I am a domestic goddess for a reason...

*wink*wink*

Today, I am making my MIL's signature homemade pasta sauce. Right now, it's slow cooking on the stove, then I will can it. Yum, yum! All the tomatoes used are out of my garden and my neighbor's tomato patch. 48 cups of pured tomatoes, celery, bell peppers, and onions. My MIL doesn't use bell peppers in her's; it's my signature touch. Can't tell you the rest of the recipe (oh yeah, it's a secret), but if you could smell it right now.... Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

My Baby Brother's Family

I took these as a belated wedding gift for my younger brother C. We just caught the sun setting, which cast some good and not so good lighting. I had fun clicking away for them. And my nephew is such of joy to be around. I miss you guys!

I haven't had a chance to completely edit them all, but here's your sneek peek too!

Quick Peek of those Senior Pictures, too!

Well, J. Here they are. Don't try to impress the ladies too much with the tuxedo look *wink*wink* You were soooooo easy to work with! Here's a sneak peek for you, too!

Future Uncle M. Becomes Official Uncle M.

First, let me say what a privilage it was to photograph such a special day for Aunt C. & Future (and now Official) Uncle M. Everything was soooooo simple and beautiful. Aunt C.'s wedding dress was sooooooo pretty! And, I have been to weddings where the bridesmaids dresses, were, well, what you think of when it comes to bridesmaids dresses, BUT these bridesmaids dresses were prom pretty!

Aunt C.- You were glowing and so happy! What a joy to be there as you prepared for the ceremony, and oh! how sweet to see how you smiled at Uncle M.

Uncle M.- You made me laugh more than once during the ceremony. It's obvious how much you love Aunt C. Welcome to the family!

And so, as promised, here is a sneak peek at a couple pictures (unedited)! I'm putting my nose to the grinder and finishing the editing this week.

Making Baby Legs from a Sweater

I know people can make these from socks, but I wanted some nice & warm ones, and I happened to have an old 2t Gap wool blend sweater that was Xavian's. It's been in about 5 yardsales, and since I'm having a fall yardsale this weekend, I set it out again. Hurricane something or other has sent cool weather our way, and it reminded me that I want to tryout some baby legs on Saxton.

I picked up the sweater (it's a beautiful shade of navy blue), measured the arms against Saxton's legs, and wondered if I could make legs out of them. I inquired if anyone knew how on the nest, and SqueekyTaco (aka: the maker of Crunchy Clean on etsy.com) gave me the link for making legs with women's socks, so I looked over the blogger's directions and thought, well, maybe I can find one's made from a sweater online? Google yielded nothing useful. I looked back at the sweater and thought, well, someone's got to be the first to try, right? And although, I'm sure I'm not the first, I am hoping my posting my how-to will help other mommies out there!

Here's the sweater I started with:



Then, I cut the sleeves off, making sure I left the finished edge where the sleeve connected to the torso on the arms:






I turned the sleeve inside out, and then I threaded my yarn needle with yarn I have on hand (hence the white), and pulled it thru the seam of the sleeve on the top of the sleeve. I secured by tying the yarn into a knot, wrapped around a knitted stitch to secure:



I turned the top of the sleeve down to make a hem of sorts and to adjust for the shoulder rise of the sleeve. I whip stitched the edge by threading thru the back of the knitted stiches, careful not to pull it tight:
Once I had stitched it down completely, I tied the yarn off where I tied when I started. Notice how the knitted row is straight:



I turned the top of the sleeve down to make a hem of sorts and to adjust for the shoulder rise of the sleeve. I whip stitched the edge by threading thru the back of the knitted stiches, careful not to pull it tight:



Here is the sleeve turned right side out. It still has a shorter side, good for the inside of the leg:



I doubled the yarn on my needle, and starting on the side of the sleeve, I wove it in and out of the top of it, all the way around, and tied the ends, leaving 4" at eack end with out tightening the yarn:


Here, I've put them on Saxton, tightened the top, above his chubby thighs, and tied into a bow:



I tucked the tied yarn into the tops so he can't untie them, and voila! I made baby legs!!! You can too...

Saxton is getting big waaaaaaaaay too fast!

Went to the pedi on Wednesday. He weighs 17 lbs 12 oz! What a big, healthy boy! He's inbetween the 75th & 80th percentile for weight & height (a soaring 25.5 inches!) He's using his hands really well, and today, he was sitting in his Bumbo, and he found his toes. Cute, cute, cute!

I opened my Etsy store!

It's here! Right now, all I have are hair bows, but watch for custom one of a kind painted jeans & button jewelry to be added soon!

The link is to the right of my blog under "in case you're interested"

Vacation means limited internet

I have a ton of pictures, but not the time or ability to post them right now. We're having fun, lived it up in Kansas, and now, drumroll please, we are in Oklahoma. Tomarrow: Mom. Wish us luck!

Sad

Tomarrow is hubby's grandma's funeral. This is the 3rd grandparent we've lost in the last 8 months. It sucks. I am thanking the heavens that I was able to take a picture of Saxton with his great grandma. That's something I'll never be able to do with my grandma or grandpa who've passed on.

Deciding whether or not to take the kids to the funeral is such a hard decision to make. They know her. Xavian just realized tonight that his grandpa's mommy is who has passed away. It was so hard to see the look of realization on his face. Korra, however, just doesn't quite understand. She knows people are sad, but why they're sad isn't super clear to her.

We will all be at the dinner/post funeral get togther.

Times like this make me wonder how the kids would react if hubby was killed in the line of duty. How much would they really understand? Would attending their daddy's funeral be trumatic to them? I hope we never have to find out.

Rest in peace, Grandma S.

Oh, and by the way, my birthday also happens to be tomarrow. Not sure how to feel or think about that.

Being a Boy

It's been how many days since Xavian got stitches? 38 days? Guess what? Yup, you guessed it: we were back in the ER yesterday.



In Xavian's words, he "was riding super fast on the driveway, cause [he] can do wheelies & ramp & stuff with [his] bike. And then the bike stated moving around & [he] couldn't control it 'cause [he] was going sooooo fast. And then [he] fell off and the bike fell on [him] & [he] slid on [his] right arm. And the rocks cut [him]." Got that? There's a lot of hand motions that go with it, but I'm sure you get the gist. 4 stitches in a (just over) 2cm gash below his right elbow. The dr had to remove gravel and everything. At least this time it wasn't his head!

He's also created his first no girls/sisters sign. All on his own. I busted up laughing when I saw it! Not so happy about the sticker on his door, but goo-gone will take care of that.