New Beginnings

Hello!  So it's been a few months since I last posted.  That isn't the way it's supposed to be!  I vow to write more in this new year.  Seriously! 

We didn't do anything on New Year's Eve simply because we have our little tot with us who goes to bed around eight o'clock every night.  We did, however, stay up until midnight to wish each other a very happy new year and clink a couple of glasses!  We are getting lamer by the minute as we grow older, I know. 

We decided to cook New Year's Day brunch though.  I would be in charge of one dish and my husband would make another.  I ended up making a quiche-like dish called Potato Florentine Strata which I had at a friend's home before.  I loved it so much that I had asked her to share the recipe, which she kindly did.  Anyway, it turned out great!  It wasn't perfect, but it was still delicious.  The crust was made out of hash browns, and, while it tasted fine, I realized that I hadn't completely soaked out all of the moisture from it like the recipe instructed.  Oh well, there is always a next time, right?  It was an awesome attempt though, and I'm sure anyone who was having the dish for the first time wouldn't notice.  But since I had it before, I was prone to compare!  My husband made some really tasty sausage patties to complement my dish.  He added some Granny Smith apples and sage to it.  And although I am normally not a fan of mixing fruit into any other types of food, this sausage was actually good.  Yum!

Here are a few pictures of our creations:

And here is Ethan devouring his brunch:

Hope everyone is enjoying the new year! 

xoxo,
Jen

Toddler Belt

My husband is having his promotion ceremony tomorrow, and I had the perfect pair of semi-dressy pants for Ethan to wear to it.  I had purchased these really cute pinstriped pants from BabyGap a little while ago.  However, they are a tad big (size 18-24 months) so he hasn't been able to wear them yet.  The pants do not have an adjustable waist band like most of BabyGap pants do.  But I had to get them anyway because they were just too cute and were on sale.

Anyway, they are perfect to wear to this event, so I wanted to make Ethan a belt for the pants.  In my mind, I had envisioned something very simple -- a piece of narrow fabric with a button snap.  That was it.  I know, it doesn't exactly sound like a belt, but I wanted something relatively easy to make.  So I searched the web for something like it.  The closest thing I found was a belt made by Dapper Snapper.   It's an innovative idea of a different kind of belt -- with no loops.  It's quite clever, it works, and seemed very easy to imitate. 

So I made an even simpler version of it.  I'm not sure how long it will last, but it does the job for now!  I cut out a small piece of one inch wide elastic made for waistbands, and added a couple of button snaps to it.

Here is what it looks like. 

Sounds easy, right?  The only thing I would have done differently is zigzag the edges so that they don't fray (which they already been doing).  It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it does its job!  And who can really see it anyway?  It's on the back loopholes and Ethan's shirt will cover it.

Awesome!

xoxo,
Jen

Yo Gabba Gabba!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post!  So much has been going on; I'm not sure where to start!

Well, let's see... let's start with the most current event.  We attended the Yo Gabba Gabba Live Show tonight at the Fox Theater in Detroit!  I was so excited to go and had been counting down the days until the show day since I purchased the tickets online (I believe it was a little over a month ago).  So you can imagine my excitement this morning when I woke up.  I'm a fan of the show, but of course, I'm more of a fan because my Ethan is a fan!  I couldn't wait to take him to his first live show to see his favorite TV characters perform. 

So remember I had purchased a sewing machine not too long ago?  I know, I know... I should have been more diligent in blogging about my novice sewing experience, but I will make up for it in my upcoming posts.  I promise!

Anyway, I bring that up because I had made a special shirt for Ethan to wear to the show.  I appliqued a Brobee face onto one of Ethan's old shirts using my sewing machine.  Woohoo!  And surprisingly, it turned out great! 



Here is Ethan (with his pal, Brobee) trying on the shirt after it was completed.

The shirt looks absolutely adorable on him, don't you think?  I had cut out the various shapes that make up Brobee's face from solid colored fabrics I had purchased at Jo-An Fabrics.  I can't even begin to tell you how much I LOVE that store.  I have been going there at least twice per week, and each time my visit gets better.  But that's another story for another time. 

So the day had finally come, and Ethan was excited to wear his newly created shirt!  He kept pointing to the character on his little upper body.  It was so cute.  The show started at 6:30pm and we finally leave the house at 5:15pm.  We should have left a little earlier, but we still go there RIGHT before the show started so we didn't miss the beginning, fortunately. 

Here is a picture of Ethan in his car seat on our way to the show... It was a long car ride, so that must explain the weary expression on his face!

After waiting in a long line to get inside the Fox Theater, the person who checks tickets tells me that I need another ticket for Ethan since he is older than 12 months (I didn't give her this information; she just assumed he was older).  We hadn't purchased a ticket for him because we thought tickets were for those who were two and older.  And since Ethan didn't need a seat, we figured it would be ok.  So we were wrong.  It all worked out in the end though.  I spoke with a guy at their guest services, and we were off the hook.

We finally get inside and immediately Ethan gets excited by all the Yo Gabba Gabba merchandise surrounding him.  I was very pleased with our seats.  We sat in the first row on the Mezzanine level so we had a fantastic view of the stage and had ample room for Ethan to roam around during the intermission.  So the music comes on and DJ Lance Rock appears, and Ethan is freaked out by everything and starts crying.  Ok, it was more like whimpering with his bottom lip stuck out and wavering just a bit.  But he seemed so scared.  I felt really bad, but I knew he would get over the initial fear of something new and warm up to the characters he grew so fond of.  And he did!

Ethan's initial reaction to the show.

Ethan's reaction later in the show.

Ethan really enjoyed the show overall.  We did too.  It was so much fun!  We danced (in our seats) and Ethan did as well.  Ethan clapped his hands after every song.  It was the cutest thing ever.  He couldn't take his eyes off all of the characters.  Everyone in the show was awesome too.  They were all so energetic and upbeat.  I also liked their song selection.  We knew almost all the songs they sang.  But then again, we probably watched almost all of the episodes! 

Here are some photos of the Gabba gang on stage:

We snuck a couple more really cool pictures in after the show:



Ethan in Brobee Land!



Picture with Toodee! 



We will definitely look out for the next show and go back again!  We had such a fun time!

It's finally here!

Today was the last day of Ethan's music class for the summer.  Classes will resume again in September.  This time, we signed up for Friday classes 10:00am.  The 9:00am classes are just too early for us.  I always feel like we are rushing to get out the door.  Although, we are probably always rushing no matter what time it is.  LOL.  I always seem to forget that it takes twice as long to get ready with a toddler around.  Hopefully, the later class will work better for us though.  We shall see!  Here are some pictures from class today.

So the big news of the day is... my sewing machine arrived!  Yay!  I was so excited.  I have taken it out of the box, but have not tried to operate it yet.  I want to read the manual a little bit before I even touch it!  However, it will be so hard to expore the machine with Ethan around during the day tomorrow.  I'll probably end up going back to Joann Fabrics again tomorrow to get some materials to work on.  I can't believe I will finally begin my sewing adventure. I know, I'm a little dorky, but I'm so excited!  Here are some pictures of Ethan on the sewing machine box.  He climbed up on it all by himself.  I guess he was just as excited too!  He's so adorable!!

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes with my new "toy"!  I'm off to a late dinner now!

Good night!

♥ Jen

Bye-bye Jumperoo!

Well, the Jumperoo finally sold!  Ethan kept playing with it as I showed off some of its features to the buyer when she came over.  And surprisingly, he didn't appear too sad when she took it away!  However, I will miss it dearly.  *sniff*  This jumperoo gave us many fond memories of Ethan's early infant life.  Ethan loved, loved, loved it when we first got it for him.  He was a cute little jumper for sure!  At least we got him jumping in it on video.  So, moving on...

Bye-bye Jumperoo!

My husband had the day off today, so we went to the Tanger Outlets in Howell, MI.  It was our first time there.  Pretty average and standard as far as outlets go.  We did pick up a few things for ourselves though :)  I think Ethan found the shopping boring as he whined quite a bit, so we let him roam free (from the stroller) in a few stores.  Luckily, every store was nearly empty.  That's the great thing about shopping on a Monday.  We also put him on a couple of coin-operated rides, which he didn't really like.  These days, Ethan is either hit or miss with everything!  Things that he used to like may not appeal to him anymore.  This goes for toys, books, food... everything!  He's beginning to get very picky.  I hope this is just a normal toddler phase that will dissipate.

Ethan on a Thomas the Train ride

We have music class early tomorrow morning, so I better get some rest now.

Good night!

♥ Jen

Happy Monday

Good morning! 

We had a long day yesterday and I was too exhausted to post last night.  So our jumperoo didn't sell after all.  The woman wanted something more "new looking".  Well, maybe she should just go out and buy a new one then!

I took Ethan to a free "Dancing with Babies" class held at the Traverwood Library yesterday.  It was hosted by Robin Robinson, who teaches the Music Together class that Ethan is currently enrolled in.  Ethan just loves his music classes.  He's been taking them since he was 3-months-old.  It's so amazing to watch him grow through all the classes.  He first started out just laying on the floor with me hovered over him singing and playing instruments to him.  Now, he is so mobile, dancing to the music and playing instruments by himself.  And it all happens so fast!  Too fast! 

We saw a friend at the library and ended up staying there for a couple hours to let our toddlers play.  I love that there is a "playroom" and toys available for them to play with.  I ended up leaving with two sewing books.  :)

Time to put Ethan down for a nap.  Will update later!

♥ Jen

Sewing Machine

Saturday night update:

So an hour after posting Ethan's jumperoo on Craigslist, someone reponded with interest.  Yay!  She will be coming over to purchase and pick it up tomorrow evening.  Hopefully, she will still be interested after seeing it in person.  Will let you know tomorrow!

And in other wonderful news, I finally decided on a sewing machine (thanks to http://www.sewing-machines-for-beginners.com/).  Normally, it would take me weeks, or even months, to decide on a purchase, only to change my mind shortly after.  This is mainly because I am constantly looking for the "right" item; always thinking that there is something better than what I have.  Does that make sense?  Hence, my undecidability.  Such a bad, bad habit.  Anyway, I decidedly pretty quickly after browing the comparison section of the above-mentioned website.

So, I made the big purchase on Amazon.com tonight!  I feel really good about my my decision and purchase.  And even better, I received free 2-day shipping with Amazon Prime, so my order is expected to arrive on August 10.  I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am!  I know that I will need to eventually purchase other items to begin my sewing adventure, but at least I got the main piece out of the way.

This is the sewing machine I purchased.  It's the Brother CP-7500 sewing machine.  $169.99 on Amazon.

I'm already planning all the goods that I will sew for my little Ethan!  I also ordered a book titled, "Simple Sewing for Baby" by Lotta Jansdotter.  She has such cute ideas and I can't wait to make everything from the book.  Or should I say, "attempt to make".  :)

Anyway, I am off to bed now!  I should probably get some shut-eye before Ethan wakes up.

♥ Jen