The squares are completed!

So here it is....so far, so good. I ended up with two crinkly flaps...you can't really see them in this picture because they blend in with the squares. I think if I did this exact blanket again, I would get an orange fabric and do the flaps in that.

I like the contrast of the ribbon in it and there are three of those ribbon loops. I added one because I liked the orange in it so much:)

Now, onto the puff border...and then sewing the back together before quilting. I really hope the quilting turns out well. Anyone have any ideas for what pattern I should quilt into the squares?

I'm drawing a blank at the moment.

Another Quilt Update

We had some drama yesterday with the sewing machine, but because my husband ROCKS, he stayed up until two in the morning fixing it so I could do some sewing today.

I got all of my horizontal strips sewn together complete with one of the crinkly items and one of the ribbon additions. I think there will be at least two more ribbons because I love the orange accent so much and one, maybe two more crinklies, because it turned out better than I imagined.

Don't the interspersed puffs look cool?!

Maybe you can't see them that well in this picture, lets try another angle....

It's 11pm now and I'm just dying to start getting this thing all sewn together. Eh, Sam's not ready for bed yet.....off I go!

Just Because.....

...I'm goofy, and can't help being ridiculously excited about this project.

Here's my stack of squares....

And here's a sneak peak of what it will, sort of, look like when I get it all sewn together.

Cool, right!?

Okay, I'm done......for now:)

New Quilt

My favorite quilt is one that my Madre(step-mom) made me for my high school graduation. It's technically called a Biscuit Quilt. But more commonly referred to as a Puff Quilt. It's made of tiny little pillows sewn together in a quilt form.....like this.

A friend of mine showed me this tutorial and I just fell in love with the colors she chose but had no reason to make one at the time. So about 10 months later, I'm having another baby boy and picked out a baby announcement to make. What do you know?! Without even planning it, it matches all of those colors. Really! I swear! I didn't even think about it at the time. I just liked it.

This is what it will look like. With my little guys name in it, of course.

Anyway, now I had a reason to make this awesome quilt but I decided to make some changes to it. Firstly, it's not going to be ALL puffs. Just about 25% or so will be puffs. Then, I wanted to add some cool textury(is that a word?) parts to it, to make it a little more of an activity mat, more than an actual blanket. If you are drawing a blank....I'm thinking crinkly paper, ribbons and velcro. Things babies like to play with and chew on during tummy time.

So with all these ideas flying around(literally, I was up for 2 hours one night thinking of the possibilities) I headed to the fabric store and came out with these fantastic options.

Heidi with honeybearlane.com went with a more orange tone and the store I went to didn't have quite the color orange I was looking for so I decided the yellow/gold color would work just as well. Plus, I discovered a bonus when I got home....the yellow I came home with is the exact color of the wall the crib will be on in the boys room.

I started cutting my fabric tonight after an hour of really getting my plans nailed down. So stay tuned as I figure out if my idea is going to work or not. It could be a total bomb. But it might be absolutely adorable. Yay for crafty creativity!

Geisha Beauty

Here she is! Completed! It only took me a year.

Connor update

I feel like it's been awhile since I posted just about my big boy, Connor. And my brother took some AMAZING pictures of him while he was here last weekend so I have a great excuse.

Connor is growing up so much. He's becoming more and more reliable if I ask him to do something. He's got an incredible grasp on humor and makes us laugh daily. He's also creating stories and games on his own. He can say his prayers by himself and will even guide Bear through saying one as well.

He loves playing with Legos and builds new things with them all the time.

He's learning how to share and take turns with Bear(this can still be a challenge but it's getting so much easier). He has discovered a new love of having Mom scratch his back.

He loves playing CandyLand with anyone who will submit.

This just happened to be Uncle Josh's turn to get creamed:)

He has peanut butter and jelly sandwiches everyday for lunch. We add variety to the side dish, like crackers, carrots, oranges etc. It doesn't matter what kind of bread its on either. White or wheat is fine by him. The jelly, however, can't be Apricot or Peach(which, of course, is what I canned this past year).

His newest best friend is his "girl dog", Fertti. They love snuggling together. Connor will frequently bring his blanket out of his room to where Fertti is sleeping, wrap her up in it and then get under it himself.

Connor has gotten very modest when changing his clothes. I have to turn around or leave the room. However, during bathtime....he's having too much fun to worry about privacy:) He also gets dressed all by himself every morning without me asking him. He's normally dressed before I am and always before Bear is.

He also loves curling his tongue and loves that Mom can do it too.

He loves to giggle and will go out of his way to make you laugh too. He's always pointing out things that are silly.

He can't wait for preschool to start this summer. And is starting to recognize the letters in his name.

He is a ray of sunshine in my life everyday and I'm so grateful for him. He is turning into such a fun and pleasant little boy.

Kitchen Ceiling Remodel

So here is a before and after shot of what we got accomplished this weekend. Obviously we're not completely finished but all of the big, labor intensive, messy stuff, is done!

Thanks Josh for helping Sam and Thanks Pam for helping me with the kids! I'm so glad you were here to help!

Emotions

In the last 24 hours I have felt SO many different emotions and I'm kind of starting to get a handle on them....I think.

Rather than go through what has happened step by step. I think I'll just cover what happened with each emotion.

Happiness: The Army had a job that Sam wants open up! YAY! It literally is a miracle.

Nervousness: We have to make a split second decision as to whether we want to take it and there are so many variables. He decides to take it and now we are in a whirlwind of things to get done in the next week before he can swear in. Did we make the right choice? Or should we have waited a little longer for something that fit EXACTLY right?

Sadness: His ship date for Basic is exactly 2 weeks before my baby's due date....that means he won't be there for the birth(unless by some other miracle we can convince the Army to let him postpone basic). So if he's not there for the birth, that means I need to do SO much more planning on my own to get this kid out by myself. Sam has been a fantastic birth partner and I know he will be sad not to be there.

Worry: In Basic, the communication between him and I will be extremely limited. How long will he go before I can get word to him that his newest son has been born? Oh yeah, and how the heck am I supposed to name this kid without him there? For both Connor and Bear, we've picked out our 3 or 4 favorite names beforehand and then he pretty much relied on the Spirit to help him pick the final name once the baby was actually born. Well, that scenario isn't exactly possible if A) he's not there and B)I may not even be able to talk to him or show him pictures until snail mail arrives at his location. And I'm sure they won't let me leave the hospital until I've picked a name.

Awe: Our Heavenly Father is so amazing. He can set the most amazing chain of events up in your life and you have no idea where you are going until you get there. We have been so incredibly blessed. If we hadn't moved into this exact location at the exact time that we did. I don't think that the Army would EVER have been an option for our family. But wow! Heavenly Father absolutely knows what he's doing.

Gratitude: For supportive family and friends who are willing to step in and help me be a single mom while Sam gets through the training and first chaotic months of Army life. For Heavenly Father knowing what is best for me better than I do. And for a husband who is willing to do the hard thing because he believes in it and it will make our lives better in the long run.

Laughter: I also had a midwife appointment yesterday and this was the first time I'd seen her since I found out that this little one is a boy. Well, upon telling her and her looking at the report....there was a couple slight discrepencies in what I was told vs. what the report told her. One of which was that the report said "probably female"

AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!! WHAT!????!!!!????!!!???

Okay, breathe, just breathe.....

So they called over to the hospital to make sure that the report wasn't actually for someone else and that it was being read correctly. YES, everything was right. And it looks like a girl.

So they proceeded to ask if I had a few minutes and could go over to get a quick ultrasound done(the hospital is right across the street from my midwife's office).

HECK YEAH! I'm on my way! My midwife says as I'm walking out, "Will you call us and let us know? This is our kind of soap opera!"

Luckily, I didn't get my hopes up. I know what a "winker" looks like and I was sure I saw one.

I was right. This is DEFINITELY a little boy that we're having. But wow, wouldn't that have been crazy? To think you are having a boy and then you pop the kid out and it's a girl, which is what you were hoping for? But your husband isn't there and you don't have any girl names picked out!?

Well, I got a good laugh out of the whole thing.

So now, in the wake of all these emotions I'm feeling surprisingly calm. I know we are making good decisions and that Heavenly Father is blessing us with his guidance.

Oh and with the second ultrasound, we were able to get a profile of the little dude. So for those of you who are proficient in ultrasound reading....here he is!

Asymmetry

I saw some really fantastic asymmetrical wall art on my friend Sarah's blog and wanted to try some of my own. Lets just say that asymmetry is not my forte. I'm much more of a symmetrical person. So first I put up the vinyl and then I just put nails in the wall. What came out of it is definitely not symmetrical and definitely not wall art either. But it works for me.

What do you think?

I tried to get a close up so you could read the saying. It says "Our Family: A circle of strength and love founded in faith...joined in love...kept by God."

I found this at the adorable little Homebodies store in Tooele. It also had another little part to the saying that I cut off so I can put it in another part of the house....stay tuned:)

This was my first attempt at vinyl and I think I'm addicted.

ASVAB

Sam finally dug his heels in and took the aptitude test that you need to take to qualify for the military. The average on the test is normally between 42-45 percent. My studly husband pulled out a 76!!!!!!

There is more good news: With this great score, he qualifies for any of the jobs that he would want.

The not so good news: They don't have any of his preferred jobs available at the moment.

So what happens next? We wait....and wait....and wait....until something opens up. Because something is bound to open up, right?

So for now, we stay here, he enjoys his work at HandiQuilter and makes the most out of every day. I stay home and continue making this house into what I want it to be. Little by little, we're getting there.

The next project: Undoing then Redoing the ceiling in the kitchen. Right now it's a drop ceiling and we're having some electrical issues with the lights. So the drop ceiling will be coming out, the messiness above it will be removed and fixed. Drywall will go up and new light fixtures mounted. Sounds simple right?!

Well, maybe not, but I'm looking forward to it. Because once the ceiling is redone, I can paint in there!

Snow Bunnies...er...and Puppies

We've gotten a ton of snow this year and both of the boys are old enough to enjoy it. So this week I took the boys out during the day while daddy was at work and we played in the snow.

Plus, the puppies just love being out there with us.

Although I didn't get any pictures of our New Years Day festivities...we all went sledding for the first time and had a ball doing so. Bear got a couple face full's of snow and wasn't so thrilled with that but otherwise, loved it. The powder snow out here is just awesome!

Prego on Christmas Eve

This is my pooch on Christmas Eve. I'm 19 weeks in this picture. I've been rather lazy with pictures this go-round...afterall, you've all seen me pregnant, right? Nothing new.

New Years Assessment

Saw this and thought it was a great way to do your resolutions. Rather than focus so much on your goals, look also at what you've accomplished.

Start with a self assessment of the ending year - Here are the questions to ask yourself.

Reflect on the past year and think of 10 major accomplishments, successes, areas of progress or positive events that occurred for you during 2010 (Business or Personal).

What are some of the best decisions you made in 2010? What made them good decisions?

What are some of the biggest risks you took in 2010? How did taking these risks serve you?

List 3 people who had a positive impact on your life in 2010. What did they do and how did it benefit you?

What important lessons or principles did you learn during 2010? What makes them valuable for you?

List 3 areas in which you have grown during 2010. How does this development serve you?

What are your 5 most significant goals in the coming year?

This should start your goal setting process for 2011!