Birthday season!

My babies are now TWO and FOUR!

Of course I had to make G a birthday crown since L already had one. :)

G had a joint birthday swim party with one of his bestie's from school. I made their cake. I wasn't fancy or anything, but it captured their personalities well, and they both G and KR loved it. (And KR's mom, too, whew!).

As soon as I saw these, I knew I had to make little fish soaps for G's little friends to take home after the party. I picked up the goldfish at US Toy, the soap base and fragrance at a local craft store, and used Wilton clear treat bags and a piece of ribbon to tie it all off. The soap sets in an ice bath pretty quickly, and you just sit the finished product out to harden completely overnight.

What an aweful pic! So yellow! But you get the idea ;) 

I love this next pic. What little one wouldn't want to be surrounded by balloons?!

And my silly little L on his birthday. 

What a crazy that boy he is. I didn't have an "official" party for him this year, but he did celebrate at home, with his classmates, and spent the afternoon/evening at the State Fair. 

Poor Gunnar got nervous at the start. Logan had no fear whatsoever, of course!
But G loved it and was all smiles soon after the first circle round. :)

Happy birthday to my favorite little men in the whole world. I love my boys so much! 

Reading Nook

  I decided to turn fairly wasted space under the stairs into a reading nook for the boys. Both G and L love to read, and I also figured it would be a nice 'quiet time' space for G to rest when he didn't want to nap, rather than inadvertently waking his brother. ;-)

The before space. 

  I saw this DIY pillow sleeping bag on Pinterest and altered the idea a bit to make the cushion. I bought a twin flat sheet and cheap pillows, folded the sheet in half (sides together) and sewed straight lines through it to act as "pillow cases" for each segment. The case opening is one one end, rather than nicely hidden in the center as the original tuturial. Now, if the cushion was going to function more as a mobile sleeping bag, then I would follow her tutorial closely, but mine will always be up against that wall, so I really didnt care if the opening was more 'finished.' Either way though, sooooo easy! Seriously took maybe 30 minutes to pull the whole nook together. G and L added some stuffed friends and filled a long basket tucked under the first stair with books of their choosing and voila, the reading nook was complete.

I also added some of those soft floor mats underneath for extra cushioning.

The boys were quite surprised and very happy with their new space. I'm thinking about also adding a little curtain in the future to give it more of a "fort" kid feel. :)

 I dont know why the pics are coming out wonky? Like they look smooshed? Ah well!

Lunch Sacks!

 Made the boys some new lunch sacks for school! I had been considering different patterns, and even drafting my own pattern altogether, but this one pretty much had everything I was looking for. I wanted something that the boys could each carry easily, that was insulated, that could actually hold containers flat (most have depths so narrow) and that the boys could open but not necessarily easily ;).

I used cotton for the interior and exterior (the solid is medium weight canvas) and an Insul-Bright layer to keep contents hot/cold. I even got a chance to use a few specialty stitches from my machine to add a little personalization.

So far the bags have held up great! And they are super cute, IMO. I think when I get around to it, Ill make a few in adult size as well.

You can link to the lunch sack pattern through here.  :)

Summer T's

The boys had a friend stay the day with us, so we wanted to do something fun and decided on making t-shirts. I already have blank shirts in their sizes and paints/brushes and freezer paper stashed away, so it was an easy go-to activity. Freezer paper is so easy to work with, and super nice for little ones because you can leave the rest of the shirt mostly covered since its harder for them to stay within the 'stencil' area. ;-) I used the same method as here. They all had a blast, it was a gorgeous day for painting outside, and their friend had something tangible to take home as well. :)

Sweet turtle friend

I made this little girl back in February, but never posted about her. Probably because I never took "real" pics, rather just quick crappy phone pics. But she was a special little turtle friend and I still wanted her on the blog. :)

Isn't she the sweetest?!

I bought the pattern from Ric-Rac, but seriously the "story" behind this little turtle (originally a boy, "Ernst") is the sweetest. What a fun little blog she has too, don't ya think?!