Tuesday, October 19, 2010

What's going on here?

Right now, D is at an interview for a manager position at a different/bigger store than he is currently at. He REALLY wants this job... we have just been praying that God will guide the outcome whether it means a yes or no.

And, our laptop died for a couple weeks and then mysteriously revived... but is not expected to live much longer and Evie dropped our smaller fuji camera and now the lcd screen doesn't work :(

I have been working on a baby gift that I can't show you in case the recipient looks here, but will post pics as soon as it has been gifted! I have a sewing goal to go through and complete the projects I have that are cut out and in some cases even partially sewed. I think there are a couple appliqued onsies, some fleece baby pants and matching hat, some fleece mittens and ear warmer(?), a purse/bag, a skirt for me, a pillowcase dress, even a cloth fitted diaper from tshirts. Some have been on the back burner so long that I don't know what I will do with them when I finish them. Maybe a giveaway :) I also need to "pay up" on my pay it forward that is now almost a year late! I think the main challenge keeping me from getting that done is my fear of not making something good enough for the recipient. Especially when she is so crafty herself! Then there are a few belated birthday gifts to do as well...

Its also getting to that time of year when I try to go through all of our clothes and books and "stuff" and sort into throw away, put away (organize), and give away. Then get everything listed out and taken to a donation site. I have done some research to try to find something that maybe has more impact on the truly needy than Goodwill and found Hope Ministries. They have a thrift store that the proceeds fund their ministry and they use donated clothing in a free clothes closet. So I think that is where I will take them this year.

Going along with donations is volunteering. We have been talking about doing a Christmas time adopt a child or family to give gifts to that wouldn't normally get anything. There are opportunities all over the place for that. I have found some at the United Way volunteer opportunities web listing for my area.

Anyhow, I started this before lunch and it is now almost 4. Just one of those everything takes longer than expected, not getting out of jammies, barely getting anything done type days.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Ha Ha! I did it!



You are probably wondering why I am so excited... well, its because I just finished my first project for Evie in a while, and it was my first e-pattern that I purchased here after seeing it here. I made it take waaaaaaay longer than it should have, just because I hemmed and hawwed about it since I was unsure of the results, but it turned out REALLY CUTE! Now I just have to do a fitting on my model (who had gone to bed before I completed it)!
Its great because the pattern calls for 2 fat quarters worth of fabric, one for the outside and one for the lining.

I had just enough of this cute dark brown corduroy left for my first try! I will take some better pics in the daylight tomorrow and with Evie modeling it too. The whole time I was working on it today she kept peeking over the back of the couch at me excitedly asking "what are you making me mommy?!" Hopefully she will be as enthusiastic about it when I try to get her to model it for me :)



Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Evie quotes!

While sitting eating lunch together.
Evie: I'm so happy you are my mommy!
Me: I'm so happy you are my Evie!
Evie: (after a bit of contemplation) I'm so happy that you are my mommy and I'm your Evie!

Rocking at bedtime. We hear what sounds like D running into something downstairs...
Evie: Siwwee(silly) daddy!
Me: Why is daddy silly?
Evie: Because he runned into someting.
then after a bit of giggling she adds: That always cracks me up! *then she really started laughing

Driving.
Evie: (loudly) Its a green light. You can go-oh! (yep it was a two syllable attitudy go)
Me: What?
Evie: I was talking to that car (pointing at a car that had waiting to turn longer than necessary), they were in our way!

Then of course there are the staples like:
When I have wings, then I can fly!
When I am big, then I can *fill in the blank

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Such a big girl! *said with happy mommy tears*



This weekend D and I finally got to go out for our anniversary! The tradition since Evie was born has been for Grandpa and Grandma to come spend the day with her on a Saturday while we go eat at Ohana's (a japanese hibachi restaurant with AMAZING scallops... its all in the sauce) and do a movie or shopping or whatever. This year we thought we would try having Evie do her first sleepover away from us at their house instead. We told her on Tuesday last week and she wanted to go NOW! Every day she asked if grandpa and grandma were going to come get her and I tried to explain how many more days it would be etc. and also tried to make sure she understood that mommy and daddy were not going to be there, just Evie and grandma and grandpa... she seemed to get it. The whole time we were all wondering how she would do since this was the first time. She even got a special little "Evie size" princess backpack to take with her! Grandma was totally prepared with all kinds of healthy food and snacks for her since we are pretty particular what we feed her still. When the day finally came and they were there to pick her up, she followed daddy out to put in the car seat and climbed into it while everyone else was still in the house. She didn't get back out of it. She gave us both hugs and smootches and waved and yelled BYE! as they pulled out... it kind of made me sad that she was so willing to leave us behind :( but I asked myself "wasn't that what we wanted? to raise a happy, secure child who is not worried about separation because we have shown her that we will always come for her etc?", yes. She did amazing and we got to concentrate on being a couple for a day and a half. When we went to pick her up Sunday afternoon, she was happy to see us but still enjoying her time with grandpa and grandma. We got her ready to go and stayed for a while knowing that since she hadn't napped she would probably fall asleep on the ride home and didn't want it to be too early so she woke up and couldn't get back to sleep till really late. We left around 6pm and poor girl zonked out about 6:30 while chewing a pecan! It has now gotten pretty late and I should be heading to bed so I am not a zombie when she wakes up super duper early! We left g&g's house with the understanding on all sides that this was a complete success and it would be done again soon... and will be good practice for if D wins a trip to the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas for work that would be next spring :)


Thursday, October 7, 2010

Ta-Da! A finished project!



I made this for sweet baby Roewyn. Her momma did was not at a place in her life where she was expecting or ready to become a mother and her family desperately wanted her to give her baby up for adoption but she couldn't do it so she had nothing. She was taken in just before she gave birth by a friend of mine (her sister is married to the new mommy's brother) and she sent out a message asking us to rally around this girl and help her in any way we could. She has gotten so much support it is amazing! Amongst the hand me downs I wanted her to have something special that was made with love just for her, so I whipped up these cloth rings and appliqued onsie. The rings are pretty easy to figure out and you can just use scraps but if you need a tutorial, Make It and Love It already has a great one made up so no need to try to put my crazy newbie sewing skills down :), she has good instructions and pictures too!

Next on the dockett? A super cute little cap for my Evie that The Train to Crazy did a sew along for. Seriously? Cute! I am pretty excited about the fabric I chose for it!




Monday, October 4, 2010

Working on some sewing!

I have actually been working on some sewing the last two days! That probably doesn't sound like much, but for me that is really something right now... I have a backlog of gifts that I need to work on and also some fun clothing for Evie. She was watching me work and asked "what are you making me?" and I had to tell her I was making something for a little baby. She didn't get upset at all but it reminded me that I need to get some of her stuff done too!

I don't want to put pics out here till I am done with at least one gift set... its for a new single mommy who doesn't have much support from her immediate family (they wanted her to give her baby up for adoption) and so her brother's sister-in-law and her family has taken her and her new baby in for the first couple of months and then she will move to live with her brother and his wife. She has been getting all kinds of hand me downs from people but I thought she should have something special that was made just for her! I am so excited to get it finished to show you!
Oh and I have been trying to get a post about our trip to the MN Zoo but the photo uploader keeps erroring so I will have to keep trying... and I have an appointment to get my hair cut this Friday. I am not sure if I will do anything different yet since this is my first time going to this gal but I'll let you know if I do!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Evie's first actual drawing!

Evie is always doing something and she loves to draw and color and paint and TRY. She is so determined but will sometimes get frustrsted because she can't get her hand to do what her mind wants it to. I just keep reminding her that if she keeps trying she WILL get better!
Earlier today, we were driving and she was using her "drawing board" (magna doodle) and all of a sudden she says "its a piggy!" and turns around this amazing drawing! Now I know that it has probably a lot, or even everything to do with being her mom but both D and I were so excited to see that she had pieced this creation together.








I asked her where his nose was if he was a piggy and she pointed to a spot down below the two circles that look like eyes and I said, there's nothing there! So she turned it back around and added a nose and then said "its a bird!" and sure enough, it did look like a bird! I thought it looked like a baby version of one of the 321 Penguins :)
And after supper we got out markers and paper and did some more drawing. I tried to teach her some tic-tac-toe and she got some practice making O's :)