4 Years!

4 years old today. Wow. How you have grown!
I love your sweetness, your seriousness, and your wonderful silliness. 

You have a very special heart. A caring disposition much older than your 4 years. 

A climber, and a jumper, with incredible energy, and agility, I love to watch you run and play though, I admit, your courage scares me sometimes.

I'm so proud of the boy you are, and can't wait to see all that you are capable of. 

My little fireboy. 

Happy 4th Birthday sweet Levi!

You changed our lives completely, and I am so incredibly thankful.

XO

...And Then He Turned Two

Once upon a time, I was nervously and excitedly preparing myself for a planned induction. Just over four hours after it began, my husband and I were staring into the face of our 9 pound, 10 ounce bundle of boy.

This little boy has moved so quickly, keen to keep up with big brother. It seems like he went from crawling, to climbing, jumping and kicking a ball in a flash.

Nothing beats hearing him say "mama" and "dada", although his personal current favourite is "NO". His words become more abundant by the day, and in no time he'll be telling us the stories that Levi already seems to understand.

A feisty, and cuddly little Mister whom we love so terribly much. He was practising his candle blowing yesterday, and was so ready for today - Me? Not so much. Time is getting away on me with these little ones.

Happy 2nd Birthday to a very special boy! XOXOXO

Birthday Party Ideas For a PDF File

I purchased a Retro Robot PDF file on Etsy. I loved the look of it, and figured I could find something to do with it for my son's much anticipated Robot party on his third birthday.

The hubby and I printed 2 sheets of the PDF, cropped, and then laminated each one for a fun little robot memory game.

Of course, I had to sew up a little drawstring bag to store it in! :)

In future, I would love to take this idea using cute pictures from a vintage children's book, or any number of other places and make memory games for the take home party favours.

Anyway, that was my one big idea. My mom, the crafty genius, came up with a crazy number of ways to use this cute little PDF - a party banner, loot bags, and food signage among them. Pop over HERE to see them all.

Also, head over to this post on Fun Fabrication to find more pics of the amazing Robot birthday!

Birthday Clothes

 

This year's Birthday Tee for Levi, came from I Spot You - An Etsy Shop selling really cute customized t-shirts for kids.

It was pure coincidence that the Robot fabric I had ordered coordinated perfectly with the birthday t-shirt! Yay!

The pants are pretty basic - a pattern traced from a pair of Levi's long shorts, or short pants, whichever way you wanna slice it.
I added pockets on the bum out of the circuit board fabric, and added cuffs in the contrasting orange robot fabric. All 3 fabrics are from Robert Kaufman's Robot Factory collection.
The waist is just a simple elastic waist band. I always use ribbed non-roll waistband elastic.

Of course, little brother had to have a tee to celebrate the occasion too!
                                               
            

*Tie T-shirt material is the orange Robot Factory

9 YEARS!!!

My nephew celebrated his 9th Birthday today with a Medieval theme.

There was a little crown decorating



Grandma (my mama) made this awesome castle cake



And she also made him this Jester costume from thrifted shirts and pants which he requested. She winged it and it worked out brilliantly!



There seemed to be a slight Star Wars theme to the gifts, one of them being this crazy lego ship my brother "helped" him put together which I'm told is the "Republic Attack Cruiser". 1,170 pieces put together in a couple hours. That's a dedicated Fan!



Quite the par-tay.
Happy Birthday! Where did 9 years go??...

Where did the year go?

My very special little boy turned ONE yesterday!



I know how hard I searched for party ideas, so here are a few I can share
The little container with the #1 on it came in a 3 pack from IKEA (including a #2 and a #3, of course), I will use the 2 next year (etc.), and then he has 3 little containers to keep his toys in. I thought it would be cute as a birthday centerpiece, and it also held all the cutlery.

Loot bags were made from the sleeves of thrifted men's shirts that I am collecting to make this little boy's (one day) big boy quilt

Plates, cups, bowls, and cutlery were bought (as a substitute for disposable) at IKEA to be put away and used only for Birthdays. I would have preferred something that wasn't plastic, but you'd be hard pressed to find something as durable, long-lasting, and easy for a child's birthday

And of course, the Reusable Birthday bunting made from scraps of pillowcases, dress shirts, sheets, and other bits from the stash

My one disposable splurge (besides balloons) were these sweet napkins. Couldn't help it!


All in all, a fabulous day. A year ago, we were marveling at this brand new little guy - wondering what his personality would be like, when those first teeth would come, when those first steps would happen - and now here we are looking back on his first year already. I love this little boy of mine SO much. Happy Birthday to him!

A sneak peek

2 days until our little ones FIRST Birthday!
I'm excited for my baby boy to have the best day ever celebrating his first whole year of life *sniff*. I am so proud of him and can't wait to see the growing he does in his second year!

Something special is around the corner...

I'm not talking about this current project, which I am trying to squeak in before we leave for Italy in 2 days. I am talking about a certain someone's milestone FIRST BIRTHDAY!! We have about a week when we get back from Italy to get everything organized, so I figured I should try and get at least one project done now.







The top right of this last pic shows the flags I originally made for his birthday bunting. I sewed all the back pieces on and then realized I forgot to put my letters on first. When I satin stitched around the letters it would have shown through the back which would have annoyed me, so I decided to make another one.

All the tedious cutting and ironing is done, so tomorrow it's on with the sewing!