Super Mario Brothers

Halloween Sneak Peak

Maybe candy will make it better...

Purple Baby

I spent the wee hours of last night finishing up a baby gift for a shower I'm going to later today.  The mom loves purple so I decided to make a purple themed gift.

Target had these baby t-shirts in their Dollar Bins but they were Halloween themed and had an ugly skull on them.  No problem for me though.  I bought two of them and then cut one up for the flower and stitched it right over the black skull.  I love this one so much I'm tempted to make a similar one for myself!

Target also had this little sundress on clearance so I snatched it up and then hand stitched that beautiful butterfly embellishment onto it.  I found the butterfly at Joann and it just fits so perfectly.

Also at Target (can you tell that I love Target?)  I bought this purple onesie and then appliqued the baby's initial onto it with coordinating fabric.

And I used the same fabric to make a matching pacifier leash.

Don't worry, I cleaned it off after the photo shoot :)

All together, looking so purplicious!

Nestled sweetly into a gift box.  You can't see it but I also added one of my new "Family Leaf" necklaces for the mom with all the birthstones of her family members.  She's gonna love it!

I found this box/frame a while back and just held onto it not knowing what I would use it for.  Turns out it's the perfect gift box for this precious baby.  I designed a little card with the baby's name and birthdate and now mom (and later baby) can keep whatever treasures they like inside.

Thanks for looking at all my crafty work!  I hope you enjoyed it--I sure did!

Boys and their Teeth

Noah (7) is missing his two front teeth.
(and a couple bottom teeth, too)

Tobin (3) has all his teeth (for now)

and his first dental exam next week!

Miles (10 months) is growing a couple teeth, himself!

Thirty Something

Happy Birthday, Geary!  You're doing an incredible job leading our family.  I'm so thankful our boys have you as a role model.  I'm impressed by you every day!

Love,

Jeana

P.S.  You still make me swoon :)

Fall

Toby's preschool had a family fun day at a local farm yesterday.  We got to ride on a tractor-pulled hay wagon and choose a pumpkin and learn about potatoes.  We also saw a goat pee.  That was fun.  Mr. Toby has decided that he does NOT like to have his picture taken.  I tried my best though and here is what I got:

I've also been added a few fall touches to our home.  A fall tablecloth and spicy orange candles.  A few mini pumpkins here and there.  And today I made this leaf garland.  I bought a bag of fabric leaves from the Dollar Tree and simply sewed them together on my sewing machine.  

 It took all of 10 minutes and that was only because I had to stop and help Toby put his shoes on to go outside and play.

I don't know if you can see in the picture but my bobbin thread even got all tangled but I didn't care.  We'll just call it "rustic" and say that it adds to the autumnal charm.

I told Geary, "I think the crafty world wants to know about my fall garland." So here you go :)

Changing Direction

All the boys were sick with colds last week and after a week of laying on the couch watching movies all day all of us were feeling pretty unmotivated about rejoining life in the real world.  Monday morning I got Noah up and ready for school but the two little boys were still in pajamas with sleep encrusted eyes when we got in the car.   I felt pathetic and finally that motivation to get going showed up.  I washed their faces, brushed their teeth, served cinnamon toast and scrambled eggs, got them dressed, got myself more put together and decided we should walk Toby to preschool.

Toby didn't like the idea of going back to preschool.  "I want to watch more Diego," he whined.  Clearly, his motivation hadn't shown up.  But I zipped up his jacket and loaded Miles into the stroller.  "Sorry, it's preschool day.  You'll get to do other fun things, like paint and play on the slide!"

The first block of our walk brought more whining.  "I don't like school!  It's yucky."  I ignored this.  "It's too rough.  School is too rough for me."  I chuckled at this.  "I want to go home. With you!"  I paused at this.  And then I knew that if anything was going to motivate Toby it had to be...me.

We kept walking and I quietly said, "You know what I like about school?  I like play-dough."  Toby looked at me but didn't say anything.  "You know what else I like?  I like the train set."  Toby smiled, "Me, too!"
I continued chattering about things I liked about preschool and Toby continued agreeing with me.  By the time we reached the school Toby was eager to join his class and do all things that we liked.

So many times a day I feel like I'm failing.  The laundry is piling up.  The floors are covered in cheerios and spilled juice, dinner isn't ready, I'm behind on projects, the baby is crying, a million chores are left half done because I was distracted by something else... I just can't seem to get on top of it all.  Geary is so helpful and I know a lot of my struggle is trying to reach this impossible standard of Perfect Mother that I've set for myself.  I cried about it to my women's prayer group at church yesterday and the mothers of multiple kids all completely understood.

Today is another preschool day and Toby can't wait to go there.  I can't help but think that our focusing on the positives (the blessings) about school has something to do with that.  And I think it's a lesson I need to work on for myself, too.

You know what I like about being a stay at home mom?  I like the play-dough :)