Tricks up my sleeve

Having been a parent for only 13 short months, I'm sure I have only begun to scratch the surface of how difficult it can be to sit through an hour of sacrament meeting every Sunday with an active child (I can't even imagine doing it with children!). I have learned, however, that the more tricks you have for keeping them quiet, the better. Currently, our favorite "trick" comes in the form of goldfish crackers. From about the end of the first talk until the closing prayer we just keep those little fishes going from hand to mouth for our little guy. The goldfish work great for now, but this past week I acquired a new item to add to my bag of Sunday tricks. I present you with the I Spy book. Ta Da!


With Ryan taking more regular afternoon naps, I now find the time to work on a few projects of my own. This is my latest completed project.


For Mother's Day, my mother in law gave me a set of quilting squares to make an I Spy quilt. I already own an I Spy quilt, so instead of make another one, I decided to use the squares to make an I Spy book. I think the book will be easier than the quilt to take along to, I don't know, church? I'm sure it will also be fun to take on road trips and airplanes in the future.


It was a really easy project and virtually free for me.



There is a pocket with a snap on the back cover to store the I Spy Cards.


I just went through the book and listed every item on every page. Then I randomized the list on excel and made nine little I Spy Cards with ten items each. My mom was nice enough to laminate the cards for me so they won't get beat up as the years go by.


Here is the book in action. Ryan is such a cooperative little model! (Note: These are all pictures of what he did on his own. They weren't staged at all. Granted, he probably isn't doing exactly what the captions say he is, but still. Impressive.)

Choosing which card to use.

Picking an object to look for.

Searching the pages.

Found it!

On to the next object on the list!
( I don't know why the coloring is so wacky on this picture. Strange.)