A Little Bit Of Everyday

Ok, so some catch up. The past week or two, Winston first.
Little man loves to babble, smiles at everyone, but especially Eleanor, Clayton and myself. He lights up when he hears one of us speaking or catches our eye. He recently met the little hottie in the mirror and thinks that kid is hilarious. He's beginning to drool more and more and loves to shove one or both of his fists into his mouth, sometimes along with his binkie or a bottle. He also recently discovered his feet and will hold onto both feet and kind of just rock around. It's pretty cute.

Most impressively may be that he can roll over from front to back and from back to front. He is a mover! If Clayton has an early morning he sleeps downstairs and I let Winston sleep in bed with me. However, Winston wont rest until he has wiggled his way right next to me, so I play leap-frog all night trying to make sure I don't squish him. He loves to be held and I am starting to figure out when his crying means "I'm tired." (My crying always means I'm tired. Ha ha.) Once he gets to that point a quick two minute rocking and he is out. He is a very "chill" baby and we love him to pieces.

Here he is after a bath

All ready for church lying on the sweet quilt Ruth Seedall made us. Funny story, he received three of this shirt he's wearing at his baby shower. We kept two in two sizes and passed one on to our sweet neighbor Bennett. P.S. Notice his tiny leather church shoes? Baby shoes kill me. One day Clayton was holding him and Winston started this "game" where he would stare intensely at Clayton, slowly leaning forward more and more, staring all the time, until he would finally wobble over and have to lean back to start again. Clayton called me in to get a picture.

This is another shot from that game. Miss Eleanor!
What a sweetheart she is. She has been so freaking funny lately. One of her newest tricks is pretending to whistle. She puts one of her fingers in her mouth and says "Woo-oooo-wooot!" in her highest voice. Makes me laugh every time. She loves to play outside with the neighbor kids but mainly ends up doing her own thing, rather than interacting much. She plays with others better indoors.

One not-so-great thing she does lately is tipping over the 9 month old baby girl who just moved into the Phillip's old spot. Little Abby is an early walker and Eleanor seems to have a problem with it. I think she just doesn't think she should be walking yet, as anytime she sees Abby toddling around she tries to knock her down. She doesn't do it forcibly, but she will just casually go up behind her and push her over. She does it kind of discreetly, as much as a two year old can, like by using one finger or pretending to kiss her head but just using her head to tip Abby's balance. I feel awful that she singles her out so much and do my best to prevent it. I threaten time-out and she stops, says her "sorry" but give her 10 minutes and she is at it again. Then she actually gets time out. Luckily Abby is pretty tough and her mother, Elisa, is super forgiving. From this Eleanor has learned another new trick. Saying "It was acdent, mommy." (It was an accident.) She has learned that accidents don't get you put in time out. Boy are we in trouble. Luckily, she doesn't quite realize that I'm on to her.

Another funny thing she does now is that if she does something wrong and I start to use my "parenting voice" she will tell me, "Oh! Don wuhwy, mommy. Is ok, mommy. It wiw be awight, mommy." (Don't worry, it's ok, it will be alright.) She says these in different combinations all the time. If she is really in trouble she will also offer you an imaginary cupcake from her little cupped hand. That one kills me. Her imaginary play has taken off lately and she offers me pretend things all day long, but the cupcake as peace offering is just beyond funny. Where does she learn this? I know I have an unhealthy love of baked goods, but seriously!

She knows her colors, but when you ask her what color something is she answers, "Um, his name is yewhoa." (His name is yellow.) She also knows her shapes, is much better at her alphabet (doesn't skip letters, but still adds a few syllables to "l-m-n-o", and can count to 20, but 12-20 are often a remix of sorts.

Covered in dirt from our piles outside. Ugh, but I love that she is such a little kid.

From head to toe!

Everyone passed out with dad. Awwww. Eleanor never falls asleep in cars or weird places, so it is either a real treat or a real worry when she konks out anywhere other than her crib.

Trying to wear Clayton's backpack. With a law book or two it only weighs about 68 pounds.

Did you know a good week or two of my life was spent sewing Angry Birds and Pigs for a friend's son's birthday? A friend volunteered to make them for her and asked for my help. So of course I got bossy and ended up making all of these but one. They turned out pretty cute, but I was so done with hand sewing little eyebrows onto petulant poultry.

No, I will not make any more Angry Birds.

Let's just look at this little guy one more time. Our little MSU fan!

Happy Valentine's Day! 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

About two months ago I took a bunch of pictures of Eleanor to stage her Valentine's day card. I saw the idea last year on this blog, but Eleanor was too little to try it out, so we've been waiting patiently for her to be big enough to pose it. She is still a little small, the only way I could get her to hold out the lollipop is by asking for a lick. And I would really have to lick it each time, otherwise she would stop offering it. A lot of the shots were fuzzy. You need the hand holding the lollipop to be close to the camera, so a lot of these didn't work. Here were some of the best.

Fun fact: I made this little dress for Allie and now it's been handed down to Eleanor. Which is good, since I've made barely anything for her. Poor girl, well, not really.

After the photos were taken, I played with them on Picnik.
Which is like mini-photoshop for free.
This Valentine has made the rounds again this year on all of the blogs, so you will probably be seeing it from a few different people.

Here is the finished product! We still have a bunch more to hand out a playgroup this week.

I Know Three of You Will Judge Me

Now I know there are Twilight haters out there, but oh well. I enjoy the books and love the movies. My defense to those who mock is that I realize they aren't Proust. They are meant to be for entertainment, and entertaining they are. And yes, there are hilarious parts that aren't intentional, but that is part of the fun. So judge me if you want, I had fun. Lots of fun.

Some friends and I went to see New Moon on the night it came out. We decided to make shirts, because we enjoy the "cougaresque" feeling of ogling Shark-Boy with his shirt off. No, not really. (Is it just me or does he talk like a valley-girl?) I decided to try my hand at freezer-paper stencils, something I have been dying to do for ages. Here are the results. I also did some onesies for the BYU-U of U game. Go Max Hall! (This might be my most controversial post ever! And if you want take the side of the wounded in that argument, let's talk. Seriously people. Ok, moving on.)

If you don't get the joke there, the love triangle is Edward, Bella and Jacob Black. He figures prominently in this book. I'm not just making racially charged statements.

Here are the friends I went with. Can I just say I love my ward? Coolest chicks ever. From left, Moi, Marissa, Lexie, Aubrey and Jade.

We had such a great time!
I am woefully behind on blogging, so expect a few more "fall" and Thanksgiving posts to follow.

Projects, on my shoulders... makes me happy...

A little tweak to the John Denver tune. I really love John Denver. My mom however, she luuuuuurvs him. Just saying.

Crafting! I volunteered to host the bow night at my house. I made some pretty blue flowers. I totally stole the idea from some sweet gal's Etsy shop. Sorry. But I wont spend even four dollars if I can make it myself. No, I'll spend fifteen and make it myself. Ha. When looking around further, I found that there were tons of the exact same flower on other sites as well, so I don't feel too bad. I suppose we are all stealing the idea from someone.

I cut out petals, burned the edges to make them curl and glued them together with a button in the middle. If you want to make something similar, you need to use a 100% synthetic fabric like polyester or nylon so the edges melt, not burn.

I made a few too many.

We had a lovely time tonight with a good turnout. It was so fun to hang out with other moms and moms to be. My cute neighbor Ann even watched Eleanor for most of it as she had to watch her two girls too. And Clayton had his super late night classes today.

Here is a shot of the bows I got in exchange. I made the ones in the row just to the left of the headband. Pretty good haul!Lest you think I have slowed down on the dolly girls, nope. Here are my two latest. Ballerina no-name and ballerina Kirsten. How cute are they?
Ann, my partner in doll-obsession, got the pointy toed clothespins to make these little dancer-footed ones. I also bought a small set of drill attachments so I could drill little holes for their arms to go through. It's getting intense. The ladies in the ward are now planning a doll night in November to feed our habit. I expect all my Christmas gifts will look like this. Do you think my dad will like one? More, as always, to come.
Poor little E is teething, so I don't foresee as much crafting in the near future. She wants to be held constantly. This coincides nicely with our trip to Utah. Four more days!

Dolls Post #2

Ok, so still life portraits are beyond me. I always seem to want to take pictures at night and my flash is ridiculous. That said, here are more of my "girls". These are Natalie and Autumn, two more of my nieces.

And here are Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West.

Not sure if she looks frightened enough.

This might be my favorite doll I've made so far.

I was hoping my fireplace looked sufficiently scary enough for the photo shoot. Was too tired to make a yellow brick road.

More to come! Seriously, I might need an intervention.

Dolls Post #1

So you have probably seen these little gals all over other blogs or on Etsy. I've been wanting to make them for about six months now, but finally got around to acquiring all the stuff to make them, and finding the time. Oh! Can I just tell you? I am obsessed. I have now made eight and have two more in the works and about seventy more in my head. Such a high reward-to-work ratio. Love them. I made the four below as my first friends. From left to right that is Abby, Lucy, Allie and me. (By the way, if your name was just called, you will soon be receiving a clothespin doll. Act surprised.) I've hooked my neighbor Ann into the business and am trying to recruit my two little neighbor girls into making some too. Sophie and Nora, let's make a date.

The photo shoot didn't turn out too well as it was dark, too much flash etc...

Look for Doll Post #2 real soon!

Making the Beds When Your House is Burning

I think I've talked about this phenomena before. My overwhelming desire to do silly piddling things when something entirely else needs to be done. Right now there isn't anything too pressing. Just all those little things that would make our house look like a home, instead of a college dorm room that hasn't been fully unpacked. Like hanging up all our pictures, or finishing that blasted dresser so we have places to put our unmentionables. How about hanging up those curtains I bought the first week here to keep out the sun? I have a nice long list of all of these kinds of chores. Not terribly urgent, but life would be sweeter if they were done. But no. Not happening. Not yet anyways. Instead I have been on a week long, turbo-charged crafting kick. Woo Hoo!

First I did one of those t-shirt makeovers that are so popular on the blogs lately. This amazing woman does some of the cutest things to a t-shirt. Me? Eh. I bought two turquoise-blue boys shirts at the dollar store and did what I could. It turned out ok I suppose. I cut off the collar if the bigger shirt and used the smaller shirt to cut up into "petals". I sewed the petals around the new neckline to make it ruffly. Kinda. Then I made a few gathered strips and sewed them to the end of the sleeves. Like I said, it's ok, but not amazing.

Here is the original shirt and the petals being cut out.
You sew the petals in half to make them look like little flowers. Sort of. Forgive the embarrassing self-portrait here. It was late and I felt too dumb to ask Clayton to take my picture. But hopefully you get the idea. Not too bad for $2.

My next project, although poorly done, was immensely satisfying. I made a "new" liner for Eleanor's door-bouncer. I just traced a loose pattern from the jumper, cut it out and sewed the new fabric directly on top of the old one. Leaving the seams exposed. To take it apart and do it properly would have been such a pain, and not worth it at all. So I was pleased with how nice it looks considering the shortcuts I took.

Here is the original fabric. I remembered just in time to take a before shot. You can also see the before in the jumping videos I posted of Eleanor last week. Tres 1992!

You can kind of see the old pattern through the new fabric, but again. I couldn't be bothered enough to add another layer of lining or whatever. Lazy crafting.

The project I finished today is the most adorable and happy one yet. They turned out sooo well! But as it will be a present for a few people, I can't blog about it, or post pictures. Yet. I will in a week or so. So hold on to your hats.

Tomorrow I hopefully get to help a neighbor paint her entertainment center, and I hope to pick up some blue paint for Eleanor's room while we are in the paint department. Then I can do the next craft project which is a garland for her room. Oh I am all atwitter about that!

Oh, you ask, where is my daughter during all of this? Well, most of this is taking place late at night. Some during her naps and some with her on the floor next to me. Today she spent about 10 happy minutes fluffing and patting a big roll of tulle on the floor while I cut stuff out. I got up to put away scissors and throw away my scraps and came back to find her like this.

Totally entombed.

I love this girl. Which reminds me. For Halloween I couldn't think of anything terribly clever to make Eleanor. I debated between witch and ballerina. I finally bought a few things at the Goodwill to make her into a warm-up ballerina (no stiff tutu, more legwarmers and pink wrap sweaters) but still haven't decided for sure. Then today I thought how adorable a Dorothy from Wizard of Oz or Alice from Alice in Wonderland would be. Any thoughts? I am going to put up a poll to see what you all think. Feel free to write in any other genius suggestions in the comments sections. Or any boring suggestions. I am all for stealing other people's good ideas. Keep in mind that E is 6 months old and I want to have some hand in making it. I also like the idea of "family costumes". For example, dad's a Dr., mom's a nurse (or second Dr.), and baby is an accident victim. A few years ago our friends, the cute Hansen family, went as a football player, a cheerleader and little (tiny baby) Sophie was the football. Alright. Polls open!

Ummmm...

Yeeaaahh. Hmm. So I guess I did remove the sides. See, it just kept raining and raining, and I just kept sitting and sitting, and the dresser did not get brought in. So I took baby E to Home Depot and we bought wood to replace the sides. I will keep you posted on how it is going, as I know you are on the edge of your seats here.

Tender Mercies

Remember Bednar's talk about Tender Mercies of the Lord? Well, maybe these are too trivial to count as tender mercies, but each of these small things has brightened my outlook about our move. I could also make a ginourmous list of things I am painfully missing about Provo, or the hideous spiders I keep seeing, but I am trying to look on the bright side. Just a small list. I will do more later.

1- Fireflies! Would you believe that in all of my travels I have never seen them? Well I hadn't. And now they are all over. They are so cool! Except they are rather ugly in the light of day, I think I killed a few not realizing what they were. Oh well.

2- Our sink has a sprayer attachment. I love those! (Our last place didn't.) (We've traded it for our dishwasher or disposal, but hey.)

3- Jack's Special Salsa. I found this the last month I was in Utah at Costco. It is my all time favorite store bought salsa. I was sad to even leave an inch of it in the jar when we left Provo. Well hooray, they sell it here too! And not at Costco- the nearest Costco is about an hour away.

4- I found a really cool radio station. They play stuff like Regina Spektor, Rilo Kiley and Interpol. The kinds of bands that never get played on the radio. And then they play a few Christian songs too. It's such a bizarre combination, but I really like it.

5- We just got our cable and internet hooked up.... and we have BRAVO! I love this channel! Top Chef! Project Runway! (Ok, I know that they've moved to Lifetime, but reruns. Hello.) Top Design, Rachel Zoe Project! And other such goodness. We also get like thirty music channels that actually play music videos. You know, like MTV and VH1 used to. So happy.

6- Have I mentioned how awesome our ward and neighbors are? Awesome.

7-It's bonus time at Clinique here. Just in time! I needed new foundation. I love free presents for buying something I would've bought anyway.

8- Joanne's and Michael's are less than three miles away. Happiness.

9- Lake Lansing. It is less than five miles from our house. It's this tiny beautiful lake that has a lovely park right next to it. And on Friday nights in the summer there are free concerts there. We went with our neighbors last Friday night. And there were Fireflies.

10- I can't think of a tenth thing, but I can't end on nine. Oh hey- we finally got a dresser and desk. I put up a wanted ad on Craigslist explaining that they would have to deliver as well, and voila! For eighty bucks we are set. I am stripping the dresser as we speak so I can paint it a cute color or something. And if you know me, you know that having a project like that makes my life.

So we are a bunch of happy campers. We miss our friends and family sooo much, but are doing ok. I'm just super glad that we live in the day and age of blogs, cell phones and Facebook.

Eleanor's Sweet Room

So this is what else made me cry that I referenced in my last blog post.

As we were packing up our old house, in a storm of boxes and awfulness, Clayton asked if we were ready to roll through Eleanor's room. That did it. That was when I couldn't keep it together. I had dreamed of Eleanor's nursery all through my pregnancy. With a color palette of robin's egg blue, white and red accents and with a scalloped lace trim painted around the top. Sadly and happily, once she was here I never found the time to finish it. So all her fairy tale pictures never got put up, the curtains never finished and I still need to top stitch her crib quilt. But it was almost there. So to appease my lunacy, we stopped packing, cleaned the room out a little and had a little photo shoot. Here are the shots of Eleanor's first nursery.

Come on in!

It was such a sweet little room and I hope we can recreate a bit of it here in Michigan.