STOCKINGS

Now that we are officially past Thanksgiving (and survived), I am in preparation mode for Christmas.  Making these stockings was something that I had been wanting to do for a long time, and admittedly, I have been doing it for a long time.  You are really going to laugh at me as I tell you the back story on this little project.  I think I bought the fabric and found the pattern to make these three or four years ago.  I had them cut out two Christmases ago, but didn't get them sewn together in finished state until last year.  Oh, except for one little thing - there wasn't a way to hang them.  But now, after a grueling four year process, I can finally call them complete.  Tada!

Yes, I am displaying them in the bathroom, but that was the only place I had readily available hooks.  I think I'm going to go the Command Hook route (easy) and since we don't have a fireplace, I'll just hang them on our console (last seen here), though if little hands start to get too curious, they might have to move.
The tree went up yesterday, and this year I went with the "no color" color scheme (mostly clear, gold, and silver ornaments).  I'll have to get a picture up of if for sure.  It is funny because I only decorated the top half, again, because of curious little hands.  I really hope that I have time to work on a bit more decorating and holiday crafting.  I have a fabulous (in my opinion) idea (thanks, Pinterest) for ornaments and I would love to make initial tags for our stockings, too!

A THANKSGIVING TO REMEMBER

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  This year, we spent most of our Thanksgiving holiday in an unexpected place - the ER.  Yes, a few days prior to Thanksgiving, Mason had developed a little cold, and it progressed worse to the point that he was having severely labored breathing, vomiting, and our nebulizer at home couldn't provide him enough relief.  I spoke to the on call doctor around 11, and she said if things didn't pick up after one more breathing treatment to go ahead and bring him in.  To the ER.  Ugh.  We gave him the treatment and it just didn't last, so in to the hospital we went.  The ironic thing is that Byron had decided that we should eat at noon this year, when we are normally 2-3 pm type of people, so at least we got a good meal in before the real adventure started.
Fortunately, my dad, Mason's BFF, went with us.  They checked us in fairly quickly and the doctor was able to treat Mason with steroids and stronger breathing treatments.  He perked up pretty well, but they still kept us around for almost six hours before finally letting us go home.

Look how cute he was!  Thankfully the ER had a Thomas video and some toys for us to play with.  Keeping this normally very active toddler corralled in a hospital bed was pretty challenging, especially when connected to a toe monitor.  Grandpa was a huge help to us and we are very thankful he gave up some of his relaxation time to be with us. Fortunately, they let us go home that evening.  We did have to do round the clock breathing treatments, so those middle of the night alarms and the fact that Mason stayed up from 3:30 am were a bit of a challenge, but I am very grateful that we weren't in the ER for anything worse!

A LITTLE SWITCHEROO

I got a wild hair and decided to make a small switcheroo in our house. So what once lived here...

Now lives here...

We needed something to make this area look more intentional, so I just centered the art on the wall and bada-bing, bada-boom, there you go. (Do you like the toys and playing child that I didn't move out of the way?)  So far, I like it.  I am thinking about putting some shelves up where that print used to be.  But they would definitely have to be high enough that the little adventurer in our life doesn't try to climb them.  I know I saw a picture of something similar recently.  Must be the picture in my mind!

FALL PINTEREST CHALLENGE: GROWTH CHART

For the fall, I decided to tackle a growth chart to measure my little one's growth.  Actually, that's a lie.  I decided to tackle this for the summer, and I got the thing almost completed, but then I didn't get it hung.  For a long time.  And then when the fall challenge came around, I just decided to get the darn thing on the wall so I could finally call it good.

My inspiration came from this gal. 

And this is my final product. 

So how did I get there?  I started by getting supplies...a board, stain, paint, painting tape, and sticky numbers. Then I sanded and stained the whole board. My husband gave me a thorough explanation of the proper way to stain.  He honestly had me a little nervous, but seriously...I don't know what he thought I was going to do.  It was really easy.  And he should have known I am very detail oriented and not sloppy, so the lesson was rather unnecessary (sorry, honey).  But as he instructed, I used a sock.

Then I taped up the whole thing, and applied white paint.

When it was dry, i (okay Byron) applied polyurethane.  I decided I wasn't a "distressed" type of girl, but after seeing my not-quite-perfect workmanship, maybe I should have reconsidered!   
We attached some picture hanging hardware to the back, drove a wall anchor into the wall, and it was done!  Now that I write this out, I'm embarrassed about how long it sat unhung. It was literally 3 months.

As soon as it was in place, we measured the boy.

And in case you think it is in an awkward place, you are right - it is.  But I have visions of making this area a little vignette.  A shrine to the Stover family, if you will.  Just kidding. Sort of. 
Just to add one last little thing, the beauty of this is that if we were to ever move, we can take this with us.  When I was growing up, we did this in one of our houses, but I think I lived in 5.  So there are no plans of leaving just yet, but at least I know that if we do, I won't lose this piece of nostalgia!
So thanks for hosting the Pinterest Challenge again, Sherry, Katie, Carmel, and Sarah! 

IN THE SPIRIT OF FINISHING PROJECTS

In the spirit of finishing projects, I bring to you another completed work 18 months in the making.  I know, I know, I still owe finished quilt pictures.  But in the mean time, here is what should have been a quick baby gift.

I used the pattern for a baby bib that came from the Mason-Dixon knitting book that I have, but really it is a very simple pattern.  It's a rectangle with two rectangle straps connected at the top...one of which has a button and the other a button hole.  I didn't even check gauge or needle size or anything.   Voila!
Unfortunately, I don't know any baby girls or expecting moms of baby girls at the moment, so this will just have to wait to be given until I do!

PUMPKIN PATCH

Taking the family to the pumpkin patch is now an annual tradition, because it has happened two years in a row.  On a whim, we went to the pumpkin patch this morning after church let out.  We are weird and actually like to go to a really early service, so we were able to get to the farm not too long after it opened.  We literally had the best time, and we got the absolute best pictures to prove it.  We were there for about an hour, and I snapped nearly 600 pictures.  I apparently am THAT mom.  I was able to narrow them down to my favorites, so don't worry, you won't have to view all 600!
Like last year, Mason fell asleep on the way, so the first few minutes were pretty groggy for him.  We wandered around the land to see what we wanted to tackle first while letting him snap back to reality.

We started off feeding the goats.  Mason didn't really grasp the concept of holding the goat food in his open palm for the goats to eat, but he still enjoyed watching them eat out of Byron's hand.  Then we put Mason on one of the tire swings.  I think this one might have been shaped like a horse.  He loves swings, but since this one didn't have much of a handle for him to hold onto, we didn't swing too high.  But consider this your foreshadowing for later.  We also jumped right up on the big antique tractor, and Mason took the wheel.

One of the highlights of the morning was the pony ride.  I felt a little iffy putting my 15-month-old on a pony, especially because we saw two kids who were clearly older than Mason start crying and refuse to ride, but Mason was a champ.  He did such a great job, and I'm so glad that we put him on.  It was a great memory to make, and even if Mason doesn't remember this, I always will.

We did some of the typical pumpkin patch activities, too.  We looked at all the pumpkins. Uncle Matt and Aunt Bebe would be proud, I think Mason enjoyed "drumming" on the pumpkins.  We have almost the exact same picture of Byron and Mason at the measuring stick last year.  I think this year's Mason could have eaten last year's Mason for a snack. He's gotten so big!  I just love the last picture because it looks like Mason's finger is up the pig's nose.  We found these animal statues a couple of different places on the farm, and Mason really liked them.  He knows how to make a pig noise.  It sort of sounds like uh uh. He even said it to this pig.
The last photos I'll show you are my absolute favorites.  I can envision one of these blown up extra-large on canvas or maybe just framed hanging in our living room.  But that would require me being able to make up my mind as to just which one is my favorite!

Man, that face is the best.  I can't help it.  I'm obsessed with my kid.

BINDING

I started making a quilt for Mason before he was born.  Now, as he is approaching 15 months old, I am nearing the final stages.  I've made yards upon yards of double-fold seam binding.  I swear, I think I made ten yards of this stuff, which is a little bit of overkill considering my quilt is baby sized.  I guess I have plenty now to use for a future project. Or several.
I have to say, I love it when quilts are bound in something unexpected, which is why I generally make my own.  This print isn't actually found anywhere in my quilt, but because of all of the different blues and greens, I think it works nicely.  I hope to share pictures of the finished product in the near future.
I am no expert on making this stuff (by far!), but I generally watch this video in order to help me think through the whole process.  This helped me as well when it came to sewing the stuff and I know this site is really helpful as well.

PERSONAL DAY

For health reasons, I ended up with an unexpected day off from work.  I decided that it would be a day where I get my life organized and tie up as many loose ends as possible. So far, I've been writing thank you cards (only a month overdue), I trimmed up the quilt I'm making for Mason, I put away the laundry that had been folded in laundry baskets for three days, and I shredded the stack of papers that had been accumulating on the shredder.  For the rest of the day, I plan to check off as many tasks on my to do list as possible, as well as take some much needed time for myself.
Another quick thing I managed to do today was to go outside and snip some zinnias from my garden for a little added freshness for the house.  I put them in my favorite jar for added happiness.

The zinnias were actually sort of a surprise.  My mom and I had planted them from seeds, but then later my husband, without knowing we had done it, planted some other plants in the same spot.  I really thought the zinnias were goners, but sure enough, after forgetting about them for two months, there is a whole bush of them, pink as can be.

The sign in the background is a little something that I found in Michigan and surprised Byron with for our Fathers Day on the road.  I may have teared up when I gave it to him. Apparently I was a bit emotional.  And he may have teared up when I gave it to him, so apparently he was a bit emotional as well!

ONE

I can't believe how quickly our little prince went from this

to this

Today we celebrate Mason turning one.  Mason is a man on the go, but still loves being in Mama and Daddy's arms.  He can say hi and wave, and he shakes his head no when he is doing something naughty.  He has the best giggle that I've ever heard.  He is so different than anything I would have asked for, and so much better than I ever could have hoped.  Happy birthday to our little man!

HAPPY 4TH

I just wanted to take a minute to wish everybody a happy 4th of July.  This is actually the first holiday in just about a year that we managed to get a family picture snapped.  Yay us!

It's the best one we got.  We had one hot toddler, one sweaty daddy, and apparently my shirt is lower cut than I realized.  Did I mention that it was 100 degrees out?  Please forgive us.
But let's just take a look at this adorable little guy, shall we?

He was a trooper through his first parade, but all in all, we only lasted about 30 minutes. That may have been mama and dad's fault, though.  The rest of the day was spent eating, napping, and playing, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  I hope you enjoyed your day as well!