Toddler Sites

I offered for a friend to put up a few of the websites I have found for activities for kiddos. Here are a few sites that I have used. :) Enjoy!

http://www.mydeliciousambiguity.com/

http://activitymom.blogspot.com/

http://ucreatewithkids.blogspot.com/

http://jadaroo.blogspot.com/

http://sandtopearl.blogspot.com/

http://www.kids-meal-ideas.com/

http://momentsofmommyhood.blogspot.com/

http://www.alittletipsy.com/2010/10/preschool-at-home.html

http://maddiemadechristmas.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-11-20T12%3A43%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7

Bowling Boys & Girls

I get Disney's Family Fun magazine and they always have such great ideas in there! In the October/November issue they had these little Bowling Boys. My little guy is ADDICTED to bowling. He is even in a league (for 2 year olds, he never gets more than 50)! So I thought this would be a perfect stocking stuffer for him!! I am making them for all the little boys in my life and even the little girls! They are really simple and inexpensive!! I'm making the Jman a second set to keep in the diaper bag... I hope they keep him occupied at the restaurant!!

I found my little bowling boys at this esty shop. But you can also get them from this website. I tried attaching the ribbon with Terrifically Tacky Tape, but I think that hot glue works better and is easier. I cut a whole bunch of ribbons (I got a bunch of these ribbons from the $1 section at Target) Then I used sharpies to draw the faces. Very simple!! You can seal them with a little spray, but I didn't do it this time. Maybe next time... I just ordered 200 more little men (makes 20 sets) from Caseyswood.com (I got my first batch of little men from this etsy shop, you can buy them at Michael's, but they were more expensive than the other places online) so I can make them for the rest of the people I want to make them for... I only made 5 sets for Christmas.

To make the gift I put the 10 little men and the ball in a baggie and attached a little directions (see below).

Yarn Wreath

So I finally tried one of the 1,000 cool ideas I found online for Christmas ... this does not mean I have any of my Christmas presents finished... ha ha!

I found some really cool wreaths on all the crafty blogs I follow... but I thought I would like one of these yarn wreaths. I found tutorials here and here. I bought all the stuff to do this wreath from Polka Dots and Pizza... but I definately need to get my Christmas presents finished BEFORE I can start on this one!!

I decided to use a 10 inch straw wreath for 2 reasons 1) it was only $2.79 at Hobby Lobby, so if I didn't like it or never got to it this winter, I wouldn't feel so bad. 2) I wanted to go small so I could have time to finish it! I used Sugar 'n Cream cotton crochet yarn called Misteltoe (mostly because it was cheap and had all three colors I was looking for on 1 roll... red, green, white). Anyhoo... I really like how it turned out. :) I finally was able to finish it last night when my 2 year old had finally headed to bed and was actually STAYING in his bed!!

Things I learned from this wreath:

1. Thicker yarn might be more expensive, but it won't take as long to wrap! :)
2. The wreath needs to be covered before you put on the yarn- I saw someone use some batting. I think it would make it smoother, the straw sticks up and makes it uneven.
3. It's imporant that you look at the back to make sure you aren't overlapping the yarn, because it will leave gaps.
4. USE the GLUE GUN A LOT!!

Deer Hunting

We were lucky to have my family come visit last weekend! It was Deer hunting, so the big boys were all off hunting. The little boys and us girls stayed home and played! We did go to Decorah for a big Walmart trip... always the excitement! Here are some pictures of the family's visit. Boys with Grandma Donna and Grandpa Leslie- Jman is watching a Christmas movie, can't be torn away... :)
I took about 15 pictures and this one is my favorite... it captures what these boys do!
Boys with Grandma and Aunt Jenny.

Gum drop tree

Yesterday, Jackson and I created a gum drop tree. I found it on this blog Jada Roo Can Do. I also saw it some other place and thought it would be cute. I thought I would be different and use green and red Christmas Bells. Yeah, big mistake! Jackson has since destroyed the tree by taking all the candy off and eating it (taking out the toothpicks- Thanfully). I should have used the spice drops... no one likes those. Oh, well, next year! The cute decoration lasted 1 night at least!!
Maxwell at age 4weeks!

Jackson fixing "Baby Jesus's house"- by the morning he had broken the whole thing!!

If you get mail from me... you might be getting one of these in the mail, too! But I couldn't wait to share my creation and beautiful pictures of my little ones! I have a Christmas card started, too... but I need to get their outfits cleaned so I can take the picture!!!!

Maxwell Allan

He's HERE!! Finally, after 9 months of waiting and 7 months of hoping... We have our perfect little bundle! He is just Wonderful and we couldn't be a happier family of FOUR!!

Maxwell Allan was born a day early... November 8, 2010 at 9:53 AM. He was suppose to be born on November 9, via c-section, but couldn't wait!

I went into labor around 12:30am on Monday the 8th. I convinced myself by 5am that it was false labor... however by 6:30am-- there was no denying... I was in labor! We went to the hospital. They were going to make me wait until NOON to have my c-section, WOW! I was in so much pain and my contractions were only 5 minutes apart...I couldn't help but to cry. The nurse came back in a few minutes later and said I bumped the 9am person and now we were going to have a baby ASAP!! They gave me some drugs to stop the contractions. Life was much better after that! I cried a bunch before the c-section-- mostly because I was upset that our plans had changed. I was suppose to have Maxwell on my Mom's 60th birthday (Nov. 9), but since he had different plans...

Maxwell arrived a healthy 9 pounds & 9 ounces (exactly the same as Jackson) and 21 inches long. When we left the hospital he was at 8 pounds & 8 ounces. He was a little Jaundice-- so we had to get his heel pricked over the first week of his life. But by the time his first week came along he was up to 9 pounds & 2 ounces and his Jaundice was on it's way down and his coloring is almost normal now.

Here are a picture from his first day... I still have to upload more from the last week. :)