quiet book

 I did it! I made my first Quiet Book. And it was a TON of work! I had a lot of fun making it but it really took time, thought, planning and consideration. But I did it! And it's finished! I got it finished for Henry's birthday and he has enjoyed playing with it at services ever since! It's so cute - he knows it's his! The cover page is made of stiff felt. I ironed on the letter and cut them out of another page of stiff felt and attached it with velcro. I wanted him to get used to seeing his name and understand he would play around with the letters. He picked out the little airplane applique (which only lasted through one service before he ripped it off!) Oh, and everything was pretty much sewed together with the sewing machine. Not a big fan of hand-stitching!

 Got the inspiration for this page from a cute quiet book on Pinterest. I just made my own pattern and had some scrap fabric that I used for the ears, nose and coin purse. It's a piggy bank! I cut a whole in the top and bought some fake money at the dollar store to put in the coin purse. The bottom of the pig is velcroed together so it's easy to get the coins out. This is one of his favorites!

Peter fishing in the boat with his net. The little fish are velcroed on so he can move them around and stick them in the net. Peter is removable too. Henry really likes to stick him in the net! Inspiration found Here.

 Noah's Ark - my personal favorite page! Got this idea from Pinterest too here. The ark was pretty easy to construct but my first attempt was too small. I bought the little finger puppets at Ikea for only $5! Love that place! And they're perfect for the ark. I put a strip of velcro on the front of the ark so some of the animals can ride up top and look out. The other animals are stored inside the ark with a big easy button to open the door.

 The other side of the ark is the rainbow. This was pretty simple. I just sewed strips of felt in the shape of a rainbow. Then I hand stitched tiny snaps on the rainbow and on the grass. The other piece of the snap was sewed to the felt flowers. So he can match up the colors of the flowers to the colors of the rainbow or plant the flowers in the grass. He's just now getting the hang of the snaps. They're a bit tricky since they're so tiny.

 The dryer. This is the only page I used an actual pattern on. I got the pattern from an adorable blog with a ton of quiet book ideas here. Her book was absolutely perfect. Mine is the exact opposite of that. But I've decided I like it that way. It's more me. Not perfect. And it's kind of a little more charming all crooked and slightly messed up! (At least that's what I tell myself!) Anyways, it was pretty easy to do although it needed a lot of supplies. The door to the dryer is velcroed so it's easy to open and close. I tried a snap first but I decided it was too difficult for a two year old.

 This is it's matching page - the socks. So you take one sock from the dryer and match it to it's mate on this page. The socks have tiny magnets in them so they're easy to match up. Henry really likes this page. He also likes sticking all sorts of other things in the dryer - the coins from the piggy bank, the finger puppets....

 The farm with the road. Henry's ALL TIME FAVORITE PAGE!! I was worried it would be boring since the road is so small. Boy was I wrong! He loves this page. He drives the car all over the road and love it! I sewed little farm animals from scraps of farm fabric inside the door and windows of the barn. So when he opens the door/windows a cow or chickens are waiting for him! There are french knots for the apple tree and some purple flowers in the bush. The lights on the stoplight are velcroed on so he can pull them off and play around with them. Inspiration found here.

 This is even Jonah's favorite. He's already asked me to do this page in his book. Apparently he thinks I'm going to make another one.  Just kidding - I'm going to start his next month! And I've got plans, big plans for his!

 The monkey page. This was one page where I was actually creative! I wanted a page with a big chunky zipper and this is what I came up with. The monkey was SUPER easy. I was terrified of sewing a zipper but this was actually the easiest page in the entire book! The zipper opens his mouth to reveal little felt banana.

 Henry really like zipping and unzipping his mouth. And since it's the big chunky kind, it doesn't make noise during church!

 The last page was this cute counting page. It wasn't too difficult, except I cut the ribbon too short on several lines and had to redo this page about four times. Not cool. But I found the beads at the dollar store so this was pretty inexpensive. He doesn't count the beads yet, but he does enjoy sliding them around.
My inspiration is found here.

I bound the whole thing with grommets, which were really easy to use and install. I just tied it all together with ribbon for now. I finally found some binder rings and will switch over to them. I think the pages will turn better with the binder rings. And this clear bag was just a happy coincidence! It actually went to a wooden, magnet "paper" doll set but the book fit perfectly. Overall, I'm really excited and happy with how it turned out. I've learned a few things that will help me when I make Jonah's. And now I understand why people sell these things for $50!!!

spiffy chompers

Jonah had to go to the dentist for his first official cleaning and exam. Not an exciting moment for a parent. So we did a lot of prepping, watching Elmo's World (the one where the kid goes to the dentist), pretending with PupPup and a little bribing. The morning of the exam, he was a bit nervous and asked to bring PupPup. This is a special treat since PupPup doesn't get to go anywhere.  But I wanted it to be a really good experience, so the dog went. We have the best pediatric dentist ever! Their office is SUPER kid friendly and Jonah loved showing Henry where all the toys were. He felt like hot stuff! When it was his turn to go back, the hygenist came and got him (of course I went too!) and told him about all the good foods he should be eating and about all the bad foods he should avoid. Thankfully she was a bit more practical than previous dental assistants concerning the "bad" foods. Then she had him lay on a padded bed thing and gave him an exam and scrubbed his teeth. He really didn't know what was going on and was terrified the entire time but he did SUPER good! No tears! So she loaded him down with toys and stickers. The best part was when she offered him two toys for being so good. He asked if he could only get one toy and get another toy for his brother Henry. SO SWEET! I love that boy! Of course that melted her heart too and she gave him a whole bag of goodies for him to take to Henry! Overall, it was a complete success. After he was finished, he told Henry that the dentist is fun and he can't wait to go back again! Yay!

Padres, baskets and bats

 A few random pictures of my cute kiddos! I came into the boys' room to collect their laundry and found this little guy hanging out in the laundry basket!

 My cute little bats! It's a little hard to see their faces, but they are making some cute little faces in eat of these.

We went to a Padres' game with a group of friends from church. It was so much fun! We sat in a section called "the beach." The seats are all lined up with large grassy areas between the rows. And down front, there is a sand pit. They even provide a bunch of sand toys! The kids had SO MUCH FUN!! Jonah made best friends with everyone down there! That boy doesn't know a stranger! :)

my three plumbers

 We HAD to install a new toilet in our downstairs bathroom. The one we had was probably 20+ years old! So we picked up this one up and my three plumbers got to work. Jonah was SO excited to "help." Dan went outside to get his toolbox and Jonah begged him to wait until he could run upstairs and get his toolbox! He also "helped" Dan read the instructions!

All three of them jammed into the tiny bathroom waiting to "help" Daddy!

absolute cuteness

 My sweet boys before services. I couldn't decide which one to post, so I'm posting them all! I love these little guys so much!

Jonah has recently discovered pockets and he's obsessed with them! I love that he's got his hand in his pocket!

preschool

 Several days a week I do "preschool" with Jonah. He absolutely LOVES it!! He asks to do preschool throughout the day! I love that! Well, for a while I was able to distract Henry with puzzles and other toys we don't play with very often.  But recently, he's wised up to the fact that Jonah is having fun with things that he doesn't get to do. So, thanks to a few homeschool sites I found from pinterest, I came up with a few "preschool" activities he could do at the table with us.  This one included different things like cheerios, dried pasta, and beans that he could spoon into cups. We just happened to have these little cups left over from Easter egg dye. He had a lot of fun and the mess was pretty minimal!

He's practicing counting from 1-20! He's pretty proud of himself!

Jonah

 We finally took Jonah's "three year old" pictures. It was kind of fun to take them ourselves, although it gives me a huge appreciation for photographers! These are a few of my favorites. Jonah did really good and cooperated, although he's pretty photogenic!