"Thirty, Flirty and Thriving"

Well, Monday was a big day for me. I entered into my thirties. And Murray helped me enter in with a bang! My mom is in town and she took me out Monday afternoon shopping. We came home to a living room with friends yelling SURPRISE! I was so surprised and had the most wonderful evening! Murray did a fantastic job in keeping a secret and pulling it all together. Ella and Miller had a blast; they were absolutely thrilled to be able to help! Thank you Murray and everyone who helped make this special night!






Here are some pictures from this week.

Daddy and his girls

You can really tell in this picture how big Sara Wells is getting. Ella is having a little bit more trouble holding Sara Wells. However, that does not stop her! She still loves her sister soooo much!

Ella all geared up for a Pinkalicious birthday party

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

I saw this on another blog this morning and thought somebody had written a poem about my typical day! Murray if you read this, this is why the house looks the way it does when you come home in the afternoon! Hope you all enjoy!

If You Give A Mom A Muffin

If you give a mom a muffin,

she’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.

She’ll pour herself some.

Her three year old will spill the coffee.

She’ll wipe it up.

Wiping it up she’ll find dirty socks.

She’ll remember she has to do laundry.

When she puts the laundry in the washer,

she’ll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.

Bumping into the freezer will remind her

she has to plan for supper.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.

She’ll look for her cookbook.

The cookbook is setting under a pile of mail.

She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.

She will look for her checkbook.

The checkbook is in her purse

that is being dumped out by her two year old.

She’ll smell something funny.

She’ll change the two year old’s diaper.

While she is changing the diaper the phone will ring.

Her five year old will answer and hang up.

She’ll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.

Thinking of coffee will remind her

that she was going to have a cup.

And chances are… if she has a cup of coffee

her kids will have eaten the muffin that goes with it.

– author unknown

11 Weeks Old

Sara Wells is 11 weeks old today! My how time flies. I have tried and tried and still cannot capture her huge smile, but at least I got a little one today. She is just a joy! She just fits right in to our wild family. I know that it won't be long before she is running around screaming with Ella and Miller, but I am soaking up the time I get to cuddle with her while we laugh at Ella and Miller. Sara Wells' big news is since last Thursday, she has been sleeping 12 hours at night!!! WAHOO!

Patterns

I think it is so funny that almost everyone has asked about my shorts pattern because were I reading this post, I would have asked the same thing. Unfortunately, I don't have a good answer for you. I was just talking to a friend/fellow sewer about this the other day. There just is not a great pattern out there for boys shorts. She suggested the Britches and Bloomers pants pattern and just cut off the length. The sewing shop I go to most frequently suggests the Children's Corner Michael pattern, which is what I used (kind of). I used it for Miller's pants this past winter, so I had gotten the width right, but was not happy with the inseam of his pants. So, I used a pair of store-bought shorts and the "adjusted" Michael pattern to make my own pattern. This is the reason I was not as productive as I had hoped because it took me a couple of tries to get it right. Miller loves pants with pockets so I decided to tackle pockets with this new pattern.

My first attempt with pockets on the outside I forgot to take into account the waistband when cutting out the length of the pocket.

I actually love these shorts, the pockets are just too small and the shorts are too long - both of which can be fixed. But I am sooo glad I did not just cut out all the shorts before I tried these on Miller!

So, the next night I made adjustments and tried two more pairs and went for "inside" pockets which required a little more thinking. And in all that thinking I somehow messed up the pocket length again! You would think I would not make the same mistake again, but I did! This time the pockets were not as small and I don't think I am going to fix them.

So, all that to say, that is how I came up with my shorts pattern. So sorry I could not be more helpful:( If anyone has a good pattern, please share with us all!

Whew!

Well, I did not quite finish all I wanted, but I made huge progress!!! I still have almost all of his t-shirts to make and a couple pairs of overalls, but Miller now has clothes to wear so I feel great! I usually get so stressed this time of year when the kids literally have no clothes for the upcoming season and I don't know how I am going to get it all done in time. So it is a huge sigh of relief not to have to worry about Miller.


Miller loved his t-shirts, which of course made me feel great! Last night Miller slept in his monster t-shirt on top of his fish t-shirt and then insisted on wearing his monster t-shirt to school.

Dress shirt for Ella and Miller (not the smocking)




The motivation that kept me going... Every morning when we get Miller dressed, we always have to do a serious inspection of his pants to determine which is the front and which is the back. I thought how cute it would be if I had clothing tags to sew in their clothes to tell the front from the back. I just love all the little t-shirts and pants with the tags on the outside and I thought, if I am going to have tags made, how cute would it be if I had something made that was cute enough to go on the outside of garments too. So, with a collaborative effort of the family, we came up with this!

It made me so happy to sew it in/on every pair of shorts and the backs of the t-shirts. This picture is small, sorry. The tag says "Picadillees". The wonderful Katie Caldwell of Ink Spots and Polka Dots put the name in the London Tube stop sign. For those of you who do not know, Murray and I lived in London for 4 months and that is where we fell in love. It is amazing how excited a little clothing tag can make me. It makes me smile every time I see that little tag.

Updates

No pictures yet, but I have made some good progress! Miller is going to have some cute, cute shorts! I have
finished his shorts and tonight I hope to start on t-shirts. I am taking Ella to a gymnastics meet today so I probably won't get much done today. By Monday I hope to post my week's accomplishments!

Big Goals

Murray left Friday morning on a mission trip to Ukraine and will be gone until next Friday. So, my goal while he is gone is to be very productive every evening. I hope to make all of Miller's spring/summer play clothes. A little ambitious? Yes, and I am sure I will not finish. But hopefully I will get a lot done so that I will not have to worry about him and then I can slowly work on Ella's clothes. Maybe at the end of the week I will post everything I accomplished. Let's cross our fingers that it is a very long post!

My stack of fabric to work through for the week

Sweet Sara Wells, not quite big enough for the bumbo yet, but sometimes she needs a break from the swing and bouncy seat!

Two Week Catch Up

If you ever wondered what a day at our house looks like, this is it! And yes, Miller does have on Ella's leotard. He just wants to do and wear whatever Ella does.



Sara Wells at 7 weeks old


My two girls and their TuTus:
Ella absolutely loves to match Sara Wells and is thrilled every time they get to wear their tutus together.


The girls had their photo shoot and Miller wanted his.



Sara Wells, 8 weeks old.
Sara Wells is definitely working on her smile. I just cannot seem to get it in full force.



(8 weeks old: 11 lbs 13 oz, 23 3/4 in)