Crafting Like Never Before

In just a couple of weeks my friend, Carmella, and I are going to be selling handmade goodies at Hiseville Elementary School's Holiday Extravaganza. Hiseville Elementary is near and dear to my heart because I taught there for five years before staying at home with my little man. So when I saw they were having this event, I knew I wanted to attend. But then I got to thinking it might be fun to try to sell some items and maybe, just maybe, make a little money, too. For a few weeks now I have been scouring the Internet for ideas of things that I could make that would be cheap enough for me to make with enough profit to cover the cost of the craft. With several ideas in mind, I started full force last week crafting like never before. Here are a few things that I will be selling...

Crayon Totes

Fleece Rosette Wreaths

Felted Bead Necklace

Christmas Tree in a Jar Pendant Necklace

Felt Rosette Wreath
(inspired by The Pretty Poppy)

Pincushion Ring
(inspired by Martha Stewart Living Magazine)

Bubblegum Machine

As if all that crafting wasn't enough, I offered to make crayon totes for my mom's 16 preschool kiddos because she needed to find an expensive Christmas gift for them that wasn't just some little trinket or candy. So for the past four days I have been busy sewing 16 of these little bags so that I could give them to my mom while we were visiting for Thanksgiving.
With my 16 bag deadline completed last night, I decided to throw in just one more thing before taking a Thanksgiving break from crafting. I tried making this adorable turkey place mat for Seth (I first saw it here, but used the patten from Punkin Patterns). It was just too cute to resist making. Since all of BG was out of brown felt, I opted to make the bottom layer out of brown foam. I think it turned out super cute and was so simple to whip up in about 20 minutes total.

I think it will be the perfect addition to our meals with family, and it was a great way to wrap up crafting before the Thanksgiving celebrations begin.

Learning Spurt

Our little man is going through a huge learning spurt right now. So much of one that each day I am amazed at how much he has learned and can do. In just the last week Seth has shown understanding of many signs and can now sign: more, please, eat, milk, thank you, and all done. When asked to point to specific body parts he can identify: head, nose, ears, mouth, feet, belly button, (and just added today) eyes, and toes. While he is still only consistent in saying "dada", he said "bye, bye" when Bryan left for work one day this week. After reading Big Read Barn by Margaret Wise Brown yesterday and focusing on the cow in the book, Seth could point to the cow today. While I was preparing dinner tonight, Seth managed to take off his diaper, take it to his dirty diaper pail, put it in, and then come back in the kitchen. Too bad he hasn't figured out to put a diaper back on though. He is definitely a little sponge right now. He even helped me back stitch tonight while we were doing some sewing.

Even though he is learning like crazy he still hasn't quite mastered getting ALL of his food in his mouth using his spoon. He is close but still has a ways to go as you can see...

but I'm pretty fond of those messes when it's on such an adorable little boy.

Operation Christmas Child

I try to avoid thinking about Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but there is one exception. For the past three years our family has taken part in Operation Christmas Child. We pack shoe boxes full of goodies and necessities and then they are shipped to kids that need them around the world. In order for the kids to receive them for Christmas though they have to be packed and shipped in November. So we gathered lots of supplies, candy, toys, etc. and made sure to include a special note to the children receiving each shoe box. This week happens to be the collection week and so Seth and I headed over to a local church today to drop off our boxes. We hope that our boxes can be a blessing to someone this Christmas season, and if you want to also participate there is still a litttle more time. You can find out all about how to help here.

Raking the Yard

Today we worked in the yard. By we, I mean mostly Bryan, but Seth and I did spend a bit of time outside this afternoon. :)

In order to help daddy rake the leaves, Seth had to do some preparing.
Daddy wears a hat when working outside, so first we put on a hat. Seth was not a fan.

After removing the hat, Seth tried on the earphones.
They were cool but not really for babies, so back to daddy they went.

After preparing, it was time for some work...

a lot of work.
Leaves are not as interesting as rocks,
so Seth decided he would do some shoveling instead of raking.

After all that hard work, of course, you need a little break...

and when all the work was done,
it was time to climb some stairs and head back inside.

The End

Fun at the Nashville Zoo

Today we finally got to go to the Nashville Zoo! It sounds strange to go to the zoo in November, but the weather was absolutely wonderful and we had a blast. Seth was interested in anything that was moving. He loved pointing to the animals and he would make sounds when he got really excited while watching certain animals. It was so cute. Because I love photos and Bryan did such an amazing job taking most of these, I just had to include a bunch. So here was our visit to the zoo in pictures...

(two of my favorites)

A snack break :)

The flamingos were breathtaking!

Moving inside to the indoor exhibits...

Hello, really big fish.

and then back outside again.

Seth's souvenir was a free plastic spoon. He absolutely adored it.

You can see him playing with it in the photo below.

We had a lot of fun spending the day together at the zoo!

Two Trips to Franklin

It had been a long time since I have been to Franklin, TN. But, within the past week I have been to visit twice. Tuesday was my sweet friend, Carmella's birthday. To celebrate we met some of her friends for some shopping and lunch. We ate at Puckett's and then went window shopping in the shops on Main Street. Four girls with four babies in strollers were quite a sight to see. We had a wonderful day!

Carmella and Me

Katie, Me, Carmella, and Sylvia with our four babies

Then a few days later, my mom and I met in Nashville and then headed down to Franklin to the Williams-Sonoma store in the Cool Springs Galleria. We got to meet Bakerella!!! After Angie Dudley, also known as Bakerella, announced she was going to have a Cake Pops cookbook, I knew I wanted to get one. I purchased it right after it was released and then noticed she was doing a book signing in Nashville. Because of the stipulations from Williams-Sonoma I had to purchase a book from their store to get it signed, but they did allow me to get my other copy signed too. So mom and I both got autographed books! Bakerella is just as sweet as she looks on her website and she was willing to answer each and every question that was asked. It was such a pleasure to meet a famous-to-me blogger.
After the book signing, mom and I did some shopping at the mall and then enjoyed a couple more hours shopping in Franklin. We even found cupcake earrings at a cute little shop that we bought to commemorate the day! On my way home from the second trip to Franklin, I couldn't help feeling so thankful for the family and friends that are in my life and how much fun they are to be around!

Weekend Snippets

Because we were so busy this past weekend, I thought I would just share snippets from it.

• Bryan spent the day Friday taking the Professional Engineering Exam. He should get the results sometime in January. So we wait. But, he thinks that he did well on the first half and not as well on the second half. We are just praying that he passed.
• I got to meet several authors at the KRA Conference during some of the time that I wasn't working. Some highlights were meeting Jackie French Koller, author of Peter Spit a Seed at Sue and sharing lunch with Fred Gross, author of One Step Ahead of Hitler. I also got to hear Nell K. Duke speak. It was probably one of the best research presentations I have ever heard.
• My mom and Seth had lots of fun while Bryan and I were gone and it was a great blessing to have her here.
  
• When I returned home Saturday afternoon, Bryan was sick as a dog. I guess all that stress caught up to him. :(
  
• On Sunday I turned 28.
• We enjoyed an afternoon feeding the ducks and geese at the park.

• We played on the playground and counted wood chips.

• After my mom left Sunday afternoon and as Bryan was starting to feel better, we headed to Nashville to enjoy an evening as a family.
• My birthday present was my first pair of TOMS shoes. I will be sporting Pomegranate Corduroy TOMS now. Bryan and I usually try to stay away from giving each other gifts on birthdays or other gift-giving holidays, but at least this present gave a child in need a new pair of shoes, too.
• The three of us had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory! Yum, and a super special treat!
• About thirty minutes after we arrived home the firetrucks came rolling into the neighborhood. The house diagonally across the street caught on fire and after watching and conversing with the neighbors for a while we decided to call it a night. (We aren't sure what exactly happened, but the young guy that lived there hopped into an ambulance and left right after all the trucks arrived. The fire department had the fire out after a few minutes but they work all night investigating and at about 4:30 a.m. this morning they boarded up the front door and left. *I only know this because I got up to see what was happening because of all the loud banging.)