Picture Book

This last month I have been working (almost daily) on this little picture book for Lydia for Christmas. This was my very first applique project, and truthfully I had no idea how involved it was! I probably should have asked someone with experience for some pointers before I started- but I managed to get through it. It is definitely FAR from perfect- but I'm just glad it is finished. I'm sure anyone who has made one of this books can relate. I'm reasonably certain I will not be making another one of these in the near future, and I hope we can manage to keep track of all the velcro pieces to it. I used Burda pattern 7839 and used only scrap material that I had in my closet. Here are some pictures I took before I sewed the book together.

Beginning to look like Christmas

I can’t believe it is already December! We have been slowly putting up our Christmas decorations. We have only managed to decorate two trees and one small Barbie tree for the girls. That took us 3 days! I guess I'm moving much slower these days. Our nativities and more garland is still waiting- hopefully we’ll get it up soon. Here are a few pictures of the girls helping us decorate the tree.

Baby shower

Saturday my wonderful mother threw me a baby shower. She went overboard (like usual) and there were fun games, yummy food, great prizes, and amazing presents. My little boy made a hall. We got darling clothes, diapers, and some amazing homemade gifts. I definitely have the best friends and family. So thanks to all of you who were able to come. Here are a few pictures to highlight our great time.Me with my mom and Kelsi. Kelsi came up from Indiana for the weekend. It was so fun to see her and her cute little girl Maya (we were sad Hayden had to stay home). Kelsi was my only sister able to come. Everyone has moved away now except Hailey, and she ended up having to take a class that day. We missed you Hailey!

My mother in-law surprised me with this cute fish quilt she made.

Us playing games.

Two of my high school buddies- Leslie & Tara, it has been so fun to have them living close by. I'm so glad these girls were able to come.

Kelsi & her friend Emily- with Emily's little boy and cute little Maya.

Me with Cynthia Besecker (Kelsi's mother in-law). She knit me this darling little bear- so cute!

Our little Princesses

Another fun Halloween. Once again our girls were Disney princesses- Savannah was Cinderella, Paige was Belle, & Lydia was Snow White. This is Savannah's 4th year being a princess- no surprises there. The girls are already planning which princess they want to be for next year.

Savannah made herself a little bouquet of leaves & Paige held her dress up like a little princess.

I'm sure you can imagine how long Lydia's crown stayed on. It only took her 2 houses to figure out that she was getting treats, and then she was excited to go to every house after that.

Blessing Outfit

I just finished our little baby boy's blessing outfit. I thought it turned out pretty nice. I chose a classic pattern- McCall 3063. I used an off-white dupioni silk for the pant/vest/bow tie, and a white pine cotton for the shirt. I'll admit I was nervous to use all white materials. I washed my hands each time I went to work on it, and I worried I would poke myself with a pin and get blood on it (that did happen, but it was a very small drop in a location I don't think anyone would ever notice!). I was nervous to make it, but now I'm glad I did. We can't wait for our little guy to wear it.

Carving pumpkins

Yesterday we went to a neighbors house for their annual pumpkin carving night. We were told to bring a treat to share. All of you who know our family know that we are big fans of all kinds of breads (rolls, wheat, white, cinnamon rolls, etc. etc.), so we decided it would be fun to give doughnuts a try. We went with a spudnut recipe we found on the internet, and they turned out delicious. We made 4 dozen (plus all the doughnut holes) - after a few deliveries and our pumpkin carving fun they are all gone! That's a good thing.

We had a great time carving our pumpkins- in this picture Lydia has her classic scowl on (I don't know where that comes from).The girls wanted fancy pumpkins, so Savannah picked out a mummy pattern and Paige picked out a clown pattern. Notice Savannah eating a doughnut- I think this was her fifth of the day. She just kept sneaking them.

They turned out pretty good. Dan carved the mummy for Savvy and I carved the clown for Paige. I lucked out and the clown only lost one tooth. When I told Paige I was sorry she said, "that's okay mom, clowns are missing teeth anyway right?" I'm guessing she got that from T. V.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today my wonderful mother is 54 years old! Any of you who know her know what an amazing woman she is, and how much she is always for others.

We had her over for dinner the other day to celebrate her birthday. We decided against the 54 candles, and went with 5 on one side 4 on the other. Angel food cake per her request. My girls had no idea what that was, I cannot believe I have never made them one before.

Mom, you are the greatest! I hope you have a wonderful birthday. We love you.

Dresses done

I haven’t been keeping up my blog lately because I’ve been sewing. I just finished my girls’ Christmas dresses. I know it is not even Halloween, but I know once we hit Halloween time will fly and I will not have time. After making fancy Christmas dresses last year, I decided to do a less complicated corduroy dress. I used Burda pattern 9595 and I’m pretty happy with how they turned out.

Paige in her dress.

Property returned

About 6 ½ years ago, Dan and I went on a short vacation to Portland Oregon. While we were there Dan’s beloved handgun was stolen out of our car. It was the handgun his Grandpa Malan had given him when he was 12 years old. We called the police, filed a report, and gave them the serial number of the gun expecting to never see that gun again (hoping it would never show up in a crime). Well lo and behold we received a letter the first week of July from the Portland Police informing us that they had Dan’s gun. We contacted the police and found out that his gun had been recovered 2 weeks after it was stolen! Whoever stole it from us sold it to a pawn shop dealer who ran the serial number and returned it to the police. So we started the process to get the gun back. First, we had to call 3 times to figure out what we needed to do to get the gun back. Then, we had to PAY the pawn shop dealer half of what he paid for the gun (unless we wanted to go to court up in Portland to get it back). Finally, they mailed it to the local police department where we had to have several documents notarized. A month later (after us calling 3 times) the gun has been returned to us. Here is the gun in all of its glory- A Smith & Wesson K-22

The part that cracked us up is they sent us a letter telling us we had 30 days to claim our property, yet they had our property just sitting there for 6 ½ years! After telling us that we had 30 days- it still took them another 3 months to return our property - minus the holster (which they told us they also had- sigh). Oh well- Dan’s precious gun is returned, and I have a happy husband.

Poor little Tree

Back in April we decided to plant a family tree. We took a starter pine up to Robie Creek and found the perfect spot for it. The plan was to go up periodically to check on it and watch it grow into this large pine tree.

This is us planting the tree in April.

We went back to check on it in July. We were incredibly disappointed that in 2 months there was little to no growth, we determined that it was just slow growing.

This last trip to Robie the family went without me, (I was spending the weekend with friends from out of town) but they did have Grandma & Grandpa Malan along. When they climbed the hill to find the tree they could not find it anywhere (mostly because they were looking for something green). Grandpa Malan spotted it- what a disappointment! It was burnt to an absolute crisp!Poor little tree- RIP

That wasn’t the only disappointment. The girls took their swimsuits up, hoping to get in some water, too bad for them the lake was drained and there was no water to be found (remember that I was not around to take care of the girls hair! However, their hair is also so thin sometimes there is little to be done.)

Despite a few disappointments there was still fun to be had. Dad was so very lucky to have the help of Grandma and Grandpa!

Forever Friends

This weekend I was able to reconnect with several girls from my high school days back in Rexburg. Some of these girls I had not seen in about 13 years! Some of them I saw 5 years ago briefly at Ashley’s wedding reception. We were able to spend time Friday afternoon through late Saturday night together. It was truly amazing how time truly melted away and we were able to reconnect and share our life experiences. When Leslie, Tara, and I were trying to plan the weekend we were worried that we would not have enough activities to keep us all busy. We went to dinner Friday night, lunch Saturday, did a little shopping, but the rest of the time we sat and talked and shared our life stories over the last several years. We spent several moments laughing and crying together. I realized how truly amazing these women all are. The many different trials we have all experienced (and overcome) and the trials many are currently experiencing. I mentioned to my husband on Friday night how everyone seemed the same as I remembered them and how little their personalities had truly changed. However, by the end of our visit on Saturday night I realize that even though personalities have not changed everyone has changed so very much through all of our different life experiences. I have such an appreciation and love for all of these wonderful ladies, and was so very sad to see them go.
I realized this morning I only had taken 2 photos of all of us- and these are the 2 pictures I have to share of our weekend together.

Personality

Okay so all of you who know Savannah know that she always has and idea for how she wants to look everyday. This was her look for today........

Sneakers, leopard jacket, sunglasses the works. She wanted me to do her hair in "lots of little braids". I let her know that we definetly did not have time this morning for that. Also, I did talk her into a coordinating her capris, shirt, and headband (it was a fight). I lost on the sunglasses and the jacket, it just wasn't worth it. She looked cute anyway.

Bye-Bye Julee & Breanna

We used to be the only ones on my side of the family that lived far away. Since we've moved back from Pittsburgh, Rilieanne moved to Coeur d'Alene, Dan's sister Anne moved to Texas, Kelsi moved to Indiana, and now Julee and Breanna are moving to New Mexico. It is hard to see everyone go, but we still do have quite a bit of family in the area so that is nice. We definetly will miss Julee and Breanna, but wish them the best of luck in their new adventures in New Mexico. We will miss you!

First Day of Preschool

Yesterday was Paige's 1st day of Preschool. She was SO very excited and can't wait to go back tomorrow. She sure did look cute!

Martin Lake

This is the last camp out for us for this season- we went up to Martin Lake with most of Dan's family (minus Andy & Leisel and Jim & Dani). The campsite was nice and not too crowded- we got in some fishing, nice walks, and raft rides. Our trip did get cut some short because of a nice little thunderstorm, however, apparently as soon as our family took off the sun came out. Oh, well it was a nice trip anyhow.

The whole crew (minus Byron) Lydia may not have much hair- but there was quite a rat's nest anyway.

Cute little Paige!

We got in a B-day celebration for Grandma Malan. The cake is still minus14 candles!

Lydia enjoyed Grandma's cake!

First Day of School

The hair, the clothes, the backpack- it was Savannah's first day of 1st grade. She hopped out of bed at 7am and had a very specific vision of how she wanted her hair, clothes, etc. Thank goodness she was happy with the end result. What a cutie! She caught the bus at 8:30 am and got home at 4pm- it felt like a very long day for us but she loved it and is ready to "eat lunch in the cafeteria again tomorrow".

Savannah and Breanna ready to catch the bus.

Its a ......

We went today for our ultrasound and found out that we are having a ......BOY! What?! This will definitely be a major switch for us. With our 3 girls we all were expecting another little girl, but we'll have fun with a little boy in the house :)

The monsters

Meet Stella and Flower (little one) the monsters. The big monster, Stella, was Savannah’s first sewing project. I thought I’d let her try sewing on fabric yesterday since she has been sewing on paper all summer long. I was amazed at how well she did. She sewed the entire body by herself (or little to no help from me)- all I did was sew the eyes on and make it a quick apron. Pretty good for a 6 year old. My niece Breanna sewed the little monster. She did a great job also.
When Dan saw the monster he told Savannah that he thought monsters were too scary. Savannah thought this was pretty funny and when we went to bed last night she had them hidden under Dan’s pillow. Savannah- you made your dad scream.

A day with Grandma Malan

Yesterday the girls and I spent the day with Grandma Malan. We had a picnic, went to Cleo’s Museum (an outdoor still life museum), and fed the ducks. We enjoyed getting out of the house for the day, and we had a great time.

Savannah & Paige mimicking the little frog with binoculars.

Savannah with a wart hog and a giraffe.The girls loved feeding the ducks- we started out with 4 and within minutes there were 40.

Back to Sage Hen

This weekend we went back up to Sage Hen Reservoir to go camping with the Dana family.   Of course my Dad was the main man who got there early and got camp up and running.  Not everyone was able to make it up because Hailey and Jordan had to work.  Julee and Breanna did not make it up and my mom came up a day after we did.  We still had a great time and enjoyed the outdoors.

 

This is our girls with their cousins Chloe, Malachi, & Denali getting ready to go rafting.  Lydia despised the lifejacket.  She cried everytime we put it on her.  In her defense, she did look like she was in a body cast.  After many tears, we decided to just let her play in the shallow water.This butterfly just flew up and landed on Paige.  Perfect for her because she loves insects.  I was amazed at Dan's speed with the camera-  I could not believe he captured this shot.This is the girls with their cousins on our hike.  We had a nice walk and found several ripe huckleberry patches.  Let's just say we didn't hike as long as we snacked :)Here is a picture of me and my sisters (Kelsi and Rilieanne).   It was good to visit with them, but the trip did seem way too short.  Rilieanne will be going back to Coeur d'Alene soon and Kelsi leaves for Indiana in 2 weeks.  I wish my other siblings could make it- maybe next time.