"That's my E!"

Rcntly, vry tim I try to typ li says, "Don't push my E! That's my E!" I'v found that it is vry difficult to typ or writ a story without th us of that particular lttr. Hmmm... Mayb w should hav namd him Zach!

How to keep your toddler boy quiet in church

Not too long ago, my friend made something for her son for his birthday. I thought it was one of the coolest things ever, so I decided that I had to make one for Eli. I've never done a How To post before, but here goes...

My friend, one of the coolest ladies EVER, started out using an old pair of jeans. I don't currently have any old pairs of jeans so I had to improvise. I was at a garage sale last week and saw some place mats made from denim, so I snagged one for 50¢.

Next, I cut a piece of green felt to the correct size and cut a piece of gray felt, for a road, and several small pieces of yellow felt, for the lines down the road, using my handy dandy rotary cutter and mat.

I didn't want any extra stitching around these, so I glued them on using a fabric adhesive (I used Fabri-Tac as it is washable). I used my ruler to make sure that I had the yellow lines in the center of the road.

Next I needed to make pockets to hold the cars in. I started out using a piece of fabric that was twice as wide as I needed and about 6 or 7 inches longer than I needed (after making it, I think I should have made it even longer so that there would have been more space in each pocket). I folded the fabric in half, lengthwise, right sides together and sewed it with a 1/2" seam allowance. Leaving a small space on one side to turn it right-side out. I cut a diagonal across each corner so that the corners would be more square.

I turned it right-side out and pressed it, to make it nice and square. I also topstitched along the top of the pocket, one half inch from the edge (this is the side that was folded and didn't already have a seam). Next to attach the pocket to the green felt, I folded it in half, long way, and marked the center. Then I did the same with the felt to find the center. I placed them together and sewed a line down the center of my pockets. Then I sewed a line on each of the short edges.

Next I measured and marked where each of the six pockets should be.

I then sewed a line down each pocket.

I carefully folded the bottom edge of each pocket and pinned it down. I then sewed along the very edge.

With that part finished, I took the original pocket off of the place mat to use as handles. You'll need extra denim for this. I cut it in half long ways. I folded each of the edges in and sewed along the edge. I used the fabric adhesive to glue the felt and the place mat together, and I also sewed along the edge, sewing the handles in between the felt and the place mat.

Next, I hand sewed some snaps on. Two on the corners, and one on the handles.

The finished product! Isn't it fun!

 And it folds up nicely to take to church. I use it in lieu of a quiet book and since he is driving his cars on felt, it makes it much quieter than driving them on the chairs.

The beauty of this is that with the exception of the place mat, I only used things that were left over from other products. Cheap and fun!

P.S. When my friend decides to patent this, I might have to take the instructions off of my blog.  Wink, wink.

P.P.S I took the pictures, not Cameron. That's why they aren't as good.

Happy Halloween!

When I asked Eli what he wanted to be for Halloween, he said, "Lightning McQueen!" He couldn't be convinced to be anything else. When I asked him what Brianna should be, he said, "A caterpillar." And I said, "Hmm... Not a bad idea."

So, here they are, Lightning McQueen, and a caterpillar....

 

Cameron's family wanted to come and visit to see Eli go trick-or-treating for the first time (last year we took him to a trunk-or-treat, but no actual trick-or-treating). So we had, six adults with one trick-or-treater. It was pretty funny!

This guy was really nice. He gave Eli some candy then said, "Hold on a minute." He went to the other room and got something and returned with that whole jar of gummies that you see in the picture, and said, "You guys are my neighbors so you get something special." Eli got a few of them, but mostly the adults shared them as we went from door to door.

The loot!

This one is more like what Brianna was doing the whole night. She loved it! But previous to this she got a blank stare on her face every time we tried to take her picture.

Family Photo Shoot

For our anniversary (a month ago), I asked Cameron for family photos. I actually wanted them professionally done, but Cameron said, "No I can do it!" 

Don't get me wrong, he's a great photographer, but when there is no one actually behind the camera how are you going to get a two year old and a not even one year old to look at it? That was my thinking anyway, but Cameron was right. With the help of his family, they turned out wonderful!!

Good right? And I FINALLY have family pictures up in my house!

The Great Debate!

We've been trying to decide what color Brianna's eyes will be. I have brown eyes, and so does Cameron, but we both have one blue eyed parent. Eli's eyes turned brown fairly quickly, but so far Brianna's are still blue. What do you think?

(Click on the picture to get a better view of her eyes)

This Eli-ism deserves it's own post.

We had an unexpected visit up to the northern part of Utah this last week. When we arrived at my brother's house, in Provo, Eli had to use the potty. He was amazed at the blue water in the toilet and after he went potty, he wanted to look at the blue water again. Imagine his surprise when the water was GREEN! He ran out to the other room to tell uncle Brent that he turned the water green! Less than five minutes later he said, "I need to go pee pee again!" So we went back into the bathroom, I sat him down on the potty and Eli said, "I'm going to turn it purple this time!"

That's so Bappy!

Do all two year olds make up words? For Eli, the word is Bappy. I really have no idea where he got it from. Maybe he heard it from someone else? Maybe he is trying to say something else that he just can't pronounce? Maybe he made it up entirely on his own? I don't know. He isn't very consistent in how he uses it. For example:

Mom: "Wow! That's pretty cool!"

Eli: "Yeah. It's bappy!"

Mom: "Eli! Why are you being mean to your sister?!"
Eli: "Because I'm bappy!"

Mom: "Oh Brianna! Why are you so sad?"

Eli: "Because she's bappy."

Eli: "Mom, I don't want to eat bappy. It's yucky!"

Eli: "Dad, you're so bappy!"

Eli: "I'm going to throw it to you! Don't Hug it!"
Mom: "Why not?"
Eli: " 'Cause I'm bappy!"

When I asked him what bappy means he said, "Umm.. Lilalaleth."

Will he always use the word bappy? Will it carry on to others and become a trend? After all, it is pretty bappy!