Valentine's Day Baby Gym

Happy Valentine's Day (a day late) to you all.  Sorry I didn't get this up yesterday, but we've had a couple of crazy, busy days here Under The Old Oak Tree.  By the time we got home from school and then getting the stitches taken out of Toadstool's head, I was just too tired to take the last few pictures I needed or to write up this post.

I've been thinking for a while that Rosebud would probably really enjoy a baby gym.  Her favorite place in the world is at home on the floor on her sheepskin rug.  It's a warm cozy spot and big brother Toadstool likes to join her there (he got his own sheepskin for Valentine's Day so they can be near each other but not have him so in her space all the time).  

I looked into buying  her a wooden baby gym, but the price was way more than I could justify for a toy she'll probably only use for a few months.  I started looking online and came across these directions from Seedpod Craft.  I decided that I could do this!  I used heart plaques instead of ovals and Toadstool and I spent quite a while sanding all the rough edges off and rounding them to have a more Waldorf aesthetic.  We also rounded off the ends of the 4 support dowel rods.  We don't have a huge amount of space in our small apartment so I felt that it was important that we be able to take the whole thing apart and reassemble it easily.  I'm not sure how often we'll do this, but I'm sure there are times we'll need to, so instead of attaching the legs with wood screws, I drilled all the way through and used machine screws with wing nuts.  I decided it was safe enough if they were well tightened and we take it apart and put it away once she's pulling up on things.  To go on it I knit a pink and red heart and a pink and red ladybug  lovebug with heart spots which attach to the cross bar with i-cord.

 I did a bit of cooking for Valentine's Day this year too.  I made us heart shaped brownies.  My brownie recipe is an adaptation of Elana's Pantry's breakfast bread, but you'd never know it.  They really have  a good bit of protein and very little sugar in them and are so so rich and chocolatey!  I'll have to post my changes to her base recipe at some point.  

I made these heart shaped peanut butter cookies for Papa to take to work for the Sweets Day he was organizing for his co-workers.  They turned out really cute shaped as hearts.

For our breakfast I made my guys and I heart shaped eggs and bacon with a little chocolate cherry mouse.  These mice have been quite the hit with Toadstool.  He loves mice (so much that his teachers at school gave him a little needle-felted one for his birthday) and cherries so when I saw these over at The Magic Onions, I knew I had to make him some!  One on each plate was a perfect little sweet start to our Valentine's Day.

 Toadstool and Rosebud show off one of the Valentine hearts he made to give to family and friends this week.

Linking to Creative Friday at Natural Suburbia.

This Moment

From SouleMama: {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Share your own moment in the comments or atSouleMama.com.

Yarn Along-Preparing for Valentine's Day

I'm joining with Ginny today at Small Things for the Yarn Along. I have to admit I've not been reading anything over the past week or so. I've been a bit busy with caring Toadstool, Rosebud and myself while we've been sick and with a few handwork projects as we prepare for Valentine's Day next week.

My knitting project today is this baby heart that will be part of a larger project Toadstool and I are making for Rosebud for Valentine's Day.  I can't wait to show you all the bigger project as it comes together and I get some photos of it taken.

I've been working on some bigger knitting projects too.  Rosebud is growing like crazy and many of her newborn items are no longer fitting so I've been trying to keep up and get a few new things made for her recently.  I've just finished a pair of longies, some booties and a sweater. I'll try to get pictures and Ravelry notes up as I am able to get to it! She's badly in need of a new hat, at least one more pair of longies and some bibs so I have just a few more things to cast on!    I'm also hoping to make one or two more pairs of booties for her since the ones I made don't really go with everything and she needs them to keep her little feet warm.  Also Toadstool has finally outgrown his pair of mama-made socks so I need to get busy on a new pair for him.  He likes having a little mama-love on his feet when he goes to school.