made in china

the first year david and i were married, we got cute little "homemade" christmas stockings at a craft store in provo.  i'm pretty sure we had a buy one get one free coupon, otherwise we wouldn't have even walked into this particular store.  we thought it'd be fun to get pace a stocking this year in the same/similar style as our stockings.  we went to the craft store last saturday and, to our dismay, couldn't find any stockings to speak of!  well, there were maybe 5 or so, but they were all very cheap looking and obviously mass-produced somewhere overseas.  on the drive home, we thought maybe our stockings would have a tag inside, giving us a clue as to who made them, and maybe we'd be able to find them online.  we got home, pulled out the tags and found "made in china"!  we had thought we'd gotten "homemade" stockings, as this was a store compiled of many different vendors selling their homemade wares.  ha!  joke on us.  

so i got online to look at homemade christmas stockings for sale on etsy.  as i scanned various overpriced stockings, it dawned on me that i could make one for pace myself!  i'd just sewn two quiet books, for pete's sake!  i still have a ton of fabric leftover and a sewing machine i'm not so afraid of anymore!  so...can you guess which stocking was NOT made in china? :

yup, mr. elf himself!  first i cut up all the red and green fabric i had leftover, and sewed them together how i imagined a quilt would go.  then i cut out a green inside layer, and a batting layer, and quilted the individual stocking sides.  then came mr. elf, and figuring out how to put the cuff on top correctly inside-out-topsy-turvy so after sewing the stocking inside-out, everything would line up perfectly once turned right-side-out.  phew!

cost: $0

time: all together, from cutting to sewing, probably 10-15 hours, spread over 3 days.

reaction: we'll see tomorrow when pace wakes up!

putting up the tree

pace really enjoyed decorating for christmas.  he is amazed by the tree--he loves the lights, the star, all the ornaments.  he is an incredibly obedient little one year-old, and doesn't touch the tree if we tell him not to.  but he is also very curious.  he found an ornament he really liked, looked at me to see if it was ok to touch, and when i said it was ok, he picked it up and walked around with his new little toy.  later in the day i noticed he had actually put it back on the tree, knowing it hung there somehow--he draped the little plastic pieces over the branch.  so adorable!  

david had a birthday

david turned 30 this year!  he's been gearing up for this event by going for 12 mile runs at 5am, you know, kind of dean karnazes style.  so, for his presents this year, he got totally outfitted for a good run--even if it's 10 degrees outside (like it's been all week).  notice the ninja-style head gear.  thanks, david, for taking care of yourself, working a 12-14 hour day at work, and still coming home with a smile on your face and ready to read to pace (if you get home before his bedtime, that is).  we love you! 

thanksgiving and other details

bob and eddie came down for thanksgiving again this year.  eddie found a great deal on a flight from salt lake to florida, so she went to spend thanksgiving with her family.  so with david working crazy peak hours all week (including black friday), it was just bob and me hanging out!  we did a little grocery shopping for thanksgiving, he did a couple of badly needed home repairs for us, and we went to the dinosaur museum at thanksgiving point.  pace wore his "department of paleontology" outfit for the occasion.  he was fascinated with everything in the "movement" room, and his favorite dinosaur by far was this little baby statue on the floor--he walked right over to it to pet it, give it hugs and even try to crawl on top for a ride.

bob very quickly became pace's happy little playmate.

i was showing pace all of the fruit in the fruit bowl one morning--naming each one, letting him touch it, smell it, even try to bite it if he wanted to.  when we got to the banana, he knew just what he wanted to start his breakfast!--he ripped it out of my hands as soon as i'd peeled it, and chowed down!

pace has also become a professional biped.  he first took steps on his birthday, and went from tentative steps, to screaming and plopping himself down on the floor refusing to walk unless i was holding his hand, to now wanting to run--walking isn't fast enough.  he's quite the little dribbler, too!  when david gets home from work he loves to take hold of our fingers with each of his hands and we'll run down the hallway as fast as his little legs will carry him.  he keeps up pretty well!  

one of the last few nice days we had before it got really, really cold.  we got pictures done, so everyone was dressed up for the photo shoot.  i always say i don't think a baby should have a haircut before the age of two--it instantly turns them into a little child and gone is the baby forever.  but pace's hair is getting kind of long...we may have to take action before his second birthday...

just a few photos from the shoot:

the best toys ever

spoonfeeding himself

halloween and other events

happy halloween--we participated in our ward's trunk-or-treat (and got the coolest-decorated-car award!) this year.  the entire day all i thought about was how a year ago, i was at home with a newly-born little guy, and this year here he is all dressed up in the cutest costume ever (courtesy my little brother).  david and i pulled out our go-to costumes--my old waitressing outfit from baby's, and a ghost busters outfit from a few years ago.  david kept telling everyone he was winston.  i don't think they got it...everyone kept trying to give candy to pace, and i had to tell them he doesn't really know what it is yet (thank heavens!)--he enjoyed shaking the little m&m bag and listening to them rattle inside.  the other candy we put in our bowl to hand out on monday (halloween day).

and in other events--we went and picked some leftover pears from a neighbor's orchard a few weeks ago (before it got cold), and pace found the pears in his stroller.  he knew just what he wanted with that pear!

and david has become a trail runner.  well, a runner in general--he goes 3-4 mornings per week, comfortably running 12-13 miles.  he wants to do the utah valley marathon next summer, so he's getting a head start on training, i guess.  he decided to pick up trail running, and fell in love with it, despite coming home with egg-sized blisters.  this photo is after 4-5 days of healing with the blister-healing bandages, soaking them in epsom salt every night, and not running.  i'm holding a quarter by the blister, by the way.