hobbsandbean

Femina (love it over there) is hosting a little Easter blog party, and check it out…I’m participating! This will make four entire posts for this year. Maybe this will develop into a pattern! Maybe not.

Speaking of patterns, oddly enough I have actually blogged two other Easter related posts in previous years. Any sort of pattern on a blog that gets updated twice a year is strange, really. Remember tiny(ish) Calvin who hated his tie? And last year’s skirts?

Anyway, my original Easter blogging plan was to post pictures of the creations once they were finished, but this blog party sounded like fun, so here I am, taking a break from endless knitting to give a few shots of the WIPs (“works in progress” for you non-Ravelry-ers).

First up, THE DRESSES.

You may wonder how, exactly, it is that all the dresses are actually completed sewing-wise. It is not 2am on Easter morning, you know. Well, for some reason I thought Easter was at the end of March…no idea why, but I’m glad I did, cause this is the first sewing project I’ve ever had done really early. I likey. But that had it’s own drawbacks…it allowed time for me to decide they needed embroidery. And then decide that the Target sweaters I bought weren’t nearly as cute as hand knit shrugs. And of course we need a matching tie for Cal. And matching hair things. And so it goes.

(Quick question about the dresses…please weigh in on this vastly important matter. Have I crossed the cute matching line into embarrassing territory? It’s cute to me, but is this weird mommy behavior? Hey, I should figure out how to add a poll or something. Back to the post now.)

Here is Cal’s tie. And the girls’ hair things.

Just a little left to do there.

And the shrugs? Here’s Keelah modeling hers.

And yes, that’s probably dangerous.

For any interested parties, the pattern for the dresses can be found and purchased here (proceeds go to the designer’s family’s adoption!), the shrug pattern is here (or on Ravelry – Something Beautiful Shrug) and the tie pattern is over here. And big thanks to Ginger and Sage for teaching Maggie and I how to embroider. Every single time I start embroidering I can hear Mr. Bingley saying “You all paint tables, and play the piano, and embroider cushions! I never heard of lady but people say she is accomplished.” It makes me laugh. If I turned these dresses into cushions, I’d be accomplished now.

One last thing. Just so you know that I do have the ability to say no, when I stumbled upon these last night, I decided to save them for next year instead of staying up all hours of the night to make fifty gazillion of them for Easter baskets.

Besides, they totally would have ended up in Hallie’s mouth.

Alright, thanks for stopping by! See you after Easter!

Yep, chicken feet.

Not amazing, but it’s something. Three box braids to be precise.

Mr. Brian brought over his motorcycle and let Cal sit on it. Later that week Mr. Brian let Cal play with his sword from the Marines. Calvin thinks Mr. Brian is just a little awesome.

Hallie accessorized herself. We don’t normally keep ear-warmers on our kids when they are inside.

skh says I need to get over how many things I’m not blogging and just post something. So here is something. Two somethings, actually.

Hallie is potty trained. Mostly. Yay! I took a couple of pictures of the trainee.

By the way, on a mothering note…it adds an exciting and mind-challenging twist to potty training when your subject doesn’t speak any recognizable language. The listed definitions for “Mo’ mo’ mo’” in the Hallie dictionary are getting out of control, and this presents a problem when one of meanings is a very urgent “I need to be put on the potty NOW, immediately, post haste, hurry hurry hurry, can’t go fast enough”. We’re working very diligently on “peeeeeeepeeeeeee” as her next word, but so far it sounds a lot like “Boppa”.

Potty princess has a pretty cute little sister. Keekster freakster is 5 months old. Actually, she’s almost 6 months old, but we’ll pretend that’s not true.

You know, every time I post something, I think about how much I enjoy blogging. I really do. Too bad that I can’t keep any thoughts in my head for longer than 3 minutes.

We’re not ready to really post anything yet, but I can’t stop myself from putting this picture up before I go to bed. She’s just too cute. Love her so much my head might pop off.

I’m not sure how I haven’t posted this yet, but here’s a little something that’s been keeping us busy around here.

The fundraiser is next Saturday, May 15th, and I was just saying that I’ve begun feeling exactly like I did at the end of Calvin’s pregnancy. I really, really, really just want to have this baby. Even if it’s an ugly baby.

In all seriousness, we are so excited by what God has already done and can’t wait to see what He has in store. Our passion for adoption continues to grow and we are thrilled to get to be a part of helping make this a reality for Ben and Katie. Hope to see you all at The Farm!

It’s like a garden theme. But not.

Here’s Hallie, modeling a new-to-her dress passed down to her via Maggie. This dress was a gift from Grandma and when Maggie fit in it, she loved it too. We almost missed the window for Hallie, though – I keep forgetting how much bigger she is than Maggie was and as a result, this will probably be the only time she wears it.

The watering can is not a hand me down but is an Old-Navy-clearance-rack-Easter-basket-turned-purse-slash-diaper-bag. Hallie absolutely loves it and whenever she thinks there is a chance we are going somewhere, she runs to get her bag and then stands at the door, ready to go.

Both girls are going to be flower girls twice this summer, once for Ian and Kimmy and once for Uncle D and Clarissa. Maggie couldn’t be more excited and Hallie has no idea what is going on. However, she does like to try on her dress and spin around in it. I think she’ll look lovely even while screaming at the all of the strangers in attendance. Here she is with some residual annoyance at me for making her stop spinning to pin the shoulders…don’t worry, I used safety pins.

And finally, here’s one I just love, blurriness and all.

Is it too late to post Easter pictures? I’m not sure of the protocol here.

Well, either way, here are the kids, all clean, shiny and coordinated. I’m not sure how those skirts got done, but I can tell you that a lot of gathering is a close relative of love. Kit got a skirt too, but it was late and I forgot the rick-rack. See?

Also note that Kit does not have a green sweater. That is because Children’s Place doesn’t make matchy-matchy things in Kit’s size…and apparently no matter how hot the dryer gets, you just can’t shrink a sweater for a 6-month old to fit an American Girl doll. I’m sure if you weren’t starting this process at 8:30 on the Saturday night preceding Easter you would be able to cut the sweater up and sew it to fit the doll…but I wasn’t in that category. Kit also went to church shoeless as no one knows where her shoes are and I drew the line at her wearing Strawberry Shortcake’s pink booties.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, I heard over on Facebook that Cal’s tie is “tight” and “ballin’”…and now my vocabulary is “fresh”.

For any interested parties, these Twirly Skirts are pretty easy to make. It’s the same skirt I made for Maggie’s 6th birthday…and it works with a tutu under it for the poofiness that is much desired at a tea party.

…this is oddly enjoyable.

I’m not sure, but I think Hallie’s pants were rolled up like that because we’d been trying on sandals. Maybe.

If you’re really sad that video is done and you’re wondering what to watch next, here’s another. I wish I’d caught Calvin’s expressions the first few times skh did this. They alternated between horror and glee as he tried to figure out what was really going on.

And it’s always fun to end a post by asking the baby where her armpits are, right?

I didn’t really expect traffic via the Femina blog party, but was pleasantly surprised by a commenter (Hi, Marty!), so I wanted to extend a friendly hello to anyone that stops by!

Well, I guess it’s technically Hallie extending the hello. Either way, welcome! Maybe I should start posting again.