Can you picture...

Can you picture my dining room AS a dining room? Not just the mostly empty, often cluttered dumping ground/playroom annex that its been masquarading as for the last year? But AS an actual dining room?







How about now!

Its a terrible picture, but I just snapped one really quickly before dinner. I found this 7 piece dining set (there are 2 more chairs, and 2 leaves) at a gargae sale this morning. "Luckily" our van wasn't actually ready to be picked up yesterday even like we'd been told, so I was taking Brian to work again this morning and we passed the sale on the way to work. I turned onto the street to look closer on the way home (thinking that maybe I'd find a small dresser for baby) and saw it, disassembled, sitting on the porch with a big price sign... $50!!! Done and Done! The chairs could use a reupholstery (mostly because they're a little dirty and stained, not torn up), but thats easy enough. And the top has some scratches and could use a refinish, but its not in desperate need of it. It really just looks like its been used in a house with kids... some wear and tear, but nothing terrible. So we'll probably just leave it be until our kids are past the stage where they're climbing on the furniture. :o)

The lady selling was even nice enough to offer to deliver (since it was only about 2 miles from home and our van is STILL having its A/C issue worked on by the dealer...) later in the evening if we came cask to help her load.

And now I'm really excited to actually finish the room. I'm thinking roman shades or bamboo blinds and curtains for the windows, a fun fabric to reupholster the chairs, and some art on the big blank wall. Oh, and some non-carpet flooring, eventually. That one may be a few years. :o)

Our Little Graduate

This week was the last week of Joy School, which meant a graduation ceremony!

I can't believe how big Allison has gotten this year and how much she's grown in so many ways. We don't plan to do Joy School next year, which makes me a little sad... but I'm not sure I could handle it next year with Carter and a new baby.

Oh, and how do you like the dress with yesterday's bright, pre-ruffled fabric? I used this tutorial from Make it and Love it (one of my very favorite sewing/crafting blogs). Turned out cute, I think. Its a little big, but that just means she'll be able to wear it for a good while. There is leftover fabric, so Allison with either get another little borther and skirt from the ruffley fabric, or she'll get a little sister with a matching dress. :)

Manhatten Fabric, part 2

I realized the other day that I never posted this...

These fabrics came from StyleCrest, and other designer wholesaler that is not open to the public. At first glance through I didn't see a lot that I like. It was crowded and we were looking at hanging sample, not rolls or bolts, so it was hard to see what there was until people started standing in line to order... then it got MUCH easier and I found a bunch of things.

Clockwise from top left:

*Red rayon blend double knit for under $5/yard (3 yards). I'm seeing a dress for me out of this. Something classic, I think. This is super high quality, versitle stuff. I bought it becuase the price was crazy good (you'd probably pay $15/yard for a 100% polyesther version of it at JoAnn's) and I knew it would come in handy for something at some point...

*2 yards (I think) Teal & Pink madras plaid, $4/yard. This is real madras: small squares of fabric stitched together to make one multo-pattern print. So much fun! I plan to copy my favorite bermuda shorts and make them from this. I'm thinking maybe a knit waistband, which would mean I could wear them this summer...

*3 yards (or was it 4?) yellow cotton gauzy seersucker, $4/yard. Its not at bumpy are most seersuckers that I'm used to, but very nice. It spoke to me. I'm going to make this dress with it:

I've had the pattern several years (I'm sure I got it on a $3 Vogue sale) and never used it. This fabric seemed P-E-R-F-E-C-T!

*2 yards silvery-grey floral print silk, $15/yard. I LOVED this fabric, but wasn't going to get it at $30/yard. The owner heard me talking about it while I was ordering and offered me half off since they were down to their last few yards of it. I'm seeing a skirt... or maybe a wrap dress? Something beautiful and flowy...

*1 yard awful, bright pre-ruffled knit something, $4/yard. I bought this for Allison. I didn't have a project in mind, but I knew she'd love it as a skirt or something. Funny thing is I saw this same fabric on the red tag pile at JoAnn's a few weeks after Manhatten. Original price? $15/yard. I'll post pictures soon of what I've already done with it.

*2 yards (maybe 3) pink/teal plaid lightweight shirting, $5/yard. I'm seeing a jumper/dress for Allison and a blouse of some kind for me. It would make a great lightweight summer shirt.

Sadly, all of the fabric for me is on hold, becuase I don't want to make maternity clothes with it. I do hope to use the wool tweed to make myself a nice coat before this winter, but everything else will have to wait. I will, hopefully, be making a new maternity skirt soon. I have fabric and a plan (no pattern! wish me luck)... I just trying to find the nerve!

Things a 90 degree day might entice you to do...

cut your hair 6 or 8 inches...

allow your children to play out in the pool for hours and hours and hours... (I'm pretty sure Allison was out there for 4 hours yesterday, and Carter got in 2 and a half after his nap)

yes, Allison is about to pull him down the slide here...

while you sit in the shady garage with ice water and magazines (and still get sunburned!).

Here's to the cold front that suppose to come through tonight and take us down 10 or 15 degrees!

Lately

Lately, since I've been battling morning... er... late afternoon/evening sickness (my nausea hits between 4 and 4:30 every afternoon like clockwork), I've haven't been doing much with my kidless evening hours. Not much blogging, not much projecting, and not much photo-taking during my better hours either. Luckily Brian's picked up some of the photo slack for me. Here's some of the happenings at our house lately...

Brian and the kids happened to be at The Home Depot during their mother's day kid's building workshop. Both kids came home completely thrilled that they got to build a little planter by thenselves (Allison painted hers at home after the fact). Carter asks to go to Home Depot every time we pass by now becuase "I want tap wiff da hammer." We're planning on taking them to another one soon... Lowe's has a bi-planes clinic this weekend. Sounds like winner activity to me!

The day after Mother's Day our local Walmart had leftover roses sitting in buckets near the extrances. They let Allison take one home for free, and she spent the next several days being a "getting married princess". Adorable, right? She knows that brides have veils and flowers. I think she's already planning her own wedding. Oy vey...

On a similar note Brian has now learned that if he wants to bring me flowers for some reason, he's better pick up a small arrangement or single rose for Allison too, or he's in trouble. :)

Allison is obsessed with windchimes and asks to buy one everytime she sees one. So I grabbed an ugly, cheap one and let Brian dismantle is and build a "new" windchime with Allison. She loved it. That girl is crafty/project obsessed!

Allison found the laundry baskets in the hall early one morning and decided they looked like a good bed. Isn't she cute? And can you tell she's perfected her picture smile? She used one basket fr her bed and one with her stuffed animals and dolls... then insisted that Brian take photos. Cute kid...

New Arrivals

Yesterday we bought this:

with cash! What?!? True story!

Buying a 2nd car with cash has been our BHAG for over a year now.

And its a good thing we managed it this year too... becuase yesterday I also went to the doctor... and baby #3 is on its way early this December! I got to have a sonogram (to date the pregnancy), which was nice, and baby had a good strong heart beat, was moving like crazy and is about the right size for 11 weeks along. :)

Costumes, Choreography & Body Image... Oh My...

Allison has been taking a ballet class at a local dance studio just down the street and around the corner from our house since last fall. She has loved every minute of it. She's been very excited about the idea of dancing on stage for an audience ever since I explained the recital concept to her.

Yesterday we got to see the girls' costumes and try them on for size. Luckily Allison's just fit, in spite of the growth spurt she seems to have had in the last six months. Unluckily, I don't think I'm very happy with the costume choice. Its cute, and its over the top, but I don't think its appropriate. The leotards they picked are halter top style. For three-year olds. And I just don't think its appropriate.

I think that dance studios very often over-sexualize little girls at very young ages in both costume and choreography. Last summer as I was looking for a dance studio for Allison I worried about making sure I found one that wouldn't do this to her, or any of the other little girls dancing with her. The world is harsh enough... dance studios don't need to be helping 3, 5, 8, or 10 year old girls feel like they have to grow up too fast or be "sexy" to have worth.

The choreography for Allison's class is very cute, and very 3-year-old appropriate. There's not a ton of real technique involved, but they're three... the think the fact that Allison knows what first position and plie are is pretty good I think. I wish the studio did as well at preserving/honoring the innocense of their 3 and 4 year olds in the costuming. I mean... I don't really expect her dance costumes to be sleeved, but a halter top?


So now, I'm thinking about looking for a different studio for Allison to dance at and it has me all sorts of worried. There are so many things that I want for her: I want her to enjoy dance. I want her to dance somewhere where she can be taught good technique so that she has options... so that she can be a "real" ballerina as long as she keeps wanting to dance.


I'd like her to be trained at a "serious" classical ballet studio, rather than a competition team driven dance studio. I want a studio that will preserve and protect the innocense of little girls. I feel like at classical ballet studio, I'd have to worry less about inappropriate costumes or choreography. But they bring with them a whole different worry. I don't want Allison dancing somewhere that will attack her body image from a young age or ever. And that is my worry about a serious classical ballet studio. I don't want Allison to ever be told that she can't or shouldn't dance because she doesn't have the right body. I don't want her to ever think that she needs to diet or look different to be good enough. It is hard enough to grow up with a healthy body image... I don't know a single woman who needs any help thinking up ways she'd like to change her body. And I want to sheild Allison from that as long as possible.


So where do I go? What do I do? Take her out of dance entirely because I'm so scared and worried? Stick with the current studio and alter her costumes until I start having problems with the choreography too? Find a serious studio and keep my eyes open for body image issues? Find a little not-so-serious ballet studio and hope for the best?


I'll tell you what I'd LIKE to do. I'd like to clone the director of the studio my sister danced at through high school and bring her out here to start a studio. It was excellent classical ballet (with tap & jazz instruction too) with beautiful choreography, lovely costuming (that parents got to see and "approve" before-hand!) and no pressure for dancers to have the "right" body. I want to find that studio here. But I feel like, if it exists, its a needle in a haystack. And now I'm so terrified of picking the wrong place. It feels so silly, and yet, with how these things I'm worried about could affect Allison, it feels like it matters so much.