I am SEW awesome

So I decided for Christmas this year I would hand-make some of the presents. After searching through countless blogs for fun ideas, I settled on two: an apron for my nieces (and perhaps a chef's hat...if I can find the time between now and Friday at 3pm) and a car caddy for my nephews. Here is how they turned out....freaking adorable and I made them all by myself...well, with a little bit of help from my Singer Sewing Machine.

The aprons are child-sized and reversible. Notice the adorable pocket on the front.

The front of just one.

Here are both car caddies. One "buckled" and the other one undone.

Closer look at the front while closed.

Here he is open.
Notice the 6 "stalls" for parking your Hotwheel cars and the two lane road ready for driving.
Just fold him back up and throw in your bag for traveling.

Now that I have both aprons and car caddies complete, I'm done with my nieces and nephews for Christmas (unless I find some time to make matching a matching chef's hat...But then again, it may just be pushed back as a birthday present...perhaps with some cooking tools....we'll see how cleaning, packing and weeding go before Friday)

How awesome is that? Plus, I am delivering Hailey and Landon's so I don't need to pay to ship them. (Katelyn and John live local. They will probably go under my tree so I can see their faces when they open them.) This is such a wonderful feeling.

Now I just need to make 3 more caddies for my boys for Christmas and find an adorable bigger apron pattern for Kim and I, to use up all the extra fabric I bought.

Funny Logan Comment

3 blogs in one day...shocking, but I forgot about this little tidbit I wanted to share.

On Sunday, Logan was getting ready for church. He had his black pants, white shirt and tie on. (Looking like a rather adorable mini-missionary.) He proceeded to put on his church socks and then his shoes. I could tell he was struggling with his shoes because he was grunting a little as he shoved his foot in.

I asked if the shoes were too small.

To which he replied, "No, I just need to push them on. It's just like pushing out poop on the potty."

Perhaps I will look to see if there are bigger size shoes out in my bins in the garage. If not, I'll pick some up. Don't need to have my kid hurting himself straining to get ready for church.

Little Miss Helper and Mr Big Boy

It has been a huge blessing having Kim home for the summer. She is so good to play with her brothers and let them watch movies in her room. She helps change pee diapers and watch Evan so I can get laundry folded or dinner cooked or even just a shower.

Yesterday, she went above and beyond her call of duty. Owen has been pulling at his diaper and trying to take it off a lot lately. It is driving me nuts! How do you explain to a two year old that he can't just play with himself all day long. I didn't have this problem with Logan and am about at my wit's end...anyway....

So yesterday, Owen was pulling at his diaper and says "Pop-ee". Kim asked if he wanted to sit on the potty. He nodded his head and ran off to the bathroom. I was feeding Evan, so I couldn't get up at that moment. Kim hopped off the couch and went to assist.

We still have our books in there from when we were potty training Logan, so Kim decided to read to him. Here they are with the ABC book.


Owen telling Kim it's time for another book. (Or perhaps play the music from the Tinkerbell snow globe that is part of my decorations.)


Now they are reading the Potty Book.


He sat on the potty two times. The first time, he actually went pee on the potty. Which culminated in calling daddy with to good news, lots of excitement and a special treat of marshmallows. Yea! My little boy is getting one step closer to potty training. Nothing happened the second time, but it is progress.


Perhaps with Kim home for the summer, she can get him going consistently. How awesome would that be!?! That would definitely mean some REALLY great treat for a wonderful big sister. Suggestions?

4th of July

(Yes, I'm aware that it is the 12th of July....Remember, we are pretending that this post was done on the 4th...Use your imagination people!)

Our Independence Day was wonderful. We started out the day at church and heard some great testimonies about the importance of the Freedom we have in this country. I love singing the patriotic songs and feeling the spirit bear witness of how utterly blessed I am to live in this country.

We then came home, ate lunch and put the kids down for naps. I got my food items ready and napped myself. I woke up and found Steven and the kids playing outside. Kim and Logan were taking turns playing Lassoball (AKA Red-neck Horseshoes) against Steven. I have to say the kids are getting better and better. Owen kept stealing the balls and running off. Notice the peach tree in the background, it was only hit once or twice....my garden wasn't so lucky.


Notice in the background (off to the right) the edge of my garden. The poor romaine lettuce and broccoli got the brunt of the attack, but held their own. Guess our players will need to perfect their aim some more.


Here is Logan between games and playing with his bucket. Probably off to dig up something from my garden. (I don't have to worry about too many little pests...just a couple 2 legged ones armed with shovels.)
Here is Mr. Happy Baby. Evan was content to sit on mommy's lap and laugh while everyone else played. Check out that grin. He is just so adorable and don't worry, we pinch those cheeks all the time. It is just too hard to resist.


After a yummy BBQ dinner (hot dogs for the kiddos and super yummy, marianted and grilled pork for mom and dad) we tried to get some pics of the kids in their Red, White and Blue shirts. Fortunately, I made red jello, so it blended into Owen's shirt and kinda fits the pattern of Logan's. Here are all four kids. Such a cute little, uncooperative bunch.


Here is Kim. She hates getting her picture taken...or at least she claims to.


Logan all posed with his fake grin with his flag. (Thanks to Michaels for our super cheap swords with fabric attached.)
Owen very proud to show off his flag. He didn't want to sit still and get his picture taken. He wanted to run around and hit stuff (and even people) with his flag.


Precious little Evan. He was the best one for his pictures. Just layed there and looked cute. Not too hard a job for such a wonderful little boy like him.

Sorry there aren't any pics of our super awesome (haha) firework display. First, we are mean parents and make our kids go to bed early. (We were going to let them stay up until 9, but they were super cranky from getting up at 6am and needed to get to bed.) Second, we lit off fireworks at 8:30pm while it was still pretty light outside. (Yep, it gets dark at 10pm here, because we are so far north. I consider it one of the few sucky things about living Idaho.) Third, I was way too lazy to go back inside and get the camera. I told Steven to, but he didn't feel like it either.

So there you have it. Lots of good food and games. Some fireworks for the kiddies. And some pondering on the Freedom that we are blessed enough to have. All in all, a wonderful holiday.