Christmas countdown

Okay...this is the last "project" that I will share. I realize that was a lot but remember this is months and months worth of work. I had to keep myself busy all of those nights when my body wouldn't allow me to sleep!

Things have definitely slowed down at my house. I am scheduled to be induced on Friday morning...only 2 more days. I am so incredibly excited to 1) meet this sweet little child and 2) to not be pregnant any more. Any way....thank you for all of your sweet comments. You are all so kind!

That being said here is the last of the "To Do List"...

I love the Holidays. Even more than the Holidays I love tradition. Ever since I started my own family I have been on the look out for fun traditions I think my family would enjoy. This year I hope to start one that will last years to come. This is a Christmas Count down. I didn't exactly find this "idea" any where. I found a few things that were similar but I just made it conducive to my little family.

Each little card has a front and a back. The front of the card has a picture of an activity that we will do together as a family. There are all sorts of things. Some are really simple activities. Some will require some planning. Therefore there are no numbers on the back of the cards. {maintain a little bit of control when planning the month}

Some of the activity ideas are: Sledding, singing Christmas songs, watching family videos, writing Santa a letter, watching a Christmas movie, making sugar cookies, going to temple square to see the lights. Basically it is all of the "activities" we would do during the month of December but this way the kids have a little bit if extra excitement and may remember that their parents did "fun" things with them!

Christmas Advent Calendar

When I was a little girl {and still to this day} I had a favorite Christmas decoration. It was a count down to christmas. I loved it. We would fight over who got to put up which ornament on the tree. I wanted to make one for my own family to create memories of excitement and anticipation for Christmas.

The only problem...mine turned out hUGE! Oh well. Someday we'll get a bigger house...

To Do List cont. Little Fabric House

When I was a little girl, my mom made a little house for me. I loved it. I played with it for hours. She still has that little house and now Anna loves to play with it. My mom still has the 1985 McCall's pattern for this little house. I decided to make one for Anna. I think she will be excited!

Side view

Looking in. The little roof pulls open via velcro.

Back of House.

the sides unzip and fold down for maximum playing capacities!

I think I may have been more in love with the furniture than the house.

A little sitting chair.

The couch

And the Bed.

A perfect little home...

to house these cute little critters.

To Do List Cont. Bibs and Burp Rags

All of my old burp rags are gross and stained so I figured it was time for some new ones.

So simple to make. Just a basic rectangle with a little half circle cut out for your neck.

These are all lined with a padding as well as backed with a terry cloth fabric.

My kids are droolers. Like major droolers. Like I think some where along the line they missed the gene that allows them to learn to swallow for at least the first year of their life. They get it eventually but just not for a while. When Anna was little I would strap on as many bibs as her chubby neck would allow. With Quinn I obviously didn't try quite as hard. However with this baby I have done a little homework!

I have poured over websites and etsy stores for the "perfect" design. One time a long time ago I found a bib that looked something like the ones I made. I never found that site again. So I was left with the vague image in my brain for a pattern. I liked the unique idea of a little clip. I may be kicking myself some day when I am actually using them...we'll see.

I am so interested to see how this bib is going to work. It is lined with a special fabric found in the huge domestic fabrics. It is the stuff they use to make the linings you put on your kids' bed (for when the wet the bed). I told the ladies at JoAnn's my dilemma with my "special" drooling problems. This was the fabric they recommended. Apparently extremely absorbent.

I went to JoAnn's and picked out all of my favorite fabrics. (so fun) The fabric was all on sale this particular weekend and I got 1/4 yd of each. Out of that 1/4 yd I was able to make 2 bibs and a burp rag. I think it ended up costing like $.20 a piece. Not bad!!

I just made one clip to to match each set of bibs. All of the clips can work interchangeably.

Let's cross our fingers this little one stays dry!!

To Do List Cont. Quinn's Felt House

When I was designing these houses I kind of wanted an overall theme for both of them. For Anna's I wanted imagination to be the key. I wanted her to be lost in her own world of play. For Quinn, I wanted a little bit more educational.

The front Door:

(This dog is as close as Quinn will ever come to a Dog in our house!)

Side 2:

the Library

My favorite part of the whole house. All of these little Quiet books. Almost every piece of all of these houses were designs I found using my cricut cartridges. I love my cricut. I had envisioned the window as the librarian's desk. You know, to check out their books!

These 3 little books were the "education" I had in mind. Colors. Numbers/counting. Shapes.

The number book is velcro, snaps, and the rainbow is elastic.

These books are just for fun. Paper Dolls. One for Anna, one for Quinn.

Inside each book are 6 (two are on the back) outfits to dress up their "felt" doll. So colorful and all different. Everything is velcro.

Goldilocks and the 3 Little Pigs

my hope for these books are just to encourage imaginative play. Retelling and recreating the infamous stories they already know.

All of the little figures are finger puppets.

Side 3:

The apple tree. the apples are all magnetic and they fit perfectly in the little basket at the bottom of the wall. They can use this wall for counting or basic math skills (adding and subtraction).

Side 4

the Post Office

This wall is designed to work on sorting. Each little "mail box" is full of letters. They each have a little stamp in the corner with coordinating stamps. They could be sorted by stamp or by color of the envelope.

I made these little mail bags for each of the kids to deliver mail. Each of their "front door" walls have a little Velcro mail box.

And that is all! During this pregnancy I haven't been able to sleep that well...either due to insomnia or body aches and pains. So as a result most of the sewing I have shown you was done in the wee hours of the night. But oh so worth it!!