5.28.2012

bowties, brits, babies, blankies & birthdays

we had a packed holiday weekend full of people, sunshine, food and birthdays.

friday was judah's actual birthday so we let him call all the shots. such fun to have a 3 year old at the helm of your family plans.

he chose some good, fun stuff. here is an instagram breakdown:

1. dinner at "wapple house!" up at the tall, spinny counter chairs: chocolate chip wapple, sausage, OJ. he also swiped jesse's bacon while he wasnt looking and said, "mai swiper da fox!" and totally ate it.

2.he got a woody dress up set for his bday and needed a 6-shooter for his holster, so we hit target. here he is saying "may free today!" on the big red balls in front of the store.

3. when the birthday kids wants a drink while shopping, you let it rip. we got him a tiny starbucks smoothie a la ryan myers's brilliant trick

4. while i grabbed a blank t-shirt for a sewing project, he spied none other than a curious george shirt! as you may remember (i personally have tried to repress it) we LOVe george. for $8 it was ours. actually, before we even paid for it, it was ours, as he was stripping before i could even react.

5. his sweet preschool teachers gave him his birthday gift during the last week of school since he has a summer bday. we kept it wrapped and sitting on our windshield and let him open it friday. whoops. it was a lightning mcqueen coloring set. with crayons. in a GA windshield for a week. pretty!

6. target was a BUST. nerf weapons and star wars blasters are fantastic, but woody needs an authentic revolver, so we found one at the local fancy pants toy shop. "reach for the sky!!!"

7. a $3 cupcake with 3" worth of chocolate frosting? on your 3rd birthday...of course!

8. he probably thinks he's the lucky one. he's wrong. it's us.

saturday morning we were up and on the road for judah's BFF, benjamin's 3rd birthday party. benj was born to my BFF natalie in england 47 hours after judah was born. this is his first bday since moving back to the USA and we wouldn't have missed it.

here's what we got him (knowing that he is also a well-loved child with MANY toys, we opted for handmade gifts that were far more exciting to mommy):

a bowtie for every season!

due to his parentage, benj is destined to be a hipster artsy cool guy, so these feel like they are right up his alley.


he, naturally, tossed this thing aside as soon as he opened it to head for greener pastures of toys and fun. no harm, no foul. i have to force judah into his own bowties.

and then i also spotted this for him:


a mini boden t-shirt that combined 2 of benj's first loves: drums and the UK. woe was me though when i saw the $28 price when we are in the midst of some financial tightness.

but, uh-doy, i can sew, so i made him one myself for $5 (thus the target blank shirt i was shopping for above):

i like mine even more because the proportions and placement seem even better than the original and i added a highhat.

i LOVE this thing.

natalie is a wonderful friend who knows me well. she instantly announced, "you guys, keight MADE this!" i pretended to be embarrassed but secretly loved it. character flaw.

whistlin' dixie god save the queen



how pumped was i when i saw his big gift from his parents!?!? a new set of drums to replace his old broken ones. yes. ad he is beyond adorable.

and then sunday night we got word that jesse's brother and his wife were on their way to the hospital to welcome their 3rd little girl, finnley rae.

i was hoping she could hold on past midnight so that she would be born on memorial day, and she did! so though judah's birthday is the 25th and finnley's the 28th they still share a birthday because they were both born on memorial day. funtimes. (this add another cousin bday pairing: layla was born on her cousin--and finnley's older sister--bella's birthday).

she is tiny and perfect and positively delicious:
hopefully my uterus will accept this newborn as a placebo to keep my baby fever at bay for the foreseeable future.

to welcome finnley, i made her a few special things. her mommy, my sister in law jackie, had me redo a few accents of her carseat with some new and cute fabric. when i was done, there was lots leftover, so i whipped up a few paci clips and a pinterest project i had been hankering to do for a long time, the ruffle baby blanket:



this is a family the LOVES little girls, so ruffles all around fits perfectly!


finnley's room is grey and purple, so i backed the blanket in a gray dandelions.


someone was having a HARD time staying off the blanket, despite my constant requests to please not touch or stand on it.

she is PUSHING those boundaries.


and then, she just leans into the disobedience and snuggles right up under the blanket.

when i start to really correctly her for not only touching the blanket, but completely pulling it away while i was trying to photograph it, she is up and on the run to escape correction. little lady is a flight risk at all times. especially when she is a wanted fugitive.

an A+ weekend full of laughter, friends, bug spray, family, outside and grilling like only a summer weekend can be!

15 comments:

  1. Wow. Is it wrong that I want to be friends based 87% on the hope that we would be recipients of some of those fine hand made gifts? And kudos to you for knowing what a highhat is. Bravo!

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    1. am i flattered that that's how much you love my sewing skills or angst-y that my charm is only worth 13%?

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  2. Love the birfday recap...so adorable! Can just see him ditching his shirt and doning the other...George rules (for a few more days anyway)! The pouty pic of LayLay is too much. How can you discipline disobedience that cute??!! YOur shirt is way better than the $28...you continue to amaze!!

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  3. I wanna know how you got the Union Jack material for the shirt. A bandanna? You cut up a real flag? If the latter, I'm calling Scotland Yard. (But then I'm going to tell them that you used it for awesome and they'll totes understand.)

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    1. shah right! i made that bad boy by hand with R/W/B knit scraps. this bodens was just preprinted. they aint got nothing on me!! after i made my perfect flag it did feel very sacrilegious to be cutting it up.

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  4. So, I read the Starbucks trick when Raechel posted and wan to try it. What kind of reaction did you get from the barista?

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    1. she was a little taken aback, but i just kept pushing like i totally knew what i was talking about and she was the weird one. if you get into any trouble, just drop the rae-my name and they will do whatever you want.

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    2. Thanks. I would have hemmed and hawed, but confidence is clearly the way to go. :)

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  5. Love the drum set brit shirt! I hope when I have kids you will whip up some lederhosen! haha

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  6. awesome way to do a third birthday! love it.

    Also, the shirt - bravo!

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  7. Love the blanket!! Would you mind posting a tutorial? I'm totally into handmade gifts!

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    1. someone already made a tutorial! it's the one i followed. it's linked to (via pinterest) just above the first picture of the blanket.

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  8. did you make those bow ties, because I know a little boy who would look adorable in one...

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