Request Permission for flyby

As of December 30th, my Sweet Husband is officially a pilot!

We are so proud! To celebrate, we went flying! On New Year's Eve he took Sweet Girl, me, my mom, my dad, one of my sisters, and her (then) fiance on a ride!

Sweet Girl, Grandma L, and I got to fly with my Handsome Husband first! He is such a great pilot and very reassuring, which is very nice when it gets a little bumpy or he has to adjust things and it takes your stomach (like on a roller coaster). 

 

(the hum of the engine puts Sweet Girl right to sleep)

Then he took Grandpa L, Aunt S, and Uncle P. I was a little worried about my Dad because he gets motion sick, but he was completely fine... Uncle P was different story, he got a little sick. 

It was such a fun day! 

Since then we've flown a few other times as well! One night we went on a family date! We did a few touch and goes and then just flew around town before dinner. Since Sweet Girl is under two she is allowed to sit on my lap during flight, that's what she did on that particular flight since we took a little two-seater. She actually didn't fall asleep on that flight, I think she really liked looking out the window because she could actually see! She did look SUPER relaxed all flight, she probably would have fallen asleep if it was closer to bedtime when we went. But it was fun to have her awake for the whole flight, she really seemed to enjoy it!

 (her adorable little grin got cut off, so we took another picture of just her)
Also, do you see how happy flying makes this amazing man of mine!?! How could I ever say no to that face! I love him!

(also, she did have a headset on during the flight, this was before we took off, we try to wait as long as possible because she doesn't care for the headset much... until she can hear people talking then she likes it)

Then last weekend we were able to take my Sweet in-laws on a flight! It was a bit bumpier than usual, but still fun! My Sweet Husband was also able to give them a tour of the company he works for! It was really fun! 

(Please notice Sweet Girl's face.. it shows her feelings about the headset before people are talking.. lol!)

Projects: Christmas Presents

This year I really wanted to make a lot of the Christmas presents we gave. I had such a great time doing it! I don't think I specifically thought, "I'm going to make presents this year," I just found things that I could make and decided to do it. I was watching Psych and saw this awesome pineapple quilt and knew my brother who is on a mission would love one like that. He loves Psych and it's super cold where he is!

I found the pattern for the pineapples here.

 (Sweet Girl wanted to model it)

 (this was my awesome packing job, it fit into a large flat rate box!)

This is the first real quilt I've every actually made by myself. I've tied quilts before, but when I did that it was just two pieces of material with batting in between. I've done a few block quilts (one was just a tiny blanket and isn't quite square) and another block quilt I made I had help with. But this one, this one was much more intricate than anything else I've ever done. I also put two blankets on the inside so it is SUPER thick! It took a long time to make, but I am super happy with how it turned out!

I found these adorable dress up aprons on Pinterest. They looked pretty easy to make (and they were) so I decided to try it out! I had so much fun making them! I made a Princess Aurora apron first.

 Then I made a nurse apron, and a few regular aprons. Then I made an Elsa apron for one of our nieces.

One of my favorite features of these dress up aprons is that they are easy to put on and take off. Easy enough that Sweet Girl can put them on and take them off herself, and since she is pretty independent these days, it is perfect!

(Silly girl didn't want her picture taken, so she started taking them off)

We had my Sweet Sister-in-law's family for Christmas on my Sweet Husband's side.
I've loved this idea of a cross-stitched family portrait ever since I saw it on pinterest!
I plan to make one for our family too, it just hasn't happened yet.
I had so much fun looking through pictures and finding outfits they had that I could recreate in the cross-stitch. And I also had fun adding little things about them that they like!
I put it in a cute frame, but apparently forgot to take a picture of it at that stage.

Buzz You're Flying!

Yesterday, we got to go flying with our favorite pilot!

Sweet Girl didn't love the shooting earmuffs she had to wear, 

but she fell asleep quickly so it was okay.

 Our pilot and his instructor

 Our family

View from the sky

My Sweet Husband did really well! His landings were very smooth! I was quite impressed!

It's fun to get to experience his dreams with him!

I'm so grateful that I get to navigate this adventure we call life with him!

My Sweet Husband is the best!

Spring Decorations

The other day I had a hankering to do some crafting,

plus I was binge watching a show and I always feel better about watching shows when I'm doing something while I watch/listen.

So I decided to make a wreath.

I did most of the crafting while Sweet Girl was sleeping,

but she was pretty good at playing while I crafted if I was in the middle of something.

She especially loved the lace!

 I love this picture.

After she kept trying to get into stuff that could hurt her, I put her in the exercauser.

Here is the final project.

I also cut out our house number in vinyl and put it on our door because we didn't have our house number anywhere.

I really like the way it turned out... lol even if you can't see it.

 I also made this cute Peep banner,

I've had it on my list of things to do for a long time, but never got around to it.

I'm glad I finally did.

Nunchuck Skills

Okay, so not nunchuck skills. We've been busy little bees. My sweet husband has been honing his tiling skills. He tiled our shower in our master bathroom. Now he's working on tiling the floor. 

I've been channeling my inner Sawdust Girl.

I decided we needed another bookcase because our current one is overflowing!

So looked at her website and found a plan for one I liked.

I made mine a little taller and decided against the fancy bottom piece, I like things pretty simple.

(My sweet husband has helped me some too, mostly with the big cuts.) 

And last but not least, I've finally started learning to play the violin!

This is a skill I've wanted to have for a long time.

I borrowed my Grandmother's violin about 5 years ago and I finally found a teacher!

My friend (who also doubles as my visiting teacher) is my teacher.

Another friend and I were discussing how we wanted to learn how to play 

and how that was on each of our resolutions lists for the year.

My friend asked my other friend and she agreed,

so we are taking lessons together before church each Sunday!

It's been really fun so far!

This was from our second lesson. 

Projects: Nursery

Ever since we decided to buy our home I dreamed of a window seat in the bay windows.

In one of my favorite tv shows growing up, The Torkelsons, the main character had a window seat in her bay window and I always wanted one after that. To sit and read and think, Dorothy Jane (from the show) would talk to the Man in the Moon. I don't know how long we'll be in this house, but maybe our little girl will be able to do some of those things thanks to this project.

While I dreamed of it, my mom was actually the one to convince me to actually do it, plus we really needed a place for our children's books, I love children's books!

I thought up a design, nothing too fancy, but something nice and practical.

I had my sweet husband help me determine everything I would need,

we got the supplies and my sweet husband cut out the boards for me so I didn't have to do the heavy lifting.

Then one day while he was at work, I assembled it!

Here is the first layer of bookshelves

 The second layer of shelves

 And the other end

 This was the picture I sent to my sweet husband to tell him that I finished assembling it and that I was super tired... lol!

 Another day I cut and installed the face framing.

Close up

 Whole shelf

 Another day I painted it... well some of it.

Laying on your side trying to get into all the corners is difficult, then add being pregnant into the mix and I was worn out! So my sweet husband helped me finish painting it one night.

Then I ordered the foam for the seat, that's what I was waiting on for so long. Amazon Prime spoils me, having to wait longer than 2 days kills me! But we made it.

While my parents were here helping with the patio, the foam arrived!

One morning my mom and I cut out the foam.

Monday, I made the cover and my sweet husband helped me get it on,

it is SO tight! I put a zipper on one of the sides so that if we needed to wash it I could take it off... I'm not sure we'll ever be able to take it off.. lol!

Now the room is complete...

 Except we need to get a crib mattress, but we'll get one.

 Oh and I sewed this cute little curtain to hide the totes and things on the top shelf of the closet

 While I was organizing the room, I decided to put a shoe organizer of things we'll need fairly handy on the back of the door. A few of the things in it are swaddling blankets, nursing cover, pacifiers, shoes, and hair bows and flowers. Hopefully it will be helpful, if not, at least they have a place to be.. lol!

Accepted!

So a couple days ago I thought to myself, "I should update my blog." But just as quickly the thought left me because we've barely had a chance to sit down and relax lately. We've been on the go all the time. Which is a drastic change from a few short months ago! But change is good and the reasons we've been on the go have been good too.

The bank accepted our offer! After a few counter offers going back and forth a couple of times, we agreed on a price! Phwew, glad that part is over with. Now the real craziness begins! Because, you see, the bank would like us to close by April 30th! Which is less than 30 days away! We have so much to do in such a little amount of time, but hopefully we'll be able to do it!

I'm excited that we will close soon because we'll have time to clean and change somethings before we move out of the house we are currently renting. Like I said in the previous post about this, the house needs some work. The first thing to tackle on the list is cleaning! It needs to be DEEP cleaned! And then we'll paint. Then we'll change the carpet... eventually we'll get wood floors in the kitchen and living room. It will make more sense why we'll do both of those when I get some pictures of it. Hopefully I can do that this weekend.

Now we need to figure out a paint color. It's kind of nerve racking... how did you choose the color for your house?

Busy, Busy, Busy

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately,

We've been busy!

A good busy.

I'll let the cat out the bag,

I think some of you may know, but for everyone else:

we're in the process of buying a house!

So we've been busy looking,

making offers,

and waiting....

Right now we're in the waiting stage.

Remember last week when I talked about dreaming?

(I hope so, it was my last post... lol if not you can scroll down)

One of the things I was dreaming about was a house we put an offer on.

Sadly, we didn't get that house.

But we're okay,

the next day we found a house that we really really like!

It needs a bit of work,

but that's what we wanted anyways.

That way we can learn new things and make it just the way we want it.

So until we find out, we'll all keep our fingers crossed.

If it doesn't work out, I'm sure we'll find something else!

And if it does, I'll post some pictures, until then I'll keep it a secret!

Dreaming

Today is a day of dreaming.

Actually, I think everyday is.

But today, I'm dreaming of recovering a chair I recovered in college.

It needs some love.

I only have a picture of it right after I finished it.

It looks pretty good, eh?

Well, it did for a while, but then it started to kind of fall apart.

Then I tried to sew all the parts together so they'd stay on a little better.

And once again, they did for a while, but now it just needs a makeover.

Then, my friend showed me these fabulous video tutorials from Miss Mustard Seed... a blog I'd never seen before,

always exciting.

So, now I'm wish that there was a reasonable fabric store closer.

Because while the fabric store in town has some of the cutest fabric I've ever seen,

I just can't justify spending that much on fabric!

Sorry, I just can't do it.

I feel that if I'm going to do it myself, I want to actually save money.

Maybe I'm crazy.

Probably.

Anyways, I need/want some new fabric so I can try out these tutorials.

Hopefully, we'll make a trip to the big city soon.

Totally not related, but after looking at that picture, I really miss those jeans and that shirt, it was SO soft! I'm really hard on clothes and those jeans are long gone... sad day!