Happy Christmas Everyone!!

So, five pm on Christmas Eve night, and what do I feel just needs to be done?  A dress for Ingrid!  Over on Sparkle Power she had a tutorial about how to make a ruffle sleeve top.  I'd tried to do it this summer but somehow the sleeve parts turned out really super small and wouldn't reach over Ingrid's shoulders.  But this time I got it right, and came up with this little beauty:

Cute, huh?  I am matching it up with green and red striped tights and a green shirt underneath.  So cute and Christmasy!! 
Well, all the dresses are made, and the presents are wrapped, and we're laying on the couch watching some dumb movie.  Ahhh, the holidays.  Hope yours are going well!

High heels and Lentil Chili

They go together like peanut butter and jelly, no?  Okay, maybe not, but that's what has gone on in our house the past couple days.  Ingrid loves shoes and is pretty good at walking in ours, even though they're about five times bigger than her feet.  She found my heels today and it was just so cute!  God knows I don't ever wear heels anymore, someone should get some use out of them...

And the lentil chili is my new favorite veggie chili recipe.  I found it in Better Homes and Gardens, tweaked it a bit, and it turned out great!  I just love veggie chili, it's one of my favorite parts of winter, along with fireplaces and hot chocolate.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup red lentils (although our store only had brown, it tasted fine) presoaked for a few hours.

3 cups water

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes

1 chopped green or red pepper, or half of each like I did :)

1/2 chopped red onion

1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

2 Tbs garlic powder

4 Tbs chili powder

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 6 oz can tomato paste

Saute onions and peppers with spices, then add tomatoes, kidney beans, and lentils with the water.  Simmer for about 30-45 minutes, then add tom. sauce and paste.  Yum yum yum.  I baked some garlic herb bread to go with it, it was a great dinner and a tasty lunch the next day!   

Best Friends

We moved to Michigan on a weekend.  That Monday, my mom and I found a story time at the local library.  One of the moms had a similar sized little girl, so we started talking.  We found out that our girls were only three days apart!  From then on, we saw each other at every Monday morning story time, and I finally asked her for her phone number so we could set up a playdate.  A year later, here are our little peanuts:

We got the shirt from Allie as a Christmas present.  And of course, let's not forget their matching crowns, too:

I feel so lucky to have met such a great friend just days after we moved here!  We love you, Kristin and Allie!!

Messy Play

Yesterday I decided to make cookies.  Because, you know, my pants aren't fitting quite tight enough...As I was making them, I gave Ingrid some things out of the pantry that I was going to be throwing away anyway.  Rice and buckwheat pancake mix was what we came up with.  It is so funny to watch her get so excited by making such a mess!

After playing with it, of course she had to see what it tasted like.  I cannot even imagine that it tasted good at all, but she kept putting the toy spatula in and then shoving it in her mouth and saying, "mmmmm!"

And here is a picture of Ingrid and I that I thought was funny.  We look like such sassy ladies!

 

Wintery Walk

Ingrid got to wear her snowpants for the first time today!  It finally snowed more than a dusting, so we took her and Cody out this morning to walk by the lake.  It is gorgeous and not too cold and really sunny and the snow is all sparkly.  If only winter were like this all the time instead of gray and dreary and slushy...

I also found an old bottle of Ingrid's so she could feed her baby.  My old Cabbage Patch Kid has become one of her favorite toys!  She loves to put the blanket on her and now she loves to feed her a bottle.  We got her a little doll stroller for Christmas, I'm sure she'll love that, too :)

Busy Winter Days

Yesterday we stuck around home and kept ourselves busy.  I had a pile of Ingrid's drawings I didn't know what to do with so we cut them into strips and made a paper chain!  When we take it down after the holidays I'll put it up in Ingrid's room.

We also played with the punching balloons we'd gotten for party favors for our party last week.  Ingrid LOVES these things, so entertaining!

And she helped me wrap her presents.  I like this age where I don't have to hide what we got her.  She thought it was great fun laying on the wrapping paper saying "night night" and drooling everywhere...

I got a lot of sewing done yesterday, I just realized how much.  Not only did I finish the apple quilt, but I finished and listed a few more coffee cup holders on etsy, and I made two little aprons.  They are my next endeavor for my etsy shop, aren't they cute?  I have to take some pics of Ingrid wearing one, she looks adorable.  Of course.

Apple Quilt!

I just finished an apple quilt for my friend Katie.  She is due for her first, a little girly bean!, in April.  I am so excited and I really hope we are able to be back in Milwaukee around then so I can shower that kid with so much love and handmade goodies :)

Here it is:

I took so much care trying to match up seams and press them the right way and make everything look good.  I think the first few blocks I had to rip out EVERY single seam, as I'd made some stupid mistake.  And it was very unlike me to do that, usually I just say oh, well, and let it turn out wonky.  But I slowed myself down and it took me three whole days to finish, which again, is very unlike me.  I usually speed through.  It still is a bit wonky, but I think I've only made three baby quilts before, so I'm still learning.  Hopefully I'll get better...

Our Holiday Party

We had friends over this afternoon and it was a great time.  Ingrid wore her vintage best and even let me put pigtails in!

They didn't last all afternoon, she took them out and had a funny looking crimp in her hair the rest of the day.

We all ate food and Ingrid found she could reach to the table and helped herself to watermelon, cookies, and Puppy Chow.  She also got into her goodie bag that had a couple little chocolates in it.  Wrapped chocolates she managed to unwrap.  She had half the santa in her mouth before I even realized she had done it...

All the kids got to open little gifts. 

Ingrid got this cute owl clip from her friend Allie.  Another wonderful etsy.com find!!  I got Allie's mom Kristin addicted to it now, too! 

After a few hours of eating sugar and running around with two other kids her age, Ingrid was wiped out and started going up to people saying "bye bye."  As in, AHEM, buh-bye.  She definitely is not shy about letting her feelings show.  It was so fun to have people over and enjoy some adult conversation.

Christmas Trees and Pictures

We put up our tree last night.  Do not ask me why we decided to do it at night and not in the day!  I felt rushed because Ingrid was tired and stayed up past her bedtime.  But she loved it and had fun with the twinkles and putting on, and taking off, the ornaments.  Brendan and I realized it was our seventh Christmas tree together--wow!

And this morning I went over to take family Christmas pictures of my friend Heather and her lovely family.  Olivia is four months old and the chubbiest, cutest little baby you've ever seen.  I held her as we talked after pictures were taken-it was awesome.  I just swayed and rubbed her back and drank coffee and she fell asleep on my shoulder.  Sigh, I love that!  And aren't they the cutest family??

It's Christmas, Y'all!

Here are some pictures from yesterday.  Brendan went to work late so I got to get some work done.  We got twinkle lights the other day for our shelf, so it looked all nice and festive. 

I got a bunch of coffee cup holders done for Applesauce Crafts.  Within five minutes of posting them for sale, I'd sold two!  Yay!

I also worked on the goody bags for the party on Sunday.  I need to get more goodies for them, but they are coming along nicely for scrap fabric and ribbon!

And finally, it is COLD here now.  Like windy blustery snowy cold.  I shouldn't say snowy, we only have a dusting.  If anyone's seen how crazy it's been in the midwest, we missed all that...I love how weather works, my family lives on the other side of the state like two hours away and they got dumped on and schools have been closed.  We, however, got the smallest dusting and that was that.  But it's enough for me to realize it really is winter...Ingrid and I got super bundled and took Cody out yesterday afternoon.  Thank god we have the ring sling.  I remember last year I couldn't fit the pouch sling over my coat or hers, it was too much fabric!  But with the ring sling we have tons of room for all the extra padding.