"I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string." Anne Shirley
These are the happy days I wish to celebrate, and I guess I will blog about them.

Monday, April 19, 2010

A Little bit Funny


I went in to kiss Lylah goodnight and found this sight. Poor Strawberry Shortcake! She's been eaten by a flashlight lion!

I giggled and then went for the camera.

Today I was asking Lylah about opposites. She is a little young to understand the concept still, but a friend was talking about it so I thought I would quiz her and see if she had the idea yet. It went like this:

Me: Lylah, what's the opposite of stop?
Lylah: Hmmm?
Me: What's the opposite of stop?
Lylah: Hmmm? ( this happens ALL THE TIME. She answers most everything with "Hmmm?")
Me: You can stop or.... ( with a leading tone of voice)
Lylah: Hmmm?
Me: If you don't stop you... (again with a leading tone)
Lylah: If you don't stop, you go to time out!!
Me: Big laugh!!!

I have bee informed that the baby in Lylah's tummy is not Orange Blossom any longer... It's Baby Jesus.

She helped me with making dinner tonight and said, " I love to help you, my Sweetheart Mommy." And, "oh, yum, yum. I love this dinner. It smells so tasty and lovely."

Lylah gave Henry a pet the other day. "Here's a puppy for you to love and sit with you in the window, Henry. You're welcome."
My silly girl.

Could You Add Some More PINK?

I am finally posting the pictures of the little dress I made out of a favorite pin-tucked ruffled shirt. I asked Lylah if she would like mommy to make her a dress and she said yes and she wanted it pink. I had my eye on the cutest fabric at Joann's and used a coupon to get it 1/2 price. So excited about that!

So I got the fabric and sewed all night...literally. I went to bed at 4 am!! I sewed a skirt onto the top to make the dress. I put in tiny box pleats and made a little belt finished off with vintage yellow buttons. When I got Lylah up the next morning she was tired and less than impressed. I showed her the dress and she said, "hmmm. Could you add some more pink?"


Unfortunately it was too baggy and needed to be taken in a smidge. So I had to take off the whole skirt and belt, take in the top, add darts on the back, and sew the skirt and belt back on.

I also made knee high socks from a too small pair of tights. I used this tutorial from Ruffles And Stuff.

Here's the reveal.

The favorite shirt that was too short to wear anymore.
Added the box pleats and skirt. Added hot pink buttons and a ribbon belt but thought it looked too country.



Took off the country parts and added a belt and vintage yellow buttons. oh how I love vintage buttons!! Perfect!

Lylah wearing the dress and socks after the re-re-do. The shirt was taken in and darts were put in the back.

Lori's Birthday and a "Cake Wreck"

It was Auntie Lori's birthday several days ago.

For her birthday I made my own cake wreck complete with carrot jockeys, misspelled words, and poor punctuation. It was my Great Grandma Blazer's carrot cake recipe underneath all the wreckieness and it was so yummy, as always.I can brag on the cake because it was not MY cake but G.Grandmother Blazer's. It's so simple and yet so unbelievably tasty! Do you want the recipe? Leave a comment and I will post it.

Here is Lylah saying how happy she is that Aunt Lori will have a birthday and a cake and could she please have a bitty, tiny, little lick of icing right now, please.



Here is the whole cake. It reads: "Happy" ANglE and Lory!! Lori's long time friend Angel had birthday a day or so before Lori and was in town on a visit. So we celebrated for both of them.



A little close up of the cake jockeys. They sure were fun to make.



I realize now that I have no pictures of the birthday girls with the cake...oops. It was fun to enjoy the joke with them. We all read the Cake Wrecks blog and were familiar with the original carrot jockey post. Now you can enjoy it too. Good times.

After the lunch and cake part of the party, we went outside to fly kites. It was a warm and windy day and we had a blast. Here are several pictures of all the kite flying and sweet memories of the day.

We had a wonderful time in the sun and wind. The kites flew pretty well. Aunt Carol got the big kite up pretty high and Lylah "helped" her fly it. Pretty soon the birds of prey were circling around because they saw the kite. Llyah ran around with "the cousins" and followed the youngest up and down a sand hill. We all took off our shoes and enjoyed the cool grass, but Lylah's feet were the cutest. She wore her make up purse on the crook of her arm the whole day. When we packed up to go home, she was so tired. She usually never falls asleep in the car, but she could not help herself.

It was a very happy day. It was perfectly, perfect. Happy family. Lovely weather. Celebrating people we love. Can't ask for more.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Fail


I was going to call this little post a craft fail...but as I looked at the pictures I chose to take of my kid wearing the craft fail, I see that there is more than just a "miss-craft" going on here.

There are fails on many levels.

1. Child standing on the dining room table (with shoes on, too)

2. She looks like she may either jump or fall off the table...and yet, I just keep taking the picture.

3. Child playing with keys and wearing a rather devious grin...

4. Child's lunch getting cold on the table because Mommy needs another picture.

5. She was allowed to write with a dry erase marker and no art smock. She got a permanent mark on her lower left side. WILL NEVER COME OUT!!

6. Good thing it was a fail in the craft department and I will have to scrap it and try again.

On to the craft fail portion...

I have seen tutorials on making your kid's too small t-shirts into a dress by adding a skirt. Looked easy. Looked fun. Seemed like a money saver. I thought I would give it a try.

But here's the catch, I just can't seem to do anything quick or easy. Why is this? I try to hard to make stuff look awesome and am never satisfied? Maybe. I cannot grasp the concept of "less is more?" Maybe. I am not really a sew-ist? Sometimes true.

Whatever the case, I made this wreck in about 5 hours. Yes 5!!!

WHAT?!! You may ask if I merely sewed a skirt onto a tee. Yes. I also made long sleeves into short elastic sleeves. And it was a bubble skirt. And I gathered a whole yard of fabric onto the skirt. A whole yard gathered up!! For a little one with a 20 inch waist!! I mean, over kill, right?!

I over gathered and the skirt looked silly, and too much, and dread!! HOMEMADE. (in a bad way)

But since she ruined the shirt, I am not going to attempt to fix this dress. I am going to un-gather the skirt and use the yard of cute fabric for a little sundress or shirt and shorts or something.

When it is done I will show you a non-fail. I might even photograph it in an more appropriate location, like the front yard. Smile.

Hoppy Easter

I love a good pun. But I think I may be "over" Hoppy Easter. But if the mask fits....



Here is the only picture I was able to drag out of Lylah for Easter. She broke down into sobs after this one and had a generally grumpy day. It may have all stemmed from having to be in worship service instead of her Sunday School Class. She was not so much sad about not seeing her teacher or friends or being in her class but that she would not be getting her usual snack. She said, "oh Mommy, but Ms Carol gives me cookies for a snack. How will I get my cookies at church? She gives me peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies, black cookies, etc." She proceeded to go on, in Bubba Gump style, about the cookies she would not get and threw herself into a funk. I meant to bring her a little something myself, but I forgot. Downhill after that. One cannot mess with Lylah and her food consumption. It's not pretty!!!


She did look cute. Grammy sent her a box with this pretty dress inside (and the little makeup purse in her hand--it has been a permanent attachment since she received it.)

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

And the Dafffodils Look Lovely Today...




Every year we have a bunch of daffodils grow up in front of our house. They are lovely for a week-ish and then they die and leave a pile of stringy foliage behind. This year I decided to cut the daffodils as soon as they were in bloom, take them inside and enjoy them to the full. So one day last week, that is just what we did.




Lylah loved to put all the flowers in the vase.

We put a few flowers in a vase for her room too. She carried them around and was so proud of them.

In this video she and Henry enjoy the blooms and Lylah hatches a plan to have a few flowers for Daddy's work.



Sorry, I can't not put a song with this post. I did not feel any "gut wrench" when Lylah and I were cutting flowers, but I could not stop thinking of this song from "back in the day." The song references the daffodils at 3:11 in the video, skip ahead if you must.



My sister and I listened to the Cranberries A LOT (to the torment of our parents!!)

I can only say that "the daffodils look lovely today...la, la, la, la,la, la, la."

Bunch of Chickies. Hop, Hop, Hop

Here are a couple of videos of Lylah with the chickies. If I could figure out how to edit them...I would pull out the unflattering parts with me in them. But, alas, you will see me too. Focus your attention on on the cute one.




This little clip has Lylah dancing and laughing about how cute the chicks are. She was doing a lot of pointing from above her head. I love how excited she was.




Here is one of our favorite songs EVER. We have been singing it in school as well as at home. I will have to say that Elizabeth Mitchell's You Are My Little Bird CD is my favorite children's CD. It's so wonderful. I highly recommend it. We have also been singing "Springtime outing" form the same CD. I hoped to get a video of Lylah singing it (melt me heart) but she clams up when the camera comes out. I will keep trying.

Enjoy a taste of spring and be inspired by the whimsy of this sweet song.



She asks for bird recommendations for verses. I have been doing this in class too. Today the request was for a Robin to fly though the window. No problem! The next request was for a "bald-headed eagle". We sang it and I giggled inwardly at the thought of an eagle flying through the window. Eeeeikes!!