Miriam's Dress

 

Here's Miriam's dress.  I entered in the Inspired by the Movies contest on Patternreview.com.  It was inspired by The Parent Trap. 

Another week

1. Here's the delicious Valentine's dinner we had.  I told you it was good. 

2.  On Tuesday night I had just settled down to fold 7 batches of laundry while watching three episodes of Call the Midwife, when Nicolas tripped and fell against our brick fireplace.  As soon as I saw it, I knew he needed stitches.  So off to the urgent care I went.  Only it closed at 9 PM, instead of 11 PM like my pediatrician had told me, and so then I drove to Texas Children's Hospital, only they had a three hour ER wait, so I went next door to the Methodist hospital, and I was in and out in an hour and half.  Lesson learned.  DON'T go to Texas Children's, not because they aren't good, just because the wait is abominably long. 

3.  See, does Lando even care?  No, he stopped crying withing 2 minutes of falling.  And didn't even cry when they stuck him with the first needle--only when they started injecting the lidocaine did he start to cry.  And then he stopped as soon as they stopped.  He's tough--what can I say.  All the nurses and the doctor commented on how low-key he was. 

4. Elena and Isabel were dancing the other night.  Wowsers.  Those two are impressive dancers.  They certainly didn't get their moves from me.  It's so cute now because Nicolas sings with them and dances with them. 

5. You can see the stitches really well in this one. I took them out today.  I love taking stitches and staples out.  So fun. 

6.  I finished Miriam's dress and mailed to her, and Andrea already has it, but has she sent me a picture yet????!?!?!?  NO!!!!!  Andrea, if you expect the other dresses, I expect a picture in the next hour!!!! 

7.  I made Leo email a bunch of his cousins today to ask for pictures for a photo album I want to make his grandparents of all their descendents.  Am I crazy to start still another project?  Yes. Yes I am.

8. Friday we spent all day raking leaves and pulling weeds.  I really hate the perpetually green oak trees in our yard--all five of them.  They don't lose their leaves all at once, just constantly little by little throughout the winter.  So you can't just rake once and be done with it. Sigh.  However, we'll probably only rake once.  I would much rather rake outside than clean the bathrooms though.

9.  I love Relief Society in my ward.  They just have quarterly activities with amazing food, a speaker with a short and sweet message, and the rest of the time we eat and chat. Perfect.  And there's a lady, Cynthia, in my ward who volunteers to decorate for each one, and it looks amazing each time.  Nicer than a lot of wedding receptions I've been too.  Anyway, I have to admit that I like pretty things and really like to see how she decorates each time.

10.  I'm thinking of taking my kids to the junior high play, The Music Man. It's a shortened version, and two kids in our ward have lead parts.  I really want to take them to a play, and the fact that it's shortened is enticing.  However, the fact that it's the junior high, makes me doubt the quality.  Hmm, what to do?

11.  Why am I asking you all?  NOBODY replied when I asked about Halloween costumes last week.  Ruff. 

12.  Sebastian's birthday is coming up, I hope his present gets here in time.

13.  Ana's birthday is coming up too.  She'll be 14 and able to go to dances, only she probably won't. Last night there was a stake dance but she went to her friend's house with a bunch of kids, because nobody wanted to go to the dance.  Too boring.  Something is terribly wrong with this generation.  Sigh. 

Sew, Sew, Sew

I'm so excited to have my sewing machine up and running again.  I just (mostly) finished a dress for my niece Miriam today, and I washed the fabric I bought last year for Easter dresses for my two little girls.  And then I had Leo help pick out the dresses to make.  I was thinking I was bored with the 50's.  But umm, I guess not.  Here's my inspiration dresses for the dresses I plan on making them.







I think I really just want to make ME the green one.  But, I don't think I'll carry the look well 6 months pregnant.  Besides I have FOUR new maternity dress patterns just begging to be made.

In other sewing news, I need help once again making up my mind on what to sew for Halloween this year.  Yes, I realize I haven't posted pictures yet of the little girls' AMAZING outfits from last Halloween, but I'm waiting for the azaleas to bloom.  Soon.  It will be soon.  But on to this year's Halloween.

There's only two options.

1.  1840s clothing.  So many uses--pioneer day, the Dickens Market in Galveston if we're still here this Christmas, etc, etc.  I really want a Victorian bonnet.  Really.   
So something like the above two dresses for the little girls.

 And something a bit like this for me.   Or this.









































 But the boys clothes are SO boring.  Blah.

Option #2:

Medieval Clothes.  I know, I've already made Renaissance outfits before.  But this would be PRE-Renaissance.  Knights and Camelot and that sort of stuff.  Something like this:

Because I already have the patterns, and I think my boys would love armor to dress in. I could make it up awesome, promise.  Like this:






















But then I'm stumped for the girls.  They already have princess dresses galore.  Maybe a cote-hardie?
  
I kind of really like the two colored heraldic ones.  I just don't know that I could get my girls to go for it.  Although Elena wasn't keen on being a princess till  she got compliments on  her dress at school. 

What do you think?
Make the Victorian outfits *cough--for me--cough* or the knights for the boys?  And do I just make whatever for the girls if they don't want either?  Sigh.  I so loved them all to be matching. 

This week's 13.

1.   Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

On tonight's menu is chocolate pancakes with chocolate ganache syrup, whipped cream and strawberries.  Yum!

2.  Ana is done with basketball as of tomorrow.  On Monday she starts soccer.  She wanted to run track too, but we told her no, because that would be too busy.

3.  We've had three days of beautiful sunshine.  My kids are in the backyard digging holes in the mud as I type this.  Ahhh...bliss! 

4.  Here's a real time update of Elena at her Valentine's Party at school.  Only they call it a "Spring Party."   Whatever.  They still exchange Valentine's cards though.  Here's Elena with Audry.  Her mom sent me emails with the pictures just now.

5.  I've been sewing, and it's heavenly.  Halfway done one dress for my niece, Miriam.  I'm going to enter it into the Inspired by the Movies contest at patternreview.com.  It's inspired by Parent Trap.  ;)  Well, not really, but that's what I came up with.  It's the same dress I made for Ana in gray for our family pictures, only I changed it quite a bit.  Aren't you so excited to see?

6.  I thought Nicolas inherited all of MY side of the family's genes because he used to be up in the 90th percentile for height and 70th for weight.  Nope.  He had a well-child visit on Tuesday, and now he is in the 50th percentile for height and the 10th percentile for weight.

7.  I had a Ob appointment on Wednesday, and an ultrasound.  My baby is a very, very active....BOY!  So as of right now, we sing "Oliver, Oliver, never before has a boy wanted more...." a lot to him.  We also like the name Marcus.  And Leo says we should break the mold and go for a Scandinavian name--Jorgen.  I like Jorgen, but I don't think I'm ready to break any molds.

 8.  Some pictures of my monster Nicolas.  Sick kids make me want to pull my hair out!   At least he's happier today.  He's wanted to be held non-stop all week long.  

 9.  Ack!  I'm running out of time, my kids want to come inside, and I already took a break to strip down Nicolas (he was covered in mud) and put him to bed and make the bread into loaves.  Can the rest of my 4 things be pictures???

10.  The kids are watching for Leo to come home.  So adorable.  Nicolas loves Leo so much!  He squeals and runs to him as soon as someone says Dad's home.

11.  I didn't go to church on Sunday--I was home holding Nicolas.  But I did snap some photos of my two handsome men.  

12.  And here's the mailboxes we made.  Good times.

 13.  And Ana with Nicolas one of the days he was sick.  She was sweet and held him while Dad and I ate.  (She had already wolfed her food down.)

Thurdsday's 13 on Saturday.

1. Yep.  My resolution only lasted one week. Things have been like that lately. But at least this is late rather than nonexistant.

2. Nicolas is sick, sick, sick.  Leo and I finished cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms yesterday so that we could go to the temple this morning and be back before noon.  Instead we woke up to Nicolas screaming before our alarm even went off and he hasn't lifted his head off one of our shoulders this entire morning.  Temple trip cancelled.

3. Nicolas did smile and act happy once this morning when I started playing Brazilian soccer commercials for him.  He happily smiled and said, "Ball, ball...." But eventually not even that cheered him up.

4.  I did get most of the mending done this week.  Only two more things to fix.  One of which is a pirate vest that shredded in the wash after we took pictures at the beach over a year ago.  Yes, that IS how long it takes me to do the mending.  It's kind of nice though, I didn't have to fix a couple of pairs of pants because Isabel has grown out of them.  And the four pairs of pants of Elena's and Isabel's that currently have holes, I'm ignoring because they were not on my mending pile.  Any good tips to keep velveteen from shredding/fraying?  I think I cut the seam allowances too close.  But if I remember correctly, I barely had enough fabric and didn't have the proper seam allowances to begin with.

5.   I am so sick of gray dreary weather!!!  I NEED SUNSHINE!!!!  I need to buy one of those sun lamps.   Blah, looking out the window it's just flat gray skies, like it has been the last couple of weeks.

6. I'm teaching a beginning sewing class starting in March for our stake.  I'm a lot nervous about it.  Not really the teaching part that I'm worried about, just that I won't be able to round up enough help, so that we can give individual help once the teaching part is over.

7.  Leo wanted a new profile picture for his linked in account. This is the result.  Hee. Hee.  Which, by the way, does anyone have any good contacts in the Colorado, NM or Vernal UT, that would like to hook us up with a oil engineering job?  We so want to move out of Texas and back closer to family.

8.  Ha. Ha.  It's ten AM and I'm in bed typing this.  I'd feel pathetic except most of the morning I was holding Nicolas and I did finish the bathrooms yesterday.  I guess I could get up and exercise....

9.  Leo and I should find out this Wednesday if we're having a boy or a girl.  Elena and Ana want a boy, while Isabel and Sebastian want a girl.  I just wish I could find a name I REALLY like for either.  Runner-ups for girls include: Louisa Fay (probably my fave), Amelia Fay (Leo's favorite), or maybe Leona or Olivia.  Alice is still one of my favorite names too.  For boys, Leo likes Ruben.  (Me not so much.) And I like Oliver Andres. Ackk!  I need some more boy options.  I liked Lorenzo quite a bit, but Leo HATED that.  Too bad for him it's my turn to choose this time! Any suggestions?

10. Isabel has been singing "Let it Go" non-stop.  It's so adorable.  My current favorite song, is Skyfall, from the James Bond movie.  Yeah, I know, weird.  But it's fun to sing to.

11.   Sebastian said the other day, "I can't wait till it's winter and it snows!!!"  And so I said, "It is the middle of winter, it just doesn't snow here."  Then he said, "I want to move to Grandma's house!" Poor boy.  No snow.

12.  Today we plan on decorating mailboxes from Target for Valentine's Day.  Totally stole the idea from my friend Jerusha's facebook post.  Good thing she's on top of things.

13.   I talked about a show last week for my last 13th thing, so I guess I will this week too.  I am so excited for Jan 2015!!!!!!!  When the new Sherlock season comes out.  I love that show.  Here's a link to this season for anyone who cares to watch online.  Although you really should start with season 1 and 2 first.  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/sherlock/

And for fun: