Holiday Traditions

Now that December is literally right around the corner, I have been busy planning new holiday traditions for our family. Lea is old enough to understand a lot these days so I decided new traditions were in order.

The first one... we got an Elf on the Shelf! I am so excited about this one and can't wait to see Lea's reaction to it. A little movie was on CBS the other night about it and Lea loved it. Kevin and I decided that our Elf will come on our Christmas tree each year... which we also decided we would get the first weekend of December each year. So, this weekend we'll go pick out our tree and with it will come a surprise for Lea!

These little elf/book kits are not cheap... and if you want your elf to be a girl? Well, a little skirt is an extra $8! I got creative (what's new?) and made a crochet skirt for our elf. I love how it turned out and even like the look of it better than the store bought ones. :)

Another tradition I am starting this year is an advent calendar. I found an awesome idea online for one made out of a mini muffin tin. I got the muffin tin and red spray paint (because I am painting my tin red) so now I just need to figure out how to make covers for each hole. Sounded easy until I realized that I don't have the supplies to cut a perfect circle and I can't find the perfect sized circles at a craft store. Hmmmm... time to put on my creative hat, again!

I can't wait to fill the cups with little surprises like M&Ms, stickers, Hershey's Kisses, etc. Lea is going to love it!

Finally, my mom and I took Lea to her first movie today. We went to see Happy Feet 2 and Lea sat through the entire thing! Well, actually about an hour and 15 minutes into it, she yelled "OK, Turn it Off, Please!!!" lol It was so funny. Good thing there were only two other people in the theatre (we went to an early showing). I took her out for a quick potty break and she was ready to go back to watch the end. I was so surprised at how much she was actually paying attention to... which I know because she talked through the entire thing, "Oh no! Where did he go?" and "Yay, they did it!", for example. I wish Kevin could have been there but he was at work. He wants to take her to another movie now!

Toddler Beds, Turkeys and Baby Girls

A few nights ago we converted Lea's crib to a toddler bed. We had her help us in the hopes that it would transition her better. Well, she's done great! She goes right to sleep at night (we're still working on nap time) and doesn't get up at all.


Bye bye crib!

 Now, I thought we would just use one of those door knob covers in her room and in the morning she would read books or play until we came to get her... but, she had different plans. The first couple mornings, she stood at the door, pulling on the door knob and screaming for someone to let her out. The third morning, she actually ripped the cover off the door knob and brought it downstairs to show us, "Door knob broken, mommy!" Finally, the fourth night, we just left her door open. In the morning, she quietly came down stairs and crawled in bed with us. So... I'm not sure what to do. Part of me wants to keep her "confined" in her room until I'm ready to get her, but the other part of me feels like it's ok for her to come out when she's ready (as long as that's not before 7am!).

Anyhow. We've had a really fun week with lots of Thanksgiving turkey crafts. She made a turkey out of a paper plate at the library one day, one with stickers another day and today we made our annual "candy turkeys". She LOVED that!



Yum!

And, finally, we had our "big" ultrasound yesterday. Kevin and Lea came along in hopes that we would be able to find out the gender of baby #2. After a very long scan and seeing all the perfect parts of our new baby, we found out it was a girl! I am over the moon excited! :) Kevin is too, however the first thing he said was, "TWO weddings???" lol I am so looking forward to getting all of Lea's newborn things out of the attic and going through them to see what we can use for this baby. It's going to be fun!

The Secret is Out!

In case you live under a rock... we are expecting baby #2 in late April!

That's right, I am pregnant. Fifteen weeks to be exact. Almost four months.

It's been hard for me to even believe I am pregnant this time. Not only was it difficult to get pregnant in the first place (again) but having a toddler running around also keeps my mind pretty occupied. But, now that I am in the second trimester and can actually feel the baby moving all the time these days, it feels very real!

We are super excited! I know Lea is going to be a fabulous big sister. She loves babies. Yes, I am sure there will be some jealousy in the beginning, but I have no doubt Lea will warm up quickly.

My due date is April 30, 2012. Our plan is to transition Lea into her new toddler room, in a twin bed, before then. So, within the next couple of weeks, my baby girl will be sleeping in a toddler bed. I'm having a little anxiety about it. Wish us luck!

Here's an ultrasound picture from around 10 weeks. You can't see much, but that's our baby!

Gobble, Gobble!

I saw this adorable Thanksgiving shirt in Pinterest.com:

So, naturally I had to try and make one for Lea. One problem... I don't  have a working sewing machine (and haven't for several years). But, I wasn't going to let that stop me!

I gathered some ribbon, found a scrap of fabric for the body of the turkey and got a long sleeve t-shirt at Walmart for $3.00. Oh, and I had to get some "Heat-n-Bond" at Walmart in order to attach the turkey to the shirt.

Once I had the body cut out and hemmed around the edges, I chose my ribbons and placed them around the body:

Next step was to actually sew all those ribbons onto the back of the body. That was the hard part for me because I wanted them to all be even. I did it and it turned out pretty good. Then, I ironed the heck out of it.

And finally, I bonded it to the shirt. I don't think it's a super-duper bond, even though I got the extra strength stuff, but it should last through the Thanksgiving season. At the last minute, I decided it needed a face, so I used a Sharpee. When I finished, I decided the face looked silly, but there's no turning back now!

New Sassy Sippy Cup

I'm excited and curious about this new Sassy Grow Up Cup that I saw on The Bragging Mommy blog. Apparently it's a "sippy" cup that is more like a REAL cup... meaning the child can sip from anywhere around the rim of the cup and it's won't spill! Really?

Check out The Bragging Mommy's review for yourself. And, make sure you enter the giveaway! :)

Pumpkin Seeds!

I LOVE toasted pumpkin seeds. My mom used to make them all the time when I was growing up and I had no idea it was so easy. So, I enlisted my little Lea to help me make some this year.


"Scooping" out the seeds... well, Lea picked them out one at a time!



"Ew! Messy, mommy!!"

 

Like I said, it's super easy. Once you harvest all the seeds from the pumpkin, spread them out on a cookie sheet (lined w/ foil). Then pick out all the big chunks of goop. I like to leave some of the goopy stuff b/c that's what gets krispie when you bake them. It adds a lot of flavor!

Then, just add a table spoon or two of melted butter and a table spoon or two of Worcestershire sauce. This time, all I had was the new, thick Worcestershire sauce, but I think that might actually work better! I sprinkled a little garlic salt on them, too.

Bake them at about 275 degrees for about an hour. Make sure to stir them around a lot while they are baking.


YUM!!!!