This and That and Christmas

The sampler is finished! Just needs a good pressing and framing. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I'll post a photo when it's framed up.

Will asked me to make him a scarf "for skiing", so that's what I'm working on now. I'll probably end up making a matching hat, too, if there's enough of this yarn left. He is very excited, which makes making things for him really fun. It's nice being thought of as magical. :D

I've also figured out 85% of the Christmas gifts out. Now I just have to actually make them. Some knitting, some sewing, some concocting. I'm getting excited...

I Am The Walrus

I made this stuffed Walrus in 7th grade in home-ec. But never actually completed him (I wonder what kind of grade I got?). He was missing his moustache and the stuffing hole wasn't sewn closed. He's been sitting around in various storage boxes in various storage facilities for these 15 years.

Until today. It took approximately 6 minutes to cut out a new moustache, applique it on, and sew the hole closed. A procrastination world record maybe?

William loves him. The Walrus sits on his bed, in all his mustachioed stateliness.

Bah-bots!

I know a certain little boy. This little boy has a book. It's a book about airplanes. He loves this book so much that he is currently on his 3rd copy. He takes it with him everywhere and reads it all day everyday. And wants it read to him all day everyday.


He loves airplanes so much that we bought him a toy airplane. It is his favorite thing and it's dangerously adorable when he plays with it and makes airplane sounds. He runs the risk of being squeezed into bits.


He calls them bah-bots! and you've never heard anything so cute as when he spots one flying in the sky and yells "bah-bots!"



We found this airplane at this incredible toy store in Santa Monica called The Acorn Store (they don't have a website, so I've linked to their Yelp! page). If you are anywhere in the tri-county area you MUST go check it out. It's filled -- almost too full -- of the most beautiful wooden and natural and Waldorf toys. Many of the toys are made in Germany (like the airplane we got) and the quality is just not something you see in mass-marketed toys now days. Is it expensive? YES. Is it worth it? ABSOLUTELY. If you're selectively buying a small number of toys that are going to last a life-time, it is completely worth the money. These toys spark the imagination and will eventually become heirlooms. And the lady who owns the store is too sweet.

Sorry that this post turned into an advertisement for The Acorn Store, but I'm just SO excited about it. It was like a dream come true when I walked inside. I can't wait to go back!

Excuses Excuses

So I have sucked at blogging lately. Again.

(As usual?)

The deal is...the photos are just so much work. To me, anyway. I take mediocre at best photos, so if I want something decent I have to wait for John. He either has take them for me or to help me set up the camera so I get good exposure, etc. I just can't wrap my brain around the ISO and aperture, etc. And then there's the post processing. And John's super busy. Etc. So there's my excuse for being such a lame blogger.

I really have been working on a lot of cool things in the past few weeks. There's the ripple afghan, a couple baby projects, cafe curtains, quilt, book covers, paper cutting. I've been busy! Plus plans for some baby gifts, some experiments in designing my own plush matroyshkas, and more crocheting. I'm also on a thrift/antique hunt for frames. I can't find any!! And I need several.

Also, I've been revelling in this amazing weather we've been having. It's like, insane how awesome it's been. Two weeks of overcast skies, some rain, and temperatures all under 75!!! I'm soaking up every second of it before the heat hits and then stays until Christmas. We love the cool, morning walks!

I may not have any craft photos, but I do have pictures of our weekend in San Diego last month. Enjoy!

William with his youngest uncle, Ryan.
Waiting in line for the bus.
Cute bugs.
Running down a big hill.
Sleeping through the new elephant exhibit (my favorite animals at the zoo!).
Checking out the chimps.
Will's first beach experience!
He loved the sand but was a bit wary of the water.
He's a kid now.
Our family, in feet.

Where Have I Been?

I can't really answer that question. I've been around...but...just anti-technology, I guess. Once I finish working in the morning I want to get off the computer as fast as possible and stay off. But this weekend I'm being abandoned by friends and family and will have a lot of "me" time to fill and I'll show you some of the fun things I've been up to. :)

In the meantime, will you take a look at that kid up there? He's 19 months old today. Who in the what the? He is now in the second half of his second year and I'm a bit freaked out by it. Even though we are sad to see him get older, he just keeps getting more and more fun. He's such our little buddy now. Our little three-person family is having a blast being best friends. It just doesn't stop getting even more awesome! Sometimes I think I'll just explode into a million little bits from happiness.

Alright, I'm off to do some research on arm chairs. Which also makes me want to explode from happiness!

Mama and Bebe

William calls me "Mum" and "Mamaaaa". He calls himself "Eee!" and "Bebe". He'll call to me to get my attention, "Mum. Mum! Mamaaa!" and then when I respond he goes off on a little William-language tangent for a full minute. Very seriously. He apparently has a lot to tell me.

I love this age...


Please excuse my appearance. This was taken literally within 3 minutes of walking in the door from my kickboxing class. Eek!

Gift Horse

Several months ago I found this rocking horse over at Warm Biscuit and instantly fell in love. Hello, it's perfect.


William's Uncle Tim was kind enough to get it for him for Christmas, but it ended up being back ordered for nearly 4 months!

Luckily, the horse finally showed up and William is nuts over it. And already is trying to do stunts like stand upon its back no hands.



Love!

Plants!

Every morning, William does three things immediately upon waking up.

1) Gets my glasses for me from the bedside table
2) Does the sign for "eat"
3) Says "plants!"



So we get up. We leave the bedroom and he says "Dada!?" and then "Plants!" Before getting breakfast, we first must go outside. That's when William gets really excited, says "plants!" several more times, "wow", and also "hot!" (his favorite word) as he pats the pots and ground, and pokes the dirt.



After a few minutes of checking on the outside plants' progress, we can come inside to check the seedlings. William always proclaims "wow!" and "plants!". And then it's time for breakfast ("gogur!" and "tos!" -- yogurt and toast, always said with enthusiasm).



It's really a fantastic way to start the day.

Wonder Wallet

My mama was here last week for a few days. We spent her time here going on walks, shopping, making healthy food, embroidery-ing and sewing. So, pretty much the best time ever.

For Christmas, my mom made all the girls one of these little "wonder wallets" . They're super cute and I use mine to keep all of my punch cards and whatnots that I don't need in my regular wallet all the time. Slim things down, you know.



William loves to empty wallets, which is not so convenient. So I figured it'd be a good idea to make him his own. I stole a bunch of empty gift cards from various stores and my mom made him one.



This project is so fast and easy. Especially if you just sit there and watch, like I did (I did sew on the Velcro at least...).

William has been putting corn and raisins up his nose all day. Luckily, most of them have come out on their own. One raisin I retrieved with tweezers. And one raisin is still up there. I'm waiting for back-up.

*Update: The raisin has been evacuated. I held his mouth closed until he breathed hard out of his nose. Haha.

An Olive for Makayla

So it's February already. Wow. How weird. And I think we've just skipped right over winter here and are going from summer right back into summer. How disappointing. I am definitely meant to live in chillier climes.

But anyway, I'll save it for my weather blog...




Here is the doll I made for our friends' daughter who had her first birthday last week. It's another Olive doll from this Wee Wonderfuls pattern, the same one I made for William's birthday. I am just so in love with these dolls. They are so easy to make and it's so much fun choosing their outfits.




(Please excuse the bad photos.)

I hope Makayla likes her Olive doll as much as William likes his Olive and Archie dolls. He sleeps with Archie every night and loves giving him hugs. Right now Olive is chilling with Spaceboy on the little toy piano. Will gives them kisses and then plays a little tune.


Please click on the photo to see the full-size version.
It's totally worth it. This kid just kills me.

This kid also just graduated out of the "bucket" into a big kid car seat. So far he loves it. Now he can see out the window and see us in the front seat. Plus, it's so super-cush. I'm a little jealous.

Spaceboy

This is what I spent Christmas Eve making for William. It's the Spaceboy from Wee Wonderfuls . Doesn't she design the cutest things ever? I love that she has so many toys for boys (because she has one, I guess). The pattern book also came with a pattern for a robot (see link) and I'm hoping to get that made this week.

Spaceboy wears his space goggles when he's on a mission.
This guy is William's favorite new toy, along with this peg board). William flies Spaceboy around while making rocket sounds. I love little boys.

Mission accomplished!

P.S. I'm planning on embroidering a 'W' onto his belt there. Just as soon as I can get it from William for long enough. :)

15 Months

Can you believe this kid is 15 months already?

He can:
walk (the crawling-to-walking ratio goes up everyday)
say mama, dada, shoes, orange, cheese, mmmm, what is this?
sign 'more', 'eat', 'milk' (working on 'drink')
give hugs, kisses, cuddles
climb on top of the coffee table
climb on top of his little piano
empty drawers
empty laundry baskets
help put things away
follow simple directions
grow teeth



He loves:
his dada
clementines
cheese
ice cream
cookies
dada's wallet, belt and phone
"driving" the car
eating
exploring outside
ice
mama's milk
pushing buttons
taking showers with mama or dada (no baths)

He also:
throws mini-tantrums (already!?!)
makes your heart melt with his sweet face
has started sleeping most of the night in his crib (we're sad and glad about this)
needs a hair cut again
is really, really obsessed with being outside




Basically, we think he's just the greatest kid around and are having the time of our lives with him. We love you, little chicken pot pie.

William's First Haircut

William did great getting his hair cut for the first time. And yes, I know Mom, it doesn't really look like he got his hair cut. We just did the bare minimum -- trimmed the bang, cut off the brillo pad in the back, and the cut off a few little pieces that made him look like a long-haired hippy. He still looks like my little baby!

Utah

53 weeks old.

Two of my favorite people in the world.

A fun street to be on.

We go places other people wish they could go.

From the rooftops.

I love old stuff.

And blue stairs.

A favorite.

Lovely.

I spent a good chunk of change here.

Even fun at night.

William's first fall leaves.

Super fun.

Ryan climbs a tree for the first time.

Trevor looks on.

Sigh. Someone buy me a house on this street, please.

Ice cream counter.

Mommy and Will having fun wearing coats! and playing in the leaves.

So many pretty places.

Grandma's house.

More fall.

I miss you already.

William and I had an excellent time in Utah with my family. We spent most of the days with Beth or Trevor as their school and work schedules allowed. Then spent evenings with my parents and Ryan and Alexa.

I realized that I hadn't been to Utah during the fall for many years. I was driving around town just in awe of all of the color surrounding me. It was actually kind of a hazard. It was just so beautiful. I miss it even more now than I did before.

And it cracks me up that wearing a coat seems like such a novelty. Growing up, having to wear a coat for 5 + months of the year was quite a nuisance. But, I miss that, too.