Like a kid again...

I was sitting in my quiet time, enjoying my 2 hours kid-free. (Well, ok, there were a couple social workers doing a post-adoption visit, but it was brief, so I’m ignoring it.) The doorbell rang interupting my peace… but it was the postman, with FIVE HUGE BOXES of Christmas presents from my Dad and step-mom!!! I felt like I was 7 years old again! I thought about waiting for the kids to come home to open the boxes and put the presents under the tree. I thought about it for about 2 seconds before I tore into them. I only did minimal shaking before I put them under the tree. :) Christmas is a very fun time of year!

Still stitching!

I have almost all of my Christmas shopping and preparations done, and I'm enjoying a lot of down time. I'm spending it stitching, de-cluttering, and playing with my kids. It has been really fun. :) I want to share some of my stitching with you.

This is a skirt I put together with scraps of fabric from my Christmas dresses. When I got it done it didn't turn out as cute as I thought it would. In fact, I think it looks like Christmas threw up on a skirt. :) But G still likes it, so I guess it's ok. I traced the pattern from a skirt H has , and that, at least came out well. So I have options for the future, when I probably won't mix as many different patterns together!

My friend Napart exchanged some craft supplies with me and sent me the most fabulous yarn. The pictures here really don't do it justice. It's all different kinds of purples and blues, all different textures and types of yarn tied together in a chain. The bag on the right is crocheted with just the yarn alone. The one on the left is one strand of the cool yarn and one strand of worsted weight purple that matched. It made a sturdy tote, though (again) not as cute as I envisioned it! I sent both to Wisconsin in the hopes that someone in my family would love or use them!

I made this bag/purse for my grandma out of yarn that she picked out. They aren't colors I would have picked, but it actually turned out better than I expected.

Now below you'll see my latest obsession. It's called amigurumi. Which is Japanese for something like cute little crocheted animal. (No, that's not a literal translation, it's a functional one!) Anyway, below are some of the animals I've made.

This one went to a friend going through a rough time. I actually thought of her with each stitch and said prayers. I just wanted her to know I was thinking of her!

These two are even smaller than the blue bird. The purple one is G's and the pink is H's. They are so small they can be made in under an hour start to finish, and so cute that the girls actually let me work on them so I could get them done. :) Z really wants something, too. I'm working on a frog for him.


The bigger penguin is actually the first one I made, using a pattern. Then, once I understood the basics, I made up the rest of the birds. Finally I came back to make a baby penguin. I haven't decided who will get these. I really think the mom penguin needs another baby or two. We'll see. :)

Now I'm working on a very soft scarf for G. The first set I made she decided was too itchy. Ugh! So I donated it to charity in the hopes that a less sensitive, but still colorful child would love it. So now I'm doing a soft scarf she can use on our cold walks to drop Z & H off at school.

Then J told me that the other guys at the carwash he works at are all wearing "pretty fruity" scarves at work to keep warm, so he thinks he would be ok with it if I made him one. (In the past he told me not to, because he'd never wear one.) So a fruity scarf is on my to do list. :) And they have a Christmas tree at the kids school they want to cover with hats, mittens, and scarves, so I think I'm going to crochet up some fuzzy hats to send in.

Finally, an idea I'm working on to make a memory. T's parents are coming to visit next weekend so they'll be in town for his birthday. We will exchange Christmas gifts with them while they are here. They'll get in very late on Saturday night. Because the kids are in school, Sunday is really the only good time we'll have for a gift exchange. Unless.... T's mom and I decided that we think it might be fun to wake the kids up in the middle of the night when his parents arrive and do the gifts then. Something they would always remember. "Remember the time Grandpa and Grandma woke us up in the middle of the night to open presents????" So we'll see. T is often the more grounded parent in situations like this, so we'll see if I can talk him into it! I'll let you know!

Christmas Dresses and Holiday Traditions

While T's parents were here I was able to get some sewing and crocheting done. I thought I'd share the dresses I made. It was so much fun to put together the fabrics and ribbons! I used some old shirts, so it felt good to recycle from the way too big stash of clothes the girls have. I also put together the outfit for G using a pair of leggings she never wanted to wear... until I sewed the ric rac on and they matched the dress. :) Most of these will be given away as gifts, and that feels really good, too!

I am *almost* done Christmas shopping. Just a few things left, for few people. One I know will just be a gift card (J) and another is for my step-mom and I'm waiting for some ideas for her. My dad's gift will require a trip to the store which I don't want to do on the big shopping days! I don't enjoy the crowds! I've had fun doing the shopping, though. And now I look forward to being more relaxed through advent, and hopefully concentrating on Jesus and making sure the kids understand Christmas is so much more than Santa. (Though Z announced that he didn't think Santa was real, and my heart just fell!) I'm just looking forward to doing the holiday traditions we have. I'll share a few of mine, and I'd love to hear yours, too!

-We make a construction paper advent chain on Thanksgiving. Each chain link has a nice thing about one person in our family, written by someone else in the family. We all love it! It's fun to take off each link of the chain and count down to Christmas with compliments.

-We act out the manger scene, using figures, stuffed animals, or people. This is also very fun, and the kids love it! We try to do it a few times each week before bed.

-The Christmas Story movie. (T brought this tradition to the family.)

-Making spritz cookies with the cookie press - T does this with the kids

-Making mints and chocolate covered peanut butter balls and chocolate covered ritz cracker peanut butter sandwiches - I do these with the kids

I'd love to hear some of your family's traditions! Please share!