Our Happy Little Nest

today

2012-01-17T17:20:00.000-08:00

This afternoon I was invited to play dollhouse and instead of saying, "in just a minute" or "let me finish folding these towels first," I choose to say yes.

For thirty minutes I forgot that I was 30. Instead, I got to be 3 again and enter into their little world.

It was lovely.

And what a little, little world it is. We are into all things miniscule right now. The smaller the better. Little dolls, tiny furniture, and even little craft pom poms.

Caroline has become quite attached to this purple pom pom she found in some left over school supplies and has affectionately named him, ball-ie, bally, balley

Maybe we'll just go with Ball. E.

It is quite hilarious and she takes it everywhere, even sleeps with it at night (much to my chagrin) Do you even know how hard it is to find good old Ball.E. when he gets lost in the covers at 2 a.m. and we can't go back to sleep without him???)

Do you spy him in the tea party above? (sitting in the blue round chair with his sister, Baby Gigi). I kid you not, I couldn't make this stuff up.

;)

But it was fun and my towels didn't run away while I was playing. In fact they were right there waiting to be folded when I got back to my chores.

Blessed be childhood, which brings down something of heaven into the midst of our rough earthliness.

Henri Amiel

sewing workshop update!

2012-01-16T11:46:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you all know that two spots have just opened up for the sewing workshop this weekend! :) The workshop this Saturday is one of the beginner ones and you can find out more information here.

There are also a few spots open for the smocking Sip-N-Stick on the 26th. I'm really really excited (and maybe just a little nervous too) about teaching these ladies to smock.

While the weather was frigid this weekend, we all hunkered down and just hung around the house. I used my down time to get some supplies ready for this workshop and to brush up on my smocking skills to get ready to teach it next week!

If you are interested in coming to one of the workshops you can check out the Get Your Stitch On Workshop blog or you can send me an e-mail at getyourstitchonworkshop@gmail.com.

I'm really looking forward to meeting some of you soon!

It is well with my soul

2012-01-13T21:36:00.000-08:00

In November, we got all gussied up and headed over to an old family farm in Lexington so that Lucas could snap some photos of the four of us. What a super special treat, I’m telling you! We all had so much fun with Lucas. Anna Cate will now tell you that her two favorite things are 1) weddings and 2) photo shoots. I think she would die if she new Mr. Lucas got to do both...at the same time...for a living! We have decided we have to build family pictures into our budget so we can do this every so often. (And if you are looking for somebody super talented and fun to work with, give Lucas a call. seriously, hands down, the best of the best.) And maybe this goes without saying, but all of the pics in this post are ones that he took (and two up there in the header too).

He has no idea what a blessing he was to our family and how much I treasure these photos of the four of us right here, right now, in this sweet season of life that we are in. 2011 was definitely a year I will always look back on with bittersweet memories; lots of laughter, many tears, growing closer as a family and learning to lean into the Lord with each step that I take.

Last week I was flipping through old pages in my journal. I hadn’t read back through things I had written earlier in the year, and I was humbled at just how specifically God had answered almost every prayer I had written on those pages. It certainly didn’t feel like He was answering prayers as we were living out our days in 2011, but looking back I can see His providence in all of it.

My heart has amnesia and I forget the lyrics to the songs that He has already taught me, ones that I thought I knew by heart. I question and I flail and I loose heart. I doubt His goodness and His grace when things don't feel good and circumstances don't work out according to my selfish desires.

Last January, while on our church's women's retreat in the cold, snowy mountains of Hendersonville, I heard one of the ladies speaking about how she claims a Bible verse for each day. So very naively, I decided I'd claim a verse for the year. I landed on Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.

I think the "Be Still" part sounded great to me and I just disregarded the rest. Honestly, I do. Being still sounded like a great invitation to rest, a welcomed permission to slooooow down. Goodness gracious I had no idea what I was asking. To claim a verse and invite the Lord to show me what it meant.

So I returned home and went back to living life as I had always known it to be. God was part of my day, a quick "hello" in my quiet time or in brief worship as I sang along with the radio, but not part of my whole day. I did not need Him to carry me, to cover me with His grace because my heart felt raw and exposed.

But then He showed up to make good on our deal. He would teach my heart what it meant to know what Psalm 46:10 means. To live it out, in the flesh, to fight and claw my way into understanding what being still and knowing really means.

In the course of the next few months, I came to dread the text from Will that read

Call me asap.

I never knew when the next ball was going to drop:

"Can you talk?

The doctor just called.

It is melanoma.

I won't know how invasive until he sees the pathology report."

Be still and know.

"I'm so sorry sweetie, but Dandy just passed away."

Be still and know.

"My job circumstances have changed and I think now is the time to go off on my own and start my own business."

Be still and know

"It's Caws. She's gone.

It happened sometime early this morning while she was asleep."

Be still and know

As we packed our Christmas decorations up last year, I was so sure that we would be celebrating this Christmas as a family of five. And month after disappointing month, realizing that our desires were not part of God's plan for us right now.

Be still and know

It has been painful. All of it. Some days I feel forgotten and unloved. I feel like throwing my hands in the air and waving like a crazy woman, "Here, Lord, down here. Do you see me? Do you even realize what all we are going through right now? Why, why, and again WHY?"

The pain has made my heart tender, and though not at all what I would pick for myself if given the choice, it has been a beautiful mess because I have grown in an intimacy with Him that I have never known before. I walk around with a throbbing heart that can only find relief in His presence. In being still before Him.

A little verse that I thought would unlock permission for me to relax and rest has taught me so much about my own selfishness. About my own sense of entitlement; how ugly it is and how much that I exercise it on a daily basis. About patience and that waiting on the Lord produces a patience which leads to practicing contentment. And what a rich abundance contentment can be for those who truly find it and can find rest in Him and what He gives.

About living with an open palm instead of a closed fist. In learning to accept the good and what appears to be bad (the things we don't understand) as His love for us.

Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.

I had just been focusing on the first sentence, but silly me, there are two more. The greater part of the verse was the part that I chose to overlook at first. That when we are still before Him, we can not help but worship Him, exalting Him among the nations and in the earth.

I can no longer worship on Sunday mornings without tears. His grace is real and it is tender. Slowly I am learning how to sing in praise, It is well with my soul. There is so much more I am still processing from the things He has taught me this past year and I'm sure this isn't the end of all I'll have to say.

As December came to a close and I realized it was time to pick a new verse, you can understand my hesitancy at picking anything at all. In fact, I told Him that I wasn't, and if there was something He wanted me to learn in 2012, He was going to have to make it loud and clear as to what verse it would be.

And wouldn't you know, He did.

And I baulked, stubborn and unrelenting. But He persisted.

Over and over again He would put this verse in front of me until I could no longer argue my point. So now, in fear and trembling, I begin this new year, much like a timid doe stepping out of the forest, just waiting for the shot to go off:

But now, this is what the Lord says

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Isreal: "fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have summoned you by name; you are mine."

Isaiah 43:1

I know, I know, I can only imagine what 2012 is going to be like.

Printable form

2012-01-12T06:40:00.000-08:00

oops! Turns out you can't print the form that I shared in the last post.

That is what I get for blogging at midnight.

This one should work if you click the link at the bottom

Click to print

just two things.

2012-01-11T17:26:00.000-08:00

Can you believe tomorrow is Thursday? This week is flying by! We are all well and stomach bug free **knock on wood**, back to our regular shenanigans. When the entire family takes a day off like that, it really throws the rest of the week off.

My birthday is mid-March, so I have approximately 2 months left to get my act together to be a bone fide organized adult. I promised myself last year that 30 would be the age that I would finally become a real adult (cue Pinocchio "I'm a real boy, a real boy!") and train myself to do the things that real adults do. You know, things like keep my sock drawer organized. Put my jewelry in a real jewelry box so that I don't find myself franticly searching Wal-mart for a $4 fake pair of pearl earrings

every. single. time.

I get dressed up for a formal event (which in all honesty doesn't happen too terribly often around here.) But still... it is the principal I'm getting at here.

In keeping with this goal that I set for myself, Will's parents gave me two books for Christmas that have revolutionized our household. Not kidding. That may sound a little dramatic, but I'm going to share two little things I've learned from reading these books that has helped me to become more time efficient in running this house and more productive with my time (two very adult-like qualities, wouldn't you agree?)

If you haven't read Tsh Oxenreider's book, Organized Simplicity, it is worth a read. In the first half of the book, she talks about reasons why we should simplify our lives. I agree almost whole heartedly with what she has to say and let's face it, just the crisp and clean book cover alone is enough to get you motivated at the start of this fresh new year.

One of the tools she provides in the book is something she calls a daily docket that is to be filled out each evening before you go to bed. I modified her example to fit my personal needs, but the idea is basically the same. I'm a list person and I love to fill in paperwork (nerd!) so getting to fill one of these puppies out each night makes my heart go pitter pat.

I think I may have it printed up as a notepad so that I can have them readily available all the time.

These are usually the things I would list out on different pieces of notebook paper each Sunday before a new week would start. One for menus, one for my weekly to do list, another for a cleaning schedule. I still have those lists, but they stay in a binder (but that is another post entirely by itself.)

This is what today's looked like:

I love that I can see everything on one sheet and that my day looks somewhat manageable (and the page is just cute to look at.) Just three household chores and I'm done with the house for the day? Bam! I can deal with that.

Pretty self-explanatory, but it really helps keep me focused on what I want to accomplish for the day. So there ya go. You are more than welcome to use my version or create one for yourself if this is something that would help you too.

On to the next thing that came from this book:

Holy Boule recipe! Where have you been all my life?? This glorious, magical book has taught me that I can whip up a batch of dough in lit-tra-lee 5 minutes with no kneading and have fresh bread all week long with no other prep work.

Beeeeautiful I tell ya!

What sort reaction do you think I get when I serve potato broccoli soup for dinner?

Gee, mom. We're just having soup for dinner?

But serve that same soup up with some freshly baked bread and wowza! that soup instantly becomes a delicious meal. (and your children no longer sound like they belong in an episode of Father Knows Best)

Very Atlanta Bread Company, if I do say so myself.

I make a batch of dough on Sunday evening and stick it in the fridge. From it I can make 2 loaves of fresh bread (so yummy you'll forget you aren't at the Macaroni Grill), 1 pizza and 1 calzone. Hmmm... soup, pizza, calzones? Sounds like super SIMPLE meals to me! :)

I wasn't going to share the recipe because I would have scruples about that if I were the authors, but lo and behold if I didn't find it already on their website here.

If you enjoy fresh bread, the book is worth the buy because it has all kinds of recipes and variations to try on pastries and other types of breads.

Wala! So there you have it. Just two things you can use to make life a little easier and/or organized.

Now go forth and simplify your life!

Monday Monday

2012-01-09T18:52:00.000-08:00

So this picture pretty much sums up our entire day today from 7 a.m. this morning until the girls went to bed at 6:30 this evening. The only thing you can't see is Will curled up on the floor of his office in a fetal position.

Anna Cate woke up with a tummy ache which we quickly realized (surprise!) was the dreaded stomach bug.

dun. dun. duuuunnnnn.

The three of us stayed in the den the entire day (except for my trips to the back of the house to check on Will and bring him some Gatorade and saltines every hour or so.) Anna Cate on the couch, Caroline playing with her toys, and me plugging away at our never-ending pile of laundry and working on sewing up some pants because we seem to have already grown out of the ones we bought this fall. But most of the day was spent just holding Anna Cate and rubbing her back.

When she wasn't in my lap, she spent the entire day curled up on the couch just like this.

I think she only moved twice.

Poor sweet thing. She was miserable.

Sweet thing #2 decided she wanted to try her turn at being sick as well, but it only lasted about 30 minutes when she realized being still when you feel COMPLETELY FINE is about as much fun as peeling grapes.

But we made it through today and hopefully tomorrow will be a better one.

Digging Out and Digging In

2012-01-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

Woo hoo!

New Year + Fresh Start = 8 bags worth of stuff to donate to Goodwill

I think my house lost about 20 pounds this week and it feels great! Slowly, but surely I have been digging my way out of the clutter that has taken over out house. No room, closet, or drawer has been left untouched. It makes me sick how much time I waste taking care of our stuff. Toys, clothes, paper clutter and dishes are the biggest culprits. When I'm reading Little House on the Praire to the girls, I envy Ma and the fact that each person in her house only had 1 spoon, 1 cup, and 1 plate that needed to be cleaned. Really, think about it? How much time do we waste each day taking care of things that have no eternal value?

How many bottles of soap do the girls really need in their bathroom?

ONE.

And if I had less stuff, I would have more time to spend with my family, in the Word, and with others serving and loving on those who need it most.

So 2012 is going to be the year of

LESS = YES!

(cheesy, but catchy, no?)

LESS of doing real dishes so that I can say YES when the girls invite me to their tea parties.

LESS extra-curricular time commitments so that I can say YES when Will wants to invite friends over at the last minute.

LESS clothes & towels to wash and fold so that I can say YES to an extra bedtime story or an extra 10 minutes at bath time.

I mean really, look at that face. ;)

Who could say no to "just a few more minutes mama?"

I fear that being so busy and concerned with managing the stuff, I'm rushing through the mundane, missing these most precious moments I've been given with my family.

I'm also resolving myself to digging in and being more transparent and open here on the blog. Most of my favorite blogs I read are because the ladies are open and honest about life. I don't know them personally, and probably never will, but their words stick with me and minister to me throughout the day. They allow a glimpse into their weaknesses and imperfections, and He is glorified through their writing because His power is made perfect in our weakness.

About a month ago, I received the sweetest e-mail from a blog reader in Alaska. The Lord had already been tapping on my heart, asking me to open up and share things He has been teaching me this past year, but I have been stubborn because it is easier to write about the fun stuff like crafting. And let's be honest. It is also a lot less scary.

But since I read her e-mail, I've been thinking a lot about how much our thoughts, words, and testimonies can encourage and impact others, even those we do not know.

I'm sure there is more I'll have to say on this topic of transparency, and I hope I can successfully dig in and loose the fear of putting myself out there. But it is late and I need to spend LESS time here on the intranet so that I can say YES to something fun in the morning with the girls!

;)

Christmas Catchup

2012-01-08T14:36:00.000-08:00

Before we can move on into 2012,

let me first document the last of our Christmas celebrations for future reference.

1. & 2. Surprising the girls by getting them out of bed after they had been tucked in to look at Christmas lights 3. Reindeer pancakes 4. Delivering our four "Christmas wishes" 5. Crafting foam gingerbread houses 6. Wrapping presents (this year was just simple bags and tissue paper so my little elves could help) 7. Salt dough ornaments 8. Picking out an ornament for this year to go in their special ornament boxes

I was great about taking video of everything on Christmas morning this year, but failed to pick up my camera for some still shots. So that's a wrap on Christmas 2011!

"Trouble"

2011-12-16T11:31:00.000-08:00

Her daddy's nickname for her is Trouble and for good reason.

Because the honey I found spilled all over the floor Sunday morning...

...and the "you know what" smeared all down the hallway to the bathroom on Wednesday night obviously wasn't enough trouble for this week.

I found her like this today when I heard her crying in her room while I was trying to get lunch on the table.

And what you can't see is the yellow puddle in the top draw that drenched all of her clean undies and pjs.

Don't ask, because honestly, I do not know how????

:::

or more importantly, why?

12 Days of Christmas

2011-12-15T18:27:00.000-08:00

This year we are doing things a little differently to countdown to Christmas. I actually allowed myself time to bask in the tryptophan glow after Thanksgiving for a few days and wasn't in a big rush to pull out the tree or start any of our holiday festivities. For some reason, planning and implementing 25 different activities just seemed too much this year.

Instead, we are celebrating 12 days of Christmas. Our little envelopes are clipped to a ribbon on the fridge and each morning the girls get to open that day's number. We started on Monday and are currently on day 4.

So far, we've made donuts for a fireside picnic after dinner one evening.

Just make a hole in a biscuit (pre-made from a can thank you very much)

Fry those suckers up. Roll in sugar and they are finger-licking good.

Your children will think you are the smartest rock star there ever was.

We've worked on a special birthday/Christmas package for Pandimeena, including one very detailed picture drawn by Anna Cate and her favorite set of paper dolls.

8 little gingerbread houses were meticulously made and decorated by 8 very special little friends.

Which brings us to today, which was salt dough ornaments, of which I have no pictures uploaded yet. More festivities to soon follow...

Aprons for Sale!

2011-12-14T17:20:00.000-08:00

These aprons are the last of the goodies I brought home from last week's market.

If you are interested in purchasing one, please e-mail me:

ourhappylittlenest@gmail.com

Ruffle Apron 1

(Brown & Aqua)

$24

**SOLD**

Ruffle Apron 2

(Red apples)

$24

Ruffle Apron 3

(Pink & Brown)

$24

**********

Towel Apron 1

(Green apples)

$18

**SOLD**

Towel Apron 2

(Pink apples)

$18

**SOLD**

Towel Apron 3

(Pink Strawberry)

$18

**SOLD**

Market Recap and Last Minute Gift Ideas

2011-12-13T19:31:00.001-08:00

Let's talk shop for a minute, shall we? The holiday market last week was fun. It was the first time I've been back to the high school since graduation (almost 12...what??...years ago) other than to visit my mom's classroom. After setting up my table, I snuck away to the ladies room before the shoppers started shopping and as luck would have it, I was in the hallway right when classes were dismissed for the day.

It was surreal I tell ya! All I can say it I would be eaten ALIVE if I was in high school today. My how times have changed. And let me tell you how we also walked to school in the snow, uphill both ways. My don't I sound old?

But really, the clothes (how scandalous!) the technology (everybody is walking around with an ipad or texting on an iphone) the size of these students (I don't remember everybody being such giants!) What are they feeding these kids today?

Oddest of all was sitting there in the bathroom stall over hearing a conversation, only to realize 5 seconds later that it was in SPANISH.

And I'm not talking about, "Hey let's practice what we learned today in Miss Enzastigas class." goofing off. I'm talking, "we aren't from your country and don't want to speak your language if we don't have to" spanish. In a class of 500, I only remember one hispanic student who could fluently speak the language when we were there. Or maybe I just lived under a big rock. I sat there, mouth gaping, trying to decide if I was more shocked to be hearing a spanish conversation between two teen girls at the high school or because I actually understood the conversation (and that it took me a second to realize it wasn't English). I know Spanish was my major, so I guess I should be able to understand it ;) but it has been 8 years since I've been immersed and had any sort of practice at all.

The entire experience was just surreal.

But back to the market.

The dolls were a big hit. I had already sold half of them before I even made it to the market that afternoon after showing pictures on the blog!

I'm already planning on whipping up another batch in time for Valentine's day. So many of you have e-mailed about ordering one that I'm planning on having more available soon. Just probably not before Christmas. bummer. So if you are interested, stay tuned because I'll announce it before I stock the shop so you can be ready if you want one because they go fast!

Will so wisely suggested that I make some sort of business card for the sewing classes to take with me, smart cookie that he is. And I'm glad I listened because I handed out quite a few of these as well.

I have a few aprons and zippered pouches left that I hope to post on here tomorrow in case any of you are interested in gifting them to somebody for the holidays. Everything else either sold that day or have been spoken for since. Yay!

And speaking of gifts for the holidays, I have two quick and easy tutorials to share with you in case you are still looking for something to give the ladies in your life this holiday season. :)

I will warn you now, if you are on my Christmas list, you need to look away.

...

resist the temptation to peek and just close your browser window now

...

do it right now or start practicing acting surprised when you open your gift from me in a few weeks

...

Ok, so the first idea is a jersey infinity scarf.

My sister was over here on Sunday taking pictures for a top secret project she has been working on that I hope to share with you all soon. While she was here, I snagged her "prop" to show you how cute this scarf is. And you won't believe how unbelievably easy they are to make.

Go to Joanns or Hobby Lobby, armed with one of their weekly 40% off coupons, and buy 2 1/4 (as in 2.25) yards of jersey in whatever color strikes your fancy. You will also want to buy thread that matches your fabric.

Once you get back home, cut your fabric into three long strips, roughly 15" x 80." Match the two ends that are 15" together and sew a french seam. If you don't know what a french seam is, just check out this tutorial.

Seriously, they take all of 2 minutes to do. I took pictures to type out a tutorial myself, but this one says exactly what I was going to say, so just follow hers instead. Why reinvent the wheel?

In the time it takes you to cut three strips of fabric and then sew 3 french seams, you will have three darling jersey infinity scarves to give to three of the ladies on your list. (Or two if you end up keeping one of these scarves for yourself.)

****

Ok, next gift idea is for those of you who don't sew, or for those of you who need an inexpensive idea because you are buying for a lot of ladies. How about a pair of these cute rose earrings?

On your next trip to Michael's, pick up the following:

A pack of earring studs and backs, a strong adhesive, one piece of cute card stock (cut into smaller pieces) and some of these rose cabochons.

They come in a package like this, except the colors aren't mixed. They are either all blue, or pink, or green, etc. I had already used half of both packages and combined them for the picture.

They come in lots of fun colors! And at $3.99 for a pack of 16, you can't help but pick up several different colors. You can also find them on etsy, which is what I originally did for the first ones I made. But then a smart friend found some at Michael's, so now we know you can buy them at your local craft store!

Now, I'm not sure if you can all handle the level of skill that is required to make these cuties.

Are you ready?

Just glue the earring backs to the back of the rose and let them dry for at least 24 hours.

Use a straight pin or needle to punch tiny holes in your cardstock where you want the earrings placed, and then secure your earrings to the card with the little metal backs.

Wala!

Perfect as teacher gifts, high school girlfriends who have about 10 different people to buy for, the girls on your dorm hall, or stay-at-home mommies who want to look cute in their jeans and t-shirts!

Fun, cute, and most importantly, easy!

See, I told ya

2011-12-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

When I checked my inbox yesterday afternoon, I had six e-mails about details for the holiday market.

:::

oops

Do you seen what I mean?

Coffee makes me spastic!

:::

Just like me to tell you about the market, but not let you know where and when! I also may or may not have put a batch of brownies in the oven without turning it on this morning or run a load of water (just water!) in my washing machine last night.

The market will be held from 3:30 - 6:00 pm

Thursday, December 8th

at Lexington High School

in the "Learning Commons"

(which was known as the LIBRARY back in the day for all of you old-school LHSers like myself)

And yes I will have dolls!

There have been several inquires into if there will be some dolls for sell and the answer is a resounding YES!

dolls, aprons, earrings, covered notebooks, kindle covers,

more aprons, and tea towels!

This is what I made for Anna Cate's teacher gifts and they really are cute. I did go a little overboard with them though and have way more tea towels than anything else.

***

This is my first time at this market and I have no idea what to expect! I do know Meg will also be there with some cute goodies, and as she put it yesterday:

I really didn't know (and still don't) whatI was getting into when signing up for a craftfair that was 2 weeks away.

(you and me both girl!)

But if you are local, please stop by to say hi and do some holiday shopping!

Hi and Bye!

2011-12-06T08:01:00.000-08:00

Just popping in to say Season's Greetings! December is here and we are in full swing with all of our advent activities! No time to write much, but just want to share what all we've been up to.

Aunt D's brought us some cute t-shirts she made thanks to a little inspiration from Pinterest and we looooove them.

We decorated our tree on Friday and this was about the only picture I snapped.

I was having too much fun dancing around the den to a little Kenny & Dolly while we decorated the tree. My sisters and I listened to this music every year at Christmas growing up and I love it. It is so horribly bad and red that I can't believe I'm admitting this here, but I do! And even though he picks on me, Will has let make it part of our family's tradition to listen it to it while we decorate our tree. But don't let him fool you, he is there singing right along to all the words.

(DD & C: do you see this? do you see this?? This is going on the tree.)

;)

I miss decorating the tree with you both each year!

That night we camped out in front of the tree while we watched White Christmas. This was the girls' first time watching it and they loved it almost as much as I thought they would. All the dancing and costumes...they were both mesmerized.

Anna Cate told me this was her favorite part of the movie. She loved Judy's pink dress and the way it twirled when she danced...me too sweet girl...me too!

Any free time we have, I have been here. Sewing ruffles. Lots and lots of ruffles.

And getting ready for a holiday market at LHS on Thursday afternoon.

There are doll parts scattered all over the house.

Anna Cate helped me stuff arms on Saturday afternoon during her nap time. We stuffed and chatted about what she is planning on getting Caroline for Christmas.

and I've been appliquéing some tea towels...

...more tea towels...

...oh, and did I mention tea towels?

All of this sewing brought to you by

McCafe

I'm lovin it.

no really, I am.

Until this past week I think I've had a total of 3 cups of coffee in my life. I can't drink it because I feel too spastic and jittery. But this week the Peppermint Mocha has been a life saver and has kept me up waaay too long past my bedtime.

I'm hoping it will all be worth it in the end. Anna Cate has been helping me get things ready and is going to be with me on Thursday at our table. It is so important that the girls understand why we celebrate Christmas. That it isn't about Santa, the gifts, the lights, or the holiday songs, but about the gift that has already been given to us.

That is why we celebrate and we want them to focus on that for the holidays. Loving and sharing this gift with others.

The four of us each get to grant a Christmas wish for somebody else and Anna Cate is finally old enough to get it this year. :)

She looked through the Compassion catalog that arrived in November and informed us that she wants to give a pig to Pandimeena this year for Christmas.

I have tried to explain to her that we don't get to choose who the pig goes to, but I don't think she "hears" me when I tell her. So she has been diligently trying to help me get ready for the holiday market to raise enough money for a pig or two.

And you may wonder how on earth I can get sewing done with two littles running around the house?

they have been content playing dress up all. day. long.

about every 20 minutes we have a costume change, and yes, it does look like a bomb went off in the back of the house.

whoa! that is one deranged looking Cinderella!

;)

I'll give you one guess as to who you think is a total handfull...

Caroline says "I have no idea?"

But I bet you need just one guess.

;)

don't her eyes tell it all!

ok, back to the sewing machine. Be back soon with more holiday highlights!

So Stinkin Excited!

2011-12-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

Over the past few months I've been teaching some private sewing lessons. It has made me realize just how much I've missed hosting the sewing workshops. So I finally got organized and have planned some fun workshops and new classes for 2012!

Click on the button below to visit the new blog:

There are new classes and dates scheduled for 2012!

(and gift certificates available for the holiday season)

All the information about classes, dates, info, location, etc can be found on the new blog.

Hope to see some of you there!

One Little, Two Little...

2011-11-30T18:14:00.000-08:00

... Two little Indian girls.

On this very last day of November, let me share these Thanksgiving Indian pics before December begins and the Christmas season officially starts.

Nana and Grandaddy came for a visit last week and brought all kinds of fun goodies to craft with! When I came home I found two little Indian girls with feather headresses and papooses on their backs. :)

This was on Monday. The rest of the week, Caroline insisted on wearing her Indian attire EVERYWHERE we went.

to school

to Target

to the library

to Publix

There were quite a few Pocahontas sightings around town last week. She didn't understand why people were so friendly with her. She would say, "Mama, that lady wave a me!" or "Mama, why that man call me Pokie - hanus?"

I even found them busy in Anna Cate's room the next morning making some Indian headresses for Will and I so we could be Indians too.

Have I mentioned how much I love these ages of two and four?

They are so much fun right now.

Fun, and messy.

These were some pics I sneaked of them when it was suppose to be rest time.

Does it look like they were resting??

And yes, this room was clean before they went down for rest time.

No judgement please. It is impossible to keep this house straight. As soon as one room is picked up, another one is destroyed. It is a maddening battle to fight.

Surprise!

Yes you are busted little lady!

...

But now onto the holiday season. Apparently, I had a moment of temporary insanity last week and agreed to participate in a holiday market on December 8th.

Caroline has been busy helping me get ready. She irons and cuts my scraps of fabric while I stitch in a mad furry trying to get everything ready. I've also been busy working on another sewing project that may involve some of you that I hope to share SOON!

stay tuned!

Art & Literature - The Rainbow Fish

2011-11-20T19:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this pick of a book and art project is a little obvious, but still worth sharing. The Rainbow Fish is beautifully illustrated with watercolor pictures and one of my favorites to read with the girls because of the pretty pictures. No brainer for a pick to pair with an art project!

There are probably better art projects you could use with this book, but I was trying to use what we already had on hand and this is what we came up with:

First, I traced the Rainbow Fish onto some heavy cardstock and the girls painted him using their watercolors.

We've got some serious concentration going on here

Until mama says, "Caroline, smile!" and we get the closed eye cheesy grin.

We added his scales using some glittery letters that I had cut up into small pieces, while we discussed what the girls would have done if they were the Rainbow Fish.

Of course Anna Cate quickly responded how she would have shared her beautiful scales with all of the other fish, while Caroline stubbornly insisted that she would have chosen not to share.

After a lengthy discussion on hurt feelings, sharing, and being a good friend, she could not be persuaded. The verdict remained the same: sorry to the other fish, but Caroline was keeping all she had to herself.

As for myself, I had to make a mental note to work harder with her on that necessary life skill with that little nut that is so hard to crack!

via

These fish cupcakes have been in my file for forever and would have been perfect for this lesson as a follow-up snack, but I didn't have any M&M's and wasn't feeling particularly ambitious that morning.

****

As a side note, this picture was snapped on the same morning we made our fish. I was so excited that her hair was starting to get fuller and longer...so pretty! :) But it wasn't to last long...

Remember how I shared her newly acquired skill of the ever-s0-popular big girl tool of scissors??

She found a pair one night,

IN Anna Cate's room,

IN her book-bag

which was IN her closet...

and snip snip...

goodbye to the right side of Caroline's lengthening locks.

Oh this child! She definitely keeps me on my toes!

Tiny Dancers

2011-11-17T09:37:00.000-08:00

You wouldn't believe our calendar right now, even if I showed you! For ten days straight we have something going on every morning, afternoon, and evening. That is insane when you have two little ones...insane I tell you!

I have so much to get done, the last place I should be right now is on this blog, but I wanted to share some pictures from Anna Cate's "recital" from last night. Remember this past spring how she started ballet lessons with Miss Alexa from church? Last night was their end of the year performance to show us all they have learned. They were precious little ballerinas!

Way to go mom! We were in such a rush to get out of the door that I completely forgot Anna Cate's tights. Oh well! I don't think she noticed she was the only one with out them.

Only the mamas, daddies, and siblings could come to the performance and this is why:

We got to play sardines during the performance

We love you Miss Alexa!

Thank you for a wonderful first year of ballet!

P.S. - Dear Anna Cate and Caroline, please stop growing. You both look much too old in this picture and I'm not used to seeing myself with two children, not babies or toddlers.

This mama is requesting that you just stay little.

Giddy

2011-11-10T18:56:00.000-08:00

We are so stinkin' excited around our house right now because somebody is learning to R E A D!

On Tuesday night after dinner, we were playing with our Scrabble board game. Anna Cate loves to put letters together and ask what word she made. She and Will were taking turns making words for each other and the light bulb just totally clicked! I could actually see it in her eyes...all of the sudden she understood that the letters make sounds that make words and she could figure it out on her own.

Talk about a rush! It was our very own little Helen Keller moment. ;)

She was giggling and squealing, which made Caroline start giggling and squealing. Miss Carrie is lending us some of Reece's Bob Books to practice and they are wonderful.

Is this a "d" or a "b"?

I can't remember...?

Silly me... of course!

The letter "d"!

Can you tell she is just a little bit proud of herself?

I am so proud of her too and swept up with her excitement and wonder at her new big girl talent.

But a big part of me also misses this little lady and I find myself wondering where in the world have these four years gone?

*sniff sniff**

Here is a quick clip, although if you aren't a grandparent, it may be more like watching paint dry. ;)

Perspective in the Gift - journal entry 8.24.11

2011-11-07T05:39:00.000-08:00

Sometimes God gives us the words before we understand their meaning. The ink to these thoughts were not yet dry in my journal when he showed up to whisper, Be still and know...

****

A hope deferred can either grow into a festering obsession or aggrivation, causing sin through worry, resentment, jealousy, and doubt

it can be an exercise of faith

- a chance to practice waiting in hope for His perfect plan, believing what He gives is all grace -- what we perceive as the good and the bad. If it is from Him then it is good for God is great and God is good.

God is love and love is patient.

And in this exercise of patience, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, we receive the promise that He guards our heart with a peace that is inexplicable.

The same bait that the enemy uses to weaken and destroy our faith is the exact thing that will draw us to the Lord perfecting our santification - if we so choose.

He allows us the opportunity of choice.

Daily I must choose to see His grace. To fight the lure to doubt His goodness. To wait in His providence and trust Him for the rest-- for the peace that passes all understanding.

A gift that only He can give.

Surrender and He will provide.

****

If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and its not so bad.

C.S.Lewis

The Halloween That Wasn't

2011-11-03T15:54:00.000-07:00

So Booooooo, we didn't get to go trick-or-treating this year. :( The girls both have something called Hand, Mouth, and Foot Disease. Heard of it? I hadn't until last week when warned by a friend that her girls had just been diagnosed and we had just spend the entire morning before with her family.

So instead of meeting up with friends for the annual trick-or-treating get-together, we were quarantined inside the house with a very moany, very drooly, very unhappy Caroline (and Anna Cate to soon follow).

Fortunately, they had already had the chance to wear their costumes at a friend's birthday party a few weeks ago, so pictures of the costumes I do have.

So without further adieu, for the sake of grandparents, I present (in the word's of Anna Cate) two little Poodle Skirt Girls

Have you ever seen two children more thrilled and excited to be at a birthday party?

Didn't think so!

Smile Caroline, smile!

Remember we are having fun!

I did see a little smile when it was time to sing Happy Birthday

and drink some milkshakes.

What a cute idea for a birthday party!

Leah, you really outdid yourself on this one. ;)

You can see more pics of the party on Lil's blog.

(And yes, the skirts are homemade, but super easy to do. I followed Martha's tutorial but used hot glue to attach the ribbon to the skirt and found the poodle iron-on applique at Hobby Lobby...no sewing involved!)

And I love this last picture. Nobody is looking at the camera, but it shows how the girls always find my hands (or is it the other way around?) when we are together. I wonder how much longer it will last? I'm pretty sure holding your mom's hand doesn't rank too high up there on the coolness factor when you are eight.

Art & Literature - Miss Lina's Ballerinas

2011-11-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Just popping in to share this fun art project that Anna Cate and I worked on this summer that I am just now getting around to sharing! Each day of the week we have a different activity (library day, baking day, etc) and Art & Literature is one of our weekly events. The girls and I read a book and then work on a corresponding art project, thus the name Art & Literature...how very sophisticatedly collegiate of us! ;) he he

I found the inspiration for this project on Pinterest from a tutorial on ballerina paper dolls via The Crafty Crow. We used a different book from her suggestion, but I think the end result was just as stellar. Even if you don't make the ballerinas, this book is precious! It comes very highly recommended from the three of us (and you can also use it to teach rhymes, counting by twos & threes, and the art of practicing hospitality)

Ok, enough teacher talk, and onto the project...

I didn't take pictures because you can already find the tutorial here.

Anna Cate's little ballerinas turned out super cute and it was a project she really enjoyed working on. I made a set of ballerinas too, but I'm not sure where they ended up... I think Caroline may have "danced" them to death.

Anna Cate's ballerinas now grace her memo board in her room and are quite precious! Maybe I can get my act together to share more of our Art & Literature projects. If anybody has suggestions on a great pairing of a book & art project I'm all ears!

2011-10-31T18:22:00.000-07:00

Oh look! We are alive and still here... Who knew??

It has been awhile...a very long, long while!

***

And you would never believe just how busy we have been

*starting school*

*partying with friends*

*using our imaginations*

*cheering on the Tigers!*

*finishing up the playhouse*

*becoming the very

best of friends*

*PLAYING in the playhouse!*

*camping in the mountains*

*making s'mores outside in our fire pit and enjoying this wonderful fall weather*

There has been much unexpected change and growth for our family this past year, and especially these past few months. The Lord has been stretching my heart and teaching me so much about how MIGHTY He is and just how small I am. Growth has not come without struggle and obstinance on my part, but there is beauty in the pain and I hope to share some of it here if I can just find the courage.

There is a season for everything, and I am coming out of a season of silence and looking forward to finding the words to process all that I am learning.

;)

Little Pieces

2011-09-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

I thought of you today, as I slowly poured the pectin into the boiling sugar, remembering to stir constantly, just like you showed me.

We’re making grape jelly on Friday you’d announce with no concern to whether I may have had a prior engagement, like it was already planned and on the calendar, because well, you had said it and so it was.

So I showed up and there we stood, in silence watching the fruit dissolve into sticky sweetness over the heat as my new born babe slept peacefully in the next room. I felt so content in that moment, to finally be a mother and share that feeling with you, even if in silence. Your hands moved swiftly, unconsciously aware of how they danced over the pot and how gracefully you could whip up a batch of your famous jelly.

And as you chewed on your bottom lip in concentration, I’d bait you into conversation as I asked you some silly question about how you and Dandy had met or if you could go back and change one thing in your life what would it be?

You’d laugh and say, Oh Lord, that was years ago. How do expect me to remember?

But you did. And you always had an answer or a story to share.

Grief comes quietly and washes everything in a blur. My moments with you rush all at once and I’m five years old again, sitting at your breakfast table, drinking milk from a mason jar.

Do you remember the time you threatened to go outside and cut a switch if I didn’t start behaving and how it made me giggle inside wondering how in the world you were going to spank me with a light switch?

Or the time in college when I was curious about Halloween and just picked up the phone and asked you about how you celebrated the holiday when you were little. I think I already knew, but I just wanted to hear you tell me the stories about the cake-walk and the paper dresses again.

The morning when I showed up at your doorstep at 7 am to show you the new ring on my left hand, you looked me straight in the eyes and without a beat asked me, “Is this what you really want?” you studied me deep with those black eyes, and after a heavy pause, I answered “yes.” “Well then I’m happy for you” you said as you hugged me tight. I knew that you really meant it and I also knew that you were the only person who was going to ask me that.

There is a sudden drop inside when I realize that I will never again be able to call you when I can’t remember what kind of cheddar you use in your cheese straws.

How in a blink, that scrap of paper that you scrawled your corn pudding recipe on just became one of the most cherished documents that I own.

That I will never again open another birthday card to read Love, Caws and Dandy scrawled in the same handwriting at the bottom.

It isn’t the obvious things that I’m going to miss, but the little pieces of yourself that you shared with us over the years and are the most precious to us now that you are gone.

(my grandparents meeting Anna Cate for the first time)

By example, you taught us that there is much joy to be found in serving your family.

That it is not what you have, but what you do with what you have for others, whether it be sharing your resources, your talent, or your time.

Though you did not always have a quiet spirit, your acts of service were often done in quietly and were gentle and unassuming.

And though it may have been taken for granted at the time, each lesson you gave us in homemaking – the time you spent -- teaching us how to can vegetables, how to knit a blanket, or how to reach out to those in need are precious to us now.

I will miss seeing your hands working swiftly in your lap knitting a prayer shawl or stirring a pot on the stove. They were strong and soft and brought comfort and security to those they served.

Every time I make a batch of your jelly, mend a hem, or plant spring bulbs, you will be there with me. You have given your family a heritage that will be passed down to our own children and grandchildren.

We are eternally grateful for the precious gift the Lord gave us in you and the luxury of time in which to enjoy you and learn from your wisdom.

A Little Obession & a History Lesson

2011-08-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

Most afternoons we sit in the playroom and enjoy reading time. Each week we pick out a new chapter book and I'll read aloud while the girls work quietly at their little table or the floor. (I know, I know, how very Little House on the Prairie of us - we are a bit nerdish...what can I say?)

They are allowed to pick any activity they like as long as they stay quiet and listen to the story. Legos, puzzles, and coloring books are usually the activity of choice, but for the past month, Caroline has been obsessed with a new big girl tool she has learned to use:

Scissors!

Anna Cate will cut out pictures or letters to glue to a collage, but Caroline just cuts for the sake of cutting.

She will sit on the floor and cut up old magazines for a solid 30 to 45 minutes. It is the darnedest thing I've ever seen.

She cuts and cuts and cuts and ends up with a colossal pile of trash by the end of story time!

Last week during story time, we read Meet Josefina, one of the American Girl books.

In one of the chapters, Josefina and her sisters had to wash their family's laundry in the creek. Anna Cate's interest was piqued and she had lots of questions about how they did laundry (and other household chores) a "long long long time ago."

Desperate for a fun morning activity, we gathered up all of the girls' doll clothes and blankets, filled two tubs up with some water & soap, and let them go to town washing their own laundry.

A good *clean* time was had by all and the girls got a little appreciation for how hard daily chores were a "long long long time ago."

If only my grandmother had been here with us to enjoy our little morning activity. She loved lessons like this about how much harder things used to be! :)

The Playhouse Diaries - Part 1

2011-08-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

While we were at the beach this summer, we discovered a little playhouse in a park on Sullivan's Island. I don't know who was more enamored, me or the girls. :)

It was actually eerily similar to a house I had seen and loved while Will and I were doing a drive by shooting on a date one evening.

He drives while I hang out of the window, snapping pictures and swooning over old beach houses...what can I say, he is a patient man. ;) And doesn't this house look like something straight out of a Faulkner novel?

But I digress...

...back to the playhouse.

A few Saturdays ago, Anna Cate and Will sat down at the kitchen table to work up a design for a playhouse in our very own back yard.

He put his Clemson engineering skills to good use while she developed a headache double checking all of his math.

There is this awkward spot in the corner of our backyard where a raised bed of some sort was built with railroad ties. We've tried to have a little garden back there, but it is very shady and we can never get anything to grow. Last Saturday, my dad came over to help Will level the ground and start working on the little house.

By lunchtime they had built four walls and a floor. The girls went out to investiage their work.

"Hmmm...this looks more like a bunch of wooden poles than a playhouse."

Despite the lack of a roof,

closed-in walls,

and the heat,

they have had a ball in their new space this week.

Every morning after breakfast, they each pack a little bookbag with their coloring books, crayons, and a snack, and head over to their new little corner of the yard.

Will set us up with an outdoor fan which has made it quite tolerable in the heat,

even though we enjoy coloring and eating our snacks in gale force winds (but hey, it keeps the mesquitos at bay too). Also, I didn't realize until I uploaded these pictures that Caroline was using this little piece of wood as her table sans a plate. Yum yum, nothing like a slice of american cheese freshly peeled off a piece of lumber.

This evening, the guys put in another hour and a half and we now have the roof framed. I can't wait until it is finished! I have grand plans of planting flowers all around it (that don't need much sun of course!) and fixing it all up inside. I'm anticipating many hours spent out in this little spot of the yard!

Snapshots of Summer

2011-08-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

Well hello there!

We have had a fun and busy summer and it is hard to believe that it is almost over! I have missed blogging, but have really enjoyed the time our little family has spent together the past few months. I must admit that not blogging for awhile has left me a little "shy" and I'm having trouble finding the right words to write.

So for now, I'll just ease back into things by sharing a few of my favorite pics from June & July.

The famous POUT - work it girl!

The Ocean!

Beach date night!

Summer Project for Will ;)

Wrightsville Beach!!

Summer Eatin'

"Yes Caroline, please help yourself to the entire plate of watermelon on the table for dinner."

Summer staple in the fridge: Berry Water

another staple...berry salad!

and fresh herbs too

I have loved every minute of this summer of 2 & 4. These sweet girls are growing up way too fast!! I am so thankful for our lazy days these past few months and the precious time to soak up this stage of life we are in.

And I'll leave you with this shot of these two silly birds. :)

To celebrate the 4th, we went out on the boat to watch the fireworks. That evening, while I was cleaning up from dinner, I told the girls to go change into something warm because we were going out on the boat and it would get chilly after dark.

This is what they put on!

talk about a fashion statement!!!

Party Details

2011-06-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

It has only taken me a month, but here is the breakdown of the little projects we worked on for the girls' party. Most of them are pretty self-explanitory, but feel free to ask specifics if you have any questions! :)

1. Invites - the invitations were designed in Microsoft Word (about the only computer program I know how to use!) and printed on card stock. The Angelina ballerina at the top of the invite was an image found online and I sewed little scraps of tulle to the cardstock to look like a tutu. Matching pink envelopes found at Hobby Lobby.

2. Mouse ears - I covered two packs of headbands from the dollar store with thin, white ribbon and then made the ears from pink and white felt. Used leftover ribbon from ribbon wands (see #4) to make bows to hotglue between the ears.

Four yards of tulle was enough to make three tutus. Tulle goes on sale for 77 cents a yard at Hobby Lobby about every month or so.

4. Ribbon wands - All you need are some wooden sticks from the craft store and several rolls of satin ribbon from Wal-mart. Wrap one end of the ribbon around the stick and secure with a dot of hot glue.

5. Penant banner & tea set - For the banner, we cut the flags from scrap fabric and sewed them into the fold of bias tape. super fast and easy! I made two banners; one for the food table and one for the tea party table. To hang them over the tables, we used a 1.5" pvc pipe from Lowes ($1.28) and wrapped it with crepe paper. They are really long (8' I think?) so we only had to buy two and Will cut them down into four poles.

The mix-matched tea cups and plates were found at thrift stores. I had the most luck at LICS and the Restore, both in selection and price. Most cups and plates were around 25 - 50 cents a piece. The white mini tea pots were found on clearance at TJ Maxx.

6. Maypole - We used 4 rolls of crepe paper, 5 balloons, and an 8' steel pipe (my dad had) to make the maypole. Will dug a hole in the ground while I was wrapping the pole with crepe paper. Then we taped 12 long strands of crepe paper to the top of the pole and decorated the top with balloons. After Will buried about 2' of the pole, we taped the loose ends of the streamers to little wooden sticks and stuck them in the ground. It made a really pretty tent-like structure. Total cost was less than $5 because we already had the pole on hand.

7. Cupcake toppers - the little ballerinas toppers on the cupcakes were made with left over supplies from the party. All you need is a piece of scrapbooking paper, some crepe paper, toothpicks, and some ribbon.

And there you have it! A fairly easy and economical birthday party that was a lot of fun to pull together! :)

Summer So Far

2011-06-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

It feels like summer just started, but June is almost already over! I have really been looking forward to summer this year. For the past four summers we have either had a newborn (or two!) in the house or have been moving or have been planning a wedding. It seems like the months of June - August would fly by before we even had a chance to enjoy summertime. This year, our only plans are to enjoy spending time with our friends and family just chilling out and having fun!

So far, we've had a...

beach trippin'

ice cream eating

book reading

pool swimming

library visiting

fort making

daddy celebrating

...kind of summer!

And here's hoping that with our relaxed schedule, I can find some extra time to squeeze in a little more blogging. I've missed being on here lately!

In a Year

2011-06-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

What a difference a year makes! She has gone from baby to big girl in the blink of an eye.

From June 2010

...

To June 2011

And she is having a ball at the beach as a big girl this year!!

Better Late Than Never

2011-06-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

Ooops! I have been gone much longer than I had anticipated. Life has been busy busy busy with summer finally here! We are on vacation this week and for the first time I didn't bring a project to work on while we are here. Updating the blog will be my project in the evenings while the fam sits around watching movies (I don't sit well without something to keep my fingers busy).

So without further delay, the cupcake tutorial from the ones we made for the girls' party.

These are pretty simple and you could probably figure out how to make them yourself without a tutorial, but what fun would that be?

;)

These cuties can be made for pennies. In fact, you probably have all of the supplies you need in your house already. They are super easy to make and would be so fun to use for a bridal luncheon or shower!

Let's get started...

Here's what you'll need:

:: scrapbooking paper

:: toothpicks

:: crepe paper

:: ribbon

:: hot glue gun

Step One: Trace and cut out dress top from scrap booking paper. Start by drawing a heart, but square off the bottom instead of bringing it to a point.

Step 2: Cut a strip of crepe paper about 4 inches long. Gather and pinch together at the top until it looks like a skirt.

Step Three: Glue the skirt to the bottom of the dress top. Careful because the glue is HOT and the paper is thin!

Step Four: Embellish with a bow or flower and glue the toothpick to the back.

Wala!

A perfectly adorable twirly skirt cupcake topper! :)

Party for Two

2011-05-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

Our two monkeys have birthdays that are 10 days apart. Though it was definitely not something that we planned, it turns out that it was one of the luckiest surprises we've ever had! ;) I know I'll be singing a different tune when they are 13 and 11 and wanting to have seperate sleepover parties two weekends in a row, but right now it means planning just one party: two birds, one stone my friends.

This year we went all out celebrating the extreme girliness that is our little family right now. Anna Cate was into helping me pull it all together and having her excited about the party made it my favorite one to plan so far!

To celebrate both girls, we combined Anna Cate and Caroline's current favorite things. Anna Cate is really into ballerinas and Caroline loves to play tea party so we had an Angelina Ballerina tea party.

When the girls arrived, they each got to pick out a tutu and mouse ears to wear. (These also served as part of their party favors).

There were crayons and coloring pages at each place setting for the little mice to color while waiting on all of the party guests to arrive.

These tiny paper purses were in the clearance section at Marshalls and were perfect for holding their crayons.

We had the party outside and the sun was bright! One of the birthday girls (ahem) was a little pouty because she said it was too hot and too bright outside in the sun. I wish I had thought about that ahead of time and picked up a pair of glasses for each little girl from the Target dollar section to wear for the party. (Thank you Baylis for saving the day with an extra pair of glasses!!)

After all of the guests arrived, they enjoyed their tea party. On the menu: fruit cups, cheese cubes, pb&j sandwhiches, goldfish and cupcakes.

We used bakers cups for the cheese cubes and fruit to make them easier to serve and more friendly for little hands to manage.

Instead of baking and decorating two cakes for the party, we served cupcakes. I found a picture of some cute cupcake toppers on etsy and copied the idea to make some to match our ballerina theme. (I took some pictures so I could post a tutorial soon!)

Singing Happy Birthday to Anna Cate.

There were four candles to blow out this year!

And singing Happy Birthday to Caroline.

Two candles for this little miss's cupcake!

The sun was bright and in our eyes. This was the best picture we have of Will and I with her. At least she is smiling, right?

After the tea party, we moved on to the ballerina portion of the party. We had some dancing activities for the girls planned out that Anna Cate was so excited about. However, what some may call a maypole, for us, was better known as the pole of mayhem and disaster.

I didn't do a very good job explaining how they were suppose to dance around the maypole and it turned into one big mess. Either all of the girls were lumped on one side of the pole or...

...they were upset and crying because their streamer had popped off of the stick they were holding. I'm telling you, it was total cHaoS and I think we have some if it on video. Can't wait to check that out. ;)

Moving on, the girls also got to dance with ribbon wands. If you've seen Angelina Ballerina, you know that she twirls around at the beginning of the show with a ribbon wand. Each of the girls got to pick one out and dance around and those were a little more user friendly than the maypole.

They were a big hit with all of the girls, both big and little.

the aftermath

We asked that guests not bring gifts this year. After I sent out the invites, I was nervous about how people would respond, but all went well! As a "gift," the little girls brought homemade cards or balloons for Caroline and Anna Cate. After the party guests left, we sat with the grandparents, aunts, and uncles to open family gifts.

Meltdowns and maypoles included, we had a wonderful day celebrating our little ballerinas!

I hope to share some tutorials and diy projects soon. We were able to pull the entire party

off on a really tight budget, but there were a lot of diy lessons learned in the process!

stay tuned...

Happy to you Cate

2011-05-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

Caroline's rendition of the birthday song goes a little something like this

Happy to you

Happy to you Cate

Happy to you

And she got to sing it all day Wednesday because Anna Cate had a birthday and turned 4!

What? How did four years go by so fast?!?

Following tradition, the birthday banner was hung and ready to greet her when she woke up on her special day.

We sang Happy Birthday and she got to blow out a candle on her special sprinkle pancakes for breakfast.

In true diva style, she stayed on the phone for almost an hour after breakfast taking calls from family and friends wishing her a special day.

Then she got to pick one special thing that she wanted to do for the day. Without hesitating she said, "go play in the little pink house."

Oh the thrills of a four-year old! What a simple birthday wish to grant. ;)

She and Caroline love this little pink playhouse that is in the botanical gardens at the zoo. Forget seeing the animals...we could just stay here the entire visit and be good to go.

We did manage to tear ourselves away from the little house to walk through the rest of the gardens and this is how we ~~walked~~ danced through the gardens the entire time we were there.

Monkey see, monkey do.

And just to keep it real, this was Caroline's reaction when I asked her to sit by Anna Cate to take a picture. I'm not sure if it was because it was Anna Cate's special day and she was getting all of the attention or if Caroline just really did not want her picture taken. Either way, this was all I got.

and again...

That evening we had a few visitors stop by and she got to open some presents.

Andie and Baylis came by and gave Anna Cate a ballerina doll that straps to your feet and dances with you. Caroline's tune changed a little once Anna Cate let her take a spin the new doll.

All in all, we had a wonderful day celebrating our now four-year old!

****

She keeps telling me that she doesn't want to be four,

that she liked being three and wants to always stay little,

but I think four may be our most fun year yet!

;)

Just for Fun

2011-05-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

If I had the time, these are just a few of the projects swirling around in my head that I'd love to tackle. However, because I have neither the time nor the resources to devote to these following endeavors, I thought I could at least share them with you all here in hopes that it will inspire someone to creativity!

This little girls' room

**love**

simple and just sweet enough to be girly without being frilly

I've been looking for a shower curtain for the girls' bathroom for over a year. The standard size doesn't come down long enough to touch the floor and it looks like the shower is wearing a pair of capris. Drives me cRazY!

I found this shower curtain and loved the bold stripes. It looks like it could be a fairly easy project with several yards of coordinating fabrics, but is it too graphic for their bathroom? Hmmmm....

(can't find the source for this picture)

Sweet little linen ruffle dress for the girls.

Would be too cute for beach pics this summer!

Just add a ruffle to the front of an A-line dress and add the buttons to the back, instead of on the shoulder.

And in keeping with the ruffles, I love to make this sundress for myself. You could easily adapt a strapless dress pattern to make this by adding a couple of ruffles and some elastic around the top.

Seersucker or linen?

I can't decide, but definitely would like to find the time to try to make one...

Thought this little red and white polka dot number was darling too! It would take a lot more pattern tweaking than the first one, but I loooove the bow.

Can you tell I'm in a ruffle mood? Love this little clutch. Have had it in my inspiration files for two years now waiting to make as Christmas presents, but haven't used the idea yet. Would be cute in a bright floral fabric for the summer.

And speaking of summer, this is certainly something I'd love to tackle over the next few months. We have a wonderful group of friends and I'd love to host an outdoor dinner party this summer to celebrate our friendship. I can't think of anything more enjoyable than dining under some twinkling lights by the lake, while enjoying a glass of wine with some really special couples.

If I really had some extra time (and extra moula!) I'd love to host a crafting retreat. Off the top of my head I can already think of about 10 girls I would love to invite. Some are long time friends, and some are people I am just getting to know, but I can tell that all of them love a good crafting project from their blogs. I think it would be oh so fun!

And to really splurge, I'd host the getaway here.

But then we may not want to craft. We might get so relaxed and just sit around chatting, enjoying some much needed girl time.

***

Or maybe if I would just stay off the internet, I'd have a lot less ideas in my head and a lot more time on my hands!

;)

So excited

2011-04-28T18:39:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning should be fun! We are going to enjoy a Princess Brunch to celebrate the royal wedding. Our DVR is set and our dress-up clothes are ready to be donned for the big event.

I mean really, how often do you get to watch a real live prince marry his beautiful bride with a princess-obsessed 3 year old!

via

Will you be watching too?

A Happy Easter

2011-04-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

A Hodgepodge of Sporadic Thoughts

2011-04-07T18:30:00.001-07:00

My eyes are blurring and my fingers are cramping and my thoughts are rambling so I thought I'd hop on here as an excuse for a smocking break this evening. Let me just say, smocking is the bane of my existance. I don't know why I even try? I don't enjoy it and once I start a new dress, I pull my best Scarlett O'Hara impression and declare that I will never smock again.

I think it is because my mom always made each of us (yes, all three!!) a new dress for every Easter, Christmas, and other special events so I feel like my successfulness as a mother is measured by the dresses I can make for my children.

Because that makes total logical sense, no?

I did get smart and take a class in February for an adorable dress that has a minuscule amount of smocking involved. Enough to make it qualify as "smocked" without the time involved to make me want to turn into a swearing sailor. (just kidding Mom, I don't swear!) ;)

Don't judge. It's a little wonky and desperately needs to be ironed, but you get the idea.

Cute right?

I had very lofty goals of making so many cute clothes for the girls to wear this spring and summer. In January I make the trek up to Mary Jo's Fabric Store in NC to load up on yards and yards of fabric to make some clothes for them to wear this spring and summer. Because you know, starting in January would give me plenty of time to work on them before the weather warmed up.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

This is about as far as I have gotten and it is already April.

My intentions were admirable at best. I'm currently on dress 3. We'll see what happens...

Maybe I could get more accomplished if my brain didn't feel like this:

Information overload.

This is the desktop on my computer and it drives Will crazy that I keep so many things up at a time. This is me though, and if I didn't have a family to take care of, this is probably how my entire house would look.

I thrive on the chaos and think I work best in a mess.

These are about 25 different projects and ideas that I want to try and can't seem to find the time to.

And all of them insignificant and trivial:

recipes, sewing, decorating, crafts with the girls, etc.

When I see an idea, it gets in my mind and the only way to get it out is to make it, cook it, sew it, etc! The sad thing is, when my mind gets cluttered like this, my housekeeping skills become non-existent. It's like I can't think clearly to stay organized and function like a normal human being.

My neglectful habits rubs off on my children too! I found this baby doll the other day enjoying her breakfast sans clothing courtesy of Miss Caroline Fowler.

Anna Cate's dollhouse is a great representation of the current state of our humble abode.

except imagine it about 20 times messier and the clothes' piles in each room look more like massive mountains

How is it that we produce so much laundry, it literally consumes an entire day to complete?

Eight loads people!

That is how many I washed, folded, and put away over the course of the day. Anna Cate was running a fever yesterday so we were quarantined to the house, which by the way, I actually love. I prefer a full day at home than almost anything else. All I did was laundry, housecleaning, and lots and lots of reading.

And speaking of, this is our current favorite:

Guess Who, a vintage (can I call my mom's stuff vintage?) reading primer that she is letting us borrow for when Anna Cate starts having an interest in learning to read. I got it out the other day just for fun and it turns out, it is a hit!

I can remember learning to read with it myself and I still love looking at the beautiful illustrations. It is true that they just don't make them like they use to. Even Caroline can tell the difference in this book from our other ones and loves to ask for me to get it down to look at the pictures. Although, several times, I have caught myself talking like the book:

Oh. Oh.

Look Anna Cate.

Look at Caroline.

See funny little Caroline.

Oh yes I did just post this picture!

(and oh yes I'm sure she will die if she sees it when she's about thirteen.)

But really, look at funny little Caroline and her tiny little hiney!

This is pretty much sums up the day with this child. She is adamant about going to the potty all by herself now, but never puts her undies on correctly. They just get pulled up around her waist.And the hand washing...

I have to continuously monitor the bathroom to make sure she hasn't snuck in for a quick (or not so quick) scrub. And she's learned to open doors by herself so shutting the door is no deterrent for this child. She just finds a small chair or stool to drag over to the door where she can reach the knob to let herself in.

***

And totally changing gears, but very in keeping with the randomness of this rambling post, we have two birthdays coming up in May. We having a joint party this year which means coming up with a party that celebrates both of them and what they love to do right now.

I won't go into much detail because we are still a month out, but it has been a fun one to work on. ;) For Caroline's contribution to the party's theme, she and I have spent several mornings scouring thrift stores while Anna Cate is in school looking for some tea cups and pretty china plates.

We've had fun looking and almost have what we need.

For Anna Cate's contribution to the theme of the party, all I can say is thank goodness tulle is inexpensive!

And thank goodness for the weekly 40% off coupons at Hobby Lobby!!

I mean seriously, who else starts working on their children's' party ideas this far in advance? I know I'm not normal, but why be normal when it is this much fun to be a little nutty?

Ok, that's all for now. I need to get back to my smocking so the dresses will be finished in time for Easter!

***

As I just reread this post, I realized why it is so lengthy and all over the place. I lost my phone last Friday and haven't really been able to talk to anybody in days. Guess it is all spilling out onto here!

Ballerina Girl

2011-03-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

She woke up bright and early this morning, so excited that "today I am a ballerina girl!" She had her dance clothes on by 7:30 am and asked about every 15 minutes if it was time to leave for ballet class.

A very sweet (and brave!) lady from our church is teaching ballet to the girls on Wednesday afternoons during her lunch break at work. A friend and her husband graciously arranged for these sweet little girls to meet for class downtown in his photography studio and the setup was perfect!

The studio was divided by a curtain, which the moms and younger siblings stayed behind during class, so the girls could listen to the instruction without distraction. I didn't get any shots during the actual class, but we did set up our video cameras to record the action and it was hilarious to watch once we were home!

All of Anna Cate's clothes were too big (even though I bought an XXS) and kept sliding off her shoulders. Maybe if I wash them and throw them in the dryer they will shrink?

Of course, Caroline had to put on some ballerina clothes too!

Her nervous face

Is there anything sweeter than little girl ballerinas? It was about all I could stand to see these sweet friends in there little leotards and skirts!! :)

"So Callie, when you think the big girls are gonna let us join in too?"

This picture is too sweet not to include with the group! Two of the five little sisters who came with the big girls today.

Tomorrow is a Big Day

2011-03-30T12:56:00.001-07:00

(My apologizes! This post accidently was deleted yesterday. So actually, today was the big day and I do indeed have pictures to share!)

And I'm not sure who is more excited, she or I! She has already been to three ballets in the total of her three little years here with us. Most everyday, she wears her favorite leotard, tutu and most always requests to wear her hair in a bun when given the choice. Her favorite Pandora channel is Ballet Music. Her little sister and I are privileged to attend at least two shows a day, but are always offered an intermission in case we need to go to the bathroom. ;)

This morning, while she was at preschool, Caroline and I went and picked out her first real leotard for her first ballet class tomorrow. We wrapped it up and are anxiously waiting for her to open it tonight after dinner. I am a little nervous, but she is a lot excited so hopefully things will go well tomorrow!

More pictures to follow...

To Share or Not to Share?

2011-03-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

That is the question.

I love the idea of the girls sharing a room; giggling, sharing secrets, and creating sweet memories of their years here together in our house. In my mind, it looks something like this:

But in reality, now that Caroline is in a big girl bed, there isn't much space left in their room, not to mention their closet. The bedrooms in our house were definitely intended for only one person.

With both girls in one room, the setup is very similar to this picture: a pair of twin beds with a dresser in the middle. But that is all there is room for.

And don't even mention nap time. The one afternoon that I allowed them to nap in the same room, no one had a nap. They were mousely quiet for about 45 minutes and I thought they were sleeping until I heard four little feet jumping off of a bed and onto the floor. When I opened the door, I found the room was a total disaster and they were both wide awake. So for now, Anna Cate has to rest in a seperate room.

We have a playroom and three children bedrooms in our house and it seems silly to have two empty bedrooms, while the girls are literally squeezed into one bedroom together.

So for all these little reasons, it makes the most sense to put them each in their own room except for one really big reason.

They love being together.

Some nights when we check on them, we find Caroline curled up in Anna Cate's bed, fast asleep holding hands with her big sister.

Be still my beating mama heart.

I'm trying to decide what we are going to do so I can either decorate their room with matching bedding or seperate them and decorate their own rooms individually to their personalities.

***

Did anybody share a room with a sibling growing up and if so, did you enjoy it? Or would have preferred to have your own space?

***

Scrumdiddly

2011-03-24T16:53:00.000-07:00

Let's pretend like I haven't been gone forever and a day, and that I don't have over a month's worth of activities and projects to share. We have been busy busy busy and I am overwhelmed with where to start.

So instead, let me just start by sharing a new favorite in our house:

Mocha Ice Cream Cake

It is scrumdiddlyumptious and it takes all of three minutes to whip up.

All you need is this:

- An Oreo piecrust

- 1/2 tub of coffee ice cream

- 1/2 tub whip cream

My mom, smart lady that she is, made up this recipe on the way home from a girls' getaway last weekend. We were brainstorming yummy ideas for desserts and she came up with this recipe which really is easy-as-pie!

***

Mix together softened coffee ice cream with whip cream and pour into chocolate pie crust. After you've allowed the pie to set in the freezer, drizzle with chocolate syrup and a squirt of Rediwhip.

***

Wala! 3 minutes and you are done. And it is faaaabulous!

(even if you are a non-coffee drinker like me)

Love's Deep Wound

2011-02-03T10:32:00.000-08:00

Her new mattress lies in the next room. She knows it is hers and I know it is hers, but the transfer has yet to be made. I’m still clinging fierce to these last baby days. “rock rock” she says and we curl into the chair in the corner of her room. “Yes little one, yes, let’s rock.“ Prayers are said and lullabies sang. My eyes adjust to the darkness and I can see the gentle flutter of wings above her crib. Sweet butterflies that have drifted my babies off to sleep now for almost four years.

My heart catches in my throat as I watch them because it is another reminder of all that is coming to an end. These last precious baby days for this sweet second one.

Her breathing slows, her little body relaxes and I feel her melt into my chest. But does she know how deeply she has melted into my heart? She is already on to dreams, but still I rock. Savoring the moment, this holy, sacred moment of motherhood, for who knows if I will have this joy again?

I lay her down and push aside the soft wisps across her forehead. I brush pass the butterflies and say to myself, how silly is this? That these little butterflies are my excuse for keeping her in this crib. But I’m not ready to pack them up, not ready to say goodbye, unsure if they will ever again dance one of my babies to sleep.

What if the next one is a boy?

What if there is no next one?

We are so bold to assume God’s blessings for us.

In her book, One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp writes:

Love’s a deep wound and what is a mother without a child and why can’t I hold on to now forever and her here and me here and why does time snatch away a heart I don’t think mine can beat without?

A heart I don’t think mine can beat without.

I’ll second an amen to that.

It seems almost cruel, motherhood. To force a little soul so violently upon another without full preparation, having to learn as we go. I often think back to those first few days and weeks after we brought Anna Cate home from the hospital. How completely taken by surprise I was at the sheer work of it all. How much she interrupted life, but in the most beautiful way. And to laugh now at just how little work she really did require then.

Oh how far I have come, and yet, how much further I still have to go.

Yes, motherhood is a process. The learning process of true sacrificial love. The harder we work to perfect it, to get it right, the faster the sand slips through the hourglass until it is time to let go completely. And when that day comes, I fear that the more I have offered of myself, the deeper in love I will have fallen, and the harder my heart will break into a thousand little pieces when she says goodbye.

We continue on with the process because there is no turning back. We are taking baby steps, both of us, baby steps. Daily tiny steps towards independence.

She struggles with her pants, “mine, mine” she says. Her way of letting me know that she wants to do it herself. And she shines bright when finally they are pulled up high to her waist. No matter that they are mixed up, back to front, but she is so proud and I soak up her joy. There is a slight wince at the independence, but I bury it fast, under a beaming smile for her accomplishment. “What a big girl to dress yourself!” and she squeals delight. When did this baby grow into a little girl and how so suddenly?

I know that I am richly blessed and I know these days are precious and fleeting, but knowing it doesn’t seem to help slow the time down.

Oh how to make the time slow down?

My heart asks over and over again. But all I hear, echoed in my heart, is one of my most favorite verses. One so quietly slipped in between the hurrying and excitement of the shepherds.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19

Maybe this is the only salve for this paradox of motherhood, love’s deep wound. To treasure them up, the little daily gifts we are given in the moments with our children. To consciously gather them together, treasure them up so that we have them to gratefully ponder in our heart and awfully wonder at the beauty of the gift.

I love my white shoes

2011-01-25T13:58:00.000-08:00

We can always count on Aunt D's for some good reads! She brought us Pete the Cat, I Love My White Shoes from her school library last week and it is currently Anna Cate's favorite book.

Andie came over to play last week and I grabbed the camera just in time to catch Anna Cate reading to both of the little girls. Please ignore the huge smudge on the lense! I was in such a hurry to capture the moment that I didn't notice it until I watched the clip later.

And P.S. - Baylis, I promise my eyes were on Andie the whole time even if the camera wasn't! ;)

The moral of Pete' story:

No matter what you step in, keep walking along, singing your song because it's allllllll good!

Latest Obsession

2011-01-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

Do you remember my lofty goal in December to make two quilts for the girls to open on Christmas morning? Hip hip hooray I did finish them and have now become addicted to quilting. I mean really, what is not to love? I get to use a smorgasbord of pretty fabric and also catch up on a few movies I've been meaning to see (for about a year now!)

Yay for projects that don't require my full attention!

I'm sure this phase will last all of 2 more months, but I've had fun this past month working on another one for a very special little boy due in March.

I pieced the front together using 4" squares from my fabric stash.

The backing was some cute brown and white polka dot fabric from good old Hobby Lobby.

These are some helpful tutorials I used to put the quilt together. As much as I love the stippled look, I wasn't brave enough to try it, nor did I have the walking foot for my sewing machine, so I just used a technique called stitch the ditch.

Stitch the Ditch

Stippling the Quilt

And I also used these two tutorial to make the binding and then sew the binding to the quilt:

Creating the Binding

Binding the Quilt

I love how this little patchwork quilt turned out (way more so than the circle quilts) so I think I may have to make another one for the girls. Quilting appears a lot more intimidating than it really is. If you are interested in making one, I would definitely check out the tutorials. They were very helpful and easy to follow! ;)

Greyfield. Day 2

2011-01-18T14:08:00.000-08:00

Oops! Didn't mean to be gone so long! I was out of town again last weekend on a ladies retreat with our church. Not being home for two weekends in a row took it's toll and I'm just now getting back into the swing of things.

***

But back to our weekend at the Greyfield. Where were we...?

Ah yes, we were in the sitting room enjoying the quiet and the fire before dinner. One of the unique experineces about staying at the inn is you have dinner with all of the other guest-family style, I guess you'd call it? They ring a dinner bell at 7:30 and everybody comes down to the dining room.

I'll be honest. I was a little nervous about having to sit through my dinners with a bunch of strangers. What if we had nothing in common to talk about? And can I even carry on a conherent adult conversation since most of my conversations right now are with a one and three year old?

I had nothing to worry about; the two couples we dined with were absolutely delightful! Right before dinner, they all came into the living room and introduced themselves. Holly and John were visiting from Boston and they had been coming to the Greyfield for 16 years. The other couple, Tom and Susan, was from Jacksonville, FL and they had also been to the inn before.

We sat at one of the smaller tables that had been set in the dining room by the fireplace and enjoyed an incredible meal. All of the food was organic and grown right there on the island. Every meal was just about the best thing I had ever put in my mouth!

By the time we were finished with our salads, I was giving myself mental high fives and silently giving thanks that I read every night after the girls are in bed. Whew! I can still carry on an adult conversation! We discussed authors like David McCollough (thanks Dad!) and topics like the reason notherners view the Civil War so differently from southerners to influences that shape family dynamics. It was one of the loveliest evenings I have had in a loooooooong time. Nobody spilled their milk or interrupted to sing their ABC's. We felt like these couples were old family friends and I was suprised how much we all had in common because they were older than us by at least twenty years. By 10:30, the staff had to come in to ask us if we could retire to the living room because they needed to clean up!

****

The next morning after breakfast, Will and I were reading on the front porch in the rocking chairs, waiting to go on the naturalist tour of the island.

Included with your stay is a three-hour tour of the island with one of the naturalists. The other two couples had gone on the tour the day before and highly recommended that we go. Will and I assumed we would be the only ones on the tour because there was no one else staying at the inn...

SO WE THOUGHT.

The tour started at 10:30 and at about 10:23, a truck from the ferry pulls up and out tumble three cackling southern hens.

Meet Linda and Harriet.

They were down from Macon, GA and enjoying a girls weekend with their other friend, Betty Lou.

Betty Lou was apparently once married to a prominent and very wealthy southern lawyer and was footing the bill for their trip (something that Harriet reminded us of quite often during their stay!) Seriously ya'll, I felt like I had stepped into the pages of a novel. These three ladies were quite the cast of characters and oh the stories they had to tell!

The truck for the tour pulled up and Harriet and Linda piled into the back of the truck with Will and I, while Betty Lou sat up front in the cab.

Harriet, oh Harriet.

Seriously, a character straight out of a southern novel.

How can I describe her in a way that will do her justice?

Will and I knew her entire life story within the first five minutes of riding together in the truck. We found out that she:

-had grown up playing on the island as a child before getting "kicked off" by the National Park Service and had a story to tell about each building and place on the island.

- is an art teacher and that Linda and Betty Lou are two of her students.

-has a son-in-law who is a famous author on the New York Times Bestseller List (although we had not heard of any of his books)

- participates in Civil War reinactments with her husband on the weekends

And there were several other colorful stories she had to tell which I do not feel comfortable typing out on my blog (!) All I can say is what a hoot!

****

The first stop on the tour was Plum Orchard. This was another one of the Carnegie children's "cottages" built right before the Greyfield. The Park Service is currently restoring it and has just opened it up after years of being closed. We were some of the first people allowed inside!

Once again, the history nerd in me was giddy at getting to walk through a home, I mean mansion, that has been basically untouched for almost 90 years! I'll spare you most of the hundred pictures that I took, but these were some of my favorite things about the house.

One shot of the extremely large kitchen.

Notice the farmhouse sink (oh the farmhouse sink!), the built in pie safe (over in the corner) and the expansive wall of windows overlooking the marsh.

another shot of the kitchen

and look at that storage space! love the built in shelves.

Once the tour guide moved on and everybody left the room, I stood really still, trying to hear, see, and smell all that went on here once upon a time.

Oh law, you wont believe what Miss Carnegie don ax me to make dis mornin. She don changed her menu from bluberry cobbler to apple pie and dem guests gon be here in bout an hour!

Can't you just see those women over by the counter rolling out the dough, making all that was needed for that day's schedule of entertaining. I hope my slight obession isn't taken as disrespect in any way because it is all so fascinating to me. The world that existed here not even 100 years ago...

oh the stories those women who served in that house could tell!

But then Will noticed I was missing and came back to drag me away and on to the next room...

the butler's pantry,

where all the food was plated and taken to the dining room.

an actual photocopy of a menu the lady of the house had written out for Thanksgiving Day, 1910.

The china cabinet that held 430 place settings

430!!! and they lived on an ISLAND!!

Notice the enuciation cord box on the wall. Mrs. Carnegie could alert her servants from any room of the house by pulling on her cord located in each room (from her bed, the bathtub, etc)

Room service to the extreme.

One of the guest baths.

Just a little validation to Will that I must really like design from 100 years ago. He teased me as soon as we walked in and saw it. We've remodeled two bathrooms in the past year and for both I've requested:

white hexagon tile flooring...check!

white subway tile...check!

white pedastal sink...check!

Seen enough of Plum Orchard? Next stop on the tour was the first African American church built in the U.S.

Also the famous site where JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette said "I do."

Not really even close, but we had fun trying not to crack up as Betty Lou directed the reinactment of the scene while Harriet manned my camera trying to get the shot. I think I'm saying (under my breath and through my teeth) "These women are craaaaazzy" and Will is saying, "Just smile so we can get this over with"

headed back to the inn for lunch and drove the return trip on the beach. Rode for 14 miles and didn't see a single soul. only birds!

Lunch is picnic style and you pick up your basket whenever you are ready to eat. After lunch, we curled up on a porch swing and read for the rest of the afternoon.

I didn't read as much as I just gazed at the scenery. This was my view looking off the porch.

Late in the afternoon, I got antsy and walked around the yard to take some pictures of the afternoon light streaming through the trees.

We were informed that there would be an oyster roast that evening during cocktail hour. I'm sorry, did someone tell them that we were coming AND that it was Will's birthday? :)

So much fun!

The oysters were just harvested from the island and were really really good. I think I ate about 20 and I usually only have 1 or 2 at most.

pretty lights strung through the trees added to the ambiance.

gorgeous sunsets too...you can barely see the orange and yellow in the background.

the dining room

waiting for all of the guest to arrive so dinner could be served.

***

the next morning we got up with the sun and rode bikes down to Dungeness one more time before breakfast. (Can you see how small Will looks on the far left side of the picture? These trees are ginormous!)

old pile of cars near the servants quarters at Dungesness

When the family would bring a new car onto the island, they would just line the old ones up and they have been left to rot. They say each year the cars sink lower and lower into the ground.

****

Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye. :( I was not ready to come home.

Holly and John walked us down to the ferry to say goodbye.

Returning to the real world...

Bundled up for the ferry ride. It was freeezing!

To sum it up in one word: it was refreshing.

Refreshing for our marriage and refreshing for myself to get out of mommy mode for a few days and just be me.

Hopefully we'll get to go back sooner than later!!

and if anybody thinks they may be interested in going...just go! You will not be sorry. I know both of these post are loooooong, but I only wrote a tenth of what I could have said about our weekend. It really was faaaaabulous! ;)

Greyfield. Day 1

2011-01-11T14:54:00.000-08:00

Allison guessed correctly! We went to Cumberland Island for the weekend! :)

The last gift he opened was the history book of the island with the following note attached:

Pack your bags with warm clothes! The ferry leaves the dock this Friday at 12:15 to take us to the Greyfield Inn!

Consider yourselves forwarned! There are a lot of pictures and commentary but I don't know how to leave any of it out. It really was the most perfect weekend; from the weather, the other guests staying at the inn, all of the little details and I don't want to forget any of it! Please excuse all of the obnoxious historical commentary. The history teacher in me is coming out and I have no idea how to hush her up! ;)

***

And before we begin, a little background info about the island and where we stayed:

Thomas Carnegie (brother to the more famous Andrew Carnegie) bought a large amount of the island in the 1880's to build a winter home, Dungeness. He died in 1886 before the mansion was completed, but his wife continued to live on the island and raise their 9 children. When each of her children were married, she offered them all $10,000 to build a "cottage" on the island, hoping to keep her children close. With this wedding gift, her daughter Margaret Ferguson built a home, Greyfield, on the island in 1900. Her grandaughter, Lucy R. Ferguson inherited the home and her family later turned the home into an inn, the Greyfield Inn.

***

Friday morning we boarded the Lucy R. Ferguson to head over to the island.

Tracking our location on Will's GPS as we rode over to the island.

The last bit of "civilization" we saw for the weekend before heading out into open water.

Buh bye real world!!

The ferry ride lasted about 30 minutes and while we rode, any stress and tension I had just melted away. Literally. By the time we pulled up to the dock and caught a glimpse of the inn through the trees, I was loose as a goose.

One of the Greyfield's employees met us down at the dock to walk us up to house, while the porter took our bags. She was explaining the some of the history of the island and the inn when we turned the corner and saw it.

Um, yeah. Nice "cottage."

It took all I had not to run up the front steps, burst through the door and yell "I'm home! I'm home!" It was like every history class, southern literature book, and daydream I have ever had about stepping back in time and living a hundred years ago CAME TRUE!

Am I a total nerd to admit that? Oh well!

She gave us a quick tour of the house. First stop, the front porch. I could have stopped there, but we continued on...

beach towels on the front porch for guests

talk about southern hospitality! Every need we could possibly have was already taken care of, before we even had to ask! It was like staying at your rich grandmama's house who had prepared everything for you before your arrival.

Our suite for the weekend

sitting room off of the bedroom

our bathroom...

there were family pictures of the Carnegie family scattered all around the house. Like I said, like being at grandma's! But a very rich and famous grandma! All of the furniture, books, and pictures were original to the house.

After touring the house, we set out to explore the island.

The inn has bikes, kayaks, and fishing gear available for you to help yourself at your leisure. At this point, we had only seen the girl who gave us our tour. There is nobody around. ever. I think Will and I saw a total of about 20 people all weekend. You really feel like you have the run of the place.

everywhere you look, these gorgeous oaks with spanish moss are scattered around the grounds.

*sigh*

The island is basically uninhabited, but there are trails everywhere for biking and hiking.

We first explored the beach. The dunes are huge...reaching heights of 50 feet and there are wild horses that run free all over the island.

Then we headed down the main road to find the old mansion Dungeness.

Built in 1880's and abandoned in 1925, the mansion burned in 1959. Even though only the ruins remain, it still takes your breath away when you ride up the front entrance.

It had 59 rooms and took over 300 servants to keep it running!

the view of the marsh from the front of the mansion

wild horses taking a drink on the grounds of the mansion

beautiful!

After we left Dungeness, we headed to the Icehouse museum to read up on a little history of the island. This is a picture of Dungeness, back in the day, just to give you an idea...

and this is a picture of the Greyfield taken in 1908.

We learned how to use the self timer on the camera to take a picture since there was nobody around to ask!

At dusk, we headed back the the inn.

and snooped around the other rooms to see what they looked like. There are 16 rooms at the inn and only 2 other couples were there that night. This room reminded me of Anna Cate and Caroline and I found myself daydreaming, again, about living in this house a hundred years ago.

Will did a little reading in the sitting room while I showered for dinner.

another shot of our room looking into one of the dresser mirrors. If you don't like antiques, you probably won't appreciate the details but it really was like stepping back 100 years in time. There were very few lamps on and no electrical outlets. We were without television, internet, phone, and radio all weekend and it was heaven. All you heard was the wind rustling through the spanish moss outside and it was like therapy to just unplug from everything.

Before dinner, we went downstairs to the bar and fixed ourselves a drink...

...and then went into the living room to enjoy hor d'oeuvres by the fire.

At this point, we still had only seen 1 person at the inn the entire day.

However, all of that that was about to change as we were about to meet a lovely couple that would be the first of several different characters that we would encounter over the weekend!

to be continued...

Clues

2011-01-10T19:28:00.000-08:00

Will is turning the big 3 0 this week!

To celebrate, we took a special surprise trip this past weekend. I'm still trying to find words to describe the past few days. It was, by far, the most fun we have had of the past 13 years of birthdays we have celebrated together! :)

The week before we left, he opened several gifts that gave him some clues to our surprise destination. I'll give them to you and see if anybody can correctly guess the destination.

(and pssst...no guessing for those of you who knew where we were headed!)

The first gift he opened was a pack of four candles and the card read:

romantic candlelight and cozy fires

p.s. - did you notice the scent of the candle?

(it was driftwood)

Second gift was wrapped in a tie box from JoS. A. Bank and the card on the outside read:

You'll need to pack a coat and tie, but you'll also need your hiking gear

Inside was a gift card to Books-A-Million for him to pick out a new book to take.

The last gift was also a book (a history book) of our destination and on the outside of the box, the card read:

you may want to catch up on the history, because there is lots of it!

And one more clue that he didn't have, but I'll share with you. A photo that was taken this weekend during our stay:

We are suppose to be imitating a famous photograph (although we look nothing like the people in the real photo!)

I hadn't seen the picture in several years and was working from memory and also from the direction of the three little old ladies who were taking our picture! But it is close enough to give you an idea...

Any guesses?

;)

One Last Christmas Hurrah

2011-01-10T14:22:00.000-08:00

Before I can move on to sharing our adventures in January, I first want to share this last holiday post with some fun gift ideas and tutorials you may want to keep in mind for next year.

*Embellished Hand Towels*

My sweet sister-in-law made me this cute towel and I love it! It makes me smile everytime I see it in my kitchen. She made the fabric flowers using a tutorial similar to this one and then hand stitched them onto a white towel from Target. So cute! They would also be precious on a headband.

*Photo Ornaments*

I met Holly last year at a sewing workshop and have followed her blog ever since. She is super creative and I love all of her ideas! She shared this tutorial on making photo ornaments earlier in December and I made some to give grandparents.

* A Merry Cricket Christmas*

Will gave me a Cricket for our anniversary in July and I finally got the chance to put it to good use making Christmas gifts! I found some cute buckets at TJMaxx and spray painted them red (and some orange for tiger fans!) and packed them full of homemade yummies.

Lowes also carries buckets in the paint department that are great for monogramming and can be used for chilling wine or beer (think oyster roast or tailgating).

These drink dispensers are also great for showers, parties, and tailgating. My sisters and SIL's got these for Christmas! :)

I also used the Cricut to monogram these cute jute bags (found at Hobby Lobby) by using this freezer paper stencil tutorial.

*Felt Applique Tees*

Need an idea for the little boys on your list? I made some cute tees with felt, Heat-n-bond, and some colored shirts from Wal-mart and Target. Just check out etsy for some ideas and inspiration for appliques and create your own using this tutorial.

* Silhouettes*

My mom has mine and my sisters' silhouettes hanging on her bedroom wall and I love to see them everytime I'm over there. I used this tutorial to create some of Anna Cate and Caroline, but I cut mine out with tiny scissors instead of using the exacto knife. I love them so much and want to make some more to display on our bookcase in our house.

* Farmhouse Dolls*

The most time consuming gift I worked on were these dolls. I saw these farmhouse dolls listed in the PBK catalog this fall and knew I wanted to try to make some for the girls. For the doll head and body, I used my Rosie Posie doll pattern (but increased it by 40%) and stitched the face on with embroidery thread. I also sewed the shoes onto the legs with brown felt before I stuffed the legs with polyfil. For the dolls' dresses, I made a smaller template from Leila and Ben's Sweet Little Dress pattern on etsy. For their hair, I found this tutorial which explains how to make and attach the yarn. I braided the hair once it was in place and secured the braids with invisible ponytail holders. Oh, and I also added some dry beans to the body before I stitched them up for added weight.

I'll be honest, it was a very time consuming project. The girls really do love them! They play with them all day and sleep with them at night. All of the supplies I needed were leftovers I had stashed in my craft closet, but if you were going to have to buy everything to make them, I'd just go ahead and buy them from PBK. The dolls are currently on sale for $19.99 and I'd say that is a steal!

Oh, and as for the quilts...they were also finished in time to be opened on Christmas morning, but I'll save that for a post all on it's own.

Better late than never

2011-01-05T21:41:00.001-08:00

A few from Christmas morning for all of the grandparents

;)

All Anna Cate asked for this year was a hula hoop, a princess jump rope, and a sewing machine.

Santa delivered on all three.

No picture of the jump rope, but he also brought a dress up box filled with all sorts of princess attire. It has been a huge hit!

And since Caroline didn't know what to ask for from Old Saint Nick, Anna Cate spoke for her and said she wanted a kitchen.

(Disclaimer: Santa worked very hard during several nap times and evenings on sanding, painting, and filling holes to make this kitchen good as new to match the one Anna Cate already had. Unfortunately, one of Santa's elves, who will remain anonymous, waited until Christmas Eve at 9:00 to pick it up and bring it home and Santa was mortified to find that the elf had used the original red handles instead of the pink ones that had been purchased to replace them. It is funny now, but oh the drama of Christmas Eve magic!)

***

Maybe Santa would have been more patient and in a better mood if he hadn't stayed up so late almost

every. night. of. December.

working on some special dolls.

This was both girls' reaction to them Christmas morning:

"Gee Santa, come on! what a let down! She doesn't walk or talk or wet her diaper."

But then they opened a special gift from Daddy...

a Baby Alive

(please note that Anna Cate's doll from Santa is face down on the floor)

and Caroline promptly removed her doll from Santa and replaced it with her new plastic, squealing, giggling, "so ugly she is cute" (as my grandmother would say) Baby Alive!

(also please note Caroline's doll which is face down on the floor behind the high chair)

Ahem. No crush to the ego there! :)

There is nothing like doing the dishes in your undies on Christmas morning!

Caroline's reaction to her baby everytime the doll would giggle. It looks like she is trying to eat her face, but really she just squeals really loudly at the doll. It is quite a hilarious site to behold!

And hopefully my sarcasm was taken lightly, because I really wasn't upset about the girls' reaction to their gifts. I knew that their handmade dolls wouldn't be a big hit on Christmas morning, but would become special once the shock of so many new toys wore off.

but I did learn my lesson:

no homemade gifts next Christmas unless they are finished before December 1!

Quick Holiday Tutorials

2010-12-17T11:29:00.000-08:00

Just popping in this afternoon to share a quick tutorial you may want to use this holiday season. I was hoping to have the hand-towel apron tutorial up today, in case anybody is needy a last minute gift idea, but it is not quite finished. Maybe I'll have time to finish it up by tonight...

In the meantime, here is another "apron" idea for all of the holiday baking (and eating) you will be doing with your little ones! The girls are too big to fit into traditional bibs, but still need to wear something at the table to protect those cute smocked dresses when we are celebrating with family and friends. Somebody shared a similar idea at one of my sewing workshops (but I can't remember who now) of turning a cloth diaper into a bib/apron for toddlers to wear.

So easy and practical!! Most cloth diapers have that extra absorbant band down the middle, which is perfect for all the drips and spills that usually end up front and center down my girls dresses when they eat by themselves.

You'll need a cloth diaper, 3 1/2 yards of ribbon, and a sewing machine to make one for yourself. You can easily pick up a pack of Gerber diapers and a roll of ribbon on your next Wal-mart run.

Step 1: Cut your ribbon into 4 equal pieces. Use a lighter to singe the edges of the ribbon so they don't fray.

Step 2: Pin the ribbon to the top and sides of the apron and sew into place.

You're finished!

They really are perfect for holiday baking and eating those Christmas dinners because they cover their entire front and down into their laps.

***

Another super simple holiday tip:

Use scrapbooking paper to make gift bags!

I bought one of those big packs of Christmas scrapbooking paper about 4 years ago from Michaels on clearance after the holidays. It is perfect for making tags and little gift bags. Just cut 2 pieces of paper to the size you want the bag to be and use a zig-zag stitch to sew up 3 of the sides. Yes! You can use your sewing machine for more than fabric.

Cute, easy, and very frugal!

Little Red Coats

2010-12-15T16:09:00.000-08:00

The red coats are coming! The red coats are coming! That is all I can think about when I look at all of our pictures from the past several weeks. My children have really worn other clothes than just their little pea coats, but you certianly wouldn't know it. It looks like that is all they wear night and day!

It just so happens that most of our festive activities have been outside and it has been bitter cold here these past few weeks! Last Friday, some friends of ours invited us to join them to go to Little Bethlehem in Gilbert. It is something that the local church puts on for free (yay for free!) and I highly recommend going if you have young children.

They have an entire little village set up and you get to walk the streets of Bethlehem on the night Jesus is born! We got to sample oven-baked bread (& hot chocolate), see a carpenter, a potter, the inn, a jail, and lots and lots of animals! The animals were Caroline's favorite part and Anna Cate enjoyed seeing Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in the stable.

Fowler Family

Please note that my child is wearing hot pink socks on her hands. She was adamant about not wanting to wear the gloves, but preferred socks. You have to pick your battles.

Delaney Family

Their little girls are almost the same ages and ours so when we get them together, it is a lot of girly fun! :)

Checking out the super-sized horse at the stable.

The people of Bethelehem dancing around the town's well to a song that we heard played about 5 times while we were there. I still can't get the little ditty out of my head.

Callie checking out one of the horses.

"Whoa mom, he's really big!"

We even got to walk in the stable to see baby Jesus with the shepards and wise men! Caroline was all up on the baby Jesus, wanting to touch his head, but Anna Cate was really timid at first. I realized she thought he was real, and once I explained he was just a baby doll, then she wanted to touch his arm.

Thanks guys! We had a great time! :)

***

On Saturday night, Anna Cate and I got to go on a special date to see the Nutcracker ballet!

Her sweet friend Mason's birthday was on Sunday, so to celebrate, we went with Mason and her mom (and Carlysle and Miss Leslie) to a special dinner and the ballet! Carrie found an awesome deal on tickets with Groupon and we had a special girls' night out. This was Mason and Carlysle's first time to the ballet so to make the night super duper special, we made some ballerina ornaments.

And wrapped them up with some cute stickers I had found at Hobby Lobby.

While Anna Cate and I were getting ready, poor little Caroline was so excited because she thought she was going somewhere too. When I was dressing Anna Cate, Caroline went to her dresser and pulled out these clothes for me to put on her. She also wanted to stand by the tree with Anna Cate to take a picture.

excited about her special night out with mama!

ok, this just might be the most awkward picture ever, but it is the only one I have of all 6 of us. I guess we should have stooped down to the girls' level or held them up with us. They were all so excited to go!!

We went to California Dreaming (ooohhh fancy!) for dinner and they got to open up their special ornaments.

the birthday girl!

Miss Carlysle and her ballerina

Thanks Mason and Miss Carrie for including us in your celebration! We can't wait to start doing something special like this each year with all of our little girlfriends once they all get big enough to go! :)

Celebrating Advent . Week 1

2010-12-12T16:49:00.001-08:00

We've been busy opening up our little envelopes each morning to see what the new day brings to celebrate advent!

**Disclaimer: I just re-read this to proof it and wanted to make it clear that I by no means have it as "together" as it appears from this post. Most days I have no idea what is going in the envelope until a few minutes before the girls open it. And there have been just as many frustrating and tiring moments as there are happy ones. If I don't document what we have done, I really may not remember by the end of the month because life is such a blur right now! I know you only see the good on blogs so I'm reminding you now before you read anymore, that this is only the GOOD from the past week! :) I didn't take picture of the temper tantrums and meltdowns...

On the first day of December, we gave the girls their very own nativity to play with this year since Anna Cate was so infatuated with mine last year. I found it for $3 at LICS and liked that it looked "real."

Anna Cate was thrilled to have her very own baby Jesus and asked me to take her picture with him.

Both girls have loved having their own set to play with, but unfortunately they are very fragile and we already have a headless Joseph.

I have also been finding them in some interesting places. One morning I opened the dishwasher to find Mary and a sheep nestled down in the utensil holder.

And I don't think our stable is fairing much better. After only a week and a half, our manager has become dilapidated. The roof is falling off and the walls are coming apart, wonder why??

Thursday afternoon Aunt D's came over and we attempted pictures for the Christmas card.

I managed to get a few cute ones...

But the majority of them looked more like this:

Friday evening went to see the lights at the zoo with Nana and Grandaddy.

Caroline LOVED it! (actually both girls loved it, but I've never seen Caroline so excited before) This smile was plastered over her face the entire time we were there.

Look alive, Mary Catherine! Open those eyese! It is only the 3rd day of December...we still have 22 days left until Christmas!

Saturday morning Will worked on installing our bathroom sinks and adding the trim while the girls played "house" in the empty boxes. They were entertained all morning long so I had a chance to work on some gifts! The pictures don't look very christmasy, but we enjoyed a relaxing morning listening to Christmas music while everbody just did their own thing. I love days without a plan!

Anna Cate is usually right by Will's side "helping" when he is working on the bathroom.

And she is very into dressing herself right now, thus the polkadot tights with the summer dress over a long sleeve shirt! :)

We (I mean he) is almost done with the bathroom!! I can't wait to share pictures soon.

***

Sunday afternoon we headed to Taylor's Tree Farm to pick out our tree!

Then Sunday evening, we met Aunt Baylis and Andie downtown to watch the Christmas parade! It was FREEZING!

They were throwing candy to the crowd so I let Caroline have a sucker for the first time and this is how she sat through the entire parade. I don't think she took the sucker out of her mouth once.

On Monday, during our weekly trip to the grocery store, we picked up the ingredients to make peppermint marshmallows.

After naptime, we donned our aprons and got all set up for baking until I read the directions and realized it called for a candy thermometer. Ooops! We don't have a candy thermometer.

Caroline was thrilled...can you tell?

But Anna Cate quickly dried up those tears by letting Caroline wear her Cinderella dress. So we played dress-up instead for the rest of the afternoon.

Tuesday night we found the time to string the lights on the tree.

And then Wednesdaywe got to actually hang the ornaments to decorate the tree after Will got home from work. But I think the girls' favorite part were the empty ornament boxes that they crawled in to look at books after we were done.

So that brings us up to December 7. Think I'm going to stop there before this turns into the longest post ever written. We've had another fun and busy weekend and had something super special planned for Saturday. I'll give you two hints as to what we did:

Hint 1 & Hint 2

Until I find the time for another post...

We have a winner!

2010-12-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

Thank you for all of the suggestions!

Amber left a comment with a link to this quilt. I love it! It is the perfect blend of pops of color with a white background and thought I had found the perfect design until...

...I browsed through her other quilts and found this one:

This is not at all the traditional quilt I had in mind when I started this project, but the circles make me smile! How could you not enjoy giggling with your sister snuggled under one of these? It also sounds much easier to make which is good considering #1) I'm making two of them, #2) don't have much time, and #3) I have no clue what I'm doing!

When I have more time to focus on a "real" quilt, I want to make the first one pictured above.

So thanks to all of you who offered your opinion, both on the blog and in person! :)

I'll be sure to share the end result and the tutorials I've found online to help me with putting them together.

On another note, our computer is in the shop so I only have access to Will's work laptop at night once he is done using it for work. I hope to have time to post some pictures tomorrow of what all we've been up to!

With a little help from my friends...

2010-12-06T19:31:00.000-08:00

I need some opinions and asap!

This arrived in the mail today and I just finished cutting it up into 120 little bricks to sew 2 quilts for the girls for Christmas. One of their favorite things to do is to empty the linen closet of every blanket and pillow to make a nest on the playroom floor where they curl up together to look at their books. I can't wait to give them their own special blankets use!! :)

But, I don't know which to do.

A traditional brickpath quilt where all of the rectangles are touching...

Or something more like this where they are divided by some white fabric. I like how the fabric pops better against the white background, but it looks like a lot of extra work and I only have T minus 18 days and counting...

So which do you like better?

P.S. - and oh yes, these would be my first official quilts if that makes a difference!

P.P.S. - and no, I'm not finished with all of my other Christmas gifts yet...

Sisters

2010-12-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

Fabulously busy weekend

exhausted, but in a good way

so many fun pics to share, but until I can sort through them, here is one taken last week on Thanksgiving day!

Vintage Nursery Inspiration

2010-12-04T12:42:00.000-08:00

A sweet friend is expecting baby boy #3 and is currently working on an vintage styled nursery. A few months ago, she asked if I had any ideas to share for pulling the nursery together on a budget. She has already picked out the cutest elephant fabic to make the crib bedding with, but I couldn't get ebay to share the picture with me to add to the collage.

I sent her all my ideas back in October, but I just found this set that I had created on Polyvore for her and forgot to send her several months ago, so I thought I'd share it now with everybody. :) IF we ever have a boy, I will most definitely be pulling ideas from this. But sometimes I have the feeling that we'll be one of those families with 3 or 4 girls!!! And that is ok with me too, but I'd really really love a little boy to add to the mix.

In case anybody else is interested, you can go here to see more ideas I pulled together for her. Happy Decorating!! :)