Spring

Spring is even here in Minnesota... its actually been here for a few weeks but I've been too busy to write anything and post pictures. My parents visited last week and besides going to the Mall of America we spent some time outside. Ben bought a giant container of bubbles and the pictures describe the fun better than I can.

Valentines Gifts

I found this heart shaped silicon baking tray on sale. I've wanted to make something with our broken crayons so it worked out perfectly. Sophia and I chose the color combinations and I really like how they melted together. Sophia kept asking if she could eat them when I pulled them out of the oven... she thought the oven turned the crayons into edible food. After showing her they wrote like crayons I think she understands she can't eat them.

Sophia has really loved playing with her big legos and she loves to make stuff and give it to Ben or I. She made this and as she gave it to me said "Happy Valentines Day". My heart melted like the crayons.

Ben took away gold as my Valentines gift. See the lovely gold knobs and handles below. That what was throughout our house. Shiney isn't it? He replaced everything with a nice brushed silver. Thanks Ben!!

Obsessive

Ben and I were talking about how we get obsessed about things. Ben is obsessed with work and learning how to code/program right now. He worked the entire weekend at home because he wanted to. Saturday/Sunday morning he came to bed at 5am! I thought I was a fairly technical person but I'm not... He tries to explain things and I get really lost. He's enjoying his job though and I'm really proud of him and want to brag about how smart he is.

I'm obsessed with sewing right now. I can't find patterns in my size and I'm not sure I remember how to follow one anyway so I've mostly been sewing things for the girls. Ben holds on to things which normally annoys me but has come in VERY handy for refashioning. He had this XL tall flannel shirt and a XXXL Vandals tshirt.

I made an Abbey dress, Sophia skirt and me skirt from the flannel shirt. It was 11:30 when I finished the me skirt and Ben was working so here's the best timed picture I got.

I made this Abbey dress and Sophia dress from the Vandals t-shirt and an argyle patterned bedsheet. I'm really happy with how these turned out. I used their clothes as a guide to make the neck line and arms.

Day to Day

Over the long weekend the weather was so nice (sunny and in the 30's). We had a lot of hanging out having fun time. As of yesterday it got a little colder and the clouds were hiding behind the sun.

At the back edge of our yard there are lilac trees. Here's what they look like all frosty.

This is 1 of 3 evergreen trees on top of the hill of our back yard.

The girls fresh out of their bath getting some Daddy time.

Sophia found lipstick, actually lipstain.... this photo doesn't show how bright it was. Sophia definately has the better fishy lips here.

All us girls got new scarves in the mail!!

Sledding

Buddy kept chasing Sophia and I when we'd sled down the hill.

Solution: I'll make him sled with me. Notice he has his game face on.

Action shot as he decides the sled isn't for him.

Christmas Morning

Our tree on Christmas morning. The Angel fell off the top before Christmas so you'll just have to imagine a pretty white angel there.

They were really excited to see the stockings all full. The girls have matching Christmas pj's... We all got red pj's because I wanted a picture of all of us. That didn't happen though. too much chaos.

Abbey sharing her candy cane lollipop with Ben for a second.

The girls opened about 3 presents and were done. They wanted to play with the things they opened. Abbey's on a bouncy ball and Sophia is showing her My little Pony.

First real snow

We got 3-4 inches of snow but we have 1- 1/2 foot snow drifts due to winds 25-30 mph.

Here's Ben, Sophia and Abbey sledding down the little hill in our backyard when it wasn't windy and freezing.

This is one of our windows in the 3 season porch. I think it was -11 this morning.

Crazy with the sewing

I got a sewing machine (the Project Runway edition) and I found several "refashion" websites... that combined with added time on my hands has really inspired me to sew... a lot.

Here is a skirt made from Ben's old polo shirt.

Here are some Pajama pants made from the girls old flannel recieving blankets. The first pj pants I made for Sophia were HOOJ. I learned from them though.

Here are 3 not quite finished projects.

1. This was a medium sized womens sweater and now its a Sophia dress. I need orange thread to finish the neck piece (you might be able to see the pins holding it in place)

2. This was a long sleeved hoodie and now it's a vest. I need to get pink trim to sew around the arm holes.

3. This was a size 9 month dress. It will be an apron for Abbey when I get some white ribbon to make a tie and add a white pocket.

I love this web site My Mamma Made It. She uses Anthropologie to inspire the stuff she makes. That will be my next project (or set of projects)

Como Park

I've been warned that the nice weather is probably about done so the girls and I went to Como Park/ Zoo/Conservatory . I rented a double stroller and that might have been the girls most favorite part :D Abbey would say "weeeee" when I pushed them a little fast. Most of the animals were inside because its a bit cold so their living arrangements were a little small. These little monkeys were so stinkin cute! They were probably about 6-9 minches tall and came right up to the glass.

The conservatory part was sooo warm and humid. I was really hot and it wasn't doublewide stroller friendly so I rushed through it. There was a HUGE python/constrictor mostly in the water that the girls liked and there was a sloth hanging out in the trees, no cage, just hanging out. The plants were amazing and I plan to go back there during the freezing Minnesota winter. It seem slike it would be a great escape from the cold.

The weather has been pretty nice so we've tried to spend time outside. All of the leaves are off the trees and we have 20 bags full of leaves from our yard. One neighbor behind us had 50 bags yesterday and said they'd probably get another 50 today!!!

Abbey has really started loving books over the last several weeks. She will bring you books and sit in your lap, so precious! She has also started bringing books to Buddy. Its got to be one of the cutest things as you can see.

I set up my eisle this morning and Sophia wanted to use it. I love seeing the girls be creative and this picture makes my heart smile.

unpacking

We decided to unpack our pictures and hang them on the wall. There was a lot of packing paper so we decided to play in it.

Ben escalated the play to a new level and built a box in the basement to contain all the paper. Sophia couldn't get enough.

We only have 4 pictures hung on the wall, but they're all unboxed at least :D