And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch

over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and

the glory of the Lord shone down on them, and they were terrified.

But the Angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news

of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a

Savior has been born to you: he is Christ the Lord.

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and

lying in a manger.” Luke 2:8-12

For all of you who have lost the true meaning of  Christmas or are going thru hard times and your faith ,strength and joy have wavered or maybe you have romanticized on what Christmas should be and your ideal has taken the wrong turn-stop, take a breath for the true Consoler is here. Luke 2:10 says “Don’t be afraid…..I bring you good tidings of great joy.” We can remove all fear and find peace, joy and happiness when we go back to the foot of the manger where our sweet king of kings and Lord of Lords laid on this Christmas morning. From my family to yours may you and yours have a blessed Christmas.

I just finished working 7/12’s for the last 3 weeks so my daughter treated me to a day at an “all inclusive spa.” She is always so thoughtful and is always on top of things ( I suppose you have to when you have 3 small children under the ages of 4). My weary body needed to be pampered and loved. When I walked thru the doors I was handed a glass of wine with fruit in it, it was totally delectable along with relaxing. Nothing but pure bliss followed, my daughter scheduled me in for a pedi, mani, facial and to have my hair done. I enjoyed the serenity while I sipped on my wine and was able to relax as they provided excellent customer care with their gentle hands.

Did I mention the spa was called, “The Littles’?” I had to sit on the floor because I was so lathered up that I might have fallen of the chair. I never knew that lotion could be put in your hair for that silky feeling or so that when the curlers are ripped out of your hair it doesn’t hurt as bad, Heehee. My nails are all a different color and that includes my fingers and toes, hopefully no one will notice tomorrow at the play I will be attending with the littles. The littles’ kept telling me I was going to be “just beautiful”, they ooohed and aaahhhed over me that I thought they were doing a true transformation. I was transformed all right!

Yes I drove home like that, I didn’t want my sweet little girls think that I didn’t like or appreciate what they had done for me. I knew that if I was stopped by the police I probably would have been thrown in a cell and it might of been padded. Heehee. I also wanted hubby to see the new look I was going for. Remember someone always has to start the trend! To all those who are tired and just need a little time to relax and let others work on you and bring you thru a true beautification process feel free to call “The Littles.” Appointments are only made thru their Momma!

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This past weekend Hubby and I gave our littles’ a Halloween party, of course our adult children were invited. I believe they enjoyed it as much as the littles’ did, oh who am I trying to fool? I think I gave myself the party and I LOOOVED it, the day turned out beautiful and the party turned out perfect. The morning of the party I put their new Halloween clothes in a box and then on the front of the box I attached a vintage Halloween invitation with a Halloween sucker. On the card I wrote to them to put on their new Halloween finery and come to Mimi and Pa’s for a Halloween party. I left it on their porch and rang the doorbell and ran, I think that was called Ding-Dong Witch. HEEHEE.  

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My son and I decorated the dining room to look like a Halloween Ball that would be fitting for a couple of toddlers. I love when they come in and the 2-year-old says, “OOHHHHH.” Maybe she just says that when she sees the sweet table. I love knowing I have something in common with my littles, sweets, doing crafts and having a party. All the pumpkins hanging from the ceiling came from the Dollar Tree store, I just love going into that store. Everything is only a dollar, can you believe it? A dollar! The store is perfect for craft supplies for certain little girls who like to do crafts.

The cupcake holders on the sweet table I also got at my new favorite store, the Dollar Tree. We had cupcakes, taffy apples, rice crispy treats made to look like pumpkins, pumpkin cookies and my all time favorite Halloween food, caramel corn. (very healthy treat, it’s full of fiber).

My daughter brought over a Halloween wine made in Door County, Wisconsin to go with our meal that my husband prepared, except for the Italian tortellini soup, that was prepared by the Mimi of the house. Whenever we get together there is always a lot of appetizers and by the time we sit down to eat we are already filled to the brim.

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For the faint of heart we bobbed for apples, which was the first time for a few of us. It brought more laughter and giggles then going to a circus. I’m sure if anyone was looking into the windows they would have seen a pack of clowns. To be truthful I would have never bobbed for apples if it wasn’t with my family, nothing more gross than a pack of us putting our faces into a bucket with our mouths wide open, catching an apple then spitting it back into the bucket. Just for curiosity sake I need to find out where this game originated from and why. I love the picture of my hubby going into the bucket and my dog Oliver is watching the whole situation. Yea we must have looked awfully silly for a dog to stop and watch the comedy!

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We wrapped each other up in toilet paper, (keep it clean people, this was not bondage but mummifying!).Heehee. What a fun Halloween game to play. All that toilet paper wrapped around you made you warm and cozy, I either felt like taking a nap or having a hot flash from being too warm. At the end you had to roar and act like the Incredible Hulk ripping out of your mummy wrap.

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The littles’ painted pumpkins that I grew in the garden, threw spiders at the sticky cobweb (no I didn’t raise the spiders, they were plastic) and we dressed up some of our pets. There was a total of 8 pets in the house and my daughter left 2 of hers at home, yikes that’s a lot of pets that my family has! Why do humans have such fun dressing up their pets and then proceed to laugh at them? Thank God I’m not an animal, the shear humiliation would be too much for me.

Of course it wouldn’t be a party without PRESENTS! 

When my children were young I always bought them Halloween presents, well in all actuality I quit buying them Halloween gifts when the littles’ started appearing. Sorry kids but you have been replaced by smaller people. Once a tradition starts it never ends it just moves to the next generation. When the party was coming to an end, hubby and I bundled the littles’ up, got out their strollers and took them for a “moonlight Walk” it turned out quite cloudy that night so we called it a “dark and Cloudy walk” and we told stories about Halloween night as we walked. It really was a perfect ending to a perfect party. I hope my sweet littles’ went home and dreamt about all the fun that they had while visions of good witches danced in their heads!

From my house to yours, have a happy Halloween

…..If you ever go looking for your hearts desire

Don’t look any further than your own backyard.

-Dorothy

I’m truly smitten with October and everything this great season called fall has to offer. The fairs and festivals, outdoor fires, and of course all that comfort food, who could forget that! Of course my ultimate favorite is sewing fall clothing for my littles’. It is always hard to sew just one outfit, after you sew one then your head starts spinning and new ideas start to form – hence, multiple outfits appear! I love the colors of fall and how they could be put into clothing. OOOOOOOHHHHHHH, I love orange and black together and I just adore the old vintage costumes. Wasn’t Halloween fun back in the day, we went to a Five and Dime store and picked out a box costume with a plastic mask? I will admit costumes were a little bit simpler then they are now, and they cost a whole lot less back in the day. I better stop reminiscing and get back to the present, even though it is fun to remember those special moments and days that bring back such sweet nostalgia. Hopefully my sweet littles’ will always have fond memories of the clothes that their Mimi made for them, which by the way I enjoy doing.

       Sorry that these pictures are so blurry, but I can’t seem to adjust the settings for them. I made them apple picking dresses but they ended up being “fair dresses” since their Momma and Daddy already took them apple picking. I made them shirts with an appliqued apple on them and that’s what they wore apple picking. Everyone knows that you need clothes with apples on them to be able to pick apples!

My  favorites again, chevron, polka-dots, and banners at the bottom of the dress. I bought this material from Jo-anne Fabrics and I want to go back and buy some more. Remember a good fabric is like fine wine it never goes bad, so always have more of both on hand! I appliqued the haunted castle along with the tree and pumpkins on the apron. I’m not real impressed with my tree but it will do.

I made the dress from McCalls 6387, I know that I use this pattern a lot but it is such a sweet dress and you could do so much with the apron.

Another orange and black outfit, same pattern, McCall’s 6387, but I just looooovvvee the aprons that I appliqued. The cat and pumpkin are suppose to look vintage.  I made pants with these outfits, they are made out of a knit. I won’t lie and say that I liked working with the material, because I didn’t. I don’t know if it was to thin or maybe I didn’t have the right needle but it just seemed a little slippery this time.

Last but surely not least, our sweet little boy Julian, whom we so affectionately call Juju. He is growing so fast and often gets lost in all the commotion with his two older sisters.

From my littles’ to yours, Happy Halloween!

This post is late in coming and I have been deciding whether or not to put it on but it was just so darn  cute that I decided to go ahead with it. Back in September we gave our littles’ a back to school party. Well not really back to school, but let’s just say the three year old just started her first year of pre-school so technically it should have been called “Starting School Party.” (how silly would that sound?)Boo-hoo sniff sniff so sad to watch them grow older, by golly I want them to stay little forever. Since they aren’t staying little and they have to go to school the only logical thing to do was have a party. Who am I trying to fool? I just needed an excuse to have a party and to have a little fun with the littles’. Everyone loves a good party including our little girls. “Yay a party for me,” said our exuberant Gianna. Our sweet little Giavella is only 2 but a party mood is very contagious, she understands sweets, candy and cookies are always a part of any good party. A girl after my own heart!

The easel use to be my youngest sons’, we bought it for him when he went to preschool. It is only 23 years old, yikes that easel is getting old, that easel is aging but I am not. Heehee.

We bought the child’s roll top desk at an antique show about 21 years ago. I saved it knowing that I was going to give my sweet grandchildren a “Back to School Party.” That sounds good but I’m lying, I just have a hard time getting rid of my children’s adult kids memories. Now I have to save it even longer, this is now a memory from the grandchildren.

                                                                                                               I bought the fisher price bus and the fisher price school off of Ebay. My children had all the fisher price toys that were made back in the early 80’s and when we bought the house we are now living in, the whole box of toys became lost. I told the hubs I’m going to buy my children’s memories back for them. I’m sure they will thank me someday for my selfless act, but in the meantime nobody better touch my toys without my consent!

I wanted to serve a dinner that brought back memories for my own children so I asked each one what their favorite meal was when they attended school, all three said they loved the hot turkey sandwiches with the mashed potatoes in the middle of the bread. My son-in law liked the chili with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches ( his meal was out of the running I knew from the start, YUCK!) My hubby and I loved the turkey poorboys, ooohhhhhh all that butter and garlic. Can you guess who won? You win some, you lose some maybe next year kiddos! Along with our meal we also had a dessert table.  

 The littles’ found a mushroom in the yard and needed to investigate. Aren’t children wonderful? They have such inquisitive minds.

They wanted to pick the mushroom but their Momma told them that the fairies lived under it when it rained. They never questioned their Momma or asked how or why or when, they just believed. I just love the simple faith of a child.

I made their school dresses from McCalls 6387, this pattern is such a simple pattern to follow, even a beginner can whip up this dress in no time. I could sew the whole dress in a hour.

No party is complete without presents. It was such a lovely party and the 2 guests of honor were so delightful. I would like to say goodbye for now from my family to yours.

John, son-in-law, Elizabeth, daughter and my Littles’ Gianna, Giavella and baby Julian

My son and his fiancé went to Montana for a fall vacation. Due to the government shut-down they were not allowed to see all the sights, but they were happy and content with what they saw and their “souvenir” that they brought home. Now to my understanding a “souvenir” is a small token of remembrance, a special keepsake that is saved as a memento. A “souvenir” is often put on a shelf, stored in a closet and then sold at your next garage sale so that someone else could admire your special “souvenir.” My son and his fiancé drove their special token home (30 hours in a car) named their “souvenir” Montana, and spent hundreds of dollars on their keepsake only to find out that they could not keep their special “souvenir.” Remember though there Is always someone else that will take your special tokens for their own home. Yes sirey bob, Hubby and I are the ones with their “souvenir”, we renamed it of course to just plain ole’ Anna. May I present you to our very first and only

Cat

My son fell in love with this stray, the employees’ at the hotel said that the cat had been hanging out at the hotel for the past year and people who stayed at the hotel would feed it. My son and his future wife proceeded to invite the cat back home with them and of course the cat took them up on their invitation. Once back home they told the cat “you now have to have shots, blood work done and spaded.” Remind me not to take anyone up on a long-term invitation who knows what they will want to do to my body, unless of course they want to do a liposuction on me, heeeheee! After going through all that process they found out Miss Anna has kitty FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus). A kitty with Fiv can’t be with other kitties and guess what my son has? That’s right he has a kitty by the name of Miss Cindy Lou, A.K.A Atillia the Hun. I know he was hoping to bring these 2 cats together but he had to do what was right for his own precious cat and to be able to give the new cat a home in which it will be loved and taken care of. That is the story of how I got a “souvenir” from Montana with the name Anna. By the way I told my Son “don’t bring any more souvenirs back from your vacations!” Thank God it wasn’t a stray horse or a dozen dogs.

A few months ago I made a Little Red Ridinghood outfit for a sweet little girl, weeellll Little Red’s little sister needed an outfit. Thank goodness I have only 2 sweet little girls otherwise I would be sewing my fingers to the bones. I haven’t started sewing for the little guy “yet,” as soon as I find some cute patterns for him my “yet” will turn into “yes” I’m sewing for him!

A simple blue jean skirt and white shirt appliqued with mushrooms, tree and Little Red. Sweet little outfit for a sweet little girl. I just adore those chubby little legs and her kankles. A month ago she wouldn’t take off her rain boots, now it is going into fall and she won’t take off the flip flops.What do 2 little girls wearing Red Ridinghood outfits do to pass the time away? Make masks out of pizza cardboards and put on a play of course. The actresses also allowed the audience to join along in the play and chase them around with the wolf mask.

There was also singing and dancing, sung to the tune of, “The big bad wolf can’t get me.” I hope you are inspired to either sew an outfit or join an acting team. If you have chosen to join an acting team, I know a couple of actresses that would love to be chased around by a wolf. Your payment would be in the way of giggles, laughter and pure joy.

I’m back and I have a lot of catching up to write about, I have been working 7/12’s for the last 21 days and I haven’t been able to drag my weary body to the computer after work let alone go and see my sweet littles’. My hubby and youngest son have been keeping up with all those housey,wifey chores and keeping everything running like a well oiled “sewing” machine, heehee. Talking about well oiled machines my darling needs to go in for a little bit of a check-up. (not the hubby but my sewing machine!) I don’t know who I missed running my fingers over more, hubs or my sewing machine.

Back in the beginning of September we had a “Back to school party” for the littles’. They really aren’t going back to school but are just starting their journey into the academic world, the older one is starting pre-school, she is already a wise old owl for someone her age, so of course I had to make her an outfit to show off her wisdom and extreme intelligence.Oooohhhhh all my favorites on one skirt, chevron, polka-dots, aprons and buntings. I appliqued an owl on a plain white shirt and sewed up the skirt with the apron attached. The measurements for the skirt are on a previous post, these measurements are for a 3-year-old with a 22 inch waist. Yes I “wing it” as I am sewing, believe me, I am not Mrs. McCall.

Whoooo looks so smart in her owl outfit? Gianna Eloise, that’s whooooo!

Please forgive me but I have not been posting for awhile, work has been long and exhausting. My daughter and her in-laws went to the zoo and I had to go to work and miss another fun day in the lives of my littles’. Waaaahhhhhh I want to be a stay at home Mimi. Oh well, hubby and I will try to get them to the Boo Zoo in October, the Zoo will be decorated for Halloween and it just has this wonderful ambiance of the fall. In the mean time I get to enjoy the pictures that my daughter sends me. I might not have been there but I got to make their zoo dresses!

I had gone to the thrift store and their was this fabric with all the zoo animals on it (it could of been a sheet, just not sure) and another fabric that was green with little yellow polka-dots. I bought both fabrics for under $5.00 and made 2 of the most precious zoo dresses that any little girl could own!

I added an apron on both of their dresses and embroidered on them. The older one has the song on her apron about “green alligators and long neck geese.” The younger one has the poem on hers about the “Animal Fair.” I love aprons, but not just any old apron will do for my 2 littles! I think my love for aprons comes from having such fond memories of my own Grandma, whom by the way wore aprons!

The older one’s dress pattern was from McCalls 6387 and the younger one came from Simplicity 9784. On the Simplicity pattern the buttons and the opening for dress removal are in the front, I changed that to the back because the fabric had an elephant that I wanted to show on the front of the bodice. I also added the ruffle to the bottom of the dress.

This is the back of M6387, the pattern is just a simple knot dress. A perfect dress for a beginner to start sewing. I buy all my patterns at Jo-Anne fabric when they run a sale on patterns. I can’t justify spending a lot of money on patterns that I might only use once or twice. There are a lot of patterns on Etsy that I love but they just doesn’t fit into the budget. Maybe someday I’ll break down and buy one of the PDF  patterns that I have been drooling over.

Doesn’t it look just wonderful to be young again and not have a care in the world, to laugh with such abandonment at the simplest of fun? 

To see things through the eyes of a child that we as adults take for granted.

Last but not least is a picture of our little guy, Julian, my goodness it just makes my heart swell to see these littles, happy and healthy. My daughter and son-in-law are such good parents but they have also allowed the “village” (extended family) to be a major part of their children’s lives. One day when I am 103 I could only hope my Littles’ remember me with the same fondness that I have of my own sweet Grandma!