Happy Birthday, Bubs!!

The birthday boy's favorite gift - thanks Mimi and Grandpaw!

He looked like he was kissing this cupcake. He never used his hands, and he pretty much ate the whole thing. These cupcakes are from Costco, and they are HUGE!!

Mimi with my niece, Sarah Grace

Cousin Evan liked the cupcakes too!

How come I just look sweaty, but the Bean looks rosy-cheeked and lovely??

The birthday boy!

The cookies might not look that cute, but they were quite tasty. I'd never done decorated cut-out sugar cookies before, so it was a learning experience. Don't know that I'd do it again.

We just celebrated Bubs 2nd b'day this weekend. We had a very small little party at the park. I got a little crafty this year, inspired by some random blogs that I stumbled upon, Couture Parties and Polkadots and Pirates. They have such cute ideas! I went with a tricycle theme since Bubs loves anything with wheels. I smocked a little t-shirt for him (it was my first time and was a little tricky...it's not perfect so don't look too close), and made a birthday banner (which I am planning on reusing after taking off the tricycle part), some cupcake toppers, and sugar cookie cutout party favors. I had so much fun getting all crafty! I had all the paper goods for the crafts lying around in my scrapbook stuff anyway, so it was pretty economical too. The Bean and I made the cookies, which didn't look all that great (not exactly like the Edgar's iced sugar cookies I was picturing in my head, but the Bean and I had a fun time making them, and attractive packaging makes anything look good!) Bubs had a great time. I can't believe he is already two!

One interesting note: there was a police situation while we were at the park. Three police cars came peeling in the parking lot like there was a drug bust going on or something. Turns out some guy thought he was being followed and called the police. Don't know why they needed three police cars for that?? Anyway, it was quite interesting!

Snaps

The finished product...in the process of making the Bean a coordinating outfit
THE snap putter-onner...

Easy-peezy with my new snap thingie...

For those of you who don't sew, this post probably won't be all that interesting. But even if you don't sew and you've had a snap pop off your kid's clothing, read on!!

Making john-john's is pretty easy and fairly quick if it's not smocked, but I have always HATED putting on the snaps (on the crotch as to making diaper changing easier). I'd almost rather completely undress Bubs to change his diaper rather than put snaps on his outfits. It's that annoying. Snap tape is hard to line up, and hammer-on snaps can warp when you hammer them on, rendering them useless. Then you have to take the warped snaps off w/ pliers, potentially ripping the fabric...it's a whole thing. Or if you don't hammer them on good enough, they'll come off the outfit. So frustrating.

But I have found a new product that makes putting on snaps super easy! I was looking in the notions section of Hancock's when I stumbled upon it. Basically, it is a casing for the hammer-on snaps. It locks them in place without warping the snap. It is so fast, and IT IS AWESOME!!! And you can re-use it. So if you sew, run out and get one right now! It will change your life! :) (Can you tell I love this new snap thingie??)

Sewing project

Ummm, her hair's a mess b/c we hadn't brushed it yet...oops.

I made my first pillowcase dress recently. And I think I'm hooked. I literally completed it (start to finish) during the Bean's naptime. Well, ok, I didn't quite finish the hem, but I did a "fancy" hem that took a little longer than a normal one. I had some extra fabric lying around from some pants I'd made for the Bean, so I figured I wouldn't have anything to lose if I messed it up. (I didn't have a pattern.) I think it turned out pretty cute! I thought about doing a play-by-play on how to make the pillowcase dress. If any of you are interested, I might do it later. All the how-to's I found on the Internet weren't that helpful. My friend April was the most helpful! She is the sewing queen! (And btw, I wanna see those heirloom dresses and other Spring projects on your blog, girl!! Well, if you can quit sewing long enough to blog anyway. You are my sewing hero.)

Random piece of info: if you use double-backed satin ribbon for projects (bows, sewing, etc), you might want to go to Hobby Lobby and stock up. They are about to stop selling it by the yard and only sell it by the spool.

Easter outfits

Can I please get a rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus???? The kids' Easter outfits are done!!! And two weeks early, too! I will admit, I had some help w/ the Bean's bishop dress. I smocked it, but my friend April put it together for me. The initial idea was for her to teach me how to put a bishop dress together, but instead I am doing some monogramming for her in exchange for putting the dress together, and she'll teach me on the next go-round. (Right, April???) But I did do all of Bub's outfit. I am going to get my friend Jessica to take their pics in these outfits soon. Anyway, I am really pleased w/ the way they both turned out.

Random pics from the last few weeks

This was the day it was like 70 degrees outside. Baby G loved the swing!

The Bean loves her cheer shirt!

So, does this dress pinned up to look like a top look ok w/ these pants?

Oh dear. Is this what I'm in for with a boy???

Here are some random pics from the last few few weeks, but I do need your opinion on one of them. I made the Bean some pants to go w/ her Easter dress from last year so she could get one more year out of it...I need to hem the dress to make it look more like a top, but does it look ok? I thought the pants would be a little more blousy to go w/ the fuller top.

And about the TP pic of Baby G: while the Bean was trying on the aforementioned outfit, Baby G commando crawled into the bathroom and decided to make his first spitball. And yes, I took a picture b/f I took the toilet paper out of his mouth. Mom of the year!

We won!!

Did I mention that the Bean and I won the Smockingbird contest? I know, there were only two entries total...but still, I get a $10 gift certificate for my hard work! Woo-hoo! How shall I spend my winnings, you ask? Well, I'll probably put it toward some outfits for Spring. Right now I'm working on the Bean and Baby G's Christmas outfits, and I'll be lucky if I get them done in time. Click on the link above to see the Bean prominently featured on the HOME PAGE of the Smockingbird's site. She's famous!! :)

So you're saying there's a chance...

I just got on the Smockingbird site, and there's only one other entry for their September contest! That means right now I have a 50% chance of winning the coveted $10 gift certificate! Go check out the competition here.

P.S. Just to clarify, you can't vote...the powers that be at the Smockingbird are the judges!! :)

I need your opinions!!

I got this outfit for the Bean at a consignment sale. It had a monogram on it, so I covered it up w/ an applique. (Side note: Appliques are a clever solution if you don't like ripping out monograms, and I don't!) Here's the dilemma: even though the pants and shirt are the same size, the shirt is very long and almost could be a dress. I guess it's supposed to be that way; it's the Chabre brand, which is a pretty good brand, I think. Anyway, should I shorten the top or not? I tucked it up in the last picture just to give you an idea of what it would look like shortened.

New adorable sites

I ran across a few adorable applique/monogram/custom children's clothing sites recently and thought y'all might enjoy them. There are some really cute ideas on there! Makes me want to get busy sewing!

Monogram & Applique Designs Blog

The Cherry Tree 123 Blog

Smocked outfit for the Bean

I made this outfit for the Bean b/f Baby G was born, and I just put it on the Smockingbird website...maybe I'll win a $10 gift certificate! I would put the link, but they haven't put the new outfits for September on there yet. I'm convinced that you have to put something smocked on there to win this gift certificate, so maybe this will do the trick. If you can't tell what the smocking is, it's little pink crabs. (P.S. Not the best pic of the Bean...I couldn't get her to look at me and smile. We were about to sit down to lunch, and she was more interested in her ham-n-cheese. Incidentally, she WAS having a ham and cheese, but she calls every sandwich, even hamburgers, a ham-n-cheese.) I think it turned out super cute, but unfortunately the "washable" fabric marker bleached out the fabric on a couple of sections. Anyhow, here it is. Hopefully it'll win me something!

Sewing hiatus

Alas, I have been looking at my favorite sewing websites and sighing b/c I have no time to make any outfits! I outsourced the Bean's b'day outfit b/c I'd already bought the fabric and everything BEFORE Baby G was born, and it still isn't made. I am drooling over the beautiful chambrays, corduroys, and other fall fabrics, and yet my sewing machine sits idly by in the dining room gathering dust. I even bought some fall appliques before Baby G was born (like an elephant and a football for AL games in the fall, and a turkey too), but when can I sew?? Naptimes are starting to sync up in the afternoon, but that's when I get dinner made or at least started, and do any house work that needs to be done. And once the hubby gets home, it's crazy until the Bean's bedtime, and Baby G's bedtime is not until 9 or 10 pm still. And even once his bedtime backs up, I do like to spend time w/ RR and watch a little TV. Arggh. Does anybody else have any hobbies that don't get done ever once you have a second kid??? :) Or if they do get done, do you wake up b/f the kids or do it on weekends when the hubby is home or what? Any suggestions, you craft/hobby/sewing people out there?

Happy Easter!

Well, I finished the Bean's Easter dress in plenty of time and it fit great. Yea! We had a crazy Easter b/c my mom came down w/ the stomach flu (she was sick for a week), so we couldn't spend time w/ my family like normal. And we were too last minute to make plans w/ anybody, so we ended up going to Logan's Steakhouse after church w/ another couple in our Sunday School class who had no plans either. :) The church service was great, and we are so thankful that we serve a risen Savior. Next year I think I'll try the resurrection eggs. I think the Bean was too young for them this time. And I may try an Easter baking project next year too in order to explain the resurrection to the Bean. Again, a little too young this year. If anybody has any good ideas, I'd love to hear them!



Here's a pic of the Bean in her Easter dress that we took b/f church. (She is doing her "toothy grin.") It's a good thing we took a pic b/f church too, b/c after church she got ketchup all over her dress at lunch. (It did come out!) No family pics, b/c there was nobody around to take a pic of all 3 of us.



Hope all of you had a wonderful Easter!

The Big Day

Since I have been berated by many of you over the waiting period to find out the sex of our baby, I am, as a gesture of good will, posting this tonight instead of tomorrow or Monday. You are welcome. :)

It's a....

BOY!!

We are thrilled! Just for the record, I was right. :) RR really thought he wanted a girl again b/c we love the Bean so much, but he was pretty overwhelmed w/ emotion when the ultrasound lady told us we were having a boy. We think we have decided on a name...we are saying that we're 99% sure, but there are a few others we're still mulling around on. But the main frontrunner is Harrison Grant Skinner. And we would call him Grant. RR thought that up all by himself! I would post an ultrasound pic, but honestly we didn't get many good ones. Plus I'm too lazy to scan it in.

Speaking of it's a boy, that's probably what the doctor was saying to RR's mom about 34 years ago...we celebrated RR's 34th b'day today. (What a great segue!!!) That's the reason we were waiting until today to tell my fam, since we were going to see them in person. Today was a perfect day for RR. He slept in a little bit (8:30 am...that's sleeping in nowadays), then I made him bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits. After getting ready, my family arrived, and we played w/ the kiddos for a bit b/f putting them down for naps. Once they got up, we ordered pizza for lunch and had cookie cake. Then all of us went to Recreation Station where the Big Kid (RR) played just as hard as the little ones. RR loves an arcade. Then we came home and put the Bean down for another nap, and RR watched football. He said it was a great day. :) The only thing that went wrong today was that the Bean got her first (and hopefully last!) bloody nose. She was running up an incline at Recreation Station and tripped. She was fine about 30 seconds after she fell and wanted to go play again, but we had to stop the bleeding. Hopefully her new outfit won't be ruined, but we're just glad she was ok! Here are some pics from today.

Our front door "announcement."

RR requested a cookie cake, and Publix did us up right w/ the icing! Yum!

The big kids playing air hockey. (My brother Drew beat RR, so did I later on!!)

Evan sliding down one of the many the blow-up thingies.

The Bean and Evan playing on the bouncy thing.

The Bean in my latest project. Not the most attractive pic of her, but it was the best I could get of the outfit.

An Easter Challenge

I have, in fear and trepidation, decided to smock/sew the Bean an Easter outfit. I went to Thimbles today and selected a smocking plate (it's this plate, but I'm doing the lamb, which for some reason isn't shown here), and this pattern (the one on the left). It's one of those dresses that has the smocking just in the middle, not all across the front. (This is less work!!) The dress will be in done in a pale pink w/ a white collar. I had a hard time finding a smocking plate that wasn't a bunny or eggs. No offense to anybody who is planning on dressing their kiddos in those things for Easter, b/c I think they are adorable, but I'd rather use something more related to the real reason for Easter if I can find it. But believe me, they don't really make "Christ is risen, He is risen indeed" smocking plates or appliques. And a smocked cross seemed more like a Baptismal or Christening outfit to me. So I went w/ the lamb. And as a bonus, she can wear the outfit anytime...it's not one she can wear just around Easter. I am blogging about this so that all of you know about it and will be expecting me to post a picture when it's done. I need the accountability!!! This dress has a collar AND smocking AND sleeves AND buttons all down the back. This will put my sewing skills to the test! If any of you would-be seamstresses like me want to take on an Easter challenge w/ me, let me know and maybe we can work on our outfits together!

I'm still alive, and we lost again!!!

I have not dropped off the face of the planet, I promise. We've just had a busy few weeks (probably like everyone else), with the Bean & RR being sick and lots of Christmas goings-on. So, with that being said...

We lost again!! There were only two entries in the dumb Smockingbird contest, and the other entry won! Ok, so it was pretty darn cute, and it was harder to make than mine. I've decided not to enter anymore until I have a worthy entry. That will probably be never, as I like to make easy things b/c they are fast and I only sew during naptimes. At first it was fun just to see the Bean "published", but now my competitive side is coming out and who likes to lose?

Let's see...I guess that's it for now even though that's a pretty boring post!

Foiled Again!

My meager sewing cannot compete w/ the big-time smockers. Yet again, me and the Bean have been bested by a smocked outfit on the Smockingbird's contest. I guess it IS called the SMOCKINGbird for a reason! The girl who won is pretty cute though! And her dress is half smocked - good grief that must have taken forever! At the very least, this contest is a great place to get new ideas. Already there is a cute entry for October. Which outfit should I enter, the dress or the longall? The dress is pea green and brown toile and is reversible to brown and white gingham w/ her monogram in pea green. The longall is chocolate brown w/ pea green dots and has her monogram in pea green.

Keep your fingers crossed this time!

So I entered the Bean and Evan (my nephew) into the Smockingbird's contest again for their b'day outfits. Last month there was only one entry, but of course I didn't enter anything! This time there are already 2 other entries, both smocked, and it's only Oct. 5th!! We'll see!

The Long Awaited B'day Pics!

Evan and the Bean in their b'day outfits, polka dot w/ cupcake applique.

Yes, they are reversible, so the other side is green windowpane check w/ pumpkin applique

The cake, done in colors to match their polka dot outfits. They also had matching small round cakes to destroy themselves.

The Bean pummelling her cake w/ her hat. She ate it at first, but mostly played w/ it and beat it to death w/ her hat. :) We made the hats also - very easy. You can't see it in this picture, but I also made them matching bibs w/ the cupcake applique.

The Bean opening her presents...this is one of the few pics we got of her opening gifts b/c she cared more about the rocks surrounding the pavillion.

Ok, so for a rundown of the b'day: We had Evan's and the Bean's b'days at the city park in Hokes Bluff, near where I grew up and close to my brother and sister-in-law's house. We went very low-key on the decorations w/ only a polka dot tablecloth on the cake table and balloons tied on that table, matching polka dot napkins, etc. We ate cake and opened presents - pretty simple. There were only 2 other kids there, so we didn't do party favors either. The only things creative about the party were their outfits and hats! The party went great, and the only thing that went wrong was the Great Balloon Debacle.

The Great Balloon Debacle

So, my sister-in-law took a pack of balloons to the party store near her house and told them to blow up 20 of them. We thought that would be plenty. When we picked them up about and hour and a half b/f the party, we realized they were the wrong size balloons. My sister-in-law had accidentally bought a pack of tiny balloons instead of normal size, so neither of us were pleased w/ them. But they were already paid for, so we decided just to use them anyway. Well since they were so small, we decided to blow up the rest of the pack (30 balloons) ourselves and tape them to the tables. We had not planned on doing this timewise, but thought we'd be fine. So we go to her house and blow up the balloons. We took the bunch of already blown up balloons inside w/ us so they wouldn't get too hot and pop in the car. Well, we finished up and started to load up the car w/ balloons to head over to the park to set up about an hour b/f the party. Now, as an important side note, the door handle was broken off on my sister-in-law's car so that they had to roll down the window to get in and out of the car. As I was putting the bunch of balloons in the car, I didn't notice that the window was still down. So what happened to our tiny, but only, bunch of balloons? It was sucked out of the window into oblivion!! And yes, it was my all my fault. So after regaining our composure (my sister-in-law and I were laughing hysterically), I said we should go get some more balloons...I thought we'd have time. Long story short, we ended up having to call somebody else to go pick up the new balloons b/c we ran out of time taping all the other ones to the tables. And when we finally did get the new gorgeous large size balloons, they started popping b/c we tried to tie them to the concrete columns instead of the tables. So here's what I learned for the next b'day:

1) Always bring more than 2 people to set up.

2) Allow at least 30 minutes more than you think you'll need.

3) Check the size of the balloons on the pkg b/f you buy them.

4) Make sure the window isn't rolled down b/f putting balloons in a car.

and 5) Don't try to do something at the last minute that you hadn't planned on!

And we were trying to be simple!! Imagine if we'd planned something more involved!! Any of ya'll have any b'day debacles to share?

Maybe next time :)

The Bean did not win the Smockingbird picture contest. Sad. No $10 gift certificate for Mommy. I am of course going to assume that she was beat out by degree of difficulty in outfit and not cuteness of model of said outfit. The winner had a smocked dress AND a matching monogrammed purse. Tough competition.

Some of you have asked me to post new outfits I've made...I will do that soon if I can get any good pictures of the Bean wearing them. She likes to grab the camera more than stand still to model the clothes.

Also, some of you have asked about the progress of the Grocery Experiment. I'll update on that soon, I promise!

Future Supermodel?

The Smockingbird (kid's fabric store) is showcasing "customer creations", so I entered a couple of photos of the Bean. So here she is modeling my creations in all her glory. :) If she wins the contest, I get a $10 gift certificate to the Smockingbird. (They choose...wish y'all could vote!!) Free stuff for uploading two pics I already had of something I'd already made - not bad! She's photo #1 and #5.

Enjoy!