new year....

another year down. in my old age (!), i definitely don't do much for new years and have usually been content hanging out at home. this year however, we have to hang out at home (ahem 4mo - i don't want to subject anyone else to babysitting duties on new years) and its driving me crazy! its more the fact that i can't go out than that i actually want to. and i like the idea of hanging out with friends with kids, but we would have to put her down around her bedtime and i'm not crazy about  waking her up in the middle of the night to take her home. so i guess i'll be hanging with the hubby, playing games, eating party food amd hopefully drinking some sort of champagne containing drink. what is everyone else doing?

jack has slowly been introducing the idea of moving her into her crib. i just can't do it. although i sleep on a spot of mattress that is barely as big as i am (b/c little miss sleeps with her arms and legs spread eagle and takes up a huge amount of space for such a little bit) and my arm and/or neck hurts every morning from the akward position i sleep in to feed her i just can't bare the thought of NOT having her next to me all nite. she's definitely not ready yet - she still wakes up at least 3-4 times to eat and there is no way in hell i'll be getting up to go to her room to feed her every few hours. but it makes me sad that she sometimes naps all alone in that crib... i know its inevitable and i really thought i'd be much more ready and willing for her to move. its just amazing how i thought i would never want her in the bed and now i don't want her to leave! but TRUST i will not be letting her stay in the bed once she can make it through the nite herself. its just too soon right now.

i'm very excited i made a ben franklin run yesterday and am ready to start some serious crafting! i bought felt, crfating glue, embroidery hoops and thread. i can't wait to start embroidery. blair bought me a  cute baby embroidery kit from sublime stiching that i'm dying to try. i already have a ton of ideas for gifts for people (and myself) - sublime stiching has some fantastic patterns (the christmas time, veggies, and space ones are my favorites) and i'm on the lookout for more. i have to find some fabric transfer paper b/c most patterns just come as pdfs and i am not fancy enough to do anything freehand. and even though christmas is over, i want to make some felt ornaments (i just didn't have the time to finish them before). i think it would be really fun to try to start some sort of crafting group.....

 i've been reading a lot (mostly sookie stackhouse books). i got this great book about food and the science of food that i can't wait to read - although its more of a read a little at a time than a sit down. i'm determined to get through all the books on my bookshelf before i start trying to get into any new books (from the library or whatever), but i keep finding new books i want.

so in the new year these are the things i'm determined to begin/do/continue:
1. crafting and sewing
2. gym (my membership starts back up in january)
3. reading
4. focusing on my time at home with jack and the baby (since i have no distractions from school any more!)
5. making new family traditions

jack's sister got us a membership to a sort-of-csa she belongs to called  fall line farms, which i am soo excited about! i say sort of  csa because once you join, you basically just shop. there is no minumm or max, you don't have to order every week and you aren't forced to make use of 2lbs of beets or arugula like some other csas that don't give you a choice. it is by far the best way to shop local i've seen and i don't have to beat the crowds to the farmers markets. we've been benefitting from her membership since this summer (we get all letfovers and most of what she makes) so i can't wait to have my own. its also great b/c you get to pick and choose what you want from a number of partcicpants: they have a great baker, all kinds of beef/pork/chicken,pastas and cheeses and you just pay as you buy.  highly recommended!

and congrats to katie and jamie!!! can't wait for this wedding!

happy holidays!

yea snow!

so christmas town at busch gardens was very nice - no ice skating penguins though (sorry katie). there were live penguins and you could get pretty close to them, but they were just hanging out. there was a huge christmas tree that lit up in time to carols that i loved, until merit decided it was time to eat and we tried to rush out of there. i ended up having to feed her in the freezing cold outside the old timey photo cabin.but it was fun. maybe 10$ fun, not 20$ if i were to return.

and now we're preparing for christmas...the snow fell this weekend which was exciting - white christmas! merit thought it was hilarious that everything was white, but we didn't stay outside much. unfortunately she's still a little young for playing in the snow. and we have no good snow clothing for her so we did not stay outside very long (plus her father was over it in about 2 minutes).
we'll be driving all over the city for christams eve/christmas day but at least we get to spend christmas morning at home, since everyone is coming to our house for breakfast. i'm trying to think of some good traditions to get started, now that jack is a little more willing to participate in the festivities (the baby is making him soft!). we're def going to try to start up the fire pit and do smores xmas eve, beyond that i'm a little stumped. i'm thinking next year she'll be able to help me develop her own traditions, as she'll be a little older and more interactive. she's still kind of a blob right now. a cute blob, but still a blob.

merry christmas!

christmas crafting and cooking

Fun christmas crafts:
snowflake curtain
 gingerbread man ornament
 door silhouette
mistletoe

 I think i need a shopping spree at ben franklin and joanne's. now that my dissertation is TOTALLY done and submitted and graduation is next weekend, I can concentrate on the more important things: sewing, trying to be crafty, cooking and baking. in addition, i want to make merit her costume for our xmas cards (you'll see....). i think i've decided to make a great diaper bag with some of that fabric i bought at ikea - pattern from amy butler's little stiches for little ones. this is a big project that i'm not sure i trust myself with, so i may try to start with a few small things and enlist some real sewing help form people who know what they're doing. i have a quilt that i used when i was little that i'm going to rework with the same fabric i used for her pillow, so she has a matchiing set. i also have some hemming to do and a shirt to make.  i want to use the canvas wall clock idea to make a wall clock backed by the other piece of fabric form ikea. it's just so heavy, you can only do but so many things with it.

we have our xmas tree up - loves. and tomorrow, as long as the weather lets us we'll be going on a tacky light tour. i also want to go to christmas town at busch gardens - rumor has it they have actual ice skating penguins (as in real, live penguins). i need to do a little xmas shopping - but thanks to a cookie swap and secret santas, i only have two people to buy for in addition to jack's gifts. i'm thinking of making strawberry shortcake cookies and chocolate peanut butter surprise cookies for our cookie swap. mmm cookie swap.

and we took the blueberry to meet santa. she did really good, didn't cry once - just looked a little confused, i think.