What we've been up to...

Here's what's been going on in the Hepworth household over the last couple of weeks...

Poor little Audrey got sick at the end of January, she had a rough couple of days. Took her to the doctor and found out she had an ear infection with the possibility of having RSV, so kept her home a couple days to watch her breathing and luckily she got better pretty quick.

I've been sewing of course. Made a Valentines wall hanging, which didn't get done for this Valentines, but I'll be making sure it gets finished up for next year. Got the pattern here. Used stuff out of my stash. I LOVE how it turned out!

And with the left over 1/2 square triangles, made up a block to make into a pillow...

Also finished quilting and binding the Halloween quilt! Finally!! Now just need to add the button eyes on the kitty's and it's all finished!!! 

Nathan's been learning how to win at his Toy Story 3 Wii game. He really enjoys his games...

The kids have also played games with daddy. Here they are drumming away to Guitar Hero...

Audrey's being silly, she strapped herself into her booster chair and started walking around...

The kids have also had fun hanging out in sleeping bags in Nathan's room and watching movies together...

I made Audrey of Valentines skirt of course, no pattern, just made up as I went...

And made a Heart quilt block...

And started on a St. Patrick's day table runner...

I have been trying to start working on some decorations that can be used for the different holidays. Plus they are quick and easy so in theory should be quilt finishes too :)

Made Nathan a tote to take to church to carry his Book of Mormon. Used an old pair of jeans for the outside with a pocked on each side. The inside is flannel from some old pajama bottoms that I had cut up ready to use for some project. It also have some pockets on the inside for paper and pencils. I used a piece of the flannel to put a letter "n" on one side. Again no pattern used here, just made up as I went. I think it's pretty cute myself.  

And of course, I've also started a new quilt top. Actually it's almost done. Got the instructions for it here, been wanting to make a whirly gig quilt for a while and love how it's turning out. Already have plans for quilting it. Hopefully another quick finish (fingers crossed).

Other things going on...

*I've started a sewing group with some of the girls in my ward and my sister. We are meeting every 4-6 weeks, making a quilt block and will be working on small projects as we go. We had our first meeting the first week of February and will be meeting again next week. I'll post more about this later. 

*Nathan is getting ready for Kindergarten in the fall and is doing such a great job learning his letters and numbers. He surprises me each day with the things he knows! He is excited and keeps asking if when he turns 5 if he gets to go to kindergarten. I keep telling him yes, but he will have to wait a couple months after he turns 5 before he gets to go. We'll see how he takes it when he doesn't go right to Kindergarten after his birthday. 

*Audrey is working on potty training. She's doing great at daycare, hasn't had any accidents yet, and we're working on it at home. She seems to get distracted playing at home and forgets to get herself to the bathroom, but today she did go all by herself and didn't even ask for any help! She's getting so big!! 

January Experiment (s)..

I know we are already a week into February, but obviously I'm not on top of things here on the blog, so bear with me while I take a little time to get caught up here. I do have a few things to tell you about but first...

Back to what this post is about...I wanted to try some new things around my house to help things run a little more smoothly, and with it being a new month and a new year decided this would be a great time to start. I am please to say that my experiment has been a success!! And I will be continuing to make changes around the house to keep things running better and better...hopefully! (Probably just jinxed myself).

So what did I do exactly??? These are my experiment(s)...
I have set aside 2 days a week to do my laundry, (Tuesday's while watching Biggest Loser, and while Chris is at scouts, and Saturday) all laundry is to be washed and put away before Sunday, anything not put away gets left until my next laundry day to finish...and since I don't want that to happen, laundry's been getting all done by Saturday night! I used to spend Sunday doing most of my laundry and all of the next week trying to get caught up and laundry folded. I now know when my laundry day are and I've been able to stay on top of it. I've been really good at washing and when it gets pulled out of the dryer folding it immediately. What a difference, I don't have piles of clean laundry all around the house waiting to be put away all the time.

Another thing I decided was that if I was making a dish for Sunday dinner that I can put together on Saturday night then I would. I've only done this once so far but was so nice to come home from church throw dinner in the oven to heat and not spend an hour putting dinner together.

I have planned out all my meals for the whole month. I LOVE doing this. I've done a couple weeks at a time, but having the whole month...it's so nice to be able to put together my grocery list for two weeks at a time (only have to go to the store in between for perishables and misc items that we forget) and when I get home from work, look at my calendar and know exactly what I'm making and know I have everything to make it. Now I come home from work, get working on dinner and don't stress about what we are having that night.

Also as soon as we are done with dinner, or any cooking or baking...I do the dishes. This keeps my kitchen cleaner (of course) but then I don't come home from dinner to dirty dishes that I have to do before cooking.

The kids have also been in on this experiment. I have been working to get them to help pick up more. This definitely doesn't always work since they are not always cooperative, but they've been better and are learning. We are trying to get them better at picking up their own this instead of us always doing it for them.

Lastly, before bed each night I go through the rooms and pick up anything that's been left lying around and just do some general pick up.

This experiment of mine has really been great...for me at least. I feel that I am getting the house more organized. I have more time to do things for me (exercise, sewing, etc), and am more patient with the kids. YAY!! It's still a work in progress, things are not 100%, but they are definitely helping the whole family. We have more time together and because I have more time for me, I am a happier mom and wife.

Kids pics...

The kids wanted to "help" me take some pictures tonight. This is what we got...

From Nathan:

 And Nathan

Not too bad! 

I did hold the camera and helped them hit the button, but I couldn't see ANYTHING through the view finder. Their little noggins were in the way. LOL!

Been working on some sewing...

I was able to take the week after Christmas off to spend at home with the kids and do a little sewing. I didn't sew as much as I would have liked, but did get a few things finished. I did sew a few things I can't show yet since they are gifts and we haven't finished with all of our Christmas giving yet. I'll post those later. 

But here's what I've been working on...

Some ruffled wristlets...so fun to make! Oh the possibilities!! You can find the instructions here. 

These were given to some of my friends at work.

 

A few quilt blocks for Audrey. I made Nathan a quilt for when he got moved out of his crib. And now it's time for Audrey, so she'll be getting a quilt sometime soon. Here are the first of the blocks. They will be turned into a Disappearing 9 Patch quilt. 

And I started on a new table runner...

Audrey got a cute little puppy for Christmas and he needed a little blankie...so I made him one from some fabrics I had left over from another project...

 Super simple and quick!

I was also able to finish some crochet projects. Some afghans that were supposed to be done for Christmas...but nope, they weren't. 

One for Nathan...

And one for Audrey...

*****

I've decide that I need to do some more sewing this year, some new and of course to finish old (UFO/WIP's) projects. I want to try to sew at least 1 hour each week but with kids and life that doesn't always happen. I was able to sew for a couple hours yesterday while Audrey was napping and Nathan was watching a movie.

A few quilt blocks...
Churn Dash in neutrals

Churn dash in red and cherries...

Snowball...

A pillowcase for one of Nathan's friends who's having a birthday this week...

And some more work on my new table runner...

I got quite a bit accomplished yesterday...and I was able to enjoy a mommy movie too! I watched Phantom of the Opera while I was doing my thing. 

*****

And today while Chris watched Sunday Football I sat on the couch and worked on a project that I've been wanting to get finished for a couple of years now...

Got the quilting all complete!! I was going to do a fancy design around on the border...but decided that would take WAY too long and went with simple instead. It's been trimmed down and is ready for binding (still has the basting stitches in)! Yay!! First of my old projects is gonna get finished!! Maybe I'll have to try to finish 1 project each month...we'll see.

It's a new year...

and I guess that means time to look back at how I did last year and set some goals for the new....

I looked back to see what I'd set for my goals last year and some I did well, some need improvement or I just didn't do and need to try again :) 

So two goals I will be continuing for next year, that I did pretty well on and will continue this year are:

1. I had a goal last year to lose weight and get healthier. Well, I can proudly say that with the help of Weight Watchers and work (my work had a biggest loser comp and paid for half of the cost of WW for 3 months), I did lose some weight and did become healthier! Yay!! I've lost 30 lbs since April!! I probably could have done better, but it's not too bad and definitely better then if I'd gained 30 lbs. This will be a goal that I will continue to work on in 2011. No specific weight amount, just take more off and see how it goes. I do need to exercise more and keep eating well and I'm sure I'll continue to see progress.

2. I had also wanted to 2-3 5K's and I did that too! Weight Watchers had a 5K that I did and then did the West Valley West Fest 5K. Wahoo! I want to do 3-4 5K's this year (maybe even run one) and want to also hike to Timpanogos Cave and Ensign Peak (last time I hiked up this was the summer after I moved here and was so out of shape I thought I was NOT going to make it to the top). This may not seem too hard for most, but as I am so out of shape those are pretty good goals for me I think.

And for the goal I didn't do so good on, but will work to do better this year is:
3. Finishing projects started that NEED to get finished! Luckily I haven't started many this year that need to be finished, but still have a few from years past that I REALLY want to get finished! I have already pulled out a few to start working on in the coming weeks!! Yay!! I'm hoping this will be a good goal for me this year and who knows...

maybe next year I can have 3 brand new fresh goals!! Keeping my fingers crossed  :)