Sewing with Kids - part 1

Santa gave my 7 y-o a sewing machine. While Grandma (my mother-in-law) was here during the holidays, we made some time to sew with her! They made a girly cover for my daughter's boring computer chair. She did an awesome job and actually did a lot of it herself. She learned how to make a casing for elastic. The fabric we used was just from a pink sheet we bought at Ikea for $2.

BEFORE

AFTER

Shadows and Paper Airplanes

While my sister and her family were here for a few days at Christmas time, we went to the park by my house and made a bunch of paper airplanes and had a little contest. Their uncle is apparently quite the paper airplane builder! We were having fun with the shadows as well. Maybe it's one of those things where you had to be there. Oh well. Enjoy.

Wii Wii Wii, All the Way Home

Don't really know why I titled it that. I just thought it was kinda funny... er... cheesy. Oh well.

So yeah. Umm. For Christmas my family got a Wii from my in-laws. I was super hesitant. Okay, I guess I should clarify. We got some money from my in-laws and we could do what we want with it. In the past we have chosen to get a few annual passes to places like the zoo and museums and such. This year, with much apprehension on my part, my husband went all out and bought a wii for our family.

Of course being the psycho-path, paranoid mother that I am, I was worried about fights over the wii, chores and homework left undone, and tv/wii zombie kids (that never do anything else and never read again therefore flunk the third grade, etc.). Well I expressed my concerns with my husband many times before Christmas. Since he knew this was important to me but also knew I never have time to sit down and come up with rules, he came up with them on his own and presented them to me! (What a wonderful man I have!) I LOVE the rules he came up with. I also think it was dang clever of him to add the "ii" to words that end in a long "e" sound. Funny guy.

So, without further ado: Our family's rules about the wii:

Wii Harmonii for the Anderson Home

Perspective:

1. The Wii belongs to EVERYONE in our familii. Wii are sharing The Wii.
2. The Wii is for FUN!

Rules:

1. When wii spend time with The Wii wii will be polite to each other. Yelling, arguing, hitting, fighting, or crying will result in an offence.
2. The Wii's controllers will bii treated respectfullii. This means wearing the wristbands and using the controllers gentlii and with care. Disrespecting the controller is an offence.
3. The Wii games will be handled carefully by big kids and put away in their cases when not in use. Treating games improperly is an offence.
   

• For the first offence on each day, have to stop playing for 15 minutes or do a chore.
• For the second offence, you have to stop playing for an hour or do a chore.
• For the third offence, you cannot play for the rest of the day and do a chore.
  * chores will be chosen by mom or dad or babysitter
  

Play Time:

1. The Wii may only be played when the living room, kitchen and kids bedrooms are clean; and the dishes are done.
2. If we have homework and/or chores, wii only play when mom or dad say those are done too.
3. The Wii may be used on school night’s onlii with permission from a parent.
4. The Wii will bii left alone on school days before school.
5. The Wii will not be played on Sundays.

• If you try to start the wii or are playing during a time when you're not supposed to be playing, you are banned for that day (or the next eligible day).

Fine Print:

1. Punishments are to bii determined by mom and dad only. They have absolute control to extend privileges or assign punishments at their sole discretion for any reason.
2. The kids will try to be reasonable and not play when there are other fun things to do or when there is work to do.
3. Older kids will bii nice to younger kids, teach those who don't know how to play, and play 'kids games' when younger kids are present.
4. Older kids and parents will let the younger kids win (throw the game) sometimes just to make it fun.
5. Parents will try to bii reasonable and allow the kids to play when they have earned it.
6. Parents will give a five minute warning when it's time to turn off the Wii. Players should use this time to finish or save their game. After this five minutes, the parents can turn off the Wii as abruptlii as they want.


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We are having a lot of fun with the wii. And so far, so good with the rules. There are some times that my kids are little punks when I law down the law... but it's okay.

I'm Back

{Random picture of a tortoise that I took at the zoo over the holidays. They were getting him to move fairly fast by tempting him with prickly pear cactus. It actually was really juicy!}

No, I didn't go anywhere. I've been right here at home! But I haven't felt much like blogging lately. Can you tell? ;-P

First I was busy with company for Christmas and family in town for New Year's. That made it difficult to find time to do anything in our normal routine. Obviously I don't care though. Laundry, dishes, and blogs can wait... when you have company and you're having fun, right?! We had sooo much fun and we'll have so many wonderful memories. So glad they came to visit!

Then I wanted to relax, take a breather, get back into normal life (get my kids back on a routine of going to bed and getting up for school) and clean my house.

I also have a new church calling that requires me to be on the computer a lot... but not blogging. I have been trying to start to wean my baby from nursing. The problem is that every time she sees me in the computer chair she wants to nurse! That makes it hard to get anything done on the computer! (She's sleeping right now...) For the last month, I've been busy working on things for primary, which also equals no time for anything extra.

This last week, I've finally started to find a bit more time to blog, but I just haven't felt like doing it. Oh well.

I've had plenty to actually blog about, though.

Hmmm... Maybe I should make a list of things I've been wanting to blog about, so I will be able to get to them later. I'm sure I'll forget a few right now.

• Christmas with my sister
• wii rules in our house
• sewing with kids
• making baby pajama pants
• the new couch
• gardening right now
• Holiday recipes that were new to me in 2009
• hiking with kids in az
• My baby's baby doll and the quilt from great-grandma
  
• paper airplane contest and shadow pictures
• running, getting ready for the Ragnar Relay
• a bike race/ride roommate reunion possibility - in UT
• totally funny videos my daughter makes by herself (all the time) {She would be so mad if I shared them}
• my need to quilt
• My Only New Year's Resolution, and other goals
  
• etc...
  

So, we'll see how I do with coming up with these in the near future. But for now, I hope I am at least coming back into normal life enough to blog way more than I have in the last three weeks!

Ah, yes. I'm ready to be back.

{Me, carrying my baby in a backpack. Hiking down from a hieroglyphics trail behind the Superstition Mountains.}

P.S. Does anyone want any zucchini, yellow squash, and/or Bibb (limestone) lettuce from my garden?? I have some I would love to give away. First come, first serve. (obviously local only)

Christmas Hot Pad

With scraps from the zig-zag quilt. I wanted to try out the swirl quilting style. (There's definitely room for improvement, but it sure was fun!)

Christmas Zig-Zag Quilt, Done and Gone

I wish I had more time to write about this. But I'm just too busy today!

Just pictures for now. Maybe I'll get around to writing about it soon...

Almost done!

I'm working on the last step - binding! I hope to be able to show you "finished" pictures tomorrow.

Peace

I got bored (for a bit) with piecing the zig zag quilt. (I'm sooo slow at quilting. Ugh!) So, I needed a new small project. Over Thanksgiving weekend I decided to use a few scraps from the zig zag quilt to make a Christmas banner. I had some cream felt leftover from making the birthday crown awhile ago. I wanted the felt to be thick so I double it. I then decided it should be reversible. I was going to put another Christmas word on the other side, but thought maybe I should go with a word from a neighboring season/holiday. So, the other side says "Fall" with a fabric leaf on the extra square. I hung it on the mirror in my living room. The only thing I don't really like about that is that you see the fall colors and letters. Oh well.

I free handed the letters on parchment paper and traced them on the fabric. My artistic husband helped me. :)


I used dark green thread to zig zag around the letters (before I attached the Fall letters felt squares to the back).


Easy peasy! But, I thought it would be a two-hour-or-under project. Nope. Not for me. I'm slow! I also broke a needle and stuff like that. When I was done, I was happy with it, but wished I had spent the time quilting instead.

Christmas Quilt Progress

Yay! I'm making progress! I am so grateful to my husband for letting me quilt on Friday night, while our kids were being babysat. We hung out and watched Twilight while I quilted. (We were preparing to see New Moon the next morning. LOVED it!) He actually helped me a bunch. He lined up squares and drew a diagonal line on them so I could sew them. He also helped me the next day by watching the kids for hours while I was pluggin' away in our room, piecing this quilt together.

I'm only about 1/3 of the way through the piecing. But I LOVE seeing the progress! I am a slow quilter, but I still have hope that I will find the time to get it finished. I have about three and a half weeks left.

Giveaways!!

Sorry if I fooled you with that title. I'm not hosting a giveaway. But, V and Co. is!! Go check it out and leave a comment for a chance to win! These things are gorgeous! If you don't have a camera with a strap like that, you could probably think of someone who would like it for Christmas.

Go check out *Shey*[B]'s etsy shop for all of her choices. Honestly, they are gorgeous! (I made one awhile back, for my camera, and it's okay, but nothing compared to hers!)


Okay, here's another one. The Burnt Daisy is having a giveaway. She has an adorable blog and makes beautiful decorative letters. Check out her "Believe" giveaway.

Good luck!!

Spare time = quilting. Now I just need to find "Spare Time"!

Seriously! Do you remember me talking about wanting to make a Christmas quilt for my husband's boss' family? Well, Christmas is right around the corner and all I've done so far is order the fabric and wash it. It's been patiently waiting there on the shelf, for weeks, to be cut and pieced! I was just waiting for all of the craziness of October to end (not really on purpose. I just never found "Spare Time"). I guess I did think to myself that the beginning of November will be less busy and I'd find the time!

We're in NOVEMBER! It doesn't look good for me and that quilt!! I need a whole Saturday to myself, my cutting tools, and my machine! I don't see that happening this month though.

Enough rambling. Sorry.

I bought Moda's Figgy Pudding for the fabric...


and I want to do a zigzag quilt similar to these:

(found here at Film in the Fridge)
{I'm seriously loving her blog. I just found it. She inspiring in the quilting department. Very talented!}

(found here at A Quilt is Nice)
{Also a very talented quilter. I've learned a lot from her blog. She has beautiful stuff.}

I really hope it doesn't take me too long to make this quilt. I hope to be able to show you some pictures of progress very soon! And, if you see Spare Time can you tell him to stop by my house, please?! I need him!

P.S. Did you notice I was successful with my posting of pictures from other sites?? Yay! Thanks for your help. :-)