Early Gifts

So tomorrow Isaac has pajama day at school and Seth has a pajama party on Wednesday. Unfortunately they hit a growth spurt lately and most of their pj's are pretty tight which doesn't make for a pretty sight, especially in public. So I got the bright idea to let all 3 boys open 1 carefully selected gift apiece.

Aren't their faces fabulous? I believe I heard something along the lines of: "How lucky that we picked pajamas! Now we can wear them to school!"

Yes boys, that is lucky ; )

-Erin-

You Are My Sunshine!

Homemade Gingerbread Ornaments!

What made you smile today?

-Erin-

Isaac's Army Blouse

I finally finished Isaac's Army blouse!

I used the Ottobre patterns again. This is the Henri Jacket (with changes...duh!).

The original pattern has a zipper closure and I decided to take some liberties.

Sewed the patches on where they would fit.



 

I like it and Isaac loves how it turned out! That's what matters!

-Erin-

Stephanie

Soon to be added to etsy.com!

Rocking the side ponytail!

-Erin-

You Are My Sunshine!

Homemade Snowman Ornaments!

What made you smile today?

-Erin-

Seth's Army Blouse

I finished Seth's Army blouse!

I used the Ottobre patterns again. This is the Henri Jacket (with changes...duh!).

The original pattern has a zipper closure and i decided to take some liberties.

Sewed on the patches I had (where they would fit as they were adult sized patches on small children's clothing).

I like it and Seth loves how it turned out! That's what matters!

-Erin-

Marley

Soon to be added to etsy.com!

-Erin-

You Are My Sunshine!

Homemade Gingerbread Banners

What made you smile today?

-Erin-

Ethan's Army Blouse

I finished Ethan's Army blouse!

I used the Ottobre patterns again. This is the Henri Jacket (with changes...duh!).

The original pattern has a zipper closure and I decided to take some liberties.

Sewed on the patches I had (where they would fit as they are adult size patches on small children's clothing)

I like how it turned out and Ethan loves it! That's all that matters!

-Erin-



Grayson

I finished up this little guy today. He is a gift for my favorite little nephew.

And since he is a Christmas gift he is dressed in a fun pair of Christmas pajamas! I love the fat penguins.

The crazy hair was (in a round about way) requested by the recipient (he fell in love with Ethan's baby Charlie's hair). And he got blonde hair and blue eyes like his (soon to be) new owner.

I love the way he turned out and hope Noah loves him too!

-Erin-

You Are My Sunshine!

Lately Isaac has been blowing me away with how much he is growing and changing. He is so smart and shows me just how smart in a new way everyday it seems.

This picture was taken this summer. We take a trip to Turkey Run State Park every year to walk trails and he grabbed the map and took off so excited to be leading the way.

He likes to take charge (reads: be bossy). I think his favorite phrase right now is

 "Follow me, I'll lead the way!"

What made you smile today?

-Erin-



Military Tote

So my best guy friend is the one that donated all that camouflage for the boys' new army clothes. After getting them all cut out I had a substantial amount left and thought his daughter might like a tote bag made from it.

This is what I came up with. It is simple but cute. It is plenty big enough to hold whatever might be needed in a day's time...

...personalized with a patch from dad's blouse...

...and lined in pink! What girl wouldn't love this bag?!

-Erin-



Happy (Day After) Thanksgiving!

Yes I know that technically it is Black Friday and Yes I did stay up all night with the crazy masses (ahem...I mean some family), but I wanted to focus more on Thanksgiving than on that.

I didn't (remember my camera enough to) get very many pictures but I did snap a few.

The art work is a collection of the projects the boys did at school and day care and 4 leaves per boy each listing something he was thankful for.

We dug out my yucky looking (forgive me) crafting table and worked puzzles most of the day.

Even the little guys got in on the puzzle action...

...and can be better than us at it at times!

Among the things they were thankful for this year (in their own words): chairs, puzzles, food, blankets and family.

-Erin-



Finally Got The Pattern Made (Times 3!)

So remember these?

There are two more pairs to be made in different sizes for the little brothers, but first I decided to get started on the matching jackets. The problem? The pattern is an Ottobre pattern. Don't get me wrong...I'm loving my Ottobre patterns but they are a little more complicated than your typical pattern. Here's why:

Don't see the problem yet? Here let me give you a close up...

And all three of my boys wear different sizes. So I have to trace each piece. Three times. And add seam allowance. Three times. And cut them out. Three times. And label them. Three times. And (because I use them so much) cover in clear contact paper. Three times. You see where I am going with this?

All the pieces for ONE jacket (don't worry I got the pieces for all three sizes done. I just decided not to give you three nearly identical pictures)

And here they are laid out nicely so you can see all the pieces. It is a labor of love let me tell you but I just keep reminding myself how much the boys will love them. And how well they fit. And honestly, yes it is a lot of work but I love it. My biggest issue right now is limiting how much time I spend working on them and forcing myself to focus on school.

-Erin-



Yudu Progress...

So this weekend my best guy friend came to visit! YAY! And he brought more camouflage! (And helped pick apart a huge chunk of that camouflage so I can get started on some more of the boys Christmas gifts!)

Anyways...while he was here we got tons done! And when I say we, I mean all of us. Friday night we just relaxed and hung out. Saturday morning I made biscuits and sausage gravy while Charlie made scrambled eggs. Yummy!

Then Charlie taught my brother and cousin how to fix the brakes on the Jimmy I drive everyday. My little guys rode their bikes and helped out the big boys by throwing the trash away and stuff. I sat outside and picked apart more camouflage.

My mom worked on some drains that have been draining super slow for a while now and fixed a leak under the bathroom sink.

I made home made noodles and added them to chicken and veggie soup. I also made some delicious home made bread to go with it...sorta.

Then we got to yudu! Practice anyway.

It's fun. The prep work takes a loooooonnnnngggg time. But it wasn't really hard. The items we made so far aren't perfect but it is part of the learning curve and we are happy with how they turned out.

The 'big' boys wanted the Glock logo. We also did Lego heads but I didn't get any pictures of them yet. We ended up screen printing about 17 items.

Here we experimented with a different brand of fabric paint. It wasn't as sharp of a picture but it still turned out cute.

I think I'm gonna really have fun with this thing as I figure it out.

-Erin-