Thursday, December 23

so the picture above was taken by a very nice photographer at Dustin's Christmas party (Sylvart Studios). Our free 5 x 7 is going in Brenna's room - I think it is a nice picture of Dustin and I :-) I wanted to post it to show off the pretty dress that I made to attend the party in - I think this pattern is a winner :-) (too bad you couldn't see my awesome boots - I may have to take a picture of just them to put on the blog - I think they are great (and they were my treat instead of buying a dress - I bought shoes). (and another winning feature of this pattern is that it was quick and easy - Dustin didn't tell me we were going to a semi-formal party for Saturday until Wednesday - so I think I managed to pull together a pretty nice look).

we had a small Christmas party this week in Wooster for our girls. Brenna loves her gifts - she did a whole fashion show for my parents on the computer with her new magnetic doll (and also for Mikayla) and we have read her new book every afternoon and evening this week :-) Annika and Joy - Thank you guys so much for the great gifts!! I made some gift items for Annika and Joy's little girls (and can now finally fit all my fleece in my closet - hmm - maybe I can give some more big fleece gifts to some more young children and finally be able to fit all my fabric in my closet - lol!) I made a Big Bird sleeping type bag - it was so big I think it could have fit all 3 girls inside, lol (sorry no pictures from my camera - I was trying to minimize the amount of dog hair it left my house with so I didn't have any spots to show it). I made a pillow clover for Joy's little girl below. The first picture she had just hugged it - I think she liked it and it was very soft (too bad it didn't really resemble the bear that it was to be...I think it would have helped if I would have made the nose bigger - but I used my embroidery program and it made just a tiny bear nose...)

I was busy yesterday (and this morning too, lol) making aprons for Brenna's school teachers (today was PJ day at school - I'm sure the teachers were thrilled that I decided to snap their picture this morning, lol). (If you click on the picture you can see the colors a little bit better - the main color was pink (of course - these were from Brenna) and then the tie and pockets were a mix of yellow, orange, and pink.

Merry Christmas - our Christmas cards have now been sent, but I'm sure they won't reach most of you until after the holiday - have a great one!

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there! I am still very busy with my holiday crafting - I think I got a little carried away this year!

Brenna did have school this week, so it has helped me with getting most of my projects completed. I even have most all of our gifts wrapped - just need to decorate them with ribbon :-)

Well - I probably won't post again until after the holidays - hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Take Care!

Wednesday, December 15

So - we had a snow day here yesterday (when the schools cancel - Brenna's preschool closes too - imagine at 4 she is already looking forward to snow days, lol!). Anyway - Brenna's Christmas dress was finally clean again, so of course it was what she wanted to wear today. At least she decided to model for me (notice the microphone in her hand - I of course was then labeled as a "fan" - but at least she gave me her autograph too!). (Not sure why she wanted to wear her headband that way - I think it is supposed to go the other way - but when I put it on that way, she changed it back...)

She had to show off her pretty nails and bracelets...

hmmm - Justice has gotten a little too comfortable with my couches....

We made Christmas cookies on Monday (thanks for sending everything Gammy - Brenna had lots of fun decorating with me and putting them on the pan to bake too!)

Thought I would show off a picture of Brenna's room - the only thing left to do is add her curtain and then it will be pretty much decorated :-)

My niece turned 5 and I was finally able to make it to her birthday party (we just missed her parties the last 2 years). She picked out her awesome cake! Happy Birthday Ally!!

We also had fun with some self-taken pictures. Ally thought the camera was great fun (especially when I turned it over to her to take some pictures at the party - thanks Ally for the pictures - I love your view of the party!)

hmmm - how many people can we fit in with my arm outstretched...

I almost got all 4 of us in this one...

then, Ally took pictures with almost everyone at the party (I think she missed one of her uncles there, but she got almost everyone else :-)

I love these faces - what a ham!!!

what great faces you make!

such nice smiles from the girls!!!

Ally with some of her birthday presents - she loved the apron she got from my grandma and grandpa and also the headbands, jewelry and makeup :-)

so sweet!

Ally modeling her new lipstick - I love the red!!!

Justice and Brenna out in the snow last week. She still loves playing on her swingset even in the cold weather - brrr... (we are working on taking Justice up the slide and down. We found out yesterday that he did pretty well climbing the slide itself rather than the stairs - we took him on those last week (which was hard work for me, lol)).

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here - lots of snow of though! Brenna is loving the winter snow so far - wonder how long that will last??? (She is really relating snow to Christmas - wonder what she will think of all the after Christmas snow, lol).

Our craft fair that I posted the pictures of didn't go as well as we had hoped, but at least my mom, sister, and I had a fun time visiting! I had a chance to attend my niece's birthday party the next day (Brenna stayed home with Dustin - they had lots of fun at a German friend gathering with some of his coworkers). I love all the pictures my niece took with my camera at the party :-)

Last week, Brenna only had school 2 days due to the bad weather (snow and blowing snow) (looks like this week will be the same - she went today, but not yesterday). Our neighbor came over last week and played with Brenna on Tuesday when school was closed - Brenna had lots of fun with that! We made soap after we came in (even though Brenna just wanted to play with her friend, lol). Dustin's company Christmas party was on Saturday evening, but he didn't decide to go until the middle of the week (or at least he didn't tell me about it until then!). But, I was able to make a nice dress to wear (or at least a very comfortable one, lol - got to love stretchy fabric!). (and since I saved money with using fabric I already had and a pattern I already had - I treated myself to new boots for the party :-) Brenna stayed overnight with Dustin's parents (and of course had a lot of fun!!) and we had a great time at the party. The company had a nice meal and then a casino night - (crazy to think for me - even with fake money I didn't like to loose it, lol). The dealers were all very good at handing out chips though!

We had a big snow storm that started here on Sunday and closed schools yesterday and Monday. Glad that with our current schedule Brenna and I could just stay inside with the icky weather outside. We did go out and play in the snow yesterday once all the blowing finally slowed down. I'm sure Brenna would have liked to play outside longer than I let her, but she still had fun playing in the snow on her swingset :-)

Other than that, I am working on Christmas gifts here still - sure I am not going to get them all finished in time (and my Christmas cards are behind too! Where did all my time go??) Oh, well - I may have to send everyone New Year greeting cards, lol!

Anyway, take care!!

Friday, December 3

my little model (and I just had to bribe her with a kit kat this morning for the work - what a bargin)

kids aprons - available in a rainbow of colors :-)

heart shaped potholders below

Hello All!!!

Thought I would share some pictures of the crafts my mom, sister, and I are selling tomorrow in Decatur, IN. We will be at Wyneken Memorial Lutheran School, 11565N, US Highway 27, Decatur, IN. Dec. 4th, 9 am-3 pm. Next to St. John Lutheran Church, + Bingen. 10 mi. south of Ft Wayne and 7 miles north of Decatur. We will have more in addition to this - would love to see you there :-)