William's First Haircut

William has been needing a haircut for quite awhile, but I was holding off until after our family reunion so that everyone could see his cute curls. Then he got sick with tonsillitis and a fever of 105.8° (and a trip to ER). I finally sat him down and gave him his haircut yesterday (actually everyone in the family got haircuts!).








Before shots























These don't even show his hair as curly as it can be if it's humid out or right after a bath!

I had to pin his head to my stomach to hold him still.

After shots

The hair we cut off. Doesn't look like much, but it makes a big difference!

Sock Monkeys

I have had these pictures for quite awhile and just haven't gotten around to posting them.

The girls got interested in sock monkeys after watching "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium". I looked at the red heel socks and they are quite expensive. While at the dollar store, I spotted these socks and figured they'd work:


I gave the kids a choice of colors and Emily picked the green and Sarah the tan, so I choose brown for William and red for Andrew.











Take one of each color of sock.












Flatten it so the heel is on top and sew from the
top cuff to about 1/2" from heel rounding seam at cuff for foot. Repeat for other leg about 1/4" from 1st seam.













Cut legs apart

Turn right side out.


























Stuff.






















Side view.

With second sock, sew arms from top cuff edge (rounding for hands), tail from top of foot, nose from heel, and ears from bottom of sock. Toe portion is extra.

With arms, ears, and tails sewn on. I used a rubber band to mark the neck while I sewed on the arms and etc.

Side view of tail.

All finished!

I used a gathered stitch to sew the neck and button eyes.

Baby Bump

I am now 36 ½ weeks along in my 4th pregnancy. I have gained 9½ pounds so far and my belly is 8" bigger around than it started out. If you want to see my belly shots from the whole pregnancy (taken at 4 week intervals) go to: http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/f/fourblessings/

(and yes, those are the same pants in weeks 12 and 20 as in this picture!)

Fair Week

I finally got a fair book early enough to get some things brought (even if it was only a couple of weeks before the week of the fair) There aren't many categories to enter. Under "Needlework", there are 11 classes for "crocheting".

I entered my crocheted food under "Any other crocheted item"

These are all my own patterns.

Under"Knitting" there are 8 classes. I entered these under "Any other knitted item"

Under "Sewing" there are 10 classes. One was "Recycled Garment". To me, that means recycled wool sweater into woolies!

Showing where I cut the pieces from.

Finished articles. The first pair of longies are a little bigger but the other 3 pieces will be for Andrew right after birth.

"Other Fine Arts" has 10 classes: Woodworking, Leather craft, Christmas Decoration, Handmade Jewelry, Taxidermy, Macrame, Fabric Painting, Basket, Plastic craft, and Any other craft not listed.

This was entered under "Christmas Decoration". It will be in my next book.

I entered my tatted sheep under "Any other craft".

Here are my items at the fair:

1st place and Outstanding exhibit.

1st place

1st place

1st place

Has a Participation ribbon attached. My mom noticed that it has "3rd" written on the tag, so it has the wrong ribbon. I looked for the 1st and 2nd place items. 1st was a boat made out of Lego bricks and 2nd was a Grapevine wreath with 3 things attached to it! They obviously don't know anything about tatting!

We always look at the animals while we're at the fair.

Emily loved all the animals.













William wasn't too sure about most of the animals, but really liked the baby goats!

Family Reunion

It somehow doesn't seem like I should call it a "reunion" but it is only once a year that we can all get together with my sister who lives in Arizona, so I guess that is what it is! This year, the majority of us camped out at my parents house with tents. (I slept in the house in a bed. Being 8 months pregnant, I didn't think I'd do very well on the ground)

































My newest nephew, Peter.

My niece, Julia, all worn out.

Grandpa & Grandma with all the grandkids ranging in age from 15 ½ years to 2 weeks (minus my 1st niece who died at 6 months of age)

Here is the whole "gang"

We celebrated the 4 birthdays that fall in June and July. The first 3 girls were born within 32 days of each other!

Of course, we had to do S'Mores!