokes him in the face, ha!) and his sister loves him!

Thursday, August 20, 2015

School Days for a Baby

I finished this quilt up last winter... and I was happy to find the perfect recipient! 


A friend of mine is being induced this morning (please send up a few prayers for her strength and patience!), and her baby shower was just a few weeks ago.

She is a school teacher and she loves Laura Ingalls Wilder... this School Days fabric by Moda was just a perfect combination of pioneer education :)


The backing is a solid navy combined with another vintagey-children print (sorry I'm not sure the name/designer/manufacturer). Quilting was a simple grid of 1/4" away from each seam. It washed up well!! 

The mommy-to-be said the fabrics match her living room perfectly, so I hope Baby Addy gets to have lots of floor time on it :) 

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

The Bags Keep Coming! {ALYOF}

This bag needed to get done before the first Thursday of the month... and I did it! The sweet little recipient and her mother traveled up for lunch. Two other friends joined us as well... just a little college teammate get-together :) Friends forever!!


Except for the side fabric, the rest of the cottons were all giveaways. Such a great way to use up those fat quarters when I don't have time (or the need) for any more quilts.



I had some trouble with my machine not liking the thickness of the straps, but we powered through. The Brother machine has served my mom and I well since I was in high school (my ten year reunion is next summer!), but it may be time to upgrade. Mom recently purchased a new Viking machine, which I am currently testing to see if I like... she is starting school soon, so she won't be needing it for a few weeks. I have plans of making another baby bag, quilting a lap quilt and working on a knit outfit on the Viking to make sure the machine works well for all of my sewing interests. Oh, and I also need to test the buttonholes! Good thing we are done with most of our summer traveling and that James is past his colic-y stage ;)



 Just a few shots of the back, straps and inside. Only one more of these bags to go (for my newest nephew)! Well, until this winter when another teammate is due with her second :) Babies, Babies, Babies!




ALYOF Info...
Goal Post Here
#29 in the Goal Linky Party


Tuesday, August 4, 2015

August Goal {ALYOF}

Another new-mommy friend is coming to visit... another Monikered Baby Bag needs to be finished!



August Goal: To finish the bag for Leah :)