Christmas Eve & Crafty Time

I have been taking a much needed break from the computer this last month (as you can probably tell) and focused on organizing my crazy Christmas season and attempting to make a few gifts. I managed to make two purses for my mother-in-laws and an apron for my mom. I used this pattern for the purses. Here is how one of the purses turned out (I really wanted to keep it for myself!):While sewing I watched (well, I don't really watch them so much as listen and glance over at the TV every now and again) many movies. This holiday craft time really gave me some much needed down time during the busyness of the season.

And here's a pictures of Colin, my brother Joel and I on Christmas Eve at my parent's house. We all attended church together in Vancouver there and it was very sweet - it's been so long since our whole family has been at the same church during the same service.
Today is Colin and my 13th wedding anniversary! We couldn't do too much exciting, what with three kids and all. But we may get really crazy and watch "Inception" after we put the kids to bed. And that, folks, is what anniversaries look like after 13 years and 3 kids =). Just kidding. We plan on celebrating sometime during the next week by getting out together w/out kids.

My Craft Room and My Boys

Some days, when my boys choose to obey and get ready quickly, I let them watch cartoons until we are ready to leave for preschool. This morning was one of those days. They are chillin' in my new craft room that Colin painted and built organization for to my liking. I also have dedicated a small corner (seen here with those sweet vintage typewriter wall clings) to homeschooling. Hence the glue and papers strewn about. Here they are this morning, watching Elmo:And here's a picture of the closet that holds almost all of my craft stuff. Almost. Colin: "So where are you putting all your sewing stuff?"

Paper Christmas Tree & Birthday

How fun is this little paper Christmas tree?! No, I didn't make it. Yet. Here is the tutorial. I would love to tackle this for the holiday season. And if I get stressed out enough, I just might hole myself up, lock the door and start cutting/gluing...

Yesterday was my birthday and I officially am amazed by my husband. He said he had a few surprises for me, so we left the kiddos with my mom and escaped the house around lunch at which point he drove me to Portland, arriving at a certain Expo that made me completely gleeful and walked patiently around with me while I would "ooooo" and "ahhh" at every booth and didn't say a word while I emptied my wallet at said Expo. Then he took me to my favorite Lebanese restaurant (revise: my favorite restaurant in Portland and it happens to be Lebanese) on Hawthorne and then (as if that weren't enough!!) he took me to pick out my sweet 40 in flat screen TV for the craft room that I will be moving into soon in our house. 40 inches of high definition British drama while I sew and scrapbook. Amazing. Now, how will I top that for his birthday?! What a guy.

My Craft Space

This is my current craft space in the living room. Incredibly cluttered - which means I am actually getting something done. I started at 5:30 this morning. This spot has such an incredible view of the rain outside (blech).
And I always have a cup of some caffeinated beverage close at hand. And the light? I just purchased an OttLite on the clearance rack and am now figuring out why it was on clearance - the random shutting off it does at inopportune moments. Unless that is a safety feature?

Flubber and Rubber Chicken.

Since discovering that Jude needs constant activities in order to avoid getting into trouble, I've had the kids on a tight schedule. It's only been two days and I'm pretty tired come evening time, but it's worth it to have a lot more positive behavior from the kiddos. We did flubber time today - as in we made it and then I let the kids play with it until Jude got squirrly. The recipe for flubber is:

Mixture 1:
3/4 cup warm water
1 cup Elmer's glue
food coloring

Mixture 2:
2 tsp. Borax
1/2 cup warm water

Combine mixtures 1 and 2.
Samuel mixing up the flubber. The boys really wanted vivid colors.

Here's Jude taking his flubber time very seriously.

Jude and his odd faces.

And Juliet with the rubber chicken bottom in her mouth.

Waterproof Puppet Theater

I'll be honest. It's been a tough week parenting-wise. I'm in complete burnout (or was, before I got out alone with my husband today), I've received some criticism that was not solicited, but when my kids have gotten craft time, somehow all feels right with the world. I admit that I've been holding onto this magazine since October when Samuel picked out this craft. We finally made time for it today when Grandma came over to help with the kiddos. Samuel had so much fun making these waterproof bath puppets! It's a quick and easy craft and they loved playing with these in the bath tonight. Samuel starts with a whole rubber glove.

They read the magazine for the directions.

Grandma B. starts cutting the fingers off. The baby is utterly fascinated.

Samuel tries it on before he colors the face on. And that's the last picture I took of the craft time because inevitably something else diverted my attention. But it was a worthwhile craft, I promise.

A Wild Hair

I seem to always reason away craft time for something more exciting. Like laundry. Or taking out the garbage. But today I put all reasonableness aside, stepped over the piles of toys and used nap time to create this quickie scrapbook page about Juliet at 9 months. Done in about one hour. I have to say that I used two transparencies here and that is one finicky product.

What Have We Been Up To?

We have been crazy busy with construction, Thanksgiving prep (it's at our house this year!) and just child rearing (oh, and going to see "New Moon" last night, which I am not mad about!).
Well, this is just a picture of Juliet - because who doesn't love a baby with spinach on her nose?This child always has something in her mouth. After this picture was taken, she left an incredible sea of thread in her wake.

I made this tutu - time consuming, but not very hard.

I took my niece, Eden's, pictures. So sweet.

Colin is remodeling our "construction room" and turning it into our bedroom. We chose this steel grey color and I love it.

Hardwood floors were added as well.

Also, we had our family photos taken. It took me about a year and a half to convince Colin we needed to have them done and the waiting paid off! I love how they turned out! See them here

Happy Thanksgiving!!