Cousins!

We journeyed to Jacksonville, FL this past weekend to visit Kevin's brother and his family. We had a blast!  I just love it when Carter gets to play with his cousins! I also love our time with Brett and Michelle. Some of mine and Kevin's favorite childhood memories involve cousins though. We live 10 hours away, but we try to get together as often as possible - especially since (for now) these are C-man's only cousins. Most of the time we meet in the middle, but every once in a while, we make it all the way down to Florida. We had a really fun weekend enjoying family. Here are some pictures that capture pretty much everything we did other than nap :-)

Playground...

Duckpond...

Backyard...

Around the house...

(Skyping with Nana and Papa J)

Clark's Fish Camp...

Thanks for having us!!!

Consignment Shopping & A Visit with Grandparents

About 2 weeks ago, C-man and I traveled to Auburn for a visit. While we were in town, I hit up the local consignment sale - Kid's Clothes Connection.

Ms. Debby runs it and is a family friend. I love supporting her and her wonderful family, and I cannot rave about this consignment sale enough! It is organized, clean, well-structured, and has some stinkin' AWESOME good deals! For real, if you are EVER in Auburn during her sale dates - GO! Among all of the amazing deals I snagged, some of the ones that stood out were: a smocked outfit for Baby Brother for $1 - that's right $1, four pair of "like new" shoes for around $6 each (brands like Stride Rite, Crocks, Sun San Sandals, etc..), and Grandmama found a Radio Flyer Wagon to give C-man for his birthday for $45 (regularly $125)!

I've gotten to where I am very organized with consignment sales. I start making my list a few weeks ahead of time. I try to think of everything C-man (and baby) will NEED from now until the next sale (one is in March, the other in September), and I write it down - IN DETAIL (why not? it could be there!). Next I think of any gifting opportunities in that time period (from us to Carter - I don't feel right buying used toys for other people's kids :-) For example, this time I was looking for a gift from Baby to Carter for the hospital and C's Birthday - I wanted to get some matchbox cars and a carrying case for the hospital and a wagon for his birthday. Then I think of any big other things we may want/need like a bike trailer, high chair, booster seat, etc... Then I budget throughout the year to let my money build up (you'd be surprise of what cheap + cheap + cheap =), hit the road, dump my child on allow Grandmama to babysit, and happily shop :-)

I think I'm a junky - it's hard for me to sleep before these sales because I get so excited - ha! The fact is though that I only shop for my kid(s) twice a year, and it's fun to see what the Lord provides! At this sale, it was a little crazy. It was almost like God was peaking over my shoulder as I made my list, and making sure those things were at the sale in good condition @ rock bottom prices! This may sound crazy, but I truly found myself thanking and praising the Lord when I would find some of the things on my list because he totally doesn't have to provide for us in that way, but he does!!! For some reason, it's almost as if he cared that I had my eye on a certain brand of navy blue sandals for Carter this year. New they would have cost our family around $40, but I found them for around $6 in almost perfect condition! He knew that Kevin and I thought it would be fun to have a bike trailer for our growing family, and there was one sitting their with "hair" still on the tires for $30 (and it would have been over $100 new)!!! He was totally aware of the fact that we wanted to get a wagon for Carter, so he allowed somebody to give up their name brand wagon for $45. Praise the Lord that he cares so much for us that he provides for us down to the very last detail. It's actually one of his promises!

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you - you of little faith?"    Matthew 6:28-30 

Disclaimer: This promise is more talking about having nothing to wear and the Lord providing something, but I think it has meaning for my more "Americanized" situation as well. Also, there were, in fact, some things on my list that I didn't find at the sale, and yes, I do realize that it's not necessary to have nice or name brand stuff... I just think it's fun to see the Lord's blessings in these little (admittedly eternally insignificant) things! 

Enough about that...

C-man got to spend some quality time with both sets of Grandparents during this time, and here are some of the fun things they did! 

Played matchbox cars...

...read books...

...played dress up...

...played in the sand...

...ate chocolate pudding...

...fed Pepper crackers...

...swang swung swinged rode on the swing...

...went on walks...

...threw rocks in the pond...

...splashed in the creek...

...picked and shook cat-tails...

And so much more! 

I'm so thankful to our parents for the love and fun they show Carter during every visit. I know that their homes will be just as special to him as they were to us growing up!!! 

Smocked T-Shirt

This past weekend, we drove down to Jacksonville, FL to visit Kevin's brother's family. Carter had a blast playing with his cousins, and we adults had a great time visiting, but that's for another post. I decided to take a couple of smocking projects with me because we were going to be in the car for 20+ hours (and I do not get car-sick). Needless to say, we WERE in the car for that long, and I got both of the projects finished :-)

The rattles are going to be a bubble for Mr. Baby, and the sailboats were for C-man. 

I have been wanting to try to make a smocked t-shirt for a while now. The smocking is smaller, and construction is less intensive than assembly of an entire outfit... With boys, I figure it's just another good skill to have :-) I found THIS TUTORIAL online which seemed extremely do-able and easy to follow, and it was. I had gotten a blue t-shirt at a consignment sale recently for $1, so here's what I did...

I gathered my supplies...

...attached stabilizer to the inside of the t-shirt...
(I use Sulky Sticky Stabilizer...it sticks right onto the material - no ironing - so easy!)

...made/attached piping around the edges of the smock & cut a piece of backing material...

...serged the backing fabric to the smock...

(this was not a part of the tutorial - I added this part because I wanted it to have a lining...)

...cut a piece of parchment paper the size of the smock+piping...

...measured my center and found my placement (my insert was 2.5"x 5.5")...

(I centered the rectangle horizontally, and I placed the bottom of the rectangle on the vertical center.)

...cut the X out of the middle...

DO NOT CUT AROUND THE EDGES OF THE RECTANGLE!!!

...folded and pressed the triangles inward to make a frame...

...topstitched very close to the edge all the way around the insert...

...then I serged the flaps of the triangle to the already serged edges of the smock...

(this was another one of my additions to the tutorial & it's not perfect looking, but I think it makes it more durable..)

....stood back and admired my 1st smocked t-shirt!!!

It's going to look so nice with these shorts which I also got at the consignment sale!

I may have to do more of these - not bad for a $1 T-shirt - 2 complete outfits for less than $10!!!

Old McDonald Had a Farm...

I have been smocking this outfit for no less than 9 months, and it took me 3 hours this afternoon to put it all together - ha! That's just sad, but true!!! For some reason, I COULD NOT FINISH the smocking on this project. I started it, then shortly afterward, I found out that I was pregnant.... It was supposed to be in a brown corduroy longall for the Fall, but I'm SOOOOO glad that didn't work out because I think this pattern is just perfect for a Springtime Seersucker Shortall. I wonder if I can get Carter to sing the song while wearing it?!?! That would be so fun!

I even felt spunky enough to add a belt to the back to break up the big 3T boringness :-)