Cake

 My Birthday Cake. My first attempt at a drip cake. Doing it with a spoon was harder than I thought it would be. I practiced some piping skills. Annabelle picked out the color.

Crochet Hippo

So my goal in crocheting is not to buy new yarn. I have a ton of it and don't need more. Unfortunately that means I may run out during a project like I did for this Hippo. I asked 3 kids if I should leave this Hippo with one leg or if I should do it in another color. They all answered that I should have 2 legs. I believe the story for this Hippo is that its leg is broken and is in a cast. 

Now I do not like sewing limbs on. Seaming things together is hard and it usually ends up looking goofy. I think this Hippo turned out to be adorably goofy.

Technically didn't make the baby, but I did supply the building blocks.
 

Crochet blanket and octopus

 

I made this Rainbow blanket and Octopus for the new baby.

These Octopus were nice to do. They don't take long (I did them in a day) and they way the pattern works you don't have to seam on the eight legs.

Octopus pattern from: https://www.serendipity-as-always.com/post/280508682659/nicu-octopus-a-free-crochet-pattern?epik=0aRA5E_IW31Zy

Sushi

 I've been interested in making sushi for awhile, but never could find the large nori wraps nor did I know what type of rice to use. Well, one day I saw the nori wraps and bought them. I ordered the rice off of amazon. Chopped up some carrots, cucumbers, and avocados and made a delicious veggie Sushi.

At first Sunshine did not want to eat the sushi. I gave her a plate of rice and carrots (she did not want to eat the cucumbers and nori once she knew it was seaweed). By the end she wanted to try one of the rolls. She ate half, but didn't really want to eat the seaweed.

Later in the week, I made a fruit one with apples and bananas. Sunshine did not want to eat that one because it was not the one she had before.

Birthday

A castle cake

 I attempted to make a monster pinata. The last one I made was too hard to break, so I made this one thinner. That may have been a mistake. When I went to pop the balloon, it popped the pinata as well. We had to come up with a back up plan for the pinata.

Banana Cake

 

Bob Ross Painting

 We did a Virtual Scavenger Hunt, put on by Provo. One of the activities we could do was watch a Bob Ross video and paint along. It was fun looking at videos on Youtube trying to find a picture that I had all the colors for and didn't look too hard. He had more brush options than I, so I had to make due to what was closest.

Chocolate Truffles

I tempered some milk chocolate and made a semi-sweet ganache.

I learned that having help from a 3 year old is sometimes difficult and I need to tap the mold more to get all the bubbles out.
 

Fabric gift bags

I had decided I wanted less wrapping paper for Christmas to reduce waste. I made these little gift bags and think they turned our really cute.

 

I made some Bao buns for Christmas Eve. They were tasty. I had some problems folding the buns. My dough didn't quite look like theirs. It didn't look billowy and soft. So maybe it would have been easier to to fold if it was. 

Baby Blanket

 

I saw this yarn at the store and loved the colors. I bought it and found this pattern for a baby blanket. Read the pattern and realized I needed another skein. Luckily I was able to find other at the store. It's a simple pattern, except for the beginning corner. I don't think I ever figured it out. So it looks off if you sit a stare at it. I finished it awhile ago.

More Turkeys

 

Each day for 2 weeks before Thanksgiving we all wrote down one thing that we were grateful for. Little Sunshine did help cut out some of the feathers. She also kept calling it a peacock.

For Thanksgiving appetizer I copied this little turkey. It turned out better then I thought it would. 

Something I made

 

So I made this Turkey Button practice thing.

I asked my child to pick out six buttons. She picked out only pink and purples. When it came time for me to sew them on, I asked her what order I should do them in. She instantly said, "No! Not these ones. These ones are too pretty." So I had to have her pick out six more button for the turkey. 

You may also notice that two of the feathers are missing. They were pick and purple. Someone may have stolen them for their color.

And Life Went On

 I tending Isaac, Violet, and Ezra awhile ago. Annabelle loves to play with her cousins. And Violet particularly loves playing with Annabelle. We made a fort with these cool building toys that they have.

 Annabelle has recently learned how to rock herself in the glider.

 My mom and I refinished these chairs and got a table cloth for the table. It looks very pretty, but now I need some red plates. 

 Michael really wants a green yard with just grass in it. But that apparently comes with a lot of work. Like pulling dandelions every day and fixing your sprinklers so they turn on.

And this one likes to play in dirt and water.

October

 Here is Annabelle watching Michael get ready for the day. She loves to watch you brush your teeth.

 She has learned to sit up on her own. But the first few times she would do it while she would cry in her crib to get out. I would come in and she would be sitting there not laying down.

 We have some beautiful trees. Which means we have lots of leaves in our yard. But to be fair, we have lots of beautiful, large trees in our neighborhood, so we would probably have lots of leaves in our yard anyways.

 Michael's work had a pumpkin picking party. We went on a hayride to the pumpkin patch. Annabelle was on our laps and I was freaking out a bit because it was so bumpy. It took a moment for me to be comfortable about not having her in a car seat.

 We got a pumpkin almost as big as her. 

 Her trying to get away. 

 She's still a small thing. The few times I've been able to get her on our scale she been about 15 lbs.

 She also loves to play peak-a-boo. And has learned to do it her self.

 She was an adorable little pumpkin for her first Halloween. For the family events Michael and I also dressed up as pumpkins. Michael also dressed up as Jake from his 'Dead by Daylight' game.

 I decided to carve our pumpkin to look like a Christmas tree. I think I did a good job.

She has learned to clap. And she loves it.

She loves to eat. If you're eating you better have something ready for her to eat.

July

Fourth of July Fun.

Annabelle and I made it to the water fight.

Timpview Band Marching right outside.We live about a block away from the high school. We can often hear the band practicing in the morning, particularly the drums. Well, on the morning of the 3rd, Annabelle and I were chilling upstairs and I was listening to the band. I like to listen to them practice so I'm glad we live so close. I wanted to share this sentiment with James and made the comment, "I love listening to the band. It sounds like they're right outside our window." James looked up and said that they were right outside our window. And sure enough they were. Turns out they do this every year, but I'm usually at work. Annabelle liked listening to the band.

 We went to Grandma's house on the 4th after eating at Uncle Greg's House. We watched 1776.

 Other 4th of July activities that we did were to go to the Carillon concert and the Children's Parade. Michael and I did the Freedom Run while my mom and Violet tended to Annabelle. We did not go to the 4th of July Parade.

Annabelle is more interested in what is going on around her. I would be making something with her in a carrier facing out. And should would be reaching for whatever I was working on.

She can now roll from back to tummy to her right. Though she still prefers the left. She still learning to roll from tummy to back. I think it would be funny if she learns to crawl before she learns to roll from tummy to back. She likes to sleep on her side at the moment.

This tree died over the winter. So we got rid of it.

She's doing better at entertaining herself. So car rides are getting a bit better.

We had an extended family get together at Chuck-a-Rama. Michael really wanted a picture of Annabelle with her father, Grandma, and GreatGrandma.

Kaitlin came back from her mission from the south. This is a picture of all of the children born while she was away.

Annabelle is a funny one. She likes to watch people, but she doesn't necessarily like people. If people try to pick her up or play with her, she'll often cry. But if they are at a distant she will give them a big smile.

Being 5 month old.

We often go on walks together. I'll either put her in the baby carrier or in the stroller. She prefers to be faced out in the baby carrier over the stroller.