The Christmas Dress!

The pattern is a dress pattern from 1901 (French).  It mostly comes with a description of the dress and very little instructions.  That means it was slow going for me and lots of phone calls home to my Mom.  The ribbon is silk, the fabric is a fine baby cord, and there are 63 bead caps (buttons were way too expensive)

I love it, but the silk ribbon causes me too much stress.  I constantly worry about her snagging it and ruining the dress.  So do I let her wear the dress lots and ruin it OR wear it a few times and put it away? 

Christmas Day!

HO! HO! MEERRRY CHRISTMAS!
This is the kids waiting at the top of the stairs before we let them head down to see if Santa has visited.  Grahm is not in to talking for the camera!
We put a clock in the boys bedroom and told them they could not wake us up before 7am.  Then I jump in the shower and get my makeup on and fix my hair.  It sounds soooo mean, but it lets me relish in their anticipation a little longer.

First we look at our stockings and of course any presents that Santa didn't wrap. 
This Rody Horse of Charlottes got her attention quick, after a Starburst!

Santa also brought her a doll.  It is Sweetie Pie an Effanbee doll (I got mine when I was two for Christmas - hers says it is 1969 - Santa hunted it down - he likes the old crier's best!!)  Jason and I (and my Mom) gave her my doll cradle.  Jason had to fix the rockers - it has rocked lots of kids, and we stripped it and repainted it.  My Grandpa Jones built it for my Mom for Christmas!  I hope she loves it as much as all the little girls in the past have! [Since I wanted to see her reaction and not through a view finder I don't have pictures -yet].  She sleeps with this doll, feeds it, rocks, and carts it around.  A girl and her doll!

I also made her a little purse, fake lipstick, and powder.  Another Fancy Nancy book!

Jayce asked Santa for:  GI Joe - R.H.I.N.O. Vehicle, Comic Book, Ben 10 Toy, WII Game, Iron Man Figure, and Trouble.  Between Santa, Mom and Dad, and Grandparents he got everything he wished for and a few extras.

Grahm asked Santa for:  Ben 10 Watch, Ben 10 Toys, GI Joe Duke figure, Hippity Hop, and Christmas Shoes.  Between everyone his hearts desires were met!!

When I was a kid my Mom painted Calvin and Hobbes T-shirts for all of us one or two years.  This summer I decided to introduce my family to Calvin and Hobbes and create T-shirts for them for Christmas!  (Jayce was introduced to Calvin and Hobbes as soon as school started this fall, he has been faithfully reading ever since).




Jason and I got everything we wanted.  This was a great Christmas!  Christmas Day was simple and sweet.

Christmas Eve

I just love this time of year.  I love the true meaning of the season and the opportunity to refocus my life.  I also love the excitement that infects my children - it is contagious!!

Christmas Eve.
Along with our traditional soup dinner we were able to share it with good friends. 
We read the scripture story - so simple, so sweet.
This year we were giving Jayce pj's.  Grahm had asked for Christmas Shoes and we all know Charlotte has an obsession with shoes, so I made red elf slippers with bells on the toes.  We let them open them up Christmas Eve.
Of course everyone was very tired from a long day of excitment.

Her Latest Obsession

Ever since our first little snow storm that gave Charlotte a taste for snow (figuratively and literally) she has been begging to go out in it.

Tonight as we left the house she tried to pick up a thin layer of snow to eat - I am picturing all the dirt and grime that she also picked up and quickly get rid of the snow.  Tears of course follow.

On our way into the house she is crying to play in the snow - but it is late, dark and cold.  She quickly is distracted by the fact that their is plenty of snow to eat off the floor in our entry way.  Once again - I am picturing dirt - so I do a Mom freak out and she cries.

I turn away for a moment only to turn back and find her licking the bottom of Grahms boot - there is snow in the tread!  I should have let her eat her snow. 

At this point I am now willing to oblige her and I run out into the storm to make a snowball that she can eat in peace!

New Ornaments!

After Super Saturday I had some memory frames I needed to do something with.  I had them because when I went to order them the company I wanted to order them from did not have them in stock.  The second time in 1 month - should have been a clue.  So I ordered them from another company and I knew they where different, but when they arrived I was too emberassed at how cheap and crappy they where to let any one have them.  So I checked back with the compnay I liked and they were back in stock.  They were much better.

So - I had 14 extra frames.  What to do?  My Mom has been wanting to put photos on the tree, like Pottery Barn has for the last few years.  I realized that these frames where nice ane light weight and would work great - they are only 1.5 inches - so a little small - but I like them!!

Turning Two!!

She officially turned two this month!  Wow - what a ride.  She is just so stinkin' cute and makes us smile.  I love it when she jumps, when she says Ho! Ho! MERRRRY Christmas!  I love watching her play with dolls - she is potty training her dolls. 

For the big celebration she requested hot dogs and fries and Cake Pops of course.  Since we celebrated her Birthday in June we kept it small - we gave her a book (A Fany Nancy) and some shoes she needed.  My Mom gave her an outfit -knickers and a sweater - so cute!! (she decided to celebrate her Birthday on the official day and not the unBirthday day). 

Turning two brings some serious officialy changes - no more sippy cups, no more whole milk - and the biggie no more Binky!  I knew eliminating the binky would be difficult for Charlotte.  She was more attached to it than either of the boys.  They never asked for it when they where upset, and she would.  When they approached two and we told them it was time to be done, THEY threw it away.  Charlotte at the mention of that would start crying!!  Oh, Dear!

Well, I remembered reading once that a mom had slowly cut up the binky.  So we tried this.  We started in October.  I cut a slit, two nights later I made the whole bigger.  Two nights later I made it bigger and so on, until the nub was barely big enough to hold on with her teeth.  She stopped asking for it and it disappeared.  By November we were binky free!!

Neige $100 Gift Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Neige $100 Gift Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Here is to keeping my fingers crossed! I love their clothes!

Sewing for boys!

Here are the pants I made for Grahm.  I was really worried that they would look homemade.  I think fabric selection is really important when sewing for boys.  The fabric I used was a pair of my pants that I hated.  I used an Oliver and S pattern.  They are really great patterns, easy to use.  Maybe we will try something else for boys after the new year!

(yes they are wrinkly - he hates clothes, irons, etc...)

All I Want For Christmas is My Two...

First off - I have not actually taken a moment to brag about how great Jayce's performance was at the Christmas Party.  He and Jack did great, it sounded good!!  They did not seem nervous at all (my stomach had butterfly's for him).I am so proud of him.  He did not want to sing and I made him.  He was great and I hope it helped him get over his fear of performing.

Jayce has been soooooo slooooowwww getting his two front teeth in.  He lost them back in early May of this year and he finally got one in two days before Thanksgiving.  I thought for sure we were going to get to sing the song - All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth - this year.  6 Months!!! 

The next week he lost another tooth.  The gap would have been 4 teeth wide, except the one had come in the week before. 

Good news, his other Central Incisor has finally cut through - this Sunday.  He now has his two front teeth!!

The World Through His Eyes!

As we piled out of the car to pick up miscellaneous items at JoAnns (only to have to go back a few days later, because shopping with kids - means the one thing I put in the cart that I had to have, does not make it home.), I hear Grahm exclaim...

Jayce, Jayce - hurry look at my coat. 

JAYCE, JAYCE - LOOK!  IT ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE A SNOWFLAKE!

JAYCE!

I smile and keep rushing through the parking lot.

MOM, MOM!  THEY ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE SNOWFLAKES!  HURRY AND LOOK AT MY COAT.  MOM, LOOK!

MOM! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!

I think he made several people smile that day.

Humble Pie a la mode

This past Saturday was our Branch Christmas Party. Jayce and his friend Jack were singing a duet, Away in a Manger. Of course Jason had to work and asked that I try and record the performance for him. I told him in advance that I didn't think I could. The performance was going to be in The Chapel, the most sacred room in our meeting house. This is where we partake of the Sacrament.


After getting everyone dressed for the party and arriving late, I asked our Branch President if I would be permitted to use a camcorder during the performance. He informed me that it would be okay, since this was a very relaxed meeting. I was still feeling nervous and guilty about it. Under normal circumstances recordings of any kind are not permitted in the Chapel, no pictures, no audio recordings and no video recordings.

I had it all planned out, I was going to sit near the front and very discreetly video the performance of Jayce and Jack singing. When it was their turn, I sat Charlotte on the bench next to me (so she would not shake the camera) and started to get ready to record. She started to cry, which meant you would not be able to hear the singing.

So, I stood up to dash to the back of the room with Charlotte and camera. I think everyone noticed us and my camera. I was dying. A great friend offered to take Charlotte for me. A little relief, still dying of embarrassment.

This was quickly replaced by pride as Jayce and Jack started singing.

Then Sunday night when Jason was home we hooked everything up to the TV to watch the performance and wouldn't you know it, there was nothing. I must have forgotten in all the craziness to push record. I am taking it as a further lesson that some things should not be done in Holy Places. I try very hard to teach my children the sacred nature of our church buildings and I think I still need lessons also. Humbling!!

My Ramblings about Santa

I often have mixed feeling about Santa Clause. On one hand he is a wonderful embodiment of Jesus Christ and on the other hand he inspires gluttony. I guess like so many things in life there are a good side and a bad side (if you can call it that).


Today, I decided that Santa Clause does something wonderful for children. Besides helping to teach children to give and of course try to be their very best. He teaches them about faith.

Jayce is at that age where they start to question Santa Clause. I was beginning to think this might be our last year of him believing. He told me his friends don't believe in Santa... and then he added that they needed to watch Polar Express and then they would know. However, after a rough morning and one phone call to Santa - I realized that he had made a decision (perhaps not a conscious one). He was not believing because he always has, he has chosen to believe inspite of what others say. Perhaps his ability to choose to believe in Santa is a luxury of a child, but I believe he has had a fundamental lesson in faith. There will come a point in your life where you have to choose to believe, not believe because someone else does or because you used to.

I try to bring Jesus Christ into Christmas when ever I can. I compare Santa Clause to Jesus for them. This time of year parents can easily back themselves into a corner by threatening no toys from Santa if the kiddos don't perform well. We have done this several times, in fact last night the 10 minutes allotted for playroom cleanup was closer to an hour - because we had threatened no toys (oops).

I explained to Jayce that just like Jesus will do anything for us because he wants us to live in Heaven with him. Santa does not want to bring a lump of coal and not give you toys. He loves us and wants us to be happy.

I Believe!

If...

If all our student loans were paid off and I had some money.  This is what I would do with it.  Check out Ashley Hackshaw.  This is my favorite style.  They are just gorgeous.  I wish comissioned painting were done a little more (and what I could afford right now).  I guess I will save my favorite pictures, so that one day...

My Eyes Are Bigger Than My Stomach (Or Something Like That!)

Do you ever think a project or an idea is going to be easy, take just a little time and come out perfect!  Oh - good, I thought it was just me.

Well I did it again.  Every time parent teacher conference time rolls around, we have a bake sale at his school.  I usually sign up to bring Oh! Henry Bars (glorified, peanut butter with chocolate rice krispy treats), but ooohh so easy and fast.  I had the brilliant idea, mostly because I did not have any rice krispies on hand, to make Cake Pops for the bake sale. 

I can make Cake Pops pretty darn fast, but I thought I would cutesie them up.  I would have to individually wrap them so they could be sold. 

This is going to be fun!!  Well it took lots longer than I thought and it didn't go as well as I had hoped.  The little white chocolate Fleur De Lis are too hard to do with any of the tips I had, so I did some with a toothpick.  After 10 (plus the 3 or so tests) I scraped that idea and went with white chocolate drizzles!

It was such a good idea!  Live and learn!

Tip for Cold Season!

It is cold season and I have one.  So I thought I would share one of my favorite tricks.


Whenever you have a runny nose you end up with a red, sore nose.  That eventually gets dry and flaky - eeww gross!

At night before you go to bed and hopefully you wont have to use a tissue again until morning.  Rub on some Lanolin!  You know that big tube of stuff you bought or someone gave you when you had your last baby, that has been sitting there half unused.

Seriously this works!  By morning my nose is not red or sore!  You do have to get over the feeling of putting it on, this stuff is not thin.  Unfortunately the cycle starts again in the morning, but atleast it doesn't get worse and I am not afraid to be seen in public.

It works great on really chapped lips, too. (Feels really yucky on your lips, but I like quick fixes)

If you don't have any get some. I keep it in my medecine cabinet all the time - super great for kids who get really sore noses on top of already not feeling well.

Is It Gender or Age?

Today we were laying around in our room.  Jason decided (as is his Sunday ritual) to offer the boys treats or quarters in return for a foot rub.  They usually put up a fuss and want to know exactly how long they have to rub in order to recieve their reward.

Well - they started rubbing his feet.  Charlotte, who was snuggling me, decided she wanted in on the action.  So she simply said "my feet" and put her feet up toward her Dad.  Daddy quickly obliged.  She wanted them both rubbed and for along time.


I thought the whole thing was hilarious.  Here is Daddy being taken care of by this two little slaves,the boys.  And then he ends up being slave to Charlotte who has nothing to do, but lay back, relax and enjoy.  Does she have "little princess" syndrome?

Sweater Pillows Suck!!

Maybe if you don't have kids and hardly ever end up sitting on your pillows these would actually be great.  However, I have kids - so they are constantly skewampus (actaully a word).  Every time I walk by, they need adjusting.  The sweater part is too stretchy.

I removed the tutorial.  If you want it let me know.  However, these suck!

One More Reason!

Another reason I love my husband.

The other night he had to iron his dress blues for his uniform inspection.  He decided he wanted to listen to music while he did the job.  What did he grab?

ABBA ( Momma Mia!)

His music likes are as diverse as mine!!

You have to still love me - even thought I just shared that!!!

The Winter Coat!

Why do I sew?  Is it to save money - absolutely not.  Sometimes it saves a little - if my time is free.  I sew simply because I can and I get a lot of satisfaction when I complete something and it looks good.  It can be very frusturating - patterns can be horrible.  But - when I sew something like this...



I decide that it is so worth it.  I really like to sew coats.  I am not sure why - maybe because I only make one once a year.  Next year I hope to make 2 or 3.








I do sew for the boys occaisonally.  I will have to post some pictures of Grahm's pants the next time he wears them.

The Fall Dress!

She wore her Fall Dress to church this Sunday.  I think it turned out cute - but I think she may be finally growing.  I am not sure it will last until Spring.  This is actually the same dress as her Easter dress.  I just didn't put the collar on and I made the sleeves 3/4 length.

This was my first time sewing with plaid (other than the dress shirt to todller dress).  It took some learning and I will do things differently next time.  I should probably go grab some more plaid - just so I can do it again before I forget.

Please ignore the white tights - black thick tights don't seem to be available this year.  We are on the hunt!

Mini-Update

I added some more detailed pictures to the post about Charlotte's iron and brass bed.

Also - the pics of the dress shirt to toddler dress are up now.

Tried on the muslin version of Jayce's coat - way too big. Not sure I have it in me to try and resize the pattern at the moment (plus all the fabric I like is $27/yard and I have to order 3 - so getting pricey!). Maybe next year!

Winter Projects!

Fall is the busiest time of the year (or at least it feels that way). It seems like the moment School starts until New Years is past, there is no time for loafing. Here is part of my to do list:
1. Fall deep cleaning (I think will wait until January -when I am suddenly bored).
2. Charlotte - Jumper
3. Charlotte- Play Dress
4. Charlotte - Fall Church Dress
5. Charlotte - Christmas Dress
6. Charlotte - Winter Dress Coat
7. Charlotte - Nickers
8. Grahm - Pants
9. Jayce - Winter Dress Coat
10. Christmas gift - Mom
11. Christmas gift - Jason
12. Christmas gift - Jayce and Grahm
13. Christmas gift - Charlotte
14. Pillows
15...

I have barely dented that list and that is not all of it. I am a month behind and Thanksgiving is almost here!!

Have you noticed all the tutorials on blogs for taking your husbands tired button up and turning it into beautiful little girl dresses? There is one at Made she has several other examples you can see on her site. Here's another to name a few.
Anywhoo - I attempted this - IT IS NOT FOR ME!! I love the way they look when everyone else does it. When I did it I notice all of the things wrong - button spacing for Charlotte is bad, how the neck is not faced correctly - etc... Maybe I should try following a tutorial instead of just attacking it on my own.
This is Shirt Dress is her Play Dress!!




I was going to use the same pattern as this jumper to maker her Fall Dress - but she has not grown to a size 2 and by the time I had re-sized the dress to fit her I decided I was not going to try and figure out resizing and sleeves. - So I had to find another pattern for her Fall Dress. This is her jumper. The pattern is a McCalls pattern from the early 1900's.

Charlotte's Bed Cont...

I know I said in a week and it has been lots more. So sorry. Why is the fall so busy?

Here is what we did to keep the wonderful patina that this bed came with.

1. We pressure washed it to remove loose paint and grime. We also gave it a good scrubbing. Someone had started to strip it in places which became more evident when we pressure washed it - but I still love it.

2. We let it dry and removed all the brass.

3. I then applied 4 coats of Zinnser Peel Stop. This product is supposed to stop peeling, flaking paint - so we are hoping rust, too.


4. I then sprayed 2 or 3 coats of a clear satin finish.

5. Then a week or so later we used an at home lead test kit and it came back clean.

We custom ordered a 3/4 mattress for her. We ordered the cheapest one we could (well - because she is little and it worked fine for the boys - they have comfy beds). Hers is awful - harder than the floor. We just purchased a memory foam topper for her - Much better!!



I do not like the bed in her room with the shelf. The shelf is too low for how high the headboard is. Jason is refusing to move it, since we are moving - yada yada yada. Once I threw some pink blankets on the foot of her bed and a pink pillow case to cover up some of the quilt she is using while I hunt down something perfect, it looks much better in the room.

Any suggestions?