Look at me! I'm blogging in the current year again! What a novel idea. And hopefully before long, I'll even be blogging in the current month. I'm getting there, I'm getting there!

As always, our new year started with a celebration... not of the new year, but of our Beebs! This year, Beebs turned 5 and it was a very exciting birthday. She decided many months before her big day that she wanted to forgo having a party this year and instead take a little trip with mom to go see Nana and Papa in Utah. That trip will have a post of it's own, as it was quite the excitement filled 4 days. For now, I'll focus on how we celebrated her actual birthday. 

We started our celebration the night before her birthday, with a mommy and Beebs date night. She'd been struggling all day due to the anticipation of her birthday so I decided she needed a little alone time. We went out for dinner, just the two of us, then walked around Target for a bit. We had a lot of fun together. She spent most of our meal talking about what songs and pictures needed to go on her annual birthday DVD slideshow (that I still need to finish!!!!) and at the end of dinner, she insisted that we each take a photo of the other, so they could be included on her video. Which makes this the last photo of Beebs as a four year old. Our date ended at a decent hour, but Beebs didn't fall asleep until gone 11 that night. She was just so excited about her birthday and cake and presents. I love how magical birthdays are at this age.

January 3rd fell on a Saturday this year... the first Saturday of 2015, of course, which meant that Beebs' birthday coincided with our annual Primary Meet the Teacher breakfast. Beebs was a good sport about it though. In fact, she was quite excited to spend her morning enjoying pancakes with all her church friends.

After the breakfast, we came home so Beebs could enjoy some time with her presents. She really, really, really wanted an American Girl doll closet with hangers, and that's just what she got! Bruce and I made it for her out of a Joanne's wooden crate, some wooden knobs, a dowel and along the side, where it is hard to see, is a key holder that you would typically mount on the wall. We mounted it on the closet and that is where she hangs various doll accessories. The closet was a huge hit and it ended up being super inexpensive and easy to make. (Do you love the Daddy photobomb? Beebs didn't when she realized what he had done!)

Beebs also got some new clothes for her birthday including this cute ensemble and a set of matching jammies for her and Kit.

For her birthday dinner, Beebs wanted In-N-Out Burger. Sunshine had the idea of inviting Beebs' best friend Christian to join us since Beebs wasn't having a birthday party this year. I agreed that it was a great idea and Christian's mom was more than willing to share her cute boy with us for the evening. Beebs was so surprised and excited when we got to his house to pick him up and she realized he was coming to dinner. Unfortunately, as soon as we arrived at In-N-Out, Sunshine got really sick and ended up throwing up before we could even get inside. Bruce's dad drove her up to our house and stayed with her, while the rest of us ate dinner. It worked out, but it was sad to not have our Sunshine with us to celebrate. Beebs and Christian had a great time together and after dinner, we came home for a few more pressies and some cake. Beebs requested a Nothing Bundt Cake and it was topped with the same #5 candle that Bruce had on his fifth birthday cake.

(P.S. Is Christian not the cutest little guy you've ever seen? Maybe second only to Man Cub? He and Beebs are crazy about each other and currently have plans to be married in the Hawaii temple, then live in Hawaii together, with Man Cub. Because Man Cub loves Hawaii!)

 

After we took Christian home, Beebs and Kit got into their matching jammies and headed off to bed, one year older and very excited for the next part of Beebs' birthday celebration which was to come the following weekend.

Hello PegLegs

After making the American Girl doll beds for Sunshine and Beebs, I felt like I was running out of time to make something homemade for Man Cub. I came across an Instagram store selling handpainted peg toys and thought maybe I could just buy him something handmade by someone else Ü I participated in a flash sale held by the store and things didn't work out as planned. Despite being the first person to claim the item I wanted, it was given to someone else and I was pretty darn ticked. (Hello pregnancy hormones!) Right then and there, at like 10 at night, I decided I would just buy my own wooden pegs and paint Man Cub a set on my own.

I had a few other kiddos left to buy Christmas gifts for, so I ordered enough pegs to make them each a peg or two as well. The first time I sat down to paint I just stared at my supplies for at least a half hour, terrified because I had no idea how to get started and I was so scared I would mess up. Slowly but surely, I got the hang of what I was doing and by the time Christmas rolled around, I had painted over 25 peg dolls and was getting pretty darn good at it. Not only did I find that I was decent at painting these 3.5 inch figures, but I found it to be super relaxing and fun.

After finishing up all the Christmas gifts, I decided I wanted to keep painting and opened up my own little Instagram and Etsy store, Hello PegLegs. I haven't had an Etsy sale yet, but I have sold plenty on Instagram and I am absolutely loving it.

Man Cub's homemade Christmas gift ended up being a Buzz and Woody peg set and I have since made him Baymax and Hiro, which he absolutely adores as well. I've done superheroes, princesses, ninjas, zombies, Harry Potter, pirates and even a few custom pieces like some little girls (including Sunshine!) in baptism dresses. There is seriously so much I can do with these simple little pieces of wood, a few hours and a handful of paint colours.

A Very Merry American Girl Doll Christmas

The end of November and beginning of December brought about some projects for Bruce and I. It has become a bit of a tradition for us to give the wee ones something homemade for Christmas each year and this year, we decided on American Girl doll beds for the girls. Beebs was asking Santa for a Kit Kittredge doll, Sunshine had gotten Josephina for Christmas the year before and we had some doll clothes to give each of them. It seemed like beds would be the perfect addition to their American Girl doll themed Christmas. 

We found some awesome plans for farmhouse style doll beds on Ana White's website and went to work. Bruce did a great job putting the beds together and painting them. On occasion I acted as a clamp, holding the pieces together while he assembled, and tackled the sewing portion. I was so excited to find the perfect fabrics for each bed at Joanns... patchwork for Kit (I figured that in the Depression years, it would have been common to have bedding made from scraps of old fabric) and a beautiful wool southwestern print fabric for Josephina's bed. I absolutely love how the beds came together and now I'm dreaming of bigger projects- like a farmhouse bed for us. Maybe bunk beds for the girls room. The possibilities are endless. Ü But it will be awhile before any of those dreams  become reality. We have a few other big house projects to tackle first.

Man Cub's Car Mat

When each of my girls turned 2, I made them a raggy quilt out of fabric featuring their favourite Disney character of the moment. For Sunshine, it was a Finding Nemo quilt, for Beebs it was a Wally quilt. As Man Cub's second birthday approached, I knew exactly which character his quilt would be made from... all the friendly citizens of Radiator Springs.


The thing is- Man Cub hates blankets. Maybe "hates" is too strong a word, but he certainly doesn't like them, unless he is crawling into my bed in the morning and wants to "snuddle" me under my blanket. But in his bed, he refuses to sleep under any kind of blanket or covering. He also has no interest in using a pillow...

Knowing that Man Cub doesn't even like blankets, I started to doubt whether it was worth the effort of making him a Disney quilt for his second birthday, but I love the tradition of making my children something special at that age. Then I remembered a car mat I had seen at a friend's house. They had hand drawn and painted it on a thick piece of fabric and it literally covered the majority of their living room floor. It had a school and a church, their home, a grocery store and a park. It even had a football field and clock tower. They had personalized the entire thing and even now that their kids are grown, it is something they hang on to and pull out when little friends (like Man Cub!) come to visit.

I suggested to Bruce Wayne that perhaps we make Man Cub a car mat of his own, and maybe we could even model it after his favourite Disney movie? Bruce was all over this idea and was more than willing to put his awesome artistic talents to use to sketch out the initial design on a large painters drop cloth. Then he traced it all in permanent marker and passed the project on to me for painting.

I had an absolute ball painting the car mat. I took dozens of art classes in high school and college and use to do all sorts of artsy things, but as I got married and had children, those things took a back seat. Of course, I've still enjoyed photography and the occasional craft project here and there, but painting.... sigh. I had forgotten how much I enjoy painting. I put all my painting and colour theory classes to good use while painting Man Cub's car mat, as I carefully tried to match our project to a map of Cars Land from Disney's California Adventure. And I think the finished product turned out darn good!

We gave Man Cub the car mat at his birthday party and we have all enjoyed playing with it ever since. Beebs especially enjoys getting it out and parking all the Cars characters in their respective homes. I am still a little giddy each time the kiddos get it out to play with as I think about all the time and effort Bruce Wayne and I put into this gift. Hopefully it will be a gift that Man Cub treasures for many years to come.

Materials Used:
* A large painters drop cloth purchased at Home Depot
* Delta Ceramcoat acrylic paints
* cheap brushes! (The rough texture of the drop cloth destroys brushes! Don't use expensive ones)