Sewing and Such

I usually start to get itchy this time of the year. Not scratchy itchy, but itchy instead for something to look forward to. Like spring. But we still have a few solid months of grey left before I can even think about seeing the sun again, so I decided to focus on what has previously been an unsung holiday around here: Valentines Day. I stayed up super late one night watching Anchor Man and cutting felt for this heart garland. I should add that I nearly cut off my fingers during fits of hysterical laughter because- my god- have you seen this movie?

I have been sewing a bit for Clementine these days. I made her this doll for Christmas. Does she look familiar? I am a one trick pony.
 

And I've been using up smaller pieces of cute fabrics on these shirt/dresses. I admit to having fabric hoarding tendencies so it's always an accomplishment when I dust off some fabric that's been taking up valuable real estate in my closet and actually make something for a change. And then I found this tutorial for the baby mini skirt which is completely and utterly ridiculous but after years and YEARS of sewing button up shirts, because really, what else is there with two boys, I am all about the baby mini skirt! Even if it is totally pointless, I just can't help myself.

And speaking of the button up shirts, can we please have some consistency with collar making instructions, pattern writers of the world? I swear I have followed ten different sets of instructions for this and each time I inevitably begin to question the logic of the steps but, like a fool, I just keep going- even though something doesn't seem quite right here- until I get to the basting. I never baste. It's my way of sticking it to the man and living dangerously at the same time. Fuck a bunch of basting.

So when will the pattern makers figure out that less is really more when it comes to collars? Burda 9747, I am talking to you.

(I feel sorry for kid modeling view B. His mom must have put him up to this.)

Every year I forget how much I hate you and, like a moth to a flame, I use you for the Christmas jammies. And it's only when you start in with the collar basting instructions that I remember how lame you really are. You make my kids look like Ron Burgundy. And I am not laughing.

So anyway, on this Valentines Day kick, I found this rad Star Wars valentines tutorial where you print pictures of Star Wars Lego figures and then use a little glow stick as the light saber and I got super excited because crafty and cool at the same time! Won't all of the other preschool and kindergarten parents be impressed? Except the weird thing was that neither of the kids were into it at all. Once they realized that I was just going to take pictures of their existing Star Wars Lego figures and not buy NEW Star Wars Lego figures they quickly lost interest. And then Jack got all huffy set out to make his own cryptic valentines out of Star Wars stickers, computer paper and a Halloween pencil. I have learned not to question his method when it comes to this sort of thing, so we will just roll with it and see what happens. I can just imagine his kindergarten colleagues bringing home their shoe boxes full of valentines and their parents wondering Just who is this "Jack R." with the weird valentines?  Didn't his parents see the tutorial about the glow stick light sabers?

Speaking of school, we recently had to enact a wardrobe variety ordinance in our house. Both Jack and Sawyer would wear the same outfit every day if we let them. Jack is fond of a blue underarmor shirt with grey jeans while Sawyer prefers a Yoda t-shirt and a pair of blueberry stained basketball shorts, rain or shine. I am all for the kids expressing themselves via their wardrobes, but a little variety is nice from time to time. And how about all of those fabulous awkwardly collared button up shirts? I sure would like to see those in the rotation once in a while. I have tried to (GENTLY!) explain to Jack that since he's in an immersion program and will be with these kids for the next THIRTEEN YEARS (!!) he might not want to pigeonhole himself as the kid who always wore the blue shirt in kindergarten. And please, whatever you do, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, do not try to tell the kids that you had two identical blue shirts, because your middle school peers will see right through that, kid. Trust me.

This valley fog has been really getting to me. Maybe I've read "The Fall of the House of Usher" too many times, but it's seriously started to creep me out. I just couldn't hack it any more and we had to get out of dodge. We heard that the sun was shining at the beach so off we went. This is what we left behind.



Jack was wearing his blue underarmor shirt even though it wasn't a school day. But then of course we ran into his teacher at the North Jetty (OF COURSE!) so I am sure she too will remember him as the kid who always wore the blue shirt.

We all had a good time frolicking around on the beach and basking in the sunshine despite the fact that Brent and I are both hobbling around on hurt feet (more on that later). The kids built sandcastles and ran down the dunes, the baby slept in the pack, the dog ran circles around us for at least an hour. Everything was just fine, splendid actually, until we lost Sawyer. He was only missing for about five minutes but during those five long minutes I realized that the North Jetty is just about the worst place you could lose your kid. And I also realized that losing my kid is my greatest fear. So that pretty much sucked.

But then we found him. He was actually pretty easy to spot in his bright yellow t-shirt with a rooster in sunglasses that says "I'm here for the chicks." I guess the Yoda shirt must have been dirty that day.

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