a valentine's dress

When we were in Virginia I saw this dress on sale at Crazy 8's.  I pulled it on over Jilly's clothes to see if it fit and the only way I could peel it off her was to promise to buy it.  My mom got her the matching bow, tights (they have little hearts on the sides), and necklace (that sadly broke.)  When we got home she asked to wear this dress every single day.  Sometimes I would let her put it on for a little while but I really wanted to save it for Valentine's.  Eventually I hid it in the back of her closet but it only took her a couple days to find it.  Then I got sneakier and hid it in my closet, but again, she found it only a few days later.  On Sunday when I got this dress out for her to wear to church she was over the moon.  Love my little Valentine girl.

a valentine's craft

My biggest fear is that one day Jillian will tell me that she is sick of doing Valentine's crafts and activities.  And my heart will break.  But, for now she seems to enjoy them as much as I do so life is good.  We made these stained glass hearts while sitting on my bed and still wearing our pajamas- a sure sign that this craft is a winner.

Prep work- The day before I cut out lots of little squares from red and pink tissue paper.  If Jilly was just a little older she could have probably done this herself.  I also cut out a few heart outlines.

I stuck a heart outline to a piece of contact paper and left the sticky side up.  Jilly then filled up the inside of the heart with little squares.

 At this point she was done and I filled in the rest.

 Then stuck another piece of contact paper on top to seal it in and cut it out.

We ended up making lots of these and sending them off to family members.  Jilly could only handle doing a couple at a time, so I just put the supplies away and pulled them out the next day to make more.

The fun thing about this craft is that it could be adapted to fit any holiday- a four leaf clover, an easter egg, a pumpkin, a christmas tree, the possibilities are endless!

snow

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: it doesn't get much better than living in a place where the winter average temps are 50-60 degrees yet you can drive an hour east and find yourself in a winter wonderland.  On Saturday we headed out for our annual family snow day, and it could not have been a more perfect day.  It was bright and sunny so we didn't even have to wear our big coats, we had the place to ourselves most of the time, and after playing for a while we sat on our sleds and ate a picnic lunch before heading home.

munching on snow

 sledding was a huge hit, Jillian would shout "again again!" every time when we reached the bottom 

See us in 2012 and 2011

friday five

1. This morning I was going bonkers.  Jilly was whiny whiny whiny and Freddy had a one-track mind- all he wanted to do was eat and he kept begging me for a snack every 15 seconds.  So we headed to Chick-fil-A.  A 12 piece nuggets, diet Dr. Pepper, and hour of playtime later we were all much happier.  Once again, I cannot express how much I love that place.

2. To add to our happiness, we came home to a package sitting on our doorstep.  I couldn't help but peek, and Jilly will be so, so excited on VDay when she gets to open Sleeping Beauty from her Gigi and Papa.

3.  I had a doctor appointment this week and my doctor said he wanted me to come again in 3 weeks then start coming every other week.  I was like, "seriously, already?"  This pregnancy has blessedly flown by (probably won't be saying that in 3 months though!)

4.  After my appointment my wonderful friend let me do some Jilly-free shopping.  I have been looking for some big girl bedding for Jilly and had not been thrilled with what I was finding.  And then at Home Goods, there it was; totally meant to be!  I got her the quilt, sham, and sheets (no, not the Peace&Love pillow.)

  
5.  I let Jilly water color this week and she learned the plight of a lefty- smears all down your left arm. Sorry little girl, should have been a righty like your mom and dad. :)

                  

Quilts for Kids

Almost a year ago I read this post on the Quilts for Kids program.  It's an effort to provide bright, hand-made quilts for children in hospitals.   I thought this would be a great way to get going on my first quilt.  Because the fabric is free (apparently it's not free anymore, you have to pay $6) I wouldn't feel the pressure of having made a big financial commitment.  Also, I was pretty sure (and right) that my first quilt would be no family heirloom.  Not that I didn't care about making a quality blanket to donate, I just thought that not having it around for me to daily analyze all of the flaws was a good idea.   And lastly, I thought it would be a fun service to give.

So I registered late in the summer for my quilt kit.  Unfortunately my kit arrived a few weeks later right when I was in the throes of my first trimester.  It sat in the bag waiting for me to have the energy to actually do something with it.  And then the holidays happened and it sat some more.  One of my goals of 2013 was to finish this quilt by the end of January.

I didn't quite finish in January, but February 6th is close right?  Once I got going it was a fun and not too difficult project.  All of the fabric strips and detailed instructions are provided.  After sewing the quilt top together, I bought some batting (the only thing not provided) and quilted it with my machine then bound it.  And now it's ready to send off in the morning.

our weekend: good and bad

Friday Night:
good- Costco pizza
bad- we got there a little late and most of the sample stations were already put away

Saturday:
good- Free Museum Day so we decided to meet our friends at the Children's Museum
bad- instead of opening at 9 like we thought the museum opened at 10
good- there were activities to do outside while we waited in line and we had a blast when we did get inside the museum
bad- Jilly leaned against the wall she was painting and had purple bangs the rest of the day
good- I actually thought her purple hair was really cute

good- we drove to Bryan's parents' and they offered to watch Jilly while we went out to eat
bad- we came home to find that Jilly had just thrown up
extra bad- Jilly continued to throw up all night long

Sunday:
good- Jilly and I stayed home and took a nap while everyone else went to church (I feel just a little guilty about calling this good, but the nap was sorely needed.)
good- Beyonce concert, exciting Super Bowl
bad- 49ers losing (but let's be honest, I'm not that huge of a fan to have cared very much)
good- lots of yummy food
bad- we missed Downton Abbey while driving home (thank goodness for the internet to watch today)

good- so far no one else has gotten Jilly's sickness (fingers crossed!)

five on friday

Five things silly Jilly has done this week:

1. Jillian has started calling Bryan "Bryan."  She thinks it's so funny, and so does he.  The other thing that's funny is she has no clue what my name is.

2.  She discovered scissors this week.  I bought her a little pair of preschool safety scissors and gave her a pile of scrap paper then let her snip away and she was happy as can be.

3.  I love watching Jillian get excited for baby sis.  This week she was laying on my stomach and the baby kicked her.  She sat up and and said "Woah!" then she pulled up my shirt to see what was under there.  Another day she sang "head, shoulders, knees, and toes... and baby!" and pointed to my belly then laughed at her funny joke.

4. We've moved on from Anastasia to Beauty and the Beast.  We watch at least part of it every day.  Jilly's also loving Sleeping Beauty (we don't have the movie, but we read the book many times a day.) Aurora, or as Jilly calls her "Au-yaya" is the current favorite princess.

5. We were at the grocery store and I asked Jilly to give me a kiss.  She smiled then kissed the bananas sitting in our cart.  Stinker!!