Rockin' Gowns

A year ago I found a blog that totally inspired me. That first post I came across was this one where she posted a free pattern for these "rockin' baby gowns" made out of men's t-shirts. Just about the coolest thing I've ever seen. So, for the last year I told Chad he was not allowed to give any shirts to DI...I even made his brother give his shirts to me. (No force was needed he willingly gave me his DI pile.) I FINALLY found time these last two days to make them.

All of these were made out of men's medium shirts. The pattern called for a men's large or bigger. You just have to be more strategic about where you place the pattern.
This one was a button up...hence the button on the right. I was afraid to do it at first but I love how it turned out. Just challenging to work around a button that close to the edge.
I did alter the pattern a little. I made them longer because I tended to favor longer gowns when Carter was a baby. And I would rather have fold over sleeves rather than put socks on my kids hands at night when it's cold. Below you can see where I added material to the back of each sleeve to create the fold over.

Because I've been wanting to do these for so long it has been that much more satisfying to have them done. I want to make more...but I have to get other things done first.

Car Seat Cover

Finished another project...phew!

I was so sick of the gray and black standard graco car seat cover. There is no way I would buy a new one or buy a pricey cover. So, I had always wanted to use this fabric but never knew what for. I ran to the fabric store to get it because I would see it all the time...and it was NO WHERE to be found. I check 4 different times over 2 months. My vision for this fabric seemed like it was too late. Then on a late night trip I decided to search again...and found it after 45 minutes...in the $3 clearance section. Only 2 yards left. I have never been happier to see a piece of fabric in my life.

I made the car seat cover a few weekends ago. I searched for a pattern I liked but to no avail. I turned to the trusty seam ripper and took apart my graco one to make a pattern. Chad may have doubted me for a few minutes when he saw me ripping it apart. It all worked out good and it fits great.

I also took apart the old shade cover and used that as a pattern. The palm tree fabric is an dark olive green...although these pictures may look like a forest green. I couldn't for the life of me find a plain green that matched it exactly for the shade cover. But I compromised. You can't really tell but I used a close green cotton fabric and found a perfect sheer green to put on top to make the perfect color! I'm super happy with the results. Because if the greens were different it would have REALLY bugged me. The shade cover design wasn't my idea. I saw this girls work and loved how it wasn't too matchy matchy.

Tonight, I sewed the orange ric rac fabric neck protectors. That fabric was calling my name! Have I ever mentioned I love ric rac? And I love orange and green together for a boy.

BOYS....already?

No kidding. My daughter is in kindergarten. KINDERGARTEN, people! Luckily, for me...(or should I say, Chad, who is definitely NOT humored by these stories)...Alexis is not into boys nor does she understand why they've done the things they've done.

This is how last week panned out at Kindergarten:

Day 1:

Today I was playing with Brandon at recess and a boy in our class asked if he was my boyfriend.

I laughed and said, "What? He's my friend."

The boy said, "But you are always playing together."

I said, "Yeah, because he lives by me. I live on this side and he lives on that side."

And then the boy said, "Oh."

Day 2:

Today at school, a boy named Jack in my class...not Jack from Church...another Jack came up to me and said, "Alexis, you look so beautiful today. I got you these flowers."

(For your information: Not flowers from the playground flowers he might have picked from his house or on his way to school. See picture at the beginning of this post.)

What did you say, Alexis?

I said, "Hmm. Those are beautiful flowers but they stink really bad."

Alexis, the boy was trying to be nice and telling him they smell bad might have hurt his feelings.

"No, it didn't. Because I was nice too by saying they were beautiful."

They really did smell like a skunk. Chad didn't mind her vocalizing that to the boy.

Day 3:

Today at recess, we played boys catch girls and girls catch boys.

Me: Oh yeah. Who won?

No one wins. We just catch each other. And, Mom, I got caught a lot by the boys. But I caught Jack Briscoe (Jack from church) a lot.

Day 4:

Today at recess, I was doing handstands and I fell over. I was laughing but then this boy named Jeffrey came over and said, "Can I help you up." So he helped me up and smiled. Then, this other boy started saying, "You guys are gonna start DATING!" And I was all, "No, we aren't!"

I couldn't tell by her confused voice if she knew what that meant. She knows Mommy and Daddy go on dates but I don't think she understood completely what this boy was saying. Thank goodness.

Day 5 through Day 11, 12, 13 and still going:

The game of boys catch girls and girls catch boys at recess goes on. Everyday they try to get more kids to play with them.

I am shocked this is happening so fast. These stories are all about different boys. I'm hoping BOYS start having koodies soon. My friends tease me that Alexis is going to be the opposite of me. My first kiss was at 18. I hope not.

Chad isn't amused by these happenings at school...he just looks at me while I'm laughing telling him the stories and says, "That's not funny."

Home-made Calendar

Making the over-sized cork board in our family room fully functioning has been a work in progress. I had a 12 month calendar hanging there for the last year...but I wasn't too happy with it. (Especially since I use my phone for calendaring future months.)
So I decided to spend some time tackling this inter-changeable dry erase calendar. I got two pieces of white poster-board and made the grid the size I liked. I laminated the calendar separate from the items that get changed each month. For now, I've used scrapbooking tape to keep the month, numbers and icons on. I may switch to velcro.

I only got through the rest of the year. I'm on a time crunch here.

Colbie Caillat Concert

A few nights ago, we met up with our high school friends, Jeff and Sara, at the House of Blues at Downtown Disney.
We ate dinner and had fun reminiscing about our past. After dinner we went to a concert there.

First up, was a guy named Andy Davis. I actually really liked his music even though I had never heard it before.

Next, was Howie Day. None of us knew who he was until he sang this song.

And last but not least...the whole reason we went...Colbie Caillat. It was a super fun night. We literally STOOD for 5 hours and surprisingly it didn't get painful till the last 20 minutes.
I had no clue Colbie was discovered through You-tube when she posted this song and "Bubbly." It was so nice to do something different and most importantly catch up with really good friends. I paid for it that night and woke up to charlie horse cramps in my calves all night from standing so long.

Soccer Banner #2

I finished Alexis' banner just in time for picture day yesterday.

Don't comment on the name...Alexis and I were the only one's out-voted. We wanted Orange County Girls or Orange Crush. Oh well.

I knew this name could be way over-done and cheesy. Hopefully, it's not too much. I did use the paper dolls cartridge as a pattern just like last years banner. I figure this might be the last year I can replicate the players since there will be too many players on the team next year.

After cutting everything out of felt I hand stitched orange yarn around each letter in the title. Seems time consuming but I did it while we talked and watched movies in Big Bear on Labor Day. When it was all said and done Friday night...Chad commented on the lack of hearts. So I added the hand stitched white yarn around the edge with an orange heart every few stitches.

It turned out good considering the name didn't give me any inspiration. And once again, it was half the price of ordering it. So worth it.

Giggling during church...

Our family just doesn't seem to be fitting very well in the same row as Chad's parents, sister and grandparents. I knew this would be coming to an end once this next baby came but today Alexis didn't fit at the end of the row by Chad, Carter and I. She usually loves sitting more towards the middle with her Aunt Emily. But today, she was frustrated. After we told her she really needed to stay where she was she came back shortly with this note:

Translation: "It is not fair. I wanna go sit by you. From Alexis. To Mommy.

Super funny. Especially, since it was obvious no one helped her write it. So we made his parents move down to make room. And we passed the note onto them so they could have a few laughs too.

Reptile Party

Carter and Alexis loved holding snakes and 1/2 lizard/ 1/2 snakes at their friend, River's, birthday party yesterday. How they can run from DOGS but hold these creatures is beyond me.

Tonights Dinner Conversation...

Alexis: "Oh,I just burped."

(Carter tries really hard to burp but nothing comes out. So instead he roars.)

Carter: "Rooooaaaarrrrr"

(Only when he roared like a lion...a huge BURP came out in the middle. For real! Of course, it was an accident. I sure hope my 3 year old can't burp on command.)

Both, Alexis and Carter bust up laughing. (Alright, Chad and I were cracking up too. Does that totally ruin your image of how proper we are...cause we aren't!)

Alexis: "Carter you just made yourself burp. I can't do that. That is impressive."

My thoughts:
1. When did my daughter start using the word "impressive?"
2. So impressive...at the dinner table no less!
3. Katie, have you been teaching my kids how to burp?

Who waits for their missionary?

ME!

I know not many do...that's why this spoof on "Hey There Delilah" made me laugh so hard.

Seriously, I can't even tell you how many people doubted we would make it. But we did.

Towards the end of Chad's 2 year mission his mission president called our Stake President all the way from Italy to report how well Chad was doing. He mentioned a conversation he had with Anziano Pitt (Chad) in an interview they had just had days before.

Mission President: "Anziano Pitt mentioned he would probably defer his acceptance to BYU for a semester when he comes home in a month. I asked him if this was because of a girl. He replied "I'm not supposed to think or talk about that, President." I could tell it was since his face turned bright red. But I told him, "It better not be...NO girl is worth that!"

Stake President: "Hmm. It's actually my daughter!"

AWKWARD SILENCE! (Isn't my Dad great for sticking up for me!)

Mission President: "Well, he's a great missionary."

I'm glad Chad focused on his mission and listened to every bit of his mission presidents advice...except the last one. I was in Dental Hygiene School here in southern California and who knows what would have happened had he not chosen to come back and see if we should get married.

Who wouldn't have waited for his handsome guy?

Good thing I did because I sure do LOVE him.

Primary Program Handouts

Gears will be shifting a lot this next month. The last 2 days have been focused on getting parts ready for the Primary Program. When my sister's friend told me about this idea I HAD to do it. Mostly because of the crazy amounts of phone calls I got last year..."Hey, I lost my kids part. Can I get another copy?" The phone calls even came the night before and the morning of the program...and we have 9am church.

So here's what I did this time in hopes to solve that problem. I grouped all the parts (speaking and singing) by family. Put the date of our program on it. Plus, our extra practice the Saturday before. Laminated each families parts and added MAGNETIC TAPE to the back. With the idea that the parents will put it directly on their fridge so their kids can practice more frequently.

I'll let you know if it works. It ended up being super cheap. I spent $7 of our budget on laminating and the tape. Hopefully, the time put in was worth it.

Next up: A soccer banner for Alexis' team.

First Day of Kindergarten

It's official. And, fortunately, for the parents nearby they didn't get to see me cry because I was racing to drop her off and get to work on time. But, I did shed tears last night when Chad gave her a blessing. She is growing up so fast.

When I was a kid my dad would always sit me down the night before my first day of school and write down 5 goals I had for the year on a 3x5 note card. He kept it in his desk drawer and still to this day all those note cards are still there.

Alexis already knew what a goal was:

"When you shoot the ball in a net...you score a GOAL!"

Then after we explained the other meaning she quickly stated her 1st Goal: "To move into a house with a backyard and buy a dog and cat as a family." Hmmm. Not likely.

So here are her very own "attainable" goals for the year:

1. Pray every day
2. Learn to read better by myself
3. Listen to Mommy, Daddy and my teacher
4. Be nice to everyone at school
4. Learn Math

Saying our goodbye's:

I made her a hair clip to match her shirt while she was sleeping. When she woke up and saw it she was thrilled. Such a girl...I love it.

See ya! She only turned around because I called her name. Her teacher is in the doorway. Ironically, Chad went to school with her sister. Small world!

Alexis is lucky enough to be in a class with her friend, Brandon. Who, unfortunately, took a tumble on the playground on the first day. Natalie and I almost died when he walked out.