Chapter books

Colin is having his first book fair at his school and I am wondering what the first chapter books you read to your children were?  Why I ask is because I just realized that Colin follows stories really well.  Here is how it happened:  I borrowed "The Spiderwick Chronicles" on CD from the library to listen to around town. I haven't seen the movie yet and wanted to read the books first, since they are short, I figured it would be fun to listen to while running errands.  Colin loved listening to the story also.  If I had to rewind it when we got back in the car he would tell me that we had all ready heard that part.  I have read short picture books to them but I think that it would be fun to read a chapter book together. It would be something just for him and I, we would read a chapter before quiet time.  So what are some great books out there that a 4 almost 5 year old would enjoy? 

The Undercover Crate Tutorial

I have discovered another great craft blog called Paint in my Hair.  She has some cute ideas and tutorials.  One tutorial that I really want to try is these crate covers.  I think they would be so cute to keep all my magazines in, right now they are just piled on my coffee table. Or for the boys coloring books, ok so I know I could just go buy baskets but these can be unique and I get to sew.

Help I need Ideas for Halloween!

So I just realized how close October is and I haven't even thought of costumes yet. I would love to make them myself and have a theme for the boys. I am thinking that Colin will have his own ideas of what he wants to be. I am thinking I need some ideas that I can suggest to him. I am hoping to come up with something that Colin and Conner would love and that I could add Colby into. So please suggest any ideas that you have... and just for fun and because they are a sorta of crafts pictures of the boys previous costumes.

Halloween 2006 - Mario (Conner) & Luigi (Colin)

Halloween 2007 - Ewok (Conner) & Luke Skywalker (Colin)

Color Blocks

I made these fun color blocks for Conner so we could work on his colors.  I got the idea from Shelly of the 7layerstudio but she originally got it off the blog makingitfun.  Yes the same blog as the applique shirts is from.  I made them 5x5 thinking that 4x4 that they suggest would be to small. But now I am thinking 4x4 would have been fine.  The boys love them and hopefully Colby will enjoy them when he gets big enough to crawl around and grab things.

7 Layer Studio - Bow Tie Tutorial

So there is this amazing woman named Shelly that is actually one of my sister's friends from Hawaii.  When I was looking all over the internet for cute diaper bag/ purse ideas my sister sent me to her blog.  And she was nice enough to give me some tips on how she created her cute bags, that inspired my purses I posted about earlier.  She has some great tutorials and ideas for both girls and boys. But so far this is my favorite boy tutorial, the Bow Tie.  I have made bow ties out of fabric before and they aren't the easiest or quickest things to make.  So her ribbon bow ties are simple and very cute! I can't wait to find some awesome ribbon and make them for my boys.  I am thinking matching christmas, easter, 4th of july and any other holiday I can think off.

Receiving Blankets

My sister was asking about these receiving blankets that I made for Colby. I have to admit that I stole the idea from Jamie a friend that we lived next to for 4 years. She made the cutest ones for her daughter.  They are simple to make and are the perfect size to wrap a new baby in.  And I don't feel bad if they drop on the ground when Colby kicks it off of him while in the stroller or get spit up on.  I also make matching burp rags.

Materials:

1 1/4 yards of cozy flannel for each side, so all together you need 2 1/2 yards.

Thread

Instructions:

I cut off 10 inches from each piece of fabric to make the burp rags. 

Place right sides together and straight stitch around outside edge leaving a opening for turning. I leave about 5 inches to turn. Iron opening so it matches the sewn edge, then sew opening closed. I used a decorative stitch and sewed around entire edge again.  Then to hold the blanket in place I sew from corner to corner creating an X.  (The picture below shows edging and part of the X. Create burp rags the same way.

Homemade Pizza

So my sister makes the best homemade pizza and I finally made it for myself. It turned out great but I still think it taste better when she makes it.  I also made the mistake of grabbing low fat mozzarella cheese and it just didn't taste right or even melt right.  We had pepperoni and mushrooms on ours and the boys enjoyed helped making it.

Pizza Crust:
1 Tbsp. yeast
1 Cup warm water
1 tsp. sugar
3 Cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese

In small bowl or cup combine yeast, warm water, and sugar. Then mix and set aside. In large mixing bowl combine the rest of the ingredients. Then add yeast mixture and stir as much as possible with a spoon. Kneed the dough by hand until smooth. Roll out and layer with any toppings you wish. In the pizza above I had rolled out the dough bigger then the stone and put cheese into the crust. Usually the crust is not so thick. The longer you let the dough sit on the stone the more thick your crust will be. I prefer the thin crust...so I throw it into the oven fast.

Bake at 325 for 13 minutes - I usually broil it for 1-2 minutes just to make it crispy on the top.