Christmas

We had a GREAT Christmas this year! It was the first year we stayed at home and did our own Christmas. I really prefer the kids being able to wake up in their own beds on Christmas morning. I have a hard time feeling like I can't do things my way for Christmas - not that I'm trying to be a whiny brat, but I have my own ideas and traditions that I want to do with my family, and not be pushed around. But when we go to extended families' houses, they have their own traditions and things they want to do, and I feel compelled to go along with it. So this year, Christmas day was really fun, doing it all my way and not feeling like I need to please other people. Mini rant over. ;)
Kaylee is starting to understand a bit. She understood that the presents were for Christmas day and even though I put them out pretty early we didn't have any problems with her trying to open any.

I would add more pictures of the kids, but I already put them all on Facebook so I don't think I'll bother putting them on this post too!

I'm going to show off some of the homemade gifts I made this year...

This earring and necklace set was for Courtney. The pendant was easy but the earrings took a loooong time and gave me a blister or two! I haven't made jewelry much lately.

These are some of the pajama pants I made for Christmas. The one on the left was Stephanie's, the middle Andy's, and the right, Tim's. I was planning on making them for Tim because we had him for Christmas this year in the sibling exchange, but Andy and Steph's kind of happened by accident. I was at Joann's getting fabric for Tim's, and I was having a hard time finding the right fabric for him. I found a kind I liked a lot, waited in line for about an hour (Saturday afternoon at Joann's - yeah....) and finally went up to get it cut. Right when I got up I realized there wouldn't be enough fabric for the pants. I asked the lady at the counter if I could run and grab a different one while she cut my other fabrics. She said it was fine, so I ran and got bikes. Tim bikes sometimes, so I thought it would work. They somehow looked a little off to me and I just could not figure it out. They didn't look very "Tim." I (somewhat sadly) thought they would work anyway, because I didn't know what else to get. I finished the pants, and then looked at them and just started laughing. They were WOMEN'S bikes. That's what seemed off to me. It was girl fabric. So I decided to give them to Steph because both she and Andy love biking. Back to Joann's I went...I found more of the original fabric that I liked for Tim, so I got that. On my way out (literally, I had paid and left the store), I thought...I really need to make some for Andy. I can't give Stephanie pants and not give Andy any! Back into the store I went (Ben was not very happy about that). I found bright orange with bikes on it and knew it would be perfect for Andy. It all worked out alright. I wanted to give Andy and Steph something anyway because they came to our house for Christmas afternoon. A lot of work, but they all turned out great so I think it was worth it!

I sewed these fun little bean bags for Kaylee with some scrap fabric I had. She's learning shapes so I thought she would enjoy them. No silly stories about these though...

This was Will's idea. He originally wanted me to crochet them, but I didn't think I could do all the details very well, not to mention it would take a long time. I already had fabric in all the right colors, so I decided to sew them. And then about a week before Christmas I decided it would be too much work and I wouldn't make them. Three days before Christmas, Will asked about them and convinced me to just try. I did, and this is what I got! They turned out WAY better than I thought they would. I didn't have a pattern or anything. I'm glad I did it because she loves them!

 A few weeks ago, I made Will a table for his fish tank. Unfortunately, that fish tank got a crack in it (it was plastic) and we needed to replace it. The fish tank size we wanted wouldn't fit on the table I had already built, so for Christmas I bought him a new fish tank and made this table.