coming together

Things are starting to come together for the arrival of baby boy #3.  The 2 major projects are done (for the most part).  The bunk bed is done and put together and Harrison is 2 weeks into potty training and it's going fairly well.  My parents spent a lot of time on the bunk bed.  We decided on a design that Dean said would be easy for him to make.   (FYI, the top bedding is lime green, not yellow.  The bottom quilt has lime green squares in it.)

Here is a cool feature.  This is a closeup of the top railing.  It has a latch that I can undo, making it way easier to make the bed, change sheets, etc.  There is a full length railing on the other side, against the wall that also has a latch.

Here is a picture of it with the latch open and the railing pulled down.  Compare to first picture to see the railing up.

Also, the ladder easily comes off.  So far Harrison has been good about only climbing the ladder when mommy or daddy is in the room (that's the rule).  I'll definitely be taking the ladder off when other kids come over to play though.  The kids discovered the first night that we can hang blankets from the top railing, making a cool fort for the bottom bunk.  Anyways, we are very happy to have the bunk beds. I love the look of it in the room.  It's a big boy room now. Thanks Mom and Dean!

All the baby gear is out.  I can't believe how much room a little person takes up.  He has so much "gear". Oh, here is a picture of the boys "St. Patricks" day shirts.  Douglas said he needed a green shirt so he doesn't get pinched.  And he loves dinosaurs so that's what we went with.  They were plain white shirts that I dyied and painted the stripes and dino on.  I LOVE them!

vests

Here are the 2nd set of vests and ties we made for the boys.  Talk about ADORABLE!!  This time we added mock pockets on the front of the vest and the ties on the back of the vests

And just in case you forgot our first adorable vest/tie combos, heres a reminder.  Can you blame me for wanting to show them off?  These are some of my first sewing projects and I'm a little proud.  ;-)

Educational projects

I've spent the last 2 weeks scanning, printing, coloring, cutting, laminating, and cutting again. I bought a file folder activity book at a teacher supply store. File folder activities are common "centers" in classrooms. The supplies are bound to a file folder with instructions for the child. I wanted learning activities for Douglas so I went hog wild. The only thing I regret is the lamination. It was a small fortune. I learned a lesson that I need to price compare on lamination. We are going to Utah next week and I wanted a "travel bag" for Douglas to put new toys etc in for the LONG drive. So we painted a plain bag and it is adorable!!! Also, I went to Target yesterday to get a 3 dvd pack of Little Einsteins for him to watch in the car and little toys. I spent $22 at the dollar spot but on amazing stuff. They had so many educational workbooks and flashcards. It was well worth it. I have 3 more file folder activities I want done for the trip so we'll see if I get that done.

Side project: we put felt pockets on the back of Douglas' puzzles to hold the pieces.

Here are the file folders. You can't see all the parts that go with them b/c they are attached on the front of the folders. There are 8.

Here is part of the stash from the dollar spot at Target, including the pillow for the car and the Little Einstein dvds. I have 3 or 4 more educational things I bought but he won't be able to use them yet so they are in his closet.

This is giant lacing beads made from swimming noodles to work on fine motor skills. I got this idea from "Her cup overfloweth". We gave this to him this morning and he loves it. He likes lacing it and then running around the house like it's a snake. The pipe cleaner is the "needle". In the future I would like to work on patterns using the different color "beads".

And this is Douglas' travel bag. I found a cube stamp with different vehicles on each side at the dollar spot.

And this I'm super excited about. I believe I got this from "Chasing Cheerios". These are tangrams made from foam "paper". She suggested putting magnets on the back of the shapes for her almost 3 year old so it would be easier to make the designs. She said she still had to help her a little. I took it one step further for Douglas b/c I thought just free "hand"ing the designs would still be a little much so I traced the designs on vellum paper. That way he can take the designs, put it on the magnetic board, and then just put the shapes on it like a puzzle. He needs a little assistance turning the shapes just right to match but he seems to enjoy it. When he gets better I can take the vellum paper away and he can make the design based on the little pictures. I'm super excited about this one.

I still have another shape activity and then 2 just fun file folder activities I'd like to get done by Friday. Busy bee!

Create

I've always wanted to be a creative person but always thought I wasn't. I've always wanted to learn to paint and sew. I've tried a couple times but nothing really catching on. Well, the creative bug has been itching. And I saw this wonderful clip from President Uchtdorf (an apostle of our church) about creating and I thought of course I am creative (maybe not like others). It was inspiring. I was inspired. Here's the clip.


I bought a pattern and fabric for some shorts for Douglas. Before I begin, let me give a shout out to Travis. One of my biggest flaws is my lack of confidence. Travis on the other hand doesn't let other's people opinions bother him so he is a confident person. He'll try just about anything. If he messes up, no sweat. So I made him walk me through step by step the sewing pattern. I love you Travis. Thank you for having confidence in me. You ROCK.
The shorts are TOOO cute. I cut out some extra fabric and sewed it on a plain shirt to match. Harrison has a matching shirt. (Not the best picture. The shirt has the movie "cars" emblem on the sleeve.)

Do you see the little cargo pocket on his shorts? I also wanted to make him an "I spy" bag for his Easter basket. He seems uninterested in it now but hopefully in the next few months he'll get the concept of it. One side of the card has pictures of the objects (for non readers) and the other side has text. There is clear window on both sides.
Then I saw a blog that had an elephant and giraffe stuffed animal for babies. I had a baby shower THE NEXT DAY and one in the future so I went to the store and got the stuff and made it THAT NIGHT. This was my FIRST sewing project all by myself!!! I'm so proud!! I'm making one for Harrison too. One side has stripes and the other dots. The ribbon on the side are loops and Harrison loves little tags and ribbon.

Have you ever seen Bakerella's cupcake pops? Here they are. Well, a good friend and I threw another good friend a baby shower today. I wanted to make them for her baby shower as a guest favor. We did the shower in blue and brown. So here are my cupcake pops. It would be better if I had a 1 inch flower cookie cutter. Mine was 1.5inch. Anyways, I'm trying. I realize I'm copying other's creative endeavors but that's still something, right? :-)