Whew...What a day...

The girls and I went to town with my mom this morning to pay the electric bill and ended up being gone ALL DAY. Seriously, hubby was home from work before we got home. We are all exhausted but it was fun. Well except for the clothes shopping part. Shopping for post partum clothing is not something I enjoy. Blah.

The girls were both in good spirits today for the most part even though we shopped right through nap time. Although the after effects of the lack of nap hit Kinsley pretty hard after we got home and she went into full blown looney tune mode. Which included deciding she wanted to pee in the grass like the dogs do. Seriously, she dropped her pants and peed in the back yard and was so flippin proud of herself for doing it. Sigh. Never a dull moment around here.

Thankfully everyone is sound asleep now and I'm going to treat myself to a Twix and a glass of coke and catch up on some blog reading. Am I the only mom who waits until after bedtime to bust out the good snacks so I don't have to share? Tell me I'm not.

And since a post is no good without a picture...

Oh this girl. I love her to tiny bits.

Dainty Daisy Beanies

July 21, 2010 026, originally uploaded by RusticOkie.

I'm in love. With this freakin adorable little girl and the awesome hat she's wearing. I love hats, especially tiny little crocheted hats. Well I love hats on everyone else. I'm so not a hat person, I wish I was but it just doesn't work for me. Oh well. I'll just keep cranking them out for everyone else.

Especially these. Its the Shell Stitch Beanie pattern from The Dainty Daisy and I just can't get enough of it (or her other designs). They whip up in absolutely no time and the different color combos are making me go a bit crazy and I've made entirely too many of them already. I love that she's adapted the pattern to so many different sizes and now I want to make some for the big girl too although she is not that impressed. She is intently committed to getting me to make more play food for her kitchen. Nothing else matters to her right now. Seriously.

But I'm going to make some more anyway. I mean check these out...

he he. I couldn't resist making a little bumble bee hat. :) And just because I love her...check out this face.

Simply Saturday

I just love Saturdays don't you? It is my absolute favorite day of the week. The hustle and bustle of the week is behind us and we are all home together as a family. There are no schedules, meetings, errands to run just a full day of open possibilities. We could go anywhere...to the local farmer's market, the zoo or the park. Or we could do as we are doing today and simply spending the day hanging out near to home doing whatever strikes our fancy at any particular moment. I love lazy days like this where we just take a step back and relax. In fact the little girl and I haven't even gotten out of our pajamas today and I'm not entirely sure that we will.

Don't get me wrong we aren't just sitting on the couch staring at the walls. There is still plenty going on around here, there always is. The big girl and hubby have already been out riding the four wheeler and running around. There has been a Royal Ball with barbies in princess costumes and rumors of the sprinkler coming out are running wild.

I have been cuddling with the little girl and we've actually been napping as well. In fact at this very moment I am the only one in the house awake, and its blissful. I'm thinking of the many things I'd like to tackle today while I have a chance. I want very much to get into our storage building and search for some missing craft supplies that would be perfect for a new idea I've dreamed up, there is the cake waiting to be made for the Nana's birthday which is tomorrow and I am plotting a trip to the lake with a homemade picnic dinner this evening. The main thing drawing my attention (and making me want to actually get out from under my cozy blanket on the couch) are these little crocheted flowers waiting to move on to their next phase in life.

They are just sitting on the kitchen table calling to me, wanting to be put onto a hat, or a headband or a hair clip...something. I just adore these little flowers and the fact that I can make absolutely any color combination I want. The big girl is wanting to put them onto everything she owns so I will likely make her a few more small ones and put pin backs on them so she can do just that. See that fuzzy one on the lower left of the picture? That's my favorite. It's so soft and sweet and I actually have the very thing to put it on sitting right here next to me. But you'll have to wait until Monday to see it. I'm so mean aren't I? I promise it's worth the wait though.

So what are you doing (or not doing) on this lovely Saturday? No matter what it is I hope you have a great weekend and I will see you all next week.

Reversible Bandana Dress

July 22,2010, originally uploaded by RusticOkie.

Wow, I might actually be getting back into the groove of this blog thing. Who knew that was even possible. Of course it helps to have two adorable models to show off all the crafty goodness.

I can't take credit for this piece of craftiness though. Well I guess I did make the girl wearing the dress so I can still claim partial credit right? That's what I thought.

But seriously how cute is this dress that my mom made for the big girl? She of course loved it since she HAS to wear a dress every single day of her life or she thinks the world has ended. I love it because it's simple and beautiful and easy for her to play in. Even if I do have to iron it, gee thanks mom. I think I like this blue side the best because I like to see the trim from the red side on the bottom.

But this red side is exceptionally cute too. It's too hard to choose a favorite. I love these reversible dresses. So many possibilities and hey you don't even have to pack a change of clothes for the day.

7 Weeks Already?

July 21, 2010 007, originally uploaded by RusticOkie.

I can't even begin to explain how quickly these past 7 weeks have flown by. Of course for those of you with kids of your own no explanation is needed. She has changed so very quickly and is already developing quite a little personality. She of course thinks her big sister is hilarious and I can already see that our house will turn into a 3 ring circus in absolutely no time at all. She's also discovered sticking out her tongue and she loves to hear her own name. Such a little cutie!

I just had to take some funny pictures to celebrate the day and capture her good mood. I whipped up this little hat just to play around with something new. I didn't use a pattern just increased and decreased as I went to get the look I was going for. I've seen lots of the little elf hats that flop over but thought it would be cute to do one that stands straight up. After looking at it though I've realized it looks a bit like a dunce cap. Shh..she'll never know. I do think it could use a big fluffy pom pom on top though. What do you think?

Baby Gnome

Gnome Baby 003, originally uploaded by RusticOkie.

Imagine my surprise when I looked out the window to see this little cutie in the front yard. Naturally we said yes to her coming inside and living with us from now on. How could we have said no?

Isn't she just the cutest thing ever? The big girl loves her and sleeps with her every night. I made her using the Sleepy Sarah doll pattern and love it. For you fellow crocheters (did I just make that up?) head over to Owlishly's Etsy Shop and check out her other great patterns. I love every single one of her dolls, especially the ladybug. Oh and I know she is supposed to have a sleepy face but I actually prefer her this way and the kiddo doesn't seem to mind. I seriously want to make about a dozen more but the hubby said that was a bit obsessive. I could probably get away with making one more for the little girl but it's a bit on the large size for her right now. Of course she will grow into it...hmmm...

Smellin' Like Summer

July 4, 2010 022, originally uploaded by RusticOkie.

I love the way summer smells around here. The sunscreen, freshly cut grass, barbeque grills and the fact that right now my entire house smells like fresh salsa. Yum.

The girls and I took an extended July 4th vacation and went to visit my grandparents. They loaded us up with as much fresh produce as the car would hold and there was no way we would be able to eat all the tomatoes so the hubby requested some fresh salsa. I'm not going to be making any to can this year since I didn't grow my own garden but we'll have plenty of fresh and there are still quite a few jars left from last year's harvest.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer as much as we are. Of course we could deal with it being a little less hot every day but I guess that's what summer is all about. We're trying to spend the hot afternoons working on some projects inside to beat the heat. The good news from that is that I'll have plenty of cute projects to share with you while we're trying to keep from melting. Like this shirt that I made for Kinsley for "firecracker day". I think it turned out pretty great and even though I still waited until the day before I think it turned out much better than last year's outfit. Maybe I am getting better at this sewing thing. Afterall I haven't had the urge to throw the sewing machine out the window in a few months so that has to be a good thing right?

I broke out the crochet hooks this past week too and have some quick but cute projects to share this week. Hopefully this means I'll be back to regular blogging again. I've actually really missed it and now that we aren't quite as sleep deprived around here I have a few things to blog about.

One Month Ago...

June 8, 2010 022, originally uploaded by RusticOkie.

Yes I realize it's been more than just one month since my last blog post. By now no one should be surprised by this, we are all aware of the fact that I'm the world's worst blogger. I could blame it on a lot of things...a difficult pregnancy, chasing a toddler around, lack of ability to complete anything blog worthy or even my inabitlity to figure out how to get my photos on here (still not picture literate). However, I choose to blame it on this beautiful little girl.

I'd like to welcome to blog land the newest addition to our family miss Kaitlyn Leigh. After we had nearly given up and decided that I was simply going to be pregnant for the rest of my life she finally decided to join us on June 2, 2010 at 8:20pm. She weighed 7lbs and 15 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches at birth. This is her at a week old. Isn't she a doll? We are all thrilled to finally have her here with us. None of us are excited as her big sister though. It's quite a sight to see her giving hugs and kisses and she is the best helper a mom could ever ask for. I'm very blessed to have my two beautiful girls.