Dinosaurs!

Okay, so I've been so excited to give these dinos to my nephews!  They really liked them, and I didn't get a picture of Thomas and his truck patterned stegosaurus or Michael and his green puppy brontosaurus, but here's Weston and his sea-themed stegosaurus.  I know he's a bit young, but in about a year he'll love this thing!  I love the bright colors and they're just so cute and were fun to make!  I also made a purple triceratops for Phred.

Penguino Peterson

Looks like 2011 will make me an aunt again twice over :)  This one is due on Aug 27th!

Decorating Cookies!

 Jared's family has a tradition that they make and decorate sugar cookies each Christmas.  I loved this tradition from the start, especially the intricate and imaginative ways that his family makes each cookie.  When I was in college I started a "Muppet's Christmas Carol watching party."  This year, we invited my sister and her husband over and had combined traditions party!  It was so much fun.

Kaitlyn especially enjoyed the frosting part of the cookies :)

Scott joined us a little later and helped out as well.

Above are some of the favorites!

12 Days of Christmas Swap

My swapping partner, Paper Wins, is awesome!  Each day I got to open a cute gift that had an interesting little poem coordinating with the Twelve Days of Christmas song.  I admire people who can do that, I usually try and get frustrated and then give the whole thing up!
As I am not at home right now, I don't have pictures, so I'll have to upload them later.  However, I had so much fun!  My favorites were the fuzzy socks, a Christmas CD, and an adorable bracelet which my daughter loves (yes, she is 16 months old and already admires jewelry - I'm sunk).  Also included was some yummy chocolate in various forms and an awesome magnet tray with our last name.  Phred loves magnets so I'm excited to start working on letters with her this coming year.  My very favorite, however, was the little packets that Paper Wins put together for our 72-hour kits.  She put so much thought into each package, including lotion, deodorant, toothpaste, etc. for each of us - including differentiating between my husband, little girl, and myself. 

Thank you so much Paper Wins, I have loved getting to know you and having this great opportunity for the swap!  I feel like we're "kindred spirits," as Anne would say:)

Hiatus

I know I haven't blogged in awhile.  Just suffice it to say that December is crazy busy for me.  We have three birthdays, one of them mine, and then Christmas.  I decided to make a homemade Christmas this year so all of my spare non-kid time is devoted to that.  Also, I'm really excited about a few different things, so I'm not blogging because I don't want to give it away.  (one is gifts for my nephews and one is my sister's).  That's all I'm going to say.
Sorry.
I will blog as soon as I get home from Boise and can freely upload pictures and info without spoiling any surprises/secrets.

My Niece!

Growing up I had an "Uncle Brian."  He wasn't really a blood relative, but he was my dad's best friend throughout high school and he was around so much that we just called him uncle.  That's how I feel about Mandy, as if she were my second sister.  Therefore, here are some adorable pictures of my future niece, Evie:

12 Days of Christmas

My freshman year of college my mom sent me a 12 Days of Christmas package.  It was so fun to open a gift each day.  They were all little things that could help each day: a pair of gloves, a roll of quarter for the laundry, a new pack of pencils for finals.  Anyway, I found out about this fun 12 Days Swap between readers of the Symmetry in Motion blog.  Check it out!  I'm way excited to get paired up with someone and have 12 days coming where I didn't plan the gifts!
Yay!