Monster Madness! How to make Monster Pants!

As you know, I love to crochet :)
I have found a new pattern that I can "play" with! It was written by Heather Richard, and it is called 'My Simple Crochet Longies/Shorties'. You can find it on Ravelry. It is for sale, but is very afordable at $3.00! It has short rows in the bum area that can be crocheted in a different color. That is the mouth of the Monster! Easy! I added eyes later by crocheting a few circles and stitching them on after the pants were completed.

I've wanted sock monkey pants for Reese for a long time, now I have them! I've seen these suckers sell for $50.00!

These are the first pair I made for him, and are my favorite!

I love the way these turned out! Only thing is I made them a tad bit tight! They are still super cute on :) I also added snaps to the straps, and they work really well.

Let me know what you think!

Uh-oh, look out...New hobby, it's CROCHET!

This beautiful blanket, lovingly hand made by my cousin Debbie, was my inspiration for learning this craft. Thank you Debbie, not only for the life-long gift, but also for the inspiration!

I found this cute pattern for free and made these two for my mom-in-law and my mom, or Oma and Gee. Is any one else interested in one? I can whip it up pretty quick!

For the last few months, I've been teaching myself to crochet. It is quite addicting, especially when you actually make something! I have researched on the internet, and with the help of youtube and a particular blog... I have found a new hobby, and love. Yes, I love to crochet, and Amy's blog titled, "with a tangled skein" has been my guidance.

She has created wonderfully easy patterns that even I, a novice, can create. I made all of these from Amy's blog, except the teapot cozy's. The yellow and blue pants are her "little fire" crochet longies. They are made from soft hand painted merino wool. This is my second pair of wool longies. The first pair turned out pretty nice, but the quality of wool is not as nice.

I crocheted a blanket for Jesse before he was born. Some of you know that blanket and know that it is shaped like a trapezoid! Really funny when you look at it, although it is still holding strong. We use it every day. It turned out to be more like my blanket than his! So for me to think that I could make anything complex was far fetched. I picked up my hook and with some wool yarn I bought at Michael's, I made my first diaper wrap. I thought that it would be the easiest thing for me to start with, and it was. It's not perfect, but it works, and it gave me reason to believe I could do more. Before I knew it, I had made my first pair of longies, the brown pants in the picture above. These are pants made of wool yarn and are meant to be cloth diaper covers. They are water proof, after lanolizing, and work very well. I prefer wool covers to plastic because of the breath ability and it is a natural fiber. I am currently working on a pair of woolies. It is a diaper cover made from wool yarn that looks more like underwear. Of course I had to make a size large! The mediums only go up to about 20 pounds, and my lo is 18 pounds already!

This is the crochet wrap I found on Amy's blog.

Reese obviously doesn't have a diaper on, we were trying to be discreet!

I really like making your patterns Amy, thank you for sharing! I also want to thank the ladies on the wool soaker group on yahoo, lots of knowledge!

Reese's new tooth!

So, we are starting new foods with the Reese man. Oh, and he has started teething!!!! OMG, totally forgot how difficult it can be! The first picture is Reese eating carrots, his first food, besides rice cereal. They were really sweet, I steamed them and pureed until buttery smooth. He ate them pretty well. I love the faces he makes! He crinkles his forehead and eyebrows!! so cute! He is also eating butternut squash with pears, also steamed. The one thing about this is his toots and poopy are getting really stinky!!! LOL!

Jesse LOVES his Reesey! He can't get enough of him. They get along very well, Reese smiles and laughs at his brother's funny faces.
Jesse is a very good big brother. He would like to carry him around with him! The cutest laughs come out of the both of them when they play together. It warms my heart!

Reese is starting to get his first couple of teeth. Some days are harder than others. I don't like seeing him in pain, poor baby! And he does bite hard, ouch!

Here is Reese enjoying some yummy pureed apples and pears that Mommy steamed just for him. The bottom picture is the one picture so far that you can kind of see a tooth. I have taken soooo many pictures, but that tooth is very illusive. My baby is getting bigger by the day, sigh... I am trying not to blink! Before you know it he will be walking.

A beautiful wedding...and party!

A cool desert evening in December, a beautiful sunset, a beautiful bride and a handsome groom, what more could you ask for? How about sharing it with all your family and friends!

Teresa and John planned and orchistrated a harmonius evening filled with beautiful scenery and loving people. Everything from the church ceremony to the dinner was delightful. I especially loved the part where loved ones stood up, and "spilled their gutts" in front of everone, expressing their love and congratulations to toast the bride and groom. Lots of tears were in the house! A very happy moment I am proud to have shared. Thank you to my (husband's) cousin, Teresa, for inviting us to her momemorable day! We love you, and pray for a happy long life together!

By the way, doesn't my son look handsome in his suit???

My "real" diaper obsession

I must first give a big thank you to Katrina, for her pattern that she has provided for FREE! You can find it at www.katrinassqsblogspot.com Most of these were made from her patterns. Thank you Katrina for providing not only your pattern, but also detailed instructions!

I have found a new obsession, it's called cloth diapers. Not only cloth diapers (cd), but making my own cd. These are pictures of cd covers. Wool covers made from "recycled" wool sweaters. I bought these from goodwill, and chopped them up, or massacred, some may say! Who cares, I'm having fun! Who thought diapering could be fun??? These to the left in red and orange were my first ones made.

These two brown-ish ones came from the same sweater, the one above is made from the sleeves, and the one to the left is made from a pattern I printed off the internet. What a great tool, the internet!

These grey ones, right below, are from an "ichy" sweater my mom couldn't wear. By the time I lanolized it, it wasn't "ichy" anymore.

The shorties, are probably my favorite shortie soaker. the "cuffs" are actually the cuffs off of a cashmere sweater.

I like to find wool sweaters made of merino wool. They are soft and not ichy.

I use old fashioned prefold (pf) diapers, then put these covers over the pf. Yes, my husband thinks I'm nuts, but it is very rewarding for me. He doesn't change diapers anyway! Washing them is easy, right now anyway, Reese is only eating breast milk! I have not used a disposable diaper (sposie) in over 2 months. I did use them when he was little, I actually used a combination of cd, sposies and g-diapers. I still use g-diapers too. I use cloth wipes too, that's how this whole thing got started. My mom and I were shopping at Babies R Us when I was prego and I was in need of a wipe warmer. I ran across a brand of cloth wipes that are made of bamboo. Very soft, but they do have a tendency to unravel! I picked up a pack of 8. I also discovered the g-diapers on that shopping trip. I now use a rotation of 16 bamboo wipes, and about 15 washcloths for wipes. I fold them so they pop up just like disposable wipes and put them in my warmer. So cool! I make my own wipe solution and everything. I'm so thrifty! Not only do I save money, but it's better for my baby, and that's what really counts!

Giving Thanks...

Jesse James and brother Reese


Gee and Reese





We are truly blessed. We are healthy and rich with life's treasures. But why do we always want more? We take so much for granted, we want what other people have. We say, "If I only had this, or It would be better if ...". We need to take a step back and realize that what we have is what we need. Most people have it backwards, they put themselves first, then maybe others after that, and forget about putting God any where in the mix. If you put God first, others second and put yourself third, then your life will be full of joy and fullfillment! Give thanks for what you have!






Opa and Reese






Oma and Reese


























This Thanksgiving we got to spend the holidays with some of our family. Of course my mom and Bill came over, Jacob too. We also shared dinner with our friend Lisa. A nice dinner of turkey (of course), dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, gravy, cranberry sauce, corn pudding, and dinner rolls. For dessert I made a pecan pie and a sweet potato pie. Yum! Ate it for days!








Luckily Chris' mom and dad (also known as Oma and Opa) were able to drive down for a visit for the weekend. Oma is a wonderful chef! She can make anything! I have learned a lot from her. It was really nice to see them.







We do miss the rest of our family that we don't get to see that often, we can only hope to see you all soon! Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby's first Christmas

Sorry for the sideways photos! First time blogger...

Of course you all know this will be Reese's first Christmas. We have already put up our tree and started decorating the house. Jesse is so excited! He is anticipating Santa coming to bring him lots of presents. He said last year that Santa "brought too many" if that is even possible! So this year we told Santa just the things he wanted. He has just discovered the Star Wars Saga and is totally into it. We have watched 4 of the 6 movies. Thanks to Jacob, we can watch them as we like. (He owns the complete set in DVD!) Jesse is also into Legos, me too! I love building the sets! It's the kid in me... :)

We decided to go with a plastic tree this year, Jesse is highly allergic to the real thing :( we miss the smell of pine, but atleast he is not snotting and sneezing all over the place!