The skirt! It worked and it is cute. It is just a simple little tube with an elastic waist. I was thinking of how people used to make skirts out of old pillow cases. Except it would have to be a very tiny pillow. And it only took about 10 minutes. Sorry about the dark photo. Photographing her is to say the least, difficult. Doesn't she look like she's about to break into a little soft-shoe tap dance?

Also, it is UNSEASONABLY warm today. The high is supposed to 78 degrees. Jack went out to play this morning and came back in so excited. Almost panicked. "Mommy come quick!" The tone in his little voice made me think it was going to be a dead bird.

Posted by Alicia at 03:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had a nice weekend here. Saturday Brian and Jack started a new remodeling project. They knocked a huge hole in the wall to make a new doorway between the living room and the breakfast room. I think it is going to be really cool. Jack thought it was just fantastic that he was allowed to hit the wall with a hammer. My mom and dad were so nice to come over Saturday night so we could have an evening out at a bar! where they don't allow kids! with a bunch of friends! We met at a sports bar we've been to many times, and then we all decided to check out a new bar- for those of you here in K.C.- called Tonic in downtown Overland Park. RUDE people, bad service. When we walked in- there were tons of empty tables with little "Reserved for VIP" signs on them. We asked if was ok to sit at one, and the young buff waiter had to get on a little walkie talkie thing and ask somebody. This bar is not very big. And nearly empty. He said "They're in a meeting. I don't know what to tell you. Wait here." A meeting. At 10 pm on a Saturday night. So since we had already gotten drinks at the bar, we decided to wait. Some other young buff fellow came over and told us (there are 8 of us mind you) that we could all squeeze into this one booth, "unless you just want to leave." Huh? Do you want us to leave your empty bar at 10:00 on a Saturday night, while we all have perfectly good money to spend?! He proceeded to tell us the bar is in "transition" complete with finger quotes around the word transition, and that a d.j. would soon be there and a lot of people would be coming for that. Actually, he was right. It did pretty much transition into a hopping little meat market, and people were being seated at the VIP tables around us. The scantily clad waitresses did an excellent job of ignoring us most of the night, but we stayed to have some drinks. It was just SO good to go out like grown ups and catch up with our friends.

Then this morning we had pancakes and bacon, lounged around in our pajamas until noon, and did a bunch of nothing. In the afternoon Jack went with Pa Pa to watch some trains and feed the chickens, and Nora and I went to my favorite thrift store and scored these:

I saw them the last time I was there, but resisted. Today I just couldn't. I looked around the whole store before cruising back over to get them. There's something about them that I love. Each has its own little cup- maybe for tartar sauce? How come no one else thought they were cute? Oh, and I also got a pink and red striped tea towel that is going to become a summer skirt for Nora. Wish me luck.

Posted by Alicia at 09:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...or to the sewing table.

Remember the hippy skirts I wanted to make? The tiny one was a miserable failure. I've never been very good at sewing without a pattern, but I figured this was going to be fairly easy. Here's where I started:

I found a pair of jeans up in her closet that were too short but still fit around the waist. They didn't have pockets in the back, but I figured for a first attempt the simpler the better. And the fabric with raspberries would be nice for summer. So I opened the leg seams and sewed in the little patch of fabric. Very little of the fabric showed, but it turned out cute enough, just a little boring.

Then I tried it on her. Let me tell you, this baby has got some funky proportions going on. I had to shorten the skirt a little more and then even less of the berry fabric showed. Plus the poor thing walked like a penguin. So I slit the side seams and she could walk a little better, but it just didn't look that cute. So this morning I had the bright idea of adding a little gathered skirt to the bottom instead. A few minutes later I was done with this:

A bit more cutesy and a little less hippy than I was going for. Oh well, let's try it on. Ready?

I laughed so hard. It looked ridiculous! There is a scene in the movie Steel Magnolias where this woman is dancing at Shelby's wedding reception. She has on this awful pink dress and *GASP* she isn't wearing a girdle! The other women say it looks like two pigs wrestling under a blanket. If you don't know the movie- nevermind. But the skirt looks just like that woman's dress. Bad. Too tight on the baby pot belly, and then exploding out in a big bubble-butt poofy skirt. Nora was not very happy with it either. It made her cry.

SO, I am going to take a break from those skirts. And I'm going to find a PATTERN to make myself something out of this fabric:

What should it be? A bag? Maybe a simple a-line type skirt? Any ideas?

Posted by Alicia at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, not so much funny as achingly sweet. Hold on to your ovaries.

We were talking about his friends, as Jack is extremely shy at school. He actually told me in the car today that he and Stewart are friends, and they like to sit together- that's a major step. Here is where it led:

"Jack, who's your best friend?"

"Stewart."

"At school, yes, but who's your best friend in the whole world?" (I'm thinking he's going to say Zoe.)

"Daddy." (ahhhh, so sweet)

"I thought you were going to say Zoe."

"Yeah, she's one of my best friends, but mostly I like Daddy every time."

Posted by Alicia at 05:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Alicia at 03:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Inspired by Kath at Red Current, who does these fantastic photographic odes to color, I'm snapping a few shots of green around here. Why green? Because I am SO ready for Spring.

And finally:

Posted by Alicia at 03:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Alicia at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This Thursday's Corner of my Home is Jack's room. When we moved into this house, we just assumed he would have this big room. I had visions of him sitting on the window seat, looking at his picture books. Unless a fire truck or some other loud vehicle goes by, he never does- sit on the seat, I mean. (He loves to read books.) I also thought all of the cabinets around the seat would be great for stashing toys, and they are. It was quite a job to paint the ceiling with the clouds. It's about 4 coats of paint. I figured the landscape around the walls would be a fun way to end the sky and would go with various themes in the room if he wanted a change. I picked cowboys, he picked trains (big surprise) and we compromised. He got one small steam engine coming out of a tunnel and I got a few cowboy accessories. He sits in the striped chair when he's in trouble. Sometimes I catch him up there reading books. That's alright- timeout doesn't seem to work all that well with him anyway.

What I really love best about his room is just all the boy stuff. Trucks and trains and books and puzzles, plastic spiders, a harmonica. Homework is still a few years off, so his desk stays a nice showcase of his little boy things.

Posted by Alicia at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am LOVING this skirt from Anthropologie, how cute- look at the patches! And this blouse, with the embroidered bird. Very sweet. I'm definitely adding a little blouse with some kind of embroidery to my list. The other thing I noticed looking at the Spring clothes are the pants. Not all the capris- I have some of those. There are loads of pedal pusher length short pants. So that leads to the project I have just finished.

I had these two pairs of cut off jeans on my sewing table that needed some love. Neither pair ended up as short as I intended, but that's ok. I added tan linen cuffs to the bottom of the first pair to get them to a length I liked and some patches out of old hankies inspired by the green skirt above. I even did a little math and dug up a protractor to draw the hexagonal shape.

Posted by Alicia at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am guessing this might be the last year he lets me make his Valentine's cards, preferring next year to give out some crazy, cartoon character ones instead. We started with an entire bag of conversation hearts and a few days later, that little bucket is all that remains. Evil candies. Sorry about the bad lighting on these pictures. I can't seem to get close-ups quite right.

Posted by Alicia at 08:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While talking about waiting three more hours until Pa Pa comes to take Jack up to feed the chickens, but losing his thought mid-sentence:

"OK. If you have one hour and then, um, two more hours... then you'd have, um, a train...
I mean three hours."

When in doubt, just say train.

Posted by Alicia at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I bought this high chair when I was pregnant with Jack for $40 at a consignment shop. I talked the guy down from $50 and it was still overpriced. I had to sand it, oil it (carefully avoiding the little dog on the back), add safety straps, make a cushion, and add a little wipeable placemat to the tray. It is very cute but not very practical. It gets caked with gooey food quickly and is difficult to clean. The baby can easily lift the tray up and spill her entire meal. I have found myself gazing longingly at fancy, modern plastic models, and we do have a plastic booster with a tray that we use fairly often. Yet, despite all of these flaws, I do love it so.

Every once in awhile it needs an overhaul. The straps are removed, soaked and dried, and it is scrubbed from top to bottom. I have re-oiled it in the past, but not this time. This time I made a cute little slipcover for the cushion out of oilcloth and red ribbon. Too cute. Very girlie.

Here's the little doggy: woof.

Posted by Alicia at 09:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nora's room is very small. We put the bead board up about 6 feet and painted it green and above the trim white. I fully intended to paint a mural up there, something with birds. But when we got her tiny space painted, I just couldn't do it. It looked so open and fresh. So instead I painted some little birds on canvases, which you've seen on my other website, and made a bird mobile inspired by Martha.

Since Nora is our last baby, I have been anxious to get rid of baby gear the minute she is done with it. I am already dreaming of how to arrange her room when it is time for her big bed. I don't save much, a couple special little outfits, a few mementoes, but I think I will have a hard time taking down this mobile. I'll always remember sitting with a huge belly at my work table folding these little birds.

Posted by Alicia at 05:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh, don't worry. She's had a snack, a drink, Tylenol, been picked up, put down, cuddled, talked to, and finally left alone. The only good thing is, sometimes a good cry leads to a moment like this:

Posted by Alicia at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thursday we made homemade pizza. Pizza dough is very easy, but Jack was thouroughly impressed with himself. "Dad, we made pizza, and it didn't even come out of a box!"

Jack got some kid-sized baking items from my parents for Christmas. He loves them. We've used them to make scrambled eggs, vegan chocolate cake- quite yummy by the way, and this pizza dough. He even thinks we should take all his cooking stuff on our trip to the lake this summer so he can help all the daddies grill.

Posted by Alicia at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amanda at SouleMama has started a Flickr group called Corners of my Home. It's kind of fun peeping into other peoples houses. It's like when you go for a walk in the evening and try to get a glimpse into the homes in your neighborhood. C'mon good neighbors- leave open your blinds.

Posted by Alicia at 09:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Alicia at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

People in the online craft community always do these swaps. They have a theme or an idea and they swap projects with each other. It looks like great fun, and the results are amazing. But I've always been too chicken to sign up. Would my stuff be good enough?

I couldn't resist this one. Molly at Mollycoddle has organized a Mini Swap. It's for kids! Handmade and hand-me-down gift exchange, so it won't even cost lots of money! People from all over the world want to participate?! Can you tell I'm a little excited? Do you know why? Huh? It's because I got an email from my partner and guess where they live? Wichita? Nope. Chicago? No. England? Not even. It's SINGAPORE! How cool is that? Jack thinks it will be fun, but as always, I seem to be the one jumping around about it. My partner is Erin of Opportunity Knits. Look at her beautiful things and the lovely children. Her son is five- that will be just perfect for Jack. She also has a daughter who is 13 and loves girly things. I'll have to call Chloe for advice. I'm just so tickled. Time to start thinking about some fun stuff to send!

On a note closer to home, the kids had their 1 yr and 5 yr checkups today. They both had to get shots and Jack was such a trooper. He didn't cry, but the last one stung, so he was ready TO GO when it was over. He wanted to leave the room while Nora got her shots. He went out in the hall and sat slumped on the floor in his Nemo underpants. A hug and a blueberry lollipop perked him right up. Both kids are growing well, on the small end of the charts, but that's ok. Jack grew 2 1/4 inches this last year and that's right on track. Nora got the ok to turn her carseat around, even though she's not quite to 20 Lbs, and she laughed aloud all the way to Jack's preschool. "I can see where I'm going!" Last night, while Jack defiantly ignored our orders to get ready for bed and Nora over-dramatically cried at our feet hanging on to our pants, I asked Brian what made us think having children was such a good idea. But I look at them today in the rear view mirror, both laughing and smiling back at me, I'm convinced they are the best ideas we've ever had.

Posted by Alicia at 01:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)