A Boy and His Blanket

I have wanted to try my hand at knitting for a while, so when I found out I was pregnant with Henry I thought it was a great time to knit a baby blanket.  For some reason I did not start with a simple stockinette stitch blanket, but instead decided to make my first ever knitting project a chevron baby blanket that I had previously seen here on the blog Made.  The pattern is from Purl Bee and can be found here.  I bought myself a pair of bamboo circular needles, which felt better to me than metal ones.  I totally downgraded on the yarn to save money, but I think the yarn still has a great look and feel to it.  I used Red Lion Soft 100% acrylic, worsted weight.  This blanket is knit with double strands of yarn, which makes the finished product thicker and chunkier. 

Here's how it turned out:

I got lucky that Henry is a boy; gender was a surprise this time around but I was obviously drawn to more boyish colors anyway!

I think he likes it!

Yes, there are a number of imperfections and wonky lines (where there shouldn't be any) but doesn't that add to the charm?  At least that's what I tell myself.  I am so happy with it regardless! 

 

Henry at around 1 week, sunbathing on his blanket.  And no, I am not in the habit of tanning my newborns - it was the doctor's orders to help his jaundice.  : )

I would love to try another knitting project when I have a little more free time (and more importantly, free hands!)

Felt Playhouse for the Kids (A Successful Sew!)

Before Charlie was born, I decided I wanted to have a gift for Sienna to open "from Charlie" after we brought him home from the hospital.  I saw this adorable playhouse on the website Homemade by Jill and thought something like that would be perfect!  And so began the most time-consuming sewing project I have ever done.  I wondered if it was worth all that time and effort, but after three years of play and seeing the kids still loving it, I am convinced that it was!  When Henry gets a little older, he'll be able to join in the fun too.  The house fits over an Ikea table we have, that I pull out into the center of the room.  When playtime is over, the whole thing folds up and I store it in one of those oversized Ziploc bags made of heavy duty plastic.  Would you like a little tour of the house?  

 

Welcome!

 

The house also works as superhero headquarters.



You've got mail!

On one side of the house is our window box filled with flowers.

Flowers need plenty of water!  The watering can has strips of Velcro on the back so it sticks to the house.



The flowers are hand sewn and the stems are filled with pipe cleaners to give them structure.

Peek a boo!

The curtains can be open or closed.

The back of our house has a totally unrealistic fruit tree (but how great would it be if one tree produced all of that fruit?) and a basket for collecting it.  The tree also houses a little owl friend.

Thanks for coming, see you later!

Memorial Day

I know this is a few days overdue, but here are some snapshots from our weekend.
Sienna marched in our Memorial Day parade for the first time with her Daisy Scout troop!  She was so excited and I was proud to see her walking confidently with her group, smiling and enjoying herself.  She was thrilled when she spotted us shouting and waving to her and her face lit up!  Since they were on the move, I only got one close shot of her, but it's a good one.  Here are a few pics from the morning:



The boys are excited for the parade to start!

What the holiday is truly about: honoring the men and women who have served our country.  I got a little teary watching a number of elderly veterans riding in cars and waving, thinking about the sacrifices they made to protect our freedoms.

 

It was picture perfect weather! 

There's my gorgeous girl!  In typical fashion, she had to add a little flair to her Daisy beanie to make it extra fancy.  See how she is walking right behind the blue parade sign?  David said the leaders instructed the girls to stand behind the sign, and so little Sienna placed herself directly behind the sign, to be sure she was in the right place.  She's a rule-follower, like her Mommy!

Capping off the end of the parade with some festive popsicles!  They had a little ceremony at the school after the parade, during which soldiers fired rifles into the air.  David said everyone was silently watching, and after the guns went off, Charlie said loudly, "Is yem (them) shooting bad guys?"

In other news from the weekend, this special little guy turned SEVEN!


This picture makes me smile.   : )

Our oldest nephew, Sam, turned seven on Saturday.  He is a gorgeous little boy who has such a sweet disposition, is intelligent, funny, creative, loving, and determined.  When he sets his mind to something, he is so focused and won't give anything less than his best.  Sam has a little brother, Joshua, who is five, and his Mom (or Mum, I should say, as they're English--she is David's sister) is about to have baby boy #3 any day now!  It is unfortunate that they live on another continent, but I am so thankful for living in a time with Skype, where we can still talk and see each other in between the times we get to visit in person.  These are some pictures from a trip we took to England last August:

Sienna, Josh, Charlie, and Sam

A more accurate representation of the cousins!

We love you, Sam!

And now a gratuitous baby photo to end the post:

My (Our) Newest Love

On April 26, our family was blessed with the safe arrival of Baby Henry.  I can't believe that at this time four weeks ago he was still in my belly, and after having mild, sporadic contractions all day was by this point pretty sure that I was in labor.  Two hours later I was definitely sure, and by 10 pm that night I would be holding my newly born second son in my arms and my heart felt like it would burst with joy.  Four weeks later, I am still overcome by how much God has blessed our family with this little man.  Maybe you can see why I adore him so much:


Although only four weeks old, I am certain that he has smiled at me and in response to me!  And yes, I'm sure every mother has made this claim. 

 

I'm ready for my nap!

I love love love his soft, newborn baby skin!  As you can probably see in this picture, his face still has a yellow tint to it - remnants of the bilirubin that caused his severe jaundice at birth.  (That's a story for another day).
 

I'm not the only one who's smitten with this little guy...

Exhibit A:

Yes, we love kissing his face!

 

Exhibit B:

Charlie is "sweeping" (sleeping) in this one.  Very convincing, right?  : )



On a side note, when taking the above photos earlier today, I was reminded once again of how Charlie is no longer "the little man" in our house.  I have to admit, I shed a few tears in the first week after Henry being born over how big Charlie is now.  Although that may sound strange, he has been my baby for 3 years, so to see him in the role of a big brother is wonderful, but to see him shed the last remnants of his baby status was bittersweet.  He doesn't seem to be missing it at all, as he is constantly reminding us that he is a big boy and a big brother now.  In fact, if we happen to call him "the little man" he corrects us and says he is not the little man, Henry is. : )  And if we need an added reminder, we can look at this picture:

Yes, Charlie is definitely not the little man of the house, although Henry himself is topping the charts at 11lb 4oz (90th percentile) and 23 1/2" long (98th percentile!) 



A Skirt For Me

A few weekends ago, my husband and I went away for the weekend on a retreat with a marriage ministry in our church.  We were ALONE, without the kids!!  It was refreshing to have a couple of days to focus solely on each other and recharge a bit.  We did miss the kids, but we've always believed that one of the keys to being good parents is having a great marriage, so we try to make deposits in the marriage bank whenever we can.  We're continuously working on both of those areas!  Anyway, the weekend was a blast, and during a few hours on free time on Saturday afternoon, David and I decided to take an approx. 4 mile hike up to the top of a mountain on the grounds where we were staying.  The views were gorgeous!  

It was much more work than I expected, and we reached the top only to find a large parking lot and lots of visitors who had simply driven to the view.  At that point I was wishing we had driven as well, but in the end I was glad that we hiked it.  (I was actually tempted to call a friend and have them come and pick us up on the summit, but hubby was not impressed with that idea hehe).  Don't get me wrong, I love hiking, but to be honest I was concerned about missing the group game activity (I am a loser who loves that kind of thing, you can laugh at me, I'm not ashamed!) 

Well, we made it down the mountain much faster than it took to climb up, and we were just in time to shower and jump into game night.  What does this have to do with my skirt, you may wonder?  Well, that Saturday night dinner was an "assigned" date night, which I thought would be the perfect excuse to get my butt into gear motivation for tackling this much desired project!  It is the Pleated Chevron Skirt Tutorial, by The Crafty Cupboard. It was really fun to make and I was happy with how it turned out...until I tried it on haha.  It looks nice on the hanger, right?  Front:                          Back (ignore the messy stitching around the zipper) :

It looks okay on, the waistband sits a little funny on my hips, but otherwise it's alright.  (Excuse the horrible picture quality, I think something's wrong with my camera).

From the side:

The problem arises when I start walking around.  The whole front of the skirt puffs out and I look like a walking bubble (not the look I'm going for):

I think it must be the material I used...which I think is a heavy-duty knit that is quite stiff.  And therein lies the problem: I don't really know anything about fabrics, their textures, what each fabric is suitable for, etc. etc.  I really need to read up on that and study different fabric types hands-on.  So if you walk into Joann's and see a woman running her hands over every bolt of fabric with two cranky kids by her side, I'm just doing some personal research!  One positive I did take from this is that I now know how to make simple pockets in a skirt.  I love the little peek of contrasting fabric!

Pint-Sized Superhero

Recently, my wonderful friend Erin's sweet little boy turned one. I was trying to figure out what to get for him, since he has a lot of toys and clothes handed down from his big brother (such a cutie, he's 3). Well, I drew my inspiration from his big brother in the end, who loves wearing a Superman shirt that has a cape attached to it. I thought, "I bet his little brother would love his own superhero cape!" (Translation: Awww Dominick would look so cute in a little cape!) So I took a cute little boy's romper and sewed on a cape made with soft Superman flannel backed with blue felt. I used pre-made bias tape, but it was super thin and a real pain (which is why there are so many mistakes- sorry, Erin!) Barley was gracious enough to model it for me (even though it's pretty snug on him hehe).

From the back:

In action!

Perfect for chasing bad guys...or big sisters (who are sometimes one and the same to Barley).

I hope you enjoy it, Dominick!