Adam

I am sitting here just waiting.... waiting and trying not to freak out.  So to take my mind off of it, I will do my daily post.  My husband Adam was undergoing hernia surgery today and it has been over three hours since his surgery started and I haven't heard anything.  I am sure he is fine, it is such a common and routine surgery and he is young and healthy, but I can't help worrying.  I am a born worrier!

Adam and I met in January of 2001, actually as of yesterday, we met exactly 10 years ago.  Right from the start, he has been my best friend and constant companion.  I know lots of people who enjoy having time apart from their spouses, but not me.  I would be perfectly happy to spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with mine.  He is just so easy-going and kind, and he makes me laugh; we have the same bizarre sense of humor.  We aren't mushy or sentimental people so for me to even talk this kindly of him is unusual.  You would just have to hear the story of how we became engaged to fully realize how un-romantic we are (remind me to tell that sometime... it is a funny story!)  But it doesn't change the fact that I love him very much and it hurts me to know he is going through pain right now.

Evie and Mylie and I took a little walk earlier to try and make time pass quicker, and that is where my pictures are from today.  The sun was shining a bit, but the ground was still wet from an earlier rainfall.  I have my "mommy googles" (I just heard that phrase today and I think it is great! So true that we look at our children with our mommy googles on and see them as perfect) on and it was difficult to pick which pictures I liked best so there are quite a few.  Sorry about that!

Send lots of healing vibes Adam's way please!

Hello, my name is Julie, and I have an addiction....

.... to buying kids clothing.  There.  I stated the obvious. 

Now, what am I going to do about it?  I have tried all kinds of different ways to get myself to STOP buying more kids clothes.  Some have worked for awhile but then my self control explodes into a big buying binge.  Others don't work at all.  So far, the thing that has worked the best for me is this blogging thing!  So that means you all will probably have to read a lot more out of me in the coming months.  Also, sewing is helping me.  I always knew I needed to get a hobby, but nothing held my attention enough to divert me from my shopping.  Sewing is the best of both worlds.... I can make some cute kids clothes (usually) at a fraction of the cost, plus I get the satisfaction that I made it myself AND with the added bonus of keeping me busy enough to steer me away from online shopping!

Sooooo.... with that in mind, I have decided to go on a self-imposed buying ban.  I am going to aim to not buy any more (new or used) kids clothes from now until March 1.  The only exception being that I can purchase patterns and fabrics with which to make kids clothes.  Sound fair enough?  I hope I can do it! I will check in daily here with my progress.  And I promise to be 100% honest.

I have blathered on long enough for one day, so tomorrow I think I will post some projects that I am thinking about embarking on in the new year!

And to wrap it up, here are my photos for the day.  It was a cold and dreary day which we spent mostly inside and the lighting was terrible today.

Here is my little Evie trying soooo hard to be a good girl and not jump and run all over the table.  She is drawing a picture:

Then I noticed that she was getting a bit of a devillish look on her face, thinking "hmmmmm":

"Oops, I accidentally got on the table.  But look, I have beautiful blue eyes...."

"I just couldn't resist the mischief.  I am just going to full-out sit up on the table and be naughty"

And this is Mylie with her new doll, "Jenny".  She got her from Aunty Lisa for a birthday gift and she hasn't put her down all day.



"Take it of my good side..."

That is what Laina said to me tonight when she saw me wielding my camera.  Then she turned her back to me and stuck her butt out at the camera.  Where does she get these from?? Certainly not something I have ever said!

Anyways, I kind of cheated tonight.  I realized that I had not used my camera once today and the kids were about to go to bed.  So I snapped a couple of quick ones just so that I could say I took pictures today!

Here is Laina, showing off her gappy smile.  She lost both of her front teeth in the last month and a half.  She is pretty proud that she will be able to sing, "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!".

And because most of the things that I could say about the day are negative.... instead, I will show you the reason why I use a professional photographer for back to school pictures, rather than the school-provided photographer.  We got these back from Mylie's preschool photo day yesterday.

First is the school photo of Mylie in her Loves Me Not Gem Lap Dress

And now one of the photos that I had done back in October with my favorite photographer Addykphotography of Mylie in the same dress:



 What do you think?

Gingerbread Aprons

We found out a few days ago that Adam will be having his hernia surgery on January 7th which was the day before we had planned to hold Mylie's 4th birthday party.  For various reasons, we couldn't hold the party the week before the 7th, and the week before that is Christmas!  So we decided to have her birthday party a mere week away from now.  GULP!

So today, I had the gorgeous invitations designed by Danny (whose website has slipped my mind for the moment but I will add it in later or you can comment and I will get you a link.  If you need awesome digital photo invites that you can just print off at your local photo shop he is your man!) printed out and I will be hand delivering those tomorrow. 

I was inspired by this blog to hold a gingerbread decorating party.  Should be easy enough to do considering the house is already decorated for Christmas!  Each child will have a station with a gingerbread house (already put together and solidified, because we all know kids just can't wait for it to dry!) and all the icing and candy they need to make it beautiful!  I will be sewing each little girly their own gingerbread girl apron to wear while decorating as well as sending them home with the finished gingerbread house.   I have quite a few more ideas up my sleeve but will save them for later!

Here is Mylie, modelling the first apron I made yesterday.  I bought the pattern from my favorite place of course, etsy.

Natural lighting, oh how I love thee

While reading my friend Christine's blog yesterday, I was suddenly struck by why I have been so disappointed in most of my pictures lately.... because since the weather has turned cold, all of my pictures have pretty much been inside.  And I just haven't figured out how to make indoor lighting and my camera play nice yet.  So I decided to take it outside today!

While waiting to pick Mylie up from preschool, I snapped a couple of Evelyn (and yes, other parents were looking at me like I was weird).

Love her eyes in this one while she was still strapped in her seat:

Evelyn is sporting quite a mish mash of brands today (which can be seen as a big no-no on some forums I frequent!).  Gap Deauville hat and coat, with Old Navy jeans and Gymboree Tres Chic shoes.

When it was time to pick up Laina from school (have I even mentioned that all I do all day is drive kids to and from activities and school?) I snapped a few of Mylie who stubbornly refused to wear the hat I wanted her to in favour of a pink Gap corduroy newsboy.

Mylie is wearing Gap Leopard/ Deauville corduroy trench with Gap Himilaya top and jeans, with Joe Fuggs.

Here is Evie again, this time with a different soother (fyi in case I refer to it as such, soothers are know around here as "ooshies").  Working the runway.

And a sweet one of the sisterly reunion once Laina got out of class.

If I can get my sewing machine to stop being temperamental while I finish, I will have something cute to show you tomorrow night!