Jake Halloween Costume

 This year we were Jake and the Neverland Pirates from the Disney Jr. I didn't want to spend $80 on a costume so I thought I would make one. 

A few people asked how I made the hat so I thought I would do a little tutorial just in case more people wanted to know. 

Sorry the pictures are so blurry. I took most of them in the middle of the night and didn't like the way the flash was lighting it up.

Materials:
1/4 yard foux fur
1/4 yard red fabric
pins
sewing machine  and tools that go with it
Wrapping paper (to make a pattern)
scissors
 
First: I made a pattern for a circle on my wrapping paper. I made it about 14 inches in diameter by attaching a pencil to a 7 inch string with a pin on the end of it. (my own compass, make sure to leave extra room on your string before you cut it so you can wrap it around the pencil)

Next: I used my pattern to cut the fur in a circle.

Then: I made four slits in it making sure not to go too far in the middle or it will be too pointy. I used a second circle as a guide to help me with this.

Then: I hemmed (finished off) all the edges so the fur would stop shedding all over my house.

Then: I used my son's head a guide and overlapped the edges to get a good fit.

Next: I sewed the edges down.

Finally: I was ready for the band. I cut a 4 X 43 in. strip of red. Folded it in half and sewed it together. 

 I found the middle and attached it to the front of the hat (right sides together) and sewed it from the middle out and then did the same for the other side making sure to leave an 11 in. tail on each side.

 I only had to rip out the seems about 4 times to try and get this right. GRRRR!!!! The second time I made one it went way faster. I hope having a tutorial will help you so you don't make the same mistakes I did. Good luck! I'd love to hear your feed back on this.  Maybe next I'll let you know how I made his awesome sword!

My Baby is 2!!!!!!

 Sammy is one funny little man. He is so much fun to have in the house. He is our comedic relief in life.  It is really hard to photograph his cuteness. Those precious moments are hard to capture. Here are my attempts from the other day.

 Here are a few things you should

 know about my little man. 

• He loves to snuggle!!!!!
• He calls everything green. If you tell him it is a different color he gets really mad and yells " No isssss gweeeen!"
• He hates having dirty hands. We usually have to clean them off about 3 times during each meal.
• He loves watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates. He can even sing the songs. Sometimes he will get a little treasure chest we have and put it on the floor and walk around it and sing the song just like they do in the show. 
• He calls any super hero or villain for that matter Batman. But he doesn't just say batman he says "na na  Batman!" He usually yells it at the top of his lungs. This happens frequently when we are in stores. On lookers think he is hilarious. Sometimes he says batman in his deepest darkest voice.
• He hates fruits and veggies. just last week he let me put some squash on his plate. He didn't eat it but at least he let it be on his plate.Baby steps people, baby steps.
• If you tell him to do something he doesn't want to do he growls at you.
• He is a very serious guy especially with the camera. He doesn't like looking at it and smiling I have to catch him doing it. Which means I get a lot of blurry head pictures as he turns away from me. He loves the camera though. He calls it "cheese" he loves pretending to look through the view finder while it is around both of our necks. 

 His favorite foods are hotdogs, pistachios, chicken "chicky", whip cream, anything else non healthy.

• He hates drinking water! Even if it is 100 degrees outside and we were just playing at the park he wont drink it. I have to mix it with juice. We are now at about 90% water 10% juice. 
• He likes to drag his left foot. I don't think anything is wrong with it I think he just like the way it feels on his shoe.

• He loves going to nursery at church. One time we were walking in the hall and we passed by the door and he started crying because we didn't go inside. When we moved to a new ward there was no hesitation, he just ran in and found a Buzz Lightyear and I never turned around again. 
• He hates riding in the shopping cart. EVERY time we go to a store it is a huge fight to get him to sit down. He kicks and screams as I am shoving him in. Then he cries for the next 10 min in the store. It is so awesome :0/ Any suggestions on this one? I have found that candy works some of the time. 
• His favorite songs are popcorn popping and the wheels on the bus. 
• He loves his little lovey. He and Ben call them Heady. It started out as Eddie but I guess Ben realized that it has a big head on it so they call them Heady. This is a new love for Sam. He wasn't very attached to it until a few months ago. 
• He is a great little sleeper. Sometimes he actually asks to take a nap. Usually we just have to tell him to go get Heady and he will find him in the house and go right to bed. We are going to be giving him a big boy bed this week so we will see if all that changes. I'm so scared. It took Ben over 6 months to sleep in his bed through the night and naps. He slept on the floor for probably 3 months. I hope this time goes better. 
• He has a funny little bald spot on the side of his head. No idea where it came from or if it will ever go away. Can you see it?

• He loves to laugh and be silly. Especially with Ben.
• He loves his 6 year old cousin Jaren. He always runs up to him and gives him a big hug and tackles him. 
• He loves to say prayers. Usually kids repeat what you say but all he says the whole time is "Thank you for this day" over and over again until you say amen. 
•  He is a really happy easy going kid. Some of these quirky things make him sound like he is a handful, which I guess he is, but he is a great listener and super sweet!

We love you so much little Sam Sam. We are so happy you are a part of our family. 

 You are one special little guy!

Father's Day

Not sure if you remember but I do pictures of my boys in their daddy's shirt each year. I then scrapbook a few pages and keep it in a special scrapbook. This is the first year I didn't get a chance to scrapbook yet. My brother had his wedding reception last night and I was a little busy with that so I didn't get a chance to yet. But it will happen this week. I just thought I would let you see the picture before the final product is done.

 

  

 

Sam was not happy about wearing Tom's cloths.

After about 45 minutes of bribing, talking sweet, yelling, begging, pleading we finally got this one.

 I guess it will have to work! 

We love you Daddy!!!!!! 

Hope you had a great day!

HaPpy EaStEr

I hope you all had a great Easter!

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

I had so much fun making these decorations this year. I hand stitched the shamrocks onto the banner after I realized the Steam-a-Seam wasn't going to hold the felt on. I like the look of the hand stitched better anyways don't you?

We had such a great time with St. Patrick's day this year. Our day started out with the leprechaun flipping the boys high chairs over. Ben was so upset about the whole thing. We heard about it all day long and several days after that. Then that naughty leprechaun turned our pancakes into green shamrocks.

For lunch we had ham, cheese, and cucumber sandwiches all cut like shamrocks. We made pistachio pudding, and even had shamrock shakes.
When the boys were napping that tricky leprechaun came back to our house and made a big mess with shamrocks, hand-prints, footprints, and pots of gold. Sam was the first one up. As soon as he came out or the room he said "Oh no! Made a mess!" (or in Sammy language it sounds more like mee a mees!" He just kept saying it over and over again wandering through the house. Until the "pot of gold" filled with yellow M&Ms distracted him.Ben was a little different. He was so mad! He made his grouchy face and was yelling at the leprechaun until we told him it was ok. For days after St. Patrick's day Ben would look for leprechauns and their treasure.

For dessert we had rainbow cupcakes. They are so fun to make but are a little time consuming. first you take a white cake mix and separate it out into little bowls. Then you add food coloring to each bowl to make different colors. Once you have all your colors ready you layer them into the muffin tin. (this is the part that takes forever) This is what it looks like when it is baked. I forgot to take a picture of what it looks like when you brake it open but I found this picture online. Mine really did look just like this. but with green and white sprinkles on the top like on the pistachio pudding.

For dinner we had the best corn beef ever! (sorry no picture, I forgot to take it and when I went back to the store a few days later to buy more to make it again it wasn't on sale anymore. I had no idea how expensive it is because I only buy it once a year and it is always on sale during St. Patrick's day) anyways here is the recipe

Cook your Corn beef in the crock pot like usual. Then right before you are going to serve it put it in the oven for 20 minutes with this glaze

1 cup Dijon mustard
1 tbs paprika
brown sugar

It makes the meat a little bit crispy and extremely delicious.

Hope you had as great a day as we did! May the luck o' the Irish always be with you!