Happy Birthday Benny!

Benny turned four this year. He is very excited about this and tells everyone. He is very aware of his birthday and the events surrounding that day this year.

 

Here is my favorite from his birthday photoshoot this year.

He loves to help his mommy right away

He shares so well with his brother

He is very excited for his baby sister to come

He is super smart

He loves primary and is always quick to answer the questions

He loves his cousins, they are his best friends

He loves doing his chores

His prayers are so thoughtful and he always wants to say them

He loves Sunday because he gets to go to Primary

He loves super heros and Batman is his favorite

His favorite phrase on his birthday while opening presents was "Oh my goodness!"

 

 

 

This is him closing his eyes while waiting for his suprise.

Love his reaction!

 

He got a Vtech learning console. He loves it and wants to play it all the time. I am just glad it is educational!

He picked out the same Cereal for his birthday breakfast as his brother!

Super hero shirts

 Each year I make shirts for their birthday. This year their theme is super hero and I wanted the boys to have cool shirts that they would like.

I found two hanes shirts at the thrift store, same size. I found a website that took words and arranged them into a word cloud. I used super hero words and two different shapes and printed them off the computer. Then I slid the paper inside the shirt on a clip board and traced the words with a fabric pen. This took a lot of time and effort. When they both were done I bought some dye!

I bought the liquid dye from walmart in yellow and navy blue. I added three hot gallons of tap water to a five gallon bucket and half the dye bottle. Mix around with a stick or something.

I wanted it to start at white at the top and progressively get darker. With the yellow shirt I started right under the white part and hold for ten seconds. Lower a little bit and hold it for about 30 seconds. Lower it more and hold for a minute. Every time you keep lowering the shirt, double the time you hold it. I left the bottom in for a really long time to be really dark.

Ben's I did differently. I started at the bottom and working up to white. I used the same time period as the yellow shirt just in reverse.

SOoooo the blue turned out purple. I decided to try again with more dye and longer time period.

 

I used a pitcher this time.

It still turned out purple. Oh well. Ben still loves it.

When you are happy with the dye job you need to rinse it in the sink till it runs clear. The white got a little yellow during this step, so make sure you hold the shirt up right and don't ball it up when you rinse it. Then I didn't want to use the washing machine, because I didn't want the white to get any less white, so I skirted some laundry soap on it and rinse in the sink upright again. Then Dry in the dryer separately if different colors.

Here are the dinished products.

The boys love them and they look great!

Happy Birthday Tayrien!

Two years ago Tayrien was born. Man how time flies! I can't believe that by this time with Ben's age I had another one! Crazy! He has brought so much joy in our lives.

 

Things we love about Tayrien:

 

He is so snuggly

He is so sweet

He loves any kind of animal

He sings along to any music

When you whisper in his ear that you love him, he whispers it back!

He scowls when you ask him to close his eyes

He always is willing to give a hug or a kiss

He always says he is sorry when he has done something wrong

He loves wo swim in any water

He follows whatever his big brother does (or tells him to do)

He loves to growl

He loves to pretend he is a puppy dog

He plays the piano every day

He LOVES food

He loves to help mommy

He loves his daddy and gets so excited when he comes home

He loves the Itsy bitsy spider

His Benny sounds like "Bunny"

He loves almond milk!

He loves his brothers cowboy boots and I often find him only wearing them

 

 

There are soooooo many more reasons why we love him.This is Tayrien's birth announcment. I have yet to print it. This will be done this week!

 

 

 

 

Every year the boys get to pick out a cereal they want to eat on their birthday. This year Tayrien picked cookie crisp. It was a big hit!

 

 

We wanted the boys actual birthday to be special so we give them a gift on their day. This is Tate getting his gift.

 



 

It was a soft Buzz lightyear that comes with a matching blanket. He LOVES Buzz and Ben has woody so we knew he would enjoy it!

13 Days of Halloween

 

 I found this cute little blog idea to make a countdown to Halloween jut like we do at Christmas. Here is a tutorial of how I made mine!

 

 

Here is the link to her blog with all the days and things that go with the numbers.

Polka dot comfy

 I bought this polka dot knit fabric in college and could never decide what to make with it, so it has been in my fabric storage stash for years. I found it recently and told myself I had to come up with something. So I took a black t-shirt and cut it across the middle. I didn't look how the top looked, so I took the bottom of the shirt and turned it upside down. Then I cut the fabric into a long recatangle. I sewed the back seam of the polka tod fabric and then sewed it to the bottom t-shirt. Done! Super simple! It is now my favorite dress and is so comfy!

This does not look cute, but trust me, it looks better on me!

I love that Ben is patting my bum in this picture to get my attention. LOL!

Meatball subs

 This is a super simple, super yummy recipe. You take meatballs and spaghetti sauce and heat over the stove. Then you place the buns on the cookie sheet and top with the meatballs and sauce. Top with mozzerella cheese and toast in a 400 degree oven until the cheese melts. I put tin foil between so the cheese doesn't stick to the other buns. That's it!!!! It was awesome and everyone loved them!

Miss M's birthday doll and a pattern

Benny has this friend who is two weeks older than him. Today was her birthday and we needed a gift. Benny picked out a dolly to make for her, so I went to work. I looked at a bunch of inspiration and drew up a pattern. The best part is I will share that pattern with you! It can be printed on a normal sheet of paper from your printer and cut out! This ones has two pages.

Here is my process:

 

You need to cut the pattern out and then cut the fabric out you want to use. You can make the legs skin color, but I wanted tights so I used a pattern.

 

Also the sleeve and shoe pattern is on the arm/leg pattern, you just follow the line disecting the patterns.

Before we put the doll together, we need to add all the little details first.

Here is the hair puff. Sew all around the perimeter. I turned the wheel with my hand the whole time because I wanted a nice curve and no angles.

I used the bottom fabric marker which I inherited from my mom, but the top fabric marker is from Walmart and works just as great.

I drew the face on a paper and traced with the fabric marker on top. If you want you could find a face you like and print it off and do the same thing.

Miss Marlie has freckles and strawberry blonde hair so we chose accordingly.

Pin the hair (We used fleece, but felt is also a good choice) and sew around the edges.

I placed and pinned the puff now, so I didn't loose it or forget it. Make sure to pin is pointing in, bacause we will turn it right side out later.

Next is to fold the shoe fabric over a little and sew the top of the shoe to the foot. Then the mary jane strap the same way as well as the back of the shoe.

I added a ruffle to the front with a scrap peice of fabric.

Sew the arms and legs right side together. Cut every little bit around the curve so it will open up nicely. Turn and press open.

Fill the leggs with a little rice or beans so the will hang and sit nicely. You don't need very much at all! Then fill the rest of the foot with fluff. Fill the arm with fluff.

The ones on the left are stuffed, the ones on the right are not. I didn't stuff them so much that they were hard and didn't move. You want it medium.

 Pin the back of head(make sure it is of hair fabric) to the face right sides together and sew. Clip around the curve. Turn right side out and stuff lightly again.

I added the sleeves now and they were horrible. I gathered it and sewed it to one side and it was retarted.

So I un-gathered it and made sure it wraped the whole arm and then sewed it to the arm.

Now pin the leggs and arms on the body front.

This is where it gets tricky since it will be tight. I chose to not pin it all the way around, but sew one side at a time. So I sewed one arm side, then the bottom and the third side was tight, but not impossible. I had to take out, readjust and resew this side a few times. Clip corners and turn right side out. Fill the bottom of the body with a little rice for stability and stuff the rest of the eay up.

I machine sewed the head in the front to the body so it looked nice and professional. I hand sewed the back where the hair meets the body and you can't tell a bit. Make sure you add a little fluff to the neck before you hand sew it shut. I added a flower to the hair puff.

Then I made a little capelet with scrap fabric and then not pictured I made a necklace that doubles as a bracelet for Marlie.

 

I think she turned out really sweet and can't wait to make one for my little girl!!!