Valentine's Cheesecake Redeemed

Here is the cheesecake I promised Matt for Valentine's Day. I must admit that it is quite yummy. Thanks to the recipe from America's Test Kitchen. Love it!

I made a sheet of coupons using a business card format in Word. I cut them out, made a red cover and backing and stapled them together into a little book. I used some beautiful painting by the masters.

I had Clayton standing up to draw on the top step of this step stool. I left the room and found him seated this way. He's wearing his new sweater and shoes from cousins Olivia and Drake. Pretty good drawing, too!
I made a smoothy and Clayton is feeding himself. Check out the pea in the foreground.

Mad Skills

Clayton can blow his nose! (I hold the tissue.) He loves to open tins and put the tops back on. He'll put away the egg shaped chalks back into the carton.

Flat tires

So I decided to go running the other day and put Clayton in the jogger stroller. Well, all three tires were flat due to this weird thorns. They look like something petrified, but who knows. There were about 12 that I removed and forgot to take another picture of them up close, but may add that pic later. Anyway, I tried to use a tire repair kit, but the liquid went all over the place instead of IN the tire. I will enlist some help from Matt when he gets back from AZ.

So, Clay and I have been backpacking (baby on back) instead of running. It's not a bad workout either since he weighs over 20 lbs. now. He loves being outside especially when it's windy. He just smiles and smiles.

Amazement

Clayton finds everything so interesting. Here he is examining on of my earplugs. He kept crawling into the hamper, but every time I tried to take a photo he would move toward me and get out.
Every day I can't believe I have a son. He is so amazing to me. I notice how he observes things and how he learns. His fine motor skills are great and he seems to understand so much of what I say. He responds with the beginning sounds of things like the moose on the quilt hanging in his bedroom, the books he has to have while being changed, the bears and moose on the train display on his windowsill, the birds, milk (his own sign language based on the real sign), banana (which is ma ma ma...), da who is dad, car sounds and the best of all is his elephant noise that he learned from dad.

Little Projects

These pretty cute. They are Japanese knot bags and I got the tutorial from a blog called Show Your Workings. I altered her pattern because I found it a little hard to sew. They are reversible. All bags were made from recycled material such as leftover curtain fabric and fabric sample books. I should have gotten a view of the base because it's the color from inside the bag. I made one more, but haven't photographed it yet.



I saw these cute bags on one of my blog browsing sessions and started to make them. It's so fun that I don't want to stop. Who knows if I could sell them or not. Maybe I'll wait and see if they sell or give them away as gifts.

Play Kitchen

Here is my latest project: a cardboard play kitchen for Clayton. I used recycled cardboard boxes. I am working on decorating the "thing" with black tape and etc. The left side will be the sink, middle is the fridge, and the right is the microwave and stove. He already enjoys it!

Clay "tot"

It's hard to get Clayton to smile for the camera lately. He's usually uninterested and kind of pretends you're not there trying to take a picture. I hope that doesn't last.

Creations for the cousins

Here's Clayton!
My newest creations for the cousins.

Sewing Projects for Me

Not the best photos here, but I can't find my tripod right now. (big surprise)
I recently made these garments. The bottom dress has antique trim on the pockets and I did some simple embroidery on the bodice.

Weekend Fun

We went hiking on base on the weekend. We wanted to go to Cathedral Rock, but the trail is off limits. We broke the rules by climbing off trail to the east and I managed to capture a few photos before we heard guns going off at the firing range. Then we took a short walk over to some other neat formations and scared off 10 deer.

There's Clayton still getting ready to walk and our majestic Cezanne, the "handsome kitty".

Facebook

I was invited to join Facebook and have since caught up with a lot of old friends. It's pretty fun. There a bunch of people I have been trying to find for a few years, but haven't had any luck.

I finished the block print cards of Clayton and a set of puppies, too. Cezanne was a little annoying while I was in the process of printmaking.