Archive for December, 2011

My Handmade Holidays, Day 6

Posted in Sewing on December 31st, 2011 by jen – 1 Comment

My Mother-in-law has a love for cooking, so I made her an insulated casserole carrier for toting her fabulous food to friend's houses.

Casserole carrier

Our holly, jolly Christmas

Posted in Celebrations, Leah, Molly on December 30th, 2011 by jen – Be the first to comment

In Sellers tradition, we opened one gift each on Christmas Eve. Leah got this Tinkerbell doll from Grammy, which she's slept with every night since receiving it. She also decided this ribbon from one of the presents would make a great pirate headband.

Nice headband

On Christmas morning, Chad took video of the girls opening their stockings. The girls also enjoyed playing with their new toys.

When wearing one particular pair of jammies, Leah always calls herself Dr. Leah. So, when I saw this doctor kit at a consignment sale, she knew it'd be perfect!

Dr. Leah

Whenever Leah was opening a present and Molly wanted to open it, Molly would tell Leah they should use teamwork. She figured out this was a way to get to open someone else's present without being told to back off since it was someone else's turn.

Cooperative opening

Here's Molly opening some books from G'Mom and Grampa while sitting on her new floor cushion.

New books on a nice reading seat

Over at Grams and Pop's, Molly was nice enough to push Leah in the rocking chair before they did a little dancing around. Watch that video here.

Little Santas

Leah got some wings and a tutu of her own from Aunt Caroline, which she of course loves. And we love that the girls are no longer fighting over the one set we had before.

Wings and a tutu for Leah

Molly, Leah, and Aunt Caroline had fun playing with some fairies (specifically Tinkerbell, Vidia, Rosetta, and Silvermist).

Playing with fairies

We had Christmas crackers before lunch, a tradition Chad's family picked up when living in England. As always, they include crowns which we all don for the meal.

Christmas crowns

Aunt Caroline and Aunt EA played Mario Kart with Molly for the first time (as well as some other Wii games). She did ok, though Molly does much better with the Kinect as she's not used to the abstraction of the controller.

Mario Kart

The girls had fun playing with their Aunts all day. Here Aunt EA and Leah had to wake up the sleeping (not really) Molly. On the count of 3, say cock-a-doodle-do!

Cock-a-doodle-do!

My Handmade Holidays, Day 5

Posted in Sewing on December 30th, 2011 by jen – 1 Comment

I wanted to make the girls' Christmas jammies this year, so when Fabric.com was running a "Christmas in July" sale, I snatched up some cute holiday flannel. I finally got around to making them in early December and used this pattern. Molly loves nightgowns, but I wanted a top/pants set for Leah. You've already seen them on the girls in our Christmas videos, but here they are close up.

Molly's Christmas nightgown

The girls were super excited to wear them on Christmas Eve.

Leah's Christmas jammies

In addition to making jammies for my girls, I made a nightgown for Emmie and sent it in the mail to surprise her. When she received it, I got a sweet phone call thanking me and she immediately wore it for her nap!

Nightgown for Emmie

My Handmade Holidays, Day 4

Posted in Sewing on December 29th, 2011 by jen – 2 Comments

After seeing several posts in the crafting blogosphere about these Land of Nod inspired floor cushions, I decided that all the girls needed them. The first one I made was for Emmie. Leah saw the picture and asked, "It's a cake?"

Floor cushion

My girls love theirs! They sit on them to watch movies, and have been seen bouncing off of them once or twice too.

Molly's floor cushion

Leah's floor cushion

Dancing around

Posted in Leah, Molly, Video on December 28th, 2011 by c-had – Be the first to comment

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With all the ballet going on around here, the girls have really gotten into dancing. They love listening to music and just dancing around (usually doing something approximating ballet). Here are the two of them just having fun dancing around on Christmas morning before and after breakfast.

My Handmade Holidays, Day 3

Posted in Sewing on December 28th, 2011 by jen – 1 Comment

Last year at our annual Bible study Christmas party, I snagged an Envirosax Reusable Shopping Bag. I love that it rolls up and fits into the side pocket of the diaper bag. So, when I saw this tutorial to make a roll-up tote, I knew I wanted to make a few.

I made one for my grandmother.

Roll-up tote

The snap in action…

The snap in action

I also made totes for Molly's preschool teachers because really, what teacher doesn't love a new tote! One was identical to the above tote. These were the other two.

Teacher tote

Teachers love totes

Christmas morning 2011

Posted in Leah, Molly, Video on December 27th, 2011 by c-had – 3 Comments

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Here's a bit of Christmas morning this year. I'm not sure why Molly was confused when she came out as to whether she was allowed to go over to her stocking or not. Silly girl. My favorite part is definitely Leah at the very end.

My Handmade Holidays, Day 2

Posted in Sewing on December 27th, 2011 by jen – 3 Comments

One Fall afternoon, the girls and I were Skyping with my mom. She informed me that she had a couple of ideas for Christmas. One was to make her a new Spring purse. She really liked the previous one I made her, but wanted one more Spring-like. So, like a good daughter, I obliged. :)

Spring buttercup bag

Christmas Eve singing

Posted in Celebrations, Church, Molly, Video on December 26th, 2011 by c-had – Be the first to comment

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This was our first Christmas Eve service without Molly by our side. This was because she and the rest of her Cherub Choir were very involved in the service. This video is of the song they sang towards the beginning, Mary Had a Baby. Note that Molly appears to be the only one doing the hand motions they were taught. Later in there service they briefly appeared again as reindeer and then appeared as angels singing Gloria toward the end.

My Handmade Holidays

Posted in Sewing on December 26th, 2011 by jen – 1 Comment

This year, I again handmade several holiday gifts for my family and friends. I'll be sharing them with you over the next several days.

The first was this ruffled romper for my niece, Emmie, from the pattern I tested last year. I bought the corduroy fabric to make a jumper for Leah last winter, but then she got too big for the pattern I had picked out. Oops! So, I made use of it another way.

Ruffled romper

My sister took a picture of Emmie in her outfit. How cute is she?!

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