Undefeated!!! 16-0

On to the Superbowl!!!

Christmas gifties

So the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed to disappear, and I wound up doing sewing right up until the last minute!

I think they all turned out cute though, and my dad's reaction to the shirts I made him was worth it. I just wish I could take better pictures, bad lighting.

I did three bears for baby cousins. They are a furry fleece with safety eyes/noses stuffed with polyester fiberfill and tied with a grosgrain ribbon. Oh my goodness, this fabric shed everywhere when I cut it! I swear, when I was done sweeping the fuzzies, it looked as though I had just given a dog a haircut! These came out so soft and cuddly. It is the same pattern I did for Nate, but I was able to shape the features better as I sewed. I also pinned better, and that makes a huge difference.

Some crayon totes and rolls for little girl cousins (These have been done for a while) Recycled denim with cotton fabric, and gros grain ribbon on the rolls. I also put a little pad of paper in the totes....art on the go!

My dad and the kids have a running joke about a penguin that lives at his house....so, this is for that. These pillowcases got a raised eyebrow, but I still think they are cute. Cotton/poly fabric.

A nod to Monty Pythons Search for the Holy Grail. This is on a hooded sweatshirt for my sister. She seemed to like it when she opened it. Pillowcases for my sister. She can play a ton of instruments, so I thought these would be nice. The music notes is cotton, the rest cotton/poly blend.

I did these for my dad and Nate. My dad is a little brother, and he is always giving me a hard time about not letting Nate do/have something because he's a little brother. So, he's been there, done that and now he has the shirt! Unfortunately, the picture of his reaction is a bit dark. I think he really liked them, though. He showed them to a neighbor that dropped by. He is so hard to get gifts for, but I think this was a good one!

Christmas fun

Christmas was so much fun. Maggie was the first one up. She came to get me, telling me that Santa left something in our stockings. I got up and went down to the living room with her, and she was right--Santa came.

It was still very early considering what time the kids went to bed the night before, so Maggie and I hung out and had our chocolate milk while we waited for Cassie and Papa and Nate to wake up. Cassie was the next one up, and Nate and Lino were last. The girls were super about being patient and waiting.

The girls were excited to read the card that Santa left for them, thanking them for the chocolate milk and honey bee cookies. Maggie asked if I drank the milk-'oh no, honey, that was Santa's chocolate milk. I put it out before I went to bed, I didn't see Santa'. (they put out the cookies, but we waited on the milk so it wouldn't get warm) Lino suggested the honey bee cookies instead of chocolate chip ;)

Nate was a little unsure about opening presents. He had to be 'helped' with the ones he did open. He was very excited about finding Ernie in his wish box.

Maggie had a trumpet in her wish box, along with some purple hair bows. Cassie got the new pink bows she wished for, along with a clarinet. Santa also put a harmonica in Nate's. Fun! Santa brought new slippers for the kids. Nate was so fond of his, that he refused to leave the house to go to my dad's in sneakers. He wore his 'melmo' slippers instead!

Maggie loves her new dinosaurs! I love that they have their own bucket to keep them in!

Taking a break to try out the new markers and paper that Santa brought. Thank you Santa, for making them washable markers. The marker came out of Nate's shirt and jammie pants!

Cassie got the princess carousel horse carriage that she wanted. She was very excited, and although I didn't get a picture of it, had a huge smile!

I tried to get a picture of Nate just as the horse pops out of the box. He likes it, but jumped back each time it opened.

I will post the pics of the things I made for my dad and sister later. It is very late and I should get some sleep! Lino is working an overnight --I don't sleep well when he is gone.

The day after. (part 1)

Fabulous Christmas had by all. After a busy few days, today we just relaxed today and I tried to find a place for all of the new stuff. (we were running out of room for the old stuff, I have no idea how I am going to fit in all the new stuff!)

Christmas eve was spent first at Lino's parents then we went to his Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner. The kids loved the toys that Grandma and Grandpa gave them. (Nate opened his later, he actually fell asleep while we were there)

Can you see Maggie's face? She is super excited about her new TRex Mountain with lots of dinosaurs! Cassie was just as excited about her new Disney Princess nursery (although, she needed convincing that it didn't come with a baby princess doll)

This was Nate at my inlaws house. He even slept while I put his coat on and buckled him into his seat.

Playing with cousin Leo and Leo's trains! Leo is just a couple of weeks older than Nate. We usually only get to see Fernando, Vanessa and their kids at Christmas. We love hanging out with them! Wish that they lived closer. Cassie had a great time 'playing' with baby Carma. She is just so cute! Both girls asked Vanessa if they could hold her, and Vanessa said yes...

Cassie really liked holding her.

And Maggie's turn.

Poor Leo was getting sooo tired, and decided he wanted his trains back. Nate gave a couple back, but while Fernando was talking to Leo, Nate walked away with the train in his hand....(he did give it back, and Leo and his trains went to bed)

Hmm, I didn't get any pictures with Vanessa in them!

We left shortly after that and went home to read Twas the Night Before Christmas by the tree and set out cookies for Santa.


.....more pictures to follow. This post is really long.....

My little artist

So I just emailed these to Lino at work. He had been meaning to take them in, but they have been hanging on the fridge for a few weeks now.

Maggie drew these 2 pictures of his work. The Container Store (where he works) is one of 3 stores in one big building. His store, a sandwich place and a Ben & Jerry's

Notice in the first one he has a belly button? I love when she gives us all belly buttons!

After she did the first one, she decided it wasn't right, so did this one with the sun and flowers.

I was amazed at her details, with the shop signs.

I just love watching when the kids draw stuff. It is so neat to see their creativity in progress!

Incredibly sad

I went out last night with Lino's mom to help her pick out Christmas gifts for the kids. As we passed by a display of toys, I asked his mom how one of the little cousins was as the toys reminded me of her. (She has Cystic Fibrosis) She told me she died on Saturday!

Alexis was only 11. We only saw her a couple of times, she lived down south, but she was just the cutest little girl. Such a big smile. Sweet girl.

I can't even imagine the heartache that her parents and family is going through.

I hugged my babies just a little harder last night when I got home.

Family Jammies Pictures!

It didn't go too badly. Our appointment yesterday was for 2:30. In normal weather, it would take us about 1/2 hour to get to the mall where we had to go. Because of the forecast, we left our house around noon ish, hoping if we got there early, they would take us and we could be home before the bulk of the storm.

A couple of flakes started to float down as we got into the car. Drive not even 5 minutes to the post office to mail a package, snow is really coming down. Debate, do we chance it, or try for another day? Call studio. No other times that would work for us. Drive a little more. Decide to go for it. Takes us about an hour and a half to get there. Still early for scheduled time, and they take us early! Yay!

Little man had napped in the car and was in a great mood, and didn't try to run away when I changed him into his jammies. All is good, until he sees the camera. Wow...he was not a happy camper. Felt a little bad for the kid trying to take pictures, he went and got someone else after it was clear that Nate wasn 't going to stop crying for him.

After 2 girls try, the manager came in. She was able to distract him enough that when he looked at the camera, he at least wasn't crying! Maggie and Cassie were super while all this was happening.

And even though Nate had a meltdown, we were able to get 2 nice pictures out of it all!

So, after we pick out the pictures, we went to the food court, the girls and I were super hungry. Most of the stores and food places had closed at this point (about 3:30)

Get to our car about 4:30, and wow the snow. Lino had already decided that we would take a back road home, which thank goodness he did. Yes, it took about 2 hours to get home, but if we had been on the highway, it would have been much much longer. The 11 oclock news was reporting that the traffic was still so backed up that there were schoolbuses with elementary kids on them....52 kids still not home at 11 oclock at night!

The kids are super excited about the snow, so today we are headed to the store to get snow boots for all and snowpants for Nate.

Busy, busy, busy!

Maybe it was all those years that I worked in retail, when the pressure of the holiday season had everyone stressed out, but the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to just fly by.

Now, with Christmas just a couple of weeks away, I still have gifties to make. I hope I can get them all done.

Also keeping me busy, aside from the usual laundry and dishes, etc. is Etsy! I decided to go for it and start an Etsy shop. http://www.mamasewsfun.etsy.com/ Slowly but surely, I am working on getting an inventory. I have even had a sale, yay! (although, it was from someone on a computer forum that has seen other things I have done; I asked her if she would go through Etsy for the exposure) And, another custom order might be in the works. Very exciting.

I am spending time on the Etsy forums, to try and learn more about the process, and pick up hints and tricks. Shipping can seem kind of complicated when you list an item, but from reading on the forums, I understand it better, so I will reevaluate my items and adjust the shipping.

As for our Christmas card picture....not that we are running late with it (refer to my comment about time between Turkey Day and Christmas) but we have an appointment at The Picture People coming up this week. We tried to go Saturday, but they were completely booked. It kind of stinks, because that company closed a ton of locations, our favorite one at the mall closest to us included, so there are only 4 studios within drivng distance, and the closest of those is going to be about 1/2 hour away. The others are at least an hour or more. So it could be completely hit or miss to get a 'fresh' picture of the kids after they have been travelling.... we'll see. I have a coupon, so it won't cost us anything but time.

The sweatshirt is one that I wore when I was pregnant with the girls. I actually used it as my winter coat...It was a good fit at the time, I was huge! And, I was plenty warm, given that I was carrying two little heaters inside!

Anyhow, Cassie and Maggie got a kick out of trying it on.I still wear it, it is good on cold nights when I have to get up with Nate..he doesn't like blankets....on anyone!