Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I hope your day is filled with joy and that your new year is filled with peace and love.

Flowers in the Winter

Here is a bit of sewing for 2 of my nieces that I started way back in the Spring, finished this fall, and am just now getting around to posting. As I've said before, the treatments I am doing have been wiping me out really bad, so I'm just glad I got them done while they could still wear them! I got excited about making these when I saw a striped onesie at Old Navy. This striped/big applique combination has been calling to me ever since I saw this and this at Mini Boden. Mini Boden does some amazing appliques. I actually like the strawberry one best, but this project just seemed to call for a flower. I was so excited to find an XL Women's shirt in the same stripe so I could make something out of it for Sarah to match her little sister Gracie.
So here's Sarah's skirt. (I figure she can wear leggings with it for now, right?)

And Gracie's top went through some changes. It actually started out as a onesie, but my sister doesn't love the look of those on an older baby, so I cut it off and hemmed it, and then added the white sleeves from another shirt to make it a layered-look long sleeved top!

Here is the shirt I used to make the skirt for Sarah:

Maybe I'll do a tutorial for it one of these days, although the pictures I took were all in the middle of the night and not great!

And lastly, here is a little thought for today:

Just remember in the winter

far beneath the bitter snows

lies the seed, that with the sun's love

in the spring becomes the rose.

---The Rose

Christmas Shopping and Legs

Jake and I did a little Christmas shopping this weekend. He found all these legs in a pile at Sears and since there was seriously not a single person working on the 2nd floor where we were, he took his time building statues with them. And I laughed. We had fun.

My phone camera takes terrible pictures, but hey, at least we have a shot to remember the silliness.

Holiday Wish List Meme

I figured my son would kill me if I had the chance and didn't enter this giveaway, plus it is fun to share this information here!

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama (link to: http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
Calmness, peace and happiness.

2. What is your Christmas morning / Hanukkah Nightly tradition?
Our real traditions are Christmas Eve - we get together with my family and exchange gifts, which is an amazing time. And I've just decided Jake and I are going to have a pj tradition. Getting jammies on Christmas Eve is my absolute favorite tradition from growing up, and we haven't been doing it - we are going to start! Maybe for Christmas morning, we'll start a green smoothie tradition to counteract that stocking full of candy!

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be? A trip to Pennsylvania to see my nieces, nephew and sister!!

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?

Hmmm... using decorations we already have... making cookies and wishing I didn't...

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?
"Guess Who" was one of my favorites, and we also played "Restaurant" with bubble gum and candy that was made like food, or that we made to be like food. For instance, we would put Big League Chew, and gum balls together in a bowl for spaghetti and meatballs. Ahh... the awesomeness of being a kid.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?
I am going to reinstate the pajama tradition.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas/Hanukkah-away-from-home trip?

Other than my sister's, I would choose to go somewhere sunny like the Caribbean, Hawaii, or to visit my friend Kristen in France!!

8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

1. I know my son would love an XBOX 360. He already has his favorite gaming system - the Play Station 3, but he would love to be able to play some of the games his friends play on the XBOX.

2. A Wii - I think it would be fun to do the Wii Fit, and Jake would love to have a Wii!

3. I'd let my son pick out some games - I know there are a ton he'd love. I'd let some of my family members pick some games too!

Action Shots

We got some fun action shots when Jake was snowboarding in our driveway during one of our big snowfalls a couple weeks ago. He was so excited that it was snowing so much that it took some of the ickiness out of it for me. He loves sledding, snowboarding, etc. He gets creative thinking of things to use for sliding down the hills. We have skateboards without wheels covered in tinfoil, plastic, wax, etc. He's nothing if not imaginative. This is actually a plastic snowboard that we found at Toys R Us. We used the burst option on my camera so that I didn't only catch the picture right before or after he caught air!

He gets a little blurry.


Ok now he's just a phantom snowboarder. Which is kind of awesome.


There he is.

He had fun!

Go Ahead, Make My Day

I haven't blogged forever, but I was sitting here unashamedly and at the top of my lungs, singing "A Little Fall of Rain" from Les Miserables on repeat in my Itunes, and was thinking about the best moment earlier today and had to share it.

I read my horoscope out loud to Jake in kind of a silly announcer voice. It said:

"Feel free to take charge today, Natalie. You are able to win people over with your smile. Talk with the people and get a feel for their wants and needs before you proceed with your plans. Realize that your actions will have a profound effect on the people around you. This is your opportunity to shine. Take advantage of your tremendous communication skills and your ability to relate to others."

And then he said - Wow that is perfect for you. That is you in a nutshell. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I about died. 1: That he would say something so amazingly wonderful. and 2: That he thinks that. Totally made my day, week and year. I couldn't believe it. I am hoping to gain a more positive self-image, and I'm really working on self-love. I just can be so super hard on myself, and of course I had the negative commentary running through my mind "yeah I express myself well when I'm not stumbling over every word like an idiot," etc.......) so that is why this meant the world to me. Happy day. :) My son is a sweetheart.

Healthy and Tasty Greens

For my birthday, I received one of the best gifts ever! This beauty:

A Vitamix! We found her second hand on Craigslist and I am in love. It is a blender with 2 peak horsepower and makes beautiful green smoothies. It is such a great way to get veggies in our diets and I am so excited to quadruple my veggie intake! (Or more.) I have known for a long time that I needed to increase the amount of vegetables I eat, but usually could only bring myself to get 1 or 2 in per day at most.

Right now I have 6 jars in my fridge. A couple for my mom, a couple for Jake, and a couple for me. I make Jake's with a lot more fruit, some yogurt and less veggies so that he will drink them. You can barely taste the greens! I could make them with a little less, and you wouldn't be able to taste them at all. Really! Hopefully, he will get used to the taste and I'll be able to add even more greens.

Aren't these pretty?

The bright green one was the first one I've made where I felt like I had to write the recipe down. I have just been throwing in whatever sounded good together, including kale, parsley, spinach, carrots and carrot tops, strawberries, blueberries, apples, etc. They have all been good, but this one is my favorite so far. If you are going to make green smoothies, you can tailor them to your own tastes - you can use lots of fruit, you can make savory smoothies with only veggies and maybe a tomato... whatever your heart desires. I don't like it too sweet - smoothies that are all fruit are way too sweet for me, but adding some fruit in with the greens makes it delicious.

Pretty Bright Green Smoothie

1 to 1 1/2 C. water

1/2 small to medium head of romaine

2 large stalks of celery

3 large handfuls of spinach

1 frozen banana

About 12 oz pineapple chunks (I used canned because it was all I had, but fresh would be fantastic.)

Dropping In

I have some pictures to post, but I don't know how to get the printer to download them from our memory card, and too tired/lazy to figure it out right now. So I am just going to stop in and say hi, I'm still alive, and will put up some posts with pictures soon. Jake has started 9th grade. I'm so glad he has a fun class - percussion - because it makes the whole day better for him. I am struggling with getting up with him at 7 am, because for some reason morning hours are the only hours I ever really feel like I sleep. I don't want to miss the time with him though. He is just growing up too fast.

We had a really fun last bit of Summer. My brother and his wife visited my sister in PA and brought my nephew Sam back with them, so we got to spend lots of time up at Gram and Pa's house watching the kids swim, jump on the trampoline, etc. Kids are such a miracle of life and are my favorite kind of people to be with. They are filled with unconditional love, fascination with almost everything, joy, purity, and beauty. I am so grateful for them and the happiness they bring us. I love how my parents have taught me to appreciate kids and babies. They delight in every little action and movement, and I have definitely inherited/learned that from them.

8/9/10

I'm just dropping in to say "Hi" since it has been so long! I thought it was such a cool day to have a birthday... 8/9/10, so I had to post it!! I think that means it will be a great year! I'll try to post some updates soon.

Cake Wrecks!

I took a break from my sleeping/resting/sleeping schedule that NAET has so kindly required of me to do something super fun! The people behind the hilarious Cake Wrecks blog came to our town and my sister Suzanne, her friends and I love the blog, so we signed up to go! John and Jen are the married couple behind the blog and are both so funny. They shared a slideshow of some really crazy (and some creepy) cakes and then we stood in a long line so that Suz, Kara and Jana could get their books signed. John came around and talked to us in line so that was cool. He took this picture of the crowd while they were doing the slideshow. (This picture is from their blog - I just cropped it so you could see us a little bit.)

See those faintly circled partial heads? From left to right, the circles show me, my sister Suz, Kara's forehead and Jana. It only looks like there are people sitting in between us because there were a ton of people there. We are straining to see the screen because it was kind of low and the place was packed to the gills. We had so much fun!

Updates

Thanks SO much for all the kind words and prayers for my dad.

He is in the hospital with shingles. He is in a lot of pain. But anti-viral and fluid IVs are helping him get better. Ironically, the cancer drugs didn't make him sick (yet... crossing fingers) but the anti-viral pills he was on sure did. He is off the cancer meds for now so his immune system can fight the shingles.

Just so you know, if you ever get shingles (and now that I have seen pictures of my poor dad, I sincerely hope you don't), apple cider vinegar can really reduce the pain, and possibly even shorten the time you have the virus. I found this link and my dad said that before the acv, his pain level was very literally at an 11 on a scale of 1-10. And he has a high threshold for pain. After a few treatments of letting gauze soaked in acv sit on his face, the pain went down to a 5. I am so glad he had some relief and that he is now getting good care at the hospital. (He was too sick to even make it up there the first couple of days.)

I am finding things to eat again and am not quite as frustrated. That's good. Because I need to eat.

I have a tiny bit of energy back, and am not in bed 24/7. Yay.

Jake is enjoying Summer!!! I LOVE how relaxed and happy he is during the Summer. We are friends, instead of me having to drive him all the time to finish homework, etc. etc. He does chores with hardly any complaints because he wants to earn allowance.

I loved the Little Dorrit series that just played on PBS. SO GOOD. Did anyone else catch it? Their Oliver Twist was amazing last year too. I'm so mad I missed the airing of Emma earlier this year!

My Dad

I wanted to share a little about my wonderful dad. First, some awesome pictures.

My mom and dad in 1965. Aren't they hot stuff?! My mom has had some seriously wicked hairstyles in her lifetime, but that is another post entirely.

Holding my older brother Jeff. Good looking much?

In a kiss sandwich with me and Suz

Being silly with Sam. He has to be the funnest grandpa out there.

My dad has showed Jake support many, many times by coming to school concerts, church talks, and by helping him build the winning Rain Gutter Regatta boat and an unbelievably sleek Pinewood Derby car for Scouts. (Where are those pictures?) I can't honestly be more grateful for how he has been there for him.

Always doing fun things with the family. He LOVES those grandkids.

It is such a privilege to have my dad as my father. He has a beautiful testimony of our Savior and shares it. He is brilliant. He has such a generous heart and he has blessed so many in so many ways. He loves his family and is committed to his family. He always wanted to give his family the very best and has. He has taught me about integrity and that living a righteous life is what brings the greatest joy possible. He has loved my son like he was his father and was a constant companion for him for so many years. He bonded with him in a way that even his own father didn't. He gave him so many hours of his time, of his life. He taught him about science, math, life, being a strong person, and being there for those you love.

I am so thankful for a dad who blessed me with so many amazing opportunities in my life that have broadened me so much, and that he saw the importance of family vacations. We have made some amazing memories that way. A dad like this is priceless and precious beyond words. A dad like this is loved beyond words to describe. Thank you Dad, for everything.

It is hard to post about this, but if you would say a prayer for my dad, I would really appreciate it. He starts two medications tomorrow for the multiple myeloma he was diagnosed with this fall. One of the drugs he will be taking is a chemo drug, and one is a very high dose steroid. We are very worried about how the side effects will affect him. I am grateful for the advancements in medicine that will hopefully help him fight this thing hard and have many good years left.

What I've Done This Weekend

First of all Happy Memorial Day. Are you having a nice long weekend? I hope so. I was so excited to have a long weekend all to myself to get some stuff done. Jake is at his dad's house, and I wanted to clean and sew and finish up some things on my very long to do list.

But nope. This is what I have done almost the entire weekend.

Sleep, sleep, sleep, get up, eat, read, rest, rest, sleep, sleep, sleep, and over again.

But I didn't look this pretty.

More like this:

Among other things, I'm doing a treatment called NAET to see if it helps me, and it has wiped me out. Not to mention, I am having extreme bladder issues. The good thing is that I CAN sleep and don't have to worry about getting Jake places or homework, etc!

I hope you're able to relax this weekend.

Some Fun

It's no secret that my favorite times are when my family all gets together, and the more in town the better. My sister came with her kids last week, including my new PRECIOUS niece Gracie. That girl is a charmer! She smiles and goos constantly.

We had sooo much fun! The kids always have a blast together and I adore playing with them.

This little girl is growing up! She loved feeling like she was one of the big kids and "drawing" with them.

My favorite time bar none with the kids, is lying down with them when they are going to sleep. They snuggle right in to me, and they aren't going anywhere, they're stuck with me. We tell or read stories and talk about stuff, and it seriously doesn't get much better than that. I think it is heaven. Jo doesn't, because I am not good about making them go to sleep and after playing hard all day long and waking up early, they need to. (Sorry Jo. Sometimes I can be good, I promise.) But seriously, I don't get to have this much fun very often!

Jake is proving to be a great cousin to all these little ones. He made lots of grilled cheeses and made Gracie smile by kissing her tummy, even when she wasn't in the mood to smile. Having little brothers (his dad's) has been so good for him! Here's his hand holding little Gracie's.

Jo is moving to Pennsylvania, so we had the best time picking out decor for her new place.

On a completely unrelated note, I loved American Idol this season and don't want to see its demise. I loved Lee all throughout, liked Casey a lot and then fell head over heels for Casey about a week before he went off, and now I can't get enough of him. He is such a good guy! AGH those long legs. That ready smile. Those eyes. That voice. Swoon. (Oh, and the AI judges? I've grown to really like and value Simon, but now that he is going, can he just take the others with him?)

Mad

I have to admit, I'm mad. I don't eat any grains. Zip, zilch, nada, not even a grain of rice. (I did cheat for my book club and Mother's Day, but that is very rare.) I don't drink milk, can't use buttermilk, cream or sour cream in recipes. Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, cream cheese (am I making you hungry?) are all no nos for me due to allergies. No refined sugar, I stay away from most anything sweet, except to use a low glycemic natural sweetener for certain recipes in small amounts. I found I could live with this. It was hard but with a lot of searching the internet, low carb books, etc. I have found a good bunch of recipes I can live on quite well when I have the energy to cook them.

Enter extreme and constant bladder pressure, sometimes excruciating pain. This has been going on for years, and is really, really bad at times, and others it is bearable but always uncomfortable. Nope, no infection. Yep, I've had it checked and even x-rayed by doctors. Another super fun mystery in my life. I've been told this may be caused or exacerbated by a food allergy. According to a natural doctor, I am allergic to hot peppers, as well as grapes, olives and a couple other things. No olive oil? Fine. Grapes are too sweet for me right now anyway. But these babies?

I am not huge on really spicy food, but I had no idea how much this little fruit/vegetable/spice was used in things, including my own cooking. I didn't realize how much I relied on it and loved it.... from the scrambled eggs my dad taught me to make with a couple dashes of hot sauce for flavor, (it doesn't make them spicy!) barbecue sauce, worcestershire sauce, or the delicious pork made so easily in the crockpot with salsa and enchilada sauce... (OK I did realize that had it in there, but seriously? That is one of our most favorite and easiest dinners.) I would not have guessed that 8 out of 10 dinners I am drawn to has some kind of hot pepper ingredient in it. I wasn't mad about grains. I coped. I wasn't mad about getting rid of most dairy. I coped. But this, I can't seem to live with.

Silly, huh?

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

I just love the book I found for the book club at my house this month. William Kamkwamba is a humble African with such an inspiring story. In his home in Malawi, his family went from being poor, to suffering through a terrible famine. He wanted so badly to attend school so that he would have a chance to make something of himself, but they couldn't afford the $80 per year it would take and he had to drop out. Only about 2% of people where he lives have electricity and even that is spotty. William is resourceful though, and well, he and Jon Stewart will do a better job telling his story than I could, so I'll let them tell you. He has a sense of humor and enjoys Jon.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
William Kamkwamba
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Here is William's website. This is a MUST read book in my opinion! If you want to watch more, there are a few good videos linked on his website. Here are two more of my favorite videos: 1. Soon after people found out about his windmill and was just learning to speak English 2. His own presentation 2 years later

Modeled photos!

I get SO excited to see my nieces and nephews in things I make them!! I love seeing pictures of them period, so with them in something I made is just the crème de la crème. I made matching outfits last Summer for my niece Sarah and her best friend. Here is a picture of them together in them!

How sweet are these two? My sister's friend is an amazing photographer and she took these pictures of the bffs for posterity!

And here are photos of Sarah in the butterfly dress I made a while ago! Sarah had a butterfly show-and-tell day at school and was excited to wear it.

It was a windy day. She's the cutest thing!

A Blankie!

Speaking of focusing on other sewing skills, I took a serger class! I had previously only mastered the straight stitch on it and was impressed with myself if I could thread the thing in under 20 minutes. Well now I have learned some new skills! I hope I don't forget them before I can use them all.

One of our class exercises was to make a blanket. It was pretty simple, but they taught us to cut a little rectangle in it where we start serging so that when we come back around to finish, it looks nice and professional instead of just serging off in a diagonal. I also used Woolly Nylon in the loopers so that the thread would fill in a little more and be softer than regular thread.

I chose to make a little blankie for my newest niece Gracie Jayne.

Here is the sweet little doll wrapped up cozy in it.

I think she likes it!

Pokemon and Barbie

It has been a while since I've shared any sewing so here are some pajamas I made for nephew and niece.

Pokemon jammies for Sam! I actually made these a couple months ago, or at least finished them then. This applique was a bear with all the little pieces, but I love the results!


Modeled picture!

Sam... I love you. Is it weird that I cannot see a picture of my nieces and nephews and not want to be right there in the same room playing with them?

And here are some Barbie jammies I made for Sarah:

She asked for some at Christmas and I did start back then - good thing I made them big enough to fit in the fall still! I sent them to her last month. The Barbie head and name on the shirt are from a pillowcase I got on ebay for a dollar. Sweet!!

It is funny. I have sewn some clothes for Sarah, and when I started to do that, I worried that the boys would feel left out, but I think it is hilarious that no, they were fine... Sarah actually felt left out and wanted more pajamas! haha! I think it is partly the personalization that goes into them with their favorite characters, etc. Their parents don't love characters on their regular clothes (neither do I) so it makes jammies extra special. I am getting a wee bit tired of pajamas, but it makes me SOOOOOO happy when they love them, that I will probably make them for as long as they want them. At least a couple a year. I think/hope. I do have fun figuring out what to do for the appliques, and getting creative there, even though sewing them can be super tedious. I just want to work on other sewing skills. I am working on some construction jammies for Andrew and will share soon!

Easter

I have been out of town so don't have much energy to post my own Easter thoughts, but was so touched (I bawled) by this. I appreciated her forewarning, so read that, and check it out.

Easter is by far my favorite holiday and message, even over the wondrous time of Christmas. It is not my favorite because they hung my Savior on a cross, but because He rose again. I hate that he had to suffer so much, more than any of us have in even our very darkest hours, but because He did, we can have our sins washed away and live eternally with Him and our loving Father in Heaven. That is a message of true HOPE.

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives: I know that my redeemer lives!

--LDS Hymn book p. 136

My Cousin Wrote a Book!!

My very talented cousin Braden Bell has written a book! It is called The Road Show and is an LDS fiction novel. You can join a giveaway here for his book - it ends in a couple days, so go now!

Braden is such a fantastic guy, an amazing dad and husband, writer, singer, etc! My first memories of him are when he would ask me the spanish words I knew that I was learning in pre-school. :) I don't know why that memory sticks in my brain, but it does, along with the words el gato and el perro.

There is a description of his book here: All About the Roadshow and you can find endorsements for it, and more about Braden here.

Dang, too bad I don't have a picture scanned into the computer of me as a green pepper in our road show one year, or I would have graced you with it.

Jamie Oliver Would Be Proud

I have mentioned briefly that although I have had some trouble losing weight, I have been able to lose some, which is beyond wonderful to me! Jake and I are very much enjoying the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution. I totally agree that there are just way too many processed, preservative-filled, unnatural foods being eaten in this country. I don't even think it is the fat causing the problem. I think it is all of the processing, additives, etc. that are causing us health issues. But these foods are easy and convenient, that's for sure.

This meal doesn't look that fabulous, but when I dished it up, I felt good about it and it tasted great!


My mom made Spaghetti Squash Primavera when she was doing a Fat Flush plan and was kind enough to share some with me. It was filled with veggies! She couldn't use many spices or salt, so I added a few and some garlic salt and it was delicious. I have a love affair with garlic salt. I adore it. The Simply Organic kind is WAY better than the others in my book. Good thing salt is recommended for me. The cauliflower doesn't look great since it has been sitting in the fridge for a few days, but trust me, it was delicious. I am learning that roasting vegetables = awesome. Here is the recipe I used - yum! I covered it for the first 25 minutes so that it wouldn't burn.

I have been on a grain-free and sugar free diet (almost completely) since last August. It is supposed to keep my blood sugar very even, which is important when you have adrenal insufficiency like I do. It has proven to be good for weight loss too so that is great. My biggest challenge is to get more veggies in. When dinner time comes around, I most often have all the energy of a slug, and sticking something in the microwave can take all my energy. And... I hate frozen veggies. So sometimes I will cook a big batch of stuff later at night and we'll eat it the next day, and then have leftovers. I can eat leftovers for days... I think I am just glad that there is food that is made already. Being chronically sick lowers your standards a little, but that's ok. Especially when the food is good to start with.

Recently I made the yummiest chicken!! If the spicy/sweet combination floats your boat, then you have to try Spicy Honey Chicken It is delicious!! I don't have a grill so I just baked it for an hour, and added the sauce in the last 10 minutes. I did both breasts and wings and she is right - the thighs were the best! The breasts were good too though. Try it!

April Fool's Day

Here are some great ideas for April Fool's Day!

These are from the family fun magazine. I love the grilled cheese and sushi ones!

Here is some really fun candy broccoli too.

Do you get in to April Fool's Day much? Jake loves the idea of it, but doesn't love being tricked much. He would probably love some of these!

This Too Shall Pass!

This video is amazing. I read that it took over 60 hours to make it because they had to do so many takes. I really like the lyrics. "You know you can't keep letting it get you down... And you can't keep dragging that dead weight around. Let it go. This too shall pass." Here is another version of it that I love, although nothing compares to this Rube Goldberg machine version.

The homemade video for OK Go's first single, "A Million Ways" became the most downloaded music video in history. And their dancing on treadmills video for the song "Here It Goes Again" was the top favorited music video of all time on YouTube, and won the YouTube Award in the Most Creative category in 2006. I hate it when songs swear though, and while the word in this song is more forgivable, the awesome treadmill video takes Christ's name in vein which I really hate. I love their creativity though! Here's a "behind the scenes" video of how they made it.

On a completely different note, if you want a chance to win a Janome sewing or embroidery machine, (I do!!!) check this out!

Lil Blue Boo Challenge Winners and Our Weekend

The final 15 are up if you want to go vote! I am not among them, but that is ok! I really just enjoyed creating and getting the juices flowing for this. Plus, Sarah has 3 new outfits now!

Also... do you want to win a yard of some of the cutest fabric ever? Just comment on this blog!

Jake and I have had a fun weekend. Even though he was snowed under with homework (and even did homework for hours on a Friday night which is UNHEARD of for him) we have enjoyed just hanging out. Luckily his Aunt Anne helped a lot with his math and I have been helping with the other stuff including making up games for a science project. Want to do a science crossword anyone? How about a cryptogram on volcanoes? No?

You know those times when you just get along and enjoy each other's company? (This still happens, but becomes a little less often when you get a teen/pre-teen!) It has been that way this weekend and I have loved it. It probably had nothing at all to do with the fact that Jake had a big meltdown Thursday night from all the school stress. OK, it had everything to do with it. He has been so much more relaxed and happy and we have had some good talks, and some time just hanging out and watching tv.

Ohh! I just remembered that I forgot to share a funny picture from Spirit Week at Jake's school. Here you go:
They got to dress up as nerds one day! He had blue stripes in his hair another day! These types of things help make school worth it.

Gracie Jayne

Welcome to the world Gracie Jayne!! My sister had this beautiful baby a couple of weeks ago, and has been sending us the sweetest videos of her. I am already completely in love.

At the hospital with my mom

Coming home from the hospital

She isn't starved for attention. These two scramble to hold her every chance they can. I bet they are great helpers. I can't wait until I can hold her myself!

Sharing a Couple Tutorials

I found it! This is the tutorial I used for my rosette dress. What did we ever do before google?? (It took a few searches on a couple different days. Now it is saved in my bookmarks!) It is a great tutorial and an easy way to make a big difference in a garment. I want to do some on a top for me. Who's coming over to do it with me?

And here is a similar one where she uses felt and just one layer to decorate a pillow!

LBB Challenge Gallery is Up!

Here is the gallery of all the entries for the contest. There are so many amazing and creative ideas here! I know what my favorites are (How about that monster hoodie!?) and I think the judges have quite a job before them to narrow it down to a top ten!! Here is Ashley of LBB's post about the gallery. My entries were missed somehow when she posted yesterday, but are in there today!

3rd Entry

OK this is my last entry for this challenge. What do you guys think? I am calling it the funky gilded butterfly dress.


This one shows the color the best. I edited to add this one because the other ones were looking a little too fluorescent to me! It can be hard to get good pictures! I would have loved to share some modeled ones but these are for my niece in Minnesota and didn't get them there in time. (Well one outfit did, but she hates to get pictures taken lol.)


I used some super soft t-shirt weight knit and the Sienna Dress pattern from Lil Blue Boo and added ribbing at the bottom to make it sort of a bubble/long sweatshirt dress. (Remember those that we used to wear in the 80's??) I also added some ribbing to the sleeve, and pieced the applique. I don't know if I'll ever be so happy to sew a straight seam again after sewing all the little pieces of that applique!! I used Tulip brand fabric spray paint glitter and sprayed each color of fabric really well and let it dry. Then, I cut out the applique using an image I printed out on freezer paper and used Steam a Seam Lite 2 to attach it to the dress. Then ironed that on, and sewed around all the edges!

For the center, I decided to get funky and try something totally different. I rolled up some brown nylon chiffon, and wound and sewed some silver embroidery thread around it. So the little butterfly body is 3-D! Then I used the silver embroidery thread to hand embroider the antennae. This was a fun challenge that Lil Blue Boo offered and I love her patterns!