quiet books

now that gifts have been unwrapped and all that goodness i thought i would share a few homemade gifts. these quite books took me too long, but they were something i really wanted for the girls and bryan's sister showed interest in one for her little guys, so i dove in.

 covers

i made the books with felt, backed with interfaceing. i snipped around the edges, so that i could leave them raw and lessen my work :).

 velcroed balloons and texture page

 cars with button on wheels

 shoe lacing...sans the lace.

 zipper pocket and 5 monster finger puppets.

small, medium and large ice cream scoops to be snapped on.

the end.

merry christmas

christ in red robe by minerva teichert

i know i've been showing a lot of little crafty things this christmas season. i was in the making mode for the first few weeks, but i've been trying to get into a more spirtual mood. i LOVE all the giving, recieving, yummy foods, decorations, songs and family time that we get to have during this season. However, it is very important to me that my family try to think about Christ this time of year especially. He is the reason for all this fun and excitement. i feel so blessed to have a knowledge that He is my savior and that He loves me. i am so totally blessed. one of the things that always gets me in the right mind set is listening or watching the first presidency christmas devotional. my favorite was president uchtdorf's talk. please go check it out. it is SO worth it.

neighbor gifts

i made these little banana breads to give to neighbors and friends. i found these cute little white mini loaf pans and decided they would make a cute gift. i put the breads in a celo bag, wrapped them with red string and put a card on the top. they were easy and i think they look pretty cute. i used the banana bread recipe from flour bakery in boston. it's from this book and it's a tasty one. i also REALLY like this recipe.

utah hats

i made p a hat last year for christmas and it was a huge hit. i decided that i might turn it into a tradition...a christmas hat every year. in SD we don't need a lot of warm hats, but when we go to utah for christmas we need all the layers we can find...southern california has made us soft.

 this year i did orange and white earflap hats and i stuck a little bow on. isla's will not fit her for long, but it will work for the next couple of months.

stockings

here is isla's stocking. and penelope's new stocking (her old one wasn't made well and was falling apart...oops.) i keep thinking i will crochet us all stockings, but i haven't. i really like our stockings though. they are fun and bright and totally imperfect. yes, i know penelope's says penel a pe, that's what i get for free handing the embroidery. i will fix it...next year.

the wrappings

wow! the last few weeks have been crazy...or i've been crazy the last couple of weeks. i wrapped our gifts yesterday and that took an eternity. i really like wrapping gifts, but when there are a lot to wrap and it takes 3+ hours, i like it less. anyway, i am really glad that i have all our christmas gifts bought/ordered. i had a goal to have it all done by the end of november. ha. ha. ha.

brown paper packages tied up with strings

my little helper

ps this weekend bryan and i are going on a date! i am super excited, because dates are scarce these days. what are your fun weekend plans?

7 months old

this little gal is 7 months old and she's a riot. 

-she is grabbing for EVERYTHING! at this very moment she's trying to get at the keyboard and singing a cute little song that will turn sad if i don't give her something to play with.

-she enjoys playing with things that are not meant for babies best...like anything bryan or i have.

-she still won't take a bottle or a pacifier, but she's eating her vegetables like a champ!

- she can sit up all by herself for 10 min+.

-she still doesn't love being on her tummy, but she's tolerating it better.

-she has the sweetest grin and loves to play with her tongue. she can even flip it and do tongue tricks. cute.

-she is sleeping really well and i am super happy about that.

-her hair is filling in (sort of,) she has 2 teeth and her eyes are darkening (maybe she'll be a brown-eyed girl like her sis.

-she's in love with her family and it totally melts my heart.

we love you isla may!

whoo whoo

owls! this year the ornaments i made for the tree were owls. i have tried to make an ornament for each member of the family each year. i have done birds the past 4 years. here are the owls. inspired by these guys (pinned by helen fuhriman.)

PS HAPPY DECEMBER