lately

Things are pretty busy around here these days.  We spent our weekend doing fun family stuff, like going to a high school football game (where a crowd of my students yelled out "BABY CARA" as we walked by and made Cara feel "very nervous"), going out to breakfast, watching Cara at gymnastics (she's getting over the shyness), and hanging out at home.

I am so thankful for a little down time this weekend because our weeks are jam packed.  I keep waiting for things to settle down, but so far, that's not happening.  From 5:30 AM to 8 PM, we are full speed ahead, all systems go, {insert silly idiom here}.  It's just a tiny bit exhausting.  Sometimes, I don't think I can keep up this pace.  PJ and I were talking the other night about how we can't even carve out the time to exercise, unless we start getting up even earlier.  And that ain't happening.  This season of life is busy, busy, go, go.

There are so many things I would like to do, so many projects waiting for me.  I have a million sewing projects on my to-do list in my head, muffins waiting to be baked, movies begging to be watched.  Blog posts to be written.  I gradually get to all of the things I want to do.  Cara gets a new twirly skirt.  Snow White and the Huntsman was really good.  And those muffins are getting made TONIGHT, I PROMISE!  But blog posts...I hate to say it, but something has to wait.

I couldn't see this little space disappear completely; I love it too much.  There's too much of my family here to close up shop or press delete.  But, I think I may take a little break or update less frequently for a little while.  I need to take advantage of every spare moment with my family.  These babies won't be babies forever (although, Colin should feel free to start sleeping through the night any time now...).

:-)

sewing for Colin {fall}

Remember when I laid out my plan for sewing for my kiddos for fall?  Colin's outfits are done.  Check.  And he sure does look cute in them. :-)

Outfit #1:

I guess this outfit isn't really all that exciting since it's just a pair of pants with a white onesie (bib leftover from my love affair with chevron).  I know I said originally that I was going to make a pair of Sailboat pants, but I changed my mind when I remembered how easy and cute the Big Butt Baby Pants are.  This lightweight, stretchy denim was a dream to work with, and it's super soft and comfy.

extra booty panel and three rows of topstitching on the hem

Outfit #2:

OMG, double chin!

This one's a little big, but that's okay.  Maybe it will still fit him in October...

I adore those little monster rock stars.  They are just so...boy.  Sewing with knit wasn't as difficult as I imagined it would be.  I used a zig zag stitch for all of the seams, and my fabric held its shape pretty well.

more Big Butt Baby Pants, this time with pockets and cuffs

and a Sailboat top



The buttonholes were the most difficult part of this shirt.  I'm not super thrilled with how they turned out, but they work, and the buttons mostly cover up my less-than-perfect stitching.

I can't wait to start on Cara's fall clothes!  I have a soft spot in my heart for making dresses. :-)

my big girl goes to gymnastics

Three years old seems to be the time to put your child in some sort of organized activity.  For a while, we thought Cara would like ballet, and our church has soccer teams for kids her age, but after Cara went to a few birthday parties at the gymnastics gym near our house, we were sold.  The icing on the cake was that they offer a class on Saturday mornings...perfect.  

This gym has stadium seating for helicopter parents, so we figured we would watch Cara's first class to get an idea of gym parent etiquette.  I wasn't even sure if we were supposed to stay; I have heard that some classes discourage this or don't even have a place for parents to sit and watch.  It quickly became obvious that we made the right decision.

We have never considered Cara a shy child.  She is usually pretty friendly and spunky, but I guess this put her way out of her comfort zone because it took her 15 or 20 minutes to warm up to the idea of joining her class.  She ran back to us a few times, and I told her that it would be fine if she just wanted to watch this time.  No pressure, kiddo.  She gave it her best shot, but when I saw her sitting there trying desperately not to cry, I had to go get her.  We took a minute to get her "happy attitude" on, and then she wanted to try again.  I'm happy to report that she really enjoyed the rest of her class once she got over the nerves.

(no leotard yet...the ones at the gym are PRICEY; I've found some very cute, reasonable options on Etsy though!)

baby style {fall edition}

I cleaned out Cara's drawers the other day, and I suddenly realized that my child had no socks or pajamas that fit.  It was a pretty sad moment, actually.  It's funny because I sort of forgot that children sometimes need all new socks because their feet grow.  I mean, I still have socks from high school with JAK written on the toe so that my sister wouldn't steal them.  This prompted me to go through Colin's drawers too, and (surprise!) he's also lacking in the basics of clothing department.  How did this happen?  One minute, he's barely into 6 month onesies and the next minute, he's bursting at the seams.

Stop growing, children.

Since that's not really going to happen, I pulled out my trusty Old Navy coupon and did a little online shopping.  A little of this:

via

and this:

via

are headed to my house in a matter of days.  But, clearly, I can't let Old Navy and Target handle all of my children's clothing needs, so in case you are interested, here is my sewing plan for fall clothes.  I'm sticking with a few Oliver and S patterns that I already have, but I'm pulling out the big guns with denim and knits!  Why are knits so scary?  Anyway, here's what Cara and I picked out at Joann's on Monday:

The pink and purple print and the solid purple are both going to be more Sailboat tops for Cara (obviously), but I have to confess that I really hope there will be enough fabric left over to piece together a Renfrew top for me.  

Those little monster rock stars kill me.  Another Sailboat Top, I think.  And that dark denim is going to become matching Sailboat pants and skirt.  Denim feels scary to me too because everybody buys denim; I'm afraid it will look too homemade, if that makes sense.

My favorite piece is this purple floral corduroy:

which is going to become another Bubble dress.  This has been one of my favorite patterns that I have made, and I think it will be a perfect lightweight fall dress.

I'm still looking for a cute jon-jon or overall pattern for Colin.  Any suggestions?

more time, please!

Yay for long weekends! I really needed a little extra time since it seems like during the work week, there is never enough of that stuff, and boy, did I make the most of my extra day.  I spent a good chunk of my extra time hanging out with my big girl, which is one of my favorite ways to spend my time anyway.

C and I ventured into Charlotte today (in spite of the upcoming DNC) to pay a visit to my friend Jillian and her adorable new bundle and to do a little fabric shopping.  Cara was so sweet and gentle with the baby, even climbing up next to me on the couch to hold him, something she never did with Colin.  I guess she feels like a pro with babies now that she has been through the baby brother thing.  After our visit, we had a happy meal date (at "Old McDonald's" according to Cara) and then on to Joann's (more on our fabric finds later).

showing off her happy meal prize

The best part of our little day out and about was riding around in the car.  We listened to our favorite Disney princess Pandora station and sang all the words we knew.  Singing along with the radio in the car is a new thing for Cara, and I think I died of cuteness at least 14 times.  She might not know all of the words, but she belts out the ones she does know. ;-)

baby cute overload