blueberry bliss

last saturday, in my quest to make food that is nutritius and that calvin can eat himself, i made blueberry pancakes. i used a basic recipe, but replaced the flour with whole wheat flour and added some homemade apple/squash sauce. i also used my heart shaped pancake mold for the first time. i was surprised at how easy pancakes are to make from scratch (i usually use bisquick). it only took me a few minutes longer and maybe a couple more dishes to wash.

calvin like picking the blueberries out and eating them more than he liked eating the actual pancake (he loves blueberries!), but he did eat enough to get full. i made a bunch and froze them for future breakfasts.

i am hoping to finish a quilt i have been working on for a friend's baby. she is due today, but going in for a c-section on friday if she doesn't go into labor before then. i have the top done...now i just need to put it all together. nothing like the last minute! i'll post pictures when it's done.

simple gifts

for christmas, i tried to make the majority of the gifts i gave to people. i took the handmade pledge this year (with a couple exceptions) and had a lot of fun thinking of creative gifts for calvin. I made these and they continue to be a favorite:

i just cleaned out baby food jars and added beans, split peas and rice that we had in the pantry, glued the tops on and voila! little rattles. calvin loves to shake them. he even dances a little as they shake.

blueprint is out of print

last weekend i was talking with some friends about how much we all love blueprint magazine. great articles, style and design, but i thought i had read somewhere that the magazine was folding (no pun intended...or maybe it was). i just found the link. martha says the kids don't like paper magazines anymore...we're all about the blogs and online info.

i am still in morning over the deaths of MS kids and MS baby magazines. i know i can read the articles online and i probably save paper and sam will enjoy having one less magazine laying around, but there is something comforting in picking up a magazine, flipping through it again and again, earmarking the glossy pages that contain articles i love or an outfit i want to emulate.

i just dusted off my old MS baby magazines to look for birthday ideas for calvin's first birthday. they are still so good. classic simple and fun ideas that are easy (well not that easy... it is martha) to implement.

goodbye blueprint. thanks for the good times. see you in cyberspace.

book boxes

i was very inspired by these and decided to make some of my own to keep calvin's books organized and in a one place. i had his books in a wicker basket but twice i had to pull pieces of basket out of calvin's mouth.

I made two. this is the smaller one i made for downstairs. the bigger box in his room is identical, just bigger. (he is sleeping right now so i will have to post a pic of that one later) the orange dot and bears fabric is from reprodepot.com and the canvas is from a local fabric shop. they took me about 1 and a half to two hours each, so they are a nice 'i really want to start and finish a something in one night' kind of project. calvin loves to take the books out and and put them back in. i love that his books have a cute spot to live.