Dressed in Holiday Style

I dressed Clark and Lana to the nines this holiday season with a homemade suit and dress, respectively. I worked hard (and some late nights) to finish the outfits in a week. They turned out just as I had envisioned. It's so fun seeing something I dream up come to life. I was pretty sure that Lana wasn't going to let me put the ruffled caplet on her, and she did indeed protest, but after a few minutes she forgot about it and wore it just fine. My favorite part of her dress is the black velvet bodice--it's so soft!

All the fabrics for these looks came from JoAnn's. (as usual!). I used the following patterns/tutorials:
Clark's pants - Ottobre Design Magazine | Blazer - Basic Blazer by Blank Slate Patterns | Bow Tie & Pocket Square - self-drafted | Lana's caplet - this tutorial | Dress - Caroline Party Dress by Mouse House Creations

A Tiny Party for a Tiny Girl

Lana turned two last week and we celebrated her birthday on Sunday. It was a tiny party with a few simple decorations but we had all the party staples: cake, presents, candles, and the Happy Birthday song. Lana is pretty good at singing Happy Birthday to herself, we discovered. It goes something like "Hap' Day L'Na." She opened her gifts slowly, which drove her impatient brother crazy, but luckily Grandma K sent him a gift as well to keep him occupied. It was a sweet, simple party and I loved every minute. Lana was thrilled with all her gifts (thank you grandmas and the nice man at Kohl's that gave us a discount!)

At two Lana says quite a few words, and uses a wide range of inflections and dramatic elements. She's heard her brother count so often that she can count to ten. She has a few unique-to-Lana words which have proven to be a stumbling block for babysitters. For instance, she refers to her beloved blanket as "me" and calls her cup "go buh" (as in cold cup). When she goes to bed she must have "me", "go buh", and her Elmo and Minnie dolls. She still sucks her thumb when she's cuddling her blankie. Being a little sister, she's determined to keep up with her brother "La" and loves playing cars with him, coloring, running around the house like airplanes, and going along with any and all the other games Clark comes up with. She's very affectionate and loves giving kisses on the cheek, sitting in mama's lap, Anna and Elsa from Frozen, cheese, kitties, and her daddy. She loves to point out buses on the road and has the cutest little lisp on the "s." She is very outgoing and Clark will often bring her along as his wingman on social ventures since she loves meeting new people. We love our little Lana so much!

The Most Delicious [Vegan] Chocolate Cake Recipe

There are a lot of chocolate fans in this house so for birthdays we have a favorite vegan chocolate cake recipe. I made these yesterday but used the wrong frosting recipe and ended up with burned-and-hard-as-a-rock stuff...which I later scraped off. Today I found my good allergy-friendly ganache recipe and had a do-over. And my little helper man decorated them with star sprinkles. So, future self, here is the allergy-friendly recipe we like:

Cake Ingredients

1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use regular or dutch-process)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients together. Add liquid ingredients and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips (optional). Pour into an 8x8 pan or 12 cupcake liners. Bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes for cupcakes or 30 minutes for an 8x8. Check that a toothpick comes out clean before removing from oven.

Glaze Ingredients

2 T rice milk
1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips
1 T agave nectar
pinch of salt

Bring rice milk to a simmer over medium high heat. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips, agave, and salt. Let cool to room temperature before spreading on cupcakes.

Black and Red

I made my little man a new shirt and vest last month. This is another Bookworm Buttonup by Blank Slate Patterns with a few modifications to fit Clark a little better. For the vest I repurposed a sweater I bought earlier in the year from Target that I decided looked more like a dust rag than a suitable women's top (it was on clearance!). I used the BBC Vest pattern from Shwin Designs with a ribbed knit band on the bottom instead of the shirttail hem since that's the only way I could make it work with my dustrag sweater, which, by the way, looks much better in its new form as a boy's vest.

Christmas Cards 2014

 As per our annual tradition we took our Christmas card photo on Thanksgiving with a couple of Steve's siblings. These beautiful red doors--that I've always had in mind for a family photo--are very near my in-laws' house and since we had Thanksgiving there this year it was a no-brainer for our photo location! My sister-in-law snapped this one of us. She got everyone to look AND smile!

I decided to try my hand at addressing all the cards in calligraphy this year on black envelopes I purchased separately. I had most of the cards addressed after four evenings of watching Hallmark Christmas specials. But...I waited and waited for my cards to arrive but they got lost in the mail so the company sent me a new order of cards which didn't arrive until Dec. 19th. Luckily, the envelopes were all ready to go! I also hand-calligraphed our address and had a local company in Houston make me a rubber stamp. The white ink didn't make as crisp of an impression on the black paper as I had hoped but now I know!

As fate would have it the original order of cards arrived on Dec. 24th. Merry Christmas Eve to me!

Christmas Morning 2014

We all had so much fun on Christmas Eve that we all slept in the next morning. Steve and I got up at 7:30 and the kids were still fast asleep. Seeing their excitement as they came out of their room was priceless. We had a lengthy breakfast before opening gifts. We were glad Aunt Katie could join us for all the festivities! Clark was eager to sort all the gifts into piles and of course he wanted to open all his as fast as he could. Lana took a more leisurely approach and got a little overwhelmed, or maybe just bored, after a little while. All in all it was a slow, relaxed day that we got to enjoy with each other.

Lana trying out the kitchen | Clark amid his pile of discarded wrapping paper | Lana getting help

Lana giving her new socks a test run | More gift opening

Extra Christmas cards come in handy for non-readers | A toy robot? | Trying out the toys

Lana zoned out for a little while and resorted to pulling faces | Clark even had to lie down for a bit

 Clark's favorite gift was the car rug+construction equipment from Grandma B and Katie | Lana shared her new stuffed owl with Daddy

The Best Christmas Eve & Pageant Ever

This year was one of my most memorable Christmas Eve's ever! We had a chicken dinner, then Steve put on an apple tasting while the kids decorated cookies. We then had a live nativity, starring the most adorable actors and actresses. Steve narrated and it was pretty much the adorable thing ever. Then we had a musical program with piano duets by Wade and Jen, and Phil and Jen, and I played violin accompanied by Steve. It was a fun night--hopefully the kids had as much fun as I did.

Of course we had to take a picture of all the cousins in their Christmas pajamas. Then Clark opened one of his favorite gifts ever--construction equipment-- from Aunt Katie. At the end of the night Steve helped Clark write a letter to Santa that read: "Dear Santa, I've been good. qualified. (he loves saying that word!) Thank you for the toys. -Clark" He's still not quite sure what to think about Santa but I took the kids to see him for the first time ever and Clark asked for a toy robot.

The Need for Tweed

I got an email a couple of months ago from Janie & Jack that had a picture of a little boy in a tweed jacket. At that moment I decided Clark had to have one too so I put it on my list of sewing goals and last weekend I made it happen. I love how it turned out and Clark was more than happy to model his new blazer with the bronze horses in our subdivision. He still loves anything I make for him and he was thrilled that it was his turn to be photographed. The kids always enjoy our photo outings since they involve a ride in the bike trailer and jelly beans.

Pattern: Basic Blazer by MellySews, size 3T. Tweed from Joann's. 

Halloween in Neverland

This year for Halloween we went with a Peter Pan motif, despite Steve's request to all be sports stars, as he requests every year. I started making costumes at the end of August and worked on them off and on until last weekend which was our debut at the ward trunk-or-treat. I ditched the last few minor items I had planned to make due to costume burnout. I love making costumes, but I'm glad Halloween comes but once a year. I'm also very glad Steve plays along and lets me dress him up however I please. mostly. His costume took the longest by far but it was well worth it! 

Clark was really getting into his role as Peter Pan. I borrowed a copy of the cartoon movie from the library to watch with him and he was particulary impressed with Peter's ability to fly. Lana played Tink well, getting nervous when Pan and Hook went head to head.

Here is what I used to make the costumes:

PETER PAN: McCalls M4952 as a starting point. Lengthened it and modified the sleeves to make them not puffy. Hat using this pattern and shoe covers using this tutorial. Tights from eBay.

TINKERBELL: Simplicity 2559, this diaper cover pattern, and wings that velcro on the back using a youtube tutorial. wand from a birthday party.

CAPTAIN HOOK: Simplicity 2333 for the jacket, wrist ruffles, jabot, and hat. Hook from Hobby Lobby Christmas decor

WENDY: Simplicity 4055 

Gems from the Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday I told Steve I wanted to go to a pumpkin patch to take some pictures of the kids so he found us one five minutes away. The kids had fun looking at all the pumpkins and scarecrows and choosing some to take home. It was quite a cute little patch! I had the kids sport some homemade clothes: Clark in a button-up shirt I made a few months ago, and Lana in a self-drafted romper and fur vest I just finished. They looked so cute running around the pumpkins. Pictures from the pumpkin patch are always such a treasure!

Celebrating Daddy

Steve recently had a birthday. When I consulted him about what he'd like to do to celebrate this year he told me what he tells me every year: [shrug] "I don't know." I overheard him tell one of his brothers that he might have everyone out for a birthday dinner. I interpreted that as "I'm hoping my wife will throw me a surprise family party." So I got to work planning the surprise, and keeping it a surprise. I went to great effort to plan a reason for him to get out of the house, then he was quite stubborn about going along with my plan. Very stubborn, actually. But things all worked out, all our family arrived, and Steve was in fact surprised. I'm so glad everyone could make it and go along with my scheme!

Labor Day + Birthdays

We hosted a family swim/BBQ/party over the Labor Day weekend to celebrate the holiday and Clark and Phil's birthdays. Since it usually rains when we plan to take people to the pool we thought we'd be clever and swim before the festivities. It worked! The pool was practically empty and it didn't rain! We took the party back home where the men built a kids' bike wash out of PVC. It was fun for all ages and provided at least an hour and a half of entertainment. Then the party moved indoors where Clark opened a few presents from his aunt and cousins and we had a BBQ. And dance party. And Frozen sing-along. And an incredible game of duck, duck, goose. Clark requested a pie for his birthday treat so I made him a peach raspberry pie, knowing he probably wouldn't eat it. And he didn't, hence the small pie. 

I had to have a picture of all the kids together since Clark adores his cousins. And not pictured, sadly, is Aunt Katie who we're so pleased could come stay with us to party and endure the chaos!