Sunny Skirt

    I have a 3 year-old boy and a 1 year-old girl. When we  found out by ultrasound that baby #2 was indeed a girl, my shopping began and it has never stopped! I have found that dressing a girl cutely (is that a word?) is so much more overwhelming than a boy. For a boy you get a few pairs of jeans, some dress pants, a variety of shirts, a couple pairs of shoes and *TADA* you have a wardrobe. For a girl you need skirts, shirts, dresses, bows, headbands, tights, socks, shoes in every color, etc. etc. Never-ending! Whenever I see something cute at the store I have to think, "OK, what else am I going to need so that she can actually wear this?"
And that,  my dear readers, is the question that inspired this post. You see, I  just finished a skirt for the shop. As I looked at the skirt though, that infamous question popped into my head. It's winter. Skirts and winter don't usually mix very well. Unless you are like me. There is a picture of me as a child. I am wearing a knee length dress, tights, coat, hat, and gloves and there is about 3 feet of snow on the ground. Winter never stopped me from wearing a dress! So, for the true girly girl out there, here is how I would dress up a skirt for the winter:

This skirt is made out of seersucker material. I love seersucker because it sews very nicely and it is totally wash and wear. No ironing involved, and let’s be honest, who likes to iron clothes?

I decided to use the green in the center of the flowers as my inspiration for the rest of the outfit.

This turtleneck is from Children’s Place, one of my favorite stores because they always have good deals and their clothes hold up to all the rough and tumble that comes with kids.

These CRAWLER COVERS are the perfect answer for wearing skirts in the winter. Warm and cute. Perfect combo! You can find this pair at Crawler Covers & More.

Last, but not least, I thought this adorable hat would be the perfect finisher. This adorable hat is made by Adrienne Kinsella.

Are you smiling yet? I certainly am.

Gobble, Gobble

We have been battling adenovirus for a week. This lovely virus caused bronchiolitis and croup in Baby Girl. So what I had hoped to be a very productive week for the shop has ended up just being a productive week as a mommy. My goal changed from "1 project a day" to "get baby healthy while attempting to entertain a 3-year-old that can't go anywhere all while maintaining sanity". Baby Girl is getting better. The 3-year-old has watched more TV than I would prefer. Mommy is sane. Mostly. And it's only Wednesday!

Somewhere in the midst of all this, probably in a less sane moment, I decided to do our pumpkin turkey. Although he couldn't really help much, Busy Boy loved thinking that he was helping make this. He was pretty impressed with our pumpkin turkey and now walks around the house saying, "What does the turkey say? Gobble, gobble, gobble."

Poor Baby Girl. She was feeling so rotten that night.

Waste Not

I bought a pumpkin before Halloween. That is as close as we got to making a jack-o-lantern this year. So I keep looking at the pumpkin sitting on my front porch (which I love because it is tall and skinny, it would have been fun to carve!) and feeling guilty that I didn't do the quintessential Halloween activity (next to trick-or-treating, of course). Tonight I found the perfect solution!

Thank you, Kaboose. This is going to be a lot of fun.

Cuddle Tag Blanket

I am so excited to finally add another item to my inventory! For a while there my goal of 15 seemed like it would be years away. Now that I have made it past Halloween I have a couple of weeks before I have to crack down and get Christmas presents done, make a veil for SIL, make a dress for Baby Girl for SIL wedding, and figure out what I am going to wear. That being said, I am thinking that 5 more items will be up by November 21st so stay tuned.

I made one of these for Baby Girl for her 1st birthday. She loves to walk around with it, the tags looped around her fingers. I wish I had one of these to cuddle up with! The material is so soft and I love the color combination of blues, greens, and yellows.

A Wish Your Heart Makes

Shabby Apple is a site with cute and modest dresses. I lust after them. I daresay, I may even covet them. Check out the line for little girls, too. Covet. Covet. Covet.

Right now they are having a contest. I could be the lucky winner of the lovely outfit pictured below. Check out the details here.

Enjoy!

A Wish Your Heart Makes

Have you ever seen Fantasmic, the nightly fireworks show at Disneyland?

In this show Mickey comes out and creates a magical world with everybody’s favorite characters. Peter Pan. Winnie the Pooh. Belle. Ariel. Snow White. Cinderella. Prince Charming. You get the idea.

Then the bad guys come. Let’s be honest, would it be a Disney show without bad guys?

Ursula and crew do their worst.

After you are convinced that this is the end of all things Mickey, the Mouse takes center stage all decked out in a snazzy tuxedo. With all the power his squeaky voice can muster he says, “You may think you’re so powerful, well, this is my dream!”

With the flick of his wand the bad guys are conquered and we celebrate the return of all of our favorite characters as they sing a cheesy, happy, feel good song, sung in true Disney fashion.

That is totally my life. Totally. Completely. My life.

I have created my own little magical world. It is complete with Prince Charming and two adorable offspring. We have a warm cozy place to call our own. I have worked both my dream jobs; as a teacher, and now a stay at home mom. Our house is filled with laughter and giggles. It is everything I have ever wanted.

Except well, the bad guys. Oh, the bad guys.

Dirty diapers. Baby weight. Guilt. Frustration. Patience, or rather, lack thereof.

Temper tantrums. Temper tantrums in public. Strangers disapproving looks that just scream, “Why can’t you keep that child under control?”

Potty training.

Feelings that I will never be clean enough, cute enough, creative enough, smart enough, brave enough, classy enough. So why try?

Regrets.

This is where our story differs, Mickey and I, because I don’t have a magic wand. I can’t will the bad guys away with one flick of my wrist, never to be seen again. I fight these bad guys daily, hourly, to the minute.

So I take charge. I step up. I throw on a flirty dress from Shabby Apple that reminds me I can be cute! I put on some hot boots that will kick some bad guy booty. Soft pink jewelry will remind me that I can be patient and a sassy diaper bag declares that my kids are my greatest accessory. In this I can remind myself every day, every hour, even every minute that this is my dream!

And I plan on living happily ever after.

(cue cheesy, happy, feel good song here)

Swaddles

I have a dear friend from back in my college days. We lived in the same dorms for only one semester and haven't seen each other since, yet, somehow I feel like I have known her forever. I love friends like that. Well, I have recently discovered that I want to be her when I grow up. She is uber creative and has developed these adorable bath aprons. Wouldn't this be a perfect gift for a pregnant mama? Or perhaps that favorite grandchild of yours? Check out her etsy shop, she has lots of aprons to choose from!

Remove one feather every day from now until Thanksgiving, easy enough! Thanks to Marie from Make and Takes for this idea. Busy Boy was a little distraught when I suggested he throw the removed feather away. So I let him put them in a wire pumpkin we keep on the kitchen table. Hmmm ... do you think I should tell him we plan on eating a turkey?

Wedding Preview

My husband's sister is getting married this December. She is the only girl in the family and I have the fabulous opportunity to help with the wedding planning. I just love weddings. They make me so happy. I am so glad that SIL is letting me be a part of her special day.

It is a relatively low budget wedding (my father-in-law would probably disagree with that!) at least in today's standards in which the cost of a wedding averages about $28,000. I am glad though because low budgets allow for more creativity and simplicity, which I prefer. Anyway, on to the preview.

With Christmas stuff out in the stores I was able to put together a prototype of her centerpieces to see if she likes the idea. Using pictures I found on various wedding sites as my inspiration ...

... I came up with this ...



It is so simple and costs under $10 per centerpiece and yet it has a certain elegance to it, don't you think? And the best part? She can take the ornaments home with her and decorate her first Christmas tree with them.

So, what do you think?

Halloween!