File folder games quiet book {handmade Christmas gift}

I made each girl a binder with file folder games in it. The following pictures are from Lauren's book:

I've been wanting to make file folder games for awhile. I picked up a book of games at a swap table at church. Then the crafting stars aligned:
1. We bought a scanner so we could make a slide show for Eric's dad's 60th birthday. I could then scan and print the pages from the book instead of taking them somewhere to be copied.
2. I saw this post on Pinterest. I realized I could cut the folders down to fit into my laminating sheets and then into a binder. I also decided to use magnets so it would be quieter at church (this is a quiet book after all).
3. I saw this post on Pinterest. I saw the zipper bag and knew how I could store the pieces to the game. That part had been holding me up. I decided to put the pieces from each game in a ziplock and all of the ziplocks in the pouch.

I spent many hours coloring, cutting, laminating, cutting again, and attaching magnets. But honestly, it was way better than when I made a fabric quiet book. I just worked on it every night while watching TV.

The girls have brought them to church every Sunday since Christmas and they love them. Kaylin saw me working on Lauren's and really wanted one too. She was excited when she found out that she had her own, although she prefers Lauren's baby games to her own. Oh well, as long as she likes it and it keeps her occupied, I'm happy.

It will be easy to add new games and trade out old ones. I love them, the girls love them, we're all happy!

Pillow Mattress {handmade Christmas gift}

I made both girls a pillow mattress for Christmas. They were based off of this tutorial.

1. The pillow mattress.
2. One pillow folded under to prop up the head--good for sleeping (you don't need another pillow!) or for lounging.
3. Stacked.

Lauren likes her pillow mattress fine, but Kaylin loves hers. She sleeps on it every night. For a week or so she slept with it on top of her bed. Now she just sleeps on it on the floor. She plays on it during the day. She took it to a friend's house when we were going to be over late and she needed to go to bed. It will also be great for camping.

Crafty Details:

It's made from half of a twin duvet cover from Ikea ($17) and four pillows ($1 each). Since one duvet can make two mattresses, it was easy to make one for each girl. The total cost was $25 or $12.50 each.

Basically, you cut the duvet in half, finish the raw edges, and then sew pockets for the pillows. You can see the tutorial I {mostly} followed for more details if you're interested.

Lauren turns 2!

Lauren is now two years old!

We hung crepe paper streamers from her door, which has become an expected tradition in our home, and she loved running through them. She was very excited to come downstairs to find lots of balloons in the family room. The girls spent quite awhile running through them and throwing them up in the air.

I let her open a few presents before breakfast.

Eric was able to get home from work a little early so we rushed to the park before it got too dark. Lauren was so excited to see the swings and slides. It was really cold, so we didn't stay too long. We went to Coulon so once it was dark we stayed to see the Clam Lights.

A few days later we had a little family party. Lauren "hid" from her cake.

Her shyness went away once it was time to eat the cake.

We had so much fun celebrating Lauren's birthday! She is such a fun, sweet girl. She amazes us every day with the words she says and her sweet personality. We love her so much!

Stats:

Height: 3 feet (94%)

Weight: 23 lb. 11 oz. (13%)

The rest of October

We took a preschool field trip to a pumpkin patch in Black Diamond. They had a lot of fun activities for the kids: a hay maze, a corn box (like a big sand box with corn), cute baby animals, fun playground, a hay ride, and more. Each kid got to bring home a pumpkin.

Kaylin and her friend on the hay ride.

Lauren with her pumpkin. I don't remember how she got the black eye.

Kaylin made me super happy when she wanted to be Ariel again for Halloween. I was really glad to not have to make any costumes this year. I was even more happy that the costume from last year still fit.

We went to our ward's trunk-or-treat at the church. There were a lot of princesses there:

Snow White, Ariel, and Rapunzel (to give you an idea of Kaylin's height, Snow White is 4 and is a couple of months younger than her and Rapunzel is 6 and in 1st grade).

The girls LOVED the trick-or-treating. They were so excited when they got to go again in the neighborhood.

Lauren refused to wear her costume, so she's wearing a Halloween shirt instead.

This is the only time Lauren wore her costume, it was for about 5 seconds while she knocked on the door at Grammy and Grandpa's house.

I was surprised by how much Lauren loved Halloween, except for the costume part. She excitedly went up and knocked on each door and even said "trick-or-treat" and "thank you". She wouldn't let anyone touch her candy bucket. She asked for candy multiple times a day by saying, "Bucket! Bucket!"

Yes, I am still here.

Wow. It's been nearly three months since I last posted. I am going to try to do a few catch up posts, but first I will list what we've been up to.

*I made way too many homemade, time-consuming Christmas presents. I haven't taken pictures of them, so we'll see what gets posted.
*I finished refinishing a corner cabinet for the downstairs bathroom.
*I decided to make Kaylin's Christmas dress, because I can't go the easy route and BUY the dress.
*We celebrated Eric's dad's 60th birthday over Thanksgiving weekend with lots of family in town.
*Lauren turned 2!
*Eric worked lots of long days.
*Kaylin lost her 2nd tooth.
*Kaylin got to spend a week in Bellingham before Christmas. Lauren and I went to Bellingham before Christmas too, but we went home for two nights in the middle of the week and Kaylin got to stay.
*We had a great Christmas in Bellingham, my sister and her family were here from Utah and my brother and his wife were here from Spokane.
*I was called as our ward's Primary (kids 18 mo-11 yrs) President (on Christmas day), and therefore Eric was released as our ward's Young Men's President.
*Eric took the week after Christmas off. It was wonderful!
*We celebrated our 8th anniversary!
*I have spent MANY HOURS on Primary since I didn't have counselors until this past Sunday (and one is on vacation for another week and a half) and a lot has to be done at the beginning of the year. Since I had such short notice before the new year began, all those hours got jammed into a couple of weeks. Thankfully, Eric had the week after Christmas off.
*Kaylin turned 5!
*I went overboard on Kaylin's birthday party. She wanted a Tangled party and thanks to google, Pinterest, and my Silhouette I have way too many ideas and have braided way too much yellow yarn. The party is tomorrow.
*When I haven't been working on a project or church, I've been attempting to keep my kids happy and fed and my house clean. Once I finally sit down for the night I just want to veg on the couch and watch some TV while surfing craft blogs and Pinterest. Yes... other people's blogs and Pinterest apparently come before updating my own blog. Probably because I don't really have to think :-).

And because every post must have a picture, here's one my awesome friend Megan took of us back in November: