Tea

Loose leaf tea is my new love... so I'm going to try my hand at mixing it...

Upcycled Wool Swap: Part 2

Here's what I received:

 A trivet, a monster puppet, three wool dryer balls, mittens, & a baby hat!

Upcycled Wool Swap

Here are my two entries for my natural parenting swap.

 Brooches and hairclip sets...

 Adult/adolescent hats

 
I'm hostess this time. These are always so fun.  Now I've got to go clean my house!

The little table

The new little table needed some linens.  This is the fabric that R picked out of my stash.  He even helped me cut it.  It's a nice very-day table cloth.

But of course we also needed festive V-day linens.  So I made this little table cloth and these double sided napkins.  All from my stash. 

Valentine's Day

We've started decorating...


Here's the bird tree from the birthday party changed up a bit. 

These ornaments were freebies from a friend. 

The silly "vintage" decor below is from Arts 'n' Scraps.  I think you'll remember it from last year's V-day of kitsch.  R helped me position it above the little table.  S got this for her birthday from her Grandpa and it's been a huge hit with both kids.  I'm going to start working on a tablecloth and some napkins for it once I get my wool swap completed...

A little more birthday...

I just wanted to show off the birdhouses the kids painted.  This one belongs to R.  It's blue... of course.

This is the cool centerpiece that Nonna made for the bird themed party.  She brought the little birds with her from Kansas City.  The branch is borrowed from a neighbors shrub.  So sweet.  I've got a repurpose in mind for it, so stay tuned.

Birthday Blast!

We got a few pictures before my camera died.  I don't know how I would have done it all if it wasn't for Nonna's help.  She really saved the day!!!

Happy, Happy First Birthday Baby Girl!

The beard, some crafting and birthdays

So we've had quite the chuckles over this facial hair. It's already gone, but it inspired some "vintage" hair-do's as well... glad I got one shot (even if it was during bathtime).

 

 I've been crafting like crazy.  These are some necklaces for my BOG swap.  I made brooches for the mamas and these necklaces for the little ones. 

 I've also made some new brooches for my Etsy... just in time for Valentine's Day...

 And I recently sold a nursing necklace so I made up some more to list.  Here is my most reliable "tester".  She makes sure that they are durable enough for the roughest babe.  And she's so stinkin' cute to boot!

Must not forget...

A Very Happy Birthday to my Father (a.k.a. Grandad to my kids). 

Hmmm he must be 57 today (if my math is correct).  Happy Birthday Dad!  We love you!

Next up: S's First Birthday Celebration!

Fake 'Stache

He did this to himself with one of his Dad's gag X-mas gifts...

Before the night was through, we all wore it!

Upcoming Birthday Party

I just realized that I had not mentioned the upcoming birthday party.  Well we have quite the party planned.  Our little chickadee will be having a "bird" themed party.  I've ordered wooden bird houses for the older kids' crafts.  I've got bird whistles and lollipops for favors.  R and I will also be making these bird seed favors with Nonna once she arrives.  Not sure what shapes they will be yet, most likely stars...

Less than two weeks to go!

Naps and other strange things...

So Saff appears to be transitioning to one nap.  But it's touch and go with the morning nap (or like today, the morning nap was all she got).  Since it is impossible for me to "parent down" one kid when the other is wide awake and also in the bed, R is missing some naps.  Actually, he's taking it quite well.  He's having a nap every other day-ish.  We've moved bedtime up to 7 for days when Saff only gets one nap and R misses his.  So far so good.  Tonight she was alseep by 7:15 and he was asleep by 7:30.  We actually had some time to do other things.  Yay!

Here is my silly monkey on the kitchen counter "helping" me make dinner. She is eating a chunk of left over pork loin. Choking hazard? Nah!

Back by popular demand:  The bug sensory bin!  Now with more bugs!

 Since we skipped a nap today, we decided to make a house/fort out of left over Christmas boxes.  Both kids really enjoyed playing in the boxes.  Guess I'll have to keep them around a little longer.

 Finally, I've been using my extra wool sweater bits to make V-day brooches and flower hairpins for the upcoming swap.  These are 100% upcycled wool with needle-felting and vintage buttons on some.  I'm liking them!

Sensory bin

Here's R sharing his bin with his friend O.  She asked to play in the "corn box"!  How cute is that?

 I decided to switch themes again.  We retired "Christmas" and moved on to "Winter".