6/30/2013

Skirt Update!


Can I talk about these skirts for a minute?  I wanted a serger for years just so I could chop up shirts and make new things out of them.  It took me two years to pull my serger out of the box because I was so intimidated by it.  I'm nearly ashamed to admit that, because once I learned how to thread it, I haven't stopped using it.  We are constantly going to the thrift store to look for new shirts to make these skirts with.  :) I have cut into hundreds of shirts to come up with the fabric combinations I need to make these.  They are lightweight, they twirl perfectly, and the waistband fits many sizes of toddlers & girls!  They are my favorite things to make (currently) and today I updated my shop with 8 new skirts :) I hope you love them as much as I do!

6/19/2013

Summer Weeding


I am an overly ambitious (very amateur) gardener with very little time.  This equals a messy, beautiful, colorful disaster in my yard.  One of my favorite ways to celebrate summer is to visit Lowes with our girls, look at all the beautiful flowers, and then head straight to the back of the garden section where all the half dead discounted plants are.  GOLD.  Pure gold.  We load our cart up and spend a fourth of what they would cost otherwise, and then plant all that week.  Some die.  Some flourish.  Some just hang out and can't make their minds up.  It's fun.  It gets us all in the yard together.  It keeps us busy.  :) as if we needed that...


Today I was weeding along our driveway for the 39472th time.  We are not a fan of the rocks that run along both sides of the driveway, but mulch isn't in the budget or calendar for this year.  I was looking for an affordable way to keep those weeds out, and I've heard about the newspaper method, so that's what I'm doing.  It's nothing fancy, basically you just put 9 pieces of newspaper down, and then your rocks or mulch on top.  It's a neat way to recycle and use what you have on hand.  I will report back how it's working.  :) It is hard work, but worth the investment in our yard.  I love to take care of our little house.  I am a blessed woman.

6/08/2013

the day my husband's car exploded...

Let me preface this post by saying my husband is okay, everybody is unharmed and safe and very thankful for the outcome.  and now I can continue by saying that his car just spontaneously caught on fire and exploded this morning on his way to work.  I cried, I laughed, I cried more, I got hysterical, I prayed, I hugged my husband, I paced around the house looking for something to do... "who does this happen to?!" I asked.  My husband said it happens a lot.  I have yet to know a person who this has happened to!!!


We are sentimental people.  Of course I am most thankful that my husband escaped unharmed and okay and safe, but we are going to miss that little car.  It wasn't overly showy or expensive, it had a crappy paint job, but man it was fun.  It smelled like a man car.  I drove it many times when I was pregnant because I loved the smell of tires.  We went on so many dates with the top down and radio up, wind in our hair, Switch's head out the window with his ears flying back.  I took him to the drive in movies once for his first father's day when Emma was in my tummy.  We took it to a fancy expensive hotel downtown for our anniversary one year.  It wasn't the car, it was all the memories.  and fire is a powerful thing, it just takes everything away very fast.  


Here's how I would like to remember that little red car.  Emma pretending to drive it last Easter right before Zoey was born (it was parked, obviously).  I had a post about preschool ready, but maybe I'll post that tomorrow.  Today was just a tough day on our hearts.  A scary day and a stressful day.  and a thankful day.

6/03/2013

Emma's Necklaces


It's fun to live out old childhood hobbies again with your children.  For many years, some of the best gifts that I got were Lisa Frank craft kits.  The neon colors, the funky animals, the stationary, the stickers, the beads... I loved them.  I hoarded them.  I wanted to make sure I made the PERFECT craft with them because birthdays only come once a year, you know, and I didn't want to run out of supplies!  I decided a while ago that craft & art supplies were something we would always replenish, so she never would be held back in her creations by the fear of running out of something.  It's been a fun rule.  :)

Last summer when Zoey was a newborn, we spent a lot of time in Emma's room playing quietly while Zoey slept.  One of our favorite games to play was bead/color sorting.  I had colored plastic rings, and she sorted the correct bead color inside the rings.  It was great fine motor skill activity.  She eventually kind of outgrew it and because more interested in what the beads were made for ;) so for her birthday she got several bead kits, and some kind of passion exploded within her, because Emmabelle is my little jeweler!


Above is a picture of her bead box, all decorated in her special Lalaloopsy stickers.  Inside are all kinds of beads, including many that were mine when I was little.  Right after her birthday party she wanted to play with one of her new toys, so I asked if she wanted to make a necklace.  She beaded it herself and then gave it to me.  It's one of the best gifts ever.  and it didn't stop with me, she has gifted many people in our family with their very own necklaces, men included!  There is a girl her age who is battling cancer and she goes to my sister's church.  Emma wanted to make her and her mommy each a necklace.  It's really special to see my girl ministering with her art.  :) I love it.

(I'm wearing a necklace she made me here!)

Emma came down with a fever Saturday night and had been getting pretty sick.  She wasn't symptomatic but when her fever spiked over 103 this morning we took her to the doctor first thing.  She has strep throat and an ear infection!  She hasn't complained about her throat or her ears a bit, but I am glad that we have some medicine for her now and she will be feeling better in no time.  She took the time this afternoon to make a couple more necklaces for some special people :) it's something I just love doing with her.  I think she's the coolest ever.