Clint's Sr Pictures

This is my little brother's last year of high-school! I really can't believe how fast he has grown up. I remember way back when I was a senior and how I wanted my pictures done. I do believe we payed an arm and a leg for the sitting and then couldn't even afford prints. I saved money from my after school job to order the wallets. Oh course this is after my class seemed to be done handing out and trading their's.I just don't see the reason to have to pay so much! I dropped over $300 after it was all said done with Evie's 1 year pictures. 

I wanted to take some pictures of Clint, not only to save him some $$$, but because I enjoy taking pictures. As it got closer to when they visited I talked to Clint about ideas, he really liked the trail/ nature idea. I think they came out great! I had a lot of fun doing them and trying out new actions and editing them. Look at how grown up he has become.

31 Days of Halloween

Oh how I love Halloween! Back in September I decided Evie and I would be witches and wanted to give my place a witch theme for decor. I got a lot of fun stuff at the Dollar Tree and also made my own stuff. My Halloween decorations all cost less then $25. Evie was a great helper and loved looking at stuff after we got it up.

I held off as long as I could on putting things up, we ended up decorating the last week of September. The front yard had our grand spiders. I ended up finding 2 dresser drawers and using them to make coffins for some skeletons and we made wooden ghosts. Making the potion jars was my favorite. Actually I had almost given up doing some of them because I was running out of time. But the week before Halloween we were out on the trails and I found great stuff for the jars.
And talk about scary, I made un-dead fairies. I glued feathers on the backs of skeletons and hung them up. Evie's favorite was the spooks I made from black Christmas ornaments.

My parents made it up for trick or treating and we all had a blast. Evie just loves getting her candy! After the 1st few houses she got the hang of the game and wanted to pick her candy and put it in her bucket. I am sure she is looking forward to next Halloween and we better start planning now!

Mummies

Eye ball plants!

Dollar store spider and then I made her a web.

Mini spiders we made

A few of our harvested pumpkins.

So scary!

Spooks

Ghosts

So how's cloth diapers going?

Here it is mid November and I am getting closer to finally having some usable diapers done. What a long road! It took all of September to research and save money to get my supplies. October was a mess with Halloween on it's way and all the work I had to do to make money. 

At this moment as snowflakes are coming down, I have my inserts mostly assembled but need to be zig zagged and finished, I have 4 finished diapers but need their Velcro, 3 diapers waiting for their elastic cased and then my last 5 diapers waiting to be put together. 

All in all I had enough supplies for 12 diapers! This gives me a start and will give me a ballpark of how many she'll go through in a day. In the meantime of getting more pre-folds to make more diapers I will be using these with a mix of disposables.

How long does it take to make a diaper? Well after I have things pre-cut it takes 20 mins for me to put together 1 diaper to the needs to be cased stage. Casing them takes another 20 mins. All for 1 diaper, gosh. I found it easier to just make them in stages. Now try telling that to Evie while she is making messes for me to clean and wants me to play with her all day.

So that's my update for now. My goal is get these last 5 diapers to the casing stage, then case all the diapers (hopefully in the same week!). Then change my threads and finish up my inserts. All these guys still have to be washed at least 5 times to have max absorbency. Then getting to our velcro part. Then of course I have to get to the covers. I think I have done pretty great for being a single, working mom trying to get all this done! 

Cloth: Day 1 & 2

On Monday I wanted to start on my diaper covers 1st. Mostly because I thought they'd be the easier ones to do. But then I realized I didn't have a pattern to tell me exactly what size to make them. Really I couldn't find a pattern that was going to fit Evie.

I ended up deciding to start with my diaper to figure out what size to make the covers. To make my own pattern I traced a disposable to get a rough idea of size, but I already knew this disposable was too small, plus I needed to make them a tad bigger to allow for growth. I measured Evie's waist and from her belly button to back side. This gave me an idea of what size I was aiming for and how much to add for my stitching.While making my 1st diaper I was constantly trying everything on Evie to see what I needed to do.

So here are my steps:

1. Cut your fabric buy placing your pattern on top. I had half of a diaper pattern so I would cut it with the fabric folded.
2. I then would take a pre-fold and place it on the fabric I cut and determine where to place it and how I would add my flaps. I then would flip the front piece over and cut the excess pre-fold off so it would match my front. I would just see from that point how much flap I needed in reference to my pattern and just cut that part out with the pattern as a guide.
3. Adding flaps: One this 1st one I hid my useless part of pre-fold with the flap. But I found this was harder. So now I am putting my flap fabric behind the pre-fold and sewing it together. This is also the point of where I'd added snaps for inserts.
4. Now you tack your elastic on the pre-fold side. Make sure to put the elastic on the inside of the diaper. This took some time to figure out. Ended up measuring the length of the leg part of the diaper and cutting that in half. Making mine 8in but now I have found 7 1/2in works better. And for the back I just made it a little smaller. Mine is 5in. Then I would eye ball where I wanted my elastic for legs and back to start. Wherever I'd start the legs I would start the back little inward. (see picture, it's a rough drawing of what I do). Really it's just how I feel it should be and I don't care to measure and really determine a point. If you've seen enough diapers you just know where it goes. Also I would tack down one end of elastic at a time. Then go back and get the other side.
5. Next sew that diaper up. I would pin the back side of the diaper together. Make sure to streatch the elastic to make everything even. I would start with the back, pick a leg pin it after I sewn the back, then do the other one. Then I'd sew up all my flaps and make sure I had no holes. Leave the front/top part of the diaper open.
6. Next it's casing elastic time. Oh how this was fun and this is the most time consuming part because if you sew into your electric it won't work. I would start with the back 1st. Basely I leave the front open so I can reach inside and move the elastic. Sew a line going down, but not on, your elastic. Thus casing it. You also have to pull the fabric flat while doing this. Do the same thing with the legs. I would recommend doing the outside seam 1st then doing the one more in the crouch area.
7. Next is easy, sew up the front and you are done!

The 1st day figuring out everything took the whole day. Tuesday I was able to get 2 and 1/2 done ( ready to case elastic). On day 2 one of the diapers I was making was giving me elastic drama and the back elastic wasn't working right. I don't know why and it still isn't all that right but it works. Just keep in mind that they all don't have to be perfect, just have to work.

Pattern

1st diaper: I have pined thew fabric onto the pre-fold to sew

See looks so nice hiding the pre-fold, but causes problems later. Well it did for me.

Here is elastic

It is pinned so I can add snaps for opening and closing leg hole length. I can unsnap when she grows.

Inside

Here is where I see where and how I need to cut my pre-fold

Testing to see where flaps need to go

Done

Snapped down

Snaps

Cloth Diapering

Hi everyone. I know I haven't been on in awhile but that's a life of a self business owning, busy mom. I am so excited because I have something to blog about! Cloth diapers!

Now yes it may seem late in the game to start cloth diapering now that Evie is 2. But I disagree. I came across cloth diapering a month ago when Evie was outgrowing size 6 diapers. At that time she weighed 38lbs. I buy the off brand diapers but even that adds up. I was so sick of throwing money away and started looking for something else. At this time I started asking myself why we weren't already using cloth. Well when I look back 1) I had just had Evie and in that time there was already so much to do I don't think our lifestyle worked with cloth, 2) at this time I was working 5 days a week at Massage Envy. my days off where spent on catching up on other things. Plus Evie was at the sitter or Grandma's so much I would of had to still buy disposables anyways. But now in my life right cloth will work for us. I work only 4 days a week, I have 3 off with Evie and those are the days she is here. So I have a lot more time to do the cloth diaper thing.

Alright now that I had made the decision to go cloth I needed the diapers. Oh people if only it was so easy to magically say " I decide to go with cloth" and make your purchase and go on your merry way. Nope, not that easy. All the diapers I found were mostly one size or we needed a size 2 but even those already went to 35 lbs or 40 lbs. But I want to make an investment and I plan on her being in diapers at least a year. So these options didn't work. Plus there are so many brands I had no clue where to begin. I did find toddler diapers but they were more for training pants and Evie isn't there yet.

I came across a youtube video of a lady making her own inserts. That's when I light bulb went off and I was like wait I can sew my own diapers. So after a month of watching videos and saving money I have now reached the point of making diapers

Now I decided to do a hybrid diaper after much research. I also saw where people up-cycled pre-folded diapers out of receiving blankets. I was able to get a hold of these things at some thrift stores. Also Jo-Anns was having a 40% sale so I was able to get my PUL $8 a yard!

So I have been sewing all week. To see my steps and how I made the diapers watch for my next blog. These are the videos that helped me get started. Check them out if you want to know more and what to make your own diapers too. Just copy and paste.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_c1sX6XUbk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnNm9E839CI

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fY6SgynXyQ

Halloween & Christmas Re-cap

A lot has happened around here so I feel I should re-cap a few things before we move we on.

Halloween was a blast for Evie even though she was recovering from a ear infection. My mom and brother didn't make it up till late due to car problems. But Evie, her grandma and me did go trick or treating.  Evie was not sure about going to strangers homes and insisted that her grandma carrry her everywhere. She did really enjoy helping hand out candy though. After my family got up here we did our festivities in the morning. I think all in all everyone had fun.

 For Christmas I was invited to go up with Tarzan's family.  My family wasn't going to be able to make it up for the holidays, so Evie and I didn't want to spend Christmas alone. We had a bunch of fun. Evie got to hang out with cousin Gretta. Evie came home with lots of new toys in the back seat and cookies in her belly.

Evie's Big Road Trip

Well after a  couple weeks of trying to write this post, here it is people.

On October 7th Evie and I hit the road and made some great memories. First stop was Warrensburg, Mo. This was my home for 3 years while I went to UCM. I am still very fond of the town even through I never finished a degree there. Evie was very good and held my hand on campus. We visited my old chemistry lab boss first, this was her first time meeting Evie. Then we went to the bookstore and found Evie a Hello Kitty with a UCM shirt. It was so cute I had to buy it. At Union and I got a doughnut and feed Evie her snack. She was such a cute little college student. Our last visit on campus was Yeater Hall, my 1st dorm.And I must say my year there was very interesting, I believe it to be haunted.

After loading up, our next stop was Olathe, Kansas to see my aunt. My aunt is the owner of a quint bed and breakfast called Serendipity (5 Stars). Evie much enjoyed playing out in the yard. She really liked helping rearrange things on the patio, showing me the rocks by the air condition and smelling the flowers. While indoors Evie would seek out Sam, the kitty cat. After my mom and brother arrived we had yummy cheesy chicken casserole for dinner. For desert there was ice cream and chocolate cake, which Evie just thought was awesome.

The following morning we went to Dianna Rose Children's Farm. Evie quickly befriended the goats. They did not mind her whacking them on the head too much (Evie pets nice, just gets a little too excited at times). I think all the goats cared about was food. My Aunt paid for me, my brother and Evie to go on the hay ride, which included a pumpkin patch. Evie loved the slide that was in the pumpkin patch. We had to do that over and over again. Evie did half the corn maze and then simply turned around and walked out, back towards the slide. While other parents were taking cute baby pictures in the pumpkin patch, Evie was being a fuzzy mess, trying to walk on the pumpkins and run towards her beloved slide. We picked out 3 pumpkins and took the wagon back. After that we had some chocolate ice cream. Then Evie helped Grandma push the red wagon around while we checked out the rest of the animals. After making a quick stop at Good Will , which Evie got 3 new shirts, we packed up and heading to Drexel, Mo.

I was making a quick stop in Drexel to get pictures of my old 4-H horse and Evie together. Evie also got to see where I grew up,finally. Plus terrorize my moms barn cats. After taking several pictures I decided to put Evie on Mo's back and have my mom lead him. He was very proud to have a little rider. Evie really loved her pony ride, she giggled so much up on top that big horse. Grandma cooked us a nice chicken dinner. Before I knew it we had to set off on the road again. I got back in Columbia at 12:30 qm. What a trip! But we had a lot of fun and made great memories.