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.

winter

calvin and sam welcomed the first snow of the season this morning.

each snowflake fascinated calvin. his eyes followed them carefully as they floated to the ground, creating a bright blanket of white. a quiet day of snow watching, fireside sitting and christmas decorating followed. (notice i did not say studying... i am saving that for tonight).

happy december!

the pumpkin patch and the new job

we took calvin to the pumpkin patch last weekend. it was surreal. i remember a year ago, pregnant and watching all the kids in wagons, thinking next year i will have a kid in a wagon. now here i am a year later with calvin in a little red wagon, pulling him through the pumpkin patch. (well sam is pulling him through the parking lot in this photo...)

he loved it. he smiled at all of the other kids and parents. it took him awhile but he finally picked a perfect pumpkin to take home. he even stuck a piece of straw in his mouth like a real farmer.

this week the best friend that i have had the longest got a new job. he is a writer and has been searching awhile, looking for something fun and not bratty. Hopefully this job will give him 'access' to all of the hollywood stars that we (i) love to read about.

good luck on your first day of work jesse!

*new* chair

i went to the local flea market last weekend and found this little chair for calvin. friends of mine have a similar little red one and i always thought it was so cute. this one was pretty dirty as you can see but it was only $15. here are some pictures from before i finished cleaning it:

(in this picture i had already cleaned the seat)

pretty nasty, huh? i saw some potential though and the colors matched our living room perfectly. so i scrubbed it with baking powder and voila! it came totally clean.

the tag on the bottom says that it adheres to the safety standards of 1937, so i think it is pretty old. now (maybe) 70 years later it looks almost brand new and ready for calvin to enjoy!

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