An Heirloom Easter

This morning, my two little bunnies wore dresses that were made by my mom thirty years ago.  The pink one was mine, and the blue one belonged to my younger sister, Brittany.  We are three years apart, so imagine my excitement when I learned that I was pregnant with another girl that would be three years younger than Lucy. My mom loved seeing the girls in these dresses, and Lucy got a big kick out of saying she and Maggie were Emily and Brittany.

I cannot tell you how much I loved seeing my girls in these sweet dresses.  I remember my mom working on this dress and I remember wearing it.   This was probably the beginning of my interest in sewing.  In addition to the dresses, my mom also saved the pattern and the smocking plate, which are now in my sewing stash.  They are both made from a Children's Corner pattern.  At the time it was called the Smocked Day Dress, but now it is called Maggie.

One of the best parts of this pattern is that the back is as cute as the front.

The funny thing is how much dress lengths have changed.  My sister and I wore them when we were two and five, but my girls are one and almost four.  If we had waited another year, the blue dress would have barely covered Maggie's diaper cover.

We are going to be on Spring Break over Easter, so I wanted to make sure we got some cute pictures this morning.

What I love about Maggie at one

To my sweet Maggie,

I cannot believe that you have been in our lives for an entire year.  It seems like we were just leaving for the hospital to have you, and now you are toddling all over the house.  You have brought us so much joy.

I love you at this age.  It seems like you change EVERY single day.  Your brother and sister changed more from twelve to eighteen months old than they did in the first twelve months of their lives.  So, here's what you are like at your first birthday:

• You are almost always happy, even when someone wakes you up from your nap. 
•  You love to eat.  One of the only times you fuss is when you run out of the food on your high chair tray.  You like pretty much everything we give you.  Your favorite foods are vegetable soup and bananas.  You will even eat broccoli and asparagus, but you don't like mac and cheese.
• You started walking at eleven months and you spend most of the time walking, and walking and walking around the house
• You can say da-da and momma, hi, bye bye, and cracker.
• You love your brother and sister.  You are a sleepy head, and they fight over who gets to wake you up in the morning.  You get fussy when they aren't in the backseat of the van with you.  
• Your favorite toy is our cell phones.  The minute you get a hold of them, you hold them to your ear and say "hi."  You also like your leap frog table and the laugh and learn house.  
• You wear a size 3 shoes and size 12 month clothes.  
• You love to play peek-a-boo.  
• At night, we give you a bath and then I nurse you and read you a story before putting you to bed.  You love the heartbeat sound on your sleep sheep.
• You always pat my back when I put you on my shoulder to rock you to sleep.
• I cannot wait to see how much you grow and change in the next six months.  

I hope you always know that you are a light in our lives, that you are beautiful inside and out, and that your are loved more than you can ever imagine.  

Love, 

Momma

Happy Birthday Sweet Maggie

Today, my sweet baby Maggie turns one.  We are in the midst of party preparations.  There is a dress to hem, decorations to be hung, and fruit kabobs to be made.  But my sweet baby girl needed a nap and I stopped to nurse her and rock her to sleep.  As she leaned against my chest and drifted off to sleep, I couldn't help but realize how perfectly she fit there.  I was reminded of the moment a year ago today when I held her for the first time. A perfect fit.  In our family.  Against my heart.

It's February!

I have been a serious slacker in the blog department lately.  It was the holidays and I had all these great pictures I wanted to share, but then I got busy.  And I wanted to do a Christmas post, and didn't get around to it, so I haven't posted anything else.

So, I'm going to start with something simple.  The girls wore these matching valentine outfits on Saturday.

I made Lucy's pants set last year, and it still fit.  That's what I love about those Monag ruffle tees. Look how much my little girl has grown since last year.

I had this red and white gingham longall in Lucy's hand-me-downs.  I meant to monogram it when she was a baby and never got around to it.  It was a perfect valentine outfit for Maggie.  She wasn't very happy to have her picture taken, so this is the best I could get.  

Hopefully, I can get back on track with blogging and share the other things we have been up to.  

Another Remake

In the fall, I posted an outfit I remade for Lucy from one of Henry's old smocked outfits.  I had a couple of these little matching sets from Castles and Crowns when Henry was three and Lucy was a baby.  Here they are in the Christmas set.

The bishop fits Maggie, so I remade Henry's top using the Bonnie Blue Riley pattern. I do find this pattern runs a little small. This is a three with two inches added to the length.  She probably could have used a four.  The pants go with another Christmas outfit.  

And here's my new little combo: 

I was thrilled with the way this turned out and the girls got compliments all day long today.  The only dilemma was how to answer when someone asked me if I made their outfits.  

So Thankful

I have so much to be thankful for this year.
My thoughtful, funny and smart first grader;

My lovable, kind and inquisitive three year old; and

sweet, sweet Maggie

She thoroughly enjoyed her very first Thanksgiving meal.

Add to that a husband who loves to cook, and a house full of family and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!

We hosted my dad's family this year.  There were twenty-nine of us, twenty adults and nine kiddos.  Everyone pitched in to help. Here is the prep crew.

And here's the clean-up crew.  Call me crazy, but I love the camaraderie that comes from washing dishes after a meal like this.


While we were cleaning up, the kids had a great time in the back yard.

And of course, someone had to supervise.

Mollie Kate and Max enjoyed the kids table.

Finally, here's Grandma, and my Aunt Carol, two of the best cooks and hostesses I know.

Our family has been blessed beyond belief, and I am truly thankful for all I have been given.

Home from Naples

It's been a few weeks since my last post.  Around Halloween, Maggie and I were lucky enough to accompany Will to an anesthesia meeting in Naples, FL. 

My parents and my mother-in-law watched the big kids, and we got to enjoy beautiful weather and some one-on-one time with Maggie.

 

The sunsets in Naples are amazing, and this was our favorite way to end the night. 

 Maggie was an amazing traveler.  She was so good on the plane and quite the social butterfly at all of the resturants.  She loved the beach.

And who doesn't love a good heavenly bed?