Sweet Emma Lou

I'm pretty fond of this little girl! This is my friend, Deborah's, little girl Emma. She is one sweet, smiley little thing! Check out the sweet shirt Emma wore on her first birthday...
Isn't it cute? Yep, I made it! I made a shirt like this for Luke's birthday and couldn't wait to make another one! Emma just happened to be the first birthday to come up! I think it turned out super cute!

I was so pleased with the shirt that I made this too...
I was even more pleased with how this cute little bag turned out!

I love it!

Last week we got to watch Emma while her mama went to a meeting. :)

Luke is pretty fond of Emma too!

Until she tries to play with his toys... (He's totally three!)

Abby LOVED babysitting Emma! There aren't any pictures of her and Emma, but she did everything with/for her! Abby played with her, carried her around, protected her from Luke, fed her and changed her! She still has a lot to learn (obviously, since she's only 11!), but I think Abby is going to be a great babysitter and an amazing mama when she grows up! (NO HURRY!!)

Look What I Learned!

A while back I went to a yarn store in Tulsa with my friend, Deborah. In their front window they had some super cute wreaths that we both thought we would like to make. It was just a styrofoam wreath wrapped with yarn and then had some super cute crocheted flowers on it. Well, Deborah is a knitter and all I know how to crochet is the blankets that my mom showed me. I decided that it was time to learn how to make those cute flowers! Thanks to youtube.com I found tons of videos that show how to make flowers. Finding the right one took some time, but I finally found the one I liked best and came out with this:
I was pretty proud of myself!
So, (on another snow day, of course...) I set out to perfect my flowers and attempt recreating the wreath I saw at the yarn store.
This is how it came out. Not to bad for a novice crocheter!

Snow Day Craftiness: Valentine's Style

Again, Abby felt the need to be crafty. I was right there with her. I figured since we have been collecting jars ever since doing this crafty project, that we could change things up a little bit and go with a Valentine's theme with them. (I forgot to take a picture of mine.) Abby decided that she wanted to make a Valentine treat for her teachers.
They turned out adorable and the teachers loved them!

We also decided that since we were stuck in the house and wanted to be crafty, that it would be fun to make Valentine's instead of buying them and just writing her name on them. We spent a lot of time looking at options. Abby finally decided on this design.
We didn't download the design, we just came up with our own.
I think they turned out super cute!

Snow Days, Snow Days, Snow Days....

With all of the snow we've already had, you can only imagine how happy I was to wake up to this:
Seriously?! Another foot of snow?!
The original foot of snow hadn't even melted yet, and now we have that much more! Ugh...
This is what the boys are content to do all day.
Don't you just love the glazed over look of a teenage boy playing video games? I don't!
Thankfully Abby doesn't love to just sit around all the time. Not that she doesn't do that at all, but after having four snow days the week before, she couldn't take it anymore. She had to do something. On this day, Abby ended up making lunch for her and Ben.
She did a great job!
But making lunch just wasn't enough. We found a recipe to make snow ice cream. We had never made snow ice cream before, but it sounded pretty neat.
Abby did all of the work!
And she got to have the first taste! It was actually pretty good!
No, this isn't dirty snow! Abby, is not a fan of vanilla ice cream, so we mixed in some cocoa powder to make it chocolate ice cream.
She liked that a lot better!

Call us crazy, but we don't own a shovel. I know! It broke a few years ago and we just never replaced it. Being in Kansas and Oklahoma we just don't generally get that much snow, so we just let it melt on it's own. Well, FEET of snow don't just melt very quickly! Especially when the lows are really low! When we woke up on Thursday morning it was -28 degrees outside!! That's just insane!
So...I was thrilled when a guy knocked on my door and asked if I would like him to plow my driveway! (For a fee of course!) How could I pass that up?!
Luke LOVED watching the driveway get plowed! The boy loves tractors, so he was in heaven!
Apparently it was "bring your dog to work" day since the guys that did the driveway brought this guy (or girl) too. Luke was pretty fond of the dog too!

Like I said before, Abby likes to do. She didn't have a plan. She just thought it would be fun to be crafty. She went out to the garage to see what she could find. Wood and paint are what she came in with. And she got busy.
The two of us had a fun time doing some crafty things together. Check back soon to see what else we came up with!

Christmas Craftiness

I have a super crafty friend! I mean, she's really creative! Well, she was the inspiration for my Christmas craft. For some reason, people think I am crafty. HA!! Nope, not really. I keep telling them, "I'm not crafty, but I can follow directions really well." My friend, Deborah, would argue with me and just say I'm being "dramatic", but I can't tell you how many times I had to call her and ask her how to do something or what measurements to use or what paint to use and all kinds of other things. Aside from all of that, I am THRILLED with how all of these gifts turned out! I am sure I will be making plenty more in the future!
Of course, before we could really begin, Luke had to play with the wood!
The first recipients...They liked it!
Mom loved hers too!So glad I chose "FAITH" for the Hodnett's! I love this one!
And, of course, I had to make one for myself!

I loved making all of these gifts for Christmas! As I was making each one it was great to spend that time thinking about the person that it was for. I love making crafts and I can't wait to make more!

Halloween Craftiness

I often have the desire to be crafty,however, I am anything but. I get all of the e-mails of cute crafts to do with the kids and always have great intentions, but the crafts rarely get done. Amazingly enough, this craft actually made it from my inbox to my front porch! Here's the link if you would like to make them too! Let's just say...The options are endless!
I found so many great jars at garage sales, by cleaning out my refrigerator, and a great friend.
Ready to get started! I had planned to do this with Abby since she loves crafts, but I couldn't wait and made a few while she was at school. Thankfully she wasn't mad at me for not waiting for her. It just made her more anxious to make her own.
Here are the ones that I made.
I love how they look in the dark!
Finally, Abby didn't have too much homework or softball practice, so we were able to get busy.
These are the pumpkins that we made together. Not finished yet...
Topped off with a bow!
Abby was very proud of her pumpkin!
After her pumpkin was done she hopped right on to another jar.
Look at that face!
What a nut! I love this girl!!
Here are the lanterns that Abby made! I think she did a great job!!

I love how these look outside lit up on the front porch. I think I will save some jars and make some Christmas lanterns too!