Let's hear it for my boys! (More on crafting for Christmas....late!)

Last Wednesday I was on my way to Charleston for what was (HOPEFULLY) Micah's final surgery on his little club foot. The doctor told us that our surgery would be scheduled for mid-morning since we live 2 hour away...but...we had to be there at 6:30.  That's 6:30 AM.  I don't know about you, but for me, 6:30 isn't mid-morning, and getting up at 3:30 am is definitely not mid-morning either!  We both survived though, and Micah is doing so well.  He's such a little trooper.  Here he is in his new, stream-lined cast.  He is determined to walk in it, since he's been forced to crawl for the last 6 weeks.

Now on to the reason for this post....
Most of the reason why I was late on every other Christmas present this year, is that I was busy making some Christmas surprises for my little guys.  I make a lot of crafty goodies for our friends and family, but I usually run out of time when it comes to my boys.  This year, I scoured my craft books for ideas and decided on these.

Fist up was a pattern from Amy Karol's super adorable book, Bend-the-Rules Sewing.  Jesse and Micah love puppets and performing, so I made the cute puppet theater.  There weren't a lot of pictures, but the instructions were clear.  The fabric and adorable fringe were thrifted finds, and I had the tension rod, so really the only things I purchased were the dowels.

Go ahead...you can ooooh and ahhhhhh if you want.

TA DA!

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

My little character!

Even puppets need to stop performing for a snack break.

I also made each boy a little house using this awesome tutorial.  I made Jesse a little woodland house for trolls and gnomes.  I found this cute set of critters on amazon (which isn't for sale any more), and added a couple of felt leaves for those little guys to sleep on and under.  I changed the closure a bit, by adding a small flap and velcro, rather than the buttons and bands.

 And for the Bean, he got a barn complete with little pond for his animals to take "dinks" (a.k.a. drinks).  By the way, I LOVE these Plan Toys farm animals!  They are the perfect size for toddler hands, the wood is sustainable, the dyes are non-toxic, and the sheep can be shorn by removing his cute little wool sweater.

Besides drinking, Micah's animals like jumping in and out of the barn.

I also made the boys stockings.

Merry Christmas!

And, I helped Jesse make a lion puppet for Micah, which he loved!  I made up the pattern as we made it and hot-glued the face and hands.  Jesse was so proud of it!

ROAR!