Handmade in the Wild: Pajamas!

I just love homemade pajamas!

Painting and anything artsy is a favorite for both kids. Here's E one summer morning... still in her pajamas... but happily creating!

Remember these cousin pajamas?! They still fit! It's so fun for me to see them still loving to match :)

Pony Pajamas: Blog Post

Cousin Pajamas: Blog Post

Emery's Baby Bag

I had a particularly happy phone call from a friend back in November. She and her family were moving to our town! Woohoo! 

She has a son about 9 months older than James and had a little girl in August. I usually give myself 6 months to a year to finish these special baby gifts, but since she was moving to town, I wanted to hurry and finish it for when she first visited our house - so, a baby bag finished by the time little Emery was 4 months old! (Gotta love a great reason to have a deadline!)

A big thanks to my Mom for sewing the name (as always), and for sharing her machine - hers sews through the thickness of the denim, corduroy and interfacing much better than mine. Most of the fabric came from fat quarters won from giveaways, but some of it was purchased. I loved using the more feminine decorated demin on the back which was a remnant from JoAnns, I believe. 

So, welcome back to SoDak friend!!! I'm so excited to see our kids become friends :) 

Handmade in the Wild: SD State Fair

I'm a loyal 4-H girl, and I've missed attending the SD State Fair in recent years - actually, it's been since my senior year of high school since I've been there! Eek, that's longer than I thought! Anyway, since the kids are getting bigger, we thought that this year would be a good time to start the tradition back up! It helps that we live only about an hour away ;)

We went up for one day and the kids had a lot of fun! Ev kept asking for the rides - it was really hard for her to focus on anything else, since we saved the rides for last! But, she still loved seeing the animals and a few other exhibits. 

We were surprised with James' shyness around the animals in this petting zoo, but he loved seeing them when they were in their own pens ;) 

Then it was time for her favorite part! This was her first time on a "roller coaster" and she LOVED it! 

Waving to Daddy!

She rode a few other rides, too. James will be ready to join her next year! I'm excited to keep bringing them back and introducing them to more aspects of the fair. Hopefully, they'll be excited to be in 4-H when they're older!

E's dress: Felicity Dress by Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop (blog post)

E's hat: 4-in-1 Sun Hat by Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop (blog post)

My Top: Lane Raglan by Hey June Handmade (Hasn't been blogged yet... Art Gallery Knit for the sleeves, unknown solid for the main)

Handmade in the Wild: Red Chevron

One of the first items I made for E actually turned out to be a great to for JT, too.

I loved it under overalls this summer! Our town is known for the "World Famous Corn Palace" and this was the first summer that a local 5th grade classroom (with help of several organizations and businesses) set up a learning area in the upstairs auxiliary gym in the Corn Palace. We went often with friends :) It was a great way to entertain the kids during the hot summer months (and made the Corn Palace more exciting to visit for tourists!). 

Up, up, up!

Down, down, down!

(E still loves frilly-ness and JT learned how to go up and down slides!)

Post about the Skipper Top

National Guard Family

We interrupt our usual Thursday post of "Handmade in the Wild" to say...

Congrats Spc Ostrem!

This fall, Dan joined the Army National Guard with goals of becoming an engineering officer. Here he is holding the kids in his first set of uniforms right after he enlisted.

Right after Christmas, he headed off to Basic Training at Fort Jackson. We used the paper chain above to count down the days until he was done - one link removed every night for just over 10 weeks.

Today, he graduates from Basic, and we get to pick him up at the airport later today or tomorrow - we are so proud of him following his dream of serving our country and we are so excited to see him soon!!!!

Handmade in the Wild: A Bad Deal

This was an interesting evening early last fall. 

We were walking up the steps to a church - we had music class for the kiddos in there that evening. The kids absolutely love the music class! JT was being stubborn and wanted to climb the concert steps himself, but he slipped and bonked his mouth on one of the steps. I immediately scooped him up and hugged his head to my shoulder. It wasn't until we were inside and I saw blood drops that I realized he was bleeding... a lot! The teacher (who we are good friends with), helped by bringing paper towels, cleaning up the drips and distracting Ev, while James and I hung out in the bathroom. Normally, you apply pressure and the bleeding stops, but it's hard to apply pressure to a 16-month-old's bleeding lip! He just would not let me keep it there! Eventually, the bleeding did stop, and we did start music class - I just wore a bit of blood on my shoulder through it all. 

Thankfully, I soaked it once we were home, and it came right out. Woohoo! JT just had a bit of a fat lip for a day or two, and he was right as rain. It definitely wasn't the last time he had a bleeding accident ;)

Post about the Seafarer Top