Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we wanted to be home and so we invited both families to our house.  Dustin's family couldn't join us but part of mine did and we also had a few exchange students, which was fun.  

Jones helped me with the turkey.  He was more than willing to stuff it full of onions and oranges. He also helped baste it with butter.  Mom helped make a few dishes which was perfect, since I have two small babies.  Lita brought rolls and our new student friends brought dumplings. 

Everything was so good.  We enjoyed the meal.  Thea ate her first turkey and probably enjoyed sweet Potatoes the most.  Our friends have never eaten anything we prepared, and they enjoyed potatoes and sweet potato casserole the best. 

We cleaned up and ate pie. They also liked pie. 

Afterward we played Yahtzee and talked.  So fun.  

Our guests really enjoyed my kids since they don't have many babies in their family.  

It was a lovely thanksgiving. 

 

Big Finish - The Charming Plus Quilt Along

Finished this puppy and within the deadline too.  I am actually surprised myself.  My friend Erika is doing it too and she and I have been playfully throwing down to see who could finish .  Somehow I finalized it.  The quilt is probably composed of only 50% stash but I will take it considering I couldn't find my green fabrics.  Quilt is just diagonal straight line, I had a little back puckering but it adds a little character.

It's also worth mentioning this back makes me crazy!!!  I almost should have given it more design but I kept needing to make it a little bigger and still a little bigger.  And then finally I needed that little strip of bikes on the left and that's like the worse part to me.  Oh well it's finished.

Jones will be very excited he often walks by it on the machine and touches dinosaurs.  Anyhow this is also the quilt for our twin bed which will eventually relocate to his room.  I am giving it to him for Christmas because the boy needs more presents to open right? 

Technically this is 9 on my 2016 list as well so check.

Thanks Tisha for the challenge to do this project. And big thank you to Erika who gave me that last little nudge to finish it.

43 - Thea's Stocking

I feel uber behind on blogging and my list, but yesterday I had a free hour and I finished up Theas stocking.  

I tried to use scrap felt I had.  I just made up the pattern.   The penguin was super simple.  I wish however I had made it fatter for her.  Oh well it's done before Christmas. 

Halloween

Jones was equally enamored with Halloween as he was with the pumpkins.  I didn't really ask what he wanted to be for Halloween because he doesn't understand the question.  Instead, I just decided on spider for him and flamingo for her.   I got to work making their costumes.  Jones was super simple sweats + extra arms and a pod.  I gave the pod a Spider-Man look because he loves Spider-Man books.  And I made it easy for him to take off if he wanted too.  

Theas was a little more complex I made a simple tutu, wings from felt, and a "hat" for the neck/beak/eyes.  The first one Thea was not a fan of because she could tell it was on.  So I made an alternate from a knit hat we had.  

Both costumes were uber simple and I just did my own thing without a pattern.  Just with photo ideas.  

Anyhow they wore them several times to various events, Halloween parade, trick or treat etc. Jones loved it and thought Halloween would just keep going.  Surprisingly he forgot about his candy which was good because Dustin ate all his favorite things.  Jones's favorite part was Trick or Treat.  

Charming Plus Quilt Along Moves Along

I finished up the top and the back for this guy.  Now to get it wrapped up.  The holiday season is rapidly approaching so that makes quilting a little more of a stretch.  It's also a challenge since I have been teaching classes at lunch time and Thea wants to stay up late.  But maybe I can take a day off and work on projects.  I love how the top turned out despite wishing for more black to mix in there. 

Theaburf at 9 months

Oh baby!  So far this is my favorite.  You are spunky girl spunky. 

You growl at me with your fists held high.  

You lay your head on my and snuggle. 

You watch me as I do chores. 

You want to play games with jones and I. 

You want to taste EVERYTHING.

You crawl, cruise, dance, and climb.

You are taking your first unassisted steps.

You blow bubbles.

You give kisses.

You wave.

You clap.

You bring joy.

You are learning to play peekaboo usually covering your forehead not your eye.

You say dad.

You understand your name.

You adore jonesy.

You try so hard to throw a ball but struggle with release.

You laugh at raspberries on your belly.

You like to fall asleep on daddy.

You like to pull daddy's beard.

You reach for me often.

I love you to wear big bows.

I love how you watch for me and get so excited for me to pick you up.

I smell your head and soak up the last of the my babies.

I call you bird, and baby lady.

I love you so.

Love mommy

17 - Pie x 2

For thanksgiving I tested out my pie skills.  I even let jones help me.  His favorite part was pouring and eating streusel.  But he really got into it. 

We first make Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie (http://www.saveur.com/sugar-cream-pie-recipe).  This was super easy however one of my pie pans was missing so we improvised with a casserole pan and that seemed to work but we had more filling than pie shell.  

While we were letting the pie cook we made streusel for our other pie and tossed it in the freezer.  We just made it from brown sugar, butter, oatmeal and flour.  I don't have a recipe. I just use a stick of butter and about 1/2 cup brown sugar and maybe 1/4 of flour and oatmeal.  I used a pasty cutter or mashed potato masher to mix it. If needed I add more butter/sugar for right consistency.  We then sliced and peeked about 6 Granny Smith apples.  We loosely followed this apple pie recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/15683/dutch-apple-pie-with-oatmeal-streusel/ for the filling with no cinnamon add extra nutmeg   Jones loved the whole thing and keeps asking to make more pie.  

They turned out good although next time i will use smaller or less apples.  

Jonesburf 28 months (posted late)

Jonesy -

Daily is a fun adventure in the life of a toddler.

You have joy in the silliest things.

You love life with almost everything you have it's so amazing.  

We have conversations real conversations.

You often ask me about where dinosaurs are? (Thanks pumpkin patch).

We also talk about the weather and the seasons lately.  You ask about the leaves and why it's dark.  We say "winter is coming" as if we were in Game of Thrones.

We talk about how to be a friend and that hitting is a no no and sharing is a must.

We build things with blocks, Legos and other toys.

It's so neat to watch your imagination.  The other day you made a choo choo train castle and a monkey was the conductor and you fed him pretzels and then took him to the bank to money.  It was so great to see you come up with the story. 

The next day you had your people out.  You determined ranger Joe and the farmer wanted to swing and you reminded them as you were pushing them that the swing was really for babies and you had asked for a Christmas present swing for big boys. And then you added "Christmas is in a little bit."

You have such a sharp memory you recall things I told you a week ago. 

You often ask where is Thea if she's not with us.

And you try to include her.  Asking if she wants to play and offering her toys you don't want. 

You pick her up too and try and carry her. 

We started sleeping you in your big boy bed last month and you own it.  You don't even get out of bed when you wake up instead you call me. 

Your potty training is a constant struggle we have several good days and then boom back to using the pull ups.  

You have recently only wanted to eat protein and fruit I am not sure why but I can't even entice you with macaroni or French fries.  Silly kid.  

You are grow up so fast little man.  

Love always mommy 

And my favorite on includes Thea. 

Theaburf - 8 months

Thea lady -

8 months!  I actually caught myself telling people you were 9 months (shame on me).  You are just so smart and thoughtful.  We see you thinking all the time.  It's so cute.  Anyhow more about you at 8 not yet 9 months.

You like to go go go. 

You crawl and cruise with the fierceness.

You are starting to let go to walk but your balance is still not right.

You jibber jabber and sometimes we swear it's real works like "yes", "kiss", "no".  But I think it's jibber jabber.  

You don't have any teeth yet.  

You seem to like to poo and pee out of your diaper more than you keep it in.  It's so perplexing to me.

You love to eat.  Baby food. Adult food.  Things jones gives you.  Items on the floor (uh oh).  But you gobble it up and what more.

Favorites are probably baby Cheetos and apples and sweet potatoes.

You don't like peaches.

You dance to Music.

Hum the abcs.

You can clap, wave and kiss on command.

You understand the word "no".

You live to stay up late.

And napping seems to be optional for you.

Your hair is coming in and it's wispy blonde hair that sticks out all over.  

At you go to sleep on daddy.

You watch jones like a hawk. 

You like to splash in the bath.

You giggle when we blow raspberries on your belly it's so hilarious. 

Jones and I like to sing you the Tom Jones song "she's a lady".   We changed the chorus so it says "she's oh whoa whoa she's a baby lady".  

It's so fun to watch you grow little lady. 

Love always mommy

Charming Plus QAL blocks

Moving right along.  I finished piecing all my blocks I made two for the back as well which two not sure yet.  I practiced laying it out when I still needed to finish the last blocks.  I am liking it but wishing I had more balance of black to whites.  I thought about getting more black fabric to complete it but I am trying not to buy more fabric so I didn't do it.  Jonesy saw it and is ecstatic about the dinosaur prints.