December Crafty Projects

Okay, lots of posts lately but I am determined to catch-up so I can move on!  Here are just some quick pics of some of the projects we worked on during the month of December.  Sorry for the poor picture quality but they were all taken with the iPod because I was usually in a hurry to get a pic before sending off the gift ;-)  I will post the rest of our projects once I can share!

This one was fun - I was asked to make a crown for the Boy winner for a local Snowflake Pageant.  I made it out of felt and it's fully adjustable in the back with velcro.  I came up with my own pattern, cut it with pinking sheers and sewed it with contrasting thread.  Here is Trysten trying it on for me.

I made a couple custom glove pom pom puppets.  The picture here is really bad, but this is Old McDonald with his chicken, cow, pig, and sheep.

I already posted the pic of the can Brailee and Trysten took to their preschool teacher, but here are the cans the older girls took to their teachers.  The big tall one was for the ladies in the office so we could fit all three of their gifts inside.

I think this idea was in last month's Family Fun magazine - I love that magazine, it's the only subscription I have and it's well used!  I've always loved the fingerprint creations but never tried them before.  We started with these snowmen using the whole finger - next year I want to do the reindeer, I'm hoping to do a new one each year.  The kids wrote their name and the year on the back.

Along with the Peppermint Oreo Balls, Peanut Butter Balls, cookies and dipped pretzels, I also included these little individual packets of hot chocolate mix layered with Andes Peppermint chips and marshmallows for our goodie plates that we delivered.  The tags were cut using my coluzzle and stamped using the A Sip stamp set.

Remember this Flower Topiary that I made for my MIL?  Well, I got one done for Brianna as well.  The furniture in her room is black so I used the black pearl corsage pins.  I used the retired Breeze cardstock - glad I stocked up on lots of that before it was gone as it's her favorite color plus it matches her walls.  I sponged the edges of the flowers with Pacifica ink to tie in the darker blue from the pot that I picked up on clearance.  These iPod pics really don't do the colors justice - it's much brighter a prettier in person!  Maybe I'll get some better pictures later.

Here is one more project that I started but haven't finished yet.  It features a product from this month's Close To My Heart special, Rock the Block.  If you order just $25 in product, you can get this set for just $15 and it includes an E-sized stamp set!  The blocks will be available in the new Idea Book starting February 1st for $14.95, but the E-size set, exclusive to this special, is a $29.95 value!  It's really a great deal and a fun project!  I can't wait to finish it up and post it all - for now here's a quick peek!  Click here or contact me for more details on this special.

Thanks for looking!

Birthday Girl

Brailee had quite an eventful week - not only was it Christmas and her first ER visit, it was also her 5th Birthday!  I'm so glad she was feeling better in time for her big day.  The day before I took her to get her hair cut and she wanted a feather in her hair.  Here she is as we were leaving the salon.  You can't really see it in the pic but she ended up with yes, a PINK feather - surprise, surprise!

I had wanted to hold a birthday party for her but I was hesitant to invite anybody if I was just going to have to cancel due to her reactions.  On Thursday since she was clear we decided to go for it.  She insisted on having the party ON her birthday so it was really short notice but we gave it a try.  We actually had a pretty good turnout - two of her friends and their families were able to come over from R-ton so that worked out great, so glad they made the trip.

The kids each made their own owl cupcakes - I found the idea HERE but used what we had on hand in place of some of the recommended items.  I didn't have coconut to tint, and I only had hard life savers instead of gummy ones for the eyes, but it worked.  I still had some gummy orangle slices from the Angry Birds party that we cut up for the beaks again.  Gpa T and Gma Shelly gave Brailee an Ice Cream Sandwich maker - we used it to make some Italian Pizzelles (waffle cookies) that worked perfectly for the wings!

Here she is with my sample owl.

Here is Brailee and her owl.

After they had their goodies, the kids played for a while and then we headed to the Dinosaur Museum.  She held hands with this friend almost the entire time.

Trysten got really into it this time.  That is until he remembered the toy/play area that all the kids had found.

That night she opened gifts with the family (I always request no gifts from friends who come to my kids parties so we didn't do gifts then)  Anyway, I was going to make her an apron before Christmas but found this fun set at a great price online so I ordered it instead.  You can tell she loves to help me in the kitchen - she got lots of fun kitchen related items for Christmas and her birthday.  My mom sent her a fun Mom and Me cookbook that she is excited to try.  It arrived on Wednesday and Thursday morning when she woke up she told me she had a dream that we made bread from her new cookbook ;-)

We sang to her so she could blow out some candles since I forgot to do that at her party.

Here Trysten is trying to help again ;-)

Christmas ER Visit

In my 10+ years as a parent I have NEVER taken a kid to the Emergency Room - I've been pretty lucky.  Well, that all changed on Christmas Day.  Here's how it started.

***

On Friday night just before bed, Brailee mysteriously got a fat lip and a couple of hives around her mouth.  I gave her some Benadryl and sent her to bed.

Saturday morning she woke up with a few more hives on her torso (the lip was fine, though).  I gave her some more Benadryl.  She flared up again at least one more time later that day so we did more Benadryl before bed again.  Sunday (Christmas Morning) she woke up with a swollen upper lip.  She was thirsty when she woke up so she took a drink of water and immediately threw it up.  We got some crackers and some more water in her and she kept it down this time.  Luckily she felt okay to open presents then after some breakfast we gave her some more Benadryl.

More views of the swollen lip:

She started to get worse so we decided she would stay home from church so it was just me and the two older girls that went.  By the time I left she was covered from head to toe in hives.

I worried about her all through church - I didn't like how it kept getting worse and worse as soon as the Benadryl would wear off.  I felt like I should take her in to the ER but didn't want to be an over-reacting mom, either.  I talked to a couple of friends at church (some with medical backgrounds) and they helped me trust my gut and realize it really was nothing minor.  By the time I got home from church she was clear and feeling better, but as soon as the Benadryl wore off it came back the worst I had seen it yet.  I gave her some more Benadryl and a soda bath to relieve the itching but this is what her back looked like:

We knew it was time to take her in and we couldn't wait any longer, and the ER was our only option.  David gave her a blessing and then he stayed home with the rest of the kids while I took her in.  She was so good at the hospital.  She took her 'Pink Ploodle' that she got for Christmas (it was the only thing she asked Santa for) to keep her company.  She never whined or cried and she let the nurse and doctor do what they needed.  They never discovered exactly what caused the reaction - it may have been something viral or it could have been a food allergy, though she hadn't had anything new lately so we have no idea what it could be.  They recommended she avoid peanuts/peanut butter for a few weeks, but I was really skeptical since she has eaten it almost daily for the last four years.  They gave her a steroid to help with the hives.

Since no stores were open because of the holiday, we had to wait around for them to find some meds for us to take home.  She played with her 'ploodle' and the iPod for a few minutes.

Then she fell asleep.  We finally got some Zyrtec and the steroid and we were good to go.

She was starting to feel better that night after we got home.  She put on a little show for us...

Gpa T and Gma Shelly gave her a smoothie maker for Christmas (yes, a real one - she loves it!) and one of her friends gave her an apron.  She couldn't wait to use them both and make some strawberry smoothies for everyone.

Here is what she looked like the next day - still spotty but no new hives.

Once the Family Practice that we go to opened again on Tuesday, we went in for a follow-up.  They confirmed my thoughts and told me it probably wasn't peanuts/peanut butter since she did eat it so often and never had shown any other signs.  They said maybe after 4 or 5 exposures maybe but not hundreds of exposures.  On Wednesday she had one more flare-up on her hips/thighs but after a quick dose of Benadryl it finally completely went away and all the spots did too and she's been good ever since!  If it happens again then we will end up doing blood work to try to figure out what's causing it.  For now it's still kind of a mystery!

***

It was definitely an memorable Christmas but I'm just glad it wasn't any worse.  It was really the best kind of ER trip to break me in, but I don't look forward to ever have to take one of my kids again!

Christmas Fun

We had a pretty eventful Christmas - I will start with the good stuff first ;-)

Christmas Eve

That day we made more goodies and just hung out together.  We had our big holiday meal this day so there was lots of action in the kitchen that day.  The kids couldn't wait to open up their new jammies so as soon as it got dark they opened them up and put them on.  Then we went to deliver goodies and look at Christmas lights.  I did not make jammies this year - there is not a fabric store here and each time I made it to a town with one it was closed, so I found some online that matched their personalities and they love them and so do I!

We didn't stay out too long as the kids were anxious to get home and get to bed, especially Brailee as we found out later she wasn't feeling like herself.  So we came home and sprinkled magic reindeer dust...

...and put out milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.  Once again Trysten snuck into Santa's milk - he does this every year!

A few days before, Bree was grumpy and pouting (unfortunately she's good at that) so to get her to happy up I got a little silly and sat on her lap and pretended she was Santa - well, the rest of that week it got everyone doing it and they would all just giggle.  Here Trysten is that night as Santa asking Brailee 'What you want?' even though she didn't quite make it onto his lap.

Christmas Morning - we set our alarms (yes - crazy, I know!  I look forward to the time when we can let the kids wake US up for once) so we could open up presents in time to get ready for church.  I really enjoyed having Christmas on Sunday - it's always a great way to remember the true reason for the season!

Here are some pics from opening presents.  Everyone in the family got a sweet pair of hand-knit socks from Gma Nae and Gpa LaRon.

Brailee got another microphone - hopefully this one is better than the one she got last year for her birthday since it just quit working the day after she got it and we had to send it back.  Notice her fat lips?  You'll hear more about that in my next post.

Kaylee got her very own keyboard that she can keep in her room since she loves music so much and loves to play the piano.  She's having fun with it so far!

Brianna asked for a Zooble 'city'

She was happy when she got even MORE Zoobles from Gpa T and Gma Shelly

Trysten loves his tools. 

Gpa T and Gma Shelly gave him this firetruck and he couldn't wait to open it up.  He pushed it around in the box until we were finally free to open it up for him.

Look at that smile!

Brianna got a Chinese Jumprope - she has had fun playing around with it and learning new moves. If you know of any good sites with clear directions or videos, please share!

Kaylee got a Cat's Cradle and has really loved it. She picked up on it really quickly and she has most of the moves memorized and can literally do them with her eyes closed. Here she is doing Jacob's Ladder, and besides Cat's Cradle she has also mastered Cup & Saucer, Eifel Tower, Cat's Whiskers, and Witches Broom.  Those are the only ones in her book - does anybody else know some good moves/games?

Trysten got a cool new workbench and since he loves to vacuum, he got his own shopvac - I walked into his room the other day to find him cleaning up his workspace.

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas Day!