Happy 3rd Birthday Reese Emma

How are you already 3!  Gone are the diaper days, the crib days, and even the toddler days, and here you are an official big girl.  Some of your newest milestones are...

• Drawing a face with eyes, nose, mouth, hair, and sometimes even ears:)
• Recognizes many letters: M D R E S A, and probably knows what a few more are if you count words they start with
• Counts to 16
• You can pedal a tricycle pretty decently (it's a little tricky in the basement on the carpet:))
• Go potty all by yourself without a potty seat!
• You know the shapes heart, triangle, square, circle, and star
• You know many colors, but not all of them just yet
• You're obsessed with polly pockets, princess, and lalaloopsies and your imagination grows more and more each day
• You really enjoy delaying bed time these days with phrases like, "I gotta go potty, I need a drink, I need one more baby, etc"
• You're napping is sketchy at the moment.  You take naps at Kristin's, but not always here on the weekends.  You usually are just "ready to wake up."  We're working on having at least an hour of quiet time:)
• You're going back to Kid's @ the Well all by yourself now
• You recently painted a picture and named everything you painted in it!  The sun, grass, yourself, and a rainbow.  (It made this ex-kindergarten teacher mama proud:))
• Your favorite quotes: "We're playing mom and dad.  I'm the mom, you be the sis." "I'll wipe poop on you."  (yes, you actually say this sometimes) "We're pretending this be a...."
• New love for the shower, and singing in the shower with a microphone shampoo bottle.  Your newest song in the shower is, "I got the moves like Jagger."

You had such a fun birthday party this year, Wizard of Oz!  We celebrated a week early, just in case Hudson wanted to make an early appearance.  Ashlee crafted up the cake again of course.  You were insistant that it have all of the characters on it.  GORGEOUS

A highlight was the peg people mommy, Aunt Jenna, and grandma made for you.  You like carrying them around with you wherever you go and sleeping with them.

It was an excellent celebration and so fun that you now understand what a birthday is all about!

On your actual birthday daddy, you, and I went to Crazy Pins.  You went bowling for the first time!

You loved it, but really wanted to get all of the pins down each time.  You got mad when they pulled the ones you missed away.  Maybe you have that competitiveness like your daddy:)  There were high fives all around, you rode some rides, and played some games.

Happy Birthday to my little peanut.  You will be a great big sister any day now.

Christmas with Friends

We celebrated Christmas with the Bigelows tonight.  Ashley made Reese the cutest things.  A hopscotch mat and fridge magnets for Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. 

Reese also loved giving Audrey her "Best Buds" shirt.  She was sure to let Audrey know that it was her and Audrey on that shirt...

and a little something for the little sis too...

and perhaps the funniest thing was that Ashley and I made each other the same exact scarf..HA! Figures, great minds think alike:)

Merry Christmas friends.  We love you guys.

Spring Wreath

Now don't be turned off by the title, I've seen plenty a dorky wreath in my day.  This one is not.  I found this wreath on a blog and LOVED it.
http://kikicreates.blogspot.com/2011/02/quick-and-fun-project.html

So, I decided I must make one.  Now, you saw the above link, I do not call myself creative...just a wannabe:)  But I'm great at following a pattern, or directions, so basically I just copied it and came up with this!  The door down to my basement is now complete.



a close up...

 and the full view...

too bad i'm not great at photography so i could make this look amazing on the blog...i need to work on that.

Reusable Grocery Bags

For Ashley's birthday I wanted to make her some reusable grocery bags because she'd been wanting some.  So mom helped...

She made the pattern and taught me how to use the surger, but i swear i did all the sewing myself this time.  I can prove it...

They were super simple to make.  If you really want a tutorial let me know and i can give you one!  Here's what the boys did while the ladies were sewing...

And here's the finished product. Happy birthday, Ashley!

quiet book

it's done! (kinda)  ashley and i have been working on this thing since before christmas, actually it was supposed to be a christmas present (i know, you're thinking, and there are only 4 pages).  it's still a work in progress, but it was done enough to give to reese for her birthday!  she can actually do the gumball page (and proved to me tonight when she visited my classroom that she can sort things by color on her own quite easily).  this is an ongoing project for sure.  we're hoping to add many more pages in the future!

 cover

 so the farm animals aren't quite done yet...santa will have to do:)

 the apples snap on and off

the gumballs velcro on and off, reese matches the color

counting!

"have it"

a quote from reese i'm stealing for the evening...because i'd really like to have all of this cute stuff, mostly i'd like to be amazing enough to make it all someday.  it makes me feel good to put all of my "have its" together in one place.  it's my type a personality i think...

**this is the cutest ever scarf from tweed baby outfitters. yes it's for a child, but i would enjoy it for myself as well.  i could make this somehow right???

**i love these stitched portraits...they'd look nice going down my stairs to the basement. countryliving.com

** yarn flowers, i mean, who wouldn't want these..super easy. i've made them for hair bows before, doubling as flowers in a vase works for me! countryliving.com

**i'd like for my dad to make this for reese. ana-white.com

**and i would like to have this for my entryway please

**i'm sure these would look cute in my new bedroom, but in black or grey



that's it for now...just like to dream sometimes, and look back at this later for ideas:)

Blizzard 2011

Sunny and 78 sounds much better than 12 inches of snow and ice, which is what I would've been enjoying in Florida if I would've had a flight 20 minutes earlier.  Let me explain.  I was almost on my way to a technology conference in Florida for work until Blizzard 2011 hit.  Eight of us were in the Indy airport keeping our hopes up.  But after hours of deicing and re-deicing, waiting for the weather to switch back and forth from light freezing rain to freezing rain (these are the technical terms they use if you weren't aware), our flight was cancelled at 11 pm.  Which means we got to drive back to Kendallville in "crippling" ice (another technical term).  So, at 4:30 am I finally crawled into my bed...cold.  But let's look at the bright side..I got to spend 3 snow days with Reese and my hubby.  Plus, I never would've had time to make these little treat bags for Reese's birthday party..

By the way, they are the easiest things to make!  Here are the quick instructions:

1. cut to pieces red felt the same size

2. cut out mickey ears, i used a cookie cutter to trace, but you could print off a pattern from clipart

3.  sew the mickey ears onto one piece of felt on the sewing machine.  i suppose you could hand stitch too, but it would take way longer.

4.  sew one piece of ribbon onto each red felt piece for handles, make sure to back stitch so they don't come off

5. stitch bag together, leaving an opening at the top

6. voila! a mickey treat bag, or purse as reese calls it

i love heat bond

jenna and chris were here for the weekend.  jenna wanted to make a wipes clutch and onesies for her friend that is having a baby.  she's the first one of her friends, so she's the lucky one to get a bunch of gifts:)  here's the wipes clutch...

 and the onesies...my sister is so stinkin cute and creative.  she put little buttons and trim on it, stitched around them all. they turned out sooo cute..these pics don't do a justice!

 so then i decided i should probably make one for my friend amy who just had a baby girl, brooklyn.  my sis found this cute blog (tweedinthevillage) that had onesies like this, with the letter cut out in the middle, rather than layered on top.  (ps it's her friend's store in nashville...soo cute!)  i even stitched around this one on the machine for the first time..not too shabby if i do say so myself.

then i made reese a shirt for valentine's day.  i did it the same way, by cutting out a heart and having a different fabric peek through.

 and finally reese's bday outfit for her minnie party.  i didn't really want minnie on it, but the black and red colors instead.  so, my amazing mother made this adorable skirt and i made the shirt...okay she stitched around it with the thick, fancy stitch..so basically she made the whole thing:)  the amazing things bond it can do.  i could've made ten more!

i love that my fam likes to make things.  it's something fun that we can share together.

Boy Baby Shower Projects

My friends, Denise and Brandon, are having a baby boy in March.  It's my first friend with a boy!  I am so completely thrilled for them.  They will make such wonderful, Christian parents.  So, I decided that I had to make something for this little one.  I've had my eye on these tie onesies on different blogs for quite a while now, but no boy to make it for.  This was my chance.  It's the easiest thing ever to make.  Just cut out a pattern, cut a piece of fabric a little larger than the pattern, iron on the bond it stuff to the back, cut out the tie, and iron it on to the front of the onesie.  I was going to actually stitch around this one, but forgot I didn't have the right bond it (you have to get the lighter weight kind if you're going to stitch with it).  It still turned out cute though. 

  

I forget how little that 0-3 month size is...so tiny.

And of course I had to make Denise a wipe clutch. 

I can't wait to meet their little bundle!

new projects

it's been the summer of sewing, crafting, and designing.  it's really been addicting lately.  last week ashley and i finally made the cutest ever dresses for the girls.  i found the tutorial online and knew we had to give it a whirl.  i'm no seamstress.  i usually leave the sewing to mom, but i really wanted to make something for reese all by myself:)  the boys hung out and watched the office and we (ashley, her friend becca, and i) got to sewing.  after much guidance from becca we did it!  she's a great teacher, told us what to do and how to do it, but wanted us to learn it for ourselves and do it all alone.  here we are with our finished products.  becca says we're the same sort of crafter/seamstresses.  we needed specific instruction, can't visualize anything, and exact. lol

"i love my new dress mommy!"

here's another project i whipped up the other day, a little felt clip i found on the purlbee blog.  i think it's one of my favorite clips...better for fall though...

and the other night i got it in my mind that i wanted to refashion one of reese's old, too small for her belly tshirts into a dress.  mom helped with this one.  i can say i did all of the sewing, but i don't think i could recreate it if i tried it alone. 

and here is my amazing, artsy sister making an acrylic canvas painting for her condo while we sewed.  she's the actual artsy one of the group!

i just love seeing a finished product.  i think that is where the obsessiveness with all of it comes in.  more to come soon hopefully!  i love summer.

the run and fun

this week we enjoyed a day with ashley and audrey. ashley showed us around auburn (we're hoping to be locals there soon so we needed to know the ropes) and took us to some really cute shops.  then it was back to her house for lunch.  we attempted to eat lunch outside with the girls on the picnic table. it went well for awhile...

but then reese was not too interested in sitting down, or eating for that matter.  she was very polite though and gave all of her food to audrey.  next, we made our own laundry soap.  ashley had to talk me into this one, but it was kind of fun once we got going.   i felt so environmental.  i'm interested to see if it works well!

today was the big race at camp lutherhaven.  ok, so it wasn't a BIG race, just a 5k, but very fun none the less.  our friend janet organized the whole thing as a fundraiser for camp and we were so excited to see it be such a success.  133 people when all was said and done.  i told adam i had never run such a short race before..lol.  he beat me of course. adam 30 minutes. meredith 35 minutes.  the worst part though was the finish for ashley and i.  we ran the entire thing together and crossed the finish at the same time...however....she stuck her head out and beat me.  i didn't think it was that big of a deal until i found out she won for our age group.  that little sneak!  next year it's on...here's a picture of us before she stole my glory...

this afternoon we had fun playing on mom and dad's back deck.  we've settled in quite nicely here and today we got out reese's water table the minards got her for her birthday.  it was a huge hit! i've been eagerly awaiting the unveiling of this toy for months now.  mostly she just loves taking the cap on and off of the water bottle that she dips in it (and then drinks..i know i'm such a bad mother for letting her drink that dirty water:))  i can foresee hours of summer time fun with this toy!