sweetness

the sweetness of a napping baby is indescribable.
i love those little moments of innocence when you are dying to wake them because they are so adorable you can't bear them to sleep any longer, yet you know you relish your "me" time as well. it's a hard battle sometimes. i got some much needed time worked on my "hills" hat that has been sadly neglected sitting in my knitting basket for so long while mackenzie napped. it felt good to get some knitting in.
our poor little angel has a cold, but we have been lucky and it's her first one. we are newbies with the whole sick toddler thing. it is breaking our hearts to see her not feel well. so mackenzie and i have been cozied up indoors spending a lot of time snuggling, napping (her not me..haha), playing, reading and doing christmas crafts. we haven't been able to go outside much in the last few days as we have been having a lot of snow and windstorms here. it is freeeeeezing out! all the more reason for me to get some more knitting done making us some warm, woolly goodies to help deal with all the storms outside.

the tree is up

just a little hint of our xmas tree.
it was exciting to get to decorate our own tree this year. don't get me wrong, i miss my mom's tree horribly, but this time we got to start our own family traditions with our tree.
the color in this photo is a bit off due to me taking it during the daytime. everything is white, silver and shades of blue, whereas this pic looks a bit gold if you ask me. oh well, it get's the idea across.
i had fun making some of the xmas decorations and mackenzie loved finding ones on the tree with pictures of her on it.
we have been busy today hiding out inside from the stormy, cold, wet weather. we kept the blinds closed, turned on the xmas tree, the fireplace, made some tea, had some great christmas music on mixed in with some classic miles davis and then just let ourselves melt away with the oozy, cosiness of it all.


i will post more pics this weekend of the tree and the decorations after we finish with all the christmas decor and jer takes some nighttime tree pictures.

another one, i know, but they are so fun, i can't help myself

me and the mackster fooling around with picasa

a little rant never hurt anyone...

i haven't had much time for blogging this week.
all my free time on line has been spent hunting for new classes to enroll mackenzie in for the winter. i am feeling a tad desperate at the moment as i know how bad the overtime is going to be for jeremy at work. i need as much to do as possible.
the busier me and mack are the happier we are - especially when jer isn't home all week till late at night. it keeps us both entertained and makes the day go by faster.
i have found a sad lack of programs in the greater victoria area. it seems as though saanich offers a huge variety of different classes for kids this age but the downtown/greater victoria districts do not. i am especially disappointed with oak bay recreation. yes, alot of seniors live here, but so do other people. why the lack of quality and variety of children's activities? it's not enough to just offer salsa babies and a few other classes that all sound exactly the same as the last one but with a different name. not all parents just want to do one kindergym drop in after another. i would like some structured classes so our kids can learn and play.
i have been ranting to anyone who listens about this lately. i feel crabby. it makes me crabby when you see what another neighbourhood has to offer and don't understand why yours doesn't.
victoria is always stating how they are so eco-friendly and are trying to work on promoting bike commuting etc but then they expect us to drive for 45 minutes to go to a class for 2 year old? i don't get it. i am not going to take 3 buses for an hour with my baby to go to a class in saanich when i should be able to get the same class in victoria.
but don't worry, i am not one to just sit and whine and complain about such things. i am going to write a letter and see if i can get some answers.
in the meantime here is a few pics of me and the mackster freezing our tooshies (sp?) off outside in the cold today. she is now curled up on the couch amidst her blankies and playing with her books as i type this post. we've got some serious ornament making to do tonight and i also picked up some cute pink material with little orange hearts on it to see if i can whip mackie up a cute dress or skirt or anything wearable...haha, but i say this now, when it is 3:09pm, and the story may be different tonight at say 8:00 when i usually do my sewing.


our friend wes is coming to stay with us this weekend and we are soooooo excited. he is doing us a big favour when he comes to visit so i am trying to come up with a special meal to make him this weekend. any suggestions anyone? beer will please him, but i do need to feed the guys some food as well. wes - what would you like? i know you are reading this...hahaha....cmon...got any requests? a special dessert maybe? you will need something to soften the blow when i whoop you guys at settlers and carcassone...haha.

sewing madness

i made a skirt for mackenzie.

it is even wearable, well, at least i think it is...haha.

jer was busy studying (as per usual) the other night and i was feeling very creative. i hunted the house for some leftover fabric and seeing as this was the first time i was making one, i didn't mind using some scrap material. i figured it was a test run.

i was surprised by how much fun i had and how simple it was. i took a skirt that mack already had and laid it down on the fabric as a template for my pattern. the only thing i had a real issue with was the elastic for the waist. the way i had read to do it just wasn't working for me, so after discussing it with jer i decided to wing it. anyways, i am sure there are much easier ways to do it, but mine had the same outcome so we were happy.

i can't wait to make her some more clothes and now find myself having pretty little ideas to whip up in my head for her.

i am in dangerous territory now. at first i thought i had it bad with just knitting stuff for us, but now with all the possibilities of sewing out there.......i just need to find some more time to make all the projects running around in my head.

my nana made this cute little dress for mackenzie and i had to post some pics of her wearing it the other day. thanks for the dress and for passing down the sewing bug!

bff's 4 -ever

i couldn't help but post some more pictures from the park....yes, there are more. they just keep coming. i can't resist those special little moments. mackenzie and her bff ava make such precious friends and they just love each other so very much.

we have had a busy week around here with not much time for crafting. we did manage to make some great plastic cup maracas. so simple and so much fun to make. mackenzie loves the foil and they make a great sound.

all we did was tape the two plastic cups together brim towards brim with masking tape after filling with whatever goodness you decide to use to make the sounds with. we used rice. after sealing the cups i placed a long strip of double sided tape to start wrapping the foil against and then another at the end. we then covered the bottom of the cups with foil as well (this is optional). after you are done with the foil you can either shake to your hearts content or decorate them. we chose to use some tissue paper and mack asked to have a heart and a flower on hers. they aren't the most durable things to play with but she loves them anyways.

mackenzie and i will be busy this weekend making christmas tree decorations. we had to get our hands on a glue stick (now found) and a hole punch and now we are raring to go. we have been collecting cardboard to use and have some great wrapping paper. mackenzie gets to delegate which shapes and outlines we get to use and she is super excited to help. we'll see what kind of trouble we can get into...and fun messes we make.

darth vador is a musician?

darth vader seems to have hidden talents. not only is he a famous sci-fi movie star he also plays the violin!!!!! whatthef#$#????

we spotted darth on saturday night playing, with great happiness the star wars theme, in downtown victoria. it made my night. he even posed for me.

we went to check out the santa claus parade and had a great, yet cold, christmas filled saturday.

mackenzie and i trying not to freeze

ava and jen

parliament buildings

i luv fred penner

fred penner rocks!

i'm super excited that we got to meet fred penner! i know, i know, cheesy, but so great.

we went to his free concert today along with the visiting of santa claus at our local mall. it was tons of fun and fred put on a great show. mackenzie and her friend sadie loved it!

these boots are made for walking....

more park goodness today.

these boots are made for walking...

mack and i headed out late this afternoon after a busy day to get some outside time. we went out to do some xmas shopping this morning and to go check out the Wednesday fun kid's hour at hillside mall. mack loves going and gets a real kick out of most of the acts. they have a different entertainer each week, it's free and always packed with alot of kids mack's age.

it's gorgeous out here again and so crisp and fresh. we fell in love with this gorgeous tree near the park and couldn't help but take a picture of it.

don't you wish you could climb to the top and just perch there?

finally finished!

i managed to get mackenzie's (repurposed pillowcase) apron finally done! i am super excited about the fact that i actually managed to sew something that wasn't a square!!!! it turned out alright and i learned a few things in the process that will help when i make her more - they are addicting little things. (i still need to sew mine....ahhhhh) i still can't get over the fact that someone even made a pillowcase out of kitchen cooking utensil fabric? weird.

last night i was supposed to be ironing the huge pile of about 20 dress shirts of jer's (i have been procrastinating a bit) and got caught up in a creative spurt of energy at 9 o'clock last night and decided to whip up a table runner. do not ask me why or where that came from. i have been obsessing over tree skirts the last few days and i'm dying to beg someone to take me to the fabric store so that i can make one. so i can't seem to figure out how the tree skirt obsession turned into a table runner?

the color is going to work perfectly with my dishes which are white and a set of grey. i loved the pattern when i saw it and couldn't resist buying it for a dollar at the dollar giant. you just have to ignore the big crease in the middle of the photo, i have to really give it a good steam. it was very easy to make and super simple. maybe that is why it appealed to me. i just looked at the material and said "what the hell, let's make a table runner". what can i say - i am into this whole repurposed projects thing. i am hooked in the whole turning something into something else frenzy. it's fun and really gets the creative juices flowing and it's great when you are on a budget.

our day

it is finally gorgeous weather out today so where did mack and i head - out for coffee! yep, we went out to go indoors. we headed out to our favorite coffee place the black stilt. they have the best americano's and they only put out 2 bags of garbage per week, these people mean business. they recycle and compost everything, it's refreshing to see and i love supporting a local business with great values. it doesn't hurt that it's cozy and relaxing inside and mack will sometimes actually curl up with me in the big comfy chairs and have a snack. but don't worry we didn't stay in for long. the park was calling our name. here our some pics from our day.

completely off topic here is a pic from one of our fave cold weather night meals - tuna casserole that we ate the other night. it was super delicious and hit the spot! i make mine from the campbell's soup recipe but i use whole wheat macaroni noodles instead of what they suggest. i have tried a few different recipes for tuna casserole but this is our favorite by far. mack loves it and actually ate seconds and then had leftovers for lunch the next day. can't beat that.

yummmmmmm, don't you just wanna dig in?

handmade holidays

i stumbled upon this blog sew, mama, sew! a while ago and have been meaning to do a post about it. i am new at the whole sewing thing and definitely need alot of practice but this blog continues to inspire me and is a great resource for alot of projects.

they have a great listing of projects you can find for just about anyone. it's a great resource for all you xmas handmade gift givers out there. the bonus is they also have an online shop! so when you find the perfect project and you say to yourself "gee, i love that fabric" you can buy it there!

Here are just a few of my faves:

it's mandarin orange season again (yum, yum) and i must say i am in love with this idea on how to reuse those plastic crates you can get the oranges in! too adorable. they can be found on sew mama sew or at www.lauragunn.typepad.com

this one is a great little bag called the "kidlet - wall pocket tidy tote" by jennifer from jCasa*handmade.


i love this ipod pouch. jer needs a new one for christmas and it is paining me to think of buying one when i can make one instead. the pattern for this catchy little cozy can be found here on made by pelchy.

i think you get the hint....i could post on here all day with projects, but mackenzie wouldn't like that too much. with all these great sewing projects out there i have been neglecting ravelry and my knitting projects. the last few nights i have been curling up in bed early trying to work on my "hills" hat. hopefully i can get it finished in the next week or so because i have a bevy of other projects in the wings to start on - the christmas tree decorations need to be made. there just isn't enough time in the day......

crisp

autumn is here and we are loving it....as long as it isn't pouring rain out. i thought i would post a few pics from the last week or two of us enjoying the crisp, fall weather.

xmas crafts

anyone looking for some stylish christmas crafts?

check out amy butler's website - www.amybutlerdesign.com. she has a bevy of wonderful free projects to download for sewing, crafting and a special section for christmas crafts.

i myself will be making pretty much all of them...hahahaha. i am sucker for non-gimmicky christmas decor but the christmas tree skirt is my favorite.

egg nog where are you?

why does 7 eleven have eggnog and the supermarket doesn't?
i can't figure this out.
we love eggnog. i especially love a great glass of eggnog spiked with some good adult yumminess on a cold, rainy night. it upsets me that it is november and the eggnog is not readily available yet.

we love felt

i picked mack and i up a whole whack load of craft goodies on friday afternoon. we bundled up and went out in the rain to find some more craftable objects to prepare for all the cold, rainy weather ahead.

i decided to whip up mackenzie some great little felt blocks to play with hackysack style. i found a similar project in the book i am currently obsessing over - "the creative family" by amanda blake soule.

you simply cut 6 - 3" squares and sew them together in the shape of the block making sure to leave one seam open to stuff through. i used rice to stuff with so jer and mack could kick them around. i also cut out some cute shapes to embroider on before stuffing.

these little blocks are addictive and i plan on making a few more. mack has requested one with cute elephants on it and i would like to do one with some flowers. these were a quick and easy project with endless color and style possibilities - my fave kind of craft project!!!

autumn

mackenzie and i were holed up inside during the torrential downpour of rain we had last week. both of us were bouncing off the walls so i figured i had to do something with all of our excess energy and figured why not put it to creative use.
i have been explaining to mack about the seasons and we were talking about fall/autumn and i asked her what reminds her of autumn and man did she surprise me when out she came with boots and brella (what she calls an umbrella). so we sat down and she colored all the fun little objects we drew or printed out that remind us of autumn. it was great fun and she loves walking by the window and pointing them all out to me, but best of all she loves showing off all of her creative endeavors to daddy when he gets home from work.

waiting in the library line

i cannot wait to get my hands on this book.

funny thing is i have been thinking about when i am finally going to get my hands on it in the library reserve line and everytime i get that great little email from the library telling me i have a book, i hold my breath that it is this one. and wouldn't you know that now i keep seeing it everywhere and on everyone's blogs. i am jealous. i want my turn...waahhhhh.

i love this idea

mama to mama:connecting families through the gift handmade by the wonderful and extremely talented amanda blake soule.

check it out. this a wonderful idea. all you crafters out there, let's use our talents to make a difference. take a few minutes to check out the above site and "spread some handmade love".