Family Portrait OVERLOAD!!!

We had our family photos taken mid-December (not in time for Christmas cards, but we'd planned on using a pic from Myrtle Beach on our "beach Santa" cards this year anyway). I just got the cd, which is why I'm so late on posting them. I used Keisha Nowlin...never heard of her...googled "photographers in Monroe, LA" and she popped up! She's awesome...we were very pleased. This year, we wanted some non-traditional pics done...like around old, rustic buildings. She met us downtown (Monroe) around the old Howard Griffin building. It was FREEZING! Our super-cheap $35 (for 2 hours) session lasted 45 mintues! I think she got some great shots of Avie in such a short amount of time.

I couldn't narrow it down! This is a lot of pictures!

(I made her pants!)

Miss Sassy



This is my favorite of Avie...

Look at theis face she's making! She was getting fussy so Chad was trying to make her laugh!

I love this one of them...

This is our "main" family portrait. I am having this one enlarged and framed for our foyer.

  

Keisha even included some cute Valentines with our order!

Boys and their toys...

So my hubs got something new and green to mow the yard with...

JOHN DEERE green, that is...

Never say never...

I always said I would never buy these cartoon character screenprint tees. Not that they're not cute...there's just CUTER stuff. hahaha. Well, when you see that cute, sweet, excited look when you hold it up in

Wal-Mart and say "do you like this?"...you'll buy more than one. Dora is not just a cartoon to Avie...she's like her BFF. She adores Dora and Boots. It's St. Patrick's Day, I couldn't find a St. Paddy's tee, and this Dora tee is green. She was so proud this morning.

What IS this pose? She cracks me up on a daily basis.

Like her ruffly jeans I made?

Happy St. Paddy's Day Y'all!

Little Girl Clothes

I have had the hardest time finding cute spring/summer clothes for Avie! I don't really need any smocked things this summer (of course, unless I really found a steal!)... Avie wears her smocked dresses for like 3 years...no lie yall...I buy them a size too big and hem them for a year, then I let it down to its original hem the next year, then the third year, we add interfacing and let the hem down as far as it'll go! Talk about getting your money's worth! And she wears her smocked outfits/dresses to school so it's not just special occasion clothes! They wash up fine! This will be the 3rd year for the cupcake dress in this post. And it's this ladybug dress's 3rd year too! (she'd just turned 1 in this pic...and is standing on her own! she didn't walk til 14 months, so this was a huge deal for us!)

So basically, I just need some cute outfits and play clothes for her. I usually find cute play clothes at Target...you can get a cute outfit from there for 6 bucks and monogram it...and it's adorable! (I did get a few things there last night). Has anyone been to Kid's Closet lately? They have bedazzled tank/ruffled pants sets for $96. Really? Do people pay that for something their child only fits in for a few months??? And it's not even smocked?! I decided I wanted to make some things for Avie...Hobby Lobby has the cutest "boutique" fabric and you can make things cuter than what's in the store...if you have the right fabric! I already posted the knot dress I made last week. I also made a cute ruffly skirt (pics to come). Friday and Saturday I made a bunch of ruffled pants with tops to go with them. Here are just a couple she's worn so far...I'll post more as she wears them!

Yes, my girl is a little sassy...and funny...she "poses" for pics on the babydoll aisle at Target. Gotta love the hands on the hips...

(Thanks Lindsay for this applique you sent me like 2 years ago! This is the first time I've gotten to use it!)

Many of you know I'm not a fan of jeans on little girls. If you are, I'm not trying to offend! I just feel like jeans make them look older and I'm NOT ready for mine to look like a child...she's still my baby! However, I did buy her a pair of jeans in December to go with her Christmas appliqued tees. And they were cute. But, I haven't seen anymore of that type at Target. Every child needs jeans to go with basic t-shirts and such...so I made some ruffly denim pants! Aren't they fab?! (you really can't tell too much about them since she's standing on the brown rug...but imagine dark denim with big ruffles at the bottom!) I just bought some cute printed "play tees" at Old Navy and Target to go with these. I made some lighter denim ones too.

And I know, she's not a baby anymore...these pics make that obvious...but she's MY baby!! They grow too fast and it makes me sad :(

A little sewing...

My friend Jessie sent me a pattern for a knot dress she'd bought to have a dress made for her little girl. I'm not real big on patterns. I have to have my mamaw's supervision when I'm sewing something new or from a pattern. But...I loved the dress, so I decided to give it a shot by myself! The pattern was easy to follow...although I tweeked it a bit.

I love the coordinating floral and cheetah fabric. I love that the cheetah print is shabby colored...blue, olive, brown. Hobby Lobby has the best coordinating prints! I got a bunch...and I plan on making several things this weekend...including the ruffly boutique pants I always make her, of course!

How sassy is she? Her daddy was finishing up her bedtime story when I finished the dress. I couldn't wait to see it on her and take pics, so I took her pjs off and put her dress on! It fits perfectly!

Our weekend...

Last weekend was nice, relaxing, and pretty uneventful. Friday night was the most fun part...we had our Sunday School game night at church. We played the Newlywed Game...always fun...and always a great way to get to know couples who are new to our class. The church provided childcare, so Avie had a BLAST playing with the other kids in the children's building. Our church just added on a new children's building and it's like a serious jungle gym/amusement park/Chuck E. Cheese all put together. (ok, maybe not the amusement park part). Every Sunday, the kids classes take turns playing after they do their Sunday School lesson. So instead of getting a babysitter or asking one of our moms to keep Avie we just decided that we would let her have a fun Sunday School night too! She kept saying "I wanna go to the party too!". I got home and had a phone date with my cousin, Holly...til MIDNIGHT. We talk often (a couple of times a week), but only extended 2+ hour conversations happen about once every 4-6 months.

I woke up the next morning with a headache...a grinding-my-teeth headache. I can always tell if it's sinus, grinding my teeth, or tension. Yuck. Exedrin Migraine didn't do the trick, Tylenol didn't do the trick, nothing worked. But...I decided not to let it ruin my day. I was lazy til about 3...then we headed to town to go to Academy, Target, and dinner. Headaches zap me completely. It's exhausting. But I had a wonderful day just being with the 2 loves of my life...regardless of a headache. (fyi: I had a headache everyday when I was pregnant...I had to see a migraine specialist and eventually started taking Propranolol everyday...never had another headache while I was pregnant. *just in case any of you readers are pregnant and having headaches* Can you tell I hate headaches? Forgive me for ranting.)

Here are my two preciouses. We went to eat at El Sombrero...the BEST Mexican place ever. We just got it a few months ago. They have one in Vicksburg and I go there every time I go to the outlet mall over there. I LOVE it...so imagine my thrilled-ness when they opened one in West Monroe.

My child doesn't sit in a highchair nor a booster anymore. She thinks she is grown and needs no assistance.

(check out my hubs' sunglasses lines...that he got while he WON FIRST PLACE IN HIS FISHING TOURNAMENT!!)

Sunday after church we decided to head to Ruston to see Nana and Pops. We were craving fried chicken and called my parents to see if they felt like company. Mom said "YES!!! And hurry! Dad's about to go get some chicken." Talk about great minds thinking alike! haha. Nana's been sick for the past 2 and a half weeks. Yeah, flu/bronchitis...she can't get rid of it. We haven't seen much of her lately so we headed over. She hasn't been contagious for a while but she just doesn't feel good and she's weak. I think a dose of Avie helped her though!

She even felt like baking homemade chocolate chip cookies!

(Avie is sitting there like a big girl eating hers.)

Surely this coming weekend, I will be more productive and headache-less! Nonna invited Avie to spend the night Friday...so Chad and I have datenight! He has another fishing tournament Saturday and I plan on sewing for Avie and maybe going shopping! Tokyo is on the menu for Saturday night...Avie's first time!

Hope you've had a great week and a Happy Friday tomorrow!!!