Bobby's 1 Year Outfit

The Quick Change Trousers by Anna Marie Horner from her book Handmade Beginnings. I loved making this pant - i made two pairs from my fabric (originally posted here) and the shirt is an American Apparel onesie i decorated the night before in like 10 minutes...its how i roll. 

i just bought the book Sewing for Boys and i couldn't be more excited. its always challenging to find cool things to make for boys that aren't dowdy...once i get my mits on it and take a couple projects for a spin i'll let you know what i think!

isn't my birthday boy the cutest one year old? i'm a little partial i suppose, but he kills me every day with his little toothy grin!

Zoodies on Prudent Baby!

i love the blog Prudent Baby and read it all the time...so imagine my surprise to find my little zoodies linked up today!

Thank you so much ladies!

Barnes Boys Fashion - First Day

Showing off his bug bites

On Bryson:

School Uniform - Target

Shoes - Airwalk

Backpack - Gap Kids

On Bodie:

Hat - Sand Cassel Kids by Goorin

Shirt - H&M

Shorts - A Child's Place

Shoes - Vans

i almost cried...i held it together at least until he walked off in his line into class. i have so much to say - so much i have been processing about this very special time in his life...but right now i am just going to say how excited i am for him and how great he is going to do and what an amazing special talented boy i have! he is going to rock it!

Apply Party Thyme

oh man...such a fun party! this little booger has gone and growned up and turned one! he is so on his way out the door already - he pushes off of me when i hold him...the nerve...can someone please tell him how the youngest child is supposed to act? how they are supposed to be babies for as long as possible? that they should be the cuddliest? that they should maybe like their mamas a bit? i kid...i know he loves me - he even gives me these great open mouth toothy kisses...but he is already so independent. already so capable and strong and ACTIVE!

so...this party...this little apple party. i made his whole outfit...you can't really tell from this picture and apparently no one took pictures of him before he got apple crisp all over himself (i didnt bake him a cake...it seemed like a little much at the time so he got apples all over his face instead of frosting...kinda anti-climactic). i think i need to take a picture of him in the whole ensemble for his one year old picture...he looked so cute! his little apple crown...that he takes off the second you put it on his head...adorable!

let me just talk about the food for a minute...holy stuff...the food was awesome! my husband bbq-ed a pork butt (which is actually the shoulder...dont know why we call it the butt) for 14 hours in the big green egg with apple wood. he used a maple rub that was amazing and it was by far the best bbq pork so far! awe-some...it made me fall in love with him all over again...my mom made an apple-thyme cole slaw and we had sliders on king's hawaiian sweet rolls - they were delicious-ness. friends and family also brought amazing stuff - apple chips and apple bread and apple bacon cheese appetizers and fruit kabobs and gumbo and spinach salad. all of it was so good. we ate the pork all weekend in various ways (my mom is like houdini with leftovers) and finally finished the last of it yesterday.

we had caramel apples for the kids - i made waaaay too much caramel, so my mom laid it all out on a cookie sheets, salted and chocolated it and we wrapped up little balls of it in parchment paper and made our own caramel candies - yummers! now i need to give them all away so i dont eat a pound of caramel!

i think bobby enjoyed himself and i hope he looks back on pictures and realizes how loved he is and how blessed we are to be his parents - sweet sweet boy!

Barnes Boys Fashion - Riding

one thing about this summer that has really amazed me is that with bryson out of school and with his brother mostly every day all day - they have become pretty close buddies. they love riding bikes together and recently bryson discovered that bodie can *almost* play catch...bryson knows how to push his buttons, but also knows how to make bodie belly laugh. he can talk him down from a tantrum like no one! they are just over 3 years apart, which the age difference between my little sister and i, so i didnt think they would want anything to do with each other....but thankfully they do right now...hopefully longer...

On Bodie (right):

Shirt: H&M

Shorts: Children's Place

Shoes: Converse (my 2 year old wears a size 10!) 

On Bryson:

Shirt: Eli's Lids

Shorts: H&M

Shoes: Vans...and beat up by plasma car racing

(P.S. I didnt tell them to do this...swear!)

The food table (which wasn't complete at the time this photo was taken - holy yummy food!)

Sara-Britt, Hope and I made home-made strawberry jam as favors for the guests

Our patio all dressed up

My glass jar collection filled with pretty flowers

Crepe Bar and Make Your Own Yogurt Parfait Bar...Yummers!

The Bride To Be (2nd from the Right) and her mother and future MIL and family friends

Pretty vases made from pear jars

More food shots

Last weekend my sister hosted a bridal shower for her soon to be sister-in-law Stephanie at our house. My sister threw me a baby shower when i was pregnant with Bobby on my lawn with a yummy brunch and it ended up being one of the nicest showers i have had, so we wanted to re-create that vibe for Stephanie. A blessing with her friends and family...and amazing food doesnt hurt!

but man oh man...was it hot! for long beach...it was like 90 degrees...which is hot here...and my house has no A/C and the oven was on...and the stove...and even in the shade i was sweating. but it turned out so lovely and so many women remarked how nice it was to enjoy time together not filled with activities...i agree! such a nice lovely girly time together.

the theme was strawberries and i thought Sara did such an amazing job not getting lost in the theme, but nodding to it...strawberry spinach salad, strawberry shortcake and a whole lot of sliced strawberries to put in yogurt or crepes...plus strawberry lemonade and some yummy adult beverages as well.

Remember this post? i have been obsessing over those hanging vases and wanted to re-create the look, so i have been saving old pear jars from Trader Joe's (my boys LOVE pears...and they help keep you regular, so i love them too) for a while now and got some twine and a super glue gun and went to town on them. it turned out even better than i imagined and i have been enjoying them being up all weekend long.

despite the heat, it was a lovely day and i think the bride-to-be was super happy with her (soon to be) SIL's outpouring of love. and i was super happy with my sister's cleaning of all the dishes ;) anytime you want to have a party here sara...just let me know!

Corners of our Home - Where we sleep!

i don't know what my problem is...but every year it gets worse and worse...my obsession with bedding. one of my favorite things is slipping into bed into clean sheets. it is one of the most soothing things after a long day on my feet to slip into a comfy bed and *finally* exhale. i also get bored very very easily with my bed spread - it changes now like once a year. i'm not promising this will stay, but it is making my heart so happy right now that it just might last more than a year.

i have been looking for a vintage quilt for a while. i have sorta picky tastes and don't care too much for anything too flowery or girly...which pretty much counts out more than 89% of vintage quilts. we made it out to the flea market last sunday (bobby had a little cold so we ditched church) and i saw this quilt hanging when we first came in and my heart swooned. i asked the vendor how much and it was a lot more than i wanted to pay...but totally what it was worth...retail...but i don't want to go to the flea market and pay retail!

i tried to give it up...but found myself obsessing over it during our whole trip. i couldnt let it go and the whole time kept thinking how sad i would be if we left and it was gone...so to my delight i saw it still there at the end and squealed a little. my husband the amazing barterer asked me how much i wanted to pay and i told him and then like 2 minutes later he came back with my quilt! what? he is magic...that and it was the end of the day and people were starting to pack up...which is the 2nd best time to go to the flea market.

i am so in love and love how i can totally the look of the bed around with different pillows and maybe a throw. The underside of the quilt is exceptionally gorgeous too, and a couple times i have turned it around and kept the bed made that way as well.

i know that the pattern is rather bold and perhaps not to everyone's liking, but it is just about perfect to me. yay for flea market finds!

Warning...

if you are a young lady and you come spend the night at my house (of boys). i just may make you a top to wear and braid your hair and make you help me cook and take you shopping.

meet hope - my adorable niece. she comes and helps her poor auntie out with all her *crazy* boys. it is such a joy to have her here. truly. she is like a big exhale. a big breathy lovely exhale. she and i have a lot in common and she gets excited about things like making strawberry jam and sewing pillowcases and baking cookies and reading (we have had a little book club of sorts...her and i...since she and i enjoy the same books...hunger games!!! twilight!!!) Hope is 13 and has an older sister Katlyn, who is now 17 and at one time used to do the same...but now there are boys and friends and events and maybe the prospect of hanging out and watching 3 crazy kids isn't on everybody's top 5 to do list. what? really? okay...whatever...i so was like that at 17 too...i get it. but Hope is young enough to where she does still enjoy it...and i have already made them both promise to invite me when they go wedding dress shopping. and in turn i will leave them all my jewelry when i die. (little do they know my jewelry consists of forever 21 and H&M baubles)

i made this top about a year ago...using Lotta Jansdotter's book, Simple Sewing for Baby - i cant recall if it was me that messed up or what, but it was supposed to be for a size 4T. i really loved it though and knew i would find the perfect little girl to wear it...and bonus! she loved it!

now i need to re-work the pattern to make one to fit me!

Custom Ladybug

i made this pink ladybug for a special little lady and made an extra for the shop since i have had people ask me before about pink ladybugs...

i had been waiting to post this until i had a better model...because i think an angry boy in a pink ladybug is probably not the best, but i had to create the link in my shop since people had been asking and needed a placeholder...so here you go. mad boy bug..."who ya calling a lady?" i keep thinking about that movie and giggling to myself...

available now in the shop - only one available (AA discontinued this color so i only have a handful) American Apparel size 6, which fits a size 3/4 (my model wears 5/6 normally, so you can see the fit is a bit tight)

i promise you bryson that i will grab the next little girl who comes over and bribe them to take a picture for me so i can replace this one! thank you for humoring your mom!

Fort Awesomeness

source

i just saw this photo on lmnop and bought the kit right away for a birthday present for Bryson. to be honest...it will be for all of them...and if it is as big a hit as i believe it will be...there may be more that need to be purchased as presents. after Christmas this last year we quickly realized how "toys" in our house had become so divisive. not just divisive, but a constant, constant source of chaos and hurt and arguments.

with the age differences between our bigger boys (bryson 5 and bodie 2) - bryson was not good about picking up his toys and storing them. bodie was not able to understand "mine" and "yours" (nor to mention age appropriate toys) and also bryson was not the best at sharing. we worked with them every day for hours and hours on sharing and picking up and taking turns. it felt like a constant constant ugly battle with very little headway.

i came to my own conclusion that in overwhelming them with these "toys" we kind of created these monsters. so we basically got rid of the problem. we got rid of every toy that made noise. we got rid of every tiny toy. we got rid of any toy that wasnt truly loved. i am talking about 3 garbage bags full. we boxed up "sets" of all the cars...all the building toys...all the trains...and stored them away. to be taken out on special occasions where they might stand a chance of getting played with because they werent in sight all the time. i also got rid of every stuffed animal that lacked any sentimental value.

what i left was toys that still could foster imagination. toys that didnt flash or make cool noises. and i also made sure there were enough duplicates of the cooler things so that it didnt become ugly.

seriously...this was one of the best things we did for our boys. they have totally changed the way they play. they are more focused and not so distracted since there really arent a lot of toys to be distracted by. they play outside more - on their bikes and scooters and that is what i prefer anyway!

it is what has worked for me and my family and last night when my husband and i were watching a show that takes place in the 20s there was a scene of a group of kids literally kicking a can around and bryan and i laughed and were like, "look - those are our kids - here is a can - lets kick it!" because our kids totally play with trash recyclables more than anything.

so back to this kit...sorry - didnt mean to tangential like that! - is that to build forts inside (which is our favorite rainy day thing to do) bryson makes an absolute mess of everything - brings chairs from everywhere and takes out a billion blankets and then clean up is inevitable and usually ends up being me...so i think this is a perfect solution to let their little imaginations go crazy. bryson especially is way into building and legos are great, but small and i have an almost one year old that would love to eat legos, and plus that whole picking up toys after himself thing has not gotten much better....so this would also be a family friendly solution!

the website is here for more info!