Toddler Backpack

This turned out to be one of my favorite projects of all time.

We're on our way to Seattle for vacation soon. I was thinking ahead about preparing to take Jude on a long flight, and it occurred to me that the whole thing would be better if he was carrying his own little backpack. That's logical, right? Okay, it's not. But, it is adorable.

I've been admiring Made By Rae's Toddler Backpack Pattern for awhile now, so I splurged $6 and bought it. The pattern requires home decor weight fabric in coordinating colors. Since I didn't have time to purchase online I went to Hancock Fabrics and this yellow chevron fabric was the only boyish fabric I could find. Well, besides solid colored canvas and camo.

Jesse would have appreciated the camo WAY more than the chevron stripes, but I disagree. And, my opinion counts twice as much as Jesse's does in this scenario.

The pattern was in the medium to difficult sewing range - considering the zipper, piping, etc. But, it was easy to follow and fun to put together.

Jude actually wears the backpack quite well - like it's not even there. It looks so cute and so funny on him. I can barely stand how adorable it is. I think it will keep me smiling in the airport terminals.

Watch out, Seattle, here we come!

"Horsey Horsey On Your Way . . .

. . . We've been together for many a day. So let your tail go swish and your wheels go round. Giddy up we're homeward bound."

One of the things I was looking forward to the most about moving was a bigger living room space where we could show off our family heirloom rocking horse. His name is "Pete" and Jesse's Great Grandpa made him.

Not too long ago Jesse's Grandma moved from her house into a smaller apartment. At that time she handed down the beloved rocking horse to her oldest grandson (Jesse). I'm just the lucky wife and I'm giddy over it.

Here's Jesse enjoying him when he was about Jude's age.

And here's our little Jude who is finally coordinated to ride the horse without falling off.

Did you notice that we also inherited the adorable cowboy hat? Oh, and did you also notice how much he looks like his dad? Ridiculous, I tell you.


I love it. I hope Pete the Horse can be in our house for as long as he was in Grandma's house. We'll be sure to take good care of him.

The Big Move

Well, it's official. We're all moved in to the yellow house across town. It's been quite a process. But, we're finished and we're so happy!

Jesse wrote about it a little at his blog. (By the way, if you want updates about Jesse's perspective on what's going on at the Waterloo Campus you can subscribe to that blog.)

In the post he talks about how we feel like we're emerging from the fog. I couldn't agree more! It's amazing how all-consuming the house selling/buying/moving process is. There hasn't been much going on around here except packing, cleaning, unpacking, painting and resting.

The gist of our move is this . . . about a year ago Jesse became the Interim Campus Pastor at Prairie Lakes Church Waterloo. A couple of months later he realized he wanted to stay. So, we've been driving across town to attend the Waterloo campus and Jesse was commuting a little longer to get to the office over the last nine months. Since the beginning we've been ready to become Waterloo residents - we just didn't know which part of town we were supposed to land in.

Through a lot of soul searching and God interventions we decided to move to the urban part of Waterloo, which is quite literally "on the other side of the tracks". I don't think I have all the words to talk in detail about how and why we're here, but to sum it up . . . we are. God has been clear and faithful, and we're doing our best to be obedient. So far, we couldn't be happier.

We live in this beauty. She's obnoxiously yellow with a wishing well in front. She's twice the size of our previous home and less expensive. She's a two story colonial with a finished basement. And, her backyard is fenced in to house our little Scout.

She needs a lot of cosmetic work, but I'm eager to start the projects. I look forward to watching her transform into a real looker!

Bow Tie

We just returned from a lovely wedding this last weekend. Our friends Lauren and Stephen got married and boy was their wedding just beautiful. What a treat to be a part of it. Honestly.

Jesse, Jude and I got to spend the weekend away in Des Moines. How wonderful it was to be away! We loved it.

Thank you Lauren and family for hosting such a fabulous party! It was so fun to celebrate with all of you!

Lauren is one of Jude's favorites. So, I wanted to make sure he was extra handsome to celebrate with her at her wedding. (Okay, really, any excuse would have worked.)

We started with the bow tie made from Delia Creates Mister Bow Tie tutorial. Then I picked up the dress shirt on sale at Kohls. I thought the color combination was just perfect.

And, finally, I added the newsboy cap. I couldn't help myself.

Just look at that handsome little thing. He got many many compliments.

Birthday Bash!

Yesterday we celebrated Jude's 1st Birthday! I had so much fun both preparing and partying! We went with the "banner" theme since I'm kind of a sucker for them. Emily helped me pair the red and the aqua/teal together and I love it! We designed the invitations by sending them back and forth over email. We decided to put aqua/white stripes on the back of the card which was so cute. But, when I printed them I was in such a frazzled state of mind that I forgot to print the design on the back. Stupid.

A couple of weeks ago I made the fabric banner to hang in my dining room. Looks adorable. I would probably keep it up there for a good month if I didn't have to figure out a way to rationalize it to Jesse.

We set up two tables - this one inside and another outside - since our house is too small to fit all of Jude's admirers. Most of the party happened outside. I decorated the other table too, but didn't get a picture of it in the midst of the celebratory chaos.

I saw this tutorial for party hats and just had to do it. I only made enough for Jude, myself and the other kids who were attending. They're somewhat time consuming but totally worth it in my opinion. Although, let's be honest, my opinion is pretty skewed.

I printed stripes onto cardstock and used that for my hats. The pom-poms are made from red tissue paper. I used elastic thread rather than ribbon for the tie.

Rather than fussing over a large cake (which usually don't turn out for me) I settled for cupcakes instead. I made little flags for them and they fit my theme nicely. Easy. I used a frosting tip to decorate the tops. I much preferred to frost them that way and I think it looks better in the end. Who knew I would like using these frosting tip thingys so much?

In my head I thought it would be fun to break out the bean bag toss game and maybe put together a championship bracket. I never got around to the bracket (maybe I'll use a similar idea for something else in the future), but I did make some bean bags to match the party theme, and they did get used a little.

I used this idea for the numbers. I thought the idea was intriguing and maybe we'll get some use out of them in the future.

I love this little picture of the birthday boy. Such a happy little thing.

He ate his cupcake in good form. Used his classic pincer grasp for the first 3/4 then had a couple of good fist-full shove-ins near the end. Atta kid.

He received many toys and I believe our toy options have now doubled. My favorite was the red wagon he got from his grandparents and aunts & uncles. We dumped out all the parts and began assembling it on the spot. We had four former/current John Deere employees in attendance, so you might as well take advantage of the engineering expertise, right? It almost got the best of them, but they did it!

Course, as we were all centered in on the wagon Jude crawled out of the circle to find a plate that one of his cousins left behind. He went straight for the cupcake and had round two! Funny boy! Got himself all frosted up and required a change.

After he was all cleaned up again we took him for a spin in the new wheels.

I think he likes it!

Brides To Be

At the end of April I helped host a bridal shower for two lovely ladies. I got to mentor one of the girls over the last year and a half. She is exceptional. She helped to watch Jude in his first six months when I went back to work, and did it for free! What a gift. Seriously.

I couldn't be happier for both of them. They are walking into beautiful and lasting marriages that are worth celebrating! I love that.

My friend, Angela, and I made gifts for the brides-to-be. It was a kitchen shower, so aprons were a no-brainer.

Ang found the tutorial online and I can't seem to find it again. We altered the size of it quite a bit, but what we loved about it were the box pleats at the bottom and the extra long tie that puts the bow in front.


Cute, right? We paired the aprons with some recipes and a few utensils that they registered for.

They loved them! And, they look great on them too!

One Year Old

Two days ago our little munchkin turned one. We celebrated at home just the three of us.  Next weekend we'll have the big party with our family and friends.

I got balloons for him earlier in the day.  I love how fascinating those are for children!  He stared at them and played with them all the way home.  We opened cards during dinner and then we brought out the cake.

I love that face for some reason.  He is so entranced by that candle.

Then, we started to sing and he threw a little mini fit.  This picture makes me laugh a lot.  Isn't it just classic?

And, just as quickly as the fit came on it was over.  Appeased by frosting, I guess.  I made a carrot cake that I got from the wholesome foods website.  It was so stinkin healthy that it just wasn't very good.  Jude ate it fine, but Jesse and I could only do a bite or two.  Tasted like a bran muffin with frosting on it.  Sometimes I try too hard and this was a perfect example.  At least we got a good laugh out of it!

This is the face of the Jude that we know and love.  It's like he always has a thousand things he would communicate if only he could talk!  He's been that way from the beginning.

And, just as we predicted, he meticulously picked at his cake - using the pincer grasp for every single bite.  He does this with all of his meals.  He eats a lot, but very very slowly.

Last but not least we opened the gift that Nana and Papa sent. 

He was immediately engaged in it.  Isn't that train so cute?

All in all, we had a very happy birthday.  Preparations have started for next weekend, and I'm looking forward to showing you what I've been up to.  Happy Birthday to Jude!