My Sweet Little Munky

This picture encompasses everything that I love and adore about my cuddly little Chunky Munky. I just love her sweet little face and thumb-sucking ways :o)

Robots...

We worked on our Kids Craft Weekly project today, and the Little Diva was super excited about her new robot. She absolutely could not wait to dig into that pile of felt and all of my button stash. After much thought about what colors to use and how many buttons to add to his tummy, she finally settled on her choices. Then, she got down to the business of gluing all of the pieces to the cardstock. I found this to be the most amusing part because she hates to get her hands messy, and you can imagine how much glue was getting all over her fingers while she was trying to chase those felt pieces down. After trying to enlist me to do it for her (but I wouldn't), she finally got over the mess and started to enjoy putting the whole picture together. Next, it was time to decide where to put all of thos pretty buttons that she had spent so much time picking out. By the time we were finished, almost an hour had slipped by, and this little fellow was born!

My Version of Little Boy's Tie

This week I finished my first try at my own idea for a little boy's tie. This particular tie is made with a clip-on back due to responses that I received from other moms stating their preferences. I think it turned out pretty cute, but I would love to know what everyone thinks and if you would like to see a tutorial. It is fairly easy to make and is great for using up scrap fabrics. I used a dark red corduroy for the backing and a ribbon-lined alligator clip for the clip-on. The front has coordinating fabrics and ribbon with button accents. Let me know what you think and if enough people want to see how it's made, I will get to work on a new tutorial. So, keep the feedback comin'!

Crafty Kids

I had a few people during the giveaway who wanted to see crafts for kids, but I am just not good with ideas for crafts that my kiddos can actually do. So, I found this fantastic website and newsletter instead: Kids Craft Weekly. It is absolutely wonderful and a great place for easy yet cute crafts for the kids. The site has great articles and some creative printables for the kids. They also have a monthly giveaway for a free book if you post pictures of your crafty little ones in the photo pool. You receive a weekly newsletter in your email, usually with a really fun theme and a number of new ideas. My plan is to complete one of these projects with the Little Diva each week, and I will post pictures of her completed results here. If you have a blog (or even if you don't), you are welcome to follow along with your kids and post pics on your blog as well. Just leave a comment on that week's post, and we would love to come check them out. So, get out that construction paper, the messy glitter, and those glue sticks and have a blast!

Hundredth Zoo Trip, First German Zoo

The weather was so wonderful last weekend that I just had to go explore something or somewhere, and we had promised the Little Diva that we would take her to the zoo soon. So, we made our first trip to a German zoo at the Tiergarten Heidelberg (translation: Heidelberg Zoo). We had a great time, including having a lion close enough that a very brave/stupid person could have practically touched him/gotten their hand bitten off. We went with some friends that were in town which was great, and the kids had a fantastic time. I have to say that they let you get MUCH closer to the animals here than they would ever consider in stateside zoos, which is amazing and scary at the same time. Heidelberg’s zoo is a rather small zoo, so I wonder how things will be at the next zoo we visit… and I’m sure there will be a next, and a next, and a next….

Clip,Band, or Just Like Daddy?

Okay, I have some ideas for a little boy's tie tutorial, but I wanted a little input first. I am trying to decide whether to make this tie with a clip, an elastic band to go under the collar around the neck, or a full-size tie just like Daddy's. What would you guys like to see??

First true shots in manual...

As time will show, one of my many other obsessions is photography. I take so many pictures of my kids that my 3 year old now runs when she sees me coming with a camera. I was lucky enough to get an amazing Canon Rebel XSi DSLR for an early Christmas gift, and I have been on a mission ever since. I wanted to make sure that I used the camera to its full worth. I figured if I was just going to keep pointing and shooting in auto that I might as well have not wasted the money and just kept my old one. So, I have been reading and studying how to use all of my manual settings to their full capacity. I just had to share these shots that I took a couple of days ago; first, because they are just too darn cute, and second, they are my first TRUE manual indoor shots. I did not use a flash with these photos or any auto settings. I set my aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and metered my own lighting for these. Needless to say, I was very proud of how they turned out for being my first time to try it on my own. One step further away from amateur photography… Watch out world!

And the winner is.....

Commenter #13:
Random numbers generated Apr 3 2009 at 19:12:10 by http://www.psychicscience.org/.

Congratulations Sherry and Gena! Please email me at: htewkes@hotmail.com to claim your prize :o)

A big thank you to all of the lovely people who answered my questions! You have been a great help, and I hope to be able to add many of the items that were mentioned. I have so many ideas for boy patterns running through my head, and hopefully I can get them organized and actually produce some great things over the next few months!

I will be having another giveaway once I reach 50 followers, so keep checking back! It will be a good one... :o)