Sewing projects for 2015

I have a lot of sewing/crafting projects that I have been wanting to make, and this is the year I am going to make them. I am hoping that this will also give me some direction on what to make when I am in the mood to do some creating.

1. Ties for Russell. This one will be a relatively easy project and one that I can do when I only have a few minutes here and there. There is also a girl in our ward who said she'd like to come make some with me for her own little boy.

2. A new diaper bag. I have been wanting a new diaper bag for a while because I am not in love with the design of our current one. I have been reluctant to buy one for various reasons ie. too big, too expensive (our current one is a savers find for like 3 bucks) too many strange compartments. I bought this pattern a couple months ago because I think it will be perfect and easy enough to sew.

3. A hooded scarf. Even though we had a pretty moderate December temperature wise, we have has some really frigid days, too. I have found that I am wearing my hair up a lot more often and so the back of my neck has been freezing. I saw several on pinterest and found this pattern that makes it look pretty easy.

4. A menu board. We have a great permanent place for one in our house, and after making one for Janet for Christmas, I was very encourage to make one for ourselves. Along with a menu board I think I will also make...

5. A Family Home Evening Board. We need one. The only thing is how do I know how many assignments do I put on the board?  Maybe I'll just make a simple one for now and if more people join our family then I'll just have to make another one.

6. These towels.

I got some kitchen towels and potholders on after Christmas clearance that will make great gifts for my visting teachees this next year.

7. A warm/thermal space-suit for Ben. He needs one for working outside during these cold-cold Minnesota winters! Plus, he is a wonderful husband, so he deserves only the best that I, and NASA, can offer. 

These are only a few of the things I have been itching to make. As I make other things I'll be sure to add them to Sew Scoresby for all to see.

Christmas 2014

Waiting to go downstairs

Our Christmas.

Oh, what's that you asked? That's not our apartment? Well, we managed to move into our new-to-us-house on December 20th and cleared away enough space for us to celebrate a wonderful Christmas day in our own home. Christmas Eve was not the most wonderful day since Ben got the 24 hour bug we were passing around (he and I) and Russell had the 5 hour bug (he must have such an awesome immune system that the 24 hour bug could only last 5 hours). I guess this means there is only room for improvement for next Christmas.

We'll give you all a tour of our new house soon.

I came across this while I was packing up. They gave it to me at one of my appointments about 2 months before Meghan was born.

 I quickly glanced through it and gave it to Ben so that as my birth companion he would know what to expect (because he had probably forgotten what it was like to be my birth companion 2 short years earlier with Russell, maybe?). He felt very educated especially after looking at the back page (below).

He told me that when my face starts looking like the last one he would know for sure that I was really in labor.

Firsts

First snowfall

Russell's first snowball. He would only make snowballs the whole time we were outside.

Meghan's first snow encounter

Meghan's first snow angel. It's a little hard to see.

Meghan and Russell's first illegal ride in our van. Russell couldn't have been happier.

First marshmallow. She loved it! She will be so happy when she can eat real food. So will I,

Meghan's Quilt

Ben's Mom makes each grandchild a quilt when they are born. Russell's is Saggy Baggy Elephant.
Meghan's is also Saggy Baggy Elephant (which works perfectly since they will be sharing a room for quite a while). Her blanket has girl colors in it and has a unique arrow design.

Meghan's backing is Little Golden Book themed. Her blanket has my favorite illustration from the whole book on it--the circle of elephants around little Saggy Baggy.

Can't get a picture without him trying to get in it.

Russell needed 'me Saggy Baggy bankie' to get pictures done, too. The back of Russell's blanket is Saggy Baggy Elephant themed, and his has my second favorite picture from the book--Saggy Baggy floating in the water.

Sleep Deprived

We running on little sleep here in the Joslin home. It seems Meghan is progressively getting worse and worse so it is turning into her waking up close to every 2 hours at night. It really stinks. And, it makes me pretty crabby. We learned very quickly with Russell that I need to get sleep, so we had a plan so that I'd be able to get some sleep. Everything was going awesomely. Meghan was reliably getting 4-5 hours of sleep at a time with quite a few nights of 7-8 hours thrown in.

Then something happened.

About a month and a half ago, she started waking every 3-4, and slowly she worked herself down to last night waking every 2 stinkin' hours!

I was hoping night time wouldn't come down to this, but we got the swing out to see how she would like it. She hasn't spent a night in it, but if tonight is like last night, she is going in it right away.

Ben has also been working feverishly on the house staying there until sometime between midnight and 2:00 every night. He has taken several days off to aid in getting things done quicker. I've also been able to drop Meghan and Russell off with one of my visiting teachers so I can do stuff like scrap off old carpet pad and pull staples out of the floor.

Russell is the only one who is getting good sleep at night. He gets such good sleep that he wakes up nice and early every morning. If only he could sleep a little longer, so I could sleep a little longer in the morning, too.

I know we are a little behind, but here are Halloween pictures. I made Russell a Thomas the Tank Engine costume. Meghan was a flower.

Our only Halloween day picture. Russell had just had a melt down, Meghan is doing what she does best, and our house is a mess.

Trunk-or-treat

This girl turned 4 months old on Saturday. Her new favorite tricks are playing with her feet, sucking her first two fingers (especially when she is tired, though it doesn't help her sleep), and squirming her way around the floor to get Russell's toys her leaves on the floor. Lots of people have been saying that she looks like her mommy lately :) We broke out this toy for her to play with and she loves it. Russell loves it, too, and plays with any chance he gets. She is always moving.

Sloppy Joe Jack-o-lantern pie

We had this sloppy joe jack-o-lantern pie last night. It was really delicious even though it didn't turn out very orange.

I used a regular can of sloppy joe mix plus I added in three chopped carrots and the rest of a green pepper that we had in the fridge. It really added something to our regular sloppy joe mix. Russell didn't even know he was eating green peppers!

This is probably going to be added into our regular dinner rotation except I don't think I will carve a pumpkin face into it each time.