My first quilt...

and other sewing for baby girl.




A boppy pillow. This pattern was not very good. I guess that's what I get for using a free one off the internet. I will definitely have to make a new one at some point.


The "car seat" quilt. It's pretty tiny. I made it to go in her bassinet at the hospital and for the car seat. Mostly I wanted to try out making a quilt and didn't want to start a huge one without knowing what I was doing! This one seems kind of "busy". Next time I will have to put some solid colors in it. The backing is dot minkie which is super soft.

This is a holder for a travel wipes case. It is big enough to also hold a diaper or 2 so I don't have to take the whole bag with me to the bathroom to change the baby when we're out. This pic shows the lining...

I'm having fun :)

3 Cuties

Don Freeman

Lately I have started looking for story books to read to the children that have a good story line and a little depth to them. Books like The Little Engine that Could and Ping. On a recent book order at Q's school I found the book Corduroy by Don Freeman for $1. The boys loved it and I went looking for some more books by the same author. Our library had a lot. Here are a few we have really enjoyed.

Corduroy (of course)

Norman the Doorman

Mop Top

The boys sit so quietly while I read these and even I enjoy them. Quintin sneaks in to listen to them if we're reading before bed. So if you're looking for some good books to read to your 3-6 year olds check out some books by Don Freeman at the library.

Happy Fall!!

I suppose it's almost winter, but the weather's not too cold yet. If it was you would be seeing pictures that were taken through the window into the back yard. We raked today.

Thea was really excited about the leaves and this big one she found.


Ashton put Thea in the pile of leaves. He first made a small pile and said it was for her. He went and got her, picked her up and plopped her into the pile. She's loving it.

The boys and Thea "helped" by taking what I had swept down the driveway and making it into a big pile.

31 week belly pic

Dan and I had a really good time at the Navy Marine Corp Birthday Ball for his ROTC unit. We were really blessed to have my parents in town this weekend and they were able to babysit the children so we could go. Grandpa took some pictures for us even :)

Sewing for Baby Girl

I really like to get new things for each new baby. If money were no object I would go out and buy new bedding, strollers, carseat, clothes, etc. for each baby. Not necessarily because I like to shop or am materialistic, but because I find it sort of is a way of celebrating our coming blessing. It's so exciting to look at all the baby things and think about the baby using them and how they will look in the nursery. However, I cannot buy a bunch of new things for every baby because it would be wasteful and Dan would freak out! I do have a lot of fabric and some time to sew (now that my baby is 20 months) so I am making things instead of buying them.

We already had a carseat cover from when Ashton was born. It is blue and black and I made some noise about wanting a new one. Dan said the blue one was fine and I tried to explain that having pretty girlie baby things for a girl is important to me. He calmly asked is possibly I could make one (he has done this enough to know that a pregnant wife can freak out from the most innocent questions). I did some Internet searching and found a free tutorial on how to make carseat covers. After some adapting I was able to make my own cover for only $2.50. It would have been more, but I already had a lot of the supplies. It fits on the carseat, but is a little smaller than I would like. I'm in the process of making another one right now that is also reversible. I like the material on this one better though.

After seeing so many cute, soft blankets at Babies R Us I decided I would make one for Maria. Although I probably could have bought one for close to what I spent to make this one, it means a lot more to me that it was made with her in mind. I can honestly say I made this with love. It was so fun to make it and feel her kick at the same time. This blanket is big and will be great for tummy time and lying on the floor. Originally I had made this for a coming home blanket, but it's really big and I think I may want to make one to match her coming home outfit...which I haven't gotten yet. We'll see.


I hope to also make a mei tai, a wipes case cover and possibly a diaper bag. I have tutorials printed off for all those things. But I never really know if I will have the time...

The Pictures

The Family picture we got to frame.
The adorable one of the kids. Sorry they are so tiny.

An eventful Saturday...

Dan and I have been trying to watch our spending lately. For me that means only buying things that are necessary such as food, needed clothes, gas and Q's school tuition. I really wanted to get family pictures taken and make a build a bear for the baby that's coming, but those things are not necessities. So I cleaned out! I listed some things on Ebay and sold 2 of the strollers we don't use on craigslist. Today we went to the nice mall in town and got pictures and a bear.

The kids were so good for pictures. The more kids we have, the harder it gets for us to get a good picture. It's hard just to get everyone to look at the camera! We were able to get some really good shots and one completely adorable shot of all the boys kissing Thea. When we were done the Picture People gave us coupons for 4 free kids meals at Chick-fil-A. What a blessing!! We were really able to save some money that way. I wish I could post them, but my scanner is not working and we haven't gotten them emailed to us yet. Unfortunately, i look really fat in them, but everyone else looks good so I'll take one for the team and send them out for Christmas anyways.

The best part was when i was backing up after helping arrange the kids and my sock caught on one of the nails that holds the screen down and I fell flat on my butt and then onto my back. Nice. Of course we were right by the waiting area and 3 families all saw my pregnant butt fall. So embarrassing!!! At least it stopped Thea from crying and fussing long enough to get the last picture.

Here are a few pictures from the build-a-bear. I forgot to get a picture of the finished bear, but we were rushing to get to our picture appt. on time. The boys really liked picking out a bear for the baby. They even picked a pink one for her. They named the bear "Mary" for whatever reason and we used the baby's due date for the bear's birthday.

Daddy helps Thea "stuff" the bear.

Quintin and Ashton fluff and brush "mary".

You can kind of see the finished bear in this picture.

Happy Halloween!

Our very scary skeleton gives some loves to his brother.


Landon's best cheese.

Batman Ashton is very intense on this Halloween night.



Yep. I look cute now, but you should have seen me at the end of the night when Daddy wouldn't let me have any candy!!!

For the first time in 5 years Dan is home for Halloween. He took the kids trick or treating and said they were so good. Even Thea managed to be out for over an hour without a stroller! We didn't get many trick-or-treaters so we have tons of candy in the house. I wanted to hand out non-candy treats like I have done in the past...play doh and lip balm...but Dan did not want us to be "one of those houses". I have memories of my mom handing out nickles and raisins so I'd imagine that we were one of those houses!

Normally I am a stressed out wreck by the end of Halloween, but with Dan at home it was no big deal. It is such a blessing to have him on shore duty.

Hall-zoo-ween

The weekend before Halloween the zoo had a special program. The children got to wear their costumes and trick-or-treat through the zoo. They had things like "pig pumpkin play", but they were after lunch and we're a nap-time only crowd in the afternoon.

Ashton went as Batman, Landon as a gorilla (one of the three costumes he wore this Halloween season) and Thea as Tigger. That Tigger costume is so darn cute and it's hard not to pick her up and squeeze her constantly while she's wearing it! I remember feeling the same way about Ashton when he wore it.

Daddy teased Landon that the gorillas were going to come get him and put them in their habitat because he looked so real. When we got to the gorilla exhibit Ashton got really, really nervous and would not let go of Landon's arm and kept telling him to stay close to Daddy. As much as those 2 fight I know they love each other! I explained to Ashton that the gorillas would not mistake Landon for a real gorilla and he was safe. :)

Family Game Night

The boys love to play board games with us. It really is fun, although I feel a lot of time is spent pushing little hands away from the board! If you look closely in this picture you can see that Thea has been crying. We wouldn't let her move our pieces around. She's also wearing a zebra jumper that I made for her :) Too bad I started it in Hawaii and now it's too small! If you look closely at Landon you can see him trying to steal Thea's Craisins...which is why Daddy is looking at him the way he is...LOL!

Board games are great for the kids. They learn to take turns, count, and be a good loser/winner. It's also a free and easy activity to do for quality family time. Dan had a great idea when he got out the craisins for the kids to eat. Less likely for little hands to wander onto the board!!

Ashton's last soccer game of the season

He did great! Coach Daddy also did really well. They both loved the season and Ashton is very sad that it's over. He almost scored a goal, too. He was pretty disappointed the ball didn't make it in and had really wanted to score a goal in his last game, but it's alright. There's always next season!!