The making of a dinosaur

The kids each got some money to spend at the Creation Museum and this is one item our 6 yr old purchased. He had so much fun putting it all together (with mommy's help)...

Ruby's growing family

Here is some more of Ruby's family. I think it is actually turning into OUR family. There is mommy, daddy, and 2 sisters.....we will be making 2 brothers as well. Our daughter has been learning different stitches (whip stitch, blanket stitch) and she made the pouch to hold all the dolls in :)

Doll kits arrived!

So after posting about winning a beautiful piece of artwork, guess what came in the mail today! Our doll kits from Doorposts :) They sent us the complete Ruby doll kit and the complete Goldie doll kit ($65 worth). Today we made Ruby, and over this week we will make the rest of her family. Lots of fun!!
Here's Ruby!
We also want to wish Dad/Grandpa L a very happy birthday!!

Christmas Eve

Today we started off the day making a nativity scene out of cut outs. The kids enjoyed that and played with the figures for awhile afterwards! It will be used tomorrow as we read the Christmas story.
Traditions around our home during the Christmas holidays continue to grow. This year the kids really wanted to have a birthday cake for Jesus....so today we are busy baking a cake and I always get excited about decorating!! Just a hint for you....I made edible pine cones!!! I LOVE them :) We'll post the picture when it is finished.
Christmas Eve we let the kids open one small present in the evening. This year the 2 older kids used their own money to buy each other a gift (the 2 younger ones are swapping gifts too). They are soooo excited to give each other what they have chosen for them.
Christmas morning we read the Christmas story, sing 'Happy Birthday to Jesus' (from the CD Peanut Butter Christmas by Ron Hamilton), they open their stockings and then their presents. We will be enjoying the afternoon with family for dinner. I don't think there will be a white Christmas here this year....the kids will just have to keep praying for some snow :)

Denim skirt

Last night around 10:45pm I had a wee bit of inspiration :) I've been looking for a nice but inexpensive denim skirt for our daughter. She loves wearing dresses/skirts and denim just looks so nice. Alas, I haven't been able to find one. I remember she had asked me what to do with a pair of capris that had 2 big holes in the knees......I told her just to put them back in her drawer for now. Lightbulb!!! Can I transform it into a skirt???
So as always, I hop on youtube and search out how-to videos and voila. "How to turn a pair of jeans into a skirt".......yay!
I absolutely love the results (just not the fact the my sewing machine is now broken. It's been going on the fritz for a little while and I think it finally died )
Here's some pics and we had one happy girl this morning!!
cut above the holes

take apart stitching along seam of inside legs

use the extra pieces of pant leg that were cut off to fill in the gap in the front and on the back


sew


a skirt!!
....and Olivia was born yesterday just after 4pm! Welcome to the family (my 4th niece)

Marshmallow toothpick towers

Today we were making marshmallow towers and shapes....and I'm pretty sure there was some eating too when Mommy wasn't looking :)

Pillow

The dinosaur pillow is done! She did a good job for her first time. It took awhile this morning to finish off the last side. I think she was getting a bit frustrated but when it was completed, she was quite happy....and so was brother! I gave her a blunt tapestry needle to work with for her first project which made it difficult getting through the fabric at times. She wants to make a quilt next (very ambitious) but I told her she needs to do a couple more pillows first to practice her stitching :)

Sewing

She is now learning how to sew! We are starting with something simple....a pillow. She wants her first pillow to be for her brother "because he was just so nice to me today!" We went to the store and let brother pick out his fabric of choice....of course it was dinosaurs! She measured her material, marked and cut, marked the edges as a guide to hand sew, threaded her needle, and I showed her the first few stitches and off she went.....
So far she says it's lots of fun! There have been some tangles and redo's along the way but I'm glad she is having fun with it and learning! She can't wait to use the sewing machine, but I told her she needed to learn to hand sew first. Today she says "I'm learning what Mommy's do!" I'm glad I can teach you my babe :)

I love to crochet!

Since I taught myself how to crochet a few weeks back, I've been busy making lots of neat things. My most recent project today was making a purse for my daughter. She loves it!!!! I hand sewed beads to the front as well to give it a little pizzaz. It fits her just perfect. So far she has a change purse, a comb and some lip balm in there. She says it makes her feel grown up :)

Crib!

Baby has finally been moved to her crib after 4 1/2 months in the bassinet beside our bed. It's always hard moving them into their 'big' bed but fortunately with this baby, the crib is in our room :) Do I sense we need a bigger house...haha.

Here are some pics of the girls in their pink today. Other than that there is not alot going on. Just trying to catch up around the house now after a week of everyone sick and the house turning into a tornado zone!! And there are some recent pics of baby girl in blue talking to herself in the mirror :)

18 weeks and we got a tooth!

Still waiting to see if the stomach bug is going to hit anyone else. So far it has been hubby and our 4 year old. I'm also still working on my third poncho....haven't had alot of time over the past couple of days for it! Here is a pic of our girl in her lavender headband today....I just love these. She also has her first tooth finally!! Over a month of teething and being cranky, it popped through (at 18 weeks old....yes, we have early teethers)

Another tooth

Tooth #6 is out. What a mouthful of holes :) She lost the 4th one on the bottom the other day and her adult teeth up top are coming in. Both older kids went to the dentist and she assured me both of them will end up with braces! Start saving now!

There is also a pic of baby girl in her black headband and I'm currently working on my third poncho which is cute, cute, cute!! It is a beautiful multicolored blue, green, and teal. Can't wait to finish it.

In my spare time

I taught myself how to crochet last weekend and these are the 2 ponchos I made during the week. My only model is a 2 1/2 yr old boy *grin* but we won't tell anyone except our blog readers...haha. The pattern is for size 1-2. I made the pink one a little bigger so it could probably fit up to a 3 year old. I could weave ribbon along the bottom, put a bow up top, add tassels (not sure how to do that without fraying happening) but I am pleased with them so far. The white one was my first attempt and I made a few boo-boos along the way, but I ironed them all out while making the pink one. I have multi-colored yarn I'm going to try next and then I hope to make some that I can sell. My next step is to do a few baby blankets and get an inventory going so I can put together a store. I eventually want to have baby sweater sets too along with the crocheted hats (with the flowers shown on a previous post below). Here is a picture of one of the headbands too. So cute!!