Life & Craft

newborn twins...

To complete my 2011 wrap-up, I needed to share these photos from a newborn twin I helped with in December. My friend Katie was the photographer and she asked me to help, which means I get the fun with none of the pressure. :-) My kind of shoot.

The twins were a few weeks old. A boy and a girl. It turned out their Mom went to highschool with my hubby and it was really fun to meet her. I didn't get a lot of photos since I was "helping" but here are my three favorites.

Baby boy screaming his head off...

Baby girl sleeping peacefully...

and the sweetest tiny fingers...

Now on to 2012!

Belated Birthday Photos...

My big boy turned 6 right after Christmas and I must admit it took me by surprise. All of a sudden, he is half grown and able to do pretty much everything without my help. It takes some getting used to but I was happy to be able to celebrate his big "6" birthday with both my inlaws and my Mom.

We planned a huge day and even though Thomas woke up feeling lousy (and I had a sinus infection) we were able to do most of what we planned. Thomas got to take his birthday money to the Lego Store and play at Discover Mills Mall. The cookie cake was my idea but turned out to be a huge hit with the kids. We had the grands out in the evening and opened gifts and ate cake and it was a very special day.

It took all three kids to open this one...

A huge Lego Airport from Aunt Linda and Uncle Paul...

more Legos...

Happy Birthday Thomas!

2011 Wrap-up...

It may be a little late to be posting my last few photos from 2011 but oh well. December is always insane with hubby working the holidays and Christmas and a birthday thrown in there as well.

Our kids had a great Christmas this year. They were all finally old enough to really enjoy the festivities (and of course the presents). I didn't take too many photos but here are a few.

The girls got matching rag dolls...

Abby got a little cat that walks around. It was a huge hit...

Thomas got several "big boy" presents this year including a real tool set with a real miniature hammer and tool box. He and his Daddy have already put it to work building him a new coin bank. :-)

Tomorrow I'll post pics from Thomas' 6th birthday... :-)

a little holiday hiatus...

I seem to have taken a little break blogging the last few weeks. It definitely wasn't planned. I have a long list of things I want to blog but I just never seem to get around to actually posting them. I have been sewing and making runs to the post office nearly every day for weeks and we have taken hubby's days off (which have been few and far between) to do fun stuff with the kids.

Thankfully, all of my shopping, wrapping and shipping of Christmas gifts has been finished since last week, so all that's left is a big grocery list (which I refuse to take the kids on) and a messy house and car. Hopefully all of that will be done by tonight and I can relax. :-)

Even with the constant trips to the post office and the endless replaying of Charlie Brown Xmas special, I have managed to get LOTS of sewing done. In all I've completed one huge custom order quilt and completed more than 40 quilt blocks for various projects (not including the 120 Half-Square Triangle blocks in my sewing machine).

Star blocks for a boy quilt (for the shop)...

Log cabin blocks for another girl quilt (for the shop)...

A chain of HST blocks in progress for a boy quilt...

And a couple things for the baby. :-) This oversized quilt block will become a quilt... I'm obsessed with pink & gray (and turquoise) color combinations...

and these fabric cuts will become burp rags. :-)

I'm not sure how much I will be around this week, but I hope to have some finished projects to show you in January. Merry Christmas!

a little sewing for baby...

Amidst lots of holiday sewing for clients, I managed to squeeze in a little sewing yesterday for me. Actually, for the baby. :-) I'm in "nesting" mode and even with a brain full of projects with deadlines, I can't help but think about this little girl kicking me in the belly. :-)

I've always wanted pacifier clips for my babies, but haven't ever broken down and paid $8 each for the store-bought kind and even poor Abby never had one even though she loved her paci when she was little. I just never had time to sew with her. I swore to myself that this time around (which will be our last) I would make some. And I did. :-)

I found an awesome tutorial online for these and they are so much more "heavy-duty" than most out there. I will probably add these to the shop prettty soon as well. They are just that awesome. ;-) In fact, I just might make a couple more so she'll have one to match every outfit. :-)

My best friend and her family... :-)

love this family...

These guys happen to have been friends for several years and I cannot believe how much the kids are growing. We met them when the littlest guy was just shy of one year, and now they are nearly grown. Here are a few of my favorites for a sneak peak before I deliver their photos this afternoon. :-)

 

 

a few favorites...

I loved photographing this wonderful family. Here are a few of my favorites...

Have a great Black Friday!

drumroll please...

Hubby and I went to our big 18 week ultrasound today and got to see our littlest Duke baby. What a sweet little thing and the ultrasound technician said the baby was "shy", so maybe that will stick around after birth. I'm not sure what I would do with a shy child after three outgoing little ones. :-)

We also got to find out the sex of the baby. So after a bit of a drumroll...

It's a GIRL! :-) and I am due on April 22, 2012.

Stocking Stuffers...

I just added several sets of Coffee Cozys to the shop. These make great stocking stuffers and come in a variety of colors and styles. These are made to fit most paper to-go cups and are shown on a Venti Starbucks cup. Click HERE to see the sets available.