Iron-ons are Awesome!

So I was recently reminded that iron-on paper existed when I saw a friend blog here about personalized onesies.  And then when I was searching for craft/sewing labels (just for fun) I came across a make your own labels tutorial here using iron-on paper--What a great idea!  So off to Walmart and Michaels...

I came home with two widths of ribbon and one package of Avery Light Fabric Transfers. (the transfer paper cost around $7)

In Photoshop I created a design in three different colors so I (hopefully) had it in a color I liked for the project I need it for.  (I can always go back and make more in a different color if the need arises.)

I then went on to create a few other labels. 

I printed them out onto the transfer paper, cut them apart, ironed them on and sewed the folded ones so they are ready to go.  They are fantastic!  I really like the ones that have BK on one side then you flip it over to see the size.  (once I sew on the tags all the extra strings will be gone and it will clean and professional)

I KNOW I am going to love this!  There is something great about putting a label on something that says you made it and that it didn't come from Walmart!  And besides that I am going to LOVE having the size on the items I make too.

(These are a pair of shorts/leggings for Katelyn.  When her onesie is pinned closed on top of them they keep her diaper on nicely and she still looks cute!)

All of my labels are so small that I only used a few inches of one paper...What to do with the other 5 and 3/4 pages of transfer paper?!?  I think I see a few personalized onsies in my future!

Kindergarten and so much more....

It doesn't seem that long ago that we were welcoming our first precious baby into our home...

Boy does the time fly!  This week Michael had his first day of Kindergarten and he LOVED it!!  He picked out his own clothes, combed his hair and put on his socks and shoes all by himself.  Here he is ready to go to school.  (He was so excited he really didn't want to stand there for a picture.)

He was much happier to be buckled in and ready to go.

 He was so excited, he jumped out and ran off.
 

He looked back only twice as he ran towards his classroom.

In fact he loved it so much that he wanted to stay longer.  He was even excited about doing his homework!  (I hope he always stays this excited about school and homework.)  I'm very sure I have had more anxiety about him  going to school than he has had, but I hear that just part of being the mom. 

He seems to be growing up way to fast.  Here are a few other facts about Michael:
*He puts his own laundry away
*He loves to write his ABC's and 123's
*He sounds out words very well and will spell many 3 letter words
*He can subtract and add very well in his head and corrects us all the time when we are wrong
*He loves it when I read chapter books to him and he begs me to read more all the time - we have read many of the Boxcar series and are now in the middle of reading The Indian In The Cupboard
*He is a pretty good swimmer and loves the water
*He enjoys playing with James, Katelyn, our dog and he especially loves to play with his friends
*He is VERY independent and likes to do everything on his own
*He has been able to ride his bike (without training wheels) for several months and loves zooming down our sidewalk and around our neighborhood

Robert is excited Michael has met another huge goal in boyhood-

I think he may be a bit young but Robert assures me he'll be just fine and of course he always has parental supervision.  And really as long as I don't have to mow the lawn I'm not really picky about who does it.  (as long as everyone is safe of course)

Five fun years with Michael and so many more to go!  I can't wait to see what the future holds for him!

Baby Update

So I recently had a checkup and I am measuring 2 weeks ahead of where I should be...  I hate to get my hopes up that maybe this baby will come earlier than originally planned because Katelyn came 10 days late.  However there are some questions as to if this baby is really due when we think.  Besides measuring ahead I was able to start feeling the baby move around 12 weeks, and Robert was able to feel the baby move around 16-18 weeks...that's pretty early in my opinion!  And now that we are further along when the baby kicks, which is ALL THE TIME, you can totally see my stomach move all over!  So I'm crossing my fingers that perhaps, just maybe, we might have an October baby instead of November.  But I won't hold my breath.

We still don't know what we are having, I don't think we will find out with this baby, however, we still think we are having a boy.  And no, we don't have any names picked out yet.  We'll let you know when we know. 

More great adventures!!

So we just got back from a great camping trip!  Here are the highlights:

Thursday night we camped in the White Mountains.  The views were beautiful!

I liked all the Aspen trees mingled with the Pine trees.

With the driving, it took Chelsea a little while to get comfortable...

Eventually she figured it out. 

Friday we  packed up camp and drove to the Petrified Forest

And we drove through the Painted Desert

For our next stop we camped near Mormon Lake (South of Flagstaff, AZ)

Building campfires are ALWAYS a highlight for the boys!
For $1 glow sticks make a great after dark and in the tent activity that the kids always look forward to.

Saturday we went to the Grand Falls (about 20 miles North of Flagstaff, AZ)
You get there by driving on a dirt road in a mostly flat area and then go on a smaller dirt path up over a little hill and then, there it is...a lot of water that looks like chocolate milk falling into a canyon about 200 feet down!  The mist coming off of it was so dirty that EVERYONE and EVERYTHING was muddy and dirty when we left, including the outside and INSIDE of our Expedition.  (Not looking forward to cleaning that up!)

 Gotta love self portraits!

We then drove to Sedona, Arizona via the 89A.
It was one of the most beautiful drives I think I have ever been on.  All the vivid green vegetation next to the red rocks was breath taking.

Last stop on our journey of Arizona: Jerome, AZ. (West of Sedona, AZ)
Jerome once was a busy mining town, but then the Great Depression hit and it was abandoned.  Then it started to slide down the mountain due to the fact that it is set on a slope of about 30 degrees and on a fault line.  It later turned into a tourist attraction, which is what it is now.  I was nervous just driving in the town, I don't know why anyone would want to live there with such a steep mountainside.  So many of the homes were one story on one side and then on the other side it was three story just to accommodate the slope of the mountain. 

On a side note, I won't be listening to the channel 5 weather man any more.  He said that Arizona would have a chance of  "isolated" rain showers on Saturday.  It rained, not a little but A LOT on Thursday night.  Luckily it only rained a little inside the tent...  Friday it rained on us most of the day and then that night it cleared up in time for us to set up camp and then it lightly rained for most of the night, until it started raining harder...  Everything was muddy at breakfast but at least it didn't rain on us until after breakfast ended and we began to clean up.  More rain all day Saturday until we got to the Phoenix valley....But don't worry, that night after we set up our tent so it could dry out it began to rain again...  Isolated showers...right!  Perhaps they were isolated to wherever we were!

But I'm happy to announce that rain or shine we had a really great time!!

Where has the time gone?

It seems like summer just began a few weeks ago but somehow the excitement of back to school shopping and the first day of Kindergarten for Michael is now upon us.  But more about that fun adventure another time.  For now let's recap the last few busy weeks.

We had a fast trip up to Utah for a beautiful wedding in the Mount Timpanogos Temple for one of Robert's sisters.  (If you live in Utah and were hoping for a visit and didn't get one, I'm sorry!  We were only there for one full day and that was for the wedding, we tried to see as many people as we could but, well, you know how it goes.  So, sorry, we'll try to see you next time.)  For the wedding I sewed a dress for me and one for Katelyn.  They turned out really good I think.

We stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Knighten's home.  The kids sure LOVE swinging from their huge tree.

And they had some great Daddy play time.

On the way to Utah and on the way home we stopped in Alamo to enjoy some time with Grandma and Grandpa Biggs.  The kids played in the BIG sprinklers, played in the dirt, rode bikes and rode horses.  We all really enjoyed the time there.

On our trip we decided to make it a fun trip and see a few things along the way. (We have decided to enjoy the drive more not just see how fast we can get to our destination, so this is how we do it!)

We took a scenic drive through Dixie National Forest.  (Located in Southern Utah)

and stopped at Sunset View Point.

It was windy but beautiful.

We explored the Valley of Fire (Located near Las Vegas, NV)

It was HOT!!

We stopped for a quick view of Cathedral Gorge (North of Panaca, NV) And one day we'll go back for a better look when we have more time.

We had a really great trip!!