Baby Girl Shoes - Black and Pink

A friend of mine will be having a baby girl any day so I made a pair of shoes for her.  And I also made her a matching flower clip for her hair, but I didn't take a picture of the 2 together.

And I also made my niece, Cozette a pair for her 1st birthday.

The top pair are size 3 months with matching fabric on the bottom and the bottom pair are 12  month with grippy stuff on the bottom.

You can download the free pattern from Tao of Craft click here to go to their link.

I didn't use their strap piece.  I just used the piece that was left over from cutting out the shoe for the strap.  And I don't like velcro, it comes apart too easily.  I like to put an elastic loop in the end and then put that over a button.  It's harder to come off and it gives it a little stretch.  Really you don't have to un-do it to get the shoe on and off the baby's foot either.  You can check out my tutorial here from the pleated Mary Janes on how I do my strap.

I had original bought this fabric to make Mackenzie a dress and matching shoes, but then my mom had her stroke and I never got it done.  So I decided to use it for a friend and my niece.  Maybe I'll make a skirt or dress from it for Mackenzie someday.

Almond Butter

I made some yummy Almond Butter!  This was my second batch.  It's so easy to do!!!!

All you do is just get some natural almonds and put them in a food processor for about 20-30 minutes.  That's it!  I do NOT add anything else, it's just the almonds.

My little food processor can only handle about 4 cups or 1 pound of almonds at a time.  During the process you will need to stop and scrap down the edges.  And it will get hot.  Let it go till it's about as smooth as you'd like it.  I store mine in the fridge.  I'm not sure if you have to, but I do it just to be safe.  And I love eating it with celery!  Yum!

I do not roast mine.  I actually did try some almond butter that was made with roasted almonds and I don't really care for it.  I like the natural almonds.  And it's so much healthier for you then peanut butter!

 And of course Mackenzie had to help me.  She loves being in the kitchen with me and doing what I'm doing!  She saw me scrap the bowl, so she had to do it too.  She's a cute little copy cat!

Robinson Pictures

Before Katelynn went back out to Utah I went over and took some family pictures for Polly.  They are only missing Michael Taylor who is now married.

What a good looking family...

Ginger Bread House Making Party

Last year Liz hosted a ginger bread house making party and everyone brought along 2 different candies to share.  I thought it was a cute idea!  Since she moved we decided to host it this year.
The night before we assembled the houses.  We used graham crackers and the Royal icing with the Meringue powder.  That stuff hardens and that's what will hold the house together.
Here is the link to the recipe, it's really easy to make.

Here everyone is getting down to business...

 Poor sick JJ!  He sat at the bar so he wouldn't get anyone else sick and we brought him some different candies.  But he only lasted about 5 minutes and then he had to go lay down.  I saved his stuff but he never finished his house.  

 Mackenzie was so cute!!!  After we were done making her house and I got up to take some pictures she decided she wanted to add more... just so cute!

Flower Pins

With Jayden being sick and laying on the sofa all day, there was little fighting and I was able to get some stuff done.

I had no idea what to get or do for Dave's mom for Christmas and then one day I decided I'd make her some silk flowers, but not for her hair, pins.  I brought the idea up to Jessica, a mother at preschool, and she suggested putting 3 together.  So that is what I did.  And I was able to get them done.  I think they turned out pretty cute... what do you think?

Here is an earlier post I did when I made brightly colored silk flowers and I linked to instructions on how to make them.

Jayden's 1st Grade Holiday Party

I was able to into Jayden's class for his Holiday party!  It was a lot of fun!

First they did their reindeer craft so it would have time to dry before they went home.  The kids loved it!

 Then we played some games.  We did a pass the snowman, like hot potato.  

 And we did a Hershey kiss game where the kids had to wear oven mitts and open as many Hershey kiss as they could in one minute.  Jayden did great at this game!  He was the only one who opened 2 kisses!  Way to g buddy!!!

And we did a freeze dance, when the music stopped the kids had to melt to the ground.  They were so cute dancing!  And I was really surprised to see Jayden dancing!  Way to go buddy!

I had of course taken a few other pictures that didn't involve Jayden and sent them to the parents of those kids and sent them to their teacher.  Jayden told me that Mrs. Coulehan put them up on the white board and showed the class all the pictures and they loved them.  She even sent me a thank you card for emailing the class the pictures.  So cute!

When we got home from school I let Jayden eat some of his candy that he got in his goody bag from the party.  He threw it all up!  ughh!  And that was the start of him being sick most of his Christmas break!  He had a fever the next day and most of break too. 

Tanner's Christmas Party

This year the preschool did their Christmas party a little different.  This year 1 adult was allowed to come and participate with their student.  They had a couple different stations set up and we could walk around to each one.  They made an ornament for the tree, decorated cookies for Santa, drank hot chocolate, had lunch, made reindeer food, watched a Christmas movie, wrote a letter to Santa, got a Christmas Tattoo and sticker, made a paper chain to count down the days left until Christmas and wrote a letter to Santa.

 Tanner loved it! 

 Santa only stopped by for a short time.  When we went to the letter writing station I asked Tanner if he wanted to write a letter to Santa he said "why?  he's right there!" and points to Santa1  LOL!  It was pretty funny!  And so true, why do you have to write him a letter when he's right there and you can just tell him what you want.

Left - Tanner with two of his buddies, Caleb and Peyton.
Right - my friend and her son, Jessica and Caleb

 Me and my little Tanner-man!!!

 Most of Tanners class and 2 younger siblings and 2 other helpers...

Birthday Plate

We didn't have a birthday plate so before JJ got on the school bus I had the two boys drawing on a plate to make a special birthday plate.  

You use permanent markers and bake it in the oven at 350 for 30-40 minutes to set the ink.  And it's hand wash only.  After I had baked it and was washing it I noticed the orange was running, so I quickly dried it and bake it again and for longer and then I turned off the oven and just let it sit in there.  I also wonder if part of it was that it was Bic permanent markers and not Sharpies.  The colored Sharpies the activity day girls used were bought with the budget  money so I had left them there at the church in the closet.   And I only had red and green Sharpies and the rest Bic, because they are cheaper and I tend to be pretty frugal.

Ribbon Ornament

I had seen this on Pinterest and thought it was really cute!  And I thought it would be easy for the Activity Day girls to make.  So I made this one to show them...  I love it!!!

And these are the ones the girls made...

It was not as easy for them as I thought it would be!  Just tying a knot around the bottom and top beads was hard for them!  I ended up finishing them while they moved on to the cookie decorating.

They also decorated plates with colored Sharpie markers and we baked them in the ovens to set the ink.  The plates they decorated were really cute!  I did take pictures, but I'm being lazy and not wanting to edit and post them... sorry!

TJ Roasting Marshmellows

This is also another idea I saw on Pinterest and thought was cute...

However I should have lit the candle before the boys woke up... the took note to the fact that there was no flame!

Candy Pretzels

I had seen this idea all over Pinterest, on the back of the bag of Rolo's and Debby the Tupperware lady told me about them.  I like to try and do something different every year for the teachers and bus driver.  So we decided to make these this year.  There is a pretzel on the borrow, a Rolo or Hershey Kiss then and M&M on top.  For Dave's mom we put pecans on top of them.

TJ Swinging

TJ was swinging from our dining room light tonight...

We had to put that little Imaginenext guy on his lap to balance him out.  But the boys loved that he was swinging with a friend!

TJ as Batman's Sidekick

I had gotten this idea from Pinterest... well, the idea of dressing the Elf up like Robin.  Except I never did the little circle with the "E" on it for his chest.  But I did make the eye mask and yellow belt.

TJ the Photographer

This is what TJ did tonight...

JJ loved that there was even a picture in the camera that TJ took!  LOL!

I wish I could take credit for this one, but I can't... I saw it on facebook, one of the photography pages I liked had posted it.  I laughed out loud when I saw it and just had to do it.

Mackenzie & Tanner Photo Shoot

I had the stuff set up from when I did Sharon's pictures and I needed to do Mackenzie's 18 month pictures.  So I threw a dress on her and attempted to get some.  She wasn't too cooperative.  I really wanted her standing but she wouldn't stand there for me.  These were the best I got...

 This one is my favorite...

This one is in the collage below, but I like it too!

 I can't decide if I like color or black and white... and I'm sure I like the arrangement of the collage, but I really wanted to try to get all those pictures in one thing...

Since I was doing Mackenzie's pictures Tanner wanted some too.  You know I can't turn down a "take my picture my please!"

I love these 2 of Tanner!  I think the one I put at the top left is my favorite!  That's the one I used on our Christmas card this year.  For sake of the blog, I put them together in one collage.

Okay, I love this one of Tanner so much, I had to put it in on it's own... But it's in a different crop... my frames go portrait so I cropped it that way...

However, I do like the Landscaped crop much better!  Either way... he's a cutie pie!!!