The Christmas Story

I found this via Design Moms blog & thought I'd share. It's pretty much adorable! We are having such a lovely time this holiday. Hope you are also.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!

We left the snow & cold of Sparks & are enjoying the sunshine & warmth of San Diego. There's nothing better than being surrounded by family & lot's of yummy things to eat. To say we are having a blast would be an understatement. So far the girls have only opened Santa gifts. It's been nice to stagger the gift opening.

Last night Zoe lost her first tooth! We would have put it under the pillow for the tooth fairy but she accidentally swallowed it. Only Zoe would swallow her tooth, lol. All the kids feel asleep right away except Zoe. She was so excited about the Tooth Fairy & Santa coming to visit that could hardly handle it all. Thankfully the Tooth Fairy is one smart cookie & she knows when you've lost a tooth (even if you've swallowed it).

The only thing that would make this Christmas picture perfect is if I could see all my family in Florida. I miss them all so much. Hope you all have a wonderful & beautiful Merry Christmas. Hugs to you all!

3 Days......

Blanket for Zoe

Blanket & pillow for Zoe doll (per her request)

Blanket for Aris

I've always wanted to try this project and for some reason hadn't. It will now be my baby shower staple. So if you invite me to your shower you'll be getting a homemade taggie. They were so simple to make and I have enough ribbon to make at least 100 more. Wish I was joking about the ribbon thing but I'm not.

Here they are in a neat little pile. I can't even tell you how happy this pile of blankets make me. I don't know if I'm more excited about giving them away or the fact that I finished a whole bunch of projects from start to finish. Maybe it's a combination of both.

I started one more project two nights ago & I will be sharing pictures of it tomorrow. Now back to my illustration I've been working on. How about you, any last minute projects to finish? Hope you all are enjoying your Christmas week!

Once There Was A Snowman

There has been a whole lot of this going on.

The girls begged Dean to build some snowmen with them.

So he did what any good dad would do.

They built one snowman & didn't want it to be lonely.

So they made him a friend.

We dressed them up in spiffy hats.

It was so funny to watch the girls roll their own snowballs.

There you have it, our snowman family!

Eleven

Because this time next year she'll be eleven.......

& probably won't want something as silly as a peanut butter & jelly blankie. How could I resist her begging me to make this? This might be one of the last years she asks for kid stuff. I sure hope not.

13 Days

Because one blanket is never enough this is the second in the set for little Makenzie. If I had more time I'd make her a dozen. I still need to make her a blankie to snuggle & my girls their blankets so 2 will have to do. Perhaps she will get another one on her birthday. We'll see if she likes these first.

14 Days

For Makenzie

This blanket was so fun & easy to make. I'm hoping to share a tutorial with you in the new year. I've finished 2 Christmas gifts but still have so much to finish. I know I can get it done.

Answers

Sloan goofing around waiting for the doctor

We flew to Vegas yesterday, just Sloan & I. As soon as we touched down a taxi took us to her appointment. We have been trying to get her into this specialist for 2 years now & she was worth the wait. What an amazing Doctor. Not only did she spend a whole hour with Sloan, she immediately found swelling in Sloan's joints. Something other doctors haven't been able to do. The bad news is that she has arthritis & will be starting medication right away. The good news is that she doesn't think its rheumatoid. That is a blessing. 

So what comes next? Well Monday I will take her in for a series of x-rays that will show any bone deterioration that has happened due to the arthritis. Depending on the severity of damage the Dr. will put her on a more powerful medication. I'm really hoping it doesn't come to that. I am just happy to have this Dr. on our side. She was wonderful with Sloan. You can tell she really loves what she does & wants to see her patients feeling better. Our prayers were answered.

The whole day went pretty smoothly. I am so grateful for Sloan's insurance. It paid for everything, even the flight & taxi rides to & from the airport. I'm also grateful for my sweet friends Trisha & Tara. Trish watched Omri all day long. That was a big deal. Tara was so sweet to watch Zoe & Aris. She was a life saver! 

The only bummer about the whole day was the fact that I started feeling sick when we got to Vegas. By the time we were boarding the plane to head home I had a full on sinus infection with a sore throat to boot. Adding insult to injury Omri woke up screaming for a few hours in the early morning & Zoe decided to joint the party by throwing up three times. Sometimes I feel like I'm not a mom at all but a nurse! Lol!!! Thankfully Zoe is feeling much better today. I did put the girls down for a nap & I'm hoping the extra sleep will help. Omri on the other hand woke up this afternoon with a low grade fever. I think he might be teething but you never know. Hoping to catch a nap in just a minute. Well that and overdose on some vitamin C. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

16 Days

Hoping to finish this one up after the holidays.

Can You................

Stand on your head?

Dean has been teaching the girls how to do this for months now. Aris has it down to a fine science. Zoe & Sloan not so much. Still scares the heck out of me. I always worry about their little necks. 

17 Days

Ahoy Mateys!!!!

Kinda hard to believe there are only 17 more days until Christmas.

Good thing I started making the gifts early this year.

It feels good to accomplish something from beginning.......

 to end.

(I goofed in the upper right hand corner, opps! I'll be fixing it today)

I think it turned out okay for a cheater quilt. I know what NOT to do next time. Note to self:: Don't cut yourself short on the fabric for the back or you'll be fixing a mistake in the corner again ;)

 This is for my little Oblio. Every little boy should have a pirate blanket.

Where it's At

If you need me I'll be working here. At this table. For the next few days. Weeks, or however long it takes me to finish up two illustrations, a couple blankets and whatever else is on my long list of "Things to do". The point is I have a usable space. The downside is all the crafty junk that was piled on top of my work spaces is now in 3 BIG containers out in the garage. Did I mention I just finished watching all the episodes of hoarders that I have missed. Because of this I felt the need to clean my kitchen, finish some laundry & write a to do list before I go to bed. Not to mention the pile of trash I threw out from our computer desk & I threw away that weird little thing I kept finding on the floor that belonged to Aris car seat but I couldn't figure out how to get it back on. It's finally in the trash. I think I can sleep now. However I will probably have nightmares about piles of rotten food, dead cats & disgusting trash. Hopefully not.

I'll be back tomorrow with a couple pics of the projects that I'm working on.

5 Months

It's like I've blinked & 5 months have flown by. 

5 of the happiest months with this little guy. 

His smile lights up my days. 

& Those cheeks..... 

Seriously, I could nibble on them all day long!

Forgettaboutit mom! 

I think this is one of my favorites. 

 I always know we are done taking pictures when the finger comes out, lol!