Angels

Today I have been thinking about my friend and creativity mentor Denise Fehlberg, who passed away a few years ago. She was my teacher off and on at church since I was 7 years old. I was thinking this morning about my knowledge that angels are real, that they watch over us. And then at church, a lot of little things reminded me of Denise. I am grateful for the positive influence she was in my life. I was missing her today. Maybe she was looking in on me, and that's why.

Latest Sewing Projects

I was working on a few sewing projects during the holidays. I was silly and thought I could bind the quilt on Christmas, in between making pies and Christmas dinner. Yeah, I am not practiced enough in the binding skills to rush it. I had to pick it out the next day and start over again. But I am definitely getting better at it. I finally found a technique that I can do and that makes sense to me. Woohoo! Thank you pinterest tutorials. Got the quilt to my newborn nephew a week late, but I don't think he noticed. :P

 Then I got to work on this pink skirt for Little Miss 2. My mom gave her this shirt and some cute tights with a pink flower pattern on them (she took the tights off as soon as we were home from church, so they are not in the picture, sorry Mom.) and I wanted to turn it into an outfit for church. I think I did quite well, especially since I didn't use a pattern and she absolutely refused to let me try it on her for fit. A few people at church commented on her pretty outfit, including one of the young women, so I take that as a good sign. Now I am going to take a little break from sewing so that my kids don't think I love my sewing machine more than them.

Photo Potpouri

 We got a kid size rake this year so the kids could help out.

 I love this picture of Little Miss 2 - she looks so angelic and much more like herself than most photos. She NEVER smiles in photos. The trick here was she didn't see me with the camera.

 Making pizza with mommy.

 We put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving - our Black Friday tradition of staying indoors and away from the stores.

 Bear was making it a regular part of his morning routine for a few weeks - pretending to shave like Daddy.

 Can you see the tower he built? Yeah, it really was that tall -and he talked about how it needed "supports" so it wouldn't fall over. This week he was explaining to Daddy how he got water to squirt out of the lime juicer, and he used words like "vacuum" and how the air "replaced" the water that was taken out. Cool, huh?

 Oh yeah, we have been a sitter for a little over a month now. One morning, I tried to lie him down and he tried to do a sit up instead. Ok, let's see if you can handle sitting up. Yup, he handled it like a pro. This week he is pushing himself up more on his tummy and scooting backwards. He also likes to stand up and march in place so long as Mommy or Daddy is holding his arms. He should be crawling soon!

Sick again!

This Fall/Winter someone seems to always be sick. Bear came down with a fever last night (and threw up in the middle of the night), and I am still waiting for it to break. Little Miss threw up during Sacrament meeting on Sunday - she started coughing and it turned into heaves. Her stomach was fine though. She was eating 15 minutes later when we got home without any problem. Poor girl has been sick since the 2nd week of September. She was on antibiotics last month, and was feeling better for a couple of days when bam! we all came down with something new, including her. She just can't catch a break. And now Bear is down with something new. Grrr. We REALLY need to be healthy this Christmas. I want to be able to spend time with my sister when she visits. I figure we still have a little over a week before she arrives and the flu shouldn't linger as long as a head cold, right? So, here's for hoping!

Baby Cereal

Tiger does not like the baby cereal. He makes this face and shudders if any actually makes it to the back of his throat. Now he has perfected the art of keeping his lips clamped shut. Whatever am I to do?

3rd tooth!

Werty noticed Tiger has a 3rd tooth on the bottom. It kind of snuck up on us. Last night he was having trouble getting to sleep, and he was chewing on everything he could get his hands on, so I guess that's why.

He also had his first rice cereal today. He was not thrilled...shuddered and made a face every time he swallowed like he does when I am giving him medicine.

Werty gave him his first hair cut today...when I wasn't looking. It's a minor hair cut, just cut the long tufts from around his ears that were the last vestiges of the darker hair he was born with. The end result is him looking more blond.

Halloween Pics

I don't like to post pics of my kids on fb much. So, if you read my blog, you get to see a lot more pics - better pics. So, here are the ones I saved for my blog from Halloween.

Here is Bear with his Preschool class. Have I mentioned that Halloween is his favorite holiday? At least that's what he says and how he acts.

 This year Bear wanted to try cleaning out the guts of the pumpkin himself. We let him go out at for about half an hour to an hour until his arm got tired and he finally allowed me to assist with the last stubborn bits. We didn't toast pumpkin seeds this year, which makes me sad, but I am the only one who missed them.

 

Little Miss was Princess Twilight Sparkle, and I love this pic because she is holding her skirt out to show her costume - totally on her own. I have come to the realization that my little 2 year old does not smile on camera. Someday she is going to ask us why there are so many non-smiling candid shots of her, and why she is eating in so many of them. Hmmm, because you stopped smiling when you saw a camera, and often would stick something in front of your face, like food, to hide behind. So, I love this pic because she is happy about her costume and having her picture taken, even if she isn't actually smiling.

Bear wanted to be Blinky the red ghost last year, but I was pregnant and not sure I had the time and energy to make a costume - plus I didn't think his friends would "get" it since Pac-Man is a really old game. So, last year he was a fireman instead. This year he again asked to be a red ghost, and once again picked out a Blinky costume from Pinterest. And it wasn't too hard to make. I talked him into having the blue "blinking" ghost on the back - and in the end he thought that was really cool because it meant his costume changed depending on how you looked at it, like he was wearing two costumes at once. Btw, two years ago he wanted to be a snowman for Halloween, and I had to make a snowman costume because no one was selling snowmen costumes. He got mixed reactions and confusion - why are you dressed like a snowman when it isn't Christmas? This year, there were plenty of Olaf snowmen, and seriously, his snowman costume would make a great Olaf. I guess he's just ahead of his time...or just creative, or both.

 Costumes from the back.

 We only got two shots with our baby dragon Tiger. He had a sniffly nose, so he stayed with me while Werty took the kids trick-or-treating, first at Werty's work, then later around the neighborhood.