Playhouse progress

Here are some of the pictures of my recent playhouse creations, though there are a TON of things I've made that I haven't photographed them yet. I'll try to get them up here this week.


This is the apple/orange/pear tree. I have a million leaves for it, but I haven't quite decided if I'm going to sew them on before or after it is already sewn to the playhouse. I'm thinking before, cuz i need to put on velcro patches.


A volcano to go with the dinosaurs!

This little piggy got in a fight, but when I offered to change how the eyes look, Joshy freaked out and wanted it to stay the same...so stay the same it will.

Baaa!

A basket made in the same style as the corn - it will be sewed on. Behind it there will be a hole so that the fruits or vegetables can go into the playhouse. It is kinda fun now to carry stuff in it already!

See?

A mail bag - Mr. Delivery Man sure loves it!

A package to deliver - we have decided it is a box of chocolates, which is always well received.

For a very long time, there have been three letters - one for Joshua, Henry, and Dada. Mr. Delivery Man was thrilled when there became four letters, so that now Mama wouldn't have to be disappointed anymore.

A nice set of four - all with our favorite color of stamps, though the lighting isn't very good so you can't tell very well.

The mail bag nice and full!

A fence for one of the sides. When I started measuring out where things would go, I actually had to cut off a section of the fence to be able to fit it where I wanted it.

I've been realizing some things with the playhouse now, like that I can't have a window next to the front door like I thought I could, so I'm having to figure out a new place for the window with window box, and I'm actually really filling up all the sides now - it's exciting!

I think I'll be going up to Nathan's parents' to get some help with the sewing machine part of it in a few weeks, and I definitely am still planning on having it completely done by their birthdays. The crazy part about getting the outside to almost be done is that Joshy has all sorts of ideas for the inside - a fridge with food, an oven, a bed, a vanity mirror, a fireplace, etc etc etc. Off I go!

the playhouse is in progress once again!

Well now we're living in Albany! Didn't end up moving to Corvallis, though we lost our $400 deposit...that sucks. We're managing again - a much smaller, less stressful complex, so that's good.

I'll post more about the boys soon, but I wanted to post that I'm working on the playhouse again and I'm really excited about that! Since the last set of pictures, I completed a woven basket, a mailbag, a package - I don't think I posted pictures of that one, a volcano, a fence, a large tree, a million leaves, and today I finished a letter for Mama (there was already one for Joshua, Henry, and Dada), and "Mr. Delivery Man" kept getting disappointed that he could never deliver a letter to Mama. I think that's all I've worked on lately, but I'll get some pictures posted in the next couple days.

Testing...testing...

Is this thing on?

Yikes - it's been a long time. So what has happened since April? Well, about a billion things!!

Here's a summary: end of May - moved to Amber Park Apartments; mid-June - Nathan graduated from Western Oregon; some time during the summer - went backpacking twice with the Langfords, which was mostly awesome; beginning of August - bought a van; mid-September - drove to Idaho to see Mom and Dad's new house; end of September - Nathan started school at Oregon State to get his M.S. in Statistics; beginning of October - planned to move to Corvallis; end of October - reserved an apartment in Corvallis and will move there the beginning of December.

Well, that's all you needed to know, right? What's that you ask - the boys?? You want to know about THEM? Hmm...I suppose that makes sense!

Well, Henry has been taking his sweet little time every step of the way, and stubbornly waited until he was 18 months old to start walking, but he is loving it now - still hesitant and not walking very far - but he'll get there. He's also talking up a storm, which is so fun! Obviously there is more to update about...but that's a little teeny bit.

Joshua is busy being Joshua...he spends his days pretending - going through all his different personas - lately the most common are Mr. Chief, Mr. Fireman, The Cookie Man, Norman the Cowboy, and The Guy with the Screwdriver. He cracks me up. He's a very good sport with all the busy-ness since Nathan went back to school, though I know it's hard on him. He's not so sure about moving, but I think he'll like being in our new home where Mama won't have to WORK anymore...we are all excited about that. He's still stubbornly avoiding new foods, and starting to reject a lot of the usual foods he'd eat every day. And potty training is a battle...which is so frustrating. Once we move and I have more uninterrupted time during the day, it's going to be more drastic measure time. Just taking away the diapers except for nap time and bed time, and sitting on the toilet every half hour or so...and seeing what happens. I'm tired of changing his diapers, but he's perfectly happy with it. *sigh*

The playhouse has been put on hold since we moved here in May...so sad!! All I've done since we moved is cut out the patterns for some pears. That's IT!! My new goal is to have the playhouse completely done by their birthdays (March 30th/April 3rd). I think they will love it, and hopefully by then Henry won't want to rip the googly eyes off the little animals. But if he does, maybe I'll just change them to felt eyes.

One question for everyone - those name letters that I made...do you think anyone would be willing to pay for me to make them? Not necessarily you...but anyone? They really turned out great, and they were my first try. They're hand stitched - I still don't know how to use a sewing machine. They're about the size of the 9x12 sheets of felt that you can buy in a bunch of different colors, then stuffed, and with decorative ribbon loops for hanging. Joshy's are rainbow colors, while Henry's are light blue, purple, dark green, gray, and I think...a teal-ish color. The boys are sleeping and there's no way I'll go in their room to check on that!

Annnyway - life is busy and super stressful. When I'm "just" a stay-at-home mom (which I'm super excited about!!), I hope to post more pictures on facebook and my blog, to finish my playhouse, finish some scrapbooks (all I have right now is Joshua's first year), clean the apartment more than once every...hmm...maybe I shouldn't say, and learn to cook more creative things. Also, take the boys OUT places more - there are a ton of parks in Corvallis, and I'm sure there are other cool things to do, too!

Ok I really should go. The mess in our bedroom right now is quite terrible. I was trying to work on sorting out things to be packed/stored/tossed etc., so the boys were playing with whatever they could find, and Penelope's (for those of you who know Penelope, you'll understand why this is a big, though I promise not gruesome mess) tummy came apart completely...and everything inside came out. Wow, that sounds super gross. I promise it isn't.

I'm starving. Sorry no pictures or videos. Patience and they will come! Have a wonderful day and thanks for sticking with my blog even after all this time :c)

Mail bag

Oh, and I'm almost finished with my first playhouse project post-birthdays: A messenger mail bag. I'm excited!

Name letters

The name letters for Joshua and Henry turned out really well! I don't have a picture of Henry's letters on this computer yet, but here is Joshy with his letters on his 3rd birthday.

baskets and birthdays

Well, last night, I made a basket that will be sewed on to the playhouse. The boys will be able to put things in it, and there will be a secret slit in the back so that when they put fruits/vegetables/rodents into it, they will then magically be inside the playhouse. I used the same weaving idea from the corn on jill's playhouse, but this was my original idea.

Also, I went and bought the fabric to make the whole slipcover for the table. I decided not to do felt - it is a thinner, more breathable fabric, because I want to do some stuff on the inside, so I'll need to make it two layers of fabric, and two layers of felt would get too hot and stuffy. It is a light blue - I'm going to have a LOT of scraps left over from it. I had a 50% off one item, so I got 11 yards or so of this fabric, and I think it cost me like $60. It seems to be really good quality fabric - I hope it was a good choice. It'll be awhile before I get around to actually sewing stuff on there with the machine.

I also got some transparent thread because I decided that would work best for sewing all those many many things that already have stitches on them.

For the boys' birthdays, I'm going to make stuffed felt letters spelling their names to hang on their walls. I finished an O today. I wish it looked more perfect, but I think in combination with the other letters, it will look a lot better. Right now, one lonely O isn't looking like the greatest birthday present!

almost done!

As of about 12:30, I had finished fixing three oranges and two apples! Just one more apple to fix and I can get back to creating NEW things again!

Oh, and Joshua had a TON of fun pulling out almost all of the fluffy filler stuff from the pillow sized bag of it, and covering our dining room floor with it, sliding in it, throwing snowballs with it, rolling in it...it was so funny. And made a huge mess that was amazingly easy to clean up! Good times :c)

And I just heard from my mom that my grandma Norma fell and broke her hip. She could use any and all prayers.

::::
4:35 - finished the last apple!!!

finished fixing...

...the squirrel, as of 9:45pm. Took the velcro off the bird and the 6 fruits. I figured the squirrel would be hardest, so I did it first. I actually was able to stuff it a lot better than I stuffed it the first time. So that's a good thing. Onward I go.

::::
10:17 finished the bird.

::::
10:55 finished one lettuce leaf.

::::
11:10 finished second lettuce leaf.

Time to watch Lost.

::::
Stinking Lost. We're going to go crazy watching the final season - having to wait a week or more between episodes. Oh well. At least we'll get to watch the first several all at once...I'm not sure how many episodes are in the 6th season. Maybe we'll start watching near the end. We're still near the beginning of the 5th season. Nathan was pushing for us watching an episode starting at midnight, and then he fell asleep after like 15 minutes. I had to keep watching it...and now it's almost 1am. *sigh*

backtracking

So I realized after doing three apples, three oranges, two lettuce leaves, a frog, a squirrel, and a bird...that I should have used the other velcro side...the soft part, not the part that grabs on to everything. I guess at first I was thinking that if I used the catching part that i wouldn't have to put matching velcro on the playhouse. But it catches on everything...all the time. I've just been putting a square of felt over the velcro, but I realized that I should have just done it the other way. So after a lot of grumbling, I started the process.

Today, I clipped the stitches of the velcro on the frog, completely unstitched the frog, sewed on the softer velcro (which was amazingly easy, thank GOODNESS...the other velcro was absolutely awful), resewed it all, and restuffed it. It didn't take too long, but it would be nice if it wasn't necessary. Oh well.

One frog down, at least 8 more things to go...I may not mess with the lettuce leaves...or I might. I guess I might as well, while I'm fixing everything else. This was a pretty significant learn the hard way kind of thing - but I think I'm going to be a lot happier when I change them all, even though it's a ton more work.

something for the grass

I made this quite awhile ago, but I guess I never posted the picture!

it's always greener...

Made some grass today...didn't take very long. I cut out one side and then used the between parts for another line of grass. Two for one! Though I'm not sure which side is actually greener.


I'm trying to figure out what I can do with the small amount of felt I have left...and very excited for whatever felt from Deb is coming tomorrow morning with Nathan's mom! I've been feeling like I want to use up everything I have before buying more...cuz I need a ton more, but we'll see!

Oh, and here is a cute Henry.

If you're ever thinking...

...that making a soccer ball out of felt would be a fun thing to do...think of something else to do instead. It looks really good, but it took several hours. The soccer ball is going to sit by the front door of the playhouse, I think...or maybe go on the side with the river. I'm thinking now I might make a picnic table with some sort of something that I can make food (hot dogs or hamburgers or something) be removable...at Joshy's request. I shouldn't look at the other examples of playhouses online while he's looking! I do veto some of them, though...we can't ALSO fit a library and a princess castle and a train station on to this playhouse. But we could probably fit a picnic table and some hot dogs or something.

And I'm done with the day numbers now, and done with changing the times that I post...so if I'm posting for the first time at 1:00am, as I am right now (yikes!), it'll say that, instead of always saying 11:00pm even if it was posted later. Anyway...probably it wasn't necessary for me to clear all of that up. :c)

Day 28

The last day of the month! To accomplish all of my monthly goals, I need to write in Joshua's journal and Henry's journal today...sad that I haven't written in them all month! Once that is finished, I'll have completed everything for February - I got everything completed in January also. I'm proud of myself! This year is starting out well in terms of accomplishing goals - usually I'm already failing somewhat by this point :c)

I hope to work on more crafty stuff later today!

:::
Got those journals written in...I'd hoped to work on some craft stuff, but it's too late and I need to finally go to bed at a decent time for once. I hope to be asleep by 11:30 tonight.

Day 27

This was a very busy and fun day! No crafting, but I did go through and do a much needed organizing job of my little craft bin - getting rid of all the short extra pieces of thread and tiny felt scraps...gathering up all the loose needles and pins hiding in the bottom, putting the extra paper templates in the little bag with the rest of them, winding up all the long threads tangled up in my bag of spools of thread...fun stuff.

Oh, I also measured out the dimensions of the table and made scale drawings of them on graph paper so I can map out what stuff I already have, and know how big to make the other stuff! Almost forgot that I did that.

Day 26

I made 4 flat strawberries today, because I liked the little seeds on the third one that I stuffed so much and wanted to do more like it, but I will put them on the playhouse, not detachable.
I will have to take a break from the playhouse at some point before the boys' birthdays to make them the gift that I'm hoping will turn out really cool - I'll post pictures after I give it to them, so after April 3rd (Henry's b-day, and Joshy's is March 30th).

We are going to a "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" activity for church tonight - that will be fun! Hopefully the boys will do well with getting taken care of at the church.

Oh and now Joshua is requesting that there be a kiwi vine in the garden, with kiwis on it!

:::
I finished a cloud...instead of doing the dishes. It's almost midnight...I think I'm going to do the dishes.
:::
I didn't do dishes...I looked up articles and checklists online about possible things we might find out after Henry's evaluations in the next couple of weeks...and continued to be worried about the possibilities I've been worried about. I want to be wrong, but my gut tells me I'm not. This is a much heavier topic than the fluffy little stuffed cloud sitting on the desk waiting to be photographed and added to the box of playhouse treasures...but it's a real thing in our lives. He has an appointment Wednesday (the 3rd) and then one the following Thursday (the 11th). I feel like I'm prepared to hear that something serious is going on...but I guess I won't know if I was truly prepared until the time comes. Hopefully he'll just jump back on track on his own, or we'll be able to help him get there without there being some underlying lifelong issue. But if there is, I know we have friends and family all around us who will be supportive and wonderful. He's such a happy guy, with a sense of humor - very social and interactive - good at figuring things out and playing, but he's got a ways to go to be where it seems like he should be verbally, for sure, and motor-wise as well. Maybe we won't get any definite answers in the next two weeks...but maybe we will.

I should have gone to bed long ago...there is too much information on the internet - so helpful and educational, but such an overload. And then when my mind is cluttered with stressful things, I go and read each blog that has been updated so that I can de-stress...and then it is 1am. Nathan will be getting up for basketball early tomorrow morning, and so will I...not for basketball. I hope it isn't a rough night otherwise.

Day 25

Soon I'm gonna have to decide which table this playhouse is going to go on. I had been thinking it would be the card table...but then I'm feeling like the card table is SOOO small...but the kitchen table would make for a very big playhouse. A lot of felt. But felt isn't that expensive...

Well I don't think we're going to buy another table any time soon, and unless someone jumps in and says they have a table we can have, I think I'll make it the dimensions of our kitchen table. What I want to start doing is measuring the size of things...because there are a lot of things that will be flat on the playhouse - not detachable, as many of the things I've made are (except for Buddy, the owl, and the mailbox).

Nathan's cousin Deb said that she has a bunch of felt I can use, and I'm really excited about that! No matter what color it is, I will definitely be able to use it!

Not sure if I'll get anything finished tonight...I'm not sure what is next on the agenda. We'll see. I just added a bunch of pictures and changed some from the first couple of days so they are more uniform (on the table). I like it that the table I've taken all the pictures on is the one that will be the playhouse (i think!).

::::
Ok, I just spent like half an hour looking for a template or drawing for a brontosaurus that I'd like to use for the playhouse...but I couldn't find one I was happy with. So I drew my own...I mean, I would have had to anyway, to be able to print it out the right size (bigger than a standard piece of printer paper), but mine is kind of a compilation of several. Hopefully I will have the right amount of felt!! Off I go to cutting, tracing, and more cutting!

::::
12:48am - finished my brontosaurus.

Day 24

I made three strawberries today! They're awesome. The third one (in the middle) especially.

The 4th season of Lost is starting out crrrrrazy!

Day 23

I finished the other two oranges today and made a "Dada" letter for the mailbox. Now there is one for Dada, one for Joshua, and one for Henry. I'll make one for me at some point, but one piece of felt made three letters. I have to figure out how I want to attach strawberries to the playhouse - then I might finish those up.
This is Joshua and Henry's first night sharing a room. They went to sleep very easily (Henry cried for 10 minutes or so and that was it), and are still sleeping (and it's really 12:20am...but I always make it say 11:00pm when I post after midnight).

We'll see how the rest of the night goes.

Day 22

Sewed velcro onto 3 oranges - finished one orange!

Day 21

Ok it is 11:15 Sunday night. I took an hour-ish nap today, and I want to see if I can finish something for the playhouse tonight. Starting at 11:15pm on anything isn't usually the best plan, but I'll give myself until midnight, 12:15 at the latest, and see if I can finish something. Or just work on something, cuz I miss it!

It is 12:23 - I finished the flowers I've been working on. I'm actually not really happy with how they turned out...I was trying to do something really creative and it didn't quite work how I pictured. Oh well. Goodnight.