Project 365: Weeks 110, 111 & 112

Hoping to get my blogging mojo back soon.  In the meantime, here are several weeks of 365 that I’m behind on!

May 4, 2011:  Bennet’s 3-year-old check-up.  He’s doing great, and is still in the 95th percentile for height, weight and head circumference!  He had to get one shot, which he handled very well minus a few tears.

May 5, 2011:  Our local mall had a “Moms Night Out” with free food and non-alcoholic margaritas (since it was Cinco de Mayo.)  I went with my friends Brooke and Jess and we had a great time.  We even got to do some shopping around the mall and grab dinner afterwards.

May 6, 2011:  Date night with our good friends, Mike and Rachel.  Great food, great wine and lots of laughs.  It’s always fun to get out with other grown-ups and leave the kids at home!

May 7, 2011:  This is our first Spring in the new house, and I was thrilled to find these gorgeous orchids blooming in our back yard!  I quickly cut them and put them in a vase in our dining room.

May 8, 2011:  Mother’s Day!  I had a wonderful day with my sweet babies.

May 9, 2011:  Bennet has been very into Legos lately.  He got lots of new sets for his birthday, and we spend lots of time building with them!

May 10, 2011:  Look who’s crawling!

May 11, 2011:  My sweet Bean at a play date in the park!

May 12, 2011:  Kennedy and her best friend, Addison.  We got invited to their house for a play date, and the kids had a great time.

May 13, 2011:  Kennedy’s best friend Addison happens to be the daughter of one of my best friends, Amy.  Amy and I got to sneak out for a girl’s night, having dinner and catching up without our crazy kiddos.  What fun!

May 14, 2011:  Crawling, drinking out of a straw…she’s growing up FAST!

May 15, 2011:  Bennet went into the kitchen, got the canister of Fruit Loops, and helped himself.  So funny.

May 16, 2011:  Did I mention she’s pulling up to the train table to play now?  Slow down, Beanie!

May 17, 2011:  We had our friends, the Postells, over for dinner.  They have two beautiful little girls, both of which Bennet has a crush on.  The kids had a great time playing with sidewalk chalk and bubbles, and swinging on Bennet’s new tree swing.

May 18, 2011:  Oh, how I love the few blissful moments each day when the kids are starting to play together.

May 19, 2011:  I bought this tea set at a consignment store to use for Kennedy’s birthday party.  Bennet was pretty excited about it, so Andrew had a tea party with him when he got home from work.  Even Sophie joined in.  Who knew a tea set would be such a hot item!

May 20, 2011:  My sweet friend Shelley was several days overdue with her first baby, so we took advantage of her maternity leave time off by grabbing lunch.  I had to take the opportunity to snap a picture of Kennedy and her newest best friend!  I’m happy to say that a few days later, Shelley gave birth to a beautiful baby girl who I cannot wait to meet!

May 21, 2011:  At Kennedy’s friend Addison’s 1st birthday party, Addie didn’t want her birthday cake.  When they put the high chair tray on the grass, Kennedy hiked it across the lawn and helped herself!  My girl looooves to eat!

May 22, 2011:  Bennet is about to be a ring bearer in his favorite babysitter, Liz’s, wedding!  His suit came in the mail and I could not wait to try it on him!  He is going to be so handsome!

May 23, 2011:  Kennedy is going to be the flower girl in the same wedding, and I am making her dress.  It still has some finishing touches to go – but I love it and I can’t wait to see her wear it on Liz’s big day!

May 24, 2011:  Like I said, my baby girl loves food.  She is so messy after dinner every night.  I’m always impressed!

I’ve never paid for a sewing machine.

My first sewing machine was a freebie from Craigslist several years ago.  It was old, and had some problems, so my wonderful neighbor (and sewing mentor) Trisha let me borrow her extra machine while I learned the ropes. 

A few months ago, Andrew snagged me a free machine at a Freecycle “Free-For-All.”  This baby was brand new, and had just been sitting in someone’s basement until they decided to get rid of it.  I cleaned it up and oiled it, and it’s the machine I’ve been using ever since!

There’s a new thrift store near our house that has been holding once-a-month “free” flea markets, where they give away things they haven’t been able to sell in the store.  We went this past weekend and I found this beauty…for free!

It was a little dirty, and needs some parts, but I knew I could clean it up!  The power cord/foot pedal was missing, but the best part was that my current machine is a Brother, and the power cord I already have fit this one!

The needle was actually rusted into the needle clamp!  A little soak in machine oil and it came loose.

It needed a little TLC, that’s for sure!

As you can see, it cleaned up nicely and I got the needle working again! 

It needs it’s own power cord, a bobbin shuttle and a new pin in the needle clamp – but I’m thrilled with it, and I’m sure I’ll have fun hunting for deals on the missing parts!

I’ve always wanted to have two machines so friends can come over to sew, or so I can teach friends how to sew if they want to learn.  Snagging this machine was a total blessing – I’m so excited about it!

Catching up!

I honestly don’t know where my head has been lately!  Take two crazy kids, mix them with Momma’s spring fever, add in trying to maintain a paying freelance gig – and you’ve got my wild life! 

A little bit about the recent happenings around our house…

Monkey is just a few weeks away from turning three!  He gets smarter, more talkative and increasingly independent every day.  The above photo is of the first time he got dressed all by himself.  His clothes absolutely don’t match, his shorts are on backward, and his shoes are on the wrong feet – but he was so proud! 

This kid wears me out – chattering away all day, wanting to know where we’re going every morning, always on the go.  I can barely keep up with him these days! 

We’re hard at work planning his 3rd birthday party – a fire truck theme.

Kennedy is still the sweetest baby I’ve ever met.  She’s getting a little more demanding as she gets older, which has been a challenge for me.  It’s been interesting to learn to juggle the needs of the two of them all day long! 

She just got her first haircut, and she is trying desperately to start crawling.  She says “Da-da” and “Na-na” (momma) perfectly.  I am loving springtime and being able to dress her in cute sundresses! 

Oh the joy of having a girl!

The weight loss is still slowly truckin’ along.  I started a weight loss challenge with some of the moms in my Moms Club two weeks ago, and I’ve lost 2 pounds in that time. 

9 pounds to go until wedding weight, which is the smallest I’ve ever been.  I’m not sure I’ll get there – I feel pretty happy at the weight I’m at, and I’m sort of coasting at this point! 

I’ve been going to the gym a lot, and have really started to enjoy yoga.  Honestly, just feeling healthy and fit is great, and those extra 9 pounds aren’t a huge focus for me right now.

I’ve been keeping myself busy with sewing projects.  I made Easter dresses for Kennedy and I.  (Hers is above.  Mine is coming in a later post.)  I still have to make ties for the boys – I should probably get on that, huh? 

I also have an incomplete Lisette dress on my sewing table, as well as a stuffed bunny for Kennedy and some pants that need to be hemmed.  The to-do list never ends, and the patterns and fabric in my stash continue to stack up!

I’ve been covering some local news stories for the Pasadena Patch, in addition to writing my weekly Patch columns.  I’ve been getting to go to all kinds of events, and meet some great members of the community. 

I’m having a love affair with freelance writing, and have been applying for other interesting positions when they come up. 

The picture above is of a ham and oyster dinner I went to a little while back – yum!

Things are hectic right now, but I’m trying to stop here and there and just enjoy the kids and the house and the wonderful husband I’ve been blessed with.  (I also just bought tickets to see New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys with some girlfriends – and I am thrilled for some down time/a girl’s night out!) 

We have a tree in our front yard that I am in love with.  I keep meaning to post about it, but I haven’t gotten around to it.  Right now, it’s blooming with amazing, pink cherry blossoms – it’s gorgeous!

I stand on the front porch and stare at it several times a day, thinking how much that little tree reflects our life – blooming, beautiful, bountiful – it’s nice to have such a lovely reminder of how blessed we are!

My Mermaid Was Featured!

The Mermaid Dolly I made for Kennedy out of her old, outgrown onesies was featured today on the Patricia Rae Designs blog!  Amanda at Patricia Rae Designs is the person who posted the original tutorial on this sweet, little mermaid – and I am so honored and proud that she liked my work enough to show it off on her blog!

Amanda just updated her site with a PDF pattern for the Mermaid Dolly – so if you’d like to snag it for yourself, be sure to check it out!

back in the groove.

I’m feeling a re-ignited spark for sewing lately.  I’d been feeling very exhausted and overwhelmed for a while (more on that later, perhaps) and only lately have things been looking up.  I was completely disinterested in my sewing machine, despite a pretty large to-do list of projects.  This week, I’ve felt passionate about sewing again for the first time in a long time, and it feels great!  I’ve got two major projects going right now – both of which I’m very excited about!

The first is a sew-along with Jess at Craftiness Is Not Optional.  I mentioned this project in my Project 365 post yesterday, but to elaborate more – Jess is leading us through making The Charlotte Dress, a beautiful dress named for her sweet, baby girl!  I’ve been wanting to make Kennedy and I matching Easter dresses, and make ties for the boys out of the same fabric – so I figure this sew-along is a great time to get started, rather than procrastinate until days before like I normally do!

My mom recently did some organizing of her linen closet, and came to me with lots of curtains in this beautiful, cotton, rose-printed fabric.  She asked if I thought I’d use the fabric for sewing, and I quickly snatched them up!  There’s about eight yards of fabric in all, so I thought it would be the perfect fabric for this multi-garment project!

I finished Day 3 of the sew-along today – completing the bodice!  It’s looking so beautiful!  I’m so excited about it!  I decided to make it in 12 months, since Kennedy is such a chunk and is already growing out of some of her 6-9 months clothing.  I figure, even if it’s big, she’ll be able to wear it through the summer, as she grows.  The green fabric binding the sleeves is some broadcloth I picked up at Hancock Fabrics today to use for the trim pieces on the dress. 

I also picked up some materials for Bennet’s baby clothes quilt at Hancock today.  I finally worked up the courage to start cutting his baby clothes into squares today!  I’m going to follow along with some posts that Beth at Vermillion Rules did a while back – a Baby Clothes Quilt A-Long.  Beth has been gracious enough to e-mail with me a few times about the process, and I’m feeling fairly confident!  I let Bennet pick out the fabric for the underside of the quilt – and he chose the above “dinosaur” fabric.  He keeps asking me if I’m making him a “Sheet,” which is what he calls his current snuggle blanket.  I think he’ll be really thrilled with it when it’s finished, as Kennedy usually gets the bulk of my sewing attention because it’s so much fun to make frilly dresses and skirts for her!

Hancock Fabrics was also having a remnant sale – 50% off all fabric remnants!  I have been eyeing pre-ruffled fabric for a while, and I snagged about a yard and a half of this black, ruffled fabric for next to nothing!

I also picked up some remnants of white chenille, and these two girly flannel prints – I have a baby gift planned for these!

It’s nice to be excited about something again!  I can’t wait to tackle some of these projects that have been hanging around, calling my name for a while!

project 365: week 99

February 16, 2011:  Kennedy had a follow-up for her helmet.  Everything is going great, and hopefully we only have another month or so of her needing it.  I can’t wait until our days in the STARband are over!

 

February 17, 2011:  We had a few days of sunny, warm weather, and the kids and I took advantage of it by going for lots of walks and playing in the back yard.  Bennet loved getting to see his outdoor toys, since we haven’t been outside in quite a while due to the winter weather!

February 18, 2011:  One of my favorite people in the world, Ashley, celebrated her birthday this week!  The kids and I got to take her to lunch on her actual birthday, and we also were invited to a group birthday dinner to celebrate with her, her boyfriend, and lots of her friends.  This was the night that I fell and busted up my legs – but other than that, we had a great time!

February 19, 2011:  We didn’t take many pictures on this day, minus the ones I already posted of my injuries and my visit to Patient First!  Ashley and Greg were sweet enough to stop by to visit with a chicken pot pie and a beautiful bouquet of flowers!  I took a floral arranging class a while ago at Whole Foods, and I was able to use my learned skills to make two gorgeous arrangements out of the bouquet!

February 20, 2011:  I went out this week and bought these little, elastic hair ties for Kennedy.  She has so much hair that pulling it up on top is really the only thing we do with it these days!  I want to put it in pigtails, but my foot/knee injuries have slowed that down a bit!

February 21, 2011:  Bennet took my headband and kept singing, “I’m a pretty princess!  I live in a castle!”  Andrew was so proud!

February 22, 2011:  I’m participating in my first sew-along!  Jess at Craftiness Is Not Optional is walking us through making The Charlotte Dress.  I’m going to use it as Kennedy’s Easter Dress.  I’m so excited!