I may have mentioned this...

Okay, so I know I've been, well, maybe a little addicted to sewing and talking about sewing.  I just can't help myself.  It, literally, keeps me awake at night.  I lie there, thinking of all the new fun things I can do.  And sites like this are no help at all: Sewing in No-Man's Land.  I just added it to my sidebar because, holy cow, she has AMAZING clothes and free tutorials, and she tops it all off with phenomenal photography.  Really, if you have any interest in clothing, sewing, kids or photos, click the link and browse a little. 

But anyway, I digress.  I'm almost finished with my Get-Done-Before-Leaving-for-Door-County sewing queue.  Only thing left is a headband for the second flowergirl in B's wedding.  It's easy and pretty darn mindless.  I can do it tonight while zoning out to something like "Modern Family". 

But I wanted to share my latest completed project, which turned out so cute.  Noelle had just taken a bath and wasn't particularly in the mood for pictures, but we're leaving tomorrow for Door County and then California, so she got to tough it out.  She'll be wearing this little number to the wedding, so hopefully we'll get some better shots there.

And we don't want her diap-y showing underneath, even if it does have cute Disney characters on it, so I also made this little "fun surprise" diaper cover.

Okay, so her diaper still shows a little, but it won't when the dress is on. 

On another note, I love how she's chunking up!  This is my little PEANUT!  And she's got a (relatively) chubby tummy! :)

A Lovely Weekend in Pictures

We had a great Sunday.  We didn't have anything planned, so we got to do family stuff.  This seems to have been a rarity this summer. 

First, we headed over to Atten Park.  We love Atten.  It's close, has lower-level playground equipment and has that squishy ground stuff.

Riley started by climbing up to the top of the slide... But that's as far as she got.

I love Noelle's posture in this one; it cracks me up.  I'd be attentive, too, if my big sister were as cool as Riley.

Mike showed off his skills...

**Don't kill me for including these, Michael! :)

This is why it's way more fun, going to the park with Daddy.  He's a super swing-pusher.

... But he also tries to make you go on the "zipline," which was a fail.

So Atten has great equipment... but why play with that when they also have such amazing gravel??!

 

See... look at all the options, and Noelle's playplace of choice. :)

A little see-saw action...

...and swings.

Then it was time to go.

But wait!  The fun wasn't over!  We weren't going HOME.  We were going to check out Yogli-Mogli!

 

It's YUMMY!  Just ask Riley.

 Or you can ask Noelle, who got a little assistance from Daddy.

But that was short-lived.  As soon as Daddy turned his back, this happened. :)

This is the kind of focus required when chowing down on yummy sprinkles- and M&M-covered frozen yogurt.

All in all, not a bad day!

Oh, what a beautiful morning

This morning has been one of the most wonderful I can remember, and it's only 8:08. 

First, the girls slept in until 7:00.  This is a welcome change from the 6:00 wake-up calls of the past few days.  Second, when I went in to get them, Noelle playfully hid under her blanket, and we had a little giggly session of peek-a-boo.  Meanwhile, Riley hopped around in her bed, smiling.  Then, she looked at me and said, "Guess what!  Riley's mouth is better!!"  I mean, really, could I get a better morning greeting?

It's amazing; when you start recognizing God's grace in everyday occurrences, it's hard to stop.  

The next thing out of Riley's mouth was a request for a doughnut.  She's been asking for one everyday for the past week.  In celebration of a "better mouth", I decided to oblige.  So we tossed ourselves in the car and headed out to Dunkin Donuts.  I got Riley a vanilla sprinkles donut.  (Another miracle: Noelle didn't complain at her lack of sugary goodness.)  Then I thought, You know... What's a DD run without a Starbucks run?  So we continued on our way down Roosevelt to the drive-thru Starbucks. 

I pulled in, and since it was roughly quarter to 8, the drive-thru was pretty backed up.  My car was just up into the driveway.  As I pulled in, a lady came from the other direction.  We both had been driving in as if the other wasn't there, so when we saw each other, we both pulled up a little short.  We chuckled a little, probably because it was pretty apparent that we both had a major hankering for our morning joe.  Then I hunched down over my wheel, pretending to be ready to race.  Ah, early morning humor.  Hahaha, we laughed at my hilarity.  Then I motioned her in.

I ordered my (ready for it?) tall soy tuxedo mocha frap, and the girls and I chatted on our way to the window.  When I pulled up, the girl handed my drink to me and said, "The lady in front of you paid for it, so you're set!"  After a shocked pause, I closed my gaping mouth and looked forward, wanting to try to catch her, but she was gone. 

Now this is a little embarrassing, but as I'm so inclined to do, we're going to go ahead and chalk my response up to pregnancy.  I didn't exactly cry, but I can't-- in good conscience-- not admit to getting teary-eyed.  What amazing generosity.  Whether this wonderful lady is a believer or not, I spent the whole drive home, contemplating the goodness and provision of God.  So thank you, lady, for being a witness to me this morning.  I hope that somehow you'll find this post and know that I'm talking about you.

Another Addition

While the girls napped today, I went to work on the next item in Riley's collection: a ruffle-front peasant top.  The fabric I had was to die for, so really, how could it go too wrong?  Well, it could have gone very wrong, and then I would have been devastated over messing up such lovely fabric, but fortunately, it turned out great!  So here it is!

Daniel

These past few days have been pretty rough on me.  Yesterday morning, I kid you not, besides one 30-minute stretch, I didn't go longer than five minutes without getting screamed at by one (or both) of the girls.  At one point, I put them both in their beds in a last-ditch attempt to get them to chill out, and I sat down on the couch with my Bible.

I had last been reading through Daniel, and I opened to the part where the leaders in the land are all getting ticked that Daniel is so beloved.  They watch him, just drooling over an opportunity to bring him down, but Daniel is without fault.  Finally, they get together and have a conference, and the following is what convicted me.  They say to one another, "We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God" (Daniel 6:5). 

After these past couple days, undoubtedly the worst in my parental career, it was pretty clear to me that anyone could easily find, uh, quite a few faults with me that were not in connection to the law of God.  And there was probably a pointed lack of faults related to Him.  Sigh.  However, I'm so grateful that there is also the grace of God and that He knows that I really really stink at life sometimes. 

With that said, I'm also so grateful for the strength and patience He has given me.  Although I've messed up A LOT in my parenting, I have been given grace beyond anything that I possess on my own.  Praise the Lord.  So, yes, I've bawled and maybe yelled once or twice, and I've felt impatient and angry, but I've also really loved on my girls, through the whining and tears.  And I've brought my petitions to the Lord.

And this morning, my girls-- so conspicuously absent for the last couple weeks-- were back.  Thank you, also, Jesus, for that!

Noelle's Tunic

I sewed up one reversible tunic yesterday, and it turned out a little small for Riley, so Noelle gets a tunic!  Yay!  I actually wasn't planning on taking pictures of her in it today, but when she started doing these little, er, poses, I just couldn't help myself.

This is her response to my taking away Riley's milk and giving her hers.  I think it's totally appropriate, don't you?

By the way, these pictures pretty much tell the story of my last few days.  Sigh. :)

You can see the peacock print on the reverse side.  Cool, huh? ;)

The Riley Collection

As I've been perusing a variety of sewing and crafting blogs, I found that Jessica, of mesewcrazy.com (see sidebar!) had created clothing "collections" for her daughters for different seasons.  This, quite frankly, is wonderful and adorable.  And since Riley will be in PRESCHOOL in September, I thought I'd try to give her her very own collection.  Okay, so she'll only be at school two days a week, and only for a few hours, but still-- this is pretty monumental and worthy of some Mommy-made clothes.  So far, I have two skirts and one dress.  Next up is a reversible (ooooo!) tunic.  I couldn't wait any longer, so I just snapped a few pics of the skirts.  I took some of the dress, too, but they turned out blah.  You'll have to wait on that one.

So here we go.  First up in the Riley Collection is a simple double-ruffle skirt.  Made from coordinating chocolate and teal fabrics I got in the clearance section of Joann's (bargain!!) last year, this skirt is girly without being over-the-top.

For those days when a girl just needs to be a little fancier, this next look is created from gorgeous Amy Butler fabric.  With a flat front, shown is the elasticized and gathered back, complete with oversized bow.  It's playful and just a touch elegant.

How does that sound?  Can I host a fashion show now?

I will get shots with the clothes actually ON Riley-girl, but if you've been tracking with her health, that would just be cruel right now.  And photoshoots wait for no girl!  So... hangers get the win, this time around.  Clearly, though, everything looks better with an adorable three-year-old in it.