Snowy days

I believe it has been the snowiest December since I've lived here!  We might even see more snow next week!  Crazy.  The pictures below are when we had about 7 to 8 inches. 

I was not sure how Miss C would do in it, but we had to bundle her up and try.  She did remarkably well.  She didn't freak out at all (she whimpered a bit at first).   I wouldn't say that she loved it, but it certainly was fun to watch her experience something completely new!

I just plopped her right down- unmatching outfit and all!

We had to taste some of it.

Taking it all in.

Reading shall commence once again

Grant got me a Kindle for Christmas this year.  I did not ask for it- he came up with the idea all by himself.  After scoffing about the whole idea of it for a year I am here to publicly eat my words!  I thought the whole thing was ridiculous- really, you can't just read a book.   Well, yes, you can most definitely read a book, but believe it or not the Kindle makes it so much easier to read a book! 

I can't read a book and watch Coraline at the same time.  There is something about holding the book and turning pages that I can't do while on the ground playing or while nursing her.  But the Kindle is flat, so I literally just have to use one hand (or none, just a finger) to read.  The difference it makes is amazing.  It has previously taken me weeks to finish a book (with Coraline here), but now I can finish them in no time (I've read 4 books in the span of 1.5 weeks).

Awesome. 

I think I can work on my Time's and BBC list again.  

If you ever thought about getting one (but just thought it was ridiculous), I can wholeheartedly recommend it!

Merry Christmas

Wow, what a fun filled Christmas this has been for us.  Sorry for the lack of posting- I blame my camera and the length of time to upload photos to blogger!

We had a great time at our church's Christmas service-they did such a fabulous job decorating and making everything fun, worshipful and accessible!  Here is one of the only family shots we got this season (it was way past her bedtime, so Miss C wasn't in the mood to smile).

Having Coraline made Christmas morning so much fun for us this year.  We started the morning with homemade cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting and then let Coraline enjoy her Christmas gifts.

Here she is with her gifts from Santa.  She got a few toys and some outfits.

She found that eating wrapping paper was much more fun than opening the gifts- be careful Grant your finger is almost in the way!

In addition to eating the paper, she found that eating the gifts was much more fun too!

We had so much fun with our families.  We ate like kings.  We got some neat stuff (I got a Kindle- woo hoo- reading has commenced again)!  

I would have uploaded more photos, but I don't have 30 extra minutes to sit and wait!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too.  I promise to be a better blogger this year!

Coraline Meets Santa's Beard

I love going back to my Alma mater, Peace College, any time I can.  That place houses so many good memories for me.  So, I jumped at the chance to take Coraline there for a fun, free event-- Christmas story time and a chance to meet Santa himself!  

I love Peace at Christmas!  This is the main building (I lived on the third floor my junior year).

Cute and sweet librarian, Anne, reading the kids two stories- can you spot me (Coraline got covered up by the book page)? 

And Miss C meets the jolly man himself, but was distracted by his beard, which she found quite entertaining! 

Peas and Carrots

Miss C has started solids.  According to her, her world will never be the same!  If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably realize that I'm not very traditional.  Well, after reading this book--

I decided to skip the rice cereal route all together and just dive right in to real foods.  And so we did.  She's had bananas, yogurt and cinnamon, kefir, peas, carrots, green beans, pears, apples, white beans and turkey.  All with a little pat of butter or coconut oil and some mild spices.  One of the take home messages from the book that I've really taken to heart- babies like food to taste good too!  If it's bland to you, it will probably be bland for baby.  I haven't pureed the heck out of the food either- a little chunkiness is not harmful. 

(Yum, turkey, peas and carrots)



(She LOVES her food- she has yet to reject anything I've given her)

One of the things I've found extremely helpful in preparing her food is this little workhorse- the Beaba Babycook.  It steams, reheats and chops food.  Sure, you can make baby food without it, but it sure is easier to have one little machine do it all and within 15 minutes or so.

Christmas Cards

I love a good handmade Christmas card, but this year I’m going to do something different. I am going to break from tradition and send out photo cards. What can I say, you know all the relatives really just want to see a picture of Coraline’s cute face wishing them Christmas cheer.

I’m going to use Shutterfly because they have so many fantastic, fun, traditional, nontraditional, elegant and whimsy cards to choose from (click here to see them all) and because I used them for Coraline’s birth announcement and the cards turned out FABULOUS!  I love how easy it is to search for the perfect card (you can easily narrow your options) and the finished product is a high quality card.

There are so many amazing Christmas cards, but I love a good damask like this one or I may decide to be whimsy and go with this one.

There are so many things to choose from and although it is a little early to start thinking about first birthday invitations perhaps this one should be in the running? or this one?  Only time will tell my friends!

Check them out. You won’t be disappointed!

My little girl

I decided to bust out the nice camera and get some pictures of her this past week.  She is growing so fast and I want to make sure that I have some good pictures of her to remember this fun age (5 almost 6 months).

She's a very serious girl.  She's not quick to smile at strangers (or the camera), but will give them out once she gets to know you.

She's not a huge fan of tummy time.  She can roll over (both ways) and can sit up now.

She absolutely LOVES the cats and blowing raspberries.  She grabs those kitties' ears and won't let go.  The cats are absolute angels- they totally let her grab and yank on them.  Sadie especially likes her. 

I just can't get enough of her! 

Another Upcyle- Baby Skirt

I'm having too much fun- can you tell?  I love the idea of taking old clothes and remaking them into something else (preferably one my daughter can wear)!  I went to the goodwill to stock up on some womens' corduroys and other pants to transform into skirts for Coraline to use during the winter.

I did not take a picture of the pants, but it was a women's velvety gray pair of pants.  I was inspired by this pattern.  I needed more material than the pattern called for, so I thought a ruffle in the middle of the skirt would be cute.  I had some Moda fabric left over from a quilt and it had that perfect touch of gray in it.  I took a 2 1/4 inch strip (twice as long as the skirt) and created a double ruffle (my own term)- basically I just put a baste stitch on the top and bottom of the material and pulled the string to create a ruffle. 

I have decided that I love the way this waist is done- creating a space for the elastic so that it ruffles at the top.  It looks so much more "finished" to me then without it.  It will look much cuter with onesies too!

Here's a close up of the ruffle.

I would never pair the shirt with this skirt, but I wanted to get a picture of her in it for the blog.  I do like it with the leggings though!

It's a Hoot Baby Quilt

I love the new line by MoMo for Moda called It's a Hoot.  The colors are so lovely and bright.  I wanted to make a simple patchwork quilt to really showcase the charms.

I quilted using the free hand meandering style. 

I just love the bright colors!

This quilt is on sale at my Etsy shop.

I'm linking up to Tea Rose Home- check it out!

Hot Fudge Sundae . . . with Sprinkles

And here she is in her ensemble.   A hot fudge sundae (with sprinkles) indeed.

Miss C and her cousins decided to make the rounds in our neighborhood.  The kids racked up- I spotted a full size snickers bar and chips.

I love this picture of Cousin E giving Coraline a fist bump.  She looks very intent on doing it right.  Also, this is a good view of her skirt and leggings.

All in all, we had a great night with the family.  My dad and I made baklava so the adults were sufficiently sugared up as well as the kids!  Hope you all had a happy halloween!