Christmas 2011

We had a very nice Christmas this year, even though we were all sick quite a bit from late October through December. So far January has been kind.

We took 2 light-hunting trips just the three of us- plugged some of the area highlights into the GPS and just followed along! Here are some cell pics from a few houses:

We stopped for coffee/cocoa before and brought our own cookies along to munch on as we drove. This will probably become a little tradition- Emily had a ball, saving cookies until the next stop, then eating one...music on...free-save-for-gas Christmas entertainment. :D

Christmas Eve day J worked at the PO. He got home early though and we were able to make it to church. Had a nice dinner and then watched our Nativity movie. We love that tradition for Christmas Eve...it's nice to keep it low-key and fairly quiet and solemn. We always open one gift- pj's. E keeps forgetting each year that it's pajamas :) This year was Phineas and Ferb jammies. I didn't make something pj-wise since she still had a few that fit. The last nightgown I made was in the fall and it was a long sleeve flannel one. After the movie, we sang a few songs and she zonked out on our bed. We tucked her into her own and followed suit after stuffing stockings. :)


Christmas morning! She's still bleary eyed here:


I have lots of present pics, but I'll just include this one for her faraway aunt to see. This is E playing her new Active Life Explorer on the wii- super fun and it actually keeps them working for good portion which is nice. Can't just sit on your rear and play tennis with this one! :)


Nice to chronicle a bit of the season for remembrance!

Sewing Catch-up

I'm getting the sewing bug again, which could be a good thing since stash game on my favorite site is starting up in just a couple of weeks! Not that I'll win or come close by any means, but it's fun to play. :D

I made this for a birthday gift for one of Emily's friends this fall. Emily got her own version for Christmas:




This little matching skirt set was made from an old sweater. Another of E's Christmas gifts:


We had a crafty evening of ornament-making from an online tutorial. Put some cider and music on and chatted while stitching these little guys together. It was a fun night.

This was E's:


These were mine:


These were J's...the first one strongly reminded us of the 70's. Or the tootsie pop owl for some reason:

The second one here I hid at the side of the tree down at the bottom. :D Viking owls don't really jive with my whole golden-woodland-bird theme:


This giraffe flannel-lined minky robe was for my niece Romi for Christmas. She just turned 4, so it's quite large on her and quite small on Emily for the photos:


I want to make one just like it for E for next year. I don't have enough fabric though. :P I'll have to hunt this fall!

We made a few quick hair accessories for her small advent gifts:

The angry birds were inspired from a blog I follow. So cute!

I loved figuring out how to underbraid this year- looked really cute with all the Christmas-themed hairthings:


That catches me up for 2011. I finished a pile of hemming and finally sewed up 2 dryflex shirts I cut out for myself over two years ago. Heh. I also cut out a skirt last night and sewed it up today. Felt really good! I will post that soon. Off to watch Mansfield Park with J! :)

Christmas Sewing Part 2

This year E still fit her fancy dress from last year so I decided to make a fun and casual holiday outfit instead. The bows are from another sewingmama :) She got a compliment on the bows from a guy (yep, a guy!) at Target..."I like your bows, Miss!" in a sort of english accent. I usually don't have to prompt her to say thank you, but she looked at him oddly and I ended up having to prompt her and she said 'Thank You' and smiled...then turned and asked me, "What does 'Lock your bonus' mean?" Lol...but she thanked him for saying it! :D She wore the dress a few times this season- to the Christmas Eve service, to a cookie party, out and about a few times. I hope it still fits next year (crosses fingers!)...she grows like a weed. She's grown 2 inches since August! Our 6.5 yo is now a hair shy of 51" tall- crazy! I was wondering why all of her pants were getting to be capris :P

This first pic is when she first discovered I made a matching dress for Lyzzy:







The ribbons on the obi are another Target dollar aisle purchase:



The other plays we saw this holiday season were Hansel and Gretel by the Old Log...what a fun performance!

We were front and center and got to get in on the action when the cat (there was a cat in this one) sat between E and J, and then the wicked old witch came and found her there, beat her back on stage and then asked J for assistance up onto the stage...took a bit of wrangling (intended) and with one final shove he got him (the witch was played by one of the regular guys- so funny!) back up. The witch turned round and gave him the eye, saying "Watch where you put your hands there, sonny!" or some such thing. E loved it! We always love the Old Log performances...I think I've only seen one where I was 'eh' about it :)

The other was just after the New Year...Cinderella at the Children's Theater- it had our favorite characters who played Frog and Toad awhile back as the ugly stepsisters- those two guys were hilarious!

I didn't much care for the girl who played Cinderella- she overacted and had quite the shrill singing voice. The Prince wasn't very lovable either IMO and his quiet voice was overpowered by Cinderella. The kids hardly care...there were mice puppets, a beautiful coach, the sets were divine and the costumes and other dancers and singers were great. All in all it was one of our favorites even with the performances by the 'main' characters- in this play the stepsisters and stepmother definitely ran the show! We still have a soft spot for Frog and Toad and of course our very first play there with E- Aladdin. Those are our top 3 :D We can't wait for Mulan this spring!

That should do it for my Christmas posts...I hope to have E write her cards early this week after she's feeling better. Will be nice to move on from all the holiday hulabaloo, much as we love that time of year :)

Christmas Sewing Part 1

This was my gift to my niece Romi...the red apron is for her mom :) We included some pots and pans, utensils and whatnot as well- I hope she enjoys them for years to come! The print fabric is a Japanese canvas from Crybaby's- it's quite fitting for them (ok...mostly her mom!).


Modeled by E, it will be much longer on Romi and will fit her for quite a few years by looping the waist ties through the neck in back:




The other apron kindly modeled by dh:



The pretty package- I found this ribbon in my stash...I pick some up now and then in the Target dollar aisle:


These following few pics are the night of the Nutcracker Ballet...E wore the same dress as last year:


Pardon the crazy grin on E :D


We went to the O'Shaughnessy at St. Catherine this year to a production by Ballet Minnesota:


It was a good night, although we both agreed that it wasn't the best we'd seen. Quite enjoyable though- always fun to see the variations in productions and much of it is 'new' to E each year as she grows. That being said, we like going to a ballet each Christmas season, but I wish that there were other performances. It's all Nutcracker. We've liked it so far as it's been new to us but I'm definitely ready for something else!

Part 2 to come.

Gymnastics Part 2

E has come a long way in a month- she started by 'log hopping' and is now doing wonderful cartwheels! She's working on her handstands as well as going over right into a backbend. She just started doing a backbend from the standing position- pretty scary! :)

I made this late Nov or early Dec out of a rose patterned velour. Same Jalie ballet pattern modified. I absolutely love the attached shorts although I plan on doing a regular leotard soon. I completed one in Dec. but it ended up tiny due to it having absolutely no vertical stretch and fit a small sz 3, not my sz 7/8 girl :) I'll add in lots of ease and try again soon.



Had to overexpose this so you could see the pattern:





I didn't edit these next few pics, sorry for the red eye and whatnot! We had a great Christmas this year although we've had more than the usual share of sickies going around. Here's just a couple pics:

J's new furry fleece pj pants...he's in love :) They are his new fave- he puts them on right when he walks in. They're ultra soft and warm which is quite important as we like to keep the heat down at home. Mine are of the same fabric...I'd do a few things different next time but they're quite comfortable too! My pair sports a yoga waist in aqua which you cannot see from the photo :P Please forgive the late night pics...heh.



And E's favorite present from us:



I'll follow with another post :)