Here are even MORE pictures of my cute little boy! Here he is modeling
those overalls I knit I while back, you know before he was usurping all my time. :) I love them. And him in them. And his wiggly little legs are hardly still long enough for you to notice how much longer one leg is than the other. I think these are the cutest thing I have ever knit!
Anyhow, its been a good/crazy/cranky/happy/fussy/lovely week. All in one. Life is so interesting these days and its amazing how much fun a trip to the library can be! Actually, we haven't been to the library in 5 months thanks to fines and an alleged lost book. Not to mention the cranky librarians who believe charging you fines and denying you their crummy books is somehow their way of bringing justice to the world. So we switched libraries this week, to one closer to home with kind old lady librarians. We are happy. And across the street is a little cafe for a little cup of tasty coffee and lots of overpriced cookies so I am seeing little kiddie dates in the future! :)
Today my mom and I went thrifting, and I was so happy to come home with lots of new clothes for my little guy (who is on his way out of the 3-6 month stuff already at 7 weeks!) . I am finding baby boy clothes to be harder to find. I mean come on people who make baby clothes, babies don't like football, baseball or big scary dinosaurs or monsters! And what is it with dump trucks? Who in their right mind finds dump trucks to be cute??? I personally have a problem putting a dump truck on my baby. They are big, loud, stinky, slow and fling rocks at your windshield on a highway. And if it doesn't have any of the above, they put a dog on it. I like dogs, but too much is too much, you know? Thankfully there are a few things out there acceptable... and I hit a little jackpot today. Too bad there weren't many sweaters for me to turn into cute little gnomy hats...
Anyway, we are finding a little rythm in the new year! Its going to be a busy month with family visiting, Kieran's baptism and Anastasia's birthday. Its all very exciting... but how am I ever going to keep up with the laundry??? lol. I hope the new year is treating you all with kindness. And if you are local, I wish you snow!!! :)
January is a difficult month for a birthday. Just after Christmas I have to plan a birthday and come up with a meaningful gift or two on little funds. This year proved even more challenging with a 2 month old, guests the week leading up to her birthday, and a baptism and party a couple days before. Time, money, and energy were in short demand but I came up with what I think was the perfect, magical little gift for my 4-year old.
I was fortunate enough to stumble upon these darling dolls at the Plow and Hearth Outlet on our way to Charlottesville last week. At about $17 a piece for Kathe Kruse dolls, it was a steal! I did add wings, and a skirt to the funny little hula girl (with curls like Anastasia) to turn her into a fairy.
I purchased a pretty photo storage box from the craft store along with some paintable garden chairs and faux flowers. The chairs will be a painting project this week. 
I also painted some little mushroom cutouts in red, puple and pink (Anastasia's favorite colors) and sprinkled glitter on the modpodge that I used to finish them for a magical effect. 
I had the perfect Cicely Mary Barker fairy fabric (produced by Michael Miller) for a very dramatic, garden fairy bed. I just cut 2 rectangles large enough for the dolls and sewed them together inside out, flipped it to the right side and stuffed it with wool and sewed the opening shut by hand. I did the same for the pillows except I closed it with the machine. I also just used a bigger rectangle for the blanket-- same concept but with no stuffing. I love how victorian and pink it is! :)
I could totally see having more boxes like these for other toys like My Little Ponies, and the like. You could easily paint a little scene on the inside and glue paper, flowers, etc, add stickers and other furniture or accessories. And I love how it all stores in a box (the chairs will barely fit as well!).
So a self-contained fairy flower garden... perfect for imaginitive play. Well, my friends, that was my magical gift perfect for my new 4-year-old! Happy Birthday Anastasia... may 4 be a very enchanting and memorable year for you.
Oh isn't he beautiful? My littlest Saint. He was baptised on Sunday and there is something about a baby dressed in white recieving his first sacrament. Oh he was handsome. and can for a moment I pause and love him to pieces before he grows up... 
because someday he will have big manly feet. And I will miss the kissable baby toes and this picture will make me cry. He is 16 pounds at 2 months and demands to be held, and rocked and loved ALL the time. He is such a sweetie with all his drooly smiles. Last week Nick's parents came to visit. We had all kinds of adventures, including my own misadventure with a nasty case of food poisoning. Thankfully Isabel and I were the only ones who suffered and we are much better now! I will be thinking twice before ordering beef out again. We visited Monticello (which we called a castle to keep the girls interested) and Gettysburg and several other spots. As nice as it is to have company and not do much cooking or cleaning for a week, its just as nice to get back to normal life. But today was far from normal as my eldest turned 4!
Can you tell how thrilled Kieran was about Christmas? This described his attitude the whole day. He doesn't seem to care much for social engagements. SO I am very late with my "Merry Christmas" but thank goodness there are 12 days of Christmas. We have been having a cozy and relaxing week with Nick home from work. The weather has been spectacular! We had snow, and now its 60 degrees. Really, who could ask for more!?
With each child Christmas becomes a little more magical! It was funny how long it took the girls to remember it was Christmas morning, and to check to see if Santa drank his milk and ate his cookies and left a few packages behind. But the excitement for them to see the tree filled with presents when there had been nothing the night before brought so much joy to my heart! It reminds me that the first gift of Christmas was a child. And every child added to the world seems to make Christmas more exciting and beautiful.
Isabel loved her cat toy, which was her one desire from Santa, and Anastasia got her Tinkerbell doll and friends which she immediately shared with Isabel. I think they were really most excited about these lollipop shaped soaps and the bath they took with them:
Isabel carried hers with her all day on Christmas day in a little zippered pouch. So so cute. Sadly I didn't get enough good pictures! We spent the day at my parents house and enjoyed a delicious meal! And I made pies! Our neighbors stopped by with gifts and holiday cheer! We also got to spend a couple days with "Unka Andy" (my brother) who came in from Montana and blessed the girls with a very exciting book about poop:
It has been a rough past week. Rough I say. The kind of rough that makes you wish you could trade places with someone for a day (or week!). On Monday we had to go to the Ear-nose-throat doctor to have a bead removed from Isabel's nose. It went smooth once we finally made it in. I worked super-duper hard on my Etsy shop, making and packaging and shipping. And my littlest ones got sick. Kieran had a fever and slept for a day. He and Isabel and myself have been completely sacked by a cold. And then with orders, custom orders and a healthy Anastasia who has not stopped BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS, all I could do was give up and make some 
