2010 a Recap...

Once again, it has been a while since I've been able to post. The fall seems to hit us hard w/husband's school starting, cross country season, oldest daughter's school (and in turn school friends sharing germs), then Halloween, birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas. It's enough for me to DO those things, let alone reflect on them and write about them. We haven't been without family drama either... our relationship seems to be built up around family drama, so in some ways it seems par for the course. But.... I'd be lying if I said that I didn't envy those people for whom life seems to fly by effortlessly. Of course, the grass is always greener on the other side. You think your family is the only one with problems, but really, everyone's got 'em.

But I digress... this post was supposed to be a re-cap of 2010....

I started off 2010 pretty pregnant, not that you can tell from this picture. But I also got a snazzy new haircut, which I desperately need again.

On February 21, we welcomed another sweet girl into our family...

Fast forward and we had a fun 4th of July, first having a parade at my dad's and then going to shoot fireworks at husband's grandparent's house.

I got to spend some quality time w/middle daughter while husband took oldest daughter to visit his dad's family.

We had another first day of school... oldest daughter is now in PreK4!

We celebrated halloween as tinkerbell and snow white

I got a little bit of sewing in... I'm doing much better doing applique and made turkey shirts for Thanksgiving for our 3 girls and our niece.

And did a few crafts here and there... this is our advent calendar made from pages in magazines & a gift bag.

Went to see Santa

And had this waiting under the tree (from mom & dad)... we built this play kitchen w/a few supplies & a nightstand!

And most of all... we had a lot of fun as a family. Here is hoping 2011 is just as fabulous!

win a gussy!!!

Go here and follow her instructions for your chance to WIN your VERY OWN gussy bag !!!

Also, if you've never heard of GUSSY, please crawl out from under your rock now.

=)

NEED IDEAS!!!

I have 4 days to come up with 2 wedding gifts. The couple I intend to give them to are very sweet and dear friends of ours and I want to give them something personal (i.e. I want to make them something)... I mean... anybody can go grab them a Target gift card or run to BBB and grab them some wine glasses from their wedding registry, right?

I've done several Lorelai aprons from the book A is for Aprons, so I may do one of those (maybe w/matching potholders???

That's the only idea I've been able to come up with.

And seriously, these are close friends of ours... husband is a groomsman and oldest & middle daughters are flower girls in their wedding.

So... if you've got/seen a stellar tutorial online w/some amazing homemade wonderful-ness that would be perfect for some superfun abouttobenewlyweds... hit me up with some LINKS!!!!!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

Sewing challenge...

I'm on a bit of a crafting/sewing kick these days... not that I've accomplished all that much, BUT I have scoured the internets =P and found some great tutorials that I'm trying out a few at at time. I have already done this tutorial once, just to try it out... and came up with this:

I'm pretty happy with the results, although it turned out MUCH bigger than I was expecting, so I think I'll make a few adjustments to the size. The size of this lime green beauty is perfect though on my teal oversized bag. Anything smaller would have been swallowed up, I think.

Anywho... my budget is tight this year, so with Mother's day right around the corner, I've got some crafting planned for gifts. I'll be making those flowers for my mom & stepmom, one for oldest daughter's teacher (because of course, in honor of mother's day coming up, we busy moms also get to busy ourselves with thoughtfulness & stress of teacher appreciation week), and one for each of the girls' godmothers.

Additionally, for my mom, I am working on this little project. As I've mentioned here before, my family has never been one to keep any kind of history or link to our past. I'm determined to change that for future generations and starting by having each of my parents do a little journaling for me.

I'm hoping to take a few pictures and show off the results of these projects soon, so stay tuned!

sewing...

Well, little number 3 got 'all washed up' this weekend, but leading up to it, I was itching to try a few tutorials that I've found online... the pictures are NOT great, and I didn't even get a picture of the baby in her matching outfit (after mass), but the main goal of this post is to link to some great tutorials that I recommend....

the girls skirt came from here

the rosette (which actually comes out MUCH smaller than the tutorial pictures would make you think, fyi) came from here

and little one's matching onesie/dress (not shown... I'll try to get a picture of her in it in the

next few days and update) was an interpretation (I didn't use elastic for the skirt, I just sewed a ruffle - one long running stitch set at highest tension and longest stitch, then pull the threads... next time the elastic may work better) from here

Happy sewing!

a little sumpthin, sumpthin...

Be prepared for overload of my usual stream of consciousness ramblings ahead:

I'm such a neglectful blogger lately. Scratch that. I'm such a neglectful everything lately. I'm going to a wedding on Friday and need a gift for the happy couple. My issues were: 1)I like to give unique gifts, 2)I don't have a huge budget, 3)I need to meet a monthly sewing criteria for my new year's resolution.

The result:

this handtowel

and this apron

They match the fiestaware that the happy couple registered for (that I'm not buying). I'm thinking of finding a little whisk or spatula or something to throw in with it all.

CK, your throw pillows are next! I'm trying to get inspired for something really cute. I guess it would be good if I actually GO and LOOK for fabric, huh?

Oh, and this is the Lisa Leonard's Design necklace that my sister and I ordered for my mom (nanny is what our girls call her)

Finally, a picture of my girls, my neice, and my cousin's 2 girls and little boy (the first little boy we've added to our huge mix of girls) (this was taken way back on Easter weekend)