Projects I've Been Working On

I've been doing several crafty things lately and here are a few of the projects I've been working on:

First up are holiday blocks, one side says Give Thanks and the other Merry Christmas.  A group of girls and I got together to make these and holy cow we did not know what we were in for!  I can't believe how long it took to make these suckers but I LOVE the result!  Check it out!  (if you are interested in instruction on how to make these leave a comment with an email and I will send you them)

 And here is the Christmas one in action!

A giant  fall wreath that I LOVE!  I made this for a balcony needing a little something in my home.  Now I have to make a Christmas one, but not until after Christmas to get the flowers at a much better bargain!



I was talking with one of my friends and she mentioned she'd like to do this one and I thought, wow it sounds so easy and I could really use it!  I totally get sick of fishing for my makeup in my unorganized drawer.  I also chose to make a little something for my brushes and q-tips!

Get a frame, spray paint to desired color, cut and insert sheet metal and attach magnets on the back (get the good magnets, not the already circled ones, they don't hold much weight).  For the containers I got two Mikasa crystal candlesticks from Goodwill and two candle jars from Michaels and glued them together.  I think they turned out pretty wonderful!

There are more projects coming up that I've had ideas for.  Stay tuned!

Bella turned 3!

Our sweet baby girl turned 3 on Thanksgiving too!  We waited until most everyone left to celebrate but we did have everyone sing to her, she thought that was a lot of fun.  She kept asking for cupcakes and I feel bad that I didn't make any, I just knew we were already going to have a massive amount of desserts.

Bella actually letting me take a picture of her, she is saying "cheeeeeese".   She is holding a special eye spy toy from Grandma Stockdale!  Thanks Grandma!

Bella has a new found favorite.  Thomas the Train.  Oh my gosh.  I had NO idea about this until we discovered a lot of Thomas and Friends episodes on Netflix.  I also had no idea it has been around forever, go figure.  Anywho, she LOVES Thomas and trains, so for her birthday we got her some trains and a few tracks, now I think we created a monster!  She is obsessed with them, she doesn't want anyone to play with her with them, really.  She also has to sleep with them!  Crazy.  Forget dolls and princesses, my little girl loves dragons, cars, airplanes and trains!  Choo choo

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving at our home this year and had plenty of company!  Dave had a brilliant idea of rearranging furniture to fit all the adults and teenagers as seen below (look at all that YUMMY food!).

 

Teenager table :)

All little kids ate here and it worked great!

We had 24 people in our home!  It was amazing!  We had such great food and a lot of it!  Way too much dessert we didn't even put a dent in it!  Thank you to the Wolfleys, Johnsons, Hallocks, my dad and step-mother, Mark (one of my crazy brothers), Lisa, Stacia, McKayla and Natasha. 

I am always so thankful for what I have, I feel so blessed all the time but this is a fun time of year to express it.  I am thankful for my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice, without Him I would have nothing.  I am thankful my Father in Heaven sent me my sweet husband who is so good to me and our babies, I would be absolutely miserable without him.  I am thankful for my sweet babies (even though Grayson's neediness is killing me right now), they are TONS of fun and are so dang sweet, they enrich my life every day.  I am thankful for my home, that my husband has a job and I'm able to be a stay at home mommy.  I am thankful for all my many temporal blessings such as my wonderful home and working vehicles. 

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving as well!

Summer so far

Here in Eugene we went straight from winter (55 degree days) in May and even June to summer in July.  It is nuts.  But here are some pictures to document our summer.  Granted we have done a lot more going to the lake, visiting friends and family and such however I am TERRIBLE at taking pictures!  So here is what we got so far.

We were just playing outside enjoying the warmth and sunshine for the first time in forever!

Grayson had his first birthday!  Bella, of course, had to help him open his presents.

We went to Seattle to visit friends and go to a concert.  We had a BLAST with the Sassers, we went to the zoo and Bella LOVED it.  Bella and I were able to ride a camel which was super cool.  But Bella mostly liked the sharks.  She is obsessed with water and water animals.  One of her favorite movies is a dolphin documentary.  A girl after my own heart for sure!

U2 concert!!!  Oh man, seriously, I cannot say enough about this experience!!!  Dave got me tickets for the concert Christmas 2009.  We didn't think we'd be able to go because at that time the concert was scheduled for 6 days before I was due with Grayson.  But then Bono had back surgery and it was delayed for a year which worked great for us.  We stayed with the Sassers and they were wonderful in not only taking our kids for the evening but also my friend's baby girl so they could go as well!  It was my first real concert!!  I was so stoked and WOW, what an amazing experience!!  The music was amazing and it was SO much fun to see my all time favorite band live!  I gained a whole new admiration for the Edge!  Our seats weren't the greatest, but we moved down after a while.

In July my long lost brother, Greg, and his Canadian family came to visit.  Well, they aren't really lost, they just live in Canada which is really hard for them to come visit and difficult for us to go visit.  I hadn't seen them in two years!  I hate that.  Really hate that.  But it was so great for them to come and they even stayed at my house, which was awesome because with baby schedules we got to see a lot more of them than we would have otherwise.

Grayson and cousin Tati playing in the sand and having a blast being so silly throwing the sand and putting it on their heads.

Grandma Leora found a starfish, the kids were amazed with it.

I got to hold my nephew baby Gavin.  Oh, what a sweet boy he is!  Greg and Julie sure are blessed with such sweet kids!

We went on a hike and I actually took the camera!  Aren't you so proud of me?!  I am!  Bella hiked as much as she could.  The trail was kind of overgrown with ferns that were taller than her so I had her on my back for a lot of it, but she was a trooper.

I know, this is a bad picture, but it is the only one I have of the boys!  Grayson totally fell asleep in the pack, he had his head all the way to one side, it looked like it was going to fall off.

And thank goodness for Bono.  We don't have to take our own backpack when he comes!  He carries all our water, snacks, diapers and wipes in his pack, it is awesome!  Oh and it tires him out really well.

Well, we've done a lot more than documented with pictures here, we went camping for the first time since Bella was born.  It was a difficult first night (3 hrs of sleep) but the second was good.  It was fun to finally go camping.  Camping runs in my blood, but I also know we all need good sleep to enjoy ourselves so we haven't ventured out until now.  It was a lot of fun and it was good to go with some friends. 

We've done some fun yard saling, actual sailing, hiking, road trips, lots of time at the lake with friends and family, BBQs, fishing, clamming, walks and just enjoying nice weather before it disappears. 

We hope all of you have had wonderful summers so far as well!  Hopefully we will have great weather for a couple more months so we can enjoy the outdoors some more!

Early riser

So because of this

 sweet little girl

I had to make these

So that her room will look like this

in the morning so mom can try to get a few more

ZZZ's

For Denny and Fran :)

This is just for Denny and Fran!  Bella loves it!  Listen closely, she says hi to you guys and that she loves you too!  :)  Thanks again!

Snow day!

Dave had President's Day off so we decided to take our kids up to experience snow for the first time.  We knew Grayson wouldn't really be able to participate in any fun snow activities but we figured Bella would love it as she LOVES to be outdoors and jumping in puddles.  Heck, she would walk right into a lake, stream or river if we'd let her.  We went up to Willamette Pass and started packing on the layers.  Bella doesn't like layers we learned, but we had to do it because we also know she doesn't like to be cold.  She didn't know what to think of the snow at first, until we were able to show her how you could have fun in it.  We also brought our puggle dog, Bono, who loves the snow.  We thought we'd put him to work:

Everyone had a good time.  I'm still not sure how much Bella liked it.  It seemed like she really enjoyed herself but she didn't say much which is a new experience for us all.  Grayson hung out in the stroller all bundled up and was content the entire time.  It was a lot of fun and we were all beat by the time we got home.  A GREAT family day!

Catching up with B and G

Thought we'd do some posting about our sweet babies.

Grayson is a crawling boy now.  He is SUPER cute and such a happy little (or should I say big?) guy.  As long as he is feeling well he is just this happy little man, I LOVE IT!  He LOVES following his sister around, he absolutely adores her and she actually not only tolerates Grayson but it seems she really does care for him which is the cutest and most heart-warming thing on the planet.  He started crawling about a month ago and he is already trying to pull himself up on things with not much success.  He loves jumping in his jumper and he is a joy to bring with me to run errands.  He actually falls asleep in the car and on the go which is a whole new concept to me.  He likes to blow raspberries with his mouth.  Since his surgery to fix his tongue-tiedness he has been having a hay day playing with his tongue!  He loves to stick it out and curl it up, it is so cute.  Grayson is an easy going baby and I thought he would be my cuddler but as things are right now, not so much a cuddler, darn it!  He cut his first tooth on Valentine's Day which was such a blessing because he was having a really  hard time teething.  Not looking forward to more teeth coming in, poor thing.

One of Bella's favorite games with Daddy is the throwing the big red ball down the stairs, it totally cracks her up and gets her so excited.

Bella is doing awesome right now.  Granted she has her moments, terrible two's and everything, but really she has been doing so much better!  We've even been able to attend most or all of church which is wonderful for us!  Her communication skills are developing quite well and we are able to figure out what she is saying or she can communicate what it is she wants which saves everyone from a nightmare.  She still has her tantrums and that is usually when she is out of her element.  She is a joy at home and is so great with Grayson and man, when she gives you a hug, you just melt . . . you really earned it from her if you get one.  She is so sweet and is very concerned for the well being of others, asking if they are "okay" or "alright".  She is absolutely obsessed with all things Toy Story.  She loves Buzz, Woody, Jessie and Bullseye.  She likes pretty things but could care less about princess things.  She is a joy to have and we love her SO dang much!!!  It is also really cute that she has some of her favorite people, Grandpa, Uncle Mark (none of us get this one), Natasha, McKayla and Stacia, of course, and when the Wassoms come to town she is ALL about her cousins Dallin and Bobby!  She is loads of fun to play with.  She doesn't really have fear which then scares her mommy because she will go down the HUGE slide at the park and jump off things, I guess she is kind of tomboy because of all this but she also loves pink and purple . . . my kind of girl :).

Birthday Weekend

First, I have to say that I hate myself because I didn't take ANY pictures of this wicked fun event!  I really cannot believe it.  So I will just have to tell you all about it.

Dave put together an amazing 30th birthday party for me this past weekend.  Family and friends were invited and it was held at Mt. Pisgah arboretum - a beautiful setting.  Here is a picture of the pavilion where the party was held (it is not with the decorations for the party but similar, the Japanese lanterns were there).  It was in the evening in January and as you can tell the pavilion can open all sides, so it isn't made to hold heat in.  Dave set up lots of heaters to get the place warm but we still ended up needing to wear our coats and some an extra blanket - but still fun!

Dave had purple iris and white gerbera daisies on the tables.  Lilac and pearl colored balloons all over as well.  And the road leading up to the pavilion was lit with twinkle lights and torches.  You get the idea . . .

The food was AMAZING!  He got a TON of king crab, shrimp, Outback bread (which I LOVE), chowders, salmon, a vast array of cheese and crackers, Martinelli's, smoked salmon, Pork tenderloin, burgers (for those non-seafood lovers), homemade fries, mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, delicious fruit salad, (I am sure I am forgetting something, there was a TON of food) and for desert 6 different kinds of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake!  It was WONDERFUL!  Of course he had to embarrass me with a "how well do you know Teresa" game and a slideshow (yikes!).  Other than the embarrassing me thing and it being not so warm, it was so much fun!

Dave also set up babysitting for those who needed sitters.  He commissioned several of our nieces to be the babysitters (they range in age from 18-13) and our home to be the babysitting location.  I thought that was a brilliant idea as finding sitters can be extremely difficult and our nieces are the BEST!  Even our nephews helped in entertaining the young ones.  So great!

I know Dave had A LOT of help from my sister, Debra, and her family and, of course, Stephanie Sasser whose family came down from Seattle just for the event!  Dave really couldn't have done this without Stephanie and Debra so a BIG thank you to you WONDERFUL ladies!!!  And a big thank you to all of you who helped and celebrated with us, it was amazing!!  I go forward with not as much trepidation to the my 30 + years.

Dave, I love you, you are amazing and wonderful!  How did I ever get so lucky to land you as my forever companion and soulmate?!  I love you and thank you for loving me too!  Thank you for putting this all together for me!!  I LOVE YOU!

Project Time

 Lately I've really been in a crafting mood, at least when I can break away from being a mommy and a housewife long enough to do anything.  Here are some projects I've been working on:

A Christmas wreath.  It is amazing how easy these are to do!

Dave and I saw similar ideas in Hawaii for these signs and figured we could make them ourselves at home, so when we got home we got started.  Dave and I both worked on these and we are pleased with the outcome.

I've always wanted to make a quilt and I've always been to afraid to do it.  While Dave's mom was here helping me with pretty much everything, she made Grayson a quilt and I watched her some and figured I might be able to do it . . . just not nearly as good.  Anyway, I wanted to make Grayson a play quilt, one with lots of colors and just super busy so he would have fun looking at it while doing tummy time and rolling around everywhere.  This is what I was able to come up with.  It really looks like a 4 year old did it, but I am proud of it!  He received it for Christmas :)

I also thought it would be fun to just have a fun cuddle blanket full of soft goodness for Bella.  You can't tell by the picture but the Hawaiian flower blanket is SUPER fuzzy and soft, better than any fleece.  I also thought it would be helpful to make Grayson a fleece blanket since the boy is 7 months old and still sleeps better swaddled.

These are the projects I've been working on as of late.  I thought the blankets were important to have for the kids so they would have something made by their mother.  I'm happy with the fact I've been able to do them all even if they aren't perfect.