Warm Things

The days are fast approaching to baby Kate's first camping trip! We will be heading up north where it could still be quite chilly this time of year. I've been looking for some things on clearance as we've been out-and-about so that she can be cute and toasty (on a budget!)

 

I've really been wanting to make her a fleece hat, so I decided to dig through my fabric box and pulled out some remnants from a project I did for my niece 2 Christmases ago. I'm all about purple and blue swirls :)

 

(Here is that original Christmas post. You'll have to scroll about halfway down... I made her a hat, scarf and blanket that all matched with Tinkerbell fleece. Fabric from Bev's. Even before I worked there, I was a fabric lover.)

 

The hat took me about 5 minutes. I measured Kate's head (17 inches!) added 2 inches to allow for seam and some give, sewed a fabric tube (just one straight seam line) that would make the length be double the finished height of the hat, then folded it right side out, in half, cut fringe on the end, and tied a string of fleece around the fringe, making a pom-pom, and bam! Adorableness:

 

Mid-breakfast-cream-of-wheat-face

 I've also been looking for some good warm boots on sale. Kate has outgrown the ones she actually wore during the winter (which in California is about 2 weeks in January) so clearance seemed the best place to search. Unfortunately nothing has turned up yet. Since the hat was so quick and I still had some fleece leftover, I figured I could come up with some booties!

 

First I measured the length of Kate's feet. Sweet girl, only 4 inches! I added an extra inch to allow for seams. I cut two 5in x 3 in rectangles and rounded out the corners. These would be the soles:

 

 

Then, using the sole length as a starting point, I cut out the shape of a boot x2 and pinned them right sides together. I kept the ankle nice and tall so that it will cover her leg a little since Kate is a master sock-escape-artist.

 

I sewed up the back and sewed up the toe/front, leaving the ankle and bottom open.

 

Then, starting from the back seam, I pinned the sole all the way around the bootie edge.

 

When pinned, it looked like this. All of the "inside/wrong side" of the fabric is facing out:

 

I sewed around the bottom/sole and took out the pins:

 

Flipped the bootie right side out:

 

Cozy camping slipper booties! These should keep her tootsies roasty-toasty by the campfire at night over a nice layer of socks.

 

 

She was too wiggly for me to get a really good picture of the finished ensemble.

 

They fit snug as a bug in a rug!

 

You get the idea :)

 



May - The Month Of . . . (Part I)

 

CANDY MAKING!

 

We're fatties, it's fine.

 

It's Jon here. I figured the wife was planning on just putting together one big blog for the months adventures; but since they don't quite all go together, I wanted to do it in chunks. So let's get started.

 

Last week, me and the misses, and the chubbs, house sat for Steph's older sister. And during that house sitting, her cousin Megan and aunt Shari came to visit for the weekend. Natural, of course, they wanted to participate in the sugared festivities. And by they, I mean Megan. And by participate, I mean Shari just wanted to eat the results.

 

All hail the mighty diabetes!

 

The idea for this first recipe I'm not going to explain, because we're going to try this again. So for right now, you're just going to call this experiment Turtle Guts. And here's why:

 

We thought we'd try making turtles. You know, those delicious chocolate bites filled with caramel and pecans. Amazing stuff. Natural, we jumped on the compy, and made our way to Allrecipes. Found a great recipe. Super simple. If you want to see what's in it, just go here.

 

The problem was this: we didn't have a candy thermometer with us. Turns out, caramel is really easy to screw up without a thermometer. Now time for pictures:

 

Mmmmm, delicious melting butter:

 

 

And the cousin, Megan, adding some sugar:

 

 

 After all the ingredients are added, stir occasionally for 15-20 over low heat, until the caramel reaches 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

 

Then just plop the tablespoon size balls on a buttered cookie sheet.

 

 

 

 

 

Look at that face:

 

 

See, now here's the problem. Look at those, they look amazing, don't they?

 

 

Of course they do. If you want bricks for paving a nice little garden walkway in your backyard. Although they were delicious while still hot, and soft enough to eat, since we didn't have the thermometer, we of course cooked them too long, and when they cooled: way too hard. What you're left with: fossilized Turtle Guts. 

 

So, we didn't end up making any actual turtles, because there was no way possible to actually bit into these things once they hardened. But they sure do look good:

 

 

Side note: Shari and Megan put together this wicked sweet basket of candy making stuff for us, so expect awesome things later this month!

 

Kate @ 9 Months

She weighs a solid 16 lbs and is 26 inches long.

I love her little ears! She reminds me of an elf :)

 Kate is very observant. She is not scared of new people, but she does take a few minutes to just watch and try to figure people out when we're in an unfamiliar environment.

 

Ever since she was born she has had the most expressive eyebrows.

 

She crinkles her nose when she feels like she's being funny and she presses her lips together and blows air to make a sound like an elephant.

 

I always wish that I could get her true personality on camera, but every time I try, she is just more interested in the shutter sound!

 

It's ok though because you can't convey in a photograph the way her babbling sounds or how she giggles when I toss a blanket over her face for peek-a-boo.

 

A picture will never show how she growls in excitement at the dogs or how she wiggles her little toes constantly,

the way she haphazardly squeals for things she wants, sticks her feet up on the tray of her high chair,

how she taps on everything to hear the noise they make, or the way she very seriously stares at the dogs when they bark at nothing and turns her head away when Margo kisses her on the cheeks.

Awwww, puppy loves!!

 

I'll never be able to explain how cute it is when she looks at me and laughs, mouth wide open with the happiest grin I have ever seen!
 

 

Katherine is so patient and happy. Nothing seems to bother her. I put her in the jogging stroller for the first time on Wednesday so that we could go out on a run and she didn't mind at all.

 

 

Kate loves oatmeal for breakfast. She feeds herself puff treats, teething cookies and veggie crunchies.

 

Katherine is still taking 3 naps a day, plus sleeping all through the night. We've tried cutting out naps, but she really likes them and sleeps well! Happy sleeper = happy growth.

 

 

We're also pretty sure that Katherine is growing up to believe she is a dog.

That is definitely Margo's chewy bone in her mouth.

 

She has her moments of fussiness, but for the most part she is really easy going. We love visiting daddy at his work for lunchtime picnics!

 



 

And even though she likes to pull her bows off so that she can take playtime more seriously,

 

 

she is always going to be our little girl and we just can't get enough of her!