Practice Makes Perfect!

The last couple of days I've been working with Zeke on his balance.  

 

 

He starts out pretty good and stable.

 

 

Then the arms come out for stability!

 

 

Timber!!!!

 

He face planted a time or two...don't worry he's fine!

 

Then I'd sit him up and we'd do it all over again!

The Stockings Were Hung!!

A couple months ago I purchased some Stampin' Up Christmas fabric for .99! I thought it would be fun to make stockings for our family. Of course once I got the fabric I started thinking...what was I thinking!! After procrastinating for a while I started checking out patterns on Pinterest to see if I could find a simple one. I found one that was really basic and explained things well and then decided to give it a go.

 

 

First I printed off the pattern and then cut the stockings out of felt. Then I cut the cuff out of the Stampin' Up fabric and matched them up.

 

 

Then I stitched up the stocking.

 

 

 

At first I was just going to do the cuff, but at my most recent Stampin' Up party I got the alphabet dies for my Big Shot so I used that to cut out the letters for our names in felt.

 

 

Then I started working on the cuff...I followed the pattern for this part and used batting. The pattern said to use batting for the body of the stocking as well, but that was because she was using just plain fabric. I figured since I was using felt it wouldn't be necessary. After stitching the batting and the Christmas fabric together I stuffed them into the stocking and sewed them together. Except this is what happened...

 

 

Yeah I literally sewing the whole thing together! I seriously wasn't thinking that one through! I walked into the living room and showed it to Michael and we had a good laugh about it. I told Owen that this was going to be his stocking if he was bad and Santa wouldn't be able to put anything in it. Of course I said it while laughing and in a joking manner! He didn't think that was a good plan!

 

 

So me and my seem ripper became good friends for about 10 minutes!

 

 

After all that mess I stitched it together properly....much better!

 

 

The finished products!

 

 

All the stockings! This is such a wonderful visual reminder for me...there was a time in my life when I thought the only stockings hanging on the mantle would be Michael's and I's. I thank God that we were blessed with 4 wonderful children!

 

 

I know I do a lot of crafts, but this was a whole other level though. I seriously DID NOT in anyway think they would ever turn out this good!

Happy Thanksgiving...

From our 4...

 

 

Little Turkeys!!!

 

Side Note: Zeke is 6 months old today!!!

Soarin'

Now that Zeke is getting stronger he's enjoying tummy time more. He rolls over a lot from his tummy to his back, but still can't roll from his back to his tummy. It's really awesome when he keeps doing this either during nap time or at night.

 

When he's on his tummy you can see it in his eyes that he wants to move and I think in his mind he can. So what he does when he wants to get at something is lift up both his legs and his arms and shake them around like crazy. It's the funniest thing! Sing it with me now...

I believe I can fly...

I believe I can touch the sky...

I think I about it every night and day...I spread my wings and fly away!

Whoa that was one wild ride!!!!

Indoor Games!

Back in August I started a project I had seen on...you guess it...Pinterest! I needed a HUGE piece of fabric and thankfully I had one on hand. I had bought this giant piece of fabric back when Owen was a baby and I used it as a baby wrap carrier. I never really got the hang of it though so I just put away in a container for another use down the road. So happy I kept it!!

 

In the above picture you can also see my most awesome purchase ever!!! I got that rotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat on sale for $26!!! It was normally $53! Now that I have this I seriously don't know how or why I ever did certain crafts without it! It's a total time saver!

Here's the layout for our indoor hopscotch! I had a bunch of felt leftover from making the kids quiet books so I just cut them to size and laid them out.

 

 

I used my Cricut to cut out numbers, pinned them to the felt, traced them and then cut them out.

 

 

Sewing around all the felt and the number cutouts was quite a long process that involved a bunch of pins...have I ever mentioned I hate pins!!

 

 

Since there was another side I decided I didn't want to just leave it blank so I came up with this flower/bean bag game. I just free handed the petals and the numbers and then sewed them on.

 

 

I used left over fabric from the main piece and filled it with dried peas and secured it with a rubber band and then wrapped a piece of felt around the band. I made 6 of these with different colored felt...one for each member of our family.

 

 

I also added a starting point.

 

On Monday when it was pouring outside I decided it was the perfect day to bring the game out for the kids. They had seen me working on it, but every time they asked to play on it it wasn't finished yet.  

 

 

I had fun teaching the kids to throw their rocks and then hop down to them.

 

 

 

After playing hopscotch for a while I showed Owen how he could start at the end of the mat and countdown from 10 - 1 and then blast off onto the couch...he thought that was cool!

 

 

Of course soon it was time to turn the mat over and play the bean bag game. The kids LOVE this! We each get one turn and whoever gets the most points gets to be the first in the line for the next round. When play time is all over I turned Ella's old diaper bag into the storage bag for this. It even has a little mesh pocket on the side to hold the kids rocks. I have a feeling that this game set will be getting a lot of use this fall/winter!

Toilet Paper Tube Turkeys!

Yesterday was nasty outside and we are on Thanksgiving break from school so I thought I would sit down and do a craft with the kids. I looked around and found this craft on Pintrest....seriously what did we do before this website?!?!  

 

 

Jack is thankful for - Ga-Ga & Pa - Papa Martin - Grandma Martin - Buzz & Woody - Skittles

 

 

I'm thankful for - God's Love - Heat - House - Food - Family

 

 

Owen is thankful for - Playing on our phones & crafts - People who share - Surprises - Robotic Arm Garbage Truck - Daddy & Mommy

 

 

Ella is thankful for - Daddy & Mom - Zeke - Ga-Ga & Pa - House - Clothes

 

It was fun working together with the kids on this and it was definitely interesting to see what they are thankful for!

To The Rescue!!!

Last week I made a stop at Value Village to pick up 3 t-shirts for a craft project.

 

 

 

First thing I had to do was cut the sleeves off.

 

 

 

Then I cut a slit up on either side from the bottom to the hole where the sleeve used to be.

 

 

Then I snipped the neck hole and cut a section out making the hole smaller.

 

 

Now to add decoration...I used my Cricut to cut out a large star, then pinned it to the shirt and sprayed around it with bleach.  

 

 

There you have it...a super easy super hero cape. This one is Ella's...she's Word Girl!

 

 

Jack wanted to be Batman so we printed the logo from the Internet and enlarged it. Then I pinned it to the shirt and sprayed bleach around it too.

 

 

I turned out so good!

 

 

Owen's was the easiest since I actually found a Superman shirt. All I had to do was cut it out.

 

 

At first Owen was too busy to try his cape on, but then once Ella and Jack had tried it on he decided he should give it a go.

 

 

Off to save the day!!!

 

 

I didn't actually finish Jack and Ella's until after they went to sleep so they just got to play around with Owen's.

 

 

Cute super hero girl!

 

The very last thing I did was attach Velcro to the neck hole enclosure so it can go on and off easily. I might try to use the sleeves that I cut off to make masks or cuffs for their arms. But that's for another day!  

Another First...Actually Two!

Zoom in on this picture and what do you see???

 

 

Not one, but TWO teeth! This cute little over achiever broke his first and second tooth through on November 15th.

 

A few days before I had started feeding him baby food since I though his crankiness was due to hunger. He didn't care much for baby oatmeal so after two days of that I gave him butternut squash. Oh my word this kid was born to eat! He is already eating baby food 3 times a day and LOVES it. In fact during his second feeding of squash in between bites he would hang his head and cry his little head off. When I finally got the next bite ready he would see the spoon and all would be right with the world again. According to my parents he is EXACTLY like me.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of food Zeke Man!

Family Visit

Last week Uncle Ry and Aunt Stephie came over to see the kids and have dinner with us. Uncle Ry had fun holding and smooching on Zeke. Unfortunately Zeke did not enjoy the scruff on Uncle Ry's face and he sure let him hear all about it. :)

 

 

 

So off to Aunt Stephie's arms he went....she doesn't have scruff on her face!

 

 

Oh speaking of face...bring that closer so I can gnaw on you!!!

 

 

Okay I guess your finger will work!

 

 

 

Oh wait I can chew on this! If I could just get it...

 

 

Closer!!!

 

 

This cute boy is getting so big and he's chewing on EVERYTHING!!!

 

 

Zeke Russell Martin - 5 months!