Halloween 2009

For Halloween this year we decided to all follow a theme. Josi made the first choice. She wanted to be Harley Quinn from Lego Batman for Wii. From there Ben decided to be the Joker. At first Hyrum and I were going to be Spiderman and Mary Jane Watson, but later changed to Batman and Poison Ivy for a few reasons. After Ben decided to be the Joker, he started watching clips of the Dark Knight so he could act like Joker. Hyrum would wrap his blankie around his neck and act like batman. Beside that, I decided that it would be easier to make a Batman costume than a Spiderman one. Thirdly, Mary Jane Watson was a little boring. No real costume, just regular street clothes with red hair.

Joker

Why so Serious?!?

Poison Ivy

Harley Quinn

The Whole Gang

We didn't get a good one of just Hyrum.

Friday night we went to your ward Halloween party. The kids got to do a little trunk-or-treating. Saturday, Ben wore his costume to work and got some good reactions out of his drivers. Then we invited ourselves over to Bryan and Karin's to spend the evening with them and so the kids could go trick-or-treating in a better neighborhood. Most of our neighborhood didn't pass out candy last year. It was a little disappointing. Bryan took lots of pictures, so he probably got some really good ones. I hope they share :) Thanks Clarks for letting us crash your evening. We love spending time with you!

Another outfit

First of all, sorry Amy about all of the creepy dolls:) Second, sorry to all of you who don't really care about my sewing projects. This is just the easiest way to share the pictures with my fellow seamstress mom.

I made another outfit for the boy baby doll. This one was really easy.

I had cut it out yesterday so all I did today was sew it up and add a few things like the cargo pockets on the sides of the shorts and I decided to do this "cool" collar instead of a regular collar; mainly because I didn't want to try to figure it out. I think I will make another pair of jammies and a dress and call it good. Maybe I will try making a little diaper bag for her too. It's just been so much fun!

(: Anybody want to pay me to make some for their daughter? :)

Little Surprises

This is one of the many surprises Hyrum leaves for me to find. I don't know what he was doing with the pumice stone. I am guessing he saw me use it to clean out the ring in the bowl; so he was using it for cleaning purposes of some sort.

I guess I should be glad that he doesn't flush it!

Birthday Boy

Today is Hyrum's 3rd Birthday. I can't believe he is 3 now! Because Ben had to be out of town today, we celebrated on Friday. Hyrum got to chose where we had dinner and he chose McDonald's with a PlayPlace.


I made him cupcakes this year instead of a regular cake. There is always too much cake left over and I figured the extra cupcakes Ben could take to work or something. I just put them in a pan and frosted the tops like I would have a cake.

He got a Spiderman game from Nana. It just plugs into the TV and it has five games on it.

He got Winnie the Pooh books from Grandma and Grandpa Baird.

We gave him a couple of movies.

Here Josi and Hyrum are getting a kick out of Hyrum's mad skills on his new game.

He got a spiderman truck the moves and makes noises, with "web-launchers" which shoot little darts from Grandpa Swensen and Aunt Lisa.

Thank you for the gifts! And Thank You for all of the birthday calls Hyrum got today; he had a great birthday!

More doll clothes

So I decided to just edit this post instead of a writing a whole new post.

I made another outfit today and it took me most of the day. I can't believe that Josi hasn't caught me yet. This one is for Josi's boy baby.

Onesie:

This is actually the last part of the outfit that I made, but it goes on first so...

I just down-sized a real baby onesie. It never fit either of the kids right, so I just gave it to them to play with. Today I just made it fit the doll.

Jeans:

This is what took me all day. I really shouldn't have put so much detail into them (they are just for a doll) but I couldn't help myself. They just need a fastener on the front, like everything else I have made. I didn't have any denim, so I used this stretch twill I had.

Jeans- back:
I even put on little pockets :)

Jacket:
And this is what I made first thing this morning. This was fabric I had saved ( to make Josi a pair of shorts with it, but never got around to) when I turned a pair of sweatpants into shorts. The string is from the blinds. Kinda lame, but I saved the strings when I shortened the pull cords. I knew I could use them for something! I was going to make matching pants, but I accidentally cut out one of the pieces wrong and didn't have enough to fix it. That was when I decided to make the jeans.



So, it is after 11pm and I just finished another doll outfit. I was laying in bed and had the thoughts of how to make some jammies and I didn't want to lose it by tomorrow. So I got up and made them. Again, I just used the original outfit as the basis and adapted it. I think it took me an hour to figure out the feety part, but after that it went together pretty easy.

I really like they way they turned out. I just need to add some snaps and they are all done. And of course this was all just leftovers from jammies I made Josi once.

Christmas gifts

I was trying to think of what I could give to Josi and Hyrum for Christmas this year, that wouldn't cost much. I finally though of making some clothes for her baby doll with fabric that I already have. Here is the first outfit that I made today. I don't have any patterns, so I just used the outfit that the doll came with as a template and re-designed it to make this shirt and overalls. I had to change it a little in the middle because it didn't fit right; luckily it needed to be smaller, not bigger.

I made a little t-shirt and overalls.

I need to add a few snaps or buttons in a few places, but those I don't have.

Back view.

And a headband. I learned how to make these cute flowers at our Relief Society Super Saturday this weekend. I just made a smaller version and sewed it onto the headband. For the center I had some little fabric flowers for scrapbooking and the button was an extra with a sweater Josi had.

So, so far I haven't spent any money. Maybe I can bum a few little buttons from my mom :) She has a million of them.

Success of a Sort

I have three little watermelons. I hope they grow!

The radishes and beets I planted have sprouted. However, something is eating them. The beets have no leaves and several of the radishes have been ravaged. I need to get some Diatomaceous Earth to kill the little suckers.

My beans are doing great. They are getting loaded with blossoms and I am really looking forward to fresh green beans. Yum! And don't they just look beautiful in the morning sun!

And I think the greatest success is my fresh corn! One ear is absolutely perfect aside from being a little short. The normal sized ear is a little under pollinated, and then the itty bitty one is totally naked on one half (the bottom side).The puny ear was from a plant that grew from last years corn that I tried to plant, so it was probably a genetic thing passed on by last years puny ears. I hope it tastes as good as it looks.

Garden Progress

Here it is. Some of the corn is getting taller. I actually got a green pepper that was a little bigger; it was almost 2 inches. The beans are starting to vine up the tomato cages. I planted a few more herbs to replace the ones that died while I was away. The water melon is growing more too, has a few blossoms, hopefully it will get some fruit. I have one volunteer tomato plant hiding behind one of the bean plants that is still growing. It grew from one of the tomatoes that died while I was gone. I planted some radishes, beets, lettuce and spinach as well as some more beans and peas. The weather is finally cool enough the last week, that I think these cool weather plants will thrive. We have actually had the windows open during the day it is so nice.

Birthday Party

My little Josi is growing up so fast. She got invited to her first non-family birthday party yesterday. It was for a little boy in her primary class. She played at the park and had cupcakes.

They also did a three-legged race. Josi did surprisingly well, considering her lack of coordination. Her team were the slow and steady ones, they didn't fall down.

No more leak!

When we first moved into our house, I went through and made a list of everything that needed replaced either immediately or in the next couple of years. After I gave the list to Ben he said, "so you want all of this AND the kitchen sink!" Yes, the kitchen faucet leaked from the handle and was getting all corroded. I thought, as long as we were changing the faucet we should do the sink too. It is chipped and the color isn't quite right; it was more of a want than a need though.
Well, many other things took precedence, like light fixtures, a sprinkler system and living room furniture to name a few. The last couple of months the leaky faucet has gotten really bad and would even leak a little when it was turned off. I had picked out the faucet I wanted on the Lowes website and was waiting until we had the money for it. About 2 weeks ago I got a coupon in the mail for 10% off my entire purchase at Lowes Oct 1-5; I took that as a sign and went and got my new faucet on Monday. They didn't have the exact faucet I wanted, but they had a very similar one that was 2/3 of the price.
Well,

BEFORE:



My nasty, leaky, old faucet. The "chrome" plating is all worn off and it is turning a lovely green color in places. Not to mention the hard water build-up.






This is what I found under the faucet. GROSS!!!

Underthe counter was even worse. The parts that held the faucet in place were so rusted that it took all my strength and a good monkey wrench to loosen the bolt. I discovered afterward that the rust was stronger than the bolt and I actually broke it off instead of loosened it.

Drum roll please :)

AFTER:

It all cleaned up pretty good. Not all of the rust stains would scrub off and there are a few chips in the finish. But all of the hard water came off with the help of some barkeepers friend (thanks for introducing me to that Karin) and a razor blade.

And.... TA-DA! Here is my beautiful new faucet. The plate for the bottom covered up all of those chips and stains very nicely. I love that the sprayer is in the spigot, not separate. I like that I can put it on sprayer without holding it. And I love the black, it goes so much better with my countertops and appliances. I think the hardwater spots won't be as bad now either.