It’s been some time since we took portraits of the kids, so at Lois’ urging, I took them to the same school playground we went to nearly two years ago, and snapped some shots.  Got some keepers, yay, and these will be mounted onto canvas to serve as Christmas gifts for the grandparents…

This pregnancy has been long and hard and I pretty much adopted the view that if it’s not urgent, then I can ignore it for now.  I’ll make the everyday necessities happen, but anything more than that I will just have to forego for the time being.  One of those less urgent things is adequate clothing for the kids.  Sad but true.  All of my kids have been inadequately dressed for I don’t know how long.  They walk around as if we’re still vacationing in Hawaii.  It’s winter after all and it’s cold!  What are they thinking???  Well, it’s not their fault, because this mama has been very tired so I have not shopped for clothes that actually fit them.  They’ve been wearing clothes that are either too small or clothes that are most suited for another season.  I’ve remedied the situation some by shopping online.  Yay for sales and online shopping!  I dread going out so shopping online is definitely the way to go for me.  We already have one huge shipment of clothes from Old Navy.  We all rejoiced and celebrated when all the kids got new clothes.  However, this large order is still inadequate because after all, I have five kiddos.

I finally decided to do some sewing after seeing my oldest daughter’s daily wear for the past week or two.  Yesterday when I came down and saw my oldest daughter’s outfit, every fiber in me twitched again and again.  The outfit was in every way WRONG!  It was a fashion nightmare and not only that, she looked like a vagabond.  Oh . . . my poor girl!  Again, it was not because of her bad taste in clothing, but it was because she simply didn’t have clothes that could fit her.  I was determined to make her a new dress that day.

To make my life easier, I refashioned a shirt of hers that she’s recently outgrown.  I cut off 4″ from the shirt bottom, added a matching fabric skirt piece to the shirt, and finally add a bit of ruffles to the sleeves to extend them.  The “new” dressed turned out great and I love how beautiful my daughter looks in it.

After seeing her big sister in her new dress, Calissa asked me to make one for her as well.  I thought I could put it off for another day, but I quickly discovered that Calissa quietly cried and sniffled on her own, wishing that I would make her a new dress.  My heart broke.  I told her that I would make her one too and that she could even pick out her own fabric.  Her mourning turned into dancing instantaneously.  Oh my girl!!!!  She loves wearing dresses.

Again, I used the same method.  I picked a shirt that she’d outgrown.

Cut off 4″ from the bottom, attached a matching fabric piece, 17″ x 45″ , and added strips of fabrics as ruffles to the sleeves.

Here’s my younger daughter watching and waiting for me to finish up her dress so she too, can be pretty like her big sister.

Here’s my happy customer.

And of course the girls want to pose together to show off their new dresses.

I must say that repurposing shirts is a lot easier than sewing a dress from scratch.  It’s a fun project and it sews up quite quickly.  I’m very pleased with the result.

I’ve been getting some sewing done for the babe in the womb.  Oh. . . how we wish he’ll arrive soon!  In the meantime I believe I’ve been nesting by cleaning (though not too much), sewing, and staying home bound and not wanting to leave the house unless I absolutely have to.

I love those baby snugglers or swaddling blankets that make a newborn feel very secure.  I found a free snuggler pattern online that I really like, but I don’t particularly care for the velcro part.  The snuggler is made of two layers:  fleece inner layer and a cotton outer layer.  I modified the original pattern to avoid using the velcro by extending the outer layer.  The longer wings allow me to tie it in a knot to make the snuggler more fitting.  See below.

Here’s my oldest daughter modeling for me.

Of course I just can’t make one because I know from experience that a baby will definitely soil the snuggler in no time.  In order to always have one in hand while the other one is in the wash, here’s the second snuggler I made.  Maybe I’ll go make another one, just in case.

Well, we are definitely ready for this baby.  Everyone in the house anxiously waits for his arrival though the thought of labor and delivery scares me.  Oh the pain!  But the result is absolutely worth it!

When I saw V and Co’s jersey knit bracelet tutorial, I knew I had to make it for my girls, however, it did take a long time for me to get to it.  I wonder why?  Could it be the busyness around this house and the protracted pregnancy (at least I think so)?

This bracelet tutorial is very simple and all you need is 1″ jersey knit strips, a pair of scissors, and your fingers.  In short, you knit the bracelet using your fingers, and the thickness of the bracelet depends on how many fingers you want to use, whether 2, 3, or 4.  See the pictorial tutorial for further explanation, and if it still doesn’t make sense, there’s a video tutorial at the bottom of the page.

I made bracelets for my girls and they looked dazzling in their red bracelets and then I got a bit creative.  What if I just keep braiding and make it into a headband?  I was so proud of myself!  All the girls have a matching headband now.  I used the two-finger braid because I like a skinnier bracelet, especially for the headband.

If you’re interested in making these bracelets or headbands, you don’t need to run to the fabric store to get jersey knit.  You should shop in your husband, brother, or father’s closet for an unloved t-shirt.  Those cute red bracelets and headbands I made for my girls were made out of a red t-shirt my brother didn’t want.  I simply cut the shirt into 1″ strips and connect all the strips together.  Now, isn’t this exciting?  You don’t even have to spend a dime and you can get the project started right away.  Happy braiding!  I’d love to see some of your creations.  I’m very fortunate to have a big stash of unwanted t-shirts from my brother, and trust me, I’ve been cutting up those t-shirts.  I made myself a grey headband and I must say that it’s quite comfortable to wear.  I normally don’t like headbands because somehow they’re not that comfortable and they fall off of my head easily.

We’ve been enjoying our time together as a family for our Advent reading.  It’s such a relaxing time for all of us to be together and listen to three separate readings.

Below is a picture of the books we’re reading.  Russ Ramsey’s Behold the Lamb of God is a narrative account of events from the Old Testament to the coming of Christ.  We really appreciate Ramsey’s narrative account of the story as it helps both adults and kids to better comprehend the coming of Christ.  We purchased the bundle package which included Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God CD.  We’ve been listening to this CD continuously and we absolutely love it.  If you’re interested, you can listen to the whole album online for free.  Interestingly, Christianity Today did an interview with Andrew Peterson recently about his music and books.

For several weeks now, our family has been engrossed in Andrew Peterson’s first of the four books On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness.  And yes, it’s the same Andrew Peterson, the singer and the writer.  I admit, it took me a while to make that connection.  We like this book a lot as it is both humorous and adventurous.  Some parts of it are just goofy, and we love goofiness.  The four-book saga has the flavor of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series.  It’s definitely worth reading.

Our Advent candles.  The candle arrangement is very simple.  I arranged four purple/reddish tapered candles on the outer perimeter inside a tray and I placed the one white candle in the middle.  To make it prettier, I put our Christmas tree trimmings around it.  It’s nothing super fancy but visually pleasing.  The tray works out really well because we can easily put it away after our nightly reading so the children don’t play with the arrangement nor the fire if left permanently on the table.

Lastly, our Christmas tree!  Last year we trekked into the mountains to chop down our perfect tree and it was such a wonderful memory.  We thought we would continue this tradition, but after we found out that Costco has Noble Fir trees for a good price, we decided to do the easy way.  Instead of traveling 45 minutes into the mountains, we drove 10 minutes to Costco to pick out a cheaper and better tree.

More fun cooking a delicious meal, this time with an assistant chef (so I could get more photography in!).  For today, just gobs of photos from start to finish… HT to Pioneer Woman for the recipe.

For years, as a quick and easy meal for the kids, we’ve often turned to those boxes of instant quick and easy “Mac & Cheese.”

Somewhere along the way, we discovered that Kraft’s “Mac & Cheese” had a bit of disclaimer: they didn’t really use cheese but a “cheese product.”

So we decided to try store-brands: Wal-Mart, Costco’s Kirkland Signature, etc. with real cheese.  And they were better.

But not by far.

And somewhere (farther) along the same way, we thought: “Macaroni is just pasta.  Cheese is just… cheese.”  How hard could it be to make this dish from scratch?

Tonight, I tried my hand at it, following the famous Pioneer Woman’s recipe for baked macaroni and cheese.

How did it turn out?  Well first, the quantitative evidence:

1. I had a great time cooking it; for the first time preparing a roux and tempering an egg (click through to the above recipe if you don’t know what I’m talking about).
2. I liked eating it.  But then, I cooked it, I’m prejudiced.  But I would actually choose to eat this – not just when I was desperate for something quick & easy.
3. Our youngest daughter asked for three servings.  Unless it’s loaded with sugar, she never asks for three servings!  Gonna do this one again! (Never mind that she kinda had a sparse lunch.)

Qualitatively speaking, it wasn’t bad either (in other words, “presentation is everything”) — we added our own flair with panko bread crumbs on top:

Digging into the third serving!  Did I mention that it was her third serving???