12 Dates of Christmas, January, Cross Country Skiing!

For Christmas I gave John "12 dates of Christmas." I made a book, and for each month of this year I planned a fun date. We've gotten into the routine of Cafe Rio, and rent a movie...not that that isn't nice, it is, but we just struggle to do really fun things like we used to when we were dating. So I wrote out these fun dates, that rhyme and everything! In the book, (I'll blog the whole thing sometime) I had a place for a photo of us on our super fun date to go. He LOVED it! I tried to pick things he has mentioned that he wants to do together, that I might not be inclined to agree to do, you know, to make it a real "gift" to him, so January's date said:

"On the first Date of Christmas,

Your true love would agree,

It will be fun to learn to cross country ski!"

Friday we went to Solitude Nordic Center up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was such a beautiful day! (We brought the baby, because we weren't sure how long we'd be gone) John has been cross country skiing before with scouts so he was a great teacher. I'm afraid I wasn't the best student. You better believe I tried my darndest, and I had loads of fun, but I couldn't manage to stay upright!

**Dear random passers-by, thank you for offering to take our family picture!**

Getting ready to go, Jenni made Everett this cute green hat, John said he looked like the Taj-Mahal... He wore a fleecy pair of Jammies, and his bundley snowsuit, and two hats and gloves inside his bundley snowsuit, oh, and super stylish baby sunglasses :)

Okay, this is me, with my face not planted in the snow! They have these tracks for you to follow if you're new, it's like training wheels, or bumper bowling, I didn't do well outside of the tracks, but then again, I didn't do that well inside the tracks either! LOL!!!

It is a good thing John was carrying the baby, he didn't fall once. Skills, the man has skills.

Everett just hung out there the whole time, didn't say a word, just looking around, and laughing at mommy biffing it time after time!

Okay, here we are, a more accurate representation of how the afternoon was spent by me. I fell TWELVE times. Yep. TWELVE. A few of them were small, just tipped over to the side, but a had a few stellar falls, John was sweet enough to capture on of them (above) notice my ski's completely behind me. Falling hurts, but not as much as trying to get back up, on slippery snow, with your feet attached to ski's that are as tall as you are, I felt completely handicapped. John was so sweet trying to help me up, but more often than not, we were both laughing so hard, we didn't have the collective strength to pull me up...whew, it was rough, and fun, and I don't think I'll ever go cross country skiing again. Ever. But I'm really glad we went, it was gorgeous! I'm looking into buying snowshoes :)

Happy first date of Christmas honey, i love you!

Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot...Sunday Tie, And some Toy Tote Bags!

Sunday Morning I whipped up this DARLING little Tie for Everett, using this SUPER EASY tutorial from my new FAVORITE blogger. I love her style so much! I made this using the very last scraps of this yellow polka dot fabric, and I was very sad to see it go, and also, that's why the tie is so skinny...lol...it was so fast though, my favorite part about it is that is looks like it's really been tied. All of you ladies who have little boys should make up a big batch of these, they are SO easy and fast, and CUTE! We were getting compliments ALL day! **I did do one thing different than the tutorial which made more sense to me, so if you're going to make one, I'll tell you what I did different :)**

Ahh, another collage, I can't help myself when he is so cooperative during a photo shoot!

Next, I was inspired by some bloggers (like Jessica) who made some bags for their kids toys to go in. This was such a great idea because I needed to use up some cute fabrics

(Boy fabrics are really fun, but not likely to get used for apparel unless they are appliqued onto something, or pajamas, **(or a sunday tie)** but little girl fabric you can make skirts and dresses and accessories, so I have all this really cute boy fabric, and needed something useful to make)

I used some fabric that was either plain or not really my favorite anymore for the lining of these bags, so they are super sturdy. I didn't follow a tutorial, just did what made sense to me. I Like the two cinch ties, that make it easy for little hands, and they look cute. I made button holes for them and everything! I used some big weave, natural color fabric, I have no idea what it's called, to piece with the cute fabric so I could paint labels on the bags. I used my cricut to cut freezer paper stencils and fabric paint to paint the labels.

I'm having a lot of fun learning to take photo's of objects (rather than people). I just use a piece of white poster board and shoot next to a window in the morning, then I tweak them a bit in Picasa...I know, I need to learn photoshop...bad.

I bought Everett these cute wooden cars for Christmas at the Target one spot! I LOVE them! And this street signs fabric was such a cute match for his cars (Sorry buddy, I used green flowery fabric on the inside of your car tote...don't be mad)

**Side note: One of my favorite quilt shops, "Cornwagon Quilts" in Springville has this basket of fat eighths(9"x22"...I think) for a buck, I can't resist a little something like this for just a buck! I used the whole fat eighth on this bag, and I don't know of any other shops that sell fat eighths...do you?**

He also, got these puppets for Christmas, (From Costco), I love them, even if their eyes are creepy...

These color blocks, I thrifted last summer, cute!

Random toys (That brown dog was also from the Target one spot, but it was 2.50, it's a pull toy, and the jacob's ladder was .50 and the DI) Can you tell I really love wooden toys? They just feel so good, I love how smooth they are, the weight of them, the finish, I know Everett will want all the crazy action figures one day, the ones that gross me out, but for now he can play with these classic wooden toys thankyouverymuch :)

This print is my favorite one, cracks me right up! And I love the mustard yellow lining! Yum! These are another AMZING thrifted find! Found them at Value Village over Christmas, this HUGE lot of wood city blocks was 5 bucks, it has really cute little cars, boats, trees, and all the blocks have a building parts on the side, like windows, or a sign that says fire dept. They are SO fun!

I just went to Savers 99 cent day, scored big, no toys just really cute clothes for the boy. If you live near a Savers or Value Village, you gotta go every monday!!!

Made some Shirts, Crafty Organizing, and a VERY cute boy...

Okay, first things first folks, this boy is SO MUCH FUN!!! He says "Mama"...still not convinced he knows it's me, but it is fun that he says it, and he says it all the time, in Sacrament meeting, at the grocery store, when he's in his crib ready to get up, when John is playing with him, all the time. It's so cute...speaking of John, everyday when John comes home from work, he plays the piano for a couple minutes to sort of wind down. And Every day he plops Everett in his Bumbo right next to him on the piano bench. Everett LOVES this time with Daddy, he plunks on the keys with John and they sort of have a fun duet. Every Day...mmmm, I love it.

And because I never can pick just one, these are my favorite versions of his face right now :)

Okay, on to fabric organization! My friend Amy showed me this idea for organizing your fabrics, she uses comic strip board to do this, and it is awesome. I was looking for a good way to store my own fabric stash, they were in clear bins, sorted by color, but it was a pain to get into them, to see what I had, and they were stacked on top of eachother, and just hard ot get into. I searched online after my convo with Amy, and found these beauties, ahhh, so pretty! Your Fabric can look like a FABRIC STORE!!! Then I see the price, PAHLEESE! $1.60 to store ONE piece of fabric, that half the time I didn't even spend $1.60 on??? not going to happen, so I looked for a similar solution, because I was dreaming of my pretty fabric all lined up on a shelf where I could see and admire it every day, and be inspired and everything! Some crafters use cardboard, like thick chipboard that comes with your scrapbook paper. SO I raided my mom's stash of cardboard and tried it out, beautiful! But I quickly ran out, so long story short, I bought peices of white foam core poster board at the dollar store and cut it with my rotary cutter, and VOILA! Fabric storage that is PRETTY, and EASY and CHEAP!!! I don't have the little tabs like these fancy ones do, but once your fabric is wound once around, it doesn't matter!

LOOKIT HOW PRETTY!!!!!

I love passing by this beautiful display :) So, the foam core poster board from the dollar store is 20"X30". I can get 4 big cards out of one piece, making them .25 cents. I cut them to be 14X10 inches, like the ones you can buy, because when you fold your fabric selvage to selvage and then once again, it fits beautifully. Well, that was great for my yardage fabrics, anything that was 3/4 yard or more went on one of these big ones. Then I had a bunch of smaller pieces, too big to be scraps, and too small to stretch on one of the big boards, so I made boards that were 6"X9" and I can get 10 out of one piece of foam core. Anything that won't fit on one of these is in the scrap basket. I can't tell you how happy I am about this, all my fabric goodies at my finger tips! I'm using this hutch right now, because I lack the shelving needed in my craft space, wouldn't this hutch look AMAZING painted like a creamy white, antiqued and painted teal in the inside?! Someday!!!! The shelf on the bottom is for my green and blue totes, still working on those
Yummy fabric sorted by color:)
It makes me SO very happy!

This shelf is new, got it on KSL, I wanted to have a place in the laundry/craft room where the ironing board could stay up all the time, there used to be a table in this space, but now it's open and I have more storage :)

you can see that I ran out of room in the hutch, so I put some of the fabrics on this shelf, neutrals etc...

Still a work in progress, notice I didn't show you the messy table and the rest of the craft/laundry room! BUT I will say, I put my table up on bed raisers, and now my table is counter height, SUCH a genius idea! My back doesn't ache at all anymore from cutting on the low table! YEAH! PLUS I have more storage underneath! Double bonus!Couldn't stop at the fabric, I did my ribbons too, ahhh, aren't they happy?!

OKay, lastly, the shirts. I recently bought the "Give a hoot" cartridge for my cricut, and last night I couldn't sleep because i was thinking about cute things I could make with fabric with it. SO I got up and played around with it.

(The shirts I use are Pottery Barn Kids, the quality is unmatched. There is a clearance center here in Salt Lake where I buy all of these cuties, the downside is that they have all been embroidered with a name or monogram, so I have to cover that part up, but they looks so cute appliqued, who would ever guess? I get them for around $2, so for the quality, it's totally worth it!)

Houndstooth Hedgehog, I embroidered his little eye with a french knot, and I stitched around the edges. Does anyone else have an obsession with houndstooth? I do.

Happy little tree, this fabric was on clearance at a local quilt shop, and I thought it would look really cute as a tree, I was right, I mean right??

Absolutely my favorite. This little fox was tricky, but well worth the time, he is SO cute! I put him onto a piece of scrap linen, and I'm hoping it will fray up a bit around it...so cute. Again, a french knot for the eyes and nose :)

Dapper Dandy! Now if you'll excuse me, my handsome munchkin is calling...

Holiday Videos!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning

Everett Dancin

New Years Eve

Have I ever mentioned that my Flip Camera is so awesome?! These videos took mere seconds to create! Thank you FLIP!

Six months old today (Christmas Photos!)

So, I had planned on doing a photo shoot for Everett's six months, but he has pink eye! Poor kid, I have no idea how he got it, but one eye is all goopy and puffy, he wakes up with it all crusty...and glued shut. Going to the doctor today though :) These pics are backwards, the forst ones are Christmas morning, and then Christmas Eve...

Do you laugh out loud when you see that face? Because I do...also, he learned to sit up on Christmas Eve, he is growing up! The funny thing about sitting up though, is that he's pretty solid, but when he's sick of sitting, and wants to lay down, he doesn't know how to tip himself over, so he just cries...it's pretty cute
He gets really hyper and flaps his arms and kick his feet when he sits down, and he loves playing with anything, but it's really fun for us to watch him play with toys, like before he would hold them, but now he looks at them and eats them, and really plays with them ;)

He is such a happy baby, anyone who meets him or plays with him always asks "Is he always this good?!" Yep. He is. SO happy to go to anyone, and smile and babble, and squeal and laugh, he has the cutest laugh, his voice seems kind of low and a little raspy maybe, it's so cute!
He babbles ALL the time, and he is LOUD! He says "mamamamamama" but not directed at me really, just becasue it's fun to say. Sometimes if you bbbbbbb your lips, he'll do it back. He likes peas and sweet potatoes and pears and peaches all mixed with oatmeal. I'm making my own baby food now :) Cool!
He is the sweetest thing to wake up to, I bring him into bed with me when he eats at 5 or 6, and John leaves for work, and we sleep in till 8ish, he wakes up coo-ing, and he likes to stroke and pet my face with his super soft hands. It is heaven.
It's fun to watch his curiosity! He wants to watch anything that's making noise, talking, he loves looking out the windows in the car, and he likes to pet things, like a soft blankie or stuffed animal, he also loves paper (like the wrapping paper) and bags that make noise. It's a pain to nurse him now because if he hears anything he wants to know where the sound came from, even the TV or John talking, so I have to feed him alone in his room, or he won't eat!
He is really ticklish, I love to gobble his tummy and shoulders and feet, his ears are especially delish!
Since he can sit up now, giving him a bath is so funny! He splashes so much, and loves the water. I feel like he's growing up waaaay too fast!



Well, that's our sweet baby, 6 months old and everything. I can't even believe it.