Happy Thanksgiving

I know the day is almost over and people are probably thinking more about those Black Friday sales than Thanksgiving at this point, but I wanted to quickly say HAPPY THANKSGIVING from our family to yours.

I found this picture of Addalee last year (ha!).  

My, what a difference a year makes!

We're so blessed!

DIY Little Turkey Shirt

Since Thanksgiving is next week, I thought I’d share a little project. 

I wanted to make sure that Addalee had a little something special to wear for this year.  Last year, we had been given a cute little “My First Thanksgiving” onesie to wear, so mama didn't have to do any planning!  This year though, we didn't have anything special, so I knew I had to get busy!

I looked on Pinterest and found a bunch of adorable little turkey shirts.  I could buy one for upwards of $35 bucks, or I could be cheap crafty and make my own for less than $10.   It was a quick and easy project and I think it turned out super cute! 

You’ll need the following supplies:

A shirt or Onesie

Fabric scraps

Fusible Interfacing (I used Heat N Bond since I had it on hand.)

Scissors

Iron

Sewing Machine or Embroidery Thread and Needle

Turkey Template

Directions:

Pick your fabric scraps.  See that red and white polka dot fabric?  Yeah, that is from a pair of pajama pants I got for FREE at a yard sale!  SCORE! 

Lay out your fabric scraps on your Heat N Bond to see how much you’ll need. 

Cut the Heat N Bond to just under the size of your fabric scrap.  That way you don’t end up with a sticky mess on your iron when you iron over exposed parts of the interfacing!

Put the rough (non-paper) side of the Heat N Bond to the wrong side of your fabric scrap and iron.

Now trace the feather and body templates to the paper side of the Heat N Bond on the appropriate fabric.  I cut out 2 feathers in each fabric.  I liked a more uneven look though, so I only gave my little turkey 7 feathers.  I also used a burlap fabric for the body.  You were going to be able to see through it too much (which looked sloppy), so I just put 1 cutout of the body on top of the other for thickness.

I did a practice round of placement before peeling the paper off the back of the feathers and body. 

***At this point, if you’re going to hand embroider a face on your little turkey, go ahead and do it.  I put this step off until the very last and it was less than easy to push the embroidery needle through all the fabric.  But it wasn’t impossible, so don’t panic if you discover you’ve left this step until the end.

I started with the center feather and peeled the paper off the back and ironed it on, and then repeated that for each set of feathers and the body last.

Now you can sew your feathers and body on either by hand or with your sewing machine.  I chose to do it by hand because I liked the imperfection of the stitches.  (There’s perfection in imperfection, in my opinion!)

All done! 

Now you get to put it on your kiddo!  My little model was more interested in playing than sharing her mama’s turkey creation!  But you get the idea! :)

I had to share this picture too.  I mean, she was definitely thinking, "Yeah Mom, you nailed it with this shirt!  Thanks for making for me!"  Ha!

Chili Cook-offs and Fevers

So this last week has kind of been a bust. As always, I have these grand ideas of actually getting things accomplished and marked off my proverbial to-do list (which only ever seems to grow, even when I am productive. What's that about?!). But it just didn't work out that way. Life came at us, and we just held on for the ride. 

 I was volunteered to enter a chili cook-off and bake sale charity thing for Arthur's work. No pressure, right. Well, uh, yeah. There was some pressure, for sure! I got in over my head. There was a ton of large quantity cooking to do, and it just turned out, we also had a sickly girl on our hands. Addalee ran a low-ish fever off and on Monday and Tuesday. I had to gather some supplies for my culinary adventures, Tuesday we needed to go vote, and Wednesday was cook-off day. That's a lot crammed into 2 days. Especially with a 14 month old that just isn't feeling quite herself. Thankfully, she was mostly just a bit extra tired, but showed no other real symptoms. By Wednesday, when I had envisioned slowing down a bit, her fever hit 104.5. Yikes. I'm kinda a panicky mama...you could say I've earned the right to be...and that temperature was a bit uncomfortable for all of us. So, we went to the Pediatrician. They looked her over, found nothing bothersome, sent off some bloodwork, and told me to just manage her fever. K.Thanks. I was actually hoping for an ear infection or something we could treat instead of just waiting around on who knows what. By Thursday, she was feeling real bad. So, I took her back for them to run more tests (wonder why they didn't just do that while we were there?!?!). This time there was a flu test, negative (praise the Lord), a catheter to check for UTI (ouch, pitiful and painful to watch), and a virus screen for about 15 common viruses. And then it was back home to await results and manage that hateful fever that came back with a vengeance when the meds wore off. Poor girl was just pitiful. She wanted to laugh and play, but would wear out so fast she'd just end up laying down on the floor. By Friday, she was still spiking her fever in the early morning hours, so we knew it wasn't quite over. I got a call later in the day with all of her test results...all clear. Well, that's great, but why is she sick then?! Final answer: Probably just some type of virus. Okay. I have to accept that. But I really like things to be wrapped up nice ans neat. This wasn't. And I was frustrated, and scared. The next tests to be run were for real illnesses, inflammatory illnesses, make you sick to your stomach type stuff...not a road I was comfortable walking down. After a lot of worry and prayer, she finally broke her fever on Friday night! She's still not 100%, but she's headed in the right direction and we're thrilled. 

 I remember when we lost Caroline, even fantasizing about taking care of her through her childhood sicknesses. I so desperately wanted to mother her. Of course, I never wanted her to be sick, but kids do get sick. And she was a kid. And I wanted all that went with her growing up. I never want Addalee to be sick either, but somehow I can even cherish that I'm being able to care for her, when her cheeks are all rosy and her little head is sweaty, when she throws up all over both of us, when she cries because her teeth really do hurt that bad, when she falls down and scrapes her hands and knees...I get to be her mom through all of that and so much more, and I feel so very blessed. Tired yes, but oh so blessed.

Falling Behind

I still have every intention of finishing up the Capture Your Grief series, but I'm having a really hard time finding the motivation right now.  I guess I just kind of feel like I'm so far behind on everything, I'm overwhelmed.  

I'm not completely sure what has me feeling so overwhelmed, but I just feel like I can't catch up.  Things got super busy at the end of October with all the hubbub around Halloween and just plain life.  I'm hoping that this isn't a sign of things to come with Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner.  Even if it is, my only option is to hold on for the ride, right?!

Halloween was bittersweet for us, as it seems to be now.  It was the first "holiday" after losing Caroline, so it holds a little special place in our hearts.  There were lots of little kiddos knocking on our door, and we were able to take Addalee around our neighborhood.  So, it was a nice night.  It's such a joy to get to see Addalee enjoy festivities.  She loves getting out and about giving smiles and waves to everyone she sees.  She's such a happy girl.  She is such a blessing.

Our little Kitty