February/March

My camera has been full of pictures and I finally have gotten them off..although there aren't many and it takes along time to upload the pictures to my blog. Savannah loves to dress up in Clara's clothes, bathing suits, and dress ups. She copies Clara all the time and follows her everywhere. They are starting to play better together, except when Clara is trying to wrestle Savannah, who is trying to get away. Still, sometimes Clara thinks her little sister is out to ruin everything she owns. They're such cuties.

Jason is almost done with third year, and has decided he wants to do dermatology. He had lots of areas he was interested in, but felt like he needed to decide and move on. We've started looking at residencies all over the country, which is kind of exciting! One one year left of school!

I've been working with the young women in our ward, which has been fun. I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of things. Clara is getting excited for kindergarten, which she'll start in August! I can't believe it...and I'm trying not to think about it yet. :)

Air

This is probably one of the coolest pictures I've ever taken. I love it. Good job, Lukas and Maaike! They put us, and Josien and Richard to shame. :)

Christmas present reveal!

I've been secretly working on Christmas presents since last June, and I'm excited to finally reveal the product of all my hard (and clandestine) work. I was bursting to tell my family, but I kept it secret! I'm so proud of myself. :)

This wall hanging was for my sister Allison. The wise men and star are paper-pieced. It's too complicated to try to explain adequately, but with paper-piecing, you sew the fabric onto the back of the pattern and then rip off the paper when you're done. (If you really would like to know more....you'll have to look elsewhere.) :) Look at the cute presents that they're bringing. I sewed them in last. Thanks to my mother-in-law for this idea.


This lap blanket was a wedding present for my sister Ashley and her husband Tom. I made the front and my mother-in-law quilted it on her quilting machine. I was so excited to give it to them!

Paper-pieced nativity for my sister Mauri.


Same nativity paper-pieced wall hanging for my mom.

I found this felt ornament tutorial here, and I made West Virginia ones for an ornament exchange in December. (The website is really cool. I've found lots of fun, easy crafts there.) I also made the other ones for the states that we've lived in together. I think they're so cute! And incredibly easy...trust me.


This spinning wheels project was the bane of my existence toward the end of 2008. I went to a class to learn to make this, and getting the spinning wheels to spin the right way was so hard. (Putting the right fabric in the right place.) So at the time, I made 9 of these squares, three of each color, and then couldn't bear to look at it until November of last year. Instead of putting all the squares together, I made a table runner instead. I gave one to a wonderful friend, and have 2 table runners left over to make! I think they turned out pretty fun. Whew....bring on 2012!

October Part 3

The day after her birthday, Savannah took her first steps. Now she always wants me to walk around with her. Always. It's fun, but she won't move anywhere without me! Savannah is in love with her muslin blankets and will lay down on the floor with her blanket if she's tired. She's such a snuggle bug.

October Part 2

Savannah's birthday was a fun day. My parents came into town, and we went to the airport where we saw a B-24, B-17 and P-51 Mustang. They were really fun to see! I tried to upload a picture of Clara shooting the gun at the bad guys, but it wasn't working. Clara loved climbing around in the planes and Savannah loved watching the other planes take off and land. Can't you tell how excited was about the planes?


Savannah enjoyed her banana muffin with cream cheese. Yum. I have a picture of me at my first birthday party, wearing this same bib. My mom brought it for Savannah. So cute.

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Clara always refuses to be in pictures, but I got one picture of her in a dress-up: her new ballerina dress-up. Savannah was a bear, courtesy of her brown coat with bear ears on the hood. What a cutie. I tried to take pictures of her just sitting in front of me, but she kept crawling onto my lap. So finally I stood her up in her bed, where she couldn't reach me and where the light is really good. Bonus!

October...so far

Today we went to get pumpkins during the football game, so we wouldn't get caught up in the crazy football traffic. It was roasting hot, too; maybe 75 degrees. And I thought it was October... :)




Savannah turns one next week, which I cannot believe! This year has gone by so fast. She has been such a joy.

This is a classic pose of Savannah's. She wants to drag her blanket along with her everywhere and snuggle it up to her face. She'll suck on her bottom lip and just snuggles. It's so sweet. I love it. She tries to make "woofing" sounds when she sees dogs, and she waves at everything: dogs, people, cars, birds, you name it.

September

Here's a quick update of what we've been up to:

Clara started preschool in September with some kids from church. She likes it, and it gives me some one-on-time with Savannah. They have fun in the bath together, and Savannah is always trying to crawl in the bathroom to stand up next to the tub. She lifts up her leg and tries to climb in. She has started to cruise along the furniture, too.

Both the girls love to go outside and the baby always finds birds up in the sky and points to them. Savannah also loves to stand at the window and look out.

Savannah has started to smile with her nose scrunched up, which is so funny. She will only do it for the camera in reaction to the flash.


I love all the smiles in this picture. :)

Angela's birthday was in September, which is always a bittersweet day. Allison took some flowers to Angela's grave for us. Clara decide we should get her blue, purple and pink flowers. Lots of people brought flowers to her grave, which Angela would have liked.

When I walk out of the room, Savannah always wants to follow me. Clara used to pick her up and come after me, until I persuaded her to just encourage the baby to crawl after me. So now Clara will crawl along with Savannah, saying, "Come here girl! Come here!" It's so funny to me.

Clara likes us to push her around in the laundry basket, so we introduced Savannah to this favorite past time. She liked it, especially since she got to chew on Clara's toothpaste bottle at the same time. Whenever I put Savannah's "Little sister" shirt on her, Clara always wants to put on her matching shirt. So cute.