Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I hope your day is filled with joy and that your new year is filled with peace and love.

Flowers in the Winter

Here is a bit of sewing for 2 of my nieces that I started way back in the Spring, finished this fall, and am just now getting around to posting. As I've said before, the treatments I am doing have been wiping me out really bad, so I'm just glad I got them done while they could still wear them! I got excited about making these when I saw a striped onesie at Old Navy. This striped/big applique combination has been calling to me ever since I saw this and this at Mini Boden. Mini Boden does some amazing appliques. I actually like the strawberry one best, but this project just seemed to call for a flower. I was so excited to find an XL Women's shirt in the same stripe so I could make something out of it for Sarah to match her little sister Gracie.
So here's Sarah's skirt. (I figure she can wear leggings with it for now, right?)

And Gracie's top went through some changes. It actually started out as a onesie, but my sister doesn't love the look of those on an older baby, so I cut it off and hemmed it, and then added the white sleeves from another shirt to make it a layered-look long sleeved top!

Here is the shirt I used to make the skirt for Sarah:

Maybe I'll do a tutorial for it one of these days, although the pictures I took were all in the middle of the night and not great!

And lastly, here is a little thought for today:

Just remember in the winter

far beneath the bitter snows

lies the seed, that with the sun's love

in the spring becomes the rose.

---The Rose

Christmas Shopping and Legs

Jake and I did a little Christmas shopping this weekend. He found all these legs in a pile at Sears and since there was seriously not a single person working on the 2nd floor where we were, he took his time building statues with them. And I laughed. We had fun.

My phone camera takes terrible pictures, but hey, at least we have a shot to remember the silliness.

Holiday Wish List Meme

I figured my son would kill me if I had the chance and didn't enter this giveaway, plus it is fun to share this information here!

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama (link to: http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
Calmness, peace and happiness.

2. What is your Christmas morning / Hanukkah Nightly tradition?
Our real traditions are Christmas Eve - we get together with my family and exchange gifts, which is an amazing time. And I've just decided Jake and I are going to have a pj tradition. Getting jammies on Christmas Eve is my absolute favorite tradition from growing up, and we haven't been doing it - we are going to start! Maybe for Christmas morning, we'll start a green smoothie tradition to counteract that stocking full of candy!

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be? A trip to Pennsylvania to see my nieces, nephew and sister!!

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?

Hmmm... using decorations we already have... making cookies and wishing I didn't...

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?
"Guess Who" was one of my favorites, and we also played "Restaurant" with bubble gum and candy that was made like food, or that we made to be like food. For instance, we would put Big League Chew, and gum balls together in a bowl for spaghetti and meatballs. Ahh... the awesomeness of being a kid.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?
I am going to reinstate the pajama tradition.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas/Hanukkah-away-from-home trip?

Other than my sister's, I would choose to go somewhere sunny like the Caribbean, Hawaii, or to visit my friend Kristen in France!!

8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

1. I know my son would love an XBOX 360. He already has his favorite gaming system - the Play Station 3, but he would love to be able to play some of the games his friends play on the XBOX.

2. A Wii - I think it would be fun to do the Wii Fit, and Jake would love to have a Wii!

3. I'd let my son pick out some games - I know there are a ton he'd love. I'd let some of my family members pick some games too!

Action Shots

We got some fun action shots when Jake was snowboarding in our driveway during one of our big snowfalls a couple weeks ago. He was so excited that it was snowing so much that it took some of the ickiness out of it for me. He loves sledding, snowboarding, etc. He gets creative thinking of things to use for sliding down the hills. We have skateboards without wheels covered in tinfoil, plastic, wax, etc. He's nothing if not imaginative. This is actually a plastic snowboard that we found at Toys R Us. We used the burst option on my camera so that I didn't only catch the picture right before or after he caught air!

He gets a little blurry.


Ok now he's just a phantom snowboarder. Which is kind of awesome.


There he is.

He had fun!

Go Ahead, Make My Day

I haven't blogged forever, but I was sitting here unashamedly and at the top of my lungs, singing "A Little Fall of Rain" from Les Miserables on repeat in my Itunes, and was thinking about the best moment earlier today and had to share it.

I read my horoscope out loud to Jake in kind of a silly announcer voice. It said:

"Feel free to take charge today, Natalie. You are able to win people over with your smile. Talk with the people and get a feel for their wants and needs before you proceed with your plans. Realize that your actions will have a profound effect on the people around you. This is your opportunity to shine. Take advantage of your tremendous communication skills and your ability to relate to others."

And then he said - Wow that is perfect for you. That is you in a nutshell. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I about died. 1: That he would say something so amazingly wonderful. and 2: That he thinks that. Totally made my day, week and year. I couldn't believe it. I am hoping to gain a more positive self-image, and I'm really working on self-love. I just can be so super hard on myself, and of course I had the negative commentary running through my mind "yeah I express myself well when I'm not stumbling over every word like an idiot," etc.......) so that is why this meant the world to me. Happy day. :) My son is a sweetheart.