According to Ravelry, I finished this blanket in 15 days of April 2008. That’s right before this guy was born. It was the only blanket I crocheted for him and of course it still makes its rotation around the house–in my bed, in his, in the living room, dining room, etc. It even went [Read More...]]]>

According to Ravelry, I finished this blanket in 15 days of April 2008. That’s right before this guy was born. It was the only blanket I crocheted for him and of course it still makes its rotation around the house–in my bed, in his, in the living room, dining room, etc. It even went with us when we evacuated during Hurricane Ike. One of my favorite Andrew-baby photos is of him on top of it in a wagon while we were staying at Grandma’s during the evacuation. He was so deliciously chubby. See?

So, yes. This is a nearly 4 year-old FO. Both the blanket and the baby.

The night before last, My Girl Thursday and ♥elycia hosted Craft Night! I logged on while they were getting their camera and stream situated and proceeded to cut my pieces during the first few minutes. I followed along with them for about an hour and a half and then had to help with bedtime. [Read More...]]]>

The night before last, My Girl Thursday and ♥elycia hosted Craft Night! I logged on while they were getting their camera and stream situated and proceeded to cut my pieces during the first few minutes. I followed along with them for about an hour and a half and then had to help with bedtime. I was able to pick up where I left off when I got back and finished all of the sewing that night. I stuffed my camera the next morning and presented it to Andrew.

He LOVES it. I took these photos this morning and you can see where the felt is already pilling. I used the craft-store stuff because that’s all I had on hand. I intended to make it all blue, but…ummmm I ran out. Ha! Oh well. I like the contrasting yellow sides and top/bottom.

Did you participate? Show me!

After posting this photo on Twitter, the kind folks over at Tumbleweeds contacted me and asked if we would be interested in reviewing a pair of child-size sunglasses. Of course!

Upon opening the package, I was immediately struck by how tiny the glasses seemed. Surely, they would not fit my toddler’s giant noggin. [Read More...]]]>

After posting this photo on Twitter, the kind folks over at Tumbleweeds contacted me and asked if we would be interested in reviewing a pair of child-size sunglasses. Of course!

Upon opening the package, I was immediately struck by how tiny the glasses seemed. Surely, they would not fit my toddler’s giant noggin.

I called him over and was SO happy to be proven wrong.

They fit perfectly! Wearing his dad’s sunglasses, he constantly had to be poking them back over his little button nose. These were so nice and snug. Andrew was super excited, too! Anything he can wear that is like someone else’s in the family–he LOVES. He was so excited when both he and Nathan got similar jackets for Christmas.

These glasses provide the perfect touch of uniqueness while still letting him look like his dad. Plus, they’re super durable! He doesn’t quite yet know how to take them off without stretching them and the frames were just as snug after a few pops on and off.

Many, many thanks to Tumbleweeds for providing these little sunnies for my boy. He is so happy with them. We can’t wait for more sunny days! He’s already ordered me to keep them in my purse all the time. He went so far as to suggest I keep them with my camera. Smart boy!

Andrew’s wearing: Zebra wood sunglasses c/o Tumbleweeds, shirt from Threadless, cardigan from Danielle’s online yard sale, and no pants because that’s how he rolls on Sunday mornings.

We decided to take a little trip to the Houston Zoo, this weekend. We invited the boys from our cub scout pack to go with us. We spent five hours there and yet we didn’t see everything. It’s such a massive place! We definitely want to go back and check out other stuff. We [Read More...]]]>

We decided to take a little trip to the Houston Zoo, this weekend. We invited the boys from our cub scout pack to go with us. We spent five hours there and yet we didn’t see everything. It’s such a massive place! We definitely want to go back and check out other stuff. We have a “Supporting” membership and so we can take a pretty decent group with us. For free! This thing paid for itself after the first visit.

Grandma went with us!



An Instax self-portrait by Nathan. The close-up filter is so cool!

Just say “booooooo!” to flash.

There are TONS of succulent plants (mainly agaves, aloes, and other cacti) around the zoo. Love.

I had my DSLR with me, but I didn’t take it out once. Instead, I used up a whole pack of Instax Wide film. I really love this camera! I posted some Instax photos, last week as well. Maybe next time I’ll get some shots of the animals. Womp.

fever: My sweet little guy woke up around 12:30 am the other night– “there’s something in my rooooom!” I was asleep, but daddy was not, so Andrew ended up in bed with me. The next 5 hours were kind of a blur. See, earlier that night he had a fever. No other symptoms, really, [Read More...]]]>

fever: My sweet little guy woke up around 12:30 am the other night– “there’s something in my rooooom!” I was asleep, but daddy was not, so Andrew ended up in bed with me. The next 5 hours were kind of a blur. See, earlier that night he had a fever. No other symptoms, really, but he was warm. I expected him to fall back asleep, but instead of a blissful slumber with a warm cuddly bear, we pretty much talked all night. Every little shadow he saw, he thought was SOMETHING–kitties, owls, scary ladies, and finally at 4am he declared the shadows were turning daddy GREEN. I assured him daddy was NOT green and that HE wouldn’t turn green if he fell asleep. I could see him drifting in and out, but he wouldn’t just STAY asleep. At least not until around 5:30. I promptly fell asleep after I was sure he was out only to be woken up an hour and a half later to get my oldest ready for school. After sending him and Jason off, I napped with Andy until about NOON. It definitely threw me off, but he was feeling better and there was no pesky fever. Whew!

style: He went out with my mom, this afternoon. He wanted to wear his “doctor shirt” (omgosh) and blue jeans. then, when we put on his brown boots and jacket, he noticed the brown hat hanging by the front door. Voila! We have an adorable outfit.

hat: $4 clearance at Kohl’s (score!) / shirt: Kohl’s / jacket: thrifted / pants (not shown): Nate’s old Levi’s blue jeans

there are blue skies in my dreams and laughter that seems un-ending there are green grass fields there and happiness and hopes for tomorrow

Just a few photos from our weekend taken with my Instax 210. We were in our old neighborhood, so we passed by one of the parks we used to [Read More...]]]>

there are blue skies in my dreams
and laughter that seems un-ending
there are green grass fields there
and happiness and hopes for tomorrow

Just a few photos from our weekend taken with my Instax 210. We were in our old neighborhood, so we passed by one of the parks we used to take the boys to and found it torn down and replaced with this new…weird structure. There was a slide there that had NO EDGES on it. AND it had an awkward twist way up top. It was terrifying! I was kind of bummed to see this new place because I took some pretty lovely photos of the boys there when Andrew was a baby. Oh yeah, there are also no swings left behind at the park. I’d be so upset if we still lived in the area!

It’s been in the 70s, the past few days and it is downright ruining my winter mood. In fact, I’ve given up on Winter already. Spring designs and projects are being brainstormed and put in my little notebook already. I may even tackle some Spring cleaning, this weekend, too (I make no promises).

Sunday morning, my mother-in-law emailed me to let us know Santa would be at R.E.I. that day taking FREE photos with kiddos. She suggested we stop by on our way to her house and get a shot of the kids with him. I went through their closet looking for the perfect little combinations and [Read More...]]]>

Sunday morning, my mother-in-law emailed me to let us know Santa would be at R.E.I. that day taking FREE photos with kiddos. She suggested we stop by on our way to her house and get a shot of the kids with him. I went through their closet looking for the perfect little combinations and finally settled on a red gingham shirt for Andrew and a green gingham shirt for Nathan. FESTIVE!!

All was wonderful up until Andrew standing next to Santa and the photographer slowly walking to his camera… “NOOO!” He ran away. He actually told Santa what he wanted, but then got creeped out by the guy taking the picture. No offense to the photographer, he was nice enough. My little one is just at the age where #1 DON’T tell him what to do, and #2 Who are you? GET AWAY! Basically, only mommy can take his picture.

Oh well. Nathan looked pretty adorable–

Andrew is wearing: thrifted shirt & blazer, boots from The Children’s Place, pants from Target, pin from Mod Cloth.
Nathan is wearing: shirt & hat from Target, Levi’s pants, thrifted blazer.

It was last Christmas when I gifted myself a copy of Print Workshop and the basic tools of a block-printing kit. Over the past year, I’ve made quite a few stamps using my trusty lino cutter, including a crochet-inspired one that I’ve been using on the envelopes for my Lace Love orders. I’ll share [Read More...]]]>

It was last Christmas when I gifted myself a copy of Print Workshop and the basic tools of a block-printing kit. Over the past year, I’ve made quite a few stamps using my trusty lino cutter, including a crochet-inspired one that I’ve been using on the envelopes for my Lace Love orders. I’ll share that one with you soon, but today I want to talk about my Christmas card!

I doodled this tree, inspired by a drawing in a children’s book, several times and knew I wanted to incorporate it into our Christmas card somehow. I cut a small version on a scrap piece of Speedy Carve and liked it so much, I began drawing it larger. When I was finally satisfied, I drew it directly on a linoleum block and began carving. I found some metallic Speedball ink on clearance at Hobby Lobby one day and took it as a sign. THIS needed to be on the front of my card! I got to work immediately and had my 30 cards printed in a few short hours.

Its metallic-y shiny goodness–which was surprisingly hard to capture in photos–is not the best part of the card. Nope. The BEST past of the card? The handsome little fellas on the inside:

Thrifted blazers, vests, cardigans, lollipops. Informal to the max, but just our style.

You want to see outtakes, you say? But, of course!

I took the outdoor photos first. There was more than one meltdown, I can promise you that. The black & white photo shows what a toddler looks like when his big brother tells him he WILL NOT hold his hand. Oh my word, the tears! I spared you the photo of them BOTH crying because I threaten their treat. When we finally came back in, they got their lollipop prize and were still so adorable, I HAD to take more photos. In our dining room. Lucky I did because I ended up loving one of those the most!

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Did YOU take your own Christmas card photo? How did it go?? How did you “dress it up” for your actual card? I want to know!

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p.s. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for 100 custom postcards I posted earlier today!

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p.p.s. I totally forgot to mention I’m linking up with The Paper Mama’s Holiday Photo challenge!

2. Lace Love was printed and released! Yay!

3. My littlest and I went to a baby shower to [Read More...]]]>

The end! Can you believe tomorrow is December? If you’re looking for a last minute sponsor spot, check out THIS PAGE. We averaged over 2,500 page-views per day in November. Spectacular! I’ll be debuting a new blog design tomorrow, too.

“If you make that stupid face too often, IT WILL STICK.”

Oh, also. How dapper is my little fella? We went to a baby shower, yesterday. He was a charmer–blew raspberries on all the pretty ladies’ faces.

p.s. I am accepting December sponsors! Goodknits has grown so much this month and I [Read More...]]]>

“If you make that stupid face too often, IT WILL STICK.”

Oh, also. How dapper is my little fella? We went to a baby shower, yesterday. He was a charmer–blew raspberries on all the pretty ladies’ faces.

p.s. I am accepting December sponsors! Goodknits has grown so much this month and I am happy to have the lovely blogs in my sidebar. See [THIS PAGE] for more information. There are going to be TWO sizes available next month!

my littlest boys

and the boy who made them possible (heh)

p.s. those blazers are featured in our Christmas card, this year. My kiddos luhluhlooove them.

Well, this was a no-brainer. I had my baby on a sidewalk. Born in the morning sunshine. It left me so high on life, I used the experience as my happy place for months! No, really. I had a root canal a few months later and I zoned out during the procedure by thinking [Read More...]]]>

Well, this was a no-brainer. I had my baby on a sidewalk. Born in the morning sunshine. It left me so high on life, I used the experience as my happy place for months! No, really. I had a root canal a few months later and I zoned out during the procedure by thinking about birth.

I am a mother. That’s my job. Clean toys, clean noses, clean clothes, clean butts. I basically do a lot of cleaning. I also provide cuddles and knit hats. I give out treats and warnings. I have clocked in over 225 minutes of listening to my first grader read aloud (we have to [Read More...]]]>

I am a mother. That’s my job.
Clean toys, clean noses, clean clothes, clean butts. I basically do a lot of cleaning.
I also provide cuddles and knit hats.
I give out treats and warnings.
I have clocked in over 225 minutes of listening to my first grader read aloud (we have to keep count now. big UGH. let’s just read to read, k?) in the past week or two.
I enforce bed time and I comb hair.

What I love most? Watching those dudes grow.

Happy Halloween, friends! We (I) carved this Jack-O’-Lantern on Friday night. My son helped me find a design on google. He wanted it to be scary and he chose this face. I am so very thankful for the straight lines. It’s been a very long time since I carved a pumpkin, so I wasn’t [Read More...]]]>

Happy Halloween, friends! We (I) carved this Jack-O’-Lantern on Friday night. My son helped me find a design on google. He wanted it to be scary and he chose this face. I am so very thankful for the straight lines. It’s been a very long time since I carved a pumpkin, so I wasn’t prepared for the blister I’d get on my finger. It’s all better now, thankfully.

It’s also my husband’s birthday, so I’ve spent the day getting a yummy dinner ready and trying to tidy up the place a bit. I’m pretty beat and I still have quite a bit left to do, but I wanted to pop in and share some of my favorite photos from the past few Halloweens. Caution: Much adorable below.

This photo was taken in 2006. I had one baby and he was radical. He was also 1 and so very into Halloween. He was a red dragon with bodacious hips, but THIS polaroid is my favorite photo of the night. His smile, his ‘I love my mummy!’ shirt, his missing arm warmer…he was just so jazzed to be there.

Last year, he was an Incredible. We found his costume at a thrift store for under $3. I made his mask out of felt. WIN. ALSO–notice the similar pose to the Polaroid above? GUSH.

The baby’s past 3 Halloweens have gone like this: peanut, lion, pumpkin. He always brings the cute.

This year, they’ll be dressed as Iron Man and a police officer.

After daddy’s birthday dinner and dessert, the boys will head out with him for treats and I’ll stick around to pass some out to visiting ghouls and goblins.

Stay safe, everyone! Enjoy this very last night of October. And wish this guy a happy birthday if you see him: