Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch tonight as kind of a last minute idea. It was sprinkling rain and getting dark fast, so I felt rushed and didn't have good lighting to get any good pictures...these are the best we got. I feel a little jipped on the pictures, but we had fun anyway. When we came home we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Today I got to enjoy this...

(Ignore the blur :( Of course you are anyway, looking at that adorable face!)

Hudson has been the greatest grasshopper exterminator ever this summer!

Oh how I love my kids!

Hudson is in Kindergarten and soccer!

Starting the morning with a "K is for Kindergarten" pancake with sprinkles.

Luckily he cooperated with some cute pictures in the morning....

Then after school he got a little goofy for the pictures. Typical Hudson, though!

Hudson is having fun in kindergarten and likes his teacher! We've been walking to and from school which is nice to be able to get all of out of the house and get a little fresh air.

Another soccer season has begun! This year has already been so much easier than last year. He's happy to just go out and have fun and play...without any coaxing, bribing or pushing from mom and dad! His team is called the cougars. Go Hudson!

Finley watching the game from the sidelines. Ok, not watching the game. Just playing with the grass.

Speaking of Finley, I'll have to do an update soon...it's only been 4 and a half months! Aaahhhk!

She's Here!

I'm sure you've already heard the news...

Finley Afton Walker
April 17th, 6:35 pm
7 lbs. 0 oz., 20 in.

She is such a good baby!

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Hudson has learned to ride his bike without training wheels...He just took off one day and hasn't looked back!

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Easter!

Such an eventful month/week...too much to post. No energy or time to do it!

Finally a Finale

IT'S DONE!
I've come to my happy place in figuring out what I've wanted for the baby's room. It's been an evolutionary process for sure, and now I'm finally happy! I think it's just my style- not too frilly, but still girly, and definitely one of a kind.
I made the blanket, pillows, and valance. My mom helped me cover the bumpers but I went back and chopped off all the ties and replaced them with the polka dot ones. Sorry, Mom. Thanks for all your hard work!

(Notice the purple painted walls. Hooray for not being scared of color!)

It's kind of a bad picture of the valance. But here's a closeup of the cute flowers I put on the corner:

This is the changing table. I repainted it, added new knobs, and modge podged the paper in the cupboard doors. I also needed a place to hold diapers and wipes for diaper changes. I had room for a little side table when we used it for Hudson, but this room is smaller so I had to get creative and made the little basket hanging on the side:

I also made this car seat canopy. It's my second one because, yes, I changed my mind about the first one. Don't judge me. :)

I'm so happy it's all done and I'm pretty sure Jeff is ready to have his "sane" wife back and a house without thread and fabric scraps all over and a dinner table without a sewing machine as a permanent fixture back, too.
I can't believe how close it's getting to the due date. I'm feeling good for the most part, but I'm ready to be done. Can't wait to get this baby in my arms!

Scratch That....Again

I don't know why I keep blogging about this because it just documents how crazy I am, but there doesn't seem to be much else to blog these days.
So, the last two posts have been about my baby cribbing dilemma. And now it continues. Hopefully with a conclusion this time.
Last summer I bought a crib set at a yard sale. This was when we were going through foster care training and I thought in case we got a baby girl, it would be nice to have something on hand. Well, we ended up never doing foster care, but I still have the set. Of course, I don't want to use it now. I'll be putting that one for sale whenever I get around to it.
Then you remember the previous posts: found some I liked, then decided to make my own. Bought fabric to make my own, decided it was going to be too expensive and too stressful finding fabrics, not to mention the sewing, so I returned the fabric and decided to just buy one instead. Bought an entirely different one from the classifieds, brought it home, decided it needed more green to tone the pink down a bit. So I bought some green fabric and started sewing ruffles on the bedskirt and the top of the bumpers, and started adding new ties to the bumpers. I got about half way done, and ran out of fabric and steam. Plus I wasn't liking how it was looking. I was thinking it was looking too Strawberry Shortcake/circus-y. Now I don't know if I should finish it to sell it, or to take off what I've done (I'll still have to replace all the ties to make them match) to sell it. ???? I hate having to buy more fabric to finish it, and I hate selling something that I've inexpertly sewn for enough to make my money back that I've put into it. What would you do?

Here's the before:

Here's after what I did:

NOW! I have decided to give up on finding a bed set I like that isn't too girly so I am now doing all white bedding (which is amazingly hard to find. I'm going to be be mixing and matching items I like instead of buying a set) and doing all the decorating accents in the room white (changing table, curtains, etc.). I am going to get my color from painting the room a cool grayish purple (still on a quest to find the perfect shade). And I'll probably throw some other colors in with some decorative accents like pillows, etc.
I've found a lot of cool ideas that hopefully I can copy and make myself. SO....HOPEFULLY THIS IS THE FINAL PLAN. NO, IT IS THE FINAL PLAN. WHETHER I LIKE IT OR NOT! Because if not, I'm sure Jeff will move out. Or send me to the loony bin. That's about where I feel like I belong anyway.
The room will definitely be a work in progress as we get the funds to do what I want...a piece here, a piece there. Hopefully I can at least get the room painted before the arrival of "Fetus" (our name for her now, since we don't like to tell our chosen name until the grand arrival.)
Is it crazy to get so worked up over a baby's room when the only person who is probably REALLY going to care at all is me?

On another note, here is another sewing challenge I took on by myself, and I'm quite pleased with the results.

This is a hand me down bassinet (pics are just of the top part) that was given to me by a neighbor It had a big Noah's Ark ruffle around it, but I took it off before I took the picture.

Then I added this ruffle skirt thing to hide the Noah's Ark theme. It was a lot harder than it looks...trust me. So I'm pretty proud of it.

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers...

So ignore the previous post. I found this line from Pottery Barn and although it's beyond our budget x 3, I thought, hey, I could make it and make it even cuter x 3 (with my mom's spectacular sewing skills of course, because, let's face it, I have none). I love the mix and match of patterns and the non-overboard pink but still girly look. That's more like it. (I like the top picture better as it shows a little more color thrown in, although it's not the crib bedding).
But then I was looking online as to how much fabric such a project was going to take (since , of course I'd be drawn to the expensive fabrics) and started reading all these articles and posts about how babies can suffocate because of crib bumpers. Argh. Doesn't everyone use bumpers? But now I'm thinking is it worth the risk? Or am I just being paranoid? Sigh. I guess it would be a good excuse not to spend all the money and labor for a bumper and could still make a cute skirt and quilt and splurge the $16 for the authentic PB sheet? Haha.
What do you think? Bumpers. Yay or nay?
And do you love this look better? I was thinking instead of birds (not a huge fan of birds) and trees I could applique elephants or owls? Hmmm?

January Blogging Boredom

Blah. January seems so blog unworthy. So, to spice things up (not really, I'm just bored.) here are some random things for your viewing or reading pleasure (or not).

So we canceled our cable and got Netflix. It's pretty rad for the most part. We have started watching the TV series "Lost" from season one and were pretty much addicted from episode 1. The series has been over for a while, and we never watched it while it was airing on t.v.. I love not having to watch commercials, wait a week in between episodes, and wait even longer between seasons. We've almost watched 3 seasons since the beginning of January. Yeah, we pretty much have no life and this is what we do at night. I am even dreaming in "Lost" almost every night. Pretty sad, but I have no regrets. :)

So I was craving banana muffins about a week ago. Did a quick online search for an easy but good one, and found this HERE. Pretty darn good and I think I ate 11/12 myself.

Banana Muffins (makes 12 muffins)

3 or 4 Large bananas, mashed (the more bananas the moister, so I use 4)

1/2 cup white sugar (original recipe calls for 1 cup, but I don’t like them too sweet)

1 slightly beaten egg

1/3 cup melted margarine or butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups flour

Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and margarine together. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. Mix wet and dry ingredients all together! Pour into greased muffin tins, and bake in 350 degrees F oven for approximately 20 minutes. Enjoy!

*These are much more flavourful the next day, and they freeze very nicely too!

*Also, if you like walnuts, you can throw a handful of those in there as well for some added flavour and texture, or try adding chocolate chips, or better yet, BOTH! Yum

Next on my mind:

I've been trying to decide on crib bedding for baby girl. I can't afford anything I absolutely love and adore (either that or it doesn't exist), but I've come to 2 choices thus far.

Choice #1:

I never thought I would go for this much pink and "girliness", but I think it's the elephants that drew me in. I love the patterns on the bumper and of course the cute pink elephants and green polka dot crib sheet. It's $82 brand new for the bumper, blanket, sheet, and skirt. I'm just still unsure about the pure pinkness of it all (I'd probably do a green wall to tone down the pinkiness)...not really how I imagined my girl nursery, but it's grown on me and I think this is the route I'll probably take, but then there's choice #2 (which I need to jump on asap if I'm going to get it):

This I fell in love with the instant I saw it. It's from Pottery Barn and is supposedly very rare. It was on e-bay for $99, but is now on there for $45 plus $18 s&h. So it's $20 less than the one above, but it's used. Not much of a big deal to me, but still...ya know? It also includes bumper, quilt, sheet and skirt. The only downsides for me are the quilt isn't really "useable" like the one above is, and I'm not a huge fan of the white skirt since really without the quilt, all you'll see is a white skirt, pink sheet, and the bumper. The one above just seems more visually interesting from an outside view point. But I love the patterns and the more classic feel of this one and it just seems less "pink" which is more my style. What do you think?

Well, I guess that should do for now. Thanks for sharing in my boredom.

Snow

These were taken after our first huge snowfall in December. Sledding and snowballs...I'm glad Jeff likes taking Hudson to do this kind of stuff. I was happy to stand there being pregnant and taking pictures. I'm not a huge fan of sledding, but I really liked going to Peteetneet Academy, though, because the hills aren't too scary and they play Christmas music over some speakers.