The Force

 

 

 

 

 She may be small.

But she's a force to be reckoned with.

 

 

 

Her ability to bring wrath and destruction upon our house is matched only by her adversary, Yoda ...

 

 



Maybe Next Time

I was a fierce competitor in Jr. High 4H sewing. Fierce. I do believe I always took the cake while modeling my creations at the annual fashion show. And I recall a few "best of show" ribbons at the Colusa County fair when all judging was said and done in the sewing tent. I owe it all to genetics (my mom is a mean seamstress) and a great teacher in Mary Massa.

Fast forward 15 or so years and a few years into marriage. Matt heard of my legendary sewing skills, scraped together some pennies that were very hard to come by during our Wisconsin years, and bought me a sewing machine for my birthday. We scraped even harder and bought a little table for my sewing machine. I was in love. I sewed away many long, dark, cold nights at that little table. My endeavors mostly consisted of curtains and aprons and one lone quilt. I have since realized that two things made for the perfect sewing environment back then: Wisconsin winters and a house with no children. Just a few years into my new found love for the homey hobby Henry was born. And all my sewing ceased.

Fast forward again nearly 6 years to present day where I discover the ultimate motivation to revive my seamstress hand ...

There is just something about a little girl that screams, "Sew for me! Adorn me in handmade dresses and bows and ruffly things." 

So a few nights ago, after waiting 7 days for my machine to be serviced, I decided to make something for my baby girl. I put the kids to bed and eagerly dove into stacks of material that I've held onto for 6 years. I found the perfect print. It was soft, and pink, and covered with roses. It just looked like Claire. Now while I may enjoy sewing, I hate reading patterns, and cutting and pinning and ironing. So I decided I would just "create" the perfect dress for Claire. And that's what I did. From 8pm to 11pm I thought and schemed and cut and sewed and seam ripped and sewed some more until this perfectly simple creation was born ...

 

 

I stared at it for awhile before I fell asleep, eagerly awaiting the moment I would hear Claire's first morning babbles so I could get her dressed for the day. The moment arrived 8 hours later. I walked into her room with the dress in hand and slipped it gently over her sweet little curls. Um. Well, it actually looked a bit more like this ...

And like this ...

 

 

Before she and I both realized it just wasn't going to happen.

 





 

 

Lesson learned. Perhaps I do need patters. And measurements. And maybe my sewing skills peaked during 4H sewing when I was 13 years old. Oh well. It turns out that Claire's future dolls will have a darling dress one day. In fact, this dress already made it's way onto a friends teddy bear. And I do believe that teddy bear was quite happy with my skills.

 

By the way, I carved out an hour the next day to sew Claire a little something. A redemptive shot at a dress for my baby girl. It's a pillow case dress. The easiest design out there. But I do believe it looks just darling on her.

A Little Bit of Claire

Busting a move ...

Becoming chatty patty ...

Pestering Tyson ...



Loving her Aunties.



Being a little doll.

With her BFF.

Nearing the terrible two's.

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Tahoe - Week 2

Week number 2 and we're fully enjoying

 the altered state of reality that is life in Tahoe.

Loving the sand!

Our entertainment during dinner prep.

They are so entertaining ...

... Adam couldn't even handle it.

Getting ready for a hike at Spooner Lake.

Grumpy dude. But give him 5 minutes and he'll be
the happiest kid on the hike.

Adam has an eagle eye for bugs and "treasures."

He looks ready for a 4th to me.

Skinny jeans and pink leather sandals. Appropriate
hiking attire when you're the only little girl.

Successful fishing with the boys.

And we ate it for dinner.

My husband the grill master.

Man life is tough in Tahoe.

It's 5:00 somewhere. Okay. Maybe it's just 2:30. But we're on vacation!

Tahoe - Week 1

The Barron's have a tradition. A 25 year old tradition in fact. Every year during the first week (and recently 2) of July they bring their brood to Tahoe. I love, LOVE the fact that I married into this tradition. We missed 8 years of the good times when we were living in Milwaukee but now that we're back in California we have embraced the annual trip with vigor.

This is the 3rd year we've been able to bring our bunch of Barron's on the trip. The food, family, fun, cards, laughter, friends, day trips, walks, and the beach are exactly what we need. We're loving every minute.

Corn in our teeth.

Sand in our toes.

Aunties by our side.

Walks to the beach at sunset.

Cards, cards and more cards.

Cooking.

Scavenger Hunt. One of MANY!

More cooking.

Virginia City, Nevada

Panning for gold.

They actually got some flakes!

Cave tour. Scared the crud out of me.

Love this face!

Fun, fun and more fun! We are missing Tyson a bit though. Fortunately we found the best dog trainers in the world and they paid him a visit at the kennel yesterday. They said he's doing great and doesn't seem to be missing us too much. They even sent us some pictures of him. How thoughtful is that?!