Wedding photos and a giveaway

I realize I already blogged about Krista's wedding. Homeschooling for the last three days hasn't sucked up my mind completely yet (however, check back at the end of the year with me, ha!). But I wanted to share some more shots with you now that we have the professional photos back. So Krista's wedding photographer took these fabulous photos. Ruby did a great job. Here are a few of my favorites. Images by Ruby
Here is my favorite one by far. I loved Krista's shiny navy blue shoes.

And just because they are my children, here is a picture of my kids walking down the aisle. I never did get a good picture of the bouquet, so I am glad that Ruby did. My mom said she was pretty worried and didn't like it when I started putting the feathers in, but she ended up liking the end result.

And here is the flower and hair clip I made. True story: I actually lost the original flower and didn't have time to run to the store (I discovered this late at night of course after I had put the kids to bed the night before we were supposed to leave for the wedding), so I created this one by cutting out and burning the petal edges. I added some seed beads and feathers, sewed it to a clip, and WHALAH! Hair clip. I bought french millener's netting on etsy. When you need something crafty and hard to find, I always go to etsy. I'm so glad I lost the original flower. This one turned out so much better.

Remember when I said my most embarrassing moment at the wedding were when the kids decided to boogy down on the dance floor during the toasts? No? Well, Yep. Here is a picture of that moment frozen for all eternity.

I was nursing Tessa and couldn't move from the chair. I'm hissing from the side at them and my kids are blissfully ignorant and dancing away.

Oh dear me.

Let's leave that moment shall we and move on to better things....

So this week I created another white flower and sewed some of the leftover netting behind it. I purposely left the edges of the petals a little dark to add definition this time. I have not added a back to it yet. I figured I would leave it up to you...

So how would you use this? In your hair, or pinned as a brooch? Let me know in your comments and the winner will receive this flower in the mail with the backing of their choice. Either an alligator pinch clip for the hair or a safety pin to pin wherever you like (purse, jacket, shirt, etc.)

I'll pick a winner at the end of next week!

Happy Friday!

The Wild Rumpus

Well, homeschooling has started in earnest this week. In the words of my favorite children's book, "Let the wild rumpus start!" That's from Where the Wild Things Are. I told Hunter to pose for a first day of school photo. I got this. Actually, we are loving doing school at home this week. Hunter is soaking in the learning, and I am loving being able to teach at a level that's personal to him rather than a whole class. It's unbelievable how much time is wasted at school and we just fly through the subjects here at home. I looked back over my lesson plan the first day in surprise to see how fast it went. What I had scheduled would have taken a full day in a classroom, and it only took us two hours. Plus, he has some added subjects that he wouldn't even get everyday at school. I bought little sister a Bumbo seat to sit in next to us while we do school, and she loves it. She likes sitting up and looking around.

She's getting quite big already. The newborn phase is over. This is my last baby, so I am savoring every moment.

Don't let this next picture fool you. Ainsley is quite happy playing by us and doing her own thing while we are doing school, but as soon as we are done, and I let Hunter loose, the squabbling begins.

Yes, these three have been full of mischief. See the big scrape under Ainsley's eye? She also has a big purple lump under those bangs. She decided to take a dive off of the plastic slide onto the patio cement a couple days ago.

There has been a little too much squabbling for me the last two days. So, I put five marks on a post-it on the fridge. I told them when they fight, I would check off a mark. If they got to five (I don't care whose fault it was), then they would be playing seperate in their rooms by themselves the rest of the day. That seriously cut down on the fighting, but they did get to five by dinner time. Ainsley came out crying saying that Hunter said he was "going to throw me in the trwash can!"

I seriously started chuckling which I don't recommend when you are trying to lay down the law, but really, I guess big brother was pretty fed up if he told her that.

So into their rooms they went until bedtime. About an hour later, Ainsley came out dragging a suitcase full of who-knows-what. She said, "I'm pretending that my parents died and I'm running away." Little stinker! I sent her back to her room and told her she had to pretend running away in there.

And what was Hunter up to with all of his new found freedom since school isn't taking that long? Well, he built a monster to block my front door. He was very excited about it, and couldn't wait to show me all the parts. He definately wanted me to take a picture as well. Here it is:

I told him I needed my front door and the monster was going to have to block something else.

Oh good gracious! Now I see why people live for day when their kids go to school and here I am wanting to keep them home and run a busy etsy shop at the same time!

I'm not insane, I promise....just...totally in love with my wacky children.

Startin' Up

So this year, I decided to pull Hunter from public school and homeschool him. Being a credentialed teacher with eight years of experience teaching under my belt and seeing where he would be next year, I felt that I could do a better job at home for many various reasons. Kindergarten was good for him, but each year I reevaluate and see what would be best for the next year. This year, I'm the teacher. Ainsley will be doing a little preschool with me as well. So here is our bookshelf next to the table. When I took this picture, I had not finished putting in some of the textbooks we will be using. I dragged eight boxes of teaching materials down from the garage shelves to sort out what manipulatives and resource books in my stash I could use this year. At each school I taught at, retired teachers passed on their wealth of materials to me, and I have so much wonderful stuff to draw from that I can't wait to dig into it this year. The button jar is for sorting, grouping and making patterns in case you were wondering...

This little man is so excited, and quite frankly, so am I. One of my greatest joys and strengths is teaching, and to teach my son is such a treat for me.

For the last year, we barely visited the library because I unpacked my classroom library of children's books. I had acquired about 10 boxes worth through the years, and my kids still haven't waded through all of them. There are two bookshelves the same size as the white one behind me as I take this picture that are completely filled with children's books at all grade levels (K-8).

We love to sit on this couch and read. The piano is in this room too, and for a while, we called it the book and music room. I moved in some of their toys and moved the drum set out (much to Tone's protests), so now we just call it the playroom. Books are out and all over it all the time. OK, I'll be honest. This room is usually a disaster with toys, forts, and books all over the place. In case you were wondering, those are the airport time zones and vintage airline paraphernalia over the couch. Old tickets, postcards and tickets from his grandma when she flew cross country, and an old flight map of the San Francisco area are displayed.

In honor of the start of school, I created some shoes in prep school colors. Though the taffeta material and flower certainly add some flair that I never had on my private school uniforms.

These shoes are in cobalt blue and I had been meaning to make them ever since Krista's wedding when I made accessories for the kid's outfits in this material.They are called the Teagan and are available in my shop for $30.

Welcome back to school and enjoy your week! In the words of my favorite children's book, "Let the wild rumpus start!" (Where the Wild Things Are).

How to wake up in a leisurely manner...

True story demonstrated by and starring Tessa:

It's 10am and a little girl is still sleeping in. What a lazy bones, eh? A few stretches might get those eyes open and exercise that double chin. I can hear Mommy giggle.

Big arm stretches. Ahhh!

Maybe a yawn or two.

That got my eyes open.

Just another stretch or two for good measure.Or maybe just one last one to work out the baby rolls. Maybe that double chin.Now that I'm awake, Hi. Just let me lay here peacefully for a minute.

So. Whatcha up to today, Mommy?

Oh, I'm just thinking about what I might do today. Eat and sleep some more mainly...

Alright! I'm up already! Get me out of here and dressed. And maybe a little snack for breakfast too while you're at it I think they heard me crying. Yes, I am a princess and they come when I cry. Hunter gives the best kisses. Ainsley's are a bit rough.My brother is just so funny!Hey, I'm getting squooshed in here!

My goodness my siblings are just so funny in the morning!

Hysterical actually.

I love them and they hold my hand.

Mom, will I have to wear Hunter's old hand-me-down Thomas pajamas like Ainsley is wearing? And why is she always sticking her toys in her mouth? Doesn't she know a clenched fist is much better?

Hardy, har, har!

She's so silly. Doesn't she know that a Thomas pajama top is a boy outfit?She's ridiculous. This is my best sneer. I just noticed she's wearing that top with pink horsey bottoms. I will certainly dress better than that when I am bigger and can pick out my own pajamas. By the way...where's that breakfast? One morning with my children. True story.

P.S. Ainsley picked out her ridiculous pajama outfit. I didn't know that she had stolen Hunter's jammie shirt. Or, that she was wearing it with pink horsey bottoms. Eh, who needs to coordinate at bedtime?

The Little Black Dress Shoes

Everyone knows the dress. It started the slogan that every woman needs "her little black dress." In fact I have a picture hanging over my sewing machine of Audrey in this dress. The Breakfast at Tiffany's dress with the rope pearls and long gloves. You know the one.Well, who says baby should be left out? Here are baby's first little black dress shoes.

The polka dot fabric reminded me of pearls and there is a black ruffle across the toe with more pearls on the organza flower. Black damask fabric lines the sole.

I made these in a size too big for Tessa. I can't wait until she fits them.

Ooo La La! Such style, Baby!