Holmans visit!

W's mom and sisters came to visit us in August!  Aunt Becca is only in the country for a month, so she was generous to spend some of that time with us and we are so grateful!  Wish her luck on her next adventure to Indonesia!!

We made a trip to the Waffle House while they were here.  That was a first for us.  I've always heard "the waffles are good but stick to the waffles" and I'm not typically a waffle girl so I've never bothered. But we will go back because the waffles were yummy and cheap!

Miss M LOVED having her aunts in town!

I had a chocolate peanut butter waffle that was so tasty!! their hash browns were good too!

The diner hasn't had a touch of remodeling since it opened it seems!  It was was like stepping into another era!

The group minus our photographer, Bec!

We also spent some time at my parents' pool. It was great weather most of the weekend.  Miss M loved jumping in with Aunt Sarah and they even got me to jump in.

We saw "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" which was delightful and sweet and sad (but I missed the last five minutes because Lu was DONE so I'll have to redbox it when it comes out to see the last bit). Then we window shopped and introduced Aunt Sarah and Becca to Charming Charlie's.

Saturday night we visited Larry and Bob's Pizza for Lulu's first birthday bash (she got two this year!) The pizza was a hit, our visitors brought Lulu delightful presents which were a hit, and we had a happy birthday girl!

Of course, Grandma Jan also brought plenty of goodies for the girls to color and craft with and some new books to read! 

Sarah went on a fifteen mile run in the rain and saw the city with my sister in law T for her marathon training.

We ate yummy food and met Miss M's teacher.  It was a busy weekend and a full house!

It was a quick trip and they were on the road Sunday morning so Grandma could start a new job!! We are thankful they made the long trip to be with us!

new bag for new mommy

My sister requested a diaper bag for her baby.  She wanted grey and yellow, something that looked like her but also could be for the mom of a BOY and a ruffle down the front.

I'm THRILLED with how this bag turned out!  I love the look from the front.  The size was perfect. I had so much fun with all the fabrics but they still all seemed to work together.  I am now securely in love with this Denyse Schmidt grey dot and need to get some more before it disappears! I loved the shape of the strap.  It's as wide as the side of the bag and then it bottle necks to a narrower strap for your shoulder. 

I found the Lola Bea diaper bag pattern online and bought it for a reasonable price! Thanks! It was perfect! (except I skipped the divider pocket) It was a much better size than the "oversized overnight bag that wishes it were smaller so it could be a useful diaper bag" that I made for Eden Joy.

I also made a diaper caddy case and a few burp rags in all the coordinating fabrics. 

The inside has two pockets on one side and three on the other for all your goods, keys, phones, pens, toys and pacifiers!

The outside has a pocket on either side for my goods or bottles or what have you!  The top flap even has a magnetic snap (I'm super proud of the snap-it was a first for me! :)

The bag is loved already and hopefully will be well used. My Mom had to send me the pics as it had to make an emergency trip to Idaho last Sunday before I could snap some pics and finish the nursing cover.  Much love to my sister and her new baby, Clark!

My big four year old!

Four years ago, my lulu made her appearance, in the midst of a tumultuous year for our family.  She spent three months in heaven with my grandpa Jex who had just passed away, and she arrived just before W quit his job and our quick move here to Arkansas.  It was a crazy and emotional time.  I often feel like I was cheated out of the newborn phase with this girl (and I have the lack of pictures to prove it!) but she's spent the last four years making up for it!

I treasure this girl! She is sweet and spunky and mellow and funny and so perfect for our family!

She was such a trooper to spend her birthday morning at her aunt's house while I worked.

That evening we had my family and some friends over for swimming, hot dogs and a "rose cake".

She was showered with delightful presents that she has had so much fun playing with this week!

My Lulu loves:
playing "Kingdom"
following her big sister around (when she's being nice)
Larry and Bob's pizza
coloring
swimming
Rapunzel
Wonder Pets
reading books
favorite color: pink and purple
favorite movie: Tangled
favorite toy: Country Critters
favorite food: hot dogs
favorite song: Ariel
favorite book: Butterfly, Butterfly
playing games and puzzles
chocolate milk
hugs

We love our Lucy Grace!  We are so thankful for her!!

fresh from heaven

My baby sister had a baby on Sunday afternoon.

He surprised us all and came a week early.

He is the 12th grandchild on my side and now we have an even six boys and six girls.

 He reminds me of Miss M when she was born.  Well, kind of. He has a very Curtis nose.

 Everyone's doing well and my sister does not sound like she just had a baby!

He looks  a little concerned to be going home tonight.

We can't wait to meet him!! 

First Grade: Day 1

Miss M started first grade today! 

Her teacher is Mrs. Racop.  She's a brand new teacher, she used to be a Razorback cheerleader, and Miss M's first words were, 

"I love first grade! I love my teacher! She is soooooo stylish!"

I love the first day of school. When she jumps out of bed, and is excited to get ready in her new shoes and dress and cute hair! I love it!

Lulu wanted in on the picture action.

 Really though, she wanted her own picture with her own lunchbox.  

I love this current smile phase.  So funny!

 Here's to another great year of school for Miss M!

And once again, she's the ONLY Holman going to school this year! Wahoo!!!!

status update

I am...

-excited that school starts in five days!!!
-ecstatic that Miss M is the only one going back to school this fall! This finished with grad school thing is truly beautiful!
-nervous that we have no idea who Miss M's teacher is.   We hear she's good. She's young.  Hopefully that will be good.
-worried for my overworked, always busy husband. He works too hard.
-hoping my Lulu goes back to normal when Miss M goes back to school and everyone gets their own space back!
-enjoying the break in triple digit temperatures and cautiously optimistic that fall may actually come someday!
-wondering what to watch now that the Olympics are over!
-finally coming out of my sewing slump.
-tired of my midnight insomnia.
-thankful for my job.
-running out of things to cook for dinner that don't require an oven.
-waiting for Minnesota visitors this weekend.
-going to bed now.

You?

a little bit of lately

Miss M lost her fourth tooth.  This one took FOREVER to come out!!

Summer means lots of nail polishing.  

 A little bit of cowgirl

 A little bit of chick-fil-a

and Lulu wants to grow out her bangs. So a little more of Lulu's pretty eyes lately! 

School starts back in 11 days! Soooooo excited!

the quilt square that was not meant to be...

It's my month to choose the quilt square for 12squared.  I loved these two designs.  I liked my sample.  But I wasn't totally excited about it.  So I did a different design.  Head on over to 12squared to see it! Maybe I'll do this one later! :)

Here's my inspiration. 

 source: fresh lemon moments

 source: a little biased

where we'll end up!

Where we're starting!

Trim or tear off selvages from your fabrics.  Trim selvages to at least an inch wide with a bit of the fabric showing so you have enough to work with.

 You will need enough to form a 7"x8.5" block when strips are sewn together.  (That was about ten with the two blocks I've made) I cut strips about 7.5" long and laid them out to decide what order to sew them into. You can repeat selvages if you need/like.

 Sew selvages together to form a block. To preserve the "cute" part and writing edge of the selvages, you'll probably want to use a scant quarter inch seam or closer to 1/8" seam.  Just make sure it's secure and straight.

I'd like all the writing to face up.  I'm type A like that.  

Keep going until your block is 8.5" high. 

Press seams in one direction. 

Press flat. 

 I sat down with a movie one night and ripped off all the selvages I had. (It was very eye opening to the current level of my fabric hoarding!) 

I had lots of selvages, so I tried to pick pink and red selvages for this spool.  The first block I made, I chose cool colors in blue and green. If you have enough to coordinate, go for it.  If you don't, no worries! If you have no selvages, let me know!

 Next, cut two 12.5"x2.5" strips for the spool.  Choose a color that resembles a spool to you.  I chose grey for the first spool I made and used a taupe/light brown this time.

Cut four 2" squares of solid white cotton.

 You will be sewing down the diagonal of this square, so mark down the center.

 Pin your squares to your spool strips as shown.  

Sew along the diagonal. 

 Line up your ruler with your stitch line and trim off to 1/4" seam allowance.

 Iron flat.

 Here's the top and bottom of your spool.

 Square off your selvage strips.  My block measured 7" wide and 8.5" tall.

 Cut 2 8.5"x3.25" blocks for the sides of your spool.  

Sew white blocks onto either side of the selvage block. 

 Press flat. 

 Assemble your spool as shown.

 Here are the two (blurry) blocks I've made so far.  

Here's where you get to have fun! Go back to the top original inspiration picture.  If you are feeling adventurous, go ahead and change the measurements and make a squatty spool or a tall and skinny spool!  Have fun with it!  If you are thinking this is adventurous enough, :) use my measurements and tutorial! 

Here are the constants I would like to stick with:

**for the top and bottom of the spool, stick with the 2.5"x12.5" measurements

**the finished block should be 12.5"x12.5", so if you make a short squatty spool, add white sashing at the top, while keeping the bottom of the spool at the bottom

**use selvage strips for your "string"

**use a "neutral" or spool-resembling fabric for the top and bottom of your spool (grey, brown, tan, black, etc.)