Allison loves playing with my quilting scraps! For my most recent quilt she actually even 'helped' me baste it with safety pins. She mostly brought me the safety pins but still, I'm glad she loves to help with quilting. I've been telling Mark that it won't be long before she needs a sewing machine of her own!
This is the first quilt I have finished in 2012 - even though it was mostly done in 2011. I gave the quilt top to Mark's Mom for Christmas and then took it back. It went to a professional quilter in early January to be finished. I was really happy with the result. This quilt is made using a double hourglass block (I used this tutorial here) and a set of fat quarters from the Moda 'Etchings' fabric line that I picked up at the Sisters Quilt shop on a girls' weekend. I love how this one came together although I have to admit the blocks do take quite a bit a time. They aren't difficult they just require being cut individually with templates and trimming to make all the points line up just right. 
I should note that I learned something on this quilt - the points where four blocks are sewn together ended up very thick and I needed to have trimmed them down....the quilter broke a needle at one of the points and that put a small hole in the quilt. She fixed the top and patched the back. I'm working on 'signing' my quilt for the very first time to cover the patch. Next time I think I'll save myself the trouble and make sure I trim the corners!
I was working on one more present at Christmas time but it just did not get finished. Thankfully the gift was for my dear friend, Mel, and she didn't mind a bit. I made another set of placemats using this Pink Penguin tutorial. I used a 'honey bun' of coordinating fabric (pre-cut 1 1/2" strips) to make these and so most of the sewing went together pretty quick (the part that didn't was all of the binding). I still have 1/2 of the honey bun left and some great ideas for using it! Better late than never, I suppose.
Just after we got home from Seattle we had a light snowfall at our house! It happened to come on a holiday so Allison & I were able to stay home and play. Allison was a bit funny in the snow this time, she just walked and walked and walked around making tracks. Oh, and she was obsessed with wiping all of the snow off her little play car! Glad we got to enjoy some snow without going anywhere!
Our Seattle visit was made extra eventful with some snow! It started snowing while we were out and about on Saturday and continued through-out the night and into Sunday. Sunday morning we had some complications to our plans so we ended up not making it to church. But we did go outside to take some pictures in the snow! Allison loves playing with Miss Leslie. And I think the feeling may just be mutual!
Eventually we made it over the Crista Ministries campus where Leslie worked this past spring. It was beautiful and Allison was able to play in the snow. She of course did her favorite snow activity, she built a 'baby' snow man! We left Seattle right around noon on Sunday. We had planned to stay longer but with more snow & freezing temps in the forecast I wanted to make sure we could get home easily. The ride home was eventful, several stretches with near white-out conditions on I5 but we made it home safe and sound and very thankful for that!
Allison received a very special baby doll from Christmas from her Nana & Papa - it is an American Girl doll - one of the bitty twins. You are not able to order one bitty twin by itself online or over the phone so a great deal of planning went into the purchasing of this doll. In the middle of the planning we learned a new American Girl store had opened in Seattle! I had already been planning a trip to Seattle with Allison in January so we decided we had to go to the store! We were going to try to do tea but they only serve tea on week days. Instead we scheduled dinner (which was very convenient, Leslie & I were able to attend a 'scarf tying' class right beforehand at the Nordstrom in the mall). Allison got to have dinner with baby, she ordered a 'bitty picnic' which was essentially a mini hot dog. Baby got her own glass during dinner and a special seat to sit at the table with us. After dinner Allison got to go pick out a new dress for baby. She chose a pink & white dress, of course. We enjoyed our time and look forward to another trip next time we are in Seattle!
We started our time in Seattle off right - with a walk around Green Lake. This had to have been one of the coldest and wettest walks around Green Lake that I have ever had. But a trip to Seattle with Leslie just would not be the same without a trip to Green Lake. By the time we were done walking around (Allison actually walked the last 1/4 mile or so!) we were all cold and hungry. So we headed straight to another favorite place of mine in Seattle, Top Pot donuts. These are some of the yummiest donuts around...I haven't found anything like them down where I live...and that is probably a good thing! Allison of course enjoyed a 'pink' donut, complete with sprinkles. We headed out, hot chocolate in hand, straight for a quilt shop. I have zero pictures of the quilt shop. I am way to focused in quilt shops to take pictures. Especially with a 2-year-old in tow. Let's just say I found some fabulous things...most of which will hopefully make it into the 'Made in 2012' club. After a full morning Allison fell asleep in the car on the way home....
This is my road trip buddy! We took advantage of a holiday weekend to go and visit our good friend, Leslie in Seattle. We had intended to stay through tomorrow but with winter storms moving through we decided to drive home today. I'm actually glad I did - I don't think I've ever experienced heavy snow on I-5 before - and I had several stretches of white-out or near white out along the way home today - including downtown Seattle. Crazy but beautiful - you don't see the city that quiet and peaceful very often. More to come about our trip soon!
We had quite a bit of dry weather during our Christmas break. We took advantage of it by going on a few bike rides. Allison's seat really needs to be raised up higher. It was a chilly day when I took these pictures, which was a good thing, it hurried Allison along pretty well and she rode a little faster than normal (and we didn't have to stop at the park - she was so chilled she didn't even object!).
Allison is really getting into the dress-up thing lately. She doesn't always dress up as 'Rella (Cinderella), sometimes she dresses up as a chef and at daycare I find her in all kinds of costumes at the end of the day! 'Rella is definitely a favorite of hers, though, especially since her buddy Bekah gave her a 'Rella dress and her cousin Sophie gave her some 'Rella shoes. Thankfully the 'Rella movie is one Mark & I approve of ;). I love how she is growing up at the same time, in these pictures she's practicing cutting up her lunch!
I used a gift card from my sister to buy 'Just Dance Kids' for the Wii. Allison and I have enjoyed a few dancing parties courtesy of this game. They are always entertaining. So far her favorite dances are the 'Happy Birthday' song & the Chicken Dance. She would sing happy birthday to Jesus during the Happy Birthday song. She picked out her outfit all by herself. I don't know that she's ever really seen someone dance before so I thought it was pretty funny that she just knew a swimsuit was appropriate attire!
I have no idea where she learned this pose, either, but it was certainly funny!
And she finally crashes on the couch. The best part of dancing parties!
We found tons of little bunny tracks on our winter hike this past weekend. Allison thought they were fascinating, especially since she has a story book that talks about bunnies in the snow and the tracks they leave. When we stopped for lunch we went on a bit of a bunny 'hunt' trying to track a bunny down. Mark & I knew we wouldn't actually find one but Allison was determined to see one. Mark finally convinced her they were all sleeping....but she still had fun following their tracks around. (She told her Auntie Brittney on the phone all the bunnies were sleeping so apparently she bought our excuse - whew!). 
When we got back to the car we played in the snow some more....Allison was pretending to be a bunny, the face she is making below is her bunny scrunching his nose face. Pretty cute!
Now, what do we do when she realizes her 'Uncle' Kep really does hunt bunnies?!?!?
Well, I think my husband has figured out that snow makes his wife very happy! He called me on his way home from work on Friday and announced 'we're going snowshoeing tomorrow!' He had already stopped by our local recreation shop and rented a sled for Allison. We headed out for the Cascades on Saturday morning. We stopped at Lava Lake and got out. The snow wasn't quite deep enough to bother with snowshoes but it was perfect for hiking and towing Allison in her sled (which she loved by the way!). It was another beautiful day - with the sun peeking through high clouds occasionally. We packed a lunch and enjoyed lots of time outside. I'm so thankful for winter days like this! Even if we have to drive an hour and a half to have them!
My little snow bunny!
We made another 'baby snowman' and Allison loved playing with it and making dinner for it.
And I took her out to a little field like area and taught her how to make her first snow angel. Thanks to Christmas she now has some concept of what an angel & this made her very excited!
Waving at our shadows - Allison thought this was hilarious! She's just starting to really understand shadows now, too!
Our tree was taken down earlier this week and delivered to the curb where it was picked up. This was a bit traumatic for Allison. She seems to have recovered well and has been saying that our next tree will be a 'pink tree.' We have no idea what that means but maybe we'll find out next year. This week we've been getting back into routine....Allison's daycare buddies keep her on a potty schedule....I started a step aerobics class....Mark doesn't have any more side jobs scheduled so he's working a 'normal' schedule now. We loved our vacation but we're so thankful for normal life, we are definitely a family that thrives on routine. 
P.S. Do you think 2-year-olds can come any sillier than the one pictured above?
