Nesting...

Call it nesting or OCD or just the deranged doings of a pregnant lady but lately I've been feeling the urge to make crafts, sew blankets, organize clothes and closets, harvest the garden and make food, and just get tons of projects done. I've also been busy shopping online and finding deals on a new dresser for the baby's room, stocking up on diapers and formula and baby stuff, organizing my recipe box, updating the 72 hr kits, making lists and checking them twice, catching up on journal writing, saving and backing up pictures and files on the computer, and doing some deep cleaning (I actually dusted the whole house the other day and later got out the vacuum hose another night and cleaned all the corners and edges of a couple rooms because it was bugging me!) I feel overwhelmed with how much I need and/or want to do before I have the baby so it's a good thing I have the desire and some energy to tackle some of these projects now. So to feel a sense of accomplishment (and to check off on my list that I finally blogged about it :), here are just some of the things I've been working on lately...

I saw this rag blanket online a while ago http://quiltsjust4kids.blogspot.com/2008/04/pink-and-brown-baby-blanket-set.html and decided I wanted to make one for a boy if I ever had one. So here's the fabric I bought a few weeks ago...

I finally cut all the squares this past weekend...

And layed them all out in a pattern...


Now I just need to start sewing, which is the funnest part, and clipping the edges and it should look something like this when I'm done. I'm so excited!

Another fun idea I saw once, FHE jars. You put strips of paper in each jar that say titles of primary songs, gospel stories, scriptures, and games and then you just draw one out of each jar and you have an instant Family Home Evening. Very nice for when you have little kids and no time to plan a lesson or activity.

I couldn't stop with just one jar, though! I also saw this idea on my cousin's blog http://woodstockwoodstock.blogspot.com/2009/06/im-bored.html and had to make it too so I have something for the girls to do in a month when it's cold outside and I'm busy with the new baby.

My messy recipe/coupon/take out menu box that has been driving me crazy.

So I wrote down all the recipes on 3x5 cards and put them into a little file box, put the bigger recipes with pictures into a folder with sheet protectors, and threw out a bunch of outdated coupons and menus. Now, that's much better!

Since I organized all my recipes, that got me in the mood for cooking so I started harvesting the garden and have been making salsa...

And carrot cake, pot roast, and soups with many of the carrots from our garden. This is only half of them, I still have a bunch more in the ground ready to go in the next batch of soup or casseroles.

I was really bummed that I missed out on the prime peach picking time this year since I was gone to Utah for most of Aug. so I've been looking for good and cheap peaches in the stores the last few weeks and finally found some decent ones to cut up and freeze for winter.

Lastly, Abbie has been begging me to make bread ever since we came home from Utah because she got to watch her Aunt Irene make it several times while we were there and just loves it so much fresh out of the oven. I don't blame her, I love it too, it's just a lot of work to make it very often.

Here she is helping knead it...

And finally getting to eat some! Yay!

Can you believe I did all this while 8 months pregnant? I can't either! I'm tired just thinking about it so I'm going to bed, I've got to get my rest before the baby comes!

Since we've been home...

It's been raining a lot! The girls were begging me to let them go play outside in the puddles with their umbrellas so I finally went and found their boots and rain jackets. They had so much fun splashing around...


The rain was so hard that it knocked over a few of our sunflowers that had just bloomed

Look at the size of this thing, it's as big as Abbie's head!

Speaking of gardening, our tomatoes and peppers are doing great, though! We got our first ripe one last week and more are starting to turn so I'm looking forward to making some yummy salsa again.

Lastly, here are some crafts that I've completed in the last few months and finally can show on here since some of them were gifts. I made family name boards for most of my siblings...

Some frames for Abbie and Leah...

I saw this cute idea at my sister-in-law's house and decided to make my own bow holder so it's easy to find the right bow or flower when doing the girls' hair.

I made a couple of these 10" hearts to hang around the house
I got the kit for this while in Utah and painted and stained the wood, nailed the metal sign on, and tied it all up with ribbon and hung it on this hook that my sister convinced me to get. Doesn't it go great with the black frames on my entryway table?

Lastly, but definitely not least, here's the clock that my sister painted for me. It's 24" wide, huge! I finally got the vinyl numbers on and the hands installed and hung it up! I love it! It looks so big on the wall compared to my old measly little clock that used to hang there.
Well, there you go, just a little about what we've been up to this past week.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Our garden has been growing like crazy this month and here's how much it has changed in just one month. This is when we planted, May 22nd:

And this is today! We have a row of sunflowers on the far left, followed by corn, then sections of lettuce, peas, and carrots on the right (and lots of weeds we need to pick)!

The corn is already to the top of the second siding on the house (how we measured it's progress last year). I think it's knee-high just in time for the 4th of July!

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Our tomatoes when I first planted them May 22nd. They were just under the first ring on the cages.

And now they are already higher than the top of the cages, about the biggest they ever got last summer after 3 months.

The only thing we have done differently this year is to mix a few bags of Miracle Grow soil into the garden area and then that's all we used in the pots for the tomatoes. Crazy, I can't wait for harvest time!

Warm weather finally!

It's ridiculous how long this winter has seemed and how long we've been waiting to finally be able to play outside and enjoy the sunshine. Well, this week it finally happened! I've been letting Abbie and Leah play in the backyard almost every day lately and eat their lunch outside so on this day, after giving them their sandwiches and juice, I came out to find this:

It was so cute, they pulled the wagon into the backyard and set up a chair for Leah and were talking to eachother and just eating away, oblivious that I was watching. I just thought it was so cute!

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Leah figured out how to pull her ducky and blankie in the wagon and she and Abbie take turns pulling their animals or eachother down the driveway and sidewalk. I'm glad they are starting to play better together and not fight as much.

At the park on a 80+ degree day!

There was a lady blowing bubbles for her kids and she kindly let Abbie join in the fun. I thought this picture of her chasing the bubbles was cute!

We finally got around to planting our garden over the weekend and I let the girls have their own little patch in the back to plant all the leftover seeds from last year and a few from this year all together in a row. They love to dig holes and play in the dirt in this area and it doesn't get much water because of the rain gutter so it will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes up. The girls will have fun having a garden to water and weed all to themselves, though!

They put in the seeds, covered the row back up, and watered it all by themselves. They were such good helpers and were so serious about it!

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We planted sunflowers, corn, lettuce, peas, and carrots in the front...

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And then a whole bunch of tomato plants in pots to put in a tiny sunny spot in the backyard.

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This is almost double what we did last year so I'm excited to make salsa, sauces, soup, and sandwiches with tomatoes galore! I'm also doing peppers and cilantro so I have a few more fresh ingredients for making salsa. I can't wait and I'm going to make sure I wear gloves everytime from now on! (to see what I'm talking about, go here)

Reaping the rewards from a hard day of yard work!

Enjoy your summer!