Project Extraveganza!

 I have been on Fall Break this past week.  Long story, but we were gifted two extra days off in exchange for a workshop in February.  I'm sure I'll be very sad in February when everyone else in the district has a 4 day weekend and we only have 2 days, but these extra two days have felt like heaven.  I felt like I was on maternity leave again, where the only thing I HAD to do was spend time with my precious baby.  Audrey and I had a great time during our days visiting Scott at work, going to the zoo, and working on many projects.  I tried to make the most of my time working on some projects that have been on my "To Do" list.

My goal for these projects was to TAKE MY TIME.  Normally when I am faced with a limited amount of time and a plethera of projects I rush through and end up not liking my projects in the end.  I'll realize I don't have the proper materials and substitute materials I don't like as much, I'll get in a rush and cut corners and make a big, unfix-able, mistake.  I'll try to work from memory and end up half-way through a project and decide to quit because I've lost my inspiration.  It was even more difficult to take my time because I was working around Audrey's nap schedule, and she wasn't always complacent.  There were times it caused great pain to put a project down for hours until bedtime but in the end it was well worth it because I really like ALL of the finished products!

My first project was to make a wreath for the fall.  My inspiration came from my friend Renee, but when I went to her blog I was unable to find exactly what I was looking for (perhaps it was because I was searching while Audrey was attempting to go down for a nap...).  Here is a similar wreath design to give you an idea of my inspiration.

My fall wreath made out of felt and fleece.

My second project was to find a use for all of the formula cans we have laying around the house.  In August I covered a few of them in fun paper and took them to school to hold things like pencils and I liked them so much I decided to make a few for our house.

The flowered can is for our bathroom, the brown and cream for the kitchen, the pink and yellow for Audrey's room and the grey and navy for our bedroom.

I was really pleased with how they came out.  I made a few adjustments when I covered the cans this time around.  In order to fully understand you have to be very familiar with Target brand formula cans but I tried to make the paper cover the metal rings that line the top and bottom of each can.  I was worried the paper would wrinkle but so far so good!

My third project was to make Audrey some fall skirts to wear with her adorable fall tights.  I don't have a picture of all of the completed skirts but I do have a few pictures of my adorable model.  I used this pattern and made Audrey a zebra skirt, a two-tiered brown and cream skirt, an owl skirt, and a yellow skirt.  I have plans to make a Christmas skirt but I need red thread, and, like I said earlier, without the proper materials I am determined not to move ahead!

My adorable model!

   

Each of the skirts use this design.  The two-tiered skirt has two layers of this skirt.  It's fab!

Stylin' at the pumpkin patch!

My fourth project was a couple of skirts made out of t-shirts on sale at Target.  I found my inspiration here, and although I wish I had a bicycle t-shirt like in the blog I love my purple and green versions as well. 




The only problem is the t-shirts I chose love to cling to the leggings, so I'll need to wear a skirt or wait until summer when leggings aren't necessary.  My plan is to raid my brother's closet to get some XL t-shirts and try again, with a more traditional t-shirt fabric, and see if the cling is as determined.







My fifth project was a breeze.  It was definitely the fasted project and was completed in a total time of under 20 minutes.  Again, I'm lucky I have an adorable model to show of my handy work!  I got my inspiration here, although I'm not sure how many times Audrey will get to wear these fabulous leggings.  Her father says they make her look like Ke$ha and he goes around singing Tik Tok at the top of his lungs while she's wearing them.  A mother can only take so much!

These socks are from my favorite place, Target!

Perfect for crawling legs!

 

My last and final project is my favorite.  It's Audrey's Halloween costume.  I got my inspiration here, but decided to make a few changes. First, Audrey loves tutus :) so I had to make her a tutu to start.  

Ladybug tutu

 Next, I wanted to make sure the shell for Audrey's ladybug was a little larger than the one on the tutorial, and I didn't love the dome shape.  So instead of using 6 triangles I went with 4 and I measured her little body to make sure that it would be big enough.

Ladybug Shell without a model.

Instead of using Velcro to attach the shell I made little arm straps so she can crawl and walk without it getting lop-sided or falling off.

Audrey was adorable wearing the shell as I fit her for the straps.












 The plan is for her to wear a black shirt and black pants to blend in with her shell.








Scott thinks Audrey should wear the tutu and the shell which was the original plan, but I"m not sure she can handle it!











The shell makes Audrey a little top heavy, but the good news is that it's a giant pillow, so when she topples over she has a cushion to land on :)









And there you have it!  Pretty great for a week off of work!  I've already started looking for my next projects for Thanksgiving break.  I would like to think I would continue to work in the evenings on projects, since I enjoyed it so much, but I know how tired I am after a long day of work, and there's still dinner to make and laundry to do, and by the time we've played and eaten and gotten our peanut to sleep Scott and I are exhausted!  So it's back to the drawing board until my next vacation from the real world :)

      

Pumpkin Patch

Well, I tried to hold back on Facebook with the pictures from the pumpkin patch, but HERE... All bets are off. When you have the cutest baby ever it's hard to edit yourself. We took Audrey to the pumpkin patch yesterday and let her crawl around and choose her very first pumpkin. She got a lot of compliments in her pumpkin hat. I would also like to draw your attention to the fabulously hand-made skirt that she's wearing. It's another mommy original. I'm very proud of my ability to sew straight lines!

So. If you're tired of being bombarded with cuteness read no further. But if you can handle it, check out this adorable baby!

Not so sure about the hay bales...

Crawling to choose her pumpkin.

A perfect choice!

Such a happy baby!

Um...Can we please take this pumpkin home also?

So many pumpkins to choose from!

A wagon ride to end the day.

Which is the real pumpkin?

Last year in October Scott and I took a trip up to Estes Park to see the leaves changing colors. We stopped along the way to take some pics of our growing family. This year our schedules might prevent us from an October trip so we headed up this weekend to see an old friend of mine. On the way home we stopped at the same spot and snapped some quick pics (it was raining...). It's amazing how much can change in a year :)

Trip to Tulsa

What lucky blog readers! Two posts in one day! (Can you tell that Scott's in charge of Audrey's breakfast this morning??) This post is more for our own posterity. I tried to thing of an angle that would make it interesting to my millions of readers, but sadly all I can tempt you with is pictures at the end :)

We recently took our first airplane trip to Tulsa! Audrey and I flew out on Saturday and Scott joined us on Sunday then we all flew home together on Tuesday after Labor Day.

The plane ride to Tulsa was exciting :) Going through security with a baby, a stroller, a diaper bag and my purse was enough of a workout to last a week! Luckily Audrey is a charmer so throughout the entire process people kept cooing and googling at her, so she was entertained.

The flights themselves were uneventful (if you don't count the two poopy diapers at 36000 feet - one on the way to Tulsa and one on the way home - airplane bathrooms were not meant for changing diapers...). The flight attendants couldn't get enough of Audrey. On our flight to Tulsa one of the male attendants was on his way to check the luggage compartment and stopped in his tracks and said "Oh my gosh. I instantly love her!"

Audrey thought the flights were amazing and spent her time turning circles in my lap. Scott and I were both smart enough to skip the drinks, knowing those would become INSTANT baby magnets but that didn't stop our seat partner from getting one, so that became a very fun game - try and grab the strangers Diet Coke!

Although traveling was a workout it wasn't enough to scare us away! I'm just looking forward to the day when Audrey can toddle around pulling her own Dora suitcase behind her :)

Getting ready to go to see Grandma and Grandpa!


It was game day, so we had to show our Tiger Pride!


Daddy joined us for the trip home.


Audrey played and squirmed until the wheels touched the ground at DIA.


Hitchin' a ride on the shuttle to our car.

"IT'S A FREE COUNTRY!"

I must preface this story with the disclaimer that we've been studying the Constitution.

One of my students yesterday was having a particularly difficult time letting go of using his scissors. He had earned some drawing time and was quietly working, when he got the notion that his creation would not be perfect without getting scissors involved. The rest of the class was in the middle of watching student council campaign speeches so the scissors would have probably pushed them over the edge (7 year olds can only ignore SO MUCH! It's not very fair that they have to "suffer" through 22 5th grade speeches while he's drawing away!)

I went over and took his scissors away from him and put them on my desk.

He got up and took them off my desk.

I went over and picked them up to hold them.

He went to my desk to get my scissors.

I went over and removed that option.

He went to the back of the room to get a pair from the "lost and found" bucket, saw me coming towards him and decided on a green crayon instead.

During clean up I saw him hiding behind a desk using someone else's scissors in a last ditch effort. At this point I explained that he would need to leave his project with me until Monday since it had been so difficult following directions.

Needless to say this didn't go very well. Using my magical teaching powers I managed to get all the other kids packed and ready to go, and we all started walking towards the parent-pickup line. My friend had not given up the good fight, and along the way he turned to me and shouted "You can't keep my drawing! This is a free country! I can do what I want! I'm an American!"

To which I replied:

"You are correct! You are an American, and you have the right to free speech. Being an American means that sometimes you have to follow rules, but you can be angry about it!"

In a way, I was very proud. It takes a very high level of learning to use the Constitution to your advantage :)