Melissa and Doug on Zulily!

 Did you know that Doug asked Melissa to start a business with him because he was too afraid to ask her to marry him?  That's what it says on Zulily today, on Melissa and Doug's page of discounted toys!
Check it out here.  I LOVE Melissa and Doug toys because they're high quality and all natural.   Bunny  already has many of them! So I'm super dee duper excited that they're on zulily today.  Go check it out! They're discounted up to %45 :-D  While you're there, you can check out some other things that are on sale there. 

%75 off Fleece!

So, I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I will be writing a post about the fleece training pants I made for Bunny.  She is now, officially, potty trained even at night--though we still put a diaper on her at night--and so I find it necessary to make something somewhat accident proof for when we're out and about (though when we're in the house we stick with Gerber training pants--the non waterproof kind--because they absorb a little but they don't stop Bunny from realizing that she just had an accident.  Anyway I went to Joann's Fabric yesterday with my %50 coupon that I got in the mail and a %20 coupon that I printed in a google search (actually, I think you can find both of them if you google search it) and I discovered that Fleece was %50 off.  My %20 off coupon was good for even sale items so I bought 1/2 yard of fleece in pink monkeys--per Bunny's request--and some coordinating purple to go with it.  Those went on the coupon.  Then, I went to the remnants bin.  There were LOTS of fleece remnants, and remnants are always %50 off the current price of the fabric which means that they were %75 off! IT was such a sweet deal I got about 6 or 7 large fleece remnants (they're almost always just under a yard long) and a couple of flannel remnants for my soaker strip in the training pants. What a deal!

And in case you're wondering, here's a sneak peek of what Bunny's Pull-up cloth trainers look like.  It'll try to post a tutorial soon, so keep bugging me if I don't :-D

 The fleece is for some waterproof-ish protection, and then there's a snap in soaker.  The best thing is, I can take the soaker out and use these either alone when we feel confident enough, or I can put them over her Gerber trainers.  Either way, they're sweet.

Bunny's 2 Year Old Portraits

So, my hubby and I took these photos on Saturday and now we're having a hard time choosing which ones to frame.  I guess that's a good dilemma to have, right?
Do you know what the best thing is about these photos?  It's what you can't see! Bunny is wearing training pants under that pretty dress--training pants that she kept dry ALL day long!  I love my cloth diapers, but I don't love them enough to want to keep using them with Bunny past two years old.  Ha ha!
So, do you think you can help me choose which one to put on our mantle?  Which one would you pick?

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30% off at Victoria's Secret

Hey, guys! I just got Victoria's Secret to send me a 30% off coupon! It wasn't on purpose, actually.  I went into their store to get fitted for a bra for the first time since my boobs became unusually large with pregnancy and nursing (they went up to a 36G) and was thrilled with the wonderful service there.  I'm sure you're all familiar with this, but they'll measure you and fit you with the right bra and they're all so helpful and knowledgeable about bras.  Really.  It was such a positive experience for my poor, neglected boobies that have had to shove themselves into sizes way to small because 36 Gs don't exist in the regular world where Mommies don't have lots and lots of money for expensive lingerie.  Anyway, they fitted me with a 36DD which fits better than a bra has fit in a VERY long time (though I suspect I'd do better with a 34DDD), so I contacted them through the Victoria's Secret website and told them what great service they had and for my time they're sending me a coupon via the mail! Yes, I think another bra might be making its way into my house sometime soon!
So, yeah, if you have the time, comment on VS's service after a visit to their store.  You might just get offered a coupon like I did! :-D

Check out my little model!

Saskia over at sunflowerradiantlove has made a new button and it features a photo of my little Bunny from over a year ago! It's a sweet button.  You should check it out:


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Wool Play Pizza

I found this little toy rolling pin at Michaels and grabbed it for Bunny because she loves working with me to make pizza dough.  In fact, she so associates the rolling pin with pizza dough that she calls it "pizza dough." 

So, I decided she needed pizza dough.  I'm a very new crocheter and I looked up a pattern for pizza and didn't find what I was looking for but I did find a pattern for oreo cookies.  I added a couple of rows to it and voila! Bunny had her pizza dough.  But then, she needed toppings so I added some cheese and tomato sauce.  Later, after these pictures were taken, I added a pepperoni and pepper topping.  Each time I got a little better at figuring out how crocheting works so I could make a pizza topping that stopped ruffling. 

In any case, Bunny loves it--though it isn't a thing of beauty or anything--and she rolls out pizzas for Mommy and Daddy all the time now!  Best thing, is that since it's wool, it's completely safe for her to chew on!

Hermie: A Common Caterpillar; book review

Hermie is a common caterpillar. He has no spots or stripes, he is just plain green with a few freckles. Wormie, his friend, is also common and plain. Every day, these two friends talk to God about the characteristics that they wish they had such as spots, strength, or a cool house like their friend the snail and God says to them each time, “Don’t worry, I love you both just the way you are and I’m not finished with you yet.” In the end, they discover that though it seemed that everyone else had gifts and they’d been left out, God really did have something beautiful in store for them.

In this story, Hermie: a Common Caterpillar Max Lucado writes a simple children’s story that simply illustrates truth about who we are in Christ. Through Hermie and Wormie’s example he encourages his young audience to accept who they are and to be content with whom God has made them. He also urges them to trust that God has amazing plans in store for them if they only just wait and lean on him.

I loved this story! It was beautifully and brightly illustrated and very well written. The theme was something that people young and old can easily relate to and it was well presented and easy to understand. I’m eager to read more of Max Lucado’s Hermie series based on how adorable this little book is! I highly recommend this book to anyone with small children who like to listen to stories, or grade schoolers just learning how to love reading for themselves. 

I was given this book for free by Thomas Nelson publishers in return for my review.  The opinions presented here are my own. 

Bunny's Birthday Outfit (Plus pattern links)

So, it didn't occur to me to take a photo of Bunny's Birthday outfit until after she'd worn it and wrinkled it, but I wanted to share it with you anyway.

Eager to find something easy, without having to reinvent the wheel, I googled toddler dress patterns and found this awesome list compiled by Prudent Baby (one of the best sewing blogs in my opinion).

After perusing the list, I decided on this simple dress (It's just a rectangle!!!) for Bunny.

Then I wanted a shrug.  I only found one shrug-like pattern, but it was good, so I used it.  Since this pattern was for knits, I added a little bit of extra seam allowance to Bunny's size.  It worked out well!

For the bloomers I used a shorts pattern--well, actually, I traced one of Bunny's shorts and added an inch or two around the edges, and then sewed it together and added elastics in the legs.  So the bloomers are really only shorts that are gathered at the legs.  I'm sorry, I don't have more details than that for you.

And finally, I bought a party hat, cut it out, and used it to make a hat pattern.  Then I sandwiched some stiff interfacing in between the layers and sewed this party hat.  I didn't do it well, but I learned enough to do it perfectly next time.  But since I'm not a huge perfectionist, I'm happy with good-enough version that I already made and Bunny loves!

And here is Bunny with her adorable birthday outfit.  How cute is she???

Bunny turns TWO!!!

Bunny turned TWO on Friday the 9th. She's such a big girl! We had a birthday the Sunday prior to her actual birthday with ALL of my huge family over PLUS tons of family and friends. I just wanted to share with you some photos of the whole ordeal in case you're interested :-D

Bunny's currently obsessed with cows, so we borrowed a bunch of cows from a friend who collects them and donned the house with them.

Of course, I made a cow dress for Bunny complete with shrug and bloomers.  I'll share where I found the patterns for those in a different post.

Even her baby doll dressed up like a cow!

I have a large family.  Here is me with all my brother's and sisters and our parents, plus one fiancé and one husband, and Bunny.  I have six siblings altogether.  My parents are going to have ONE FULL HOUSE when the rest of them start pairing up and making babies!

We had a slideshow going with about 50 pictures of Bunny throughout the past year.  Do you know how difficult it is to narrow a slideshow down to 50 pictures when one takes 10,000 easily in one year? 

My sister is a cake decorator, so she made the cake--a cow--and the cupcakes--the cow's pasture.

She did a great job despite the fact that the icing I made for her melted just a bit.

One of my beautiful sisters.

Another with her fiancé

And another...

And another...

My husband's grandmother.

My father--Bunny's Nonno (Italian for Grandpa)

My husband's mother...

My HANDSOME husband.  I just want to eat him up!

His dad...
And yes, there are people missing from these portraits.  I tried to go around and take photos of all the guests but with 32 people crammed into our little ranch home, I missed some.

Bunny's cupcake.

We had to blow the candles out for her.  She didn't quite get it.

I made her this birthday hat.  She likes being a princess lately so I figured I'd make her a birthday hat that could double as dress up.  Don't look too closely, you'll find LOTS of mistakes.  I made this on the fly and would do it much better if I had it to do over again.

She wasn't even interested in her cupcake.  She knew one of her friends had just arrived and was anxious to go play with him.

Ah, the presents.  She doesn't know how blessed she is!

Playing dress up later with her aunts and uncles.

Even Daddy played...

...somewhat willingly...

Me and my two year old! I didn't get in many pictures because I was behind the camera most of the time, but I made a point to get in at least one!

 My little princess playing with her new Hotwheels and a baby doll.  She got a considerable amount of boy toys--for which I was extremely grateful--at her party.  She loves that kind of thing but people don't normally think to give her anything that's not pink!

 On the morning of her actual birthday we gave her a present in our bed first thing when she woke up.  She did not sleep in our bed, but she likes to toddle in there first thing every morning to look for Mommy and to nurse.  Yes, she still nurses :-D.

 "What else in there, Mommy?  Mommy's going to get me another present!"

 She wanted another present at first, but then settled in on loving the duck (all natural rubber from Ecomom.com) when we told her that was it.

 Before I went to work, she dressed us up like princesses.

 I only work three hours on Fridays as opposed to four, so when I got back around 11am, we gave her another present.

 A bilingual book since I'm working hard to teach her Spanish.

 We would have gone to the park but as we were getting rains of flood like proportions, we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and then let her play on the playscape there.

 Family Portrait!

 Then, she and I went home for her nap while Daddy officiated a wedding rehearsal.  After the nap, we braved the rains again to take her to a mall to play on the playscape there--again, since the park wasn't an option.

 She enjoyed the carousel for as long as we had the quarters.

 And then went on the playscape where a little girl kindly helped her get to the big kid places, since she isn't really big enough to do them herself. S

 We said hi to Ronald McDonald.

 And then went home for our private family birthday celebration.  It's so important to me to have that quiet time together as a family to reflect on our daughter.  Mommy and Daddy took turns saying some of our favorite things about Bunny, and then we gave her cake.

 She actually did help me blow the candles this time!

 Then it was time for presents.  By now, she knew the drill.  When I came out with an armful of them, she said, "Oh, thank you, Mommy!"

 She loves munchkins at Dunkin Donuts so I knit her five of them in chocolate, powdered, and glazed, and then sewed a little "paper bag" for them.

 We love Sesame Street so these board books I got at a ridiculous sale price at Ollies were great!

 And I handknit her Telly Monster.  He was TOUGH and didn't QUITE turn out the way I wanted, but she recognized him immediately and that is all that matters!

 A Xylophone from Michaels that had two badly flat notes...

 A Melissa and Doug puzzle from www.buncovereddiapers.com

 A Llama Llama book from the Scholastic book sale at my school.  She has Llama Llama Mad at Mama already and loves it so when she saw this one (Llama Llama Misses Mama) she immediately exclaimed, "Llama Llama!" and then moved on to, "Give me another present."

 A book about Creation that she thumbed through for awhile.

And her biggest present was this Schoolhouse that I got from Zulily with some of my credits.

 It was her favorite.  She loved it so much, she stopped asking for presents, which was a good thing since we had no more.

 And here I am adjusting my bra, but since it's the only picture of me playing with her and her new toys, it has to stay.

Daddy is planning on making her a loft bed about 3 feet high with a ladder up and a slide down. But we just ran out of time to make it for her before her birthday.  So, that would have been her last present.  But it's being pushed back to Christmas.  Hopefully he'll be able to pull it off before then! He is VERY talented but also very VERY busy.

 For the first year of Bunny's life, we took weekly progress pictures and I blogged about her developments from the week on my personal blog and accompanied those blogs with the pictures.

 For the second year of her life, we did that monthly. We turned both of those into pretty thick baby/photo books that I printed out and then bound at Staples

 Now, I think we'll do it twice a year.

This was our last of the monthly pictures.  She's grown up SO much! Check out what she used to look like as a newborn: 

...and as a one year old: 

It never ceases to amaze me how fast she grows up.  If I could slow it all down, I would.