Quiet Book #2

Yeah, yeah, I know I haven't done Quiet Book #1 yet. I didn't download those pictures yet. But I did get this one done. I made this one for my Friend's daughter who is turning one. I wanted a special present, and my friend is the most fabulous person and she's always, always there to watch the kids when I need her. Plus she is the nicest person ever. So, I wanted to do something special for her daughter. That, and I love making Quiet Books!

Front cover. I really like the sparkly paint! Oh, to make them, I know there are 100 different ways to do it and 100 different fabrics to use. I refuse to measure. Too much work. I buy a yard or 2 of muslin and eyeball it. I cut it to be about the size I want. I'll show you more when (er, if!) I get Quiet Book #1 posted.

The nesting hen and the apple tree. The apple tree is tradition now and must be included!

I did velcro since I detest sewing snaps. And I do like the lift flap on the barn. I just glued the dog inside the barn door.

I decided I love the lift flaps on the houses. I put pictures of her family on the house. I like the roof flap a lot, that's her dog in there! And the girl has yarn hair to braid or whatever. I wish had made it longer. Still, it was easier than I thought it would be and I think it came out cute.

The chick in the egg and the Jack-o-Lantern.

The kids had a great time helping me t cut out eyes and mouths and noses for this pumpkin. The pumpkin and the face parts are felt, so they stick to each other. I like that! And the spare parts fit inside.

This mailbox was so cute. It was easy to do too. Well, once I got the pattern printed, it was easy. I couldn't eyeball this one at all!

An envelope will fit inside the mailbox, so you can write letters and mail them off. hee hee hee.

I thought these hula girls were so doggone cute! I traced them in a coloring book. That's why I love the muslin! I found this adorable ribbon and used it for skirts. My biggest trouble was the fact that in the coloring book, the girls had dressed on, so I had to wing it on the legs and I didn't do such a great job. But the skirts are adorable, so who cares! The vase I like because the flowers come out to play with. I did make it a bit too big though.

The princess was also from a coloring book. And the jewels are the first time I used adhesive backed velcro. It worked quite well! I also have gained a testimony of heat-bond and used that on the velcro to stick the jewels to. The pieces were so small, I wasn't sure there'd be enough to stitch on. That may not have made sense. All you need to know is, it was simple and fun! And it is cute.

See, cute! And the stop light is a fun one I like a lot.

This is the first time I tried the garden. I saw it on a blog online and loved it. I had some trouble figuring out what kinds of veggies grow underground. I do know that potatoes do not have green stems like carrots but that's what I had!

I like the Kangaroo and the baby joey that comes out of her pocket. I wish I had a pattern for a full joey, not just his head, but I'm not good enough to try to freehand that!

And the back came out super-cute! I tried this purse for the first time and it looks good. Even more fun is that you can put fun things in it. Open the button closure and see what's inside!

There is a hair clip, a bead bracelet I made and I made a lipstick out of felt. It came out better than I expected. I also made some felt money which was really cute.

So that's what I have done for my friend's daughter. I love it and may have to make another one!! If you want to know how I did anything specific, ask me and I'll let you know!

Dinnertime

I made sweet and sour chicken for dinner. I must say it is a tasty dish and I really like it. I also haven't made it in a while. I pulled it out of the oven and Callie looked at it with disgust.

Callie: Eeewwww, what's that?! It looks gross!

Me: Its vomit. I barfed in the pan and cooked it.

Callie gave me a funny look.

And she had seconds.

Fall Fun!

Dan had a buddy who brought fresh caught shrimp up from NC and Dan got himself some. He had to prep them for consumption though. They do not start off looking like they do when they arrive on a plate at a restaurant!

Here he is with his favorite specimen.

That was one BIG shrimp!

We had the ward Trunk or Treat on Friday. I lost nearly all the pictures from it, but here are the few that survived:

Rylee is wearing my wig. I was trying to distract her, as Dan had left her with me and then gone off to collect candy with whatever offspring he could locate. Rylee was angry that I wasn't holding her.

Her sisters came to her rescue, but she was still disgruntled.

Ah, placated with a lolly pop! We won't discuss what sort of a mess THAT made!

The leaves are finally turning colors and falling down. We only have a small tree in front, but the wind was kind enough to blow all the neighbors leaves into our yard. What fun!!

We raked them into a pile and Delaney and Rylee had a lot of fun. Delaney liked to jump in them.

Such a cutie pie!

Rylee enjoyed herself thoroughly. Of course, she just loves being outside. Having leaves to play with was an added bonus.

I love this little rake. $2 on clearance at Target! And Delaney thinks it is just her size.

"Wheeee!" says Delaney. "What?" Says Rylee.

I did finally get around to pumpkin carving on Saturday. I only got 2 pumpkins this year and it worked out nicely.

Callie and a shirtless Delaney claimed one and did a decent job of cleaning it out.

Oops, no picture of Marian, but she did a good job on the other pumpkin, It was nice to finally have actual helpers this year! I made them choose simple designs and we ended up with a ghost and a heart. All had fun!

Our favorite neighbor brought over some Halloween goodie bags and the kids ended up with Vampire teeth. What fun!

I love Callie's expression! She was so funny! Delaney had trouble getting the teeth in, and she had trouble with the proper expression.

Marian liked the teeth so much, she wore them most of the day. It is leading to some slurred speech.

I love these girls!!

Her Mother's Daughter

I'm sorry the first 2 pictures are so blurry. I was cracking up, trying to hurry, and I didn't have the camera on the right setting. You get the idea though!

Sleeping Beauties and Fingers in the Pie

Callie was sick all week long. She was so pathetic and oh, so cute. She was roasting hot and spent most of the days laying on the couch or my bed. She liked for me to make her a nest of pillows she could snuggle in.

Mostly I set her up in front of the TV and let her watch cartoons all day. She would watch and nap and watch and nap. Here she is, fast asleep in her nest of pillows. She is almost back to normal now. She still has a stiff neck from sore, swollen lymph nodes on her neck.

I didn't go out much this week because Callie couldn't go out. I got wrapped up in my Quiet Book making and occasionally left Delaney to her own device while I was working. I was nearly finished the other afternoon and I looked up to see Delaney, falling asleep in the computer chair!

The poor little pickle had just conked out right there. I was afraid she was going to fall off, the way he head would nod down and jerk. She was too cute!

And Rylee.. ah, non-sleeping Rylee. She is working on growing some back teeth. She has very swollen gums as her molars think about making an appearance. This translates into not much in the way of napping, lots of night waking, and not staying asleep once she is asleep. This day she finally fell asleep after much grumping, but I had to leave in 15 minutes to go to an appointment. Sigh. I just lay her on the couch while I got everyone else ready. Then I took a picture.

And the last picture has nothing to do with sleep. We had the missionaries over for dinner and I made Chocolate Truffle Pie for them. The whole evening was kind of a comedy of errors, but it all began earlier that afternoon when I saw Delaney sneaking away from the refrigerator....
Little Stinkpot had been scooping out pie with her fingers! The evidence was on her chocolatey face. Grrr. Yes, we still served it and yes it was delicious.