Olivia's Quiet Book:

I've finally finished Olivia's Quiet book and I'm so excited about it. It took me longer than I thought, but it was all worth it. I can't wait when she can play with it. Initially I did this for sacrament meetings at Church to keep her quite but this will come in handy at home as well.

For the cover page and back page I just got material and put felt in the middle to make it stiff and then bunch holes on the sides.

I cut shapes out of felt, glued velcro and string on it.

I had scrapes of old jeans and sewed two sides together to make "mini-jeans" and then made a belt buckle out of ribbon.

I got these cheap zippers for 25 cents at the fabric store and just sewed them to the page.

This page is probably my favorite. I cut flowers out of felt and ric-rac ribbon for the steam and then sewed the button on the page and cut a slip in the flower. So Olivia can take on and off the flower.

Made a face out of felt and then glue brown yarn for hair to the top. Then made most of my clips to put in the hair.

Made the clock out of felt and paint the number from puffy paint. 

I put beads on a string and glued the string to the page. This is great for counting skills

Made the shoe out of felt, the ribbon is for the shoe lace and then did the outline of the shoe in puffy paint.

This project took me a couple months to make.. granted I didn't worked on it everyday. But I've always wanted to make Olivia a quiet book and I'm glad I did. I hope she likes it as she gets older. Some advice if you want to make one is use felt for most of it because it's easy to do. If you are interested in making one here are some websites that I got some of my ideas from.

http://www.doityourselfdivas.com/2011/02/diy-quiet-book.html

http://aprilmariewilde.blogspot.com/2011/09/i-made-these-2-quiet-books-over-past-2.html

http://clipzine.me/EunSoonChae/clipzine/52486498685575704210/Quiet-Book-Patterns-Ideas

Memorial Weekend:

It was so nice to have Eric home for a three-day weekend. We went to a couple of splash-pads, swimming, shopping, dinner, BBQ's and relaxed of course. We loved hanging out with daddy and he is so helpful around the house. He lets me sleep in and have a break from "mommy duties."

I love long weekends but I still feel like they go by fast. I cherished everyday with Eric and the free time we had together. Olivia took almost a four-hour nap on Sunday, (which was nice of her) while we were able to catch up on our week. Watching movies and cuddling together is my favorite as long with the depth, meaningful conversations. We have really gotten stronger as a couple in the past year.
 I'm so grateful for him and all the sacrifices he makes for our little family.

Today my sister finally had her baby boy after six days past her due date. I'm so excited to welcome him into our family and excited for Olivia to have another cousin to play with.
Newborns are so special, sweet little people. I forget how cuddly and precious they are... Them laying there on your chest with their little features and their eyes dazing into your eyes. I'm so excited for my sister to embrace and join motherhood. It really is something else! I would NOT change it for the world!!

Welcome Baby Carson!

Happy Hymns:

This week I have decided to start listening to uplifting music and as I did I've found myself listening to The Hymns and The Children Songbook Hymns. I have felt a huge difference in my day. While I listen to the song "How firm a foundation Ye saints of the Lord, Is made for your faith in His excellent word," lightly playing in the background of my home, or listening to, "I am a Child of God.. lead me, guide me, walk beside me," playing softly in the car, or even the song "Have I've done any good today?" on our evening walk.

As I listen to all these songs on my rough, exhausted, discouraged days the hymns turn them around into better and cheerful days. I love that the hymns has an impact on us and invites the Spirit into our homes or wherever we may be. Also when I listen to the hymns it helps me to be closer to my Heavenly Father and my Savior.