A productive weekend

Since this weekend is the last weekend before we head down to Sonora to await Baby Sister's arrival, we had an extensive to do list. Things like getting birth supplies together, packing bags, digging the moses basket out, and finding the car seat, along with finishing up some projects like the kid's curtains and Mr. Baby's wall decor. Somehow, and I'm still trying to figure this out, we got almost all of the list done....gasp!... and still had time to go to the lake, attend a little sidewalk craft show, and do fun creative projects too! Was it a three day weekend? It sure felt like it!

I whipped up these fun blocks for Baby Sister, using fabric I had already. These are sooo fun to make, and you can use stuffing, or foam like I did. I think I might make a few more in a smaller size. These are 5 inch cubes.
Each block has the same pink and brown dot fabric, and a different flannel and minky. For the one below I used another one of those receiving blankets from my mom (see last post). To make these blocks, simply cut 6 squares of fabric (mine were 5 1/2" for a 5" cube, and 1/4" seam allowance on all sides) and lay them out in a cross pattern; four squares tall and three across. If you use 2 of each fabric like I did, lay them out so the matching fabric is across the cube from itself. Hmm, this would make more sense if I had taken pictures.....you would have the two flannel pieces on the cross part, the center of the cross (minky) would be the same as the very bottom of the cross, and the top (cotton print) the same as the 3rd square down. Hopefully that makes sense.
I also finished Muffin's ponies! I love the yarn hair, and considering I let Muffin pick any fabric from my stash, I thought she did a great job at getting co-ordinating fabrics! And yes, the Mommy pony is made with another one of those flannel receiving blankets. ;)
It's such a great feeling to do a project using only things you already had in your stash. So fun!
Daddy Man wanted to get in on the crafting action, and decided to do a project with Muffin. (I know, how cute, right?) This is what it looks like when he does a craft.

At least he cleaned it all up when they were done. :) They made a castle for Muffin's strawberry shortcake dolls. (It has also housed the cubes AND the ponies) He made the structure with cardboard, then let Muffin glue paper and decorations to the outside. They were so cute together.
Here's what it sounded like:

Daddy Man: "What color should this tower be?"

Muffin: "Pink!"

Daddy Man: "Ok, how about this tower?"

Muffin: "Pink!!"

D: "We are out of pink. What other color?"

M: "pink !"

D: "How about purple?"

M: "Um, sure."

D: "What should we glue on next?"

M: "A heart!"

D: "What color heart?"

M: "Pink!"

It's a miracle he worked some non-pink colors into that thing. ;)
back view
So, we had a great weekend, and finished it off with a short trip to the lake. Mr. Baby loves to swim. He wants to be on his belly zooming around in the water. He will be swimming probably before Muffin, who says, "Mommy, I don't like it under the water." Oh Muffin. How desperately you need Teacher Cindy.

New Passions

I mentioned before that I had a new project I've been 'poking' away at. Well, I finally finished the little present I was making for Muffin's Easter basket, and thought I'd share. ;) First the explanation of why I made what I did, then we'll get to the how.

Little Muffin is enthralled with eggs. I know, of all the things, right? But she loves to eat them, play with them, crack them, and hold them. (Don't worry, the ones she carries around all day are the play kind, not the ones from my fridge!) Also, when Muffin plays with... well, anything, she does this little narration or story telling thing. You know those bead maze things they have at doctor's offices? We have a small one, and when she plays with it, it goes something like this:

(Imagine a high-pitched little two year old voice)

"Come on Baby Marcus, you need your hat on. We have to go to Nana's house. Let's go to the market. Oh, don't push Paisley. Let's go get Madelynn.....OH! Daddy's home...." and so on. In this scenario, each bead on the maze is a person. She does this with anything she plays with. The other day she had a bendy straw named Uncle Marty. I digress.

So after being inspired by an article in Martha Stewart, and an etsy shop (link to come later, her shop is currently closed due to orders she has to catch up on for easter, so I can't find her) I decided to combine these things and make Muffin a family of egg people! Our family, that is.

The method? Needle felting. It involves poking a barbed needle into wool roving thousands of times, binding the fibers together until it becomes the shape you want.
This is the roving before anything is done to it. That' the needle on the left. The green and yellow tool is 5 of the needles in one, so it makes the process go much faster, but I've found it doesn't work well until you have at least some structure to the roving. The roving and needles can be found online, or possibly in your local quilting fabric store.
I house our family in a six pack egg carton. I know she will love putting them into the carton.
This one is the Mommy egg, of course. I gave myself a bun after several very strange attempts at a pony tail.

New baby girl, Mr. Baby, and Muffin. The lady who sells these on etsy has you send her a family picture, and she will make them for you. She sells a set of six for $70.00!! I can understand, since it is very labor intensive, but what else do I have to do while watching Dora and Wonder Pets? Side note: you know your child watches too much Dora when she can count from one to eight in spanish and you didn't teach her. ;) She actually does that better than counting in english! Should I be worried?

I will admit, I think they are pretty cute!

Daddy Man and doggie Bee. Daddy has a gotee, not giant lips. The little pink lips are hard to see in this picture. I am hooked on needle felting! It is repetitive and pretty therapeutic, until I jab the needle into my finger. Must get some gloves or something.

I tried a new bread recipe this week- no starter needed! I know, the starter is probably really good for you, but I can't even remember to water house plants....how am I supposed to remember to feed the starter? I got this recipe from one of my favorite blogs (can you tell? I've mentioned her like 4 times) called MADE. For the recipe, go to her tutorials section. I did half wheat flour, instead of all white like the recipe calls for. Isn't it beautiful? And soooo yummy! We couldn't help but dig into it before I had a chance to get a picture.

This week Daddy Man turned 26, and Muffin gave him some special cars for his birthday present.

He liked them a lot. (Bit of an understatement) I came home from garage saleing Saturday morning to this:
The goal was to launch the car off the coffee table and get it to land on the cereal box. And, of course, to slide down Daddy Man's ramp. I love watching Daddy Man and Muffin play together.
One last thing. (I really should post more often to avoid these mega-posts.) I made Dana's 90 minute shirt for Mr. Baby. It turned out pretty good.
Transform a men's shirt into a kid's shirt, with added contrast ribbing on the neckline. I need to make the neck smaller next time, but it worked out. I LOVE making clothes for my kids. Not only is it inexpensive, it is sentimental. It reminds me of the outfits my mom used to make my sister and I as kids. Mind you, they were not quite as cool ;) (It's ok Mom, it was the 80's. It's not your fault) but I love those outfits! I think the one with the crayola fabric, with the crayon buttons was my favorite. I am happy to make a little piece of history for my kids.

It's Called a Boobie

Muffin is my sensitive little cuddle bug. She loves tolay in my lap while I rub her hair, face, arms and back. She would probably do this all day long if I had the patience! She even tells me exactly how to do it: "No, don't do it harder little Mommy, just like this." Or "Get the back part of my ear." Yes, it's quite entertaining. At least she knows what she wants! Anyway, this morning we were sitting on the couch cuddling while I talked to my sister on the phone. I was telling my sister that Muffin had her head on my chest and I was rubbing her face. Muffin pipes up and says, "No Mommy, it's called a boobie! Marcus has a chest." Thanks, Muffin, for clearing that up. This comes from our discussion a few months back when I explained that girls have boobies. She asked if Marcus had boobies, and I said no, Marcus is a boy, so he has a chest. At least I know she understands!

This picture is for my Mom and Sister. I did her hair! She let me do a braid after her morning shower, and kept it in all day! Amazing accomplishment.

And I will leave you with the thought of Mr. Baby making dinner in the kitchen. I like to train them early. ;)

Sisterly Love

Wow. It's been a busy week. Haven't had much time or energy for blogging, but as I was looking through our family photo shoot pictures I found this adorable expression of sisterly love.

I think Muffin is trying to pull Mr. Baby up onto her lap, and straining with the "load." Lately when I've told Muffin, "he doesn't know how to (fill in the blank here: walk, talk, eat raisins-yikes!, etc.) yet because he's a little baby." She says, "no, he's a BIG baby!" Ah yes, Mr. Baby is quite the tank. But so cuddly and squishy at the same time. I love how my kids have no regard whatsoever for the height and weight growth charts. They just won't be bothered with those limitations. :)

More projects to come soon, and a very fun announcement on what kind of little baby is in my belly!