Baby Shoes

I have found several cute baby shoe ideas on the internet, and this weekend, I found this tutorial and free pattern for little baby Mary Janes. Since Drew and I had to stay home from church this morning (due to Drew's very runny nose), I thought I would see what I had on hand and try to make a pair of little shoes. I had everything I needed (all left over from other projects), so I got to work. I followed the tutorial almost exactly. I ended up top stitching the straps, but I think that was about the only difference. I really love how they turned out! My only disappointment was that the raw edges are exposed on the inside of the shoes. In the comments section of the tutorial, a reader told how to avoid raw edges, and I will try her method next time - there will be a next time! These little shoes are so cute and fairly simple to make. I see several pairs in baby girl's future!

The tutorial didn't give a seam allowance, so I just used a 1/4 inch seam allowance, and it seemed to work fine. I also just used cotton for the lining and soles of the shoes. I will post my future shoes and let you know how the new method of attaching the soles turns out. I have a few other projects that I am working on, and I hope to post them soon!

Baby is a . . .

Girl! We had our ultrasound last week, and we were so happy to find out that we have a healthy baby girl on the way! Jim and Drew insisted that this baby was another boy, and I really thought it might be. The ultrasound tech was pretty sure that it is a little girl this time.
Everything looked good with baby, so we were surprised when the tech told us that we would need to stay and talk with a doctor. The doctor told us that all the baby's measurements and organs look good, but they are concerned that the placenta is low. She said that it is possible that I could have Placenta Previa, and she wants me to come back and have another ultrasound in 5 weeks. The doctor said that in most cases, the placenta ends up not being as low as it looks, and things are fine. We are praying that everything with the placenta ends up being fine, and we are looking forward to an unexpected extra ultrasound (and hopefully another confirmation that this baby is a girl!).
I've been having fun this past week planning a little girl bedroom and shopping a little bit. We have ordered the bedding for the nursery, and we've bought a few girl clothes. We've even started receiving a few baby girl gifts - clothes and blankets! So fun!

I have been gathering ideas on Pinterest, and I have so many things I want to make for this baby girl. I plan to share the projects I make as I finish them, and I should have one to share soon!

Drew's Apple Orchard Field Trip

Drew had his first class field trip this week, and I got to go along. They went to an apple orchard, and it was a lot of fun! We rode a little train out to the apple trees. Here are Drew and his little buddy, Joseph. They were both excited when the train started up.

We got dropped off by some rows of trees. If you have ever seen how Drew walks/runs, you'll know that this picture captures that a little bit.

We each got to pick five apples.

Many of the apples on the lower parts of the trees had already been picked, so we really had to search for apples that the children could reach.

There were lots of fun things for the children to do after we picked apples. They loved climbing this big hay pyramid.

There were some wooden trains that they all enjoyed climbing through.

There was also a little petting farm with goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, and ponies.

Drew's preschool class.

At the end of the morning, we each had a donut and some cider. We all enjoyed those!

We petted the animals a little more, and then it was time to go.

We took one last picture by this huge hay man on the way out.

We had a great time on Drew's first field trip! I made an apple pie this morning with the apples that Drew and I picked at the orchard. We'll be enjoying that later this evening.