AN EARLY START: OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE & DIY ORNAMENTS

This past weekend, we put up our Christmas tree! Yes, November 9th is admittedly a little early, but it's our first tree, and we don't really know if we'll be home for Christmas or not. Baby 2 is due a few days before Christmas, and it all depends on when she arrives. But mostly, these are just excuses. I love Christmas and I wanted to put my tree up!

Thaddeus loved every minute of it. Even now, he keeps saying "WOW!" every morning when he sees the tree all lit up. And I mean a BIG "WOW!!!!". It's probably the cutest thing ever, and I reeeally hope I can catch him on camera!

Sadly, however, these beautiful glass ornaments didn't make the cut. I got them as a gift at one of my bridal showers, and since we have never had a tree, I've never been able to use them. I brought them here from Ottawa this summer with much anticipation, but of course, once I dropped one we decided we should probably wait a few years before they make an appearance on the tree! I had to snap some shots though, because they are just so pretty!

But there's nothing more that I love than handmade things. So this year, I got my craft on and made a bunch of decorations. I love love love our tree so much!

This last ornament was one that someone made for us for a bridal shower gift. Love it!

Our biggest challenge was the "tree skirt". We didn't have one... so we had to be creative! I had bought some sweet Christmas burlap from Michaels to wrap around the tree but I had only enough to wrap around half the tree. Oops! Not like I can just run to Michaels and pick up some more! (The closest Michaels is 3 hours away...). So Mark thought we could try to use it for the tree skirt. All it needed was one of my scarves underneath, and it worked perfectly! 

We had such a blast putting it up, and Mark did a great job letting me do all the ornaments while Thaddeus slept! Hehe. He knows me so well! So happy it's up, and we are really enjoying having it lit at night while we watch a movie or a show (Gilmore Girls!) on our new TV!

Have you put your tree up super early too?

DAW

"Daw, mama? Daw?" have recently become the first words out of little bear's mouth when he enters the kitchen in the morning. Every morning. And then after naps. And when we get home from being out. But it mostly means that he wants me to draw, while he tells me what to draw! Yes, there are scribbles here and there, which are cute, but he really just loves telling me what to do! It's pretty amazing though, because he now can recognize a few symbols: heart, sun, star, moon... and many animals as well. Of course I think he's brilliant!

His (or our, I suppose) artwork is warming up this little corner of our kitchen and I love it so. I recently came across a wonderful idea to take pictures of every piece of artwork and make them into a photo album down the road. So I have only been keeping a few choice drawings up at a time, and saving photos of all the rest. I just bought some finger paints and a painter's smock so we will get started on some messier projects in the days to come. I hope to frame some, and get a couple canvases as well.

The little artiste himself!

Have a great week friends!

AUTUMN CRAFTING

Making crafts with a 15-month-old isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world. While he is slightly more interested than he was last month, I must say I do look forward to the day when a hand will stay still long enough to trace it, paint isn't ingested, paper isn't ripped and the crayons stay at the table. But, 'tis the season, and it's special in it's own way. Thaddeus' attention doesn't usually hold long enough to finish a project in one go, so we are always going back and adding on. A true artist's work is never finished! It also takes a little imagination on my part to complete something like this autumn  hand-print wreath.

I first took out a few pieces of fall-coloured paper and we scribbled on them with some crayons. That was one day weeks ago! Then, we happened to visit daycare one morning when they were doing an apple print craft. We managed to make a few apple prints, but settled with hand prints for the most part. Out of those hand prints, I was able to trace and cut out more hand prints from our coloured paper. Because trying to trace Thaddeus' hand on a piece of paper was pretty much impossible. Cheating perhaps? Hmm, I'll go with resourceful.

And then of course, I did the rest. I cut out his hand prints and glued them to a ring I made out of cardboard. It would have probably been easier to use a paper plate, but I didn't have one. Turned out great though, I think! I'm sure I'll be putting it up for years to come.

We've also been doing quite a bit of colouring. We don't have a printer, and I need to get to the library to print out some colouring pages! For now, I make them myself with a black sharpie. It works! I'm also hoping to pick up some paints this week in the city so we can start experimenting with those as well! Next up though, I plan on making some play-dough, and some salt-dough Christmas decoration. We'll see how that all goes!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a great start to a short week! :)

OCTOBER 1

Welcome, October! Possibly my favourite month of all. The colours, the smell, the turkey, the apple crisp, the pumpkin spice lattes (FINALLY had my first of the year on the weekend and it was amaaaazing) and most of all, our wedding anniversary. At the end of the month we will see our fourth anniversary! Oh how the time does fly when you`re having fun! The only thing I am not looking forward to is the high likelihood that we will see snow up in the north this month. I will remain in denial for as long as possible.

But this post is not really about all that. It`s simply about a killer thrift find! Check out this teal coat hanger that I found this past weekend (and you can also spot the yellow cowl I crocheted last year. I probably should have written down the pattern, because I want more!). It was $2.99. So of course I couldn`t wait to get it up in our home and decorate it for the season! It looks awesome and I just love it. Along with a baby doll for $2.99 and a pair of winter boots for $3.99 (both for Thaddeus), I`d say it was a highly successful thrift shopping experience! I can`t wait to scour the shops again the next time I`m in the city. And, get another PSL.

Unrelated, but today I have my first prenatal appointment today since I`ve been back in town. I`m really looking forward to hearing baby girl`s heartbeat again, and hearing how things are going. I also have a big list of questions for the doctor and nurses concerning delivery day. I`m quite nervous about it really. I have an hour and a half drive in the dead of winter to get to the hospital. Juuust want to make sure I have all my bases covered to best avoid any kind of crazy road-side birth story. Because seriously. No. Just, no.

Anyway, another one of my favourite decor things is my random tea card banner. I bought this awesome set of tea cards on clearance at Indigo a few years ago, and finally found a crafty use for it. It also came with a bunch of great recipe cards which I have kept! I suppose it`s a little strange, but I love it all the same. It`s the little things that make a house a home!

For us, October also means jumping into gear to prepare to welcome our daughter into the world. We are working on clearing out the spare bedroom that has been our storage space (aka dump space) up until now. That will remain a spare bedroom and hold all our dressers. Our bedroom will become the family sleeping room (I hope to write a post about our sleeping decisions soon!). We will also likely install the infant car seat sooner than later, just to be safe.

In other news, you may notice I have added two new sections to my blog: What I'm Loving Right Now and The Westman Family Book Shop. Or maybe you didn't notice, so there ya go! Feel free to browse around and remember to ask any questions that you may have in the comments below or through our Contact Us page. They will be frequently updated, so be sure to check back often!

What does October mean for you? Do you do anything special this month to celebrate the autumn season? I hope you all had a wonderful start to your week, and that you will enjoy this first day of October. As always, thank you for stopping by.

NURSERY CRAFTING

Mark and I arrived home from Edmonton Monday evening, and unfortunately Mark had to leave early yesterday morning for another 4 days. Then he's back for one night, and gone again all day Saturday. Basketball is busy this time of year in the North! So I had to figure out some things to do to entertain myself with for the next few days.

Enter nursery crafts.

Above, I made a simple garland using friendship bracelet string. It's sooo easy! I just wrapped the string around a piece of cardboard, wrapped some more around the top, secured it with a hot glue gun, snipped the bottom, strung them up, and voila! Simple and cute. 

Oh but wait, there's more.

I thought I'd try out some DIY stamps, and make a print for the baby's room. I simply took 2 elastics I had laying around and cut them into equal lengths. Then I hot glue gunned them to a piece of cardboard, slopped on some paint, drew and cut out a whale stencil, and got stamping! Easy, adorable, and cost me $0. And no, it's not perfect, but I kind of love it like that.

It's beginning to look like a baby boy's room now! Well, almost. But of course I have a few more craft ideas up my sleeve for another day. Hope you can get some inspiration to start crafting! (Instead of just pinning... which I am usually guilty of).

HARDCOVER MEMORIES

As part of Mark's Christmas gift, I made this photo book from a compilation of photos we took on our road trip this past summer. It was so easy to make ( on www.mixbook.com) and such a great keepsake! I got it done in hardcover so it should last us quite a while. We have it propped up on a coffee table in our living room for easy access any time we want to flip through those memorable moments!

CANVAS

Sweet little canvas painting by Jamie and me.

LITTLE HANDS

 I know right? Super cute. We had such a blast painting last week that we even did some more today! Little hands just make the most wonderful creations. Plus, what little one doesn't like finger painting? 

And of course, I've been getting a little practice on working with little hair. I just can't get over how darn cute she is! Part of me wants to have a girl just so I can do her hair... (that is if she'll let me). 

In other news, things have been going well at the Westman house. Mark has been coaching lots of basketball and loving it, and I've been feeling OK... I think weeks 10 & 11 have been the worst for me so far when it comes to nausea. But it's nothing I can't handle! I might not feel great most of the time, but I sure feel blessed. We really can't wait to meet this little baby of ours!

We're also getting really excited for our trip to Ottawa for Christmas. The days are flying by and we are getting antsy to get on that plane! We only hope they slow right down once we land in Ottawa! We are going to drive to Saskatoon right after my next Dr.'s appointment (when we should hear the heartbeat!) and Mark's Aunt and Uncle have graciously offered us to stay with them. They even insisted on driving us to the airport and picking us up when we come back. We are so thankful to have such an awesome family!

In other news, I had a mad craving for JELLO so Mark picked me up an orange packet last night. It was a great midnight snack when I couldn't sleep! Can't wait to see what other cravings I am going to have! I think my daily latte craving is more withdrawal symptoms than a craving. Again - can't wait to get to Ottawa!

BABY BLANKET & UPDATE

It's been busy. Like crazy busy. 

I've started babysitting full-time for a little 2 year old girl named Jamie. She is adorrrrrable! But I'm also now 10 weeks pregnant and so dang tired I can't even explain. The nausea hasn't been terrible, but it also hasn't been great. Soda crackers and maternity pants are actually my best friends right now. Anyways, life with a two-year-old is awesome, but busy. But at least this a good taste of what it must be like to be pregnant with a second child! 

Anyhoo, Mark has also been super busy. His online course workload has really picked up, and he's pretty much coaching basketball almost every night of the week now. It's great, but again, tiring! Last night we were up into the wee hours of the morning as he worked on his paper and I made him some coffee. I eventually had to give up and go to bed, but he was a trooper and got it done.

Last weekend we drove to Cold Lake, AB to do some shopping. As mentioned above, I bought my first pir of mat pants and I am in love! Although I secretly wish I didn't have to wear pants at all... but that would be weird. And cold. It's been like -20 to -25 up here and it's only November! Yikes. So we did a big shop at Walmart and got bunches of food and other random things for our home. But most importantly, yarn. Yahoo!

And as you can see, I started to crochet my first baby blanket! And it's honestly been one of the only creative things I have been doing lately. I haven't even been cooking very much. I actually caved and bought KD last week... delicious though. I mean who am I trying to kid? But anyway it's a new pattern I learned off of good ol' Pinterest (slight obsession) and it's working out quite well. The baby yarn is so soft and lovely and I might have to make a large version for myself. But really, I just can't wait to wrap our little sweetheart up!

Speaking of, my first Dr's appointment last week was awesome. She felt my uterus and told me it was now about the size of a small grapefruit! And at my next appointment (13 weeks) Mark is taking the day off because we should be able to hear the baby's heartbeat! We are so so so super excited. And the next day we will be flying to Ottawa for the Christmas holidays. So that will absolutely be an exciting week. 

Anyway, it is Jamie's nap time right now, which means it is also my nap time!

xo.

STAR ✰ STITCH

I learned a new stitch yesterday and made this Christmas washcloth with the little wool I had left in my basket. I love the star stitch! It's so pretty. I was thinking I could have made a Christmas table runner or something if I had had more wool. Mark is away for basketball this weekend, but we are planning on going into Prince Albert next weekend where I can buy some more wool at Walmart. Then I can start making baby blankets and maybe even some baby booties!

Here's the beginner friendly how-to video I used for the star stitch: