Family Day

Yet, another Holiday
(I'm not so sure how much of a holiday it is.. but kids get the day off school, and some people get the day off work, or get paid more to work)
Yay! For living in Ontario.

This was another fun one for us as a Family.

Dan took the kiddies outside (while I seemed to be on the phone all morning).  Then I joined them.  After all, it was FAMILY day.. not cool dad, lazy mom day.

This is where I brag about my husband.
He's a fantastic dad.  He's fun and creative. And has more energy than I do some days.

I went outside, and he had the backyard shoveled into pathways (keep in mind we have a BIG backyard).
He had piled snow in an igloo like structure.  Then, we all filled up buckets and tubs with snow (like you would to make a sand castle) and improved on our igloo.  Dan even put one of my summer metal garden flowers up as decoration, and a door mat!
He also piled more snow - with steps, and two different sized snow slides.
(and yes... we still have our lawn mower out. why? not sure. but it wouldn't budge)

On top of it all, the weather was PERFECT! Snowy. Warm. Sunny (the kids even had their mittens off).

Okay, enough talk.... more pictures.

lunch (first course)
in what Bella calls her
Snow Tent :)

Then I got Bellie to help me with a little photoshoot, for my photography class.  They aren't the best pics, but as a mom, some are just too adorable.

xoxoxo

I 

HEART 

my family

SO 

stinkin

much

xo

The making of V-Day cards

One thing I love about being a mommy is that I have the ability to make holidays special.

Some people are cynical about holidays like Valentines.

NOT me. 

It's great that we have the opportunity to make days memorable for our kids- to involve them, to be creative, to capture "teachable moments" and to help them to find the joy.

We talked about love all day. 

Precious. 

Isabella made cards for her friends/classmates and babysitter.

Ben made cards too. 

Bella's cards were loosely inspired by something I saw on pintrest... with two finger prints making a heart.

And the inside was inspired by other cards online where there was a picture of a kid holding a sucker. 

(I tried to find the original link and can't. Sorry)

Bella drew herself holding a sucker- giving it to a friend (tough to see, I know).

 And the bands of red scrapbook paper were covering up a "Thank you" (these were extra thank you cards printed for our wedding- finally re-purposed 4.5 years later!)

Valentines Day 2012

Here are some iPhone pics from this valentines.
I'm not sure what order they will appear in...
But we started the day with pink heart shaped pancakes, and circle ones with Gogi berries. We took Bella to school with a bag of homemade cards for her friends.
Dan and Ben practiced a little hockey in the kitchen.
I took Ben to town for a little running around and a date. He drank his whole smoothie before he even touched his yummy macaroon.
After school and dinner our babysitter came over (straight from the hospital on crutches) and Dan and I went out for dinner. (how dedicated is she?!)
It was so nice to get out with him! It seems like it's been ages.
At the end of the night our sitter told me that Bella was helpful, thankfully Ben put himself to bed in his crib, and when they read a veggie tales book before bed, Bella pointed out that both the veggies and our sitter can't walk (veggies don't have legs) and have to hop to get around! ;)

Also, both Dan and Ben bought me flowers! (and Ben bought Bella some- which she mostly re-gifted to him!)

A few new pics added:

Pink tea with breakfast.
David's Tea. Forever Nuts. We all love it.

What happened to a resolution?

I know most people posted their resolutions a whole month ago....

I don't make new year's resolutions every year.  Last year I made a couple, okay, a bunch. They were the type that I could work my way to all through the year.

Some things I really fell short on.  Others I got a great running start at.  And some I did quite well with.
This year I wanted to choose something important, but succinct, that would sum up how I wanted my year to go.
A couple years ago I read the Happiness Project.  Have any of you read that? Anyways, aside from some less interesting parts, I really enjoyed the book.  One line that I have always remembered from the book (and forgive me if I mis-quote... I think that book has been lent out for a while now) is
"don't let the perfect be the evil of the good"

This line summarizes my biggest problem. 
If something can't be perfect, can it still be good?

I tend to procrastinate. 
But it's not because I'm not motivated.  Or because I'm lazy.  It is honestly because of the following reasons...
1) Organization usually involves a lot of mess first (not cool.... esp with kids) (I can't handle the disorder)
2). I feel that I'm not 100% certain of my end goal, and I don't want to "waste" my time if I might change my mind... or it won't be perfect enough. 
3).  I feel that if I can't complete a WHOLE task, it is not even worth starting.  Or if I can't do it "good enough" yet, I should wait.

I know all of these things sound silly.  Who knows, maybe someone can relate.
So after reading the book ages ago, I began to apply this to my life... I slowly began tackling my list of nagging things that needed to be done around the house.  And sometimes I wouldn't do the job "perfectly", or as good as it should have been done... but guess what? Things got done.  And even if all things didn't meet my high standards, they were done.... and that is by far better than living with all the "piles" and "to do's". 
Then, I went back to my old ways.  It is so strange how someone who thinks of themselves as so creative, with high standards lets so much go.  It doesn't make a lot of sense.
I know that I have a baby coming, and for a while life is going to change once again.  I really have a limited number of days before he makes his way into the world.  So I can't sit around waiting for that idealized perfect (whole, kid free) day to clean my office, closet, do paperwork, frame pictures, email friends back, send that card, organize that cupboard, sort clothes, take a load (or a few) to be donated, organize and save my pictures to my hard drive,...
So this year -- that's my goal... Don't let the perfect be the evil of the good.
I notice a lot of friends who have busy lives as well seem to find time to do the crafts and home renos I long to do, or actually hang pictures on their walls, or do cool outings with their kids, or finish the books that they read.  And you know what? As much as I idealize them as having "things easier" or being superhuman... it's probably not true.  I want to act more like how I picture myself, and let go of waiting to do something perfectly (does that even exist?) and be content with small steps towards bigger goals.  I also need to be content with not getting everything done that I imagine doing (I tend to set the bar fairly high).

So, I am going to make time, even if its just a couple minutes, to do things that I want to do... to express myself, to take care of myself, my family,... and hopefully I notice a reduction in stress, as well as a sense of accomplishment.  And I have to lose the fear of being wrong.. or not good enough.
So with that said... I'm going to watch my taped "Grey's Anatomy" and try to put some pictures in frames! I really hope that I can commit to them! :)

And, since I love to pin... here are a few inspirational pieces of art/quotes:

http://pinterest.com/

How to Make a Pillow Case Dress

There are many ways to make a dress out of a pillowcase. And we are learning more all the time!
Here, we outlined the basic steps to make an easy, well constructed dress.
I hope this helps those of you who are interested in making dresses. We hope this at least inspires you to start thinking about how to go about this.
Also, keep in mind, that you do not need a sewing machine to do this. You can use a needle and thread to sew your dress, following the same steps as listed in the video.
As mentioned before, if you want to contact us:
youaresewgorgeous@gmail.com
www.youaresewgorgeous.blogspot.com
or like us on facebook.

If you would like to make a dress- go for it! Have fun, then email us, and we can arrange for a pick up/drop off of your dress(es) or mail them to us. We are able to pick them up in these general locations... Burlington/Dundas, St. Catharines, London, Collingwood (Town of Blue Mountains).

Sew Gorgeous

We have been concentrating on "Sew Gorgeous" a lot more lately. Recently, we had our first official dress making workshop. It was awesome, we had about 38 come out to sew (all ages, even boys!). We are learning lots about sewing techniques from those who are much more experienced seamstresses than us who are willing to share their time, and skills.
Our friend Machala offered to tape parts of our workshop, and she made a couple youtube videos.
One (above) is a great look at who we are and what we are doing.
The second (will post) is a tutorial on how we make dresses... though there are many ways.

We are so overwhelmed and excited by the support and attention we have recieved lately. We have recently had a couple articles printed, a radio blurb, and this coming week, I will be on a local tv show. I hope this continues to draw support from our communities.

We have a logo which has just been designed for us. So we are in the midst of getting business cards, and car magnets. In the next couple months, we will be working on registering our name, printing pamphlets, working in schools, hosting more workshops, and launching a website... and more!-- but we really should keep some ideas for suprises! (then I will take it slow for a while while resting up and bonding with my new babe!)

If you want to know anymore about us, or check out what we have been up to....
www.sewgorgeous.blogspot.com
or like us on FACEBOOK.
Also, if you want to contact us (ie. questions, ideas, promotion, if you are available to deliver dresses to girls, donations, ....) you can reach us at youaresewgorgeous@gmail.com