Crafty

I've been busy lately what with spaghetti dinners (it went off without a hitch, by the way...and earned over $900 for the boy scouts!), an active baby, and these cute crafts.

Hair clips for Olivia
I made a few more, as well, but they are up in her room and she is napping, so no pictures. Her hair has really come in, and she needs a clip or a ponytail every day to keep it out of her face.

A Birthday Tutu for Olivia
Tutus are all the rage for little girls these days, but if you try to buy one, it will cost you a pretty penny. I made this one for under $10, and had lots of leftover tulle, so I could have made it for quite a bit less. It's also really easy...the whole project took me less than two hours.

Here's a quick tutorial if you're interested...

Materials:
6-10 yards of tulle (depending on the size of the tutu...I probably used 6 for Olivia's)
Elastic
Buttons (optional)

1. Cut the tulle into 3-inch wides strips. You can decide on the length depending on how long the tutu will be, but the strips will be doubled over, so they should be twice as long as you want the tutu.

2. (OPTIONAL) Finish one end of the elastic by folding it and sewing. Put a buttonhole near the end. (If this seems tricky, skip it...there are plenty of other ways to fasten the tutu).

3. Tie the end of the elastic to a chair or something stable. Then, taking two strips of tulle (I did two of the same color and alternated colors...but you could do your color scheme however you want) tie them to the elastic in the middle of the tulle strips...so that you have an equal amount hanging off on each side. Continue this process until the tutu is as big as you want it to be.

4. (OPTIONAL) Sew three buttons onto the other end of the elastic so that the size is adjustable, and finish the end.

* Other ideas for fastening the tutu are using stick-on velcro, hook and eyes, or just tying the elastic. You could also sew ribbons to the end of the elastic and tie a bow with those for a pretty finish.

A July Door Hanger
I picked up the star (new) at Goodwill, and mod podged it up with patriotic paper. I love it, and I can't wait for July so I can hang it on my door!!

Raspberry Pear Crostata
Although this isn't really a "craft" per se, I created this yummy confection for the dessert auction at the spaghetti dinner. It's a sister to the Pink Pear Tart. It looked so good, I almost bought it from myself, but it was too expensive, so I ended up with pineapple upside down cake instead. Sigh.

ALSO, I have been wanting to create a cute growth chart for Olivia...any good ideas for that?

Thanks for reading!

Dinner

I've been slacking on dinner lately. I think I was spoiled by all the family we have had in town, and I just can't face up to the fact that I need to make dinner every night. So we've had things like frozen ravioli. And side dishes have gone out the window. Anyway, today I was thinking about dinner, and looking at my calendar. Tomorrow is the Boy Scout's spaghetti dinner fundraiser. Jon is in charge. "Great," I thought to myself. "spaghetti dinner is tomorrow so I don't have to worry about making dinner." And then I thought, "Oh wait. Yes. You have to worry about making dinner. For a hundred people!" Sigh. Maybe I'll order pizza tonight.

Mmmmm, food...

Help! I need some input from more experienced moms, aunts, grandmas, babysitters, etc.

My baby girl LOVES to eat. We recently moved her from the bebe pod to the highchair (which we are borrowing from our neighbors...even though I ordered a beautiful wood one weeks ago...don't ask!), and with a tray in front of her, she has a lot more options, and can feed herself.

Though she's 10 months old, she doesn't have any teeth, but she's pretty good at mashing with her gums. I have basically stopped buying baby food because 1. it's expensive and 2. she would rather eat others things. "Feed me!"

Here's where you come in. I am trying to be creative, and feed her healthy and balanced "meals". Things she can feed herself are great, but I'm still willing to spoon feed her some of the time. She is currently living on a diet of crackers, yogurt, mandarin oranges, cheese and bananas. I feed her bits of our meals when it is something she will not choke on. She also loves Gerber puffs and yogurt melts. (She's still nursing, too.) I need some more ideas!!

What do you feed your kids? What are some healthy, kid-friendly foods? Also, in the future, I'm hoping not to have to resort to chicken nuggets and mac n cheese every day, so foods she can eat now (toothless) as well as suggestions of foods for older kids would be great!

Gracias!

Matchers

We LOVE our neighbors, the Tholens, who live 3 doors down in our row. Daphne (9), Henry (3), and Sumner (1) are some of Olivia's favorite friends. So imagine my surprise when, the Sunday before Easter when we had our Easter program and wore our Easter clothes, I saw the Tholens walk in (in their Easter clothes) and Daphne and Olivia were wearing the same dress. My mom had sent Olivia's and apparently Megan's mom send Daphne's! Great Moms think alike? Anyway, we didn't have a camera the first time, so today we had a dress repeat and took photos for posterity.


PS When I told my mom about this, she recalled a photo of my aunt Eve as a toddler and their neighbor Sandy Robison as a girl in matching dresses. Sandy Robison is now Sandy Olsen, my sister Diana's mother-in-law. So you never know how literal that "take a photo for posterity" thing might be. :)

A Week to Remember

We had a fantastic Easter and a whirlwind week. My family, including Mom, Dad, Christy, Rachel, Diana & Jonny came for spring break. We did SO much that there's no way I'll bore you with the details, but here's a quick photo recap. Even though my family was there, somehow all the photos still ended up being of Olivia...

Pre-General Conference Easter Egg Hunt (Olivia's first)

Olivia's victory arms after running up the "Rocky Steps" at the Museum of Art in Philadelphia.

Playing in the grass after a picnic on the harbor at Fort McHenry.

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Spending quality time with Aunties Rachel (pictured), Christy & Diana.

A little visit to our Nations' Capital. This time we saw Jefferson...a first for us.

Thanks, Family, for the visit!! We LOVED spending time with you!!

Project

I have been wanting new patio furniture for a long time since the stuff we inherited when we bought the house leaves much to be desired. I don't know if you have been shopping for patio furniture recently, but it is exPENsive! So when I saw some ratty old chairs outside Goodwill for $5 each, my imagination went wild, and thus began my first furniture re-finishing project. Here's how it all went down...

We started out with these beauties...

Then I pulled out the seats and backs to get the bare frame.

Here are the seats and backs, which I reupholstered, but sorry, no pic of the reupholstering.


Then I spray painted the chair frames white with rust-oleum indoor-outdoor paint.
Put them back together, and voile! There you have it!
I love how they turned out! The reupholstering was actually a lot easier than I anticipated, but the spray painting was harder. If you come over, don't look at them too closely! :)

Maybe I'll post a picture of all of them on the patio once the rest of the patio furniture is looking up to par.

**Also, Olivia is 10 MONTHS today! Check out new pic and stats on the sidebar!**

Determination

What if, to reach a goal, we had to struggle just to get close,and then reach up with all our effort,
pull ourselves upward, inch by inch
until we were almost there
and then experience the sweetness of success,
only to fall back to where we started, after just a moment?

Would we pick ourselves up and try again?

She did.