stockings...

i made our stockings (originally) the year avery was born. i am just gonna say, that was a dark time for me. my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer mere weeks before avery was born, i had a newborn so i couldn't go be with my mom during her surgery or chemo or anything, the newborn in question was projectile vomiting the contents of her stomach on a regular basis because she had such bad reflux...she couldn't sleep well, was cranky etc....so i was tired and emotional and yadda yadda yadda....

so i think in my sleepless haze i dreamed up THE hardest way to make stockings and then tried to do that. they were okay, they were cute from a distance but up close, i didn't love them.

so i went to make Blake's stocking this week (yep, he didn't have one last year...something's gotta give people) and it didn't turn out well and i just thought, if i have to look at these stockings and use them, i better love them! so i made us all new ones! fortunately i had enough fabric for a whole other set of stockings and i really like how they turned out!

(click on pic to see details if you wanna...)
the boys have red stars and red jingle bells (i just bought joann's last little bag of red jingle bells for blake's they aren't sewn on yet) and the girls have white stars and white pom pom fringe! so much better, i have to tell you. i don't even think i have a picture of the old ones, but they had the green santa fabric on the toe and heel and it wasn't a good fit so it was bunchy and weird, and then the cuff wasn't a cuff, it was a flap and i hated that...the pom pom and the bells were the same, the wooden letters were the same...the stars i added this time because i love stars....anyway, i am much happier so that's what matters:)

we went to the Mesa Temple lights display tonight (for the second time) with kendall's family, because his dad is back in town from Iraq...and it was fun. blake loves to walk with anything that will move with him, hence, "helping" daddy move the stroller, the kids loved the lights and a good time was had by all:)



ethan and avery have been painting with watercolor a lot lately (mostly ethan...but avery some) and he's quite prolific so i decided we should make beautiful snowflakes out of his artwork...