Layla's Birthday!

As promised, I have some pictures of Layla's birthday to share :) She wanted a Minnie Party, so we invited her best buddies over and had a blast.

On a side note, I've been pondering making up some PDF patterns for a few things that I've designed. This birthday banner could be one of them, but I'd like to know how much interest is out there before I go to all that work. Let me know in the comments if you'd be interested in something like that! 

I got this Minnie Mouse game at the Party Store for just a few dollars. It was fun! 

I wanted a picture of all the kids. Kinsley didn't want to be in it, though and this is the best I got, even though Natalie is picking her nose. Oh, well :)

Melissa made the cake. CUTE, right!?

There's the birthday girl! 

I'm in love with this next photo. Baby on the inside, baby on the outside, so cute :)

Natalie made Layla this Cinderella coloring book and wrapped it in a gift bag that she also made out of paper. It was too cute. (I'm the one with the really cheesy smile).

That was the party. But, on her actual birthday (Tuesday), I took some special picture of just Layla. I love this idea and would like to start doing this on all my kids' birthdays. They turned out so cute. 

Here's my happy 4-year-old!!!!

And my favorite...

Aw. Happy Birthday, Sweet, Sweet, Layla Jane!!!!!!

Whew!

Well, I have to say, I'm excited to get back to a routine tomorrow. Casey's off again today and has agreed to watch 6 kids, ages 2 to 5, so that 3 gals can go out to lunch for one of said gals' birthday :) What a guy, right??!! Then, tomorrow, it's back to the school stuff --both mine and the kids'. Which reminds me of one HUGE thing I did not put on my New Years list--I will (Lord willing, of course) graduate with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication this coming August!!!! At the same time, Casey and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary and a few months after that, I'll be turning 30. So, it will be a big year! :)

I finished these hand warmers (sorry for the quick change of subject) and I think they turned out swell.

I'd like to make another pair, but longer on the hand part. Still, I like these a lot and am still proud that I have mastered the knitting beast :)

Also, since I need to keep the Mongolian grandparents happy ;) I can't have a post without a picture of at least one of the kids, right?? Here's my little thumb sucker.

I have plenty of pictures of the little birthday party we had for Layla! I'll share in a couple of days :)

Happy New Year!

We have FINALLY gotten a good Colorado snow here!! It's been fun, but it's okay for me to be ready for Spring, right?? Maybe it's because I was born in California and that's why I'm not as thrilled about snow as many Coloradans. One or two good snows and I'm done. Anyway, I took this picture of Natalie today, isn't she a cute little snow bunny?

I got to take Natalie shopping the other day--and not just grocery shopping, real shopping :) We went to the Disney Store because she wanted to pick out a birthday present for Layla. I'm proud to say, she has not told Layla what her presents are, even though she knows and Layla continually pesters her for information. What a good little secret keeper :) Anyway, after that, we went to Old Navy because she could really use some long-sleeve dresses. She had so much fun trying them all on, it was great. Once, between dresses, she smiled at herself in the mirror and said, "hey, I thought I lost all those teeth!" It was too cute.

But, the reason I actually opened this post was to tell you about my New Year's resolutions! I have been inspired by many ideas this year. Many people are taking the "one word" approach, where you pray about and choose one word to focus on throughout the year. Something I've been trying to implement in my life is to rejoice in all things--the house work, the kids, the cooking, the high points and lows. So, my one word would have to be rejoice!

I know a few friends who choose a Bible passage or verse to focus on throughout the year. I love this idea and will be praying about and seeking the Lord on this one.

As for my typical resolutions, I would really like to come up with and implement a better house cleaning routine. Maybe Fly Lady can help? I'll have to play with some ideas until I find one that works. Any ideas you have are very welcome!! Also, after a season full of eating way more junk than I should have, I'll be going on a sort of detox--no processed foods for the month of January is my goal! I don't think this will be hard for me, since I've succeeded at similar goals before. Plus, I'm armed with plenty of good cook books geared toward clean eating. Like this one. And this one. Oh, and this one :)

Okay, last but not least, I have decided to join the 5 o'clock club. I just read about this "club" this week and my first thoughts were something like, "Pshaw, forget it, no way." However, I do long for time in the Word and for all my efforts to squeeze it in while my kids are awake, it is simply not consistently happening for me and I couldn't get this club off my mind. Don't be fooled by the title of the club, you don't actually have to get up at 5 a.m. The goal is to choose a time to get up before everyone else in the house, in order to spend time with the Lord daily. This will be a hard one for me, so if any of you would like to join me, a partner might be nice!!??

I would love to hear about your goals for 2011!

Christmas Day!

It took me long enough, I know, but here are some pictures from our Christmas. It was pretty relaxed for most of the day, which is how we like it :) After presents, our living room quickly turned into a train station:

Kelby also got some Play Doh, since he loves Play Doh, but most of ours is pretty dried out and all squished together :)

My friend Jenn made these awesome twirlie skirts for the girls. They wore these two days straight :)

We got the girls a doll bunk bed, but Woody, Buzz, Jessie and Bullseye are enjoying it also ;)

And my absolute favorite, I took this picture of Layla and Grandma the day after Christmas. She was plain tuckered out!! So sweet...

And that's that. I'm a little surprised I don't have more photos to share, but I've been busy...busy relaxing, that is :) I'm going to enjoy these last few days of break from school and Casey's four-day weekend!
Happy New Year everyone!!!!!

Merry Christmas to Granny and Papa!!!! :)

The Christmas Quilt!

I finished! With time to spare, too :)  Here's how my Christmas quilt turned out...

It's fabulous!!!!! I say every quilt I make is my new favorite. This one is no exception. Here's a close-up of a block, so you can see the quilting. My free-motion is getting soooo much better :)

I get a lot of my machine quilting ideas, including this one from Jacquie at Tallgrass Prairie Studio. Her work is amazing and always inspiring!
And the back...

My aunt got this fabric at the thrift store!! It's a really soft upholstery weight gingham that she decided she probably wouldn't use after all, so she gave it to me. It was HUGE and perfect for this quilt backing! Plus, it makes it a little heavier, which is nice for a winter quilt.

We've already put it to good use.

My efforts to slow down, "say when" and relax have been successful and reallllly nice. Especially since my two-week break from my own school started this week. Nice! I've been knitting, quilting, reading, playing with the kids, cooking, etc... My favorite moment of this week: squeezing onto our little couch with my four favorite peeps and watching Man vs. Food. It reminded me of my childhood and how we squeezed onto our couch in the same way, every Sunday night to watch Star Trek. Then after a few years of that, it was Lois and Clark. Then Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Always with popcorn and Fresca :) Ah, the stuff memories are made of.

I have the knitting bug

For awhile, I just decided I wasn't a knitter. It seemed to take forever and I didn't know how to fix my mistakes. I don't know what did it, but I suddenly felt like giving it another try. Maybe it's the weather and the fact that our single-pane windows keep me slightly chilly :) So, I knit up these:

I also recently discovered Knit Simple magazine. What a great magazine! It has a small amount of the dorky knitted sweaters, as usual, but check out these cowls...

 And I so want a shawl like this. For around the house. Because, like I said, it gets chilly in here :)

For now, though, I just cast on a pair of these. I'll be sure and tell you how they turn out. In the mean time, you all know about Ravelry, right?? I've blogged about this site before, but just in case some of you yarn people missed it, go check it out! You have to join, but it's free and it just takes a day or two to get your confirmation email. Have fun and keep warm :)

A little light reading?

I have three books going right now, eek! That's one more than I usually like to be reading at the same time, but, well, ya know. I usually read both a fiction book and a non-fiction book. I read the fiction one at night before bed, because I don't have enough brain cells left by the end of the day for anything very deep :) Here's what I'm wading through at present:

1. Ballet Stories. This is part of the Classic Starts Series at Barnes & Noble. I've been looking for something to read out loud to the girls, but as they are only 5 and 3, it needed to be something they would "get". I came across this book and have already read a few of the stories to them. Despite the lack of pictures, they really love it. Especially Layla, surprisingly, since she's younger! 
2. Crime and Punishment. My sister gave this to me for my birthday and it's a doozy! Not for the feint of heart, but so far well worth the 550 pages! I'm about two-thirds of the way done and am loving it. The way Doestovsky writes is truly fascinating! He would put many modern psychiatrists to shame by his work of fiction, ha! 
3. The Grace Awakening. I'm only four chapters into this one, but am so glad I referred to this book. It's a worth-while read for any Christian, particularly those who have been at all touched by legalism. 
4. The Five Points of Calvanism.  I am not looking for a theological debate here on my blog, so I won't say much about this one, other than that Casey and I are both reading it and it's the one our pastor recommended to solidify some things in our minds.

Unrelated, but since we all already know how awesome Etsy is, I wanted to share this super-cool new feature: The Etsy Taste Test! Fun! You click on what you like out of several sets of pictures and then they give you results of lots of handmade things you might like. Just try it, it's pretty fun...and possibly addictive ;) Here are my results. Great way to select gifts for friends too; just choose the things you think they might like. Have fun! :)