Birthday Handmades

I wanted to share a bit more about the handmade gifts we gave MaKenna. This was the first time that I made a birthday crown. I have always found this waldorf tradition to be a wonderful way of making the birthday child to feel even more special, but never got around to making one for the boys. And to be honest, I wasn't sure if they would even want one (but, it turns out "birthday crowns are cool!"). I tried to make something for her that she would enjoy wearing when she was 9 or 10 as well and after doing a little bit of research on the internet, came up with a simple design. The main crown is made from plant dyed wool felt and then I needle felted her initial with green roving and sewed the felted flowers on the sides. At first I wasn't sure what colors to use (she is too little to have a favorite), but I have always tended to lean towards purple for her and so I went with that and yellow as the complimentary color. I am very happy with how it turned out!

I also made her a baby (Molly). She is a 12" button jointed baby (her arms and legs can move more than the boys dolls). And since she is a baby, she only needed a wig...blonde of course like her mama. I also was on the fence about eye color. As a baby, MaKenna's eyes were pretty blue, but as she has gotten older, they are more "gray". However, gray isn't exactly the prettiest color so in the end I went with blue. Molly's sweater is knitted by me...the same pattern used for Jakey's doll. I ended up leaving off the button as MaKenna loves to undress the babies (she is always trying to take the clothes off the boys' babies). And since she loves her babies to be naked, I didn't worry about sewing up clothes as of yet. I still have plans to make a few things for the future, but as we speak, Molly is sleeping naked in her bed :-)

And her gift from Daddy was a new kitchen! This has been the focus of much play since Sunday by all the kids. A lot of love and labor went into it and it turned out beautifully! I smile everytime I look at it! And since it was handmade, we were able to customize it a bit...combining designs from several wooden kitchens we had seen. It is a bit taller and a bit wider to accomodate our tall (and many) children. It is a great size even for Jacob, so I see lots and lots of years of play here. Blake was very excited for Kenna to get this so he spent the night before setting it up with all our playfood and cookware. Of course, now it is all mishmashed, but that's okay.

Since Kenna's birthday, we both have had requests for new babies and a refrigerator to go with the kitchen. Hmmm...I think we can make that happen!