Lenten Changes

     I was reminded several years ago that Lent is  time for making permanent changes rather than temporary ones. Many have given things up for the Lenten season but will resume those behaviors and welcome those things back  into their lives with the celebration of Easter.
     For a long time I haven't given anything up during Lent. I either couldn't decide on something or just forgot until after Lent had already begun. This year I'm making some positive changes rather than eliminating things (not that eliminating some things wouldn't be positive). I invested in a Fitbit so that I can hold myself accountable and keep up with being active and taking care of myself.
     I'm also going to be doing a crochet/knitting ministry with some other ladies from my church. We're meeting on Monday evening to meet each other, come up with a name for the ministry, share patterns and have some snacks. It should be a lot of fun and I've ben working on some patterns so I'm really excited about it!

My new toy

A prayer shawl I was working on

A Blanket for Dolly

     We are beginning a prayer shawl and Baptism blanket ministry at our church and so I've been trying some new projects. I decided to try adding a crochet edge to a blanket and decided to make Froggie's doll a blankie.
     It turned out pretty well for a first attempt but I still have some things to learn about my tools but I'll get there.

Materials

after using the skip cut tool

A close up

a comfy dolly

DIY 1st Birthday Props

     For whatever reason I haven't done as much of my own photography lately. The biggest reason being that there really is no good light source in the house and it is just TOO cold to go out with the kids. I have gone back and forth about whether I want to go into a studio for Froggie's 1 year old pictures. When Big Brother turned 1 we took him to get a birthday portrait done and I hated it and ended up doing my own session with him. I took a few pictures of Froggie the other day so that I could set up her invitations but they weren't what I was looking for as 1 year old pictures either. So Hubby watched the sleepy munchkins and I went to Walmart to get a few things (and a new fire extinguisher since Big Brother accidentally set ours off!) so that I could make some props.
     Here's a little of what I came up with.

balloons, chalkboard, streamers 

and a cupcake

Mmmm

Happy little Princess

     And what do you do with a bunch of balloons when you're done with them? Put them in your Pack n Play and let your 3 year old and almost 1 year old play in them! 

They had a blast

It took a lot to get them out of here!

New Hobby

     When I was pregnant with Froggie I started teaching myself to crochet. I had set it aside for awhile in the hustle and bustle of having a new baby and adjusting to being a parent of 2 with exception of a pair of leggings I had worked on when Froggie was still in her harness (you can read about those here).
     I recently picked the hobby back up and have been working daily on one project or another. I finally finished a new blanket for Froggie (because I wasn't happy with the one I made while I was a beginner) and made Big Brother a hat for his birthday. I have also made a few heart appliqués, two different types of crowns, and a cute little Valentines Day hat for Froggie.

Froggie's new blankie

Valentine's hat

Crown for little girls; pattern found here.

Crown for little boys; pattern found here.

     I picked up an awesome book of projects that can be completed with a single skein of yarn and I plan on working up a bunch of the projects in it. The Valentine's Day hat was actually modified a little from a pattern in the book.

Awesome new book

   Froggie has taken to my new hobby as well and seems very interested in my supplies.

Froggie approves of my new hobby

Coping with the Cold

     Brrrrrr… It's cold out there (notice the "feels like" temp! From 10:17pm Monday night)! We, like much of the nation, are experiencing some record lows for our area. I think this is the coldest it has been in this area in about 20 years. I remember school being cancelled once because of cold temperatures when I was in middle or high school. We live in the snow belt so schools rarely close, and every school in the area closed for Tuesday, some before students even had been there half a day Monday. This is how we stayed warm this evening after Big Brother went to bed.

Froggie slept in some blankets on my lap. 

Hubby sat next to us and played a game. 

I worked on some little crochet projects while snuggling with Froggie.

Multitasking

     The other night Froggie just wouldn't stay asleep and couldn't seem to get comfy (teeth?). After a few attempts at getting her to sleep and wanting to work on the blanket I was crocheting for her I decided to combined the two. I wrapped Froggie up in my partially completed blanket and worked away!

New Crochet Project

I'm going to kind of leave you in suspense here and just post my materials until its completed. In addition to this it uses black, white, yellow and blue yarn. Any guesses?

Thursday Night Fun

     After work and a dress fitting appointment Big Brother and I made our way through the Starbucks drive-thru before making a pit stop at a couple stores. Today was just one of those days that define the "Terrible Two's". Big Brother was REALLY grumpy this morning about getting his sweatshirt on and carrying his cup and he and I just seemed to butt heads all day. When I was getting ready to leave work to head to my fitting he had woken up and he's always pretty grumpy right after nap or he's really clingy depending on the day. Today he just so happened to be grumpy...
     He was fairly well behaved and the seamstress was able to get through pinning up my dress after what they had done to it already didn't rectify its fit issues. He was excited to get some pumpkin bread and was really disappointed that we could only find girly Toms in his size. We headed into a local discount store and found a bunch of books and a couple toys (including a froggy pillow for Froggie!). Some things we'll put away for upcoming holidays and Hubby's schooling.
     After that we decided to grab dinner out before heading home. Froggie slept through 99% of dinner and seemed pretty comfy on the booth next to me!

Snuggly baby

     Before Froggie was born I made her a blanket on a knitting loom before I taught myself to crochet. I then made a blanket for Big Brother as I learned to crochet. I put a lot of time and effort into Froggie's blanket but I like the crochet blankets much better so I'm making Froggie a new blanket. I started tonight so we'll see how long it takes to finish!

blanket beginnings

Hoppy Friday!

    Let the weekend begin! The weather in our neck of the woods has been beautiful for the past few days and typically our luck would run out once the weekend arrived but this weekend is expected to be beautiful as well.
     It has become my Friday tradition to take pictures of Froggie to document her being another week older. Today she is 13 weeks old! Rather than her normal snapshot on the couch I decided to set up shop outside in the sun. I love her smiles and she even decided she wanted to show off her harness.

13 weeks old & showing off her harness.

     I FINALLY finished a legging! I altered the pattern a few times but was happy with my end product. The pattern was supposed to be for a 3-6 month old and it fit Froggie but seemed a little snug. I'll probably alter the pattern to make a larger size so that I can put them over the Velcro on her ankles so that she wont have to wear leggings that go clear to her diaper.

Rainbow legging!

Leggings

     Leggings are a MUST HAVE! Froggie went one day without them and her poor little thighs were rubbed red and looked really sore. It was difficult to find leggings locally and we lucked out that our local kids consignment store had a few in their inventory that we bought out.
     That being said, my task for today is to try to crochet a pair of leggings! I taught myself to crochet while I was pregnant and I figure I might as well put my "new" skills to use since I also have a stock pile of yarn. Here is what they should look like:

http://voices.yahoo.com/make-crocheted-infant-leg-warmers-11198734.html?cat=25