Check out these fabulous pants

Yep, those are the pants I made with my own two little hands. Remember when I posted a few weeks ago about making Miss some pants like these? Well, I finally finished getting the ruffles on them last night and tried them on Miss today. I am seriously so proud of myself for finishing them so that they look like what I wanted them to, and for only about $5!! When I showed them to my hubby last night he said, "You made those? Wow, those are cool!" And not only did I make them myself, but the ruffles I did without a pattern! I had a basic pattern for the pants, which were easy, but then I had to figure out how big to cut the ruffles, how far apart to space them, etc. I already knew how to gather them evenly, because my mom showed me how to do that when we made Miss's crib skirt last year. She also helped me decide on which size of the pattern to make when we discussed this project some time ago. Really my mom taught me everything I know about sewing, so thanks Mom! Check out how perfect the pants look on Miss.
She enjoyed trying them on today and flounced about a bit, kicking her legs to admire the ruffles.

As much as I am pleased with how the pants turned out, I do need to shorten the waist elastic a bit. I was so concerned about making the pants big enough to fit over Miss's cloth-diaper-fluffy bum, that I ended up leaving the waist elastic just a little too long and the pants kind of fall off a tad. I also plan to make a few changes to the next pair I make, like double folding the hem on the ruffles and serging all the seams if I can get a serger, because I am having a slight problem with fraying on this pair. Otherwise, I'm thrilled with the result of this project and really want to make more. First though I need to get some things done for Baby Girl's room, like her crib sheets, crib skirt, and a new cover for my boppy. So, no more baby couture until I have those projects done, hopefully soon. Then, more pants and maybe some bloomers too!

Whew!

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post. This past week has been a whirlwind of getting ready for a house full of guests. And not just any guests, in-law guests. Don't read that to mean that I wasn't happy about my in-laws coming. I actually like my in-laws a great deal, but when I find out that they're coming to visit, I go into a crazy frenzy of house cleaning and preparation. Of course I always do this to a degree whenever anyone is coming to stay in my home, but somehow when it's my husband's family, things get cranked up to a whole new level. I'm not sure what it is about having in-laws come to visit that makes me slightly insane for a few days before hand, but that's how it typically works. I guess it's better than feeling insane after the leave, right?

Anyway, that's my excuse for not blogging for a week. I cleaned my whole house like mad and then had a great time visiting with three of my hubby's siblings and their spouses and children (a total of 13 people) for a long weekend. Oddly, considering how camera crazy I've been since I got my new camera, I have hardly any photos from the weekend of festivities. The condensed version of events is that we had some guests arrive Thursday night, I went outlet mall shopping with one of my sisters-in-law on Friday morning, then we all went to the pool all afternoon and had a great time, ordered pizza for dinner, the rest of the guests arrived by late Friday night, Saturday morning I went to the farmer's market with three of my sisters-in-law, then we went to the pool again for most of the day, my hubby and I had to take Miss for a brief appearance at the wedding reception of our beloved babysitter, then we came home and the kids played in the backyard until late at night, including some hide-and-go-seek in the dark. Everyone was gone before lunch today and we have been catching up on relaxation since. As I don't really have photos from the weekend, here are some cute ones of Miss from today and last week, just because.

I love the curls out the bottom of the bonnet.

Smelling the flowers.

Big-Sister Strut

Stick phone.

Helping me clean for our company.

Just ornery.

Vacation Love

We got back late Saturday night from a week-long vacation. I started the trip by going to my parents' for a family reunion and service for my Papa. It was wonderful to see so many of my family members, many of whom I haven't seen in years. I loved that Miss got to be surrounded by such a loving bunch of people. Then she and I went to meet my hubby at the "Farm," which is his family's vacation property on a lake in Missouri. Here are some of my favorite things from the trip:

1. My parents have this small antique rocking chair that Miss enjoyed sitting and rocking in, which was adorable. I learned that the chair was actually my Dad's when he was little, which makes it just that much more special.

2. I got to spend some time with my Grandma B and go through some amazing photo albums she has put together with lots of old photos. My favorites were the ones of she and my Papa when they were "courting" and in the early days of their marriage. I love that I always learn new things about my family and my heritage whenever I see her.

3. Bloomers. I loved Miss in these from Three Yellow Starfish. In my opinion, bloomers beat shorts any day (on a baby/toddler anyway).

4. The slide. It was pure joy watching Miss on the slide with her Daddy.

5. Watermelon. Not my favorite fruit to eat, and I don't think I even had any to eat during the trip, but I sure did love watching Miss try so hard to pick this one up.

6. Fishing. Here is Miss watching her cousins fish in the pond at the Farm. Her cousin caught a fish, and in the first photo she's making her fish face, which consists of her opening and closing her slightly-puckered mouth. She wasn't afraid to touch the fish or the worms they were using for bait. My hubby was pointing out all the important elements of hooking a fish to her while they watched the bigger kids. She ate it up. I can't wait until she's big enough to fish herself.

7. My hubby's new no-hair do. Yowza! Love it.

8. Raspberries. They were delicious, but even better than eating them myself was watching Miss pick them right from the bush and put them in her mouth. The berry face afterwards was priceless.

We had a great trip, and there were many things to love about it. Another wonderful part of any trip is coming home. We got to spend yesterday (Father's Day) together at home and it was a great day. A belated Happy Father's Day to all the fabulous fathers in my life (you know who you are).

A Bonnet

Miss is not a fan of wearing a hat. She hated having a hat on when she was a newborn. Then she seemed to get over her hat issue for a while and did fine wearing a sun hat last summer. But when I tried to put one on her during our trip to Hawaii in February, she was back to total refusal. I put the hat on, and she promptly pulled it off. I tried tying the hat under her chin. No go. Then I thought maybe the old sun hat was just too small so I got her one a little bigger. It didn't matter, she still wouldn't keep it on.

More recently I saw the most adorable bonnet from an Etsy shop called Bella Sol Bebe Boutique on this blog that I love to follow. So I checked out the shop, and I just had to have one for Miss. What is more precious than a baby girl in a bonnet?? There is just something so quaint and nostalgic about a bonnet. I can remember wearing one when I was little, and I was so excited when I got the bonnet I ordered for Miss. I always thought she looked cuter than should be allowed in her old floppy sun hat, and of course she did. . .

But when I put this bonnet on her, I just wanted to melt over how completely perfect it was. . .



And an added bonus to the complete adorableness of this bonnet is the fact that Miss will actually keep it on for the entire time she's outside, so her perfect little head can be protected.

(I think this one is my favorite)

And I absolutely love the sweaty little head of wispy hair that emerges from under the hat when we come in to cool off for a bit. Heaven.

Today