Disney Quiet Book Part 2

It's official.  It's done.  It's officially done!

 

My Disney Quiet Book is TOTALLY completely officially done!!

 

To be reminded of Part 1, follow this link:

http://saltandpepper321.blogspot.com/2012/10/disney-quiet-book-part-1.html

 

And now, for part 2...

 

The Princess and the Frog - Fishing

This idea came straight from my sister-in-law, Julie.  The only difference is that her fish are much cuter and I added a frog to make it work for Princess and the Frog.

Minnie Mouse - Weaving & Paper Doll

I love how these two pages turned out!  I was really nervous about drawing Minnie's face.  I was ESPECIALLY nervous about drawing Minnie's face using paint!  But, it turned out to be just fine.  My favorite part about this page is that the weaving doubles as a hidden pocket.  What do I need a hidden pocket for???  Minnie's clothes!

 



 Okay, so making all these clothes may have been my absolute favorite part of the quiet book.  Period.  I think I may have gotten a little carried away.

 

(And there's still more.  Yep.  Completely carried away.)

 

Beauty and the Beast - ABC's & Telling Time



 

 I looked and looked for cute ABC beads that were FLAT, but had no such luck. So, I had to go for some chunky beads, but that's okay because they're cute.  I really wanted the letters to slide across a straight line, but I couldn't figure out how to get the ribbon to be tight.  No matter how much I tried, they kept being loose.  Oh well.

Up - Colors & Buttons

Get it?  From the movie Up?  I love it!  This is such a classic quite book page, so I was excited to have an easy idea to start with, but still make it my own.  The only NOT easy part?  The buttonholes!  No matter how hard I try, I CANNOT get my machine to make buttonholes.  I finally had to send these pieces away in the mail to have my sister complete them.  Lame.  I know.  Thanks Charisse!



 

Oh yeah, and the house is the pocket.

Monster's Inc - Paper Doll & Zipper

This is probably the most exciting page of all because...

Luis made it!

That's right.  He came up with the idea, drew out the pieces, and cut them all out.  I did sew them, but the rest?  HIM!

Can anyone say A-DOR-A-BLE???

 

All the pieces fit into this pocket, which includes my very first zipper ever!  (Okay, not ever because I have a vague memory of sewing a zipper in home ec...but still, it's been so long that I don't really think that counts.) 

 

Luis made the Monster's Inc logo too.  Best daddy ever!





 

So there you have it.  My Raquel's Disney Quiet Book...once she gets it for Christmas.



Californian Thanksgiving x 3

One day, while browsing through some Thanksgiving crafts, Raquel got an idea.  Her idea required crayons.  It started out great...

 

...but quickly turned to this...

...which then evolved into this (note who is and who is NOT using the crayons).  What was this craft, you may ask?  Keep reading and you'll find out!

But first, on to our Thanksgiving!  This was our 3rd Thanksgiving here in California.  Last year, we got together with some fellow Utah-transplants and had a Thanksgiving feast.  We decided to go ahead with that same plan this year and have a Moreno-Mohlman-McGary feast! 

 

We were in charge of the turkey this year, which meant basting every 15 minutes for a couple hours.  Thankfully, we only had a few other dishes to worry about since the other families were doing the rest, so it wasn't too bad.  Luis played some football in the morning this year which I actually supported (I know right?  Usually I'm too clingy-especially on holidays.)  After that, it was parade time, which I LOVED!  Then it was the dog show, which Luis LOVED!  (Snooze.)  Although this year, I admit that I did get into the action and soon found myself taking a few trots around the apartment with my little puppy.  

During another moment of non-basting, Raquel insisted that we look through the Black Friday (aka Black Thanksgiving) ads so she could point out a few toys with which she might be amused.

 

387 bastes later, we were carving our turkey with the best of them with the use of our NEW (okay, slightly pre-owned) electric knives... thanks Medicos!

And then, our feast commenced.

 

 

Remember the craft I mentioned at the beginning of my post?  (If not, then your memory is slightly worse than mine.)  Well, it's time for the big reveal...

 

Ta-da!  Luis got his very own turkey hat with Raquel-hand feathers!

I think he loved it.  Can you say, "Thanksgiving tradition?"  (he he he)

 

We have so much to be Thankful for this year.  Obviously, having Raquel with us all year long has made this year the best yet!  We are also grateful for amazing friends that help fill the void of not having family close to us.  They take care of us and we love them so much.  It's humbling to realize we would never have met these (and many other) wonderful friends if it had not been for the gospel.  We're especially grateful to have the truths of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in our lives.  It is true and we know it!  We love our dear, loving, brother and Savior, Jesus Christ.  The more we realize how hard it is sometimes to be good, the more we come to admire His perfect life.  We're grateful for our knowledge of our Heavenly Father.  Life would sure be different if we didn't know we had such a loving Father.  Goodness, our list (like yours) could go on and on about all we are thankful for this year.  We are very blessed.

In Our Fancies

Throughout his days at Western, Luis has spent many after school hours putting together a Spanish course that will one day help pharmacy students learn to communicate with their Spanish-speaking patients.  Right now, he's heading the program along with one of the assistant deans of Pharmacy.  I've had mixed feelings about this because it has meant more time away from ME, but I'm really proud of his dedication and hard work.

 

Because of his leadership role, Luis was recently inducted into Phi Lamda Sigma, a pharmacy leadership honor society, and Raquel and I were invited to attend a banquet in his honor (there might have been others inducted the same night, but let's not talk about them and just pretend the whole shabang was for Luis and Luis only).

 

Raquel and I are both fine ladies, so we HAD to get all dolled up for the occasion.  Our friend, Jen, let us borrow this absolutely darling dress for Raquel.  Eeeeek!  I loved it!  And the jacket?  It was mine from babyhood.

Three things made our night extra special:

1. The banquet room sat atop a hill overlooking the valley for a fabulous view.
2. The party colors were gold and green, so we kept imagining we were at a John Deere Tractor Convention.
3. The banquet room next door had some very fine mariachi music blaring all night, which gave our Tractor Convention some Latino flare.



 

 

At one point in the night, we played an ice breaker game in which my team discovered my 6 sibling roots.  Immediately, one of the girls asked if I was LDS. Later, she confessed that she already suspected that I was LDS because I was wearing a shirt underneath my dress and looked way too modest NOT to be LDS.  Then, when she found out how many siblings I had...well, that confirmed it!  By the way, she was LDS too.

The banquet went far beyond "bedtime" for Raquel and she tuckered right out.  Still, she was an ANGEL all night and stole the hearts of many.

 

 

 

Random November Beginnings

Random post.

 

First, look how cute:)  I've been reading books to Raquel every day since the day we brought her home.  She loves playing with them, dumping them, and even turning the pages for me (board books ONLY).  I hope my kids adore books as much as I do!

Second, I have a question for you Utah girls - what is the most common date you found yourself on?  Miniature golfing?  Mine was, but that's okay because I love it!  Obviously, Luis wasn't a Utah guy because he didn't jump on the mini golf bandwagon.  In fact, our first time going together EVER was this weekend.  It was close to one of the worst golf courses I've seen, but still fun. 

Thanks to all my mini golf date nights, I schooled Luis.  Unfortunately, Raquel was the big winner, as usual.

Thirdly, our missy has become really cuddly.  It's the best!



Thankful Turkey 2012.  I have no comment about this.

Finally, my new haircut!!!  You might not believe me, but it has been 8 months since I've received a haircut.  Perhaps that's because my last cut was horrid ugly.  I miss my Julia!!!  Thankfully, this cut turned out much better.



Nueve Meses

Raquel's now been out of the womb as long as she was in it.  I sure do love this little doll.  It seems I do just about anything to see her cute smile or hear her delightful giggles.  What did I do all day before her??? 

Facts about our missy:

• 15 lbs 28 in.
• No crawling yet, but gets around by kicking off on her back.  She's also just barely starting this cute inchworm thing where she gets her little bum up in the air, but instead of sliding forward, it slides back down and she goes nowhere.
• She flaps her arms up and down - Luis calls her his little hummingbird.
• She claps all the time now.  The best is when she claps after I sing a song or when she's in her crib trying to fall asleep.
• She's moved up to baby jar chicken and turkey.
• When she picks up little pieces of food, she is very dainty and likes to use her thumb and index finger so her pinky can be extended into the air.
• Tub time is a favorite with her.
 
 



Spooky Ooky

What to wear, what to wear...for Halloween!  When my sister-in-law, Jennie, sent us this cute skirt, I decided instantly that Raquel would be Minnie Mouse for Halloween.  Not very original, but easy to put together and best of all, CHEAP!  It probably cost a total of

$5.  All I had to do is bake the ears, bow, and tail.  Everything else we had.  Nice!!!

Her face paint lasted 27.3 minutes, which was just long enough for us to take pictures, drive to the church, and say a few hello's.  After that, I was in the bathroom scrubbing it off since she had commenced crying and rubbing.  It was a smeary mess. 

My costume?  I was a boring cat, but CHEAP and EASY made me do it.

From now on I think I'm going to force Luis come up with ALL our costumes.  He is outrageously creative and always looks better than me.  Can you guess what he is?  I'll give you a hint...doesn't he look grrr-r-r-r-r-r-r-eat?  He did his whole costume INCLUDING the makeup.  (I think he secretly puts on my make-up when I'm away and that's why he's so good.)

 

On to the party.

 

I don't know what people were thinking, but someone put me in charge of the ward's Halloween decorations.  ME???  Oh yikes. Talk about a s-t-r-e-t-c-h for me!  Thankfully, I have some absolutely fabulous friends who pitched in and pretty much did everything for me:)  Thank goodness.  So here's a few pics of how it turned out.

 

The tables were supposed to be decorated with pumpkins that people carved for the annual pumpkin carving contest.  Yeah, a total of 3 people signed up to bring a pumpkin. 

 

Knowing the party would be pumpkin-lacking, Luis and I decided to copy our friend Jen by having a "pumpkin off," which meant we both carved a pumpkin and had a few siblings vote via phone.  Mine is the mickey pumpkin.  Lu made "chip."  After the votes came in, I decided it was a mistake to ask siblings to vote.  They have no taste.

 

 

Since we took them to the party, they were automatically put into the ward pumpkin carving contest.  Luis and I both won!  (I think I'll leave out the detail about there being 4 pumkins at the event and each of the 4 pumpkins winning a prize.)  In addition to our prize winning pumpkins, my man took home a prize for his hot and spicy chili. The Morenos pretty much stole the night:)