Getting' My Craft On

I've never really considered myself all that crafty. In my younger years, I knew how to crochet and I'd done a cross-stitch or two... but I never really kept up with it. I kinda always thought that now-a-days it was probably easier and cheaper to just go out and buy stuff, than to try to make it myself.


Last week I stumbled across this book in a discount bin at a bookstore and I thought that the little home-made stuffed animals in it were really cute. Suddenly inspired to get crafty, I decided to buy it and try making one of them for Edison. And if it's not a total disaster, I might make another one down the road.



Some of the softies are a little... interesting, but I liked the look of this guy... the Tramp Heart Bear

So off I went to the craft store to get all of the ingredients for my little bear. I'm not totally clueless in the craft store... most of the things I can handle - felt, thread, buttons - easy peasy. But floss, what the heck is floss? I only know of one kind of floss and I don't think it's meant to sew little bears together. I had to ask an employee, who had to ask her supervisor, and in the end discovered that floss is a thicker type of thread that is mainly used for embroidery-type stuff. I also discovered that floss comes in a billion different colours.

The pattern 

I attached the pattern with safety pins instead of regular pins... less chance of stabbing myself that way 

Hearts sewn together with the infamous floss

Time is start sewing his little body together 

Don't own a sewing machine... so hand sewing it is!

Cross-stitched the floss onto the tummy

Button's added and heart attached. His tummy is complete.

Well, this is all I've done so far. I'll put up more pictures as I work on it. Stay tuned...

A New Play Area in the Making

The upstairs landing of our house is a decent size. It's not just a narrow hallway with bedroom doors... it's not humungous, but there's a bit of space to move around in.

After we set up the train table at Christmas time, Jonathan and I decided to put it in the upstairs hall and turn it into a little play area for Edison - the man with many toys.

The walls were rather blank, they didn't scream "fun kids play area", so I've been keeping my eye out for something cute to decorate the walls with in his little area.

I didn't want to spend a ton of money and when I found these cute little wall cards by Children Inspire Design on for half price, I thought they would do the trick nicely.

Edison, playing with his trains

Observe the boring walls

I ordered the wall cards online and they arrived in the mail a couple of days ago. I love getting things (other than bills) in the mail! So, I unwrapped my little parcel, got out my trusty glue dots, and away I went...

Our happy little boy

What To Do On A Blustery Day

As soon as the winds pick up, Jonathan's surf radar goes off big time! This past Tuesday was quite a windy day so Jonathan packed Edison up and off they went to White Rock beach to watch some waves.

Jonathan took some pictures while they were there. It looks a bit cold and rainy, but it still looks like they had fun. Edison is quite the trooper and never seems to be bugged by the weather... except for the snow, as we learned last week.

Wordless Wednesday - Can't take my eyes off this boy... or something like this happens...

Who me?

A Weekend with the Trottiers

My sister Sara and her husband Ryan were here for a visit this past weekend. They don't come home very often, and when they do it's only for a couple of days because of their busy work schedules. But hey, we'll take whatever we can get. It does however, make for a very busy couple of days... especially for the little one.

We spent the first day at my Dad's, where Sara and Ryan got to see the farm for the first time. We also had to pay a visit to the CheeseWorks store (a must visit if you're in Maple Ridge). We also went to Costco, and we stopped for milkshakes at the Bobby Sox 50's diner. We had an awesome dinner and had a great evening of visiting and hanging out.

On Sunday we drove out to Chilliwack to visit my grandparents and then went back to my Mom's house to hang out for the evening. Sara and Ryan had some friends over and the crowd was quickly divided: guys in the living room watching football, girls in the kitchen chatting and making dinner... what a surprise!

I hardly took any pictures during their visit... silly me!! Here are a few of the ones I did manage to take:

Momma and sister Sara 

The gals in the kitchen  

Edison and Amber's nephew Joe... passing the airplane back and forth 

Joe showing Edison his Nintendo DS... so cute! 

I know this picture is blurry... and not exactly blog-worthy BUT I didn't realize my flash was off and this was my only shot of Edison riding the hobby horse. I thought it was so cute!

It was a fun visit... it went by way to fast as usual. We're looking forward to the return of the Trottiers in July... just in time for Edison's 2nd birthday!

Wordless Wednesday - My boy with the big brown eyes

What's that White Stuff??

It's the middle of January and we finally got our first real snowfall of the year!! Edison got a little taste of snow last winter but we were so much more excited this year because he can now go out and play in it! 

When we got up yesterday and looked out the window, Edison was very fascinated by all the white stuff. He kept pointing and wanting to look out. About 5 minutes after we got up to start the day our power went out. I went downstairs and discovered that the coffee and waffles I planned to make for breakfast wasn't going to happen. I kept trying to turn on the light switches, forgetting that the lights weren't going to turn on. So, out we ventured in the snow for some breakfast.

After breakfast, we quickly ran into Superstore to get a few fun snow toys... a big toboggan for all of us to fit on, and a little one to pull Edison around in. We came home and started the bundling up process, excited to go out and play. 

We decided to go over to my Dad and Ren's, where there are acres of untouched snow for us to mess up. Jonathan was on a mission to fly his (white) plane in the snow... so off we went.

Edison wore his snow pants for the first time. He was very unimpressed. By the time we got his boots on, he was even more unimpressed. The gloves and jacket put him over the edge. He did not love being bundled. He hated being pulled around on the toboggan. He stood on the porch and whined for pretty much the entire time that we were outside.

                                                                        Why am I wearing this?!?

Getting his plane ready for flight

White plane on snow doesn't make for great pictures

White plane in blue sky... much better

Coming in for a landing

It got a boo boo

                                                                       The farm in the snow

"Mom, I have had enough!"

His not-so-subtle hint

So his first play day in the snow wasn't the greatest. Snow is in the forecast for the next few days, so we're hoping he might like tobogganing down a little hill. We'll try that next. Or maybe snow is just not his thing until he gets a bit older. We'll see...