Light or Dark?

I have been wanting to hang a roman shade style of blind in our family room. Here's the deal - I love all the natural light that floods through the windows, but for about an hour in the late afternoon, direct sunlight comes blaring through and I really don't want our new leather furniture to fade. I'm having a tough time deciding on which blinds I like. The first is a tan color grasscloth - it matches the wall color.

I'd say 95% of the time, the blinds will be raised, looking like this -


And lowered for an hour or so out of the day like this -



Or should I go dark? This look ties in with the color of the furniture.

And lowered -

Decisions decisions! Most likely, I will not do anything over the top as far as curtains go. I'm considering adding a panel on each side of the set of windows - so two panels total. I'm hunting for fabric and haven't found one that I can't live without yet.

So what do you think?

Fun in the...

Rain! On Saturday, we headed down to property that my parents have on the outskirts of Cape Girardeau. When we left St. Louis, it was 78 and sunny. When we arrived at the property, it was 68 and rainy. I was sad because I thought the rain would put a damper on our plans to let Lillie roam free and explore - her favorite thing to do these days. Lillie proved me wrong!

Coming into the garage for a break!

Back for round 2 - this time she's shirtless!

I had so much fun watching you jump in the puddles Lillie! You showed me how to make the best of dreary situation that day!

Gearing up for craft shows

The holiday craft shows kick off in October and I've been diligently working in the corner of our basement sewing, serging, ironing, and hot glueing my crafts. I get about an hour of work in each night after Lillie goes to bed. I've posted before about these pillowcase dresses, but here are some additional fabric combinations.

Also, I've made these baby and toddler neck warmers. The inside is lined with a waffle patterned fleece. As a bonus, the large size (for kids 5 and up) also fits adults so you know I'll be sporting one of these this winter!

I've had fun embellishing bags. The ones shown are small - a good size to carry around your little one's lunch or other small needs - like a few diapers and a wipe case. I also have large ones that are good for an overnight bag.

These hairbows are super easy - just line an alligator clip with grossgrain ribbon and cover two different sized buttons with fabric. A little hot glue keeps everything together.

I love these little fabric flower hair bows.

No post is complete without a picture of Lillie! Here she is modeling the flower hair bow.

Most of my fabrics are by Amy Butler. Her fabrics are so fun to coordinate. Let me know which item you like best and what you think a fair price is. I have no idea what the reception is going to be so your comments will help me prepare for the shows.

You can find me at the following shows:

Oct 24 & 25 - Fall Arts & Craft Show at Sperreng Middle School

Nov 21 & 22 - Parkway South Band Holiday Craft Show

Dec 5 & 6 - Oakville Band Holiday Craft Show

Dec 12 - Lutheran High School South Craft Show

Queeny Park

St. Louis has been having some awesome, almost fall-like, weather the past few days. We decided to take advantage of it by heading out to Queeny Park for a hike.
And we're off to the park...
We wound up using our Ergo carrier for Lillie. If we were avid hikers, we'd probably splurge for one of those frame carriers. The Ergo works for now.
Lillie with Dad...

And Lillie with mom... I must point out my "short-waistedness". Notice how Lillie's head is parallel with my chin and now go back and look at where Lillie's head comes on Roger! We are the same height folks, just proportioned totally different!

After 45 minutes of being cooped up in the carrier, she's free! (And hard to capture with my camera!)

In other random news, I caught these moments of Harvey and Lillie playing together. She was sitting on the rug and he came up and laid in her lap. Too sweet!

And here she is giving him some invisible kibble, aka a little piece of lint she found on the carpet.

Gotta love that Harvey!

1st Birthday Party

Happy First Birthday Miss Lillie!
(thank you to Melissa for this wonderful photo!)

The Friday and Saturday before Lillie's party, Roger and I built "Lillieville" out of some cardboard boxes left over from our move. Lillie napped really well on Saturday and we were able to add some extra touches like the trees, shingles, mail and mail slot, and a little sunshine!

Lillie loves her new playhouse!

We had approximately 12 kids plus their families over on Sunday afternoon - it all added up to about 35 people! We bar-be-qued and the kids made crafts (shaker bottles filled with things like sequins, jingle bells, wooden beads, etc.). The kids played and we ended the evening with yet another cake smash!

The birthday banner that I made (thanks to inspiration from Amber).
The next morning, we let Lillie open her gifts. She's such a proper girl - reading the card before opening the gift!

Playing with her gift from Genevieve!

No surprise - she loves the mountain of tissue paper!

Apparently, Lillie was needing her cake fix for the day!

Happy Birthday Girl! What a long way you've come!

Birthday Party - Round 1

The three women in Roger's life (his mom, his wife, and his daughter) all celebrate their birthdays within 4 days. As a first, Roger made us a cake - double layer butter cake with cream cheese frosting.

But let's face it, the world is all about Lillie and I've grown used to the fact that my birthday will never be important again - especially since it is the day before hers and I will spend my remaining years planning big birthday bashes for Lillie!

We wound up giving her a small piece of the cake to try. We had gone out to eat earlier in the evening and for some reason, she was not so happy on the 35 minute car ride back home. I put her in some pj's and Roger decided that we would open gifts and have cake - a full hour past her normal bed time. She's pretty resiliant though and wound up enjoying the celebration.

Overdue 11 month post

The 11 month photo shoot was a tough one! It was taken right after bath time and we started out with some naked baby shots! Gotta love the 25 pounds of Lillie-goodness!



And now for the onesies...

We've started transitioning to milk in a cup for her two middle of the day feedings. She seems like such a big girl with her sippy cup of milk! Around the middle of her 11 month, walking became more comfortable and she began walking away from me - no longer needing my motivation. Around a week before her 1st birthday, walking became her main form of transportation as she learned how to stop in mid stride and turn and even walk sideways without falling. It was at that point that she also relaxed her arms and kept them by her sides instead of holding them out and walking like Frankenstein! There are so many changes these days - I feel like she shows me something new everyday!

Stay tuned...