our week......

i completely missed instafriday.
it was a cra-zay week.

typical sawyer uni.
he wears those rain boots 7 days a week.
he lovvvves them.
when i say, "go get your shoes on," sawyer runs to the shoe bin yelling, "my boots! my boots!"
and honestly, it's less work for me, so we go with it.

sugar cookie covered in nutella....that was my breakfast more than once this week.

so stinkin' good.

shhhhh....don't tell my kids.

art.
last weekend when aj's parents were here, we all went to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
it's amazing and we all loved it.
you're supposed to stay 18 inches away from the walls at all times.
and we took a 3 year old.
ha ha ha ha ha.
actually he did amazingly well.
besides yelling "he's not wearing any underwear" very loudly when he saw the nekky male sculpture.
and running towards a piece of art on the wall and tripping and falling into the art and catching himself with the painting.
yep, that was awesome.
all in all, it was a success and i'd like to go back for a date night and eat dinner at the museum.

target FAIL.
these things smell like death.
or a nursing home.
mixed with throw up.
and i bought the jumbo pack. obviously.

good morning!
aj texted me this pic on wednesday morning when i was at our scripture memory group.
i'm thinking this little one went to bed with wet hair. ;)

ruby turned 6 months this week.
we celebrated by letting a nurse jab 3 different needles into her sweet thighs.
boo. hate those dang shots.
and waiting waiting waiting in the office for the nurse to come in and give said shots.

friendship.

these two played outside together for TWO HOURS on friday morning.

and it was rather chilly and windy...but they were having so much fun together.

laughing and playing and pretending. 

it was a joy to watch.  

they are a joy to my soul.

okay, even though it's two days past friday, i'm linking up with jeanette for instafriday anyway. 

join me? :)

ballers

this winter our boys have been playing basketball for the first time.
they are playing upwards basketball and they are loving it.

practices are monday and tuesday and games are on saturdays.
thankfully, AJ takes them to their practices so i only have to entertain little ones at the games on saturdays.

i sure do love it when they play indoor sports.
i'm such a wimp with cold weather.

i've enjoyed going to their games and watching them improve.
sawyer loves it too.

AJ's parents came this weekend to watch the games.
his dad took a whole slew of great pics for us.
these are straight out of his camera . . . no editing. love that.

i love that they start every game with prayer.

AJ coaches avery's team.
it's fun to see him coach again.....just for a little bit. ;)

i love to see him work with our boys on their skills.

avery has improved so much this year.
he practices dribbling every day after school.
he hustles down the court every time.

if i could chose a sport for my boys, this would definitely be my fave.

i sure do like being a boy mom. :)

monday, monday.

are you celebrating president's day today?

aj's work is not. lame.

but, bonus, his parents are here and are big time entertainment for my four children.

we have had a very busy and fun weekend. 

life has been pretty full lately and i am way behind on my blog reading... i have a handful of blogs that i usually read daily and they are so encouraging, inspiring, & lovely.

do you read (in)courage?

are you going to (in)real life??

i am and i'm super pumped.

amber {@ the RunaMuck}, my (in)real life girlfriend writes about it here.

it's coming up in april...i encourage you to find one in your area and attend.
if you are around me....come to our (in)RL and let's chat!
you don't have to be a blogger...just come and let's encourage each other, k?

here's a little vid to get you inspired. :)





let me know if you're coming to the nwarkansas one!

the last two weeks.

before we had kids i read something about little boys that said, boys like guns.
you can have a home with no toy guns, but they will probably create a gun out of legos or tinker toys anyway.
when i taught school i said they couldn't point guns at people.
and that's how we started with our boys.
i'd always say, pretend you're shooting a bird or hunting, let's not shoot at people.
but then. . . well i gave up.
i've got three boys, you know.
and they have a battle to fight.
they are born, no doubt about it, with an urge to fight, to protect, to defend...to be the warrior.
we stopped fighting it and just let them be boys.
although we do encourage them to be the good guy, the hero, the defender.
i'll tell you the truth, we have a whole toy arsenal up in here.
nerf guns, light sabers, water guns, super hero costumes, capes, shields . . ..etc.
i've had other moms ask me what we do about guns....so there you have it.
we have them and we have fun with them.
{also, i will say, that we do have serious talks with our boys about real guns and that they are never to touch them, etc.  our play guns look nothing like real guns, fyi. unless real guns are bright yellow and orange....}

after school piano practice.

finley often sticks his tongue out when he's concentrating....cute.

i'm tryyyying to get better about having him practice throughout the week.

avery does it on his own so i don't have to coerce him.

finley would generally rather play then do something structured. . . any day of the week.

my $5 {yard sale} cowboy boots have been in heavy rotation this winter. 

this is me resorting to whatever means necessary to get to the caffeine.

i was having one of those afternoons and mama needed some dp.

i love my husband dearly, but the man has insanely strong hands and he tends to seal up lids like fort knox. 

i could. not. get this thing open...i used several different methods before resorting to digging through his toolbox for the heavy duty pliers.

i usually do this at least once per winter.

i buy a dollar can of shaving cream for the boys to play in on the table.

i was actually wanting to make our spelling word practice fun.

the boys were so. excited. when i told them to take their shirts off and come to the table.

i squirt a big pile in front of each of them and let them go to town. 

then i read aloud their spelling words, one at a time, and they had to practice it until they got it right.

they love it.

sawyer gets to make shapes and whatever else he wants.

the rule is that they have to keep it on the table and they can't rub it all over their bodies. 

full disclosure:  one of my boys, who shall rename nameless, disobeyed and it didn't end as happy as it started. that's life. 

all in all it was really fun.

and their finger nails got really clean. :)

ruby just started having play time in her exersaucer and johnny jump up this past week. 

finley adores his little sister.

he is very good about sitting by her and talking to her and handing her toys.

sister had her first rice cereal last saturday.

she was a fan.

she kept grabbing the bowl and pulling it towards herself.

she also chomped on the spoon a bunch and generally slurped it down.

it was pretty stinking cute.

and she had all five of us as an audience, cheering her on. :)

two ladies ready for church. :)
ruby wore her valentiney pillowcase dress i made her.
yes, she looked adorable.
i love making her clothes.
wish i could just sit around and sew and create all the live long day.

cupcakes are a must have for any holiday.
this year.....dark choc. with buttercream frosting dyed pink.
i made them for our family and for our potter's house girls.
yum.

finley had his first grade program, "how does your garden groove?" this week.
he is that big piece of corn in front. :)
he even had a line. he was super pumped.
aj left work so he could be there with me.
fin did so great.

monday we had our first snow of the winter and it wasn't even enough to cancel school.
i greeted them after school with hot chocolate.
i really enjoy our afternoon snack times together.
the littles are usually asleep so the big boys and i can talk about their day and spend some sweet time together.

our day of love was very fun.
the boys are so happy and appreciative about any little thing i do for them.
i really enjoy making holidays special for our family.
they kept saying that this was the best valentine's day ever.
i am so thankful for their happy hearts.

we are head over heals smitten with this baby girl.

she is such a joy and delight to our home.

she is so lovely.

what an amazing, undeserved gift.

so happy it's friday....that means two whole days with AJ. :)

his parents are coming in and we are looking forward to lots of fun family time.

what about y'all? what have you been up to?

link up your random moments with jeannett at life rearranged:

rest.

when i read the first line of Jesus Calling this morning, i laughed out loud.
it was and is just so perfect.

"Thank ME for the conditions that are requiring you to be still. . . Quietness and trust enhance your awareness of My presence with you." 


i believe God is doing a refining work in us right now.
we are in a time of not knowing and waiting.
and . . . i am feeling at peace.....which i believe, is due in large part to the prayers of our friends.

my natural tendency is to work really hard and try to manipulate situations to make things happen.
i am choosing not to do that this time.
i am choosing to over and over again lay my worries, concerns, the future, at His feet.

i have been saying over and over "i cast this _____ at your feet" . . . whatever it is that i am worrying about at that particular moment.
and i am feeling God's peace.

i am learning to hear and recognize the Holy Spirit's voice.
i am learning again to trust.
one feeble, shaky step in front of the other.


God is so good.

pillowcase dress tutorial

happy valentine's day, friends!!

since today is the day of luuuuvvvv, i thought i'd show y'all some lovin' and with a tutorial.

so first of all, i know that there are many pillowcase dress tutorials out there.
but i thought i'd go ahead and share my simple, figure-it-out-as-i-go method in case y'all want to try it.
if you are a seamstress or a perfectionist, quit reading now.
this is by no means the right way to do this, this is just my own personal super easy, sara-version. :)
also, this is a super simple dress that you could even do with iron-on hem tape if you don't sew.

i made this sweet little dress for ruby for valentine's day.

i bought 1/2 of a yard of the red dotty fabric from hobby lobby and i already had the ribbon and fabric for the hearts.
i just eye balled how much fabric i'd need by holding it up to ruby in the store.

you can also take a dress that you have that is the right size and gauge your fabric that way.
or google pillowcase dress sizing.

first, i folded my piece of fabric in half width-wise and laid a dress of ruby's down to get an idea for the length of the dress.

next, i decided how long i wanted it to be, and added about 6 inches for seam allowance and the ribbon casing.  then i cut off the excess.

then, i trimmed up the top and bottom edges to make sure they were straight(ish).

next, i lined up the selvages.

i used the full width of the fabric for this dress {half for the front and half for the back} because i wanted it to be full when i gathered it up with the ribbon.

but if you want it more straight and less full, this is where you would trim some fabric from the width.
it does not have to be perfect, this dress is very forgiving.

next, {with the fabric still folded and right sides facing each other} i sewed a straight seam along that selvage edge, being sure not to leave any white edge showing.
i cut off the excess and sewed a zigzag stitch along that edge to keep it from fraying.

then, i folded the bottom edge up 1/4 of an inch {ish} and then up again and pinned it.
i sewed that edge to make the bottom hem.

next, the arm holes.
i folded the fabric in half again width wise.
i looked at my example dress to get an idea of the size for the arm holes.

then i measured across two inches and down four inches.
i made a little snip with my scissors to mark then spot first.

then, i made a curved, j-shaped cut for the armholes {you are cutting through 4 layers of fabric at this point}.
again, this does not have to be perfect.
just give it your best shot. :)

 then, i unfolded the fabric and used some pink grosgrain ribbon that i had on hand to finish the edges of the arm holes.
the ribbon i had was 7/8 inch and i folded it in half over the edge and stitched it in place.

next, i made the ribbon casing.
i folded the top over 1/4 " and then another inch and stitched that down, close to the folded edge.

then, i took some more of that pink ribbon and cut two lengths that were each twice as long as the width of the dress.
i pinned one edge with a safety pin and worked it through the casing.  same with the other one.
then i stitched a little straight stitch in the middle to keep the ribbon from slipping out.

then, i just cinched up the ribbons to gather the top and tied them in bows on each side.
make sense?

to make the dress valentiney, i cut some scrap fabrics into heart shapes and stitched them on.
i left the edges raw because i like the look of the frayed fabric edge.
i purposefully sewed it around and around and kind of wonky. :)

this was a really simple and inexpensive dress to make....and i love how it turned out.

ruby received many compliments on sunday. :)

our little valentine. :)

so i know this tutorial was very basic.

i wanted to make sure even non-sewers could do it. 

let me know if you have any questions.

i'm thinking of making a modified version for me. :)