confirmation.

today austin was confirmed in our church. a pretty big rite of passage, and the culmination of the last 3 years of dedication and hard work (not only on his part, but also by our wonderful youth pastor jonathan, the small group leaders, mentors, etc). all the confirmands had to write a faith statement as their last assignment, and austin wrote a sonnet, which pastor jonathan quoted part of in the service.


his entire confirmation class.


our wonderful (and goofy at times!) pastors, Pastor Bill and Pastor Jonathan


during the ceremony


note my kid: the only one without a suit or sportcoat. obviously, we didn't get the memo. ha.


his proud fam....minus Nathan who was at Wilderness First Aid for Boy Scouts. obviously, sam must've said something funny and katie was mid-sentence. ah, well.


with great-gram.


CONGRATS, austin!

more aprons!

katie had a birthday party for a classmate this past weekend. i took this apron that i previously blogged about and appliqued an "a" on it to personalize it for the b-day girl, and then gave her a heart-shaped cupcake pan and cookie cutter to go with it. i put it all in a coordinating drawstring bag that i made to match the apron. i think it turned out cute and katie said she really liked it :)



i made another apron for *another* girl's b-day we have coming up using this tutorial from the talented Kymy and i think it is my *most* favorite apron ever. i LOVE how it turned out!





here it is on sam--i made the smaller apron which is supposed to be a size 2-4. next time i will make the ties longer so it can be tied in a bigger bow. Kymy actually called for longer ties but i just cut selvage to selvage figuring it would be long enough.

and here it is on katie.....





thanks for looking!

trivet and coasters, and an apron.

this is what i made my mom for mother's day....such a super easy, quick project with cute results! my lovely friend ashley held a class at her house for making these out of tiles. i LOVE the stampin' up set that i used....wish i had taken pics of the other coasters now, but in addition to the dragonfly there was a bird's nest, a seashell, and a peacock feather. we stamped the tiles and then decorated them using a variety of methods....i used one of the stampin' up blender pens with chalk to color in the details, and then used a stamp pad and a sponge to shade the edge of the coasters. then spray 'em with some sealant, slap some felt on the bottom and voila! quick, easy and thrifty gift! now i want to make myself a set with a monogram.....





i also whipped up a little girl's apron the other night for a birthday party we've got coming up (we've actually got THREE little girl birthdays in the next few weeks, better get sewing!) this was my first time making my own bias. it wasn't too bad, especially since i didn't technically cut it on the bias, as i didn't have to round any corners. i like how it turned out....we are going to pair it with a little set of stainless steel pots and pans as a gift!





ETA: my friend ashley has pics of some of the sets we made including mine over at her blog; thanks for posting ashley!! :)

thanks for looking!

through the years.

today, my eldest is fifteen years old. i can hardly believe it has been that long since i first gazed into his sweet newborn face as a new mommy. here is a look back at him....(and excuse the quality of the early pics....they were pictures of pictures.)































happy 15th birthday, austin. you enrich our lives, bless our family, and can make your mother laugh like no other &hearts

mother's day weekend.

we had a uber-busy weekend....austin's birthday is tomorrow but we celebrated yesterday so my mom and gram could be there as well. they came down saturday and austin picked Famous Dave's for his birthday dinner.




emo-austin @ dinner (and don't worry, i'm taking him for a haircut tomorrow!)


all of us at FD's (minus nathan, he had duty)

we came home after dinner and had cake. it was a store-bought carrot cake because the cake i attempted to make him was a catastrophe. i baked it for the longest time the recipe called for and it still came out raw and gooey in the middle. blech.



today we woke up to a beautiful mother's day....it was warm and sunny and gorgeous. we all went to church and then attempted to go to lunch. first we tried the Yacht Club....where they said they couldn't seat us til at least 4 (it was 12:45 at the time). okay. onto the next option. we called the Boat Shed to see how long the wait would be there. they could not get us in PERIOD today without a reservation. ach. so then i called Anthony's, where they said if we hurried they could seat us out on the deck. hallelujah. we scurried over there and had a FABULOUS lunch with some of the most beautiful views around.


all the mommies at lunch :)


this may well be my fave POTD (pic o' the day :) this seagull was sitting on the roof where we were eating and as i went to take his pic, he flew off. i like how it turned out.


mama's day lunch @ anthony's.

after lunch we came home and relaxed/played outside and enjoyed the pretty weather.


me and my silly bunch.


me and my babies &hearts

thanks for looking!

guess who's coming to dinner?!

can you guess?

it's someone SUPAH-cute.....



with a hearty appetite.....



and fuzzy antlers.....






















it's our backyard deer! this guy showed up today and we all sat and stared at him; i LOVE his fuzzy antlers and wanted to run out and give him a great big deer-hug! but i don't think he would've liked that :( we get lots of girl deer but not a lot of boys....so i love catching a glimpse of them when they stop by!


perusing the all-you-can-eat salad buffet....


"i think i'll try a little of this...."


"hhmmm, it could use a little dressing."

excuse my blurry sub-par photography. i am a point and shoot kinda gal, with (very) limited photography skills. plus i was shooting through the window, but all my shots kept turning out super dark. *finally* figured out i could adjust the ISO and take a halfway decent photo (c'mon work with me here, at least you can tell it's a deer LOL)

thanks for looking at our backyard pet! :)

a mei tai for scarlett.

my friend robyn asked me last sunday if i could possibly whip up a carrier for her wedding today. her son ike was going to wear her baby scarlett in the wedding but she realized that none of her carriers really "matched". i happily accepted. she gave me a carrier that fit ike well to use as a model, and this is what i came up with:



her older daughter leona in a back carry:


it is reversible, the other side of the body is a black on black damask (the same print as the green).

and a pic of ike wearing her today (i LOVE it!)


and just cause i like this pic, robyn and her gorgeous family!


thanks for looking!