Bucilla Felt and Sequin Christmas Stockings

Whew! The hardest part is over! I'm so excited for us to finally get to use these this year. They have been a long time in the making. I'm practically giddy. I keep saying they are done. But reality is that there is still more to do. Names, choosing a fabric for the lining, adding hanging loops and final assembly. But in my mind they are
D O N E because this is the part I worried I would never get to.

 

For moi.

I think I'll use "Mother" and "Father" for our names. Or maybe just "Mom" and "Dad", not sure yet. But that way somewhere down the line we may have one child or grandchild who would like to use ours as their own. That would make me very happy.

 

 

For David.

I tweaked this one a lot. Adding sequins where they just wanted running stitches in the beard. And just more sequins in general. I also changed the boots and belt to black from brown and the tops of his boots from yellow to white. But now I think I want to go back to Sam's Santa and add white fir to the tops of his boots. OCD, much?

I've also decided that I should buy lots more Bucilla kits to have on hand for the day way, way, way, way off in the future when our family gains new members (think sons and daughter-in-law, and grandkids, yikes!). Even if I don't get to make them all myself, maybe one of my girls will carry it one. But I could start several now and get them to this point at least. One can dream, right?

 

For Emily.

This is the one where I swapped out the puppy to put a likeness of her in instead. She loves it and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

 

When I was almost finished she asked if there could be a mouse climbing up the clock like in "Hickory Dickory Dock." How could I resist?

For Sam.

I can't even tell you how happy he is to see his done. But now he's hounding me for the "pocket" so Santa can fill it. Soon buddy, very soon.

Names, linings, and hanging loops are next. I just need to pick out a fun fabric for all the insides which is proving to be tougher than I thought. In my mind it's got to be perfect. Oh the pressure.

Any suggestions?

 

For Allison. 

This one is totally without a doubt, perfect for her.

Christmas will be bright and colorful in our house this year. I have a ton of Bucilla ornaments I want to get done for this year as well. But I really do need to fully finish these before I start anything else. Feels SO good to get things checked off my list.

Aidan Turns One {First Birthday Chalkboard}

So of course I made a chalkboard for his first birthday smash cake photos.

 

Like I did for his sister last year.

 

How can {this} sweet boy be one already?

 

 

 

He couldn't take his eyes off all the kids over on the playset.

Happy birthday sweet nephew.

Hope you enjoyed all that sugar!

 

 

Christmas in July and some bedtime reading

I am making great progress on our Christmas stockings. You know, the ones that were supposed to be finished last year. I'm on my final kid stocking and then I can add their names and pick a fabric for the lining.

 

Here is Emily's. She loved this stocking, but it felt incomplete with only two children on it. So I drew another girl to cover the dog that we don't have, and it's turning out pretty neat. She's almost done but I'll wait for the full reveal until it's complete. I also have Sam's finished stocking to show you as well.

This morning Emily came to me with a stack of books and said "this is what I read last night after going to bed." I asked how she had enough light to read. "I found my flashlight." Where there is a will, there is a way. I'm impressed that she read all of those in one sitting. So much for an early bedtime to catch up on the sleep she missed over the week-end.

We are doing reading challenges at both our library and Barnes and Noble this year. Plus I added another for them since both of those felt too fluffly. If they read 100 books before school starts, they will get a prize. We only started that a couple of days ago and I think we have just 50 days left before school. But they are rocking it at 20-30 books already a piece.

Here is the stack she wanted to read in addition last night but got too sleepy. Quite ambitious I'd say.

 

We have another trip to the library planned today as we have read all the ones we have out now. Reading really took off for Emily last year and Allison is following suit. At the beginning of the year she wasn't quite through with reading at a kindergarten level and now she is beyond 3rd grade.

I just acquired a sore throat so reading and stitching will be a nice speed for the rest of the day. I personally am reading the Sue Grafton alphabet mysteries and am on letter J. Funny to read books from the 1980's. I keep thinking "if only she had a cell phone with her, those last few paragraphs would have been pointless." Ha!

What are your kids up to this summer? Are you making them read too? We are also doing math flashcards to get quicker at simple addition and subtraction and Allison is going to write a letter to her teacher next week in response to a letter she just sent us, to let her know about the work she is doing.

The final four TaDollies have flown the coop.

These four beauties are leaving today. Two little boys will be adopted soon from Ethiopia, by two Moms in waiting that are good friends. I love that they will each have a built in little buddie in each other.

 

And two little girls will soon be holding their new friends. They are as cute and bubbly as I'm sure their namesakes are.

 

Thank you to everyone who has supported my little business by ordering dolls these past couple of months. You got us through a challenging time and I enjoyed making every single one of them.

 

I made 16 dolls in the past 3 months!

 

 

A few weeks ago, these gorgeous ladies graduated college together. Abby gave her best friends a doll to match their personality and her mom gave Abby one to keep as well. They have a lifetime of friendship before them. I pray that they will continue to uphold each other and be one another's biggest fan.

*Sydney, Grace, Abby and Jazz

 

Dolls are done! Next it's on to poodle skirts for our VBS play. But that's after a six day trip to Mississippi, by way of St. Louis and Memphis, with my mom for my cousin's wedding. I am looking forward to lots of great fellowship, food, fun, sun and sleep! And hearing about the adventures David and the kids have while I'm gone. ;)

Squinky Rescue Mission

She's got a soft heart just like her mama.

 

She is on a rescue mission of her own.

 

There was a flood of tears tonight, no doubt brought on by the 7 o'clock hour which happens with some frequency. But now she has a plan to find her missing Squinky on the bus tomorrow. I had to explain that no, we could not go search the parking lot tonight. And I've already prepared her for the real possibility that her tiny little Squinky may not be found on the bus at all.  

 

Learning lessons about taking care of your belongings is tough when you are seven. Hopefully she will think twice before bringing her favorite things to school in the future.

*Her last two Squinkies miss their other buddie.

At least we ended our discussion with a plan.

 

She asked to go to bed in tomorrow's clothes, to ensure we don't miss the bus in the morning. But I told her that was taking it too far. Instead, she is laying out her clothes to get dressed first thing. She decided all on her own to write down her plan so she doesn't forget what we discussed. There is a real possibility that the bus driver won't let her stay to look very long. She's prepared to stop the search if he says it's time to go.

 

This list is done in much the same manner that she makes plans to defeat the boys at recess

 

I think she feels better now that she has that plan.

She's less distraught and more empowered.

She's a list maker like her mama too. ;)

**UPDATE: She found him!!!