1 down, 3 to go...

Here is the first dress that I worked on.  This pattern wasn't too challenging except for the actual tulips.  I had to take out several of them and re-work them to get them to look right.  But overall, it went fairly quickly.  I started this project last Monday and finished it by Friday night.  I worked on it for a few hours in the afternoon and evenings each day.  I'd say it took about 8-10 hours total.  Not sure if that is good or not, but if I continue with the rest of my projects at the same rate, I will be able to finish them all before the baby is born, which is my goal.  I am currently working on a pale blue dress for Anna Ruth, but it will be more elegant.  Check back in for more progress updates!



close-up of the tulips



Ketchup Post

No, actually, this post is not about ketchup. 

BUT I do need to catch up on the happenings of the Hamlin household, so here goes.  As I've mentioned before, I knew this kind of post would be necessary from time to time since I am busy with all that's going on and blogging is not exactly my first priority.

The next event on the list after James' birthday is Thanksgiving.  It was our year to spend Thanksgiving with Rich's side of the family, which makes it nice since we get to stay put--traveling with kids is something we try to avoid if possible!  Anyway, all of Rich's siblings except for Shannon were able to come to town, and it was especially good to see Ben and Judith since we knew they would soon be leaving for Germany.  Anna Ruth absolutely LOVED Adia Sulwen, and has now named several of her dolls after her little cousin. 

Anna Ruth holding Adia Sulwen

We all participated in the Turkey Day Run, which was a lot of fun.  Rich ran it, I walked it with the kiddos in the stroller, and Anna Ruth and James also did a kid's fun run after the race.  They each ran with their respective age groups and genders, but they both needed a parent to run alongside them (and in Anna Ruth's case, I had to practically drag her because she was scared to do it on her own).  They both got a t-shirt and a medal, and we hope that they next time, they will both do a bit better. 

After the race, we went back to Rich's parents' house to hang out, make food, and play a little 4-square.  We enjoyed a wonderful meal of ham, sweet potatoes, crockpot mac 'n' cheese, corn pudding, spinach salad, and pumpkin and apple pie for dessert.  Wish we would have gotten a picture of the food--it was amazing.  We always feel more justified in pigging out on Thanksgiving dinner after exercising in the morning.  :)

Anna Ruth's 5th birthday quickly followed Thanksgiving, and this was the first year we had an actual party for her where we invited some of her little friends over to celebrate with her.  She was so excited to have a princess-themed party!  We asked each of the girls to come dressed up as a princess, and the activities were as follows:  decorating princess-themed sugar cookies, decorating purple jewelry boxes with gems, giving make-overs, and playing dress-up.  A while back I had seen a castle cake online, and decided I would give it a try for Anna Ruth's birthday.  I made it purple, since that is her favorite color and added the princess figurines at her request.  I stayed up very late the night before the party making it, but it was worth the look on her face in the morning when she saw it.  She got lots of girly presents including a princess comforter for her bed, a Rapunzel dress-up outfit, a ballet nightgown with a matching nightgown for her doll, and a special gift from Daddy--a real pearl necklace and bracelet set.  We can't believe how fast our little girl has grown up! 

front of the castle cake

back of the castle cake

Anna Ruth showing off her new pearls from Daddy

our little princess on her 5th birthday

Anna Ruth wearing the new nightgown with her matching doll sitting on the new princess comforter

A few days after Anna Ruth's birthday, she performed in her ballet Christmas prgram.  Her little class danced to "Away in a Manger", and it was adorable!  She was scared at the beginning, but she pulled herself together and did a great job.  (As a funny sidenote, whenever James hears the song "Away in a Manger", he starts twirling, with his hands above his head, just like Anna Ruth does in her dance.)

a big smile before the program

Anna Ruth striking a pose

Christmas was spent with my side of the family this year, and my 3 sisters were all able to be here along with my parents and my grandmother (my Dad's mom).  It was pretty chaotic with 8 kids in the house (my oldest sister Sarah's 6 and our 2), but the adults had just as much fun as the kids.  We enjoyed many wonderful meals, played games, had a comedy night, sang Christmas carols, went out thrift store shopping and out to lunch, and opened TONS of gifts on Christmas!  Again, I wish I had gotten more pictures, but everything seemed to happen so fast and stay so busy, that I rarely thought about getting out my camera.  We also celebrated Sarah's 30th birthday and Milienne's 11th birthday, which are both on December 29th.  Overall, it was a blast, and we are looking forward to the next time we will all be together.  

the living room full of presents!



(from left to right) Sarah, Jessica, Mom, Olivia (me), Lisa
We are wearing the matching pajamas Sarah got us.

Just in case you didn't see our family picture we sent out this year in our Christmas newsletter, here it is:

One of Rich's Christmas gifts to me this year was a real pearl necklace, that I absolutely love!  I wore it to a wedding, and Rich wanted to get a picture of me with it on.

Other than holiday festivities, we've also been keeping busy attending lots of oyster roasts associated with Rich's work, going to lots of doctor's appointments, getting back into the routine of Anna Ruth's school one day a week, going to the library, etc.  I've also started working on some smocking projects that I would like to get done before this little boy shows up in early March.  I have plans to smock 3 dresses for Anna Ruth and one outfit for the new baby.  On Monday I started on the first dress and have made some good progress on it.  I will post more pictures as I get each one finished.  

This is a spring dress for Anna Ruth that will have pink and purple tulips on it.

Thanks for reading, and I will try to do better, so that I don't have to have such long ketchup posts in the future! ;)

James' 2nd Birthday!

We had a crazy fun weekend with lots of different activities including celebrating Memaw's and James' birthdays.  Sunday, November 14th was James' 2nd birthday, and we had a little party at Lita and Pop-Pop's (my parents) house and invited Memaw and Gramps (Rich's parents) to come over.  The menu was spaghetti, garlic bread, and broccoli, since that is a meal that James likes to eat.  He especially likes broccoli, which is funny, because he's pretty picky otherwise.  I also made a truck cake since he is into all things with wheels, but especially likes construction vehicles.  Rich and I got him three vehicles--a bus, a delivery truck, and a tractor--which all go speeding across the floor when you pull them back.  He got a big Tonka dump truck from Memaw and Gramps that used to be Rich's when he was a little boy.  Gramps repainted it, and it looks great!  He will have great fun with it outside in the yard and in the sandbox we are hoping to get soon.  Lita and Pop-Pop gave him a fire engine that makes siren noises, lights up and the ladder rotates.  Mom also found a fire hat that says "Goose Creek Fire Department" on it--perfect!  He (and Anna Ruth) have been enjoying his new toys since then.  Here are some pictures of the day:

James is happy to be 2!

eating his second helping of broccoli

My first attempt at a truck cake--I was happy with the outcome, and James liked it too! 

James enjoying his chocolate cake

James trying to figure out how it all works and enjoying every minute!

playing with his truck at home while wearing his new hat

Fall Smocked Dress for Anna Ruth

Here is another dress I smocked for Anna Ruth.  I like how it turned out.  I had a hard time figuring out what kind of design or picture to go with.  But I wanted it to be elegant, so I think the geometric design accomplishes that.  I am also working on a matching outfit for James, so I'll post pics when I get that finished.  I am enjoying smocking more and more as I get better at it, though!  I have two more dresses to work on for Anna Ruth for the winter.  But if I don't have time to get it all done, I'm sure they will fit her next winter as well, so that's good. 

Here are my two cuties all dressed up for church!

Puppy Chow

Puppy chow is a really good treat that is easy to make and very addicting!  I made it today to take to a fall festival because it's easy to fill up a cup and eat it while walking around.  Here's the recipe if you want to give it a try.  Bonus:  It's a yummy gluten free dessert, too!

1 C chocolate chips
1/2 C creamy peanut butter
1/4 C butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
10 C Corn Chex cereal
2 C powdered sugar

Combine chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a microwaveable bowl.  Heat on high for 1 min., then stir.  Add vanilla and stir well. 
Place cereal in large bowl.  Pour chocolate mixture over ceral and toss lightly to coat.  Sprinkle 1 C of powdered sugar, toss to coat, then repeat with the remaining sugar. 
YUM!  Here's what the finished product looks like:

James' Words at almost 2 years old

It's so interesting to see the difference between boys and girls.  It really is neat to see how from the very beginning of their existence, they display different characteristics.  James and Anna Ruth have been so different, it blows me away!  James is so into vehicles of all varieties--cars, trucks, airplanes, trains, tractors, etc.  He plays with his cars ALL DAY LONG!  He rolls them on different surfaces, pushes them across the kitchen floor, and rams them into stuff.  When he's not doing that, he's climbing, throwing, running, or destroying.  He also loves to be outside digging in the dirt or throwing and kicking balls.  He is obsessed with Pop-Pop (my dad) and his Daddy.  So with all that activity, he doesn't have much time for talking.  Now, he certainly gets his point across, just not necessarily with words.  I remember at this age, Anna Ruth was speaking in complete sentences and already talked incessantly.  I don't think I even attempted to make a list of her vocabulary, because it would have been such a long list.  But I'm finally getting together a small list of James' words now that he's almost 2 years old!  Lately, he has started trying more, instead of just shaking his head when we would ask him to say a word.  So, a lot of these are pretty recent new words.
Here's the list:
Mama
Dada
Anna (for Anna Ruth)
Pop-Pop
Bi-buh (Bible)
bye-bye
eyes
all done
mine
ni-ni (night-night)
hi
bus
ball
boo-dah (he says this for shoe, and we have no idea why)
nana (banana)
buzzzz (birds)
uh-oh
Hun (he calls me this sometimes, because he hears Rich saying it)
gah-gah (lollipop)
my-min (vitamin and medicine)
Amen
He will also answer the first two catechism questions:
Who made you?  Gah (God)
What else did God make?  Aaaall tins (all things)

Blue or Pink?

You can see the arm and hand above the head.

On Monday I had my ultrasound to find out if the baby is a boy or girl as well as to make sure everything is developing normally.  It went well; so far everything looks good.  She did have trouble getting a good look at the face, so I am scheduled for another ultrasound in a month to look at that again.  The baby will be a good bit bigger and so it will be hard for him to hide then! :)  They want to check for cleft lip and palate, but she said she doesn't suspect anything, it's just routine to check it.  Anyway, during the ultrasound the baby was moving all around and I was thinking to myself that it probably was a boy because of how active he was.  But I asked the ultrasound technician to write the gender down in an envelope and put the pictures in another envelope for me to keep.  I then took the envelope to Bi-Lo where I got them to make a cake with white icing and either a blue or pink inside.  They don't technically do that, but when they heard what it was about, one of the ladies in the bakery said she would bring her own stuff from home to make the cake since she thought it was such a fun idea.  She did a great job, and it was funny because all the ladies in the bakery were telling me to come back with pictures so they could see the reactions.  They really got into it!

 

The pretty cake from Bi-Lo

The next night my parents and Rich's parents and us all went out to dinner at Sesame Burgers & Beer.  If you've never been, you should try it!  Tuesday night is $3 burger night, so it's a great deal for a huge, really good burger.  And they let you choose how you want it cooked, so it's not a well-done dried out burger.  I always get sweet potato fries to go with it, and they are so good!  Anyway, after eating, we cut open the cake to find out all together what this next baby will be.  It was a fun and exciting way to discover it was a boy! 

Rich and I cutting the cake



We pulled up the piece and it was blue!



We are all excited about another little boy!