Trip to Memphis

Kathryn and I drove to Memphis Thursday morning and she was great in the car. She kept saying "I see Ma". When she got up from her nap Ma was home from work to see her and Ash and "Tonnis" came to join us for dinner. The two of them get so hyped up together! They were playing "ready, set, go" and racing across the living room.

Friday morning we headed out in record setting temperatures for portraits. Kathryn insisted on "Blay" (Chick-fil-A) afterwards and of course Ma does whatever Kathryn says ; ) After dinner that evening we headed over to the horse stables near Papa's house. It's amazing to have that in the middle of the busy city. Kathryn kept saying "more horsies, more horsies".



"Paddington" didn't want Kathryn to leave.



Such a pretty horse. I have hope that someday I'll ride again......



Look how close she got!





After leaving the stables we headed over to see Papa, Rock, and Molly (and to get cleaned up since my mom's hot water heater was out!). This is a pic of my exhausted baby on the way home.



Yesterday I found out I have myself a little water baby. Last year she got in a swimming pool ONCE! Yesterday morning we went over to visit Rob's dad and step-mom. Kathryn splashed around on the steps for awhile and then put her hands on the first step (while facing the step) and realized that her body could float. She thought it was hilarious! After an hour or so she held on to Big Dad's hand and started jumping down the steps. She even jumped off the last step and went under water and came up giggling!

We rode on an airplane with them to Disney in March and I guess that caused some confusion for Kathryn. On the way to their house Kathryn kept saying "I go Big Dad's. I ride airplane. I ride choo-choo" (he does have a train that goes around his yard that you can ride on).

Kathryn watering Ma's yard : )



Kathryn thought this was so funny (which is quite surprising!)!





This is my fav!



Kathryn getting Thomas back!



My attempt at getting pics of the babies in their matching shirts. Kathryn insisted Thomas get in there with her. They kept ducking down and jumping up saying "ta-da".





More pics and stories to tell from our trip but that will happen another night.

Here are the outfits I made for Thomas for this summer. I made them several months ago but snapped these this weekend so I can have pics of all the clothes I make.











Love this polo! Saw this done in Kelly's Kids where they lined the part beneath the buttons with the shorts fabric.





This was T's Valentine tee but it's not overly Valentiny so he is still able to wear it.



Robert forwarded this to me (yes, we email each other ; ) ). Birmingham is ranked #5 in the country for pedestrian deaths and it isn't just in downtown like you'd think.

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/05/alabama_birmingham_rank_as_dan.html

At least we didn't get the "award" for the #5 most dangerous city in the country. No, that award went to my hometown of Memphis! Violent crimes are 15.4 out of every 1000. That means 1 1/2 people out of 100!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43158398/ns/business-us_business/

This is an outfit I made for a friend recently. Kathryn keeps claiming "mine, mine".



Sweet ribbon on the sleeves.



Finally finished! This is what Kathryn wore in her portrait last Friday.



Detailed view. I'm going through a ric rac stage. It isn't as hard as I imagined it would be (I thought it would be like making piped peter pan collars....ugh!).



I found this awesome embroidery site and they have the best deal for anyone who monograms. I got a 3 month subscription and can download any font I want during that time for only $39.95. I'm downloading everything! So far, I've downloaded over 400! Love, love, love!

Memorial Day

In the pic above Kathryn was stuffing dolls in her pockets (she LOVES pockets so much). She thought it was pretty funny, just like us!

Below I was trying to get one more pic of Kathryn before we walked out the door but she got distracted by the mirrored chest and couldn't stop staring at herself!



This morning Kathryn decided she and Shug (and for a little while Mommy) needed to snuggle in bed. She made me turn out the lights, turn on turtle (twilight turtle) and shut the door. They stayed like this for 15-20 minutes. I just love how she has to practically close her eyes when the flash goes off : )



We played in the sprinkler for a little bit then headed out with Daddy to lunch. Aren't a fleece hat and gloves appropriate at the end of May on a 91 degree day? She wore the hat the entire lunch. Which, by the way, she ate breadsticks. This may not sound like something but Kathryn rarely tries new things.



A couple of adorable Katie things:

-At about 3:15 p.m. (Kathryn usually will nap till 4) we started hearing a strange sound. Rob went in to get her at 4 and Kathryn had her Rex (toy story) flashlight that roars when it lights up and was playing with it in bed!
-Kathryn was "helping" daddy, or as she put it "I help", tonight. Rob offered a piece of cheese that he was putting on the burgers and she actually took it! She started taking super tiny nibbles, while saying "yucky" and giggling extremely hard!
-Tonight Rob and I were tucking Kathryn in bed and giving her kisses and, as usually, she shoved our heads down (not gently at all) and said "no, night-night". We obliged. After snuggling for a few minutes, Shug included Kathryn grabbed my hand and held it and then got Rob to hold the other side of her hand. I love this and loving refer to it as "the family handhold".
-Kathryn must point out every "big truck", airplane, and dog. I told Robert I will never again miss a truck, dog or airplane - Kathryn has me covered!

Last night after dinner......



Kathryn's playroom (it's as neat as it's ever going to be!):

The table and chairs were mine when I was little : )

I bought this applique today. It was only 85cents so it doesn't really count ; )



And this one for Thomas...(85cents also)



Some bloomers I made Kathryn a couple of weeks ago. These are my first bloomers to successfully monogram.



These are some bibs I made for Kathryn hurriedly before we went on the Disney cruise in March (I guess that explains why they aren't centered well?). I made the mistake of not taking a pic of them before Kathryn touched them! Oh well, still cute enough to catch food!



So obviously this is not finished but I just had to share. I LOVE it!! I don't have the trim to finish the project so no telling when I will get it and finish. This is also my first towel to work with. Kathryn "helped" me with the towel and kept telling me that "Tonnis" needs one.



Another first, pacy clips!



I've already posted this bib and burp cloth but wanted to show it with the pacy clip. I plan to also do a onesie. It's for Rob's best friend that we both went to high school with. I have another month or so before it has to be finished so I'm taking my time!



Where all the magic happens! I just love it! I'm a girl that loves storage containers! I got it organized about 2 months ago and try really hard to keep it that way. What you can't see is the fabric and patterns all over the floor ; ) Make sure to note that almost the entire bottom shelf is filled with blanks. The majority are tees (lots of the Monag girly ruffled ones). I bet I have 50 tees (in various sizes) in there!



My sister works as a rep for Kelly's Kids. Each season they send all the reps a sample of each fabric for the customers to see. Well.....she had no use for them so asked if I wanted them because if not she was just going to throw them away. They are great for "extra" fabrics on more complex appliques and they are lots of basic ginghams and pindots. If you applique find a KK rep!



Well, I hope everyone else had a nice Memorial Day and remembered what it is all about.

Another new post, that I posted this morning, is below. The dates are off though because the blog says that post was posted yesterday.

So silly

Sweet baby... (she had just finished some yogurt)

I had the camera out taking pics of the fabric below and a few other things and Kathryn told me to take a pic of her head...


Her eyes...



Her mouth....



Her nose...



Head again....



My mom reminded me I never blogged about my birthday (May 16). Below is the beautiful sign Kathryn and Daddy made me. All she wanted to do was glue index cards on it. It was so hilarious hearing Robert try and rationalize with her while making it, "well if you keep putting those there Mommy isn't going to be able to see the letter" : )

My mom came down the weekend before my birthday and did ALL my ironing and other miscellaneous cleaning around the house which included using the blower and a broom to clean the back porch and screen porch to a sparkle! She literally worked for hours and hours on all the ironing. The next day I just went and relished that my "ironing basket" was empty. I have been working hard to keep up with, which is hard since Kathryn thinks she needs to change her clothes a billion times a day!

Not to be outdone Rob also did helpful things around the house, including doing every single dish all weekend long and then cleaning the kitchen and even lighting a candle on the kitchen counter so it would smell good for me. It was so sweet!



Here is my new fabric I ordered off Etsy in a drug-induced (following dental surgery) haze. I also bought size tags for Kathryn's pants and 11 appliques. Oops!



Here are the baby gowns I ordered from Monag. LOVE these!




Here is an applique I bought last night. It doesn't count because it was only $1.20 and I need it for the "babies" to have for Christmas.

Here is wanting to make for Kathryn, Thomas and Libby (yes, I realize Christmas is far away but this applique was cheap so I grabbed it while I could!). Now that Libby lives in Memphis all three babies will be spending all their holidays matching : )