It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

School started today.


I've never seen Parker more calm and collected about something so big. He has been nothing but excited about first grade. I was certain that would change as we got closer to the big day. No sign of nerves last night at bedtime. I thought it would hit hard this morning. Parker proved me wrong (in a good way) and walked down the halls with complete confidence, gave me a good bye high-five and I was outta there.

I was so proud of him. Last year he struggled for months. It took him until January to decide he liked school. What a change. (Hopefully he's still singing the same tune when he gets home.)


Parker's confidence probably stemmed in part from his new clothes. He was very specific about what he wanted to wear to first grade (no matter how much I tried to talk him out of it). All he wanted were Star Wars T-shirts and Sketchers. (Good bye Converse All Stars. Sniff. Sniff.) I am definitely a believer that the right clothes can boost your confidence so Star Wars T-shirts and Sketchers it was for my first grader.

And somehow he still looks out of control cute.

Summer Break: Day 78

It was one of those days.

No. Not that kind.

The good kind.

The kind that makes me feel guilty about all my whining this summer. Why can't I enjoy my boys this much all the time? Just look at them. They're fantastic! Why am I so anxious for school to start next week? I should soak up this time at home while they're still so young and under my wing (I have wings...have I mentioned that?). Have you ever seen a cuter brood of boys? (Does three boys qualify us for a brood...because it sure as heck feels like a brood.)


Columbus has a life size replica of the Santa Maria. (I know, right?) Certainly not because Columbus sailed to this lovely land-locked state...but my home town is obviously named after the man. We've never been on the tour so today was the day.


I forget how much I love my city. Columbus is glorious. I spend way, way, way too much time in the suburbs. Downtown is magic to me. There are so many beautiful old buildings. We put two hours worth of quarters in the parking meter and used up every second walking along the riverfront, enjoying the green, green grass, reading all the plaques at every statue and sculpture, and finding a surprise fountain for cooling off.


Then we got back to the car and the whining picked up right where it left off before they were even buckled in. I'm back to looking forward to school starting next week. But I'm glad we had those two magical hours together for our last full week of summer break. My kids really are the greatest.

Spectacular! Spectacular!

I've been holding out on you my friends...

As you can imagine, I have a very fun, very creative extended family.

My cousin Roni got married out in Arizona this summer. It was apparently the social event of the year and I missed it. I can't tell you how sad I've been over this.

The reception was spectacular! You HAVE TO check this out. Roni and my Aunt Debbie did this all themselves in their backyard. And that bouquet? Made completely out of thrifted brooches.

I can't include enough pictures on my blog to do this reception justice...just enough to make you want to check out the link.




And in case that first link wasn't enough...Check this out for more photos. She looked every bit as cute in her simple white belted dress and fantastic shoes when she left the reception. Plus it's a good portrayal of what a fun family I have. Her and all her brothers bustin' some moves on the dance floor. Not to mention Uncle Dave* in that vintage yellow sports coat. What a riot!

*Dave is not Roni's dad...he just got the shout out for that sweet jacket. Sorry Uncle Garry (Roni's dad). I know you made this all possible and I'm sure you were quite busy behind the scenes so props to you as well.

Sorry I missed it.

Summer Break: Day 71

On the lunch menu:

Peanut butter and jelly. Hold the peanut butter.

Yet a spoonful of peanut butter was requested as a side.

Kids are so weird.

For those of you seriously interested in a tutorial....

My tutorial skills do not match the mediocrity of my re-fashioning skills. It was seriously simple and I think I made the directions seem more complex. I don't know if I made sense. I promise it's a breeze.

Here goes:

• carefully remove pocket with a seem ripper.
• cut sleeves, shirt tail, and a round neckline.

****note: Before the refashioning, the shirt fit me with the shoulders hanging down about 2 inches too long on each shoulder. Cinching it was all it took for the shoulders to fit properly. If the shoulders on your shirt hang down farther, I'd consider cutting it off at the shoulder seem for cute capped sleeves.

• cut strip from excess shirt tail to make casing for collar. a minimum of 2 inches. preferably 2 1/2.
  
• cut 1 inch strips from sleeves and sew together in one long strip to make drawstring.
• snip about 1/2 inch right against button strip on each side.
• attach lace or embellishments down center near button strip with zig-zag stitch.

***note: You could reverse this and make a strip for the casing with the sleeves and the drawstring with your shirt tail depending on your leftover fabric.

To make casing for neckline:

• use strip from shirt tail and fold raw edges toward middle as shown. press.
• fold in half to hide all raw edges. press.
• Pin around neckline with neckline in between fold.
• tuck raw edges under at each end.
• top stitch around outer edge.

• make drawstring with sleeve excess. fold in same manor as neckline casing as skinny as possible.
• top stitch entire drawstring.
• use a safety pin to feed drawstring through casing at neckline.
• with shirt inside out, sew along each side beginning at arms for desired fit.
• cut off excess fabric.
  

• hem sleeves, bottom of shirt, and top of button strip.
• Cinch and tie drawstrings at neck.

• wear.
• impress.

Summer Break: Day 63

This top used to be Spencer's:


You guessed wrong. Spencer does not dress in drag (often).

I didn't take a before picture, but we all know what a man's shirt looks like: long sleeve, collar, button-down, one large pocket on the front. Yesterday, the shirt looked something like this:



Impressed?

Plus, let's keep this on the down-low. Spencer still doesn't know I took his shirt.
...kidding.

Summer Break: Day 59

Parker: I see Chief's tenders. (A lovely term introduced to my crazies courtesy of Kung Fu Panda...we can't eat chicken tenders around here without a few giggles.)

Me: Chief doesn't have any tenders.

Parker: Why not?

Me: They were cut off when he was a puppy.

Park: Why?

Me: To make sure he never has any puppies of his own.

Park: Puppies come from tenders?

Giggles all around.