Thanks to coworkers with a good sense of humor and camaraderie, I was greeted by this.

The view from above:

Rather than attempt to evacuate the cubicle, I figured I’d just climb in & get to work!

My girls wearing these flower bobby pins.  Even though there are several colors to choose from, all of them chose pink.  Why did I make other colors?

If you’re interested in making these flower bobby pins, I have a simple tutorial.

Materials needed:

Bobby pins

Felt fabric (any colors you want)

Glue gun

Scissors

Instructions:

Follow the above photo from left to right, starting from row 1 to 3.

Step 1: Cut a square that is approximately 2″ x 2″.  This is the size I went for but you can decide on any size.

Step 2: Cut the edges of the square to make a circle.

Step 3: Once you have the circle, start cutting from the outer edge of the circle in a spiral format all the way to the inner circle.

Steps 4 & 5: Start rolling the cut circle from the outer edge.  Keep rolling and you’ll begin to see a flower forming.

Step 6: A perfectly formed flower.

Step 7: Flip the flower over and open the small circular flap.  Apply a dab of glue to the bottom of the flower and close the flap down.

Step 8: Cut a small circle from another piece of felt.  The circle should roughly be the same size as the bottom of the flower.  My circle was cut from a 1″x1″ square.

Step 9: Slip the circle in between the bobby pin.  Apply glue on the top side of the circle where the ridges of the bobby pin run.

Step 10: Put the flower on the circle and squish it a little to make sure the flower is adhered.

Tada!  You’re done and you have a beautiful flower bobbin pin ready for your girl to wear.  My boys enjoyed helping me make these pins that they made more than I had originally intended.  Now we have a lot of flower pins of various colors.  I think it’s time to share some of these lovelies with friends.

Here’s Nathaniel in the snuggler I made for him.  This snuggler works so well and he is quite content and warm all bundled up.

Our regular routine still goes on though at a much slower pace.  School is still in session with daddy as the substitute teacher.  It’s been wonderful to have him home for a month.  He is my substitute teacher and my caretaker.  I’m very grateful and blessed by him.

When Nathaniel makes a peep, there’s always someone who is more than willing to hold him and comfort him.  Here is his big brother holding him while doing schoolwork on the computer.  He is quite good at multi-tasking I might add.  It’s so heart-warming to see how everyone cares for this little dude.

About to board the van home:

But not before one final “Ding family tradition” pose:

And one more up close:

I am pleased to introduce you to Nathaniel Luke Ding, born @11:33p on 1/5/12 in Los Gatos, CA.  Measured in at 8lbs 1oz and 20inches.

Each child easily got 10 gifts, not just any gifts, but gifts that they really desire.  One particular child who shall remain unnamed got grumpy when his/her very last present was opened because it was not to this child’s liking.  I was taken back by the reaction because this is after opening 10 fabulous gifts, but this child chose to focus on the one he/she did not like.  When asked what was wrong with the gift, this child put on a sour face and then burst into tears.  Needless to say, I had to address the problem right away.  We remedied the situation so all is well now.

The same evening my brain cell depleted brain started to spin and ponder upon this situation.  I admit that I was incredulous and unhappy that this child was so ungrateful for the many wonderful gifts he/she got.  Like I mentioned earlier, we splurged this year, but it didn’t translate to gratitude for this one particular child.  My husband started to blame himself thinking it was his fault because he picked the wrong gift for this child, but I disagreed.  I told him that in this case it was not the giver’s fault, rather it was the child’s poor attitude and ingratitude.  I can certainly understand the disappointment if this was the ONLY gift that we gave, but this certainly wasn’t the case.  After sighing and feeling incredulous, I had an epiphany.

Isn’t this how we treat God?  He has given us so many wonderful things, but we choose to focus on one small thing that we don’t like.  We complain about that one thing we either didn’t get or don’t like.  How easily we forget His generosity in other things.  We are so intent on that one thing that we complain about the Giver.  Why isn’t God giving me this or that?  It must be the Giver’s fault.

Parenting has taught me a lot about life.  It has so many correlations to how we adults relate to one another and to God.  A child’s sins/faults are more apparent and we can see them more clearly, but before we think we are better than them, we need to remember that deep down we are just like them.  Our faults are more easily masked so we can get away with our sins more readily.  But God is not fooled.

This Christmas season we were able to savor the coming of Jesus each of the 28 days leading up to Christmas.  It was a wonderful time spending approximately 45 minutes each night reading and talking about the coming of Christ.  Even though one of our children’s grumpy attitude upon receiving a gift he/she didn’t like put a brief damper on this joyous occasion, I am thankful that it is a lesson that reminds me of the ultimate gift of God: Jesus Christ.  This gift is much much more than we can ever ask for.  The Savior of the World came to save us from our sins.  What a wonderful gift!  I am thankful and eternally indebted.

When my husband got a pair of Angry Birds PJ pants, all the kids ooooo’ed and ahhhhh’ed over it.  They love looking at all the different birds.  I thought perhaps I could buy some Angry Birds fabric either online or at the fabric store so I can make a pair of Angry Birds pants for all the kids, but to my surprise, there was none to be found.  Sad!  But, I accidentally stumbled upon a blogger who made her own Angry Birds plush toys.  I was overjoyed and knew that my kids would love these plushies.  I’ve been secretly sewing and carefully hiding each finished birds after the kids have gone to bed each night.  They will be presented to them on Christmas day.

Here are my Angry Birds.  I stuffed each one with fiberfill and a little bit of beans to give it some weight and velocity when thrown.  Yes, they’re meant to be thrown.  Keep in mind that I filled it with “a little bit of beans” so that the kids don’t get whacked too painfully by these birds.

I sent my husband to Michael’s Arts & Crafts (because I refuse to leave my tower) to get plain 8″x10″ canvasses, which were about $1 per canvas (in bulk) after 50% off coupon.  I already have Mod Podge, paint, and other supplies.  We printed 8″x10″ portraits at Costco for $1.49 each.  All in all, the cost was $2.49 per canvas.  Yay!

I deviated from the tutorial a bit.  Instead of adding paper strips to the sides of the canvas, I painted them black.  I tried the paper strips technique using other prints and even though they turned out fine, I found that they were easier to mess up.  I really didn’t want to risk messing up these pretty portraits so thanks to my husband’s suggestion, I painted the sides black.

After the sides are completely dry, I spread Mod Podge evenly over the canvas and mount the photo onto it.  After this is dried, I spread another layer of Mod Podge over the photo itself.  I must admit that it was a bit nerve wracking doing that because it looked like I just messed up the print due to its milk streaks on the photo.  But!  It dried clear so all was good.

Here is a close-up of the finished product.  The dried, clear streaks resemble that of a true canvas print.

All five prints finished!

My husband installed a saw tooth type of picture hanger on the back of each one for hanging.  Now they’re all wrapped and ready to be presented to the grandparents.