We have a 1 year old!

Well, this year has gone by in a flash..and now our little 5 lb. 14 oz snuggle bear is a 19 lb, walking, get-everything-out-of-the-cabinets little boy! He has brought us so much joy this past year, and we just can't believe how much he has changed since he came into this world. Amazing!
Here's a few pictures from his birthday party:


Other things going on....Ted is back in school. His schedule is not so hectic this semester and I'm liking that a lot! So is he, it gives him a chance to work on his motorcycle project and spend some time with Brigs. I've been pretty busy with the garden, doing the market now at 2 different locations. One at Cottin's Hardware and the other at the Downtown Farmer's Market. I've learned how to pickle all sorts of things...serranos, jalapenos, pepperonchinis, banana peppers, okra....and I've been dehydrating cayennes, tomatoes, and some herbs like sage. I've planted some radishes, carrots, and kale for this fall. And will soon be getting the soil ready for next year's planting.
And here's the twins:

Playing in the pool

Steps

He's looking better each day, but here's some first steps we managed to get on camera!

Stationery card

Sweet Celebration Blue Birthday Invitation

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Needle Felting

I've taken up a new hobby. Here is my first experiment with needle felting:


I was interested in this after seeing some work on Etsy. It looked easy enough to do, and I liked that you could finish a project in very little time. So..we'll see where this goes..and if I get really into it I would like to get all of my wool roving from a local shepardess. Ted came back from his trip with a bag of goat hair he had collected along the trail, hahah. So I guess now I might have to learn how to comb/card and dye the wool myself.

"Baking" a Diaper Cake

Just wanted to share this fun project that I worked on last week for a friend's baby shower. I was waiting for someone to have a baby so I could finally make one of these cakes, so yay! My first try didn't go so well, see below..The ribbon was too narrow so it was hard to hold the tiers together. I also had stuffed a rice cereal box in the middle, which didn't give me enough room to set anything on the edges, and wasn't tall enough to help hold the upper level of the cake in place.

I decided to start over, and this time used a bottle of sparkling cider like all of the websites had suggested. The result...much better! I also used wider ribbon this time and didn't have trouble with the diapers coming loose. Instead of using tissue paper like I had planned, I found some brown paper crinkle that sort of looked like it could be frosting...well, it was something to fill in the cracks:)Ted took part in this project too! Since he loves any excuse to use his tools or saw, I asked him to cut me out a "plate" from his plywood collection. Then, I wrapped it in tin foil to use as a base.

I found a bunch of wooden wild animals at Michaels (I'm seriously thinking of moving into the store, as much as I'm there) to go along with the narrow spotted leopard ribbon. And added some baby products in there too (powder, baby oil, binkies).

Let's Sew Something

A few weeks ago, Ted surprised me with an awesome honeybee apron for Mother's Day! The first time using it, I made some strawberry-cheesecake pancakes for Ted and Matt Zeets before they went on a boys day out bike ride....Guess they really needed to burn off those pancakes because they biked for over 6 hours!
Anyway, I got to looking at the apron and thought, "Hey, I could totally make one of these." So, I picked up a couple different patterns and chose one that was fairly easy.
It was around this time that we got invited to a graduation party. So I decided that I would sew this apron for her graduation gift. (Plus, she just so happens to be going to college to learn to be a chef, so it worked out nicely!)
It was a fun project, although I had to look up several sewing terms I had forgotten from 'Flat Pattern' in college. And here it is: