Potter clan family photos

While everyone was in town and home for the holidays we got everyone together for a family photo. Which is very difficult to coordinate with a family as big as ours. Picking out outfits & a location are tricky as well though I think we got some good ones.

It's crazy how big our family is getting! It will only continue to grow with three more to get married and babies galore! It was so funny to look thru all the out-takes because at least one or more persons eyes were closed, and someone was always looking at someone else. I will have to get better at photoshop so I can swap out peoples heads :)

Kingsley who usually is very photogenic was not really enjoying pictures that day..

How cute is this one below?? Reminds me of a catalog, especially with Hawkes laying on his arms like that :)

Can't believe I used to babysit Atlas when he was a tiny baby!

We took pictures at Jeremy's friends barn, which worked out perfect to keep the kids entertained with all the animals.

Can't believe my parents have 5 grandkids, all of them boys!

So funny when this white dog photo bombed the picture. ha :) You can see him weaseling his way in between my parents legs.

Love Atlas and Hawkes trying to save each other.

Love this big family of mine!

Kingsley with his Great Grandparents

Over the holidays Kingsley got to spend time with all of his grandparents! Except Jeremy forgot to document Kingsley with Grandpa Kemp.. GRRR. Anyways he is so lucky to have all these sweet people in his life!

Here he is with Grandma Hansen.

Grandpa Ballam and him..

and Grandma Ballam.

As you can see he really enjoys the company of his great grand parents!

I just treasure these pictures because I know he won't remember them much before they are gone, but I know he will like to look at these pictures and see how much they love him :)

DIY tree skirt

I know this tutorial is a little late, but hey pin it for next year and maybe it will come in handy! Plus xmas fabric is all on sale, so maybe you just want to be super prepared for next Christmas :) Anyways as I was looking for a tree skirt to go under our massive tree, I came across this awesome tartan plaid one from the Land of Nod

I was in love, but for $70 the husband said no way :( (It is on sale now by the way if you want to snag it for next year)

So what of course you must do in situations like this is to make one like it!

What you will need:

*Fabric (1 1/2 yards for large tree skirt, 1 1/4 yards for meduim, & 1 yard for a small skirt)

I chose to make a large tree skirt since we had a big 70" tree.

*Scissors

*Pins

*A bowl

*Sewing Machine 

I chose a red plaid fabric for the top of my tree skirt to match with our all red decorated tree. For the bottom I just got a plain red fabric for super cheap because I knew I didn't care what the underneath looked like. You could however chose a cool sherpa or another fabric you like to make your tree skirt reversible! 

So fold your fabric in half & then in half again so it is in a square. Cut a rounded side on the only non folded or raw edge. I just eye balled it, but for a more accurate circle you will want to measure so your circle is completely even. 

Once both top & bottom pieces are cut out lay them on top of each other with the right sides facing each other. Pin around the whole circle. Now in the center lay down your bowl & trace around it. Cut out your circle and cut a straight line for the back of your tree skirt. Pin around.

Now if you would like to beautify the back of your tree skirt I would recommend pinning ribbons to either side of the line you just cut so you can tie up the back in bows. I knew you wouldn't see the back of my tree skirt so I got lazy and opted out of the extra work.

Now you will sew around all your raw edges making sure to leave a 5" inch gap to turn it inside out. You can hand stitch your gap closed or use fabric glue to shut it, whichever you prefer.

And wala you have yourself a tree skirt! Diesel in the corner admiring my work.

Now stick it under your tree and find a cute baby to help display it ;)

I think Kingsley was very impressed with my tree skirt :)

Here is our tree all lit up & with the star on it. I miss Christmas already!

San Diego Xmas trip

Way back in December we headed to San Diego for Jeremy's work & for a small vacay.

We had a fun night heading to the Coronado Hotel to see all the Christmas Decorations.

We visited the Kemp's which was fun to see all the boy cousins together.

Staying in the hotel was not so fun this time as King wanted to crawl around (which I didn't let him YUCK!) and it was super boring for me to lay in the dark while he napped. But any who we did attend a holiday party at our friends the Tate's while we were in town.

King was really excited to see his girlfriend Samantha :)

But the quickly forgot about each other & tried to open all the shiny presents ;)

Festive mama's and babes

Trying to get a picture of Kingsley, Samantha & Tayber went a little something like this.. ha

Not the best picture but we had fun anyways :)

Now that King is older I don't know that I will be accompanying Jeremy on his quick trips to San Diego, but it was sure fun while it lasted :)

Kingsley is 7 months!

And just like the others, seven months has come and gone so quickly!

This little bug is all over the place these days. Seven months has brought plenty of new tricks. He can totally sit up on his own now. He rolls, scoots, and basically crawls all over the place! It's more like an army crawl right now, but if he sees something he wants he gets himself from point A to B quickly! (Which makes getting him to sit still for a photo very difficult!)

As you can see K's hair has changed to a strawberry blonde/auburn color like mine did when I was little. Kingsley definitely seems so much bigger to us, though we don't have any stats to prove it. He is wearing size 3 diapers, 6-12month tops and still 3-6month bottoms.

 He has really started to take a liking to toys, which worked out perfect with Christmas time :) Although his three favorite things to play with are the remote, our phones, & paper. Seriously how does he know to go straight for the things we don't want him to have?? He also loves for you to read books to him.

Kingsley still has such a cheerful demeanor which makes Jeremy & I feel so lucky. He still loves to say dadada but occasionally will say mama after some coaxing. He is still so easy going, but does much better at home sleeping in his crib and staying on schedule. He loves to be out and about but won't nap as well in his car seat or stroller. He still consistently sleeps thru the night and wakes up between 7-8am. We are working on keeping him up longer during the day so he will take two longer naps instead of three shorter ones.

I have introduced baby food into this little man's life with the baby bullet I got for xmas. (which I highly recommend by the way) He still hasn't grasped the concept quite yet. It is really kind of a pain at this point as most of it ends up all over him, but I am trying to stick with it!

Kingsley really knows Jeremy and I at this point and reaches out for us which is the sweetest thing. He will squeeze around your neck or lay his head down on your shoulder which is just the best. That being said it does make things a little bit harder as now he doesn't really like us to leave him to be babysat.

 We love this little guy so much, can't wait to see what the next month brings!