Been Craftin'

Now that my time has not been spent on preparing for Terrific Tuesday, I had some time to complete some crafts for me.

Here are my Woof 'em sticks. If you remember, you put dough on the end of the stick, cook it over a campfire and then fill them with whatever you desire (hot dog, cheese and ham, pudding, butter and powdered sugar, etc.). I have yet to try them, but will soon.
This is what the end of the Woof 'em stick looks like.

I made me SEVERAL (like eighty) of these cute tags that my sister designed. We over planned, which meant I got to make all the left overs and then give them away.

Betcha can't guess who's finger that is.

I have recently learned how to do glass etching. It is my new fav. I think I will use my new bottle of etching cream as much as my Mod Podge....maybe.

If you can't tell, the jar is holding some giant jingle bells.

My sister (aka, the craft queen) made a darling hooded bath towel for Alayna. So I kindly asked her how to make it and....wala. I made one for a friend who is having a boy.

I am fully aware that you cannot really tell that it is a hooded bath towel in this picture, but I didn't have a model to wear it. She was sleeping.

I am trying my hand at another quilt. This one the fabric was pre-cut, which I quite enjoyed. Although, I did not enjoy trying to be "random" at sewing the squares together. And by random, I mean not having a pattern. I have been reassured that I am a pattern person. I like patterns. I like to make them. I like to see them. I like order....preferably rainbow order if I am making a pattern with colors. I don't know why. I just do. I always have. Lesson learned. Just thought I would share that quirky fact about me.

Lastly, as if I haven't already made enough hair clips to put in Alayna's hair. Here are some more. Once I got started, I couldn't stop. If you don't believe me, ask Dan.

Oh, and can you see the rainbow pattern?

13 Months Old

I have been wanting to post about Alayna being 13 months, but have been waiting until I got more pictures, but these last few weeks I think Alayna has not been feeling up to getting her picture taken and I have not been up to being the picture taker. So there aren't many pictures, but you take what you can get around here.

Here are the stats from Alayna's One Year Check-up:

19 lbs. 2 oz. (20th percentile)
30 inches (50th percentile)

I feel like a broken record when I say that she is growing up so much and learning lots of new things each day, but it is true. I have a lot to report this month.

So here we go...

Eating.

This is always an adventure. While she has not been too picky of an eater just yet, she has recently decided that she needs to be in control. She insists on feeding herself with a spoon. As you can imagine, this causes quite the mess at times. Luckily she has not become completely opposed to us feeding her so we do manage to gain control of the spoon at times. Although, we have to be somewhat sneaky.

She has also learned how to drink from a straw, but is not the best at it.

Oh, and finally....Alayna is officially weaned! We made it. I was able to nurse her for a full year. And I must admit that I am proud of that fact.

Sleeping.

I am PROUD to report that Alayna is sleeping through the night. I feel human once again. No, really I was just fine with the once a night feeding session, but I will admit, there is nothing like going to sleep and knowing that you don't have to wake up 'til morning.

I am also excited to report that naps are back in order around here. Apparently the whole "getting molars" thing was the source of the problem. Now that we got that under control, I am a happy mom.

Are you still with me?

And what kind of mom would I be if I did not tell you what kind of new things Alayna is doing developmentally?

*She can give you "Five".

*She just has learned how to play peekaboo with her blanket. It seriously is so cute. I will have to catch it on video so you can see for yourself how cute it really is. She holds her blanket in front of her face while you say, "Where's Layna?" and then she will pull it down and say something in jibberish which I am pretty sure is the equivalent to "Peekaboo."

*Most of the time when you say "Nice to meet you", she will shake your hand.

*She is still afraid of the vacuum. I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but she has NEVER liked the vacuum. She will sit on your lap with her head on your shoulder while someone is vacuuming. So, in our house, we have arguments over who's turn it is to hold Alayna while the other person vacuums because this is one of the only times she will snuggle.

*Once There Was a Snowman still is her favorite song and has been since she was two months old.

Whew! Sorry. I hope you made it through all of that.

Now, on to the pictures!

And if you can stand this post being a little bit longer, then you have to watch this precious video of my dad and Alayna. He was making her laugh so hard.

Enjoy!

She's Back

That's right.

My beautiful, happy, talkative girl is back!

Her molars are mostly in and her front, bottom tooth is well on it's way.

I am overjoyed!

I need your help

If you have read the previous post, you know that we are moving and going to be living the student life again.

In light of this, we (as in Dan and I) are looking for part time jobs.

I know there are some Laramie-ites that read my blog so I am asking if you could keep your ears and eyes open for any part time jobs. Since we are not physically there, our job looking abilities are limited.

I have already recruited my family to be on job alert for us, but the more, the merrier. Right? Well, you know what I mean.

If you do happen to hear of something, please just leave me a comment and let me know. We would REALLY appreciate it.

Thanks!

At little more info: Dan will be in class from 7am-4pm so he is interested in something in the evenings and I am a little more flexible.

Sometimes it Stinks to be a Grown-up

Decisions.

They have to be made, but lets just face it. Sometimes they are hard. And not fun.

Dan and I have recently been in the decision making process.

After some thought and prayer, we have decided to go back to school. When I say we, I mean Dan.

He is enrolled in the WyoTech diesel program and is absolutely thrilled! It has been a dream of his to go to WyoTech and now it is coming true!

With this decision comes some bitter-sweet feelings. We have LOVED the people in Casper...especially the people in our ward. We have felt so welcome here. It will be sad to go, but we know that this is what we are supposed to do right now.

On the bright side, we get to be near family! There will be two new babies born while we are there and I am excited to play the role of Aunt.

So there you have it. You are now officially in the loop.

Dan starts Dec 28th (my b-day). Oh, did I mention we are moving in the middle of DECEMBER? By the time he finishes (in 9 months) I will be a pro at moving. Five times in two years.

By the way, does anyone want to contribute to our back to school fund? It is NOT cheap going back to school.

It's done!

If you think that I have been slacking on blogging...I have.

For the past couple of months I have been planning a Terrific Tuesday for our ward.

It was a night filled with crafts (glass etching, decoupageing wooden frames and letters, stamping christmas tags, making woof 'em sticks...sticks that cook bread dough over an open fire and create like a hot pocket of sorts, quilting, and learning to make fried tacos.

And now I am done.

Ladies came, ate, and got crafty.

I think the night was a success!

Whew!

Not another one!

Guess what.

This morning Dan was playing with Alayna and noticed that she is getting yet ANOTHER tooth.

I am not kidding.

Not only is she getting four molars all at once, but another bottom tooth as well.

Sigh.

Poor girl.

At this rate she will have all of her teeth by the time she is 18 months.