Birthdays Galore!

My sweet Ruffin just turned 3 years old. I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by. He is so much fun and, even though we certainly have our share of three-year-old moments, these have been the best three years of my life. They have also been the busiest three years of my life. I never appreciated the copious amount free time I had before kids. Need proof? Just look at how many blog posts I wrote before September 2010 and how many I've written since. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining (much) - my kids are totally worth it, but to all you people who don't have kids yet: get all your super awesome, fun, time-consuming stuff done now! That being said, I still do some pretty cool stuff, but now I do it with my kids.

So much birthday awesomeness!! Three cakes, a new bike, trip to Pop's house, family reunion and the  mountain state fair! 

 

Cake #1

 

Cake #2

  

Cake #3

Balance bike is so fun! He's already cruising with his feet up.

Giant turkey leg - Score!!

Once Ruffin turned 3, he was able to start preschool where he's met some new friends. One of his friends also just had a birthday and we were invited to her party. So we went shopping for a present for a 5-year old girl. I didn't really know the little girl at all, except that she went to preschool with Ruffin and my background info was this: the party was to be Power Puff Girl-themed and when I called the mom to RSVP she said that the little girl liked superheroes. My little Josephine is still in the baby toy range, so I had no idea how horrible the toy selection is for little girls (I will tell you this: Jo will never have a "Bratzilla" doll). I stayed away from the super girly stuff since we had superheroes on the brain. We left Target empty-handed (birthday present-wise - I don't think it is possible to leave Target empty-handed. We spent at least 40 bucks). Now what would we do? Make something, of course! So Ruffin & I set off for Joann's. We ended up with a cut of some pretty sweet Marvel comic fabric and (naturally) a coordinating fabric as well. I got home and put it in the wash while I made a prototype of what I had in mind: a travel pencil/paper wallet. 

I think this is the first time ever that the finished product was exactly right the first go 'round. I am glad for that since once I finished the Marvel version it seemed pretty masculine - even for a girl who likes superheroes. So here is what I ended up with (these photos looked way better on my phone...).

I was experimenting with where to put the "nancymoo" tag. I think I like it better inside - what do you think?

I took them both to the party and asked her mom which one the little girl would like better. Her mom picked the owls - Yay for the prototype being perfect! The superhero wallet will be for sale soon in my Etsy shop. 

(Next post topic: Yes, I have an Etsy shop)