Sewing Fun

The past week I have been on a sewing kick. My good friend, Kristin, and I exercise in the mornings and while we do, we talk a lot about crafts and sewing and she is constantly inspiring me to make some fun stuff of my own. (Plus, she helps me work out the kinks in my plans.) Here are some of my projects as of late:

I got this shirt from a Layers warehouse sale for around $3 when Grace was a baby and just haven't worn it a lot since then. I really liked the fabric and print, so I thought it could use a new life as a little spring/summer jumper for Grace to romp around in.

(It looks better in real life - here it's folded kind of funny.)

Then, Kristen was telling me about the darling dress she was making for her baby for Valentine's Day, so I got my brain cells pumping and worked up an outfit for Grace.

This skirt's lived it's "before" life as a button up shirt that I have had since high school and that I wore so many times that it was missing many of it's buttons. Sorry no "before" picture.

I had a little short-sleeved white shirt with some ruffle detailing for Grace to wear with her new skirt, but since it's still cold here, I thought I'd try my hand at re-fashioning a shirt into a cardigan for her to wear. So we hit up the local DI and found this little beauty for $3 (it's a women's knit shirt).

With a little ingenuity and crossing of fingers it turned into this cute little cardigan:

I used one of Grace's shirts and a knit cardigan that fit well as a basic pattern. Also, since I'm on a re-purposing kick, I used the buttons off a nasty white shirt that I was throwing away.

My little model was having trouble holding still, but here are some shots of her in her festive Valentine's getup.

I have a couple more projects up my sleeve, but these successes have boosted my confidence a ton. It's so fun to bring creativity and new life to worn out clothing!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day! We have been celebrating by having lots of heart around!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

This morning I found Grace reading to her baby like this:

I think she really liked reading a book with Daddy while lying on the floor! Really, I think she likes doing anything with her Daddy!

Getting Ready for Bed

Rob was helping Grace get ready for bed the other night, when I walked in on this sweet scene:

This is Grace's very, very favorite thing to do, especially with her Daddy.

Pack Rat

You thought the post was going to be about me, right? Wrong. :) It's about my sweet little girl, who apparently also has tendencies toward pack-ratage.

The other day I pulled out my cutting mat, that I keep under the couch and found this:

Bracelet/rings stash!


Today, I walked across the living room carpet and felt something funny. When I lifted up the carpet I found this:

Where else would you keep your cards? haha

Little Mommy

Grace is working on her mommying skills. Recently, she has been pulling out the portable diaper changing stuff I carry with us for emergencies and trying to change her babies' diapers.

Step 1 - Lay baby down and get diaper out.

Step 2 - Figure out how the diaper works.

Step 3 - Get baby to hold still while you're trying to diaper her.

Step 4 - Get your mama to help you put the diaper on. Look very proud of your work.

It just melts my heart to see Grace taking good care of her babies. It helps me to remember that if she wants to care for her babies, that's what she has seen and experienced. I must not be a complete failure as a mother!
(just kidding, I don't really think that I am, but times like this remind me that something is right)

Dress Up

This weekend on a little trip to TJ Maxx, Grace kept on collecting items that she wanted to put on. When I found Grace and Rob, this is what she looked like (mind you everything was found in the men's section):

Sweet glasses, gloves and backwards hat, baby!

Ice Skating

Last Saturday Kira, Stew and Kylee and Colleen and Andrew decided to come up to Salt Lake to go ice skating and invited us to go along. We went to the Gallivan Center and had a blast!

Getting ready for fun!

Surprise!

Awww, what a cute couple!

Waving at the zamboni as it drove around and around.

Cute Kylee. The little ladies snacked and played while we took turns skating until...

...Grace had had enough of just watching. So we got her a pair of way-too-big skates so she could get in on the action.

It was a little tougher than she thought, but she did an okay job when she tried to "walk" in the skates.

Skater family

Grace was looking like she had so much fun that when she was done, Kylee threw the skates on and jumped into the rink. She was such a good skater.

All done! Time to go home for hot chocolate and chocolate cake! Whoo hoo!

The Smile

I've been trying to work with Grace on her smiling skills for photographs. I realized the other day that she probably didn't know what I meant when I keep saying "SMILE!!!!" from behind the camera. So now when I say smile I point to my mouth and give her a big smile - I think it's working. My favorite smile is the "scrunch face" - which I can't seem to find a picture of. It's just so cute and full of joy it can't but make me happy.

Pointing to her mouth while trying to smile.

Snack Time

As I was cleaning the kitchen and finding us a snack, Grace was busy feeding DeDe a snack.

Put the bib on.

A bite of food.

A sip of milk.

Wipe the face off.

All done!