Bones

Another Halloweeny craft with my girlies!
Great picture, right?
We made these paper plate skeletons while listening to some kids Halloween music on Pandora.
So fun.
After Tillie had cut out the skull, the collar bone and maybe an arm bone she informed me, "Paper plates is boring." Her skeleton was more of a team effort after that:)

It's October?

I love this time of year!
And I usually love to decorate for this time of year, nothing fancy or anything, but I've got a box of stuff that I like to pull out.
But I'm not so much feeling it this year. And that is because the box is buried somewhere in what I like to call "The Closet of Doom."
I know, I know, there are absolutely no excuses for it to be like that, but it is like that, and I'm not planning on cleaning it anytime soon, so there.

So I picked up two bags of spiderwebs and on Sunday night the girls and I worked on some black pipe cleaner spiders (found via Pinterest - loving it!)
From the moment we made these little guys, the girls have been asking every half hour, when were we gonna put up their web? Well, today was the day!

So here it is, PROOF that we did a Halloweenie craft, and now have more Halloween decoration than just the Halloween themed box of Kleenex I picked up last week.Yeah, I give it two or three days before the wind and little hands pull it all down, and only one day before it's infested by actual spiders.
The kind that move around.
I'm thinking we'll get Daddy to take it down;)

Roar!

Want to see a crazy looking hat?

I was just trying out a new pattern.


I'm glad I actually finished it because about three quarters of the way through I so very much hated this hat.
Even now I go back and forth on it.
I might have to trim that mane a little bit. Or a lot bit.
One thing I do NOT go back and forth on is how cute my lil lion cubs are.

They are also pretty ferocious.

Revolutionizing the Running World

Or not.

Here's a long story about running belts.
I need one for longer distances, and it took me a few less than successful long runs to figure that out.
So off I went to Sports Authority where they pretty much had nothing to choose from.

I went in hoping to find thisIsn't she gorgeous?

But alas, they didn't have this one. This stop at Sports Authority came towards the end of about a hundred errands, so in my desperation for a belt, and just wanting to go home already I picked up one of theseCute, right?
Completely useless though.
A few days later I set out for what was supposed to be an eleven mile run, but didn't get even half a mile out before realizing that it just wasn't going to work.
Oh, the jiggling.
No amount of adjusting could make this puppy hold tolerably still.

What to do?
Running belts do not come cheap, and with Jordans school and work schedule and my unwillingness to go on errands with all three of the girls (Adelaide is crazy) it'll be a little while before I can exchange the one I have for the one I want.

So in the meantime I came up with thisI know it doesn't look like much, but I love it!
I went to Joanns and bought some sporty, spandexy, stretchy fabric (for under seven dollars with a coupon, by the way AND that was for a whole yard, I think I only used about half of it... That's $3.50 yall!) and put this together.
It's just a band, about five inches tall, but it's basically a pocket the entire way around. I sewed it so that there's a fold at the top inside of the pocket so that my cell phone and my mp3 player won't fall out, and I put in seams to serve as little compartments to keep things from jiggling all over the place.
I made a compartment so that I could fit a water bottle in there and attached an elastic loop to hook over the top and keep it in place.
Today I went out for a long run, and it worked like a dream! It fits snugly right around my lower torso and there was no annoying water bottle bouncing! In addition to my water, phone and mp3 player, I kept a handy little map in there (new route) and everything stayed right where it was supposed to, and I could get things in and out easily as I needed them. Not to mention that since it's a pocket the entire way around, I have plenty room for anything else I might need to bring with me.
I'm ridiculously happy with it, hence my going on and on about it. I'll have to see how it holds up though, I'm not sure how long the stretch will be good for, and it's possible that in the summer it might make me crazy having such a thick band all the way around my waist, but for now it's just right!
And I'm excited.
The End.

Good story, right?

Very Slowly Decking the Halls

Step One: Finish wreath that I started making last year but didn't have enough ornaments.
Step Two: Hang wreath.
(It's not perfect and my door is filthy, but it makes me happy - the wreath, not my filthy door.)

Step Three: Put away Halloween decorations and Matildas Birthday decorations.
My poor Thanksgiving turkeys never saw the light of day this year.
It's okay, Turkeys. Next year, in Jerusalem!
Or, you know, my kitchen.
Whichever.

Polka Dot P.J.s

Around here we always bust out our Christmas Pajamas sometimes as soon as Thanksgiving night, so as to get as much Christmas seasoney pajama wearing in as possible.
We were a couple of days late this year because I hadn't made them yet.But now they are done and done, son.
Except that now I might have to make a pair for myself...

Nick of Time

Let the record show that we did make a Thanksgiving-ey craft...
Yes, I put it off to the last possible moment, but still a victory.
Happy Thanksgiving, loved ones!
I wish we were all getting full, sleepy and round together.
Maybe next year!

Where's November?

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving already. This month has FLOWN by! One reason for this is that I have spent just about every spare moment I've had crocheting to get ready for the craft fair that I do with Angie. It took me forever to decide what I was going to do, so I didn't even get started until the first of the month, but here is what I ended up with:An army of sock monkey hats!

Now, I actually really like these hats, and I totally plan on making one for myself - uh, because I'm awesome! - but after I got them all set up like this they started to seem kind of creepy, and I actually became quite convinced that I wasn't going to sell a single one, and would have wasted my entire month of November.
Luckily some people seemed to enjoy them and I sold eleven, phew!

But what I'm even more proud of, quite ridiculously proud of even, is this:The little bags I came up with.

I geek out over the silliest things (which I know you already know) but this is such an improvement from the first year that I did this, when it didn't even occur to me to bring bags.
Anyway, it was a pretty good day, it's always fun to hang out with my cousins, and I have to say, I'm glad that I can take a break from the frenetic crocheting for a while. Seriously, I've got a couple of crochet callouses on my right pinky and it ain't pretty.
Just keeping it real yall.

Welcome to Wonderland

Also titled:
Happy Halloween!

Also Also titled:
Next Years Costumes are Going to be Store Bought All The Way!

Warning:
Boatload of pictures to follow and they're not even in any particular order.
You've been warned.

My friend Salli and I ended up going with the same theme this year, she made her sons costumes, I made my daughters costumes. I think the number of pictures I've put here is a testament to the amount of time I spent working on them. I do not expect anyone to make it through this whole thing.

Sallis son Dorian as the perfect, cutest, little Mad Hatter.

Adelaide as the Cheshire Raccoon Cat.

LaRue as Alice, enjoying some tea.

Tillie was the Queen of Hearts.

Adelaide was NOT into wearing her costume and she was NOT into holding still for picture taking, which is actually probably for the best, her costume was my least favorite of the three. She was adorable of course, although her whiskers are pretty sad because of the fight she put up when I tried to draw them on her face. Oh well.

And what is that I glimpse?
A cute little White Rabbit.

A little Flamingo/Hedgie croquet, minus one hedgie and substituting with a rock.
Oh, how I wish I had trimmed LaRues underskirt, I meant to, but completely forgot until I had her back in it the day of.

Gangs all here!

I just love this picture of Sallis boys.

So here's where I brag a little bit and say that I made all of the girls costumes without any patterns really. I did use the top of a dress pattern for the tops of both dresses, but other than that all I used were my mad skillz.
But drat that underskirt.

Sweet, sweet Ruesie.

Love it.Salli is crazy talented yall, she just finished being the head costumeress (real word) for our Stakes production of Hello Dolly!
Crazy talented.

Tillie was so adorable as the Queen of Hearts I can't even stand it.
She got to wear a bit o lipstick and she thought she was the bees knees.

I hope everyone had a good and safe Halloween!

Halloween is CANCELLED!

Our school district had some unexpected budget cuts towards the end of the last school year, and as a result have cut about a weeks worth of school days from this year. In an effort to make the most of the days that they have they've cut certain activities from the schools calendar.
Halloween happened to be one of the casualties.
It's not all that big of a deal, but it does make me a little bit sad for the kids because that's such a classic memory from my school days. Halloween, the party and the parade - such a highlight of the year!
(Although there was some relief that she wouldn't get to wear her costume to school and mess it up before the big day. I worked hard on that sucker! Said sucker being the costume, not LaRue.)
So in lieu of a costume we sent LaRue to school in a Halloweenish shirt. They can take away our Halloween parade, but they can't take away our Halloween spirit!I actually made this felt skull last year and wore it on my shirt, cuz that's how I roll.
I should probably point out that I totally copied the design from the amazing Princess Lasertron, I'm too lazy to link to the actual skull posting, but you should take a gander at the bouquets that she makes - INCREDIBLE.
Happy Halloween weekend!
We're excited to show off our costumes!
Soon... very soon.

Halloweenish Craftiness

I'm not a very good mom.
You probably don't even have to read between the lines to figure that one out.
Don't get me wrong, I LOOOOOVE my girls like CRAZY!
But.
I'm so lazy, and I like doing the things that I like doing.
So I don't often get all crafty with the girls.
I'm trying to work on that.
So this is mostly to prove to them one day that every once in a while we did something fun(ish).

Wearing aprons and painting, and smiling with our eyes closed.

The finished result: Paper Bowl Pumpkins!

My favorite part about this picture is that if you look really closely at one of LaRues pumpkins you will see the huge glob of glue she used to glue it's mouth on, which to me looks like he just finished brushing his teeth and has toothpaste foam all around his mouth. Although, he's the one without any teeth so... something doesn't quite add up here.

Your Roar Is In The Mail

Isn't this an adorable little boy?
He's my nephew, Brandon.
And I love him.
And today is his birthday!
Happy birthday, Brandon!

Isn't this an adorable little hat?
It's what I wanted to make for my adorable little nephew.
BUT.
The lady who makes and sells these hats on Etsy does not sell the pattern.
Dang it.

The challenge was on.
Putting every crochet trick I've learned this year to the test, I muddled through to figure it out by myself, and here is where I ended up.
These were the best pictures out of about a thousand.
I had a really hard time photographing this hat - hence, the three models.
Brandon, I hope you don't mind that I had the girls try your hat on for me, and I hope you have a terrific birthday!

Help Me, Obi-Wan Kenobi; You're My Only Hope

A little friend for a little niece who had a birthday a few days ago.

Not a Kindergartener Anymore

Last Thursday was LaRues last day of Kindergarten.
It seems like only yesterday I was posting about her first day, I seriously cannot believe how crazy fast this year has gone by.
So here is a picture of LaRue from her first and last day, side by side.
I think we can all agree that one school year later, she is still a squirmy little picture taker.
Don't even get me started on LaRues shoes in the last day picture...ick.

I got to help with the class on the last day, and they had quite a party.
LaRue had such a wonderful year, and considering how scared I was to send her in the beginning, I couldn't be more thrilled with how well everything went.
We just adore Mrs. Clement and don't think there is a better Kindgergarten teacher out there.
We love Mrs. Thornley too!
With that in mind, I put these little boxes together for a little thank you, I thought they came out cute enough. It's a pastry box filled with homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and lemon bars.
I went to the teacher supply store (my FAVORITE) and picked up some library cards and pockets (I'm not sure why, but I just completely nerd out over things like that). I wrote a thank you note on the library cards and slipped them into the envelopes, and LaRue wrote them both a little note which we stuck in there too. I made the band using some cute scrapbooking paper that I found at Michaels.
Anyway, nothing fancy, just thought I'd share.
Now, only a few months to brace myself for the first grade and FULL days, yikes!

Admit It, You Think I'm Awesome

I seem to have lost a bit of my project mojo lately, so the other night when I finally made this, I was so excited - it has been on my to do list forever.

Cute, right? Wondering what's inside?

Hello, my pretties!I finally have something better than a plastic snack baggie to hold my crochet paraphernalia.
Yay!
The empty pocket is for my little scissors.
I know you were wondering.
Side note: have you ever made a fabric covered button before?
How oddly satisfying!

Since I'm nerding out about crochet (again), I might as well have Adelaide show you my super cool eyeballs container.
Don't worry, it's got a special lid that sometimes even makes it hard for me to get into.

I also have one of these babies,
(though this picture is off of amazon)which, by the by, is called a YARNTAINER.
I love it so much.

And of course I keep all of this awesomeness, in my super cool crochet tote:
Cuz I'm the coolest eighty-seven year old in the O.C.

Because She Has Red Hair

I made LaRue this little strawberry doll for her birthday.

Don't worry, she got other presents too.

Hello, Little Friend

Today this little kitty-girl is making her way to Utah for a nieces birthday.
I am told that this niece likes kitties.
And I am hoping that she doesn't read my blog.
She's only five, so I think my chances are good.
Otherwise the cats out of the bag, eh?
Schnarf.
I did not quite love how kitty-girl turned out at first - I can't help but compare her to the pattern pictures - but the more space I've had from her since finishing, well, she's growing on me I guess.
Fare thee well kitty-girl, and tell Hali happy birthday from me!

Bleep Blorp.

I made these little guys as a birthday present for a nephew of mine who is turning eight this week.
I used this pattern here, but would discourage you from clicking over because then you'll really be able to tell how great mine did not turn out.

Cheep!

Wishing you a lovely Easter weekend!

I'm sorry, but are those chicks not the cutest things you've ever seen?

Once There Was A Snowman

Look at what LaRue brought home from school today

Oh how I adore it! It's the first clay project that she's brought home and I just think it's the cutest thing ever. I tried to get a good picture of her holding it, I took about ten pictures of this child and her eyes were closed in nine of them, and half closed in the tenth. Like Father like daughter I guess. Which is not to imply I look out good in any pictures ever - I do NOT. I'm just able to keep my eyes open, and feel the need to brag about it I guess.