Seersucker Ruffle Bum Bloomers

Everybody slept in this morning except for me and guess what I made while they were sleeping....

....rest assured I only made a pair for Maggie and not Mr. Rogers and the boys!

A Partridge But Not In A Pear Tree Dress!

Let's be honest...I don't even know what a pear tree looks like but I've been wanting to do a branch design for quite some time.  The bird is modified from the one I use in my PinkyBleu goods to be more partridge like and then I just free handed the branch and blossoms from scrap fabric. 

Dress Pattern by minimooh on Etsy

The Last Ten Pregnancy Pounds....

Am I the only one who kept wearing those maternity clothes long after the baby was born???  Oh, those elastic waist bands, the loose cuts, and as the baby fat burns off, the clothes just get even looser and more comfy!  However, at some point you have to take Nancy Reagan's words to heart and "Just Say No!"  After your baby is one year old, all maternity clothes should be taken out and burned, but after three kids mine have the perfect little spot built into them where my once flat stomach now resides. 
 
After savoring a last weekend of The Coffee Bean's Black Forest Ice Blended's (yes that's meant to be plural), I got serious!  Three weeks ago I really curbed my appetite as I was still eating like a pregnant or nursing woman, which is really a lot of fun except when your're not pregnant or nursing.  Two weeks ago I added the excercise which unfortunately has to be at the butt crack of dawn, but hey somehow there are other women whose bodies have been ransacked by multiple children and they are willing to do this as well...go figure!
Two of my neighbors have committed to a half marathon and I'm half committed to a half marathon...we'll see, but for now, running three times a week works - right now it is 3 miles and I can't wait until the next run because the next song on my ipod is Lynnerd Skynard's "Freebird", my all time favorite song!  Running is a little typical for weight loss but how about this....

Oh yeah!  Water Aerobics!  My sister-in-law and I have been hittin' this action at the high school pool and we rock that scene with the other dozen or so 60+ woman!

So, as I start the fourth week I've lost 3 pounds and am working on the 4th .  For some reason I thought I could drop 10 pounds in three weeks and when my friend who has his doctorate told me that healthy weight loss is a pound a week I cursed his name (in my head...of course) but he was right.  Arghhhh, one pound at a time!

The Perfect Barefoot Sandals for Little Ones!

What baby wants to be tortured with shoes in the middle of summer....especially crazy hot summers that agonizes much of America! The only thing that wants to live on my feet come summer are flip-flops and my latest favorite OPI polish, this summer it is Dim Sum Plum from the Hong Kong collection....but I digress!

While perusing through treasuries last summer, these little crocheted barefoot sandals screamed "BUY ME!"...and I did! The price, $7, was great and Maggie sported them with many "ooohhhhs and ahhhhhss" as we went to and fro. So sad that this summer she is walking and can no longer wear her barefoot crocheted sandals for the brutal reality of walking on sun-bathed concrete is something that all of us has experienced and avoid at all costs!  This morning she wore them as she strolled around the backyard grass checking on her vegetables...well, it was more like pointing to them, then grabbing, and then trying to consume them but the other way sounds a little nicer!

Galina, the creator and shop owner of EliesHappyHats, has become one of my good Etsy friends and is a SAHM so I love supporting her when I can!  You can also become a fan of EliesHappyHats because Galina is always running special promos for facebook fans.

Jack's First Sewing Lesson

Jack has been asking, pleading really, for me to teach him how to sew lately.  Finally, with all my projects completed and my last load of bonnets off to TWEE, I sat down and taught him today during quiet time.  After running into a couple of men within the past month who did furniture upholstery, I thought it might be a fun skill for him to have...not to mention that every man should know how to sew a button back on to their shirt or pants!

Really, I just showed him how to operate the machine and do a basic stitch.  He stiched together this "hat" for himself and then a "hat" for Lincoln which was more the size of a wrist band.  Watch out for these evil fighting warriors!  Maybe I should have Jack create an emblem to place over the flashlight tomorrow during quiet time so they can be properly summoned when crime is wreaking its havoc!

After Jack was done with his project he proudly proclaimed, "Okay, let's take these down to TWEE and sell them!"  Wow, he's a rather confident lad, isn't he?!?!?

Perhaps, a little too confident because apparently he is now doing on-site sewing tutorials!  Upon arrival at VBS tonight, his teacher promptly informed me that Jack would be bringing HIS sewing machine tomorrow night to teach her how to sew....kids!

Bonnets...I just can't stop making them!

  

Perhaps, I'm a little obsessed with bonnets right now...perhaps!

They are historical, classic, unique, durable, handmade

....and ummm, adorable!

Maggie loves them and so do I!

Sunday morning with our Coffee ...and water!

Me and my gal, Mags, just relaxing this morning after church. 

She's still trying to figure out how the whole straw thing works!  Also, for the record we both agree that the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is far superior to Starbucks!  The frappachino pales in comparison to the Ice Blended and Maggie is a fan of the purple straws that she practices her water drinking with!

Mmmmm, that says it all!

For your little gentleman....a heart tie onesie!

There is something about putting hearts on little boy's clothing that just tickles me pink....maybe the idea that they are staying innocent as opposed to a skull and crossbones.   These are being stocked at my favorite local and handmade shop, Twee, and will make it into my shop, PinkyBleu, when it reopens.

We never had this kind of fruit and veggie hook-up as urban dwellers!

One of the perks of living in an agricultural mecca is that we are always getting copious amounts of fruits and vegetables passed along to us!  The cherries and blueberries are from two different neighbors and the blackberries we got at the farmer's market but they are grown a little less than a mile out of town.  My father-in-law dropped off fresh sweet corn, zucchini, apricots, nectarines, and plumots yesterday as well! 

Time to Harvest the Peaches at Rogers Farms

My father-in-law is a farmer, here he is last spring during the blossom season.  He's farmed grapes, apples, almonds, peaches, and at one point was given the title of California's "Sweet Potato King," now that's something to write how about [chuckle]!

Last week we were swimming at my in-laws out in the country as the sweet smell of ripe peaches lingered through air....oh, it was divine!  Every year I try to snag as many peaches as possible to make a cobbler but who are we kidding I don't actually even like the peaches in the cobbler I just like the peach goo with the dough, mouth watering!  Here is Mr. Rogers and myself picking some delicious white flesh peaches!

The Rogers no longer grow fresh market peaches because of the unpredictability of market prices.  Mostly they grow cannery peaches for Del Monte.  Seriously, I never even thought that the fruit in fruit cocktail was real until I met Mr. Rogers.  Indeed, I'm hear to tell you that all those canned peaches are legit....or perhaps I'm the only one who questions there authenticity in the first place.  Regardless, I was relieved to know that they are not just some processed mish-mash of fruit as previously thought. 

Yummmmmm!  Fresh peaches!

Are you craving peach cobbler now?  Here is my favorite cobbler recipe...it is actually for nectarines but I love it for peaches!

Popping a Squat on the Carpet...yikes!

As I approached the boy's room to tuck in the trundle and make the bed this morning I saw a pair of underwear followed by a pair of pants. My first thought is that Lincoln has pooped in his pants and is taking care of it himself. Meaning he has taken the poop out of his underwear with his hands and put it in the toilet and is now changing his underwear all on his own without telling us….cringe! As I clear the door way and turn my head I see him in the corner squatting, “NO, NO, NO!” I yell, not so much out of anger but out of shock and disgust. Scanning the area I see a dark circle looming in the shadows of the trundle bed. EGADS!

Rushing Lincoln off to the toilet I come back to inspect and detox the scene of the crime. Upon closer inspection and much to my relief I see that the suspected fecal matter is only one of the boys brown “smudgies” a term they picked from The Upside Down Show or in layman's terms a "pom-pom."

I do not know why the boys love to play with them and although usually annoyed to find them in random places where Maggie would love to eat them up, indeed, that smudgy brought a significantly large smile to my face this morning!

Watch the "Haven" premiere tonight to see one of my former college friends as a bad a** gun toting FBI agent!

Have you ever had someone tell you that they were going to be an actor someday and in your head you are like "yeah, right!"  Living in Southern California you meet many aspiring actors/actresses just take the undergrad theatre department alone. 

However, there was one person who I kind of always believed and that is my dear friend Emily Rose.  A person of wonderful character and determination.  Do you know how excited I was yesterday morning , as I was sipping my favorite New Mexico Pinon Nut Coffee, when I ran across this article about her in the local newspaper?!?!?!?

Read article here

Rewind ten years and here we are on a comedy troupe Entourage, a PR team for our university.  After a series of improv try-outs the university selects four girls (and four boys for another team) for that years team and then the team writes and perfects their skits before they head out for the summer tour.  Can I say I was a little concerned because three of the girls were theatre majors and then me a dorky history major who most of the time has a rather crude sense of humor. 

From left to right: Suzee (she's so dang funny should could make to SNL), Mandie (a self-proclaimed wanna-be accountant and dance star), myself (who could surprise you with my ninja like skills on the stage), and our little Emils (aka: Emily Rose)

For a year us four girls traveled weekly doing comical performaces.  In the summer we took a mini-van and for ten weeks went to different summer camps across the western U.S.  and did daily performance for hundreds of teens each week.  May I tell you that we were dang funny and I'm pretty sure we made more than one person pee in their pants!  I would say our legendary performance was a satirical musical we wrote...I'm pretty sure that's what made Mr. Rogers fall in love with me! 

Since then Emily has been on many a shows and it has been so fun to watch, although, Mr. Rogers couldn't watch her as a seductive vixon Lena on Brothers and Sisters because he said it was like watching his little sister seduce a man.   Thankfully, we were also able to watch her on the last season of ER as one of the new Interns and on John in Cincinnati and HBO show with Luke Perry....hello, 90's teenage heartthrob!!!

Here she is on the Today Show this past Wednesday...seriously!  Anne Curry once bought some nuts we were selling at a concert and I was so speechless that Mr. Rogers had to finish the transaction as I stood there dumbfounded!

So my internal conflict is whether to upgrade our cable to watch her on the premiere of  Haven tonight....ahhhh, bugets I curse you!  If I can't watch I hope that you do and let me know how she was!

Our freakishly large Pattypan Squash and its Juliet Tomato friends....

We've been spending a lot of time in the garden lately.  Jack and Lincoln harvest their "crops" first thing in the morning.  Maggie and I are in charge of the watering rounds.  Then we have all hands on deck for our search and seize opperations regarding the tomato worms who have really been on the prowl the past few weeks.  At the moment are two big crops are the Pattypan Squash, Juliet Tomatoes and Basil. 

We have some sporadic chives and strawberries and we are anxiously awaiting our yellow pear tomatoes, bell peppers, green chili peppers, and sweet corn ... but I think the corn might be suffering a slow and painful death!

Please nestle in our hair...

Mr. Rogers has had me on a tight budget this summer and it is killing me!  I spotted this Etsy shop PammyDawn a couple months ago and should've struck before the clamp down!

For me ....

Mariposa an Open Monarch Butterfly

Inspired by the shop oweners childhood time in Yosemite....oooohhhh, that alone is a selling point for a nerd like me!  This monarch really wants to live in my hair but would also be quite contempt for a spot on my merino knitted cowl I bought last fall!

...and for Maggie

Spring Love Bird Hair Clip

Maggie has become quite a character this summer and really the apple of my eye.  Now at 15 months it seems like she has really moved out of the baby stage to toddler stage where she is constantly talking, communicating, and fully engaging in activites with her brothers ...whom I might add are particularly fond of playing "tea" with their sister.  Each morning while dressing her one of the things that Maggie has particularly been requesting is a bow, which she says and then points to her head.  Maggie is particularly fond of birds and she would love this little quail perched on her head.

Curses to living within a budget but it must be done!  I became a fan so I need to practice patience and wait for the next promo PammyDawn/Fanpage.

The Snack Dish

How do you respond when your child says, "I'm hungry" about 30 minutes after they have just eaten a meal....ahhh, it drives me batty!

This summer the snack dish has been implemented at our house.  After quite time and before dinner if the boys want a snack then they are more than welcome to get one .... as long as it is from the snack dish filled with HEALTHY snacks!  [loud evil cackle] 

Once the snack dish has been depleted then no more food is distibuted until dinner time.  So far it has worked pretty well and there is about a handful worth of goodies for each child.  Jack will eat anything but Lincoln is far more picky but is more willing to eat borderline foods that he doesn't like because he is just straight up hungry, in this case the tomatoes and almonds. 

The first visitor to the snack dish.

The snack dish has been fairly effective.  If someone starts whining after the snack dish has been depleted then they are either invited to help me prepare dinner or set the table and that seems to do the trick.

Other hits in the snack dish: whole wheat pretzel sticks, pistachios, strawberries, figs, clemintines, petite pink lady apples, and carrots.  Any other suggestions?

Happy Signing of the Declaration Day

Since we know that the Declaration of Independence was actually voted for and approved on July 2nd...this  is the day that it was actually signed and read to the public! 

Enjoy your forth!  Can't wait for the fireworks tonight!

(Maggie's Dress Pattern is by GrowingUpWCharissa on Etsy)

July 2 - The Day Independence Was Really Declared!

When the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776 they thought that was the day Americans would pay homage to throughout history. That’s right readers! America actually declared independence from the British on July 2nd but it took until the 4th to finalize the document, hence America’s celebration of July 4th.
The concept of the American Revolution is extra-ordinary and is one of my favorite periods of American history. Also, how can you not LOVE John Adams? That little crotchety man beats out Thomas Jefferson any day of the week in my book. That man was the real mover and shaker behind the concept of even declaring independence and he should be on the fifty dollar bill instead of Grant….I’ll be sending an e-mail to the department of Treasury after this blog post!

One of my most beloved movies about the Declaration of Independence is 1776, written by a man who double majored in history and music. It takes some liberties but for the most part sticks to the events that happened but what really gets me is that it oozes with cheesiness, think Velveeta in the microwave! Its corky songs have won my heart over and not only do I have them memorized but so does Mr. Rogers and even the boys know their fair share. Every year I show some parts in class and it takes everything within me not to bust out in song and dance in front of my students! For your 2nd of July entertainment here is a clip as John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Livingston decide who is going to write this declaration of independence. Which at the time was equivalent to laying their heads under the guillotine for King George for treason.  (warning: extreme cheeziness!)



Chances are you don’t remember much from your U.S. History class but the John Adams HBO Miniseries was excellent (and written by the well respected historian David McCullough) and my favorite book on the topic is A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic by John Ferling and I’m ashamed to say that I have not read 1776, also by David McCullough, but I know that it is well respected within the academia realm.