Dress up

I absolutely love when the kids play dress up...

I try to give them free reign on anything in the house, and Ayla grabbed onto my lovely Navy hat (I hated wearing that thing during my Navy days!!)

Colton saw Tyler with a walkie talkie one day when he came home for a quick lunch, and right away he had to make one... too bad it was bedtime (he was really bummed). But the moment he woke up, he was ready to make that thing! I only taped his for him, and he figured out the rest. 

Ayla took the easy way, and asked her daddy to make one for her!

It was so cute when Colton was asking me about it though. He said, "Mom, will you help me make the honkey donkey?" with a look on his face that said he knew he wasn't saying it right, but he was close!! 

So funny! I was laughing so hard!

A container garden

We decided to make a garden this year, right after we found out we were staying part of the summer here. with inspiration from both Pinterest and the Austin getaway, this is what we came up with:: a pallet planter for some greenery and a livestock water tub for our veggies!

Here in military housing, you can not just plant a garden, so we decided to buy the container so it can move with us, hopefully :)

The kids had great fun helping fill the tubs, as you can imagine. The pallet was a little tougher than imagined because the dirt kept falling out. A friend suggested using chicken wire to help with this.... but you first reposition the boards in front to how you want them, then staple landscaping fabric to the back and bottom... I LOVE it!

::The last two weeks in projects::

These last two weeks I have been busy making some things on my "project list". I keep said list with birthday presents, holiday presents, new baby presents, and especially Christmas presents carefully selected from my random craft books (mostly sewing or knitting). I don't however always get all of the projects done, but it is nice to have a list to look at and check off!

First, I used a pattern out of Handmade Home by Amanda Soule to make the baby sling. It is made out of good quality muslin, and lets just say, I love it! It is so soft and simple, and I can't wait to put baby in it!

Next, I finally finished my homemade "boppy", or nursing pillow. This fabric I bought a couple years ago off of Etsy, and I have been saving for the perfect project. It is thicker, which I thought would come in handy. I stuffed it with bamboo stuffing and I think it will work well. This is from the book Simple Sewing for Baby, by Lotta Jansdotter. I know with my other babies, I would use my boppy on and off, but it all depends on how much time I had to nurse!

Then I finally finished this project! It was started when Kellen was a wee one, and I just finished the knitting part last December. It is called a baby bean bag from Essential Baby by Debbie Bliss. I love the feel of it, and think an infant would love the texture. I just have to find something to fill it with. I don't really want to use the beanbag beads, but will if i have to. Any suggestions?


Here is me knitting this with Kellen in my lap last June!

I also transformed a nightgown my mom had given me into a cute little nightgown for Ayla. I love it, and so does she! It was intended for her birthday (wish is a little over 2 weeks away!?), but she saw it and begged, and of course, I caved in. I plan to make another just for her birthday with different trim. I handmade this bias tape with some seahorse fabric I had (pink of course!) and kind of just made the pattern as I went. It was fun!Before

and After::

Finally, I made some cute little burp cloths last night for baby. I just took some rectangles of birdseye fabric, doubled it up and added some biased tape. Basic pattern from this book also. I had noticed that some of the ones I have, that I made for some of the other kids smelled of rotten milk.... yuck!
Here is me and baby at 35 weeks and a couple days... time is moving fast!

March One Small Change

Our March One Small Change was so simple... we turned down the thermostat every night to 60-62 F. Simple enough, and SO effective! Especially if you have a programmable one (which we don't).
Looking at our February (that is when we started this change) and March energy bills, we have cut our usage almost in half compared to last year!! Granted, it probably wasn't as cold this year as it was last... still - what a result! Who knew something so easy could make such an impact!

Stay tuned for our April change ... I will post about it later today!

Vintage Swap

I participated in the Vintage Swap, hosted by Heather, this last month. It was my first "swap" and I found it pretty fun.
Ayla and I took a Saturday and went around to some local shops and looked for some vintage treasures for my swap partner, Hannah. We found some awesome little treasures, and then we added a couple from my "vintage" stash.
The point of the swap is to find 3-5 vintage items and send to your partner after they have emailed you some simple info (favorite color, hobby, and such). Then you send it off by a particular day. Your partner sends something to you. All in all a great experience, and I would do it again!

My favorite item that I sent was some awesome reddish napkin rings. These have been in my stash for awhile, and although I love them, I haven't used them in years, so I figured since Hannah's favorite color was red, and she uses cloth napkins - why not! I also found some vintage-ish lace and some retro bright (!) fabric and a couple pillow cases and a nice sheet. All in all, I felt it was a pretty great bunch. Look at that beautiful card! Tyler's Great Aunt (I think) designed this when she was in high school years and years ago. It was part of Tyler's sister's senior project (she did a fashion show, and sold the cards as a fundraiser) I just thought it was beautiful. It is the first one I used out of the pack, because they are hard to part with! The post office obviously needs us sending cards though.... which is one of my goals this year. Hmmmm?

March change

Our One Small Change for March is something we have picked up this winter, but have yet to be completely committed: setting our heat at a lower setting during the day (65-67), and setting it to around 60 at night.
Previously, we just left it at 69-70 depending on how cold we were, day or night. We could just buy a programmable thermostat, but we are going the cheap route and just trying to remember to turn it down before heading to bed.
Now, since the baby is coming any day now, I am not sure how this will effect THAT! I know they say babies like it warmer, but I figure since it will be sleeping near us, there isn't much to worry about. We will play it by ear.

What is your change?

Our February Change results

So I am writing this away from home, visiting with my parents at their timeshare a half hour away from our place. Needless to say, we are not taking part in the family cloths away from home.
But we did however do pretty decently before my parents came to visit. Not as good as I was hoping, but let's face it: the last month before delivery extra laundry is not on the list! So I think since the baby will be in diapers we will be using these more often in the next couple months. Only time will tell, right!?

I would give us a C+ or a B- for effort for the month (January was an A, definitely). But this is something to improve upon and maybe continue as time and energy permits.

I think the One Small Change is a great way to really look at where you can improve on your awareness. So as long as we remain aware, I think it was all worth it.

Wish us luck on our March change!

just a little clarification

My parents are coming in a couple weeks to be here for the birth of number 3. My dad informed me last night that my mom was bringing her own toilet paper. I laughed so hard! (This is our one small change for the month of February) I informed him that we, in fact, have toilet paper in every bathroom. And it is just our little family that is doing the experiment! For them to assume we were going to REQUIRE them to use the family cloths just baffles me!!! Along with the fact that people (I won't name names) think that it is pretty disgusting. Why are we so caught up on poop? It is what it is, and nothing more!
No guests that come over will be required to use cloth wipes.

That's all I wanted to clarify.

Even Tyler says he would try to go number 2 at work. I guess that is still saving TP, right?

Our February Change

Before we get to February, let's just note here that our January change was successful... at least in my mind!
We did lower our meat consumption, and by doing this have come to the conclusion that we can live on less meat, but it did take some getting used to for some people in our family. Not going to name any names!
One thing we have decided is that, besides our venison, we will be buying better quality meat when needed. I was watching Oprah the other day, and it was about our food choices. I think we already make pretty good whole food choices most of the time, but there is always room for improvement. We don't buy organic chicken or pork, because we buy in bulk at our local Costco for the convenience of it. But not everything needs to be convenient. The images of the chickens falling over under their own weight really stuck with me as wrong. So that is where our decision comes from, along with some book research I have done in the past (Micheal Pollan: The Omnivores Dilemma; Nina Planck: Real food-What to eat and why, to name a couple). If we stick to this frame of mind and make an effort to really buy local and organic than maybe we will reduce our meat consumption EVEN MORE!

Now on to the next challenge:

This one is going to be tough.... for Tyler.

We (I) have decided to try the family cloths for our February One Small Change. I know, I know, some people might have a problem with this just for sanitary reasons. But let me tell you... if we are willing to use cloth diapers and wipes on our babies, why wouldn't it be natural to use cloth wipes for ourselves? I myself already use cloth feminine pads when needed, the kids are wiped mostly with cloth wipes depending on which bathroom we are in (for some odd reason, we thought it was necessary to have 2.5 bathrooms (or somebody did!) but that is just more for me to clean!). So the biggest change is to have cloth wipes in every bathroom, along with a basket/bucket for the used wipes to go in.

I have to say that the reason Tyler is most skeptical and reluctant to do this is because we are getting the house ready to sell, and he is worried that the wipes will be a nuisance. I however know that it is all what we make of it. We will just have to dump used cloths in the diaper bin more often, and wash them every 3ish days... not too hard. But we will see.

Today, I contemplated changing our challenge to not using lights for the month (or using very sparingly)... Tyler was again skeptical! I thought this would be fun, mainly because candlelight makes your blemishes appear much less (ex: stretch marks!) and that is always a plus when you are 4ish weeks away from having a baby! We do try to unplug most of our appliances, or at least the little ones (coffee maker, toaster, grinder, etc) when not in use... but again, always room for improvement!

Later today I will add a picture or two, and catch up with my picture a day... I have 11 to do! Hope everyone has a great day, week, month!

One Small Change's progress

Our One Small Change for the month of January was to eat more meatless meals; and that we have! Every week, I have been making a menu, and we have been sticking to them more or less (with a few oatmeal days here and there!). So I call this a huge success, and one that I will be continuing.
It is kind of funny because this also coincides with our decision to stick to a food budget. And this was also a success. We set a certain amount and kept a log on an envelope. We did actually go over it by about $50, but considering before this we were spending about $6-700 a month on food (yeah, I don't know how that happened!) I thought that $460 was a great amount. We are going to probably keep it at around $450 because we are including going out in this amount too. And sometimes it is worth that extra money to NOT have to clean up your kitchen, or prepare a yummy meal. At least at 9 months pregnant!
I also have been setting goals in my crafting and things, and this month, so far I have come so close. Good thing I have a couple more days- Ayla's quilt isn't going to get done on it's own. And the second bootie is coming along... probably about 1 more hour on it? I am going knitting tonight at the coffee house, so maybe I will be able to get it finished!

I would have put new pictures on here, but I can't seem to find the camera. We have some cute ones of the kids playing outside. Ayla has been wearing a purple snowsuit pretty much all day long. Then Colton will decide to get his on, and they get their gloves and snowboots and head out the back door. They cannot wait until Spring and Summer. Neither can I.

One Small Change

Today is the beginning of the New Year: 2010. Wow. There were so many great and wonderful things that occurred in 2009, but we are ready to meet 2010 with open arms and hearts ready to be filled.
I decided for the family that we would participate in the One Small Change challenge, brought by the smart people at Hip Mountain Mama. What it entails is making one tiny (or huge) "green" change a month leading up to Earth Day in April; and blog about it.

The January change I chose for us was making more meatless meals. For one thing, meat is expensive. Granted, Tyler is a hunter, and has gotten a deer the last two years, so we do have a good amount of organic grass fed yummy meat in the freezer. Another thing about meat is that it is expensive to raise. I don't know the exact numbers, maybe I will get around to getting that in a blog here soon, but raising an animal to maturity (cow, pig, sheep) costs an insane amount of money per pound of actual edible meat. And the cost isn't just calculated in a monetary form either. There is a big tax on the environment as well. With huge operations (which is where most of us get our meat from) the waste created by these animals is exponentially greater than what it is really worth.(not a new deer, just a reminder!)

I like eating meat, and I don't intend to become a vegetarian (again), but I figured if we could commit to 2-3 meatless meals a week, we could benefit in many ways. By switching the menu around, we will be open to different recipes (Yummy!); our deer meat supply might last us till next hunting season; and we will save money. All while creating our One Small Change.
Join me (or us) and think about what you could change.

Making hats

Well, lately in my spare time I have been trying to finish up my hats for the mama to mama project. It is such a great thing to do, and I have been having fun doing it, even though my sewing machine isn't exactly the best thing, and I really wish I had a serger! Maybe someday! But I plan to make about 20 hats and hopefully 2 receiving blankets to send to Maine for kits that they send to Haiti for newborns there. I hope they help someone.
So we have been as a family keeping track of our spending so we could see where our money goes, and we found that it is amazing how much money we spend on food! It seems like we are buying something that pertains to food everyday! How does that happen? We have enough food in the house? Why are we always buying more, even when we don't need it? But it is hard to get in the mindset that food is just to nourish our bodies. We do not need to eat extravagant meals or anything, and we do not need dessert everyday, even though I may think so! So I am trying to convert to a different mindset... not just to save us money, but so that we are more conscious of what we actually do eat and what we waste.
It was so cute this last week when I was sick and aching, the kids found more time to come and snuggle with me! It was so sweet, but sometimes they would fight for the best spot!