The Best Part of My Week

I'm a few days behind on this post but wanted to wrap up last week before this week is over.

1.  The Pass It On Kids Sale.  I have been a part of this children's consignment sale since Henry was a baby.  When he was 18 months old, I agreed to be on the committee that runs the sale and I've been a part of it ever since.  The thing that makes our sale so special is that everything we raise goes straight to missions.  This year we raised over $11,000 for Red Bird Mission School, Blessings in a Backpack, and the Kentucky United Methodist Children's Home in Versailles.

I work with an amazing group of women on this project and I love being able to be part of it.  Everyone wins: our consignors get to clear out their houses, our shoppers get to clothe their kids, and our missions get donated clothing and children's items, along with much needed funds.

2.  A beautiful Friday afternoon with my favorite princess and superhero.  

The other winners at the kids sale were Henry and Lucy who each scored some new dress-up attire.

I love these muddy feet.

I love this photo.  I can almost hear the laughter.

3.  Cuddling with Miss Maggie.  I love her smiles, her laughs, her squeals.  She is such a fun age.  I wish I could capture the smell of her head, the softness of her cheek, the feel of her head on my shoulder.

4.  Leaving my kiddos in the hands of their Daddy.  While I was working at the kids sale, Will was baking pumpkin cupcakes, playing with little people and decorating our house for halloween.  He even had to feed Maggie with a dropper because she wouldn't take a bottle.  He really is a great dad.

Another time around

Here's a little project I finished up last week.  I started with this outfit:

It is from the home show brand Castles and Crowns and was worn by Henry when he was three.  I used the Children Corner Carol pattern and made the top into a girl's top for Lucy.  I needed more fabric for new sleeves, so I took the pants apart and used them.  I had enough left to make the skort.  The pattern is Children's Corner Sara's Skort.

And the best part of the deal is that I also have a matching dress for baby sister.  Here is Lucy wearing it when she was Maggie's age.

I wish I could go back in time and squeeze those chubby legs.

The Best Part of My Week

In January our family adopted a new tradition we learned about from our friends the Callahans.  Every night at dinner, or at least when we remember, we go around the table and tell the best part of our day.  I am going to try to start that tradition here as well.

1.  Our Saturday Morning Outing to the zoo.  We headed to Lynn's Paradise Cafe for breakfast.  The kids love to order "pancakes as big as their heads." After an amazing breakfast we enjoyed a beautiful morning at the zoo.

We tried to let the kids discover things at their own pace.  I spend most of my day saying "come on, hurry up, let's go."  It was hard to slow down and let their interests guide our day.

But sometimes, it is nice to stop and enjoy the view.

Here I am spending a little time with my favorite boy.  I really miss him since he is in school all day now.

2.  Playing Little People with Lucy.  She has such a vivid imagination.  We had to load all of her people up and take them on a "b-cation" to the beach.  I always loved to play dollhouse, so this is right up my alley.

3.  The Bullitt Central Homecoming Parade.  There is nothing like a homecoming parade to make it feel like fall.  It really is small town at its best.  It was a tradition I always loved and now one my kids look forward to.  Of course, it wasn't an election year, so the candy throwing was a little slim.  We always sit on the front steps of church.  Here is Lucy with her friends Mia and Natalee.  The photos are a little blurry because I had a little fingerprint on my camera lens.

And here is Henry waiting for the parade to start with Maverick Waters.

 My favorite float was done by my teacher friends at Henry's school.  I guess all of that float building experience paid off.

4.  Reading Junie B. Jones with Henry.  I really enjoy reading with Henry at night.  We have been reading Junie B.'s guide to first grade.  It is hilarious and we laughed so hard that I had to stop reading.

5.  Spending some one on one time with Maggie.  Maggie and I get a few hours all to ourselves while Henry and Lucy are in school.  She has just learned to sit up, so we had fun sitting on the floor and smiling at each other.  I love six months.  It is my favorite baby age.  Look at that sweet face.

7.  Dinner out with Will and our friends Johnna and Johnny Perry.  We had a fantastic night at Eddie Merlot's.  Great food, great wine, great company, plus some fun people watching at Fourth Street Live.  It was a perfect ending to a great week.

Grandparent's Day

Growing up, my grandparents were a big part of my life.  I am so glad that my children have such wonderful grandparents and that they are such a big part of our lives.  Monday was grandparent's day in the first grade at Henry's school.  Nana, Daddy Ted and My all joined him for lunch.  Here he is with Nana (my mom) and My (Will's mom).

Here's one with Daddy Ted (my dad) and My.

Hopscotch Dress

I have been looking for a good knit dress pattern for a while.  I picked up the Oliver + S Hopscotch Dress pattern at the Smocking Shop's July sale.  I made it about a month ago with some Chez Ami knit from my stash.  Lucy wears a three in most clothing and patterns, but I made her a four in this because I heard it ran small.  It fits well, but there is not a lot of growth room.  I also cut the skirt to be more a-line than the pattern called for.

The pattern went together really quickly and overall I was pleased with the results.  The only thing I wasn't completely happy with is my skirt and sleeve hems.  I tried to do two lines of stitching and they aren't as uniform as I would like.  I think I may make a long sleeve version of this for fall and do an applique on the skirt.

I had to include another picture I took of Lucy that day.  I was feeding Maggie and she decided that she needed to feed Bitty.  So sweet.

Inspiration

When I was a little girl, my mom sewed and smocked for my sister and me.  When I had my own daughter,  I wanted to learn to sew so I could make special things for her.

My mom kept most of the things she made us and it has been fun to get them back out for the girls to wear.

Lucy wore this little apple dress to meet her preschool teacher last week.  My mom made it for me in 1980 and I wore it to the hospital to meet my baby sister Brittany.  I have never learned to do applique without an embroidery machine, so I am totally impressed with her work, especially those tiny little windows on the apple.

I hope that once my mom has less on her plate, she will start sewing again.  I already have a few project ideas for her.

Additional restrictions may apply

When I decided to blog about the "fine details" of my life, I thought I would write sweet little tidbits about our day, document the high points and milestones, and post pictures of the things I had made.  But in life, the fine details aren't always positive.  Sometimes they are like the fine print on an offer for a free airline ticket that specify that you can only fly from 11:59 until 12:01 on June 4.  Sometimes, "additional restrictions apply."

The fact is, those details are part of my life too and so I am recording them here.  We had one of those mornings.  The baby woke up to nurse at 4:45 a.m. and wouldn't go back to sleep.  Her big sister woke up an hour later.  After a lengthy negotiation (the fine details of which I will omit), her big brother refused to wear anything but shorts and a t-shirt to school even though it was only in the high 50s.  I burnt the pancakes.  The baby fell asleep during breakfast (10 minutes before we had to leave). We couldn't find shoes, then socks.  Big sister's hair bow was upstairs.  The drain in the dishwasher was stopped up.  The kids were bickering with each other.  I lost my patience and said things I shouldn't.  I finally got everyone out the door and set the alarm only to realize I didn't have any shoes on.

After a little pick me up from McDs (large diet coke with extra ice, please), we ended up having a great day.  I really enjoyed seeing my pals from Bible study and was reminded that interruptions are sometimes part of God's plan.  Lucy got to play with her friends Kyle and Ella and I got to have lunch with two good friends.  Henry got 100% on his spelling test.  We had a great dinner at Bearnos.

First Bites and a new high chair cover

With all of the firsts in our house this time of year, I saved the best for last.

Little Miss Maggie tasted her first food on Monday night.

She had bananas.  She readily accepted the first bite and then started looking for more.  Of course, there were plenty of helpers.

It is funny to me that when we fed Henry for the first time, he seemed so big.  Now, looking at Maggie in the highchair she seems so little.

Of course, I couldn't let the occasion pass without a little sewing project.  My sister gave me this  Eddie Bauer highchair when I was pregnant for the first time.  It is on its third child, not counting various dinner guests like cousins Molly Kate and Max.  The old cover was more than a little shabby, so I decided it was time for a new one.  I used the old cover as a pattern.

The fabric is laminated cotton from Riley Blake.  I hadn't worked with this fabric before and it was a little tricky but not too bad.  I used two layers of quilt batting and sewed as much as I could inside out.  When I needed to stitch directly on the laminated side of the fabric, I put a piece of tissue paper between my machine and the fabric and another piece between the fabric and my needle.  When I was done stitching, the tissue tore right off.  Overall, I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

First Grade

Several weeks ago, Henry started First Grade at Cedar Grove Elementary School.  He is in Mrs. Mitchell's class.

Of course, Cedar Grove is not new to Henry, or our family.  I was a student there when I was a little girl and my dad was a student there when he was growing up.  Combine that with the fact that I went to school with so many of the teachers, and it feels like home.

After an amazing year last year in Mrs. Strange's room, he was a little nervous on his first day.

It turns out he had nothing to worry about, as he has adjusted very well.  He has already become a stronger reader, and I am excited to see how much he will learn this year.  Of course, his favorite part of the day is PE.  My favorite part of the day is watching him get off the bus.

The First Day of Preschool School

Yesterday, Lucy started in the three year old class at First Baptist Preschool.  For weeks she has been asking when she gets to go to school.  She was very excited, although after the open house last week, she was worried that there were "too many friends."

She did great when I dropped her off.  She found her name, found her cubby, and hung up her backpack.

We are so lucky that Lucy's teacher is Mrs. Peace.  She was Henry's teacher in the four year old class.  She is wonderfully patient and kind and Henry loved her.  He learned so much in her class and was ready for Kindergarten.

Lucy had a great first day.  The first thing she told me when I picked her up was "I was a good listener." She remembered all three of Mrs. Peace's rules: be kind, be a good listener, and share.  I think those are pretty good rules for life.

Today was teddy bear day and when I picked Lucy up she said "some of my friends are going on a bear hunt, can I go?"  I said "I think they were just pretending in the song you sang." She replied "no, they are going on Saturday."

Remembering the little things

On Saturday, my baby girl turned six months old:

It seems like only a few days ago, I was holding her in my arms for the first time.

Actually, it seems like just last week that I was bringing this little guy home from the hospital.

And in less than a month he will be six and a half.

It seems so cliche to say, but these last years have flown by so quickly.  We have celebrated birthdays, holidays, first words, first steps, first days of school.  There have been dinner times and bath times and bedtime stories.  Along the way, we welcomed this amazing girl into the world and into our family:

As she started preschool yesterday, I couldn't help but remember that only a few short years before she was the little baby in the carrier and we were dropping her big brother off at preschool.

I have always focused on the fine details.  As a practicing lawyer, I had to know more facts about the case before I could make my argument.  As a mom, I can't wait to ask who my kid sat by at lunch or what she ate for her morning snack at preschool.  At home, I love putting together all of the little details of a party and arranging all of the little accessories around our house.  When I sew, I relish being able to design a garment down to the last button.

Not only do I focus on the details of my own life, I want to know the details of your life, too.  What's in that cake? What pattern did you use to make that dress?  Where did you go on vacation?

But I have to be honest: detailed oriented I am; organized I am not.  I do a decent job recording the big events and milestones.  I am not so good at remembering the fine details of our daily life.  I have realized that the little details that seem so important at the moment quickly fade with time.  Not only do I want to hang on to them, I want to do a better job of paying attention to them.  This blog is dedicated to all of the little things that I cherish right now.  It is time to write them down.