Pumpkin centerpiece

While in IA early this month, Z's parents took us to a lovely pumpkin farm for a fall afternoon outing!

It really was so colorful and such a beautiful day. I could have stayed there all day taking pictures of all the cool stuff... but I'll save that for another post. We pulled Sam around in a wagon and looked at all kinds of pumpkins and gourds... he loved it. See our little Pumpkin in with all the pumpkins?

We all selected a pumpkin or two to take home with us. Linda (my MIL) and I selected some lovely fat green ones with a fun project planned.  We made a little run to The Lob, to gather a few pretties, and when we got home, we get to work!
First, we washed our dirty pumpkins.

Then we gathered up our supplies:
Pumpkins, ribbon, burlap, artificial leaves/berries, feathers, beads, sparkly picks, wire, and a hot glue gun.

Next we sat down and layered and arranged and rearranged until we liked the way things looked... then we glued it all down and tied big bows for the top... to create fall centerpieces for our tables!

This one was Linda's and I think it turned out so fun and cute!

This one was mine... and I like the funky spiky feather and blingyness. :)

We even made a mini one for Grandma to put on her desk and she was quite pleased. It was a simple and fun project to create a centerpiece that should last the season. We were happy with the results, and I really enjoyed myself putting it all together!
Have you created any fall decor recently? Just the other day I remembered that Amy Lee and I made that cool wreath for my front door, time to get that out! And my black candlesticks to create Halloween display, maybe? Ooh speaking of Halloween... it's time to get started on the little Pumpkin's costume... FUN!

9 months with Sam

Hey busy little boy, here's what you were up to at 9 months:

Sam @ 9 months

Weight:

at birth: 9lbs 2.7 oz

  at nine months: 21 lbs 7 oz

Eating

Still enjoying solid foods three times a day with your family, and beginning to reduce formula feedings... which you enjoy before naps, bedtime, and once in the night usually between 3 and 4 a.m... same as last month.

Sleeping

You wake up every day around 8:00 a.m.

You nap for 2-3 hours around 11:00 a.m.

You nap for about an hour around 5:00 p.m.

Bedtime is 9:30 p.m.
If we stray from this schedule... you are a grizzly bear.

Likes

Bouncing with Grandpa (S). Everytime grandpa picks you up he turns you to face out and then stands there bouncing you. You smile and laugh and wave your arms like a maniac. You also kick your feet like crazy, and Grandpa jokes that he needs a 'nutcup' when he holds his grandson.

Blankets. Proof you are related to Mama. You love blankets. You love to play with them, chew on them, snuggle them, and you definitely will not go to sleep without one. We have these lightweight gauze blankets we used to swaddle you in, and those are your favorites, but you also love the texture and weight of your quilts and the crocheted blanket Aunt Cookie made you.

Drums. Daddy and Grandpa made you a pair of Sam size drumsticks. You love them and immediately started hitting everything in sight.

Dislikes

Growing teeth. I mean, who does? But you had a doozy of a month pushing those things through.

Firsts

First upper teeth! Actually, 6 teeth broke through this month. It was a pretty crazy month, with two really intense weeks trying to get four through all at the same time. yikes!

First cold. I feel pretty lucky that we made it to 9 months before our first cold... but it was miserable for everyone in the house. Poor guy would only sleep in the stroller or the car, so there were a few sleepless nights for everyone pushing a stroller around and around the living room.

Things I don't want to forget

You are so busy and curious all the time. You crawl accross the room, then turn and smile at me like-- I'm just over here Mama, don't worry, Then you go about your playing.

Your sweet baby chatter. Talking and chattering constantly, but it's fun to get you up in the mornings and you see us walk in the room and smile and say Mama mam mamama or Dada dada dadadadada. We love it.

Your gummy baby smile... you have so many teeth now! Such a young man.

Nine month video footage is short and sweet. You were not really interested in holding still and talking to mama for a video. But you are cute and you have your drumsticks...

9 months from Valerie Pogemiller on Vimeo.

I love you, Busy Boy.

Busy

I have a 9 month old.
So I am sure you now understand why the title of this post is relevant.
But also I have been busy trying to complete some projects for my house and a few for my friends and a few for Christmas. But progress seems to be slow, and time seems to pass by more quickly-- and we have fruit flies? That's off topic, but irritating to me.
Anyway, I can't yet show off most of the things I have been working on (sigh) but here is a sneak peak:

Does the bicycle fabric just make your heart melt? I loved it.
And ohmygosh-- is that minky? Whatintheworld? Yes, I have a strange relationship with minky. I used to be all anti-minky because it wigs me out and I dislike synthetic fabrics. But then we go to the fabric store, and Sam reaches his little hands out to the minky LIKE HE KNOWS it's forbidden... and his eyes light up with wonder at the textured, furry, softness...
And I was convinced to reconsider.
Then I touched it. It really is soft. Mmmm... minky!
Anyway, Sam and I aren't the only ones who love it-- working on the minky project, I walked away for only a few seconds and came back to find Charlie rolling in the pile of minky scraps and nibbling that stuff like it was his job. Oh, Charlie. Z has been trying to convince me that Charlie needs a special quilt made from scraps of all the special fabrics I sew with but won't let him snuggle or chew. Haha. We'll see, Charlie. We'll see.

Something I love

This past weekend my family and I went to the Plaza Art Fair in KC. This will be the second year we have gone (last year I was quite pregnant!), and I always enjoy the artwork and just being surrounded by so much creativity.
This year, I came accross an artist who's work astounded and thrilled me. (wow, that sounded less cheesy before I typed it!) I was drawn into her booth by colors and lovely vintage silhouettes, and when I got closer I literally gasped in amazement and excitement!

Lisa Norris is the Artist behind Made By One Girl, and she creates collages of vintage objects out of vintage objects. Her booth was filled with lovely vintage fashion prints made out of vintage sewing pattern pieces. It was stunning, really.
I spoke with her for a few minutes at her booth. She was really lovely. I asked her how she got started with such a unique and cool concept, and she told me after design school she had a ton of vintage patterns and items and joked that she started cutting them up so she wouldn't have to learn to sew. ha! I admire her creativity.

I just kept staring and staring like a creeper, and loving the masterful way she pieced he work together. We went to the Art Fair on a strict window-shopping only policy, but oh, oh how I wanted to snatch up pieces from her collection!

So much fun! By far the coolest thing I saw at the art fair, combining things I love... vintage silhouettes, sewing patterns, fashion prints... all so lovely! I just had to share this with you! You should check out her website and some of her other fantastic work!

**All photos were taken from Made by One Girl's website. I am in no way affiliated with, or compensated to advertise for them, I was just a huge fan, thought this was a magnificent find, and wanted to share with all my friends!

Dear Grandmas, don't be mad.

I know you said-- don't you dare!
But I think a lot of grandmas must say that, which is why a lot of little kids end up with the baby mullet.

But you know how I feel about mullets. And the long hair that Sam could tuck behind his ears was getting silly. Too silly to keep around for a grandma's sake.

So this little gentleman got his first official haircut this weekend. Just to clean up the edges and reduce mullet happenings... and to keep him looking sharp and clean cut.

Isn't he dashing?

Rainy Day Grandma Cookies

I've recently been going through a bunch of my Grandma's old recipes. (there may or may not be a secret project involved there... but shhhh...) One thing we used to always give Grandma a hard time about was how impossible her handwriting was to read, but since she is gone that's one of the things I find I miss most. We always lived in different states so we saw each other only a few times a year, but grandma was great about sending letters and cards regularly... and I miss getting those envelopes with her uneven cursive scratched accross the front, and then giggling trying to decipher the text inside.

Anyway, it makes me happy sorting through and trying to decipher the writing on her recipe cards. So special remembering her and the yummy food she loved to serve her family.One of the things I loved and found so compelling about this one was the little note she scribbled in the corner that says "Good we like them" Well with that review, how could I say no?
Today was a rainy day. The pleasantly gloomy, growling kind. The kind that needs cold milk, warm cookies, and pleasant reminiscing. So I grabbed one of those recipes and got to work.

In classic Valerie form, I selected my recipe and dove right in before doing an ingredient check... only to get halfway through and discover I was going to have to stray from the plan. I only had about half the coconut the recipe called for... so I threw in some chocolate chips to fill the space. But the resulting edited cookie was so yummy I kinda think it was serendipitous.

 I also used half and half butter and shortening, instead of just shortening as the recipe calls for. I love the texture shortening gives, but you can't beat the flavor of butter in a cookie, amIright?

Anyway, these went together pretty fast, and we soon had cookie smell in our house as they were baking up beautifully. And Sam and I got some singing and dancing out of the way while waiting for them to bake.

 These turned out magnificently! Can you see the crispness of the outside and the chewy in the middle? Sigh. Yum. Thank you shortening/butter combo! They are just way tasty too! Grandma's assessment was solid. I never really doubted her judgement though.
Anyway... here's the recipe, in case you can't decipher Grandma's writing (and I won't judge you if you can't!) and in case you want my changes.

Rainy Day Cookies

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup flake coconut

1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream shortening, sugars, and egg. Sift in flour, salt, and soda. Stir in oats, coconut, and chips.

Scoop onto ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (until barely golden on top)

Serve warm with a glass of milk. Share cookies and stories about Granny with your munchkin.

*Sam approved. Every last crumb.

Hang it up!

This is probably not a post that is going to change anyone's life... but it is one of those things that has been on my to do list for... almost 9 months now, and I finally got to it. [Internet highfive-ing myself]
Remember way back in the day when Sam was brand new and I promised you a nursery tour?  And then a couple weeks ago I shared some prints I made for Sam's room and told you I was finally finishing it up to get around to that?
WELL.
This is just one more thing.

When Sam was born we had some awesome newborn photos taken of him. Our photographer really got in there close with some detail shots... and I love the pink roundness of those tiny toes, his sweet little lips, and how long his fingers were! Oh, man! I am getting high from new baby smell just thinking about it all. Anyway, I meant for 8 months to get some canvases made with those little detail shots to hang on the blank wall of his room.

I finally got them.
And it was time to finally hang them.
Grabbed my tape measure, level, and a few nails (these things are pretty lightweight, so even though they are hanging above the crib... no special anchor or equipment was required to keep them in place.) and got them up on the wall.

 
And there you have it.
I also re-hung his mobile but (Ooh, foreshadowing!) more on that later...
I am so happy to check that off my to do list! Just a few more things and then I will clean the room and get you a proper nursery tour... hopefully before the kid turns 1. (but no promises.)