More....Just More

Ugh. I don't think I really realized what exactly I was getting myself into when I decided to sew for ebay. I've now raised my prices twice...and orders just keep coming! Good grief!! Maybe it's just me - but I just don't see WHY anyone would pay $70+shipping for a Halloween costume for a 1 year old. The darn kid is only going to wear it once! Anyways, I've completed 13 costumes and have 9 orders waiting. Still mostly Little Bo Peep and Red Riding Hood (and I'm not posting more pics of either of those!), but I've also done Woody and Jessie from Toy Story (which of course I forgot to take pics of!), 2 Silvermists from Tinkerbell, I'm working on Glinda from Wizard of Oz now, and have a fancy Princess, another pirate, and a Musketeer to look forward to. Bo and Red are nice though cause I can whip them out pretty fast. And they're very inexpensive to make. But BORING! lol Here's a Silvermist modeled by the lovely, leggy Amber. =)

Here's the pretty girl! I need to make another Silvermist for Jade still, but really really need to get caught up on orders first! BTW - I am NOT lovin glitter satin. It's a big ol' pain in my behind! And so is invisible thread. I seriously wanted to chuck my machine out the window today finishing the wings.

But at least they turned out pretty....and my machine was not injured in any way.

The Morning After

And the night of.....
I snuck in her room before going to bed myself and snapped a quick picture as proof I have a good girl. =)

I really love how kids sleep.

Good morning, Sunshine! Someone forgot they can get up out of bed without help now! lol

LOVE this smile! She's pretty ecstatic to have Milo in her bed.

There's my sweet baby face!

She did really well at both naptimes today. In the morning, she got her blanket and cup and climbed into her bed by herself. And in the afternoon, she brought me her blanket, took my hand and led me to her bed. When she woke up, she got out of bed and knocked on her door till I opened it. I was rewarded with the biggest grin ever! Sweet thing! And tonight, I filled her cup with milk and led her to bed. She climbed in, laid down on the pillow, and I tucked her in. What a good girl!

*SNIFF* *SNIFF*

My baby is no longer a baby. It's very, very sad. And I feel like crying. A lot. This is kind of my own fault though. I'm the one pushing my kids to learn and grow. I know it's the right thing to do.....I mean, I really, REALLY don't want to be the mom with the grown adult child still living at home, no job, no skills, no self-survival know-how.....but it's sad at the same time. Especially cause there's no easy guarantee I'll have another baby. Ever. My sweet baby Paisley could just very well be my very lastest little creature till I'm a grandma. And that's sad. Very sad. Extremely, terribly, very, very sad that she's not my tiny baby anymore. Nope. She's a big girl. Sleeping in a big girl bed. And it's my own fault. I'm lame.

Here she is saying, "No, Mom. I can do it myself!"

"See?"

I converted her crib to a toddler bed this evening (obviously) and she's already a pro at getting in and out. She thinks it's hilarious and cracks up every time. I put her to bed, even gave her her own pillow, tucked her in, said goodnight, turned off the light, shut the door, and haven't heard a peep since. I'm so glad she still respects bedtime! For now. But my theory is this: if I start new things kids typically have a hard time with while she's young and not old enough to really know any different, I won't have to fight her later. So, it's a good theory. It's worked on 1/2 my kids so far. Let's make it 2/3. I'll be potty training around Christmas time. Very slowly. But she's a smart little thing and I think she'll catch on fairly quickly.

In other news. I finished 3 more costumes and have sent them out. I took pictures of Paisley in one cause it was the right size and I needed a model. Soooo cute! The other two were Bo Peeps. I have 2 more Reds (the Blue changed back to Red) cut out and ready to sew, and fabric for 2 Silvermists (from Tinkerbell), Glinda (from Wizard of Oz), and Woody and Jessie from Toy Story. I also have the fabric for Amber (Rosetta from Tinkerbell), Jade (Silvermist, another one....), and Paisley (a very sweet clown). I'm pretty much finished with my friend's costumes for her boys (a Jedi, puppy, and Spongebob). Just have to attach the puppy hood to the jumpsuit thingy and I haven't even started Spongebob, but he really shouldn't take too long. He's just made of felt and glue afterall....

She really, really hates hats! I'm making her a clown hat (a tall pointy one) though but it will definately have an elastic strap to keep it on! lol

The key to taking a decent picture of squirmy Pie is to distract her. A nice puzzle piece works well here. And yes, I DID make the hat! (though it looks slightly squashed in this picture, but come on, it'd been thrown across the room at least a dozen times by this point!)

Sewing Frenzy

A few weeks ago, I decided I needed to take a more active part in earning $$ for our family. I knew I did NOT want to work outside of my home and be away from my kiddos and I also knew I did NOT ever want to do home daycare EVER again. Sooo....after much thought and brainstorming, I decided I can sew and earn $$ this way. I listed some patterns on Etsy.com and ebay and waited for orders. And they came! So far I've sold 9 costumes! I've completed and sent out 4, have one cut out, fabric for 2 more, and need to get to Joann's this weekend for fabric for the other 2. If you're reading my blog and have kids you want awesome custom Halloween costumes for and don't know how to sew (and my costumes last YEARS!!! unlike what you find in stores that fall apart after the first wash!), stop by my etsy store or search for custom costumes on ebay. You'll probably find mine. Here's a hint: they're the cutest!!! lol Here's the ones I've completed -

Blue Bo Peep

Toy Story Bo Peep

Little Red Riding Hood

Paisley modeling Little Bo Peep

I think Bo is so popular cause of Toy Story 3 coming out. Or maybe cause it's just a pretty sweet costume. I have 2 more Bo's, 2 more Red's (but one is supposed to be blue....), and a little girl Pirate Captain. 

How To Have a Great Day

Step 1: FEED THE BABY!!!

Step 2: Wear super cute clothes (made or altered by your mom, of course!) and have super sweet smiles.

Step 3: Make sure you have a dependable ride to school.

Step 4: Always have something fun to push nearby.

Fun With Daddy

I LOVE how much David enjoys his girls! And I LOVE how much they enjoy playing with him! Even though he often chooses inconvenient times to chase them around the house and get them all wound up....I know he only does it cause he doesn't see much of them and really, truly misses them all day.

~I also LOVE freshly bathed babies in pajamas! Especially when they belong to ME!!! =)

My girls start playing "horsie" really young!

Pie's favorite game....CHASE! I don't mind playing it at home - but I sure hate playing it while running errands! And see what I mean about clean, jammie babies?? I just want to squeeze her!

It's a good thing these three have such a good, strong, obedient horse to give them rides all over the house! This horse is especially tolerant of little hands pulling his hair, stinky feet in his face (not this time as the only feet in his face belong to the 2 youngest who've already showered.....), and VERY boney bottoms! (Amber! haha) At this particular point in time, I had already told Amber to get her hiney in the shower - oh, 3 or 4 times...... Had to threaten her with giant, slobbery horsie licks to get her moving. She knows this horse LOVES giving wet licks to disobedient little girls! lol

Sewing Lessons #2

I'm apparently not very consistant when it comes to teaching my daughters new skills. But....at least I keep trying - right? Practice makes perfect! (at least this is what I tell them......) This evening, I started Amber on a simple 12-patch pillow for a friend. She's determined to make some Christmas presents this year, so I thought this would be a good jumping off point to teach her some basic skills. She learned to pin and cut, lay out the pieces to make a pattern, and how to sew them together nice and straight - right sides together! I had her put one row together tonight and figure she can do one row for the next few evenings and finish it up next week with the back and stuffing.

I also started Jade sewing on paper. She was timid at first - she was convinced the evil sewing machine was going to suck her finger into it and poke a hole in her nail! lol After showing her how improbable that would be, she had a great time trying to stay on the lines. So much fun, in fact, that instead of only the required 5 lines, she did 11! I think I'll be keeping her on lines for a bit longer though.....only 2 of them were even close enough to really praise very well. =)

Turtle Fun

We've really enjoyed "babysitting" my brother's tortoise! He's very friendly and has no problem coming right up to people to check them out. He comes in the house if the door is left open and nibbles polished toenails, too. Here's Jade feeding him a carrot.

A Fun Birthday Party

My friend's oldest had a birthday party last weekend and we were able to attend. It was tons of fun! Just look at that slide! I took Paisley down twice and David went down with her once. She screamed the first time with me, cried the second time with David (he held her facing out while I was kind and held her facing me), and barely whimpered the third time with me again. Jade was forced to go down a few times. And we couldn't keep Amber off of it! She even missed birthday cake cause she refused to come over to where we were!