what i'm up to, part 2

so, finally gettin around to showing you that new alacrity stuff...

these pics are from my phone & not intended for show, but it's all i have right now...



love it? i dooooo! when i showed it to hudson, he asked to put it on, so i think he likes it to :)
planes are special in our family as my grandfather was a pilot & my uncle is too.

specs:
comes in white onesies (3-12m) & gowns (0-3m), also white Ts (12-24m)
AND in blue Ts (2, 4, 6) - had to for hudson!
and just when you thought the cuteness was maxed out, you can also get brown pants (3-12m) to match!



too much, huh? :)!!!

i love the plane - so classic boy with a touch of graphic here. i love this fabric, too. it's a new design that i took a chance on & i'm so glad i did. can't wait to get one ready for hudson!




well, i got a little more cuteness for ya...


pumpkins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
again, bad pic - so sorry, but i thought you'd like to see.
can't you just picture some little cuties in this this fall????!!!!!!!! ahhhhhh!

specs:
comes in white onesies (3-12m) & gowns (0-3m), also white Ts (12-24m)
AND i'm still thinking through what to do for toddler sizes. let me know if you're interested...

and i went ahead & maxed out the cuteness again with some brown pants to match w/ a little pumpkin on the leg - pictures to come.

my thoughts on the pumpkin -

-did i mention i love it ? :) heehee
-great for the whole fall season. you might even be able to stretch it to november since it's techniquely a pumpkin & not a jack-o-lantern. i'm all about getting lots of use out of my fav kiddo clothes!
-love it for a halloween quasi costume for baby. especially in tx where it can be so stinking hot that you don't want your little one in some crazy hot costume.
-love it for boy or girl babies, or older boys (MORE ON A HALLOWEEN T FOR OLDER BOYS!)
-looooove it with brown baby leg warmers when you want to change it up with the pants
need i go on (because i could!)

today

today, i'm finishing up these...



& hopefully sending them to our sweet friends in portland, oregon. they just welcomed their 3rd girl & i was so inspired to do humming birds for them with various fun fabric scraps i had - i love how they turned out! the tank tops are left overs from beulah's order. rebekah wanted tanks for the summer to pair with those tulle tu-tus that are so popular - cuteness, huh?!

and speaking of new babies, CONGRATS to the ogden family on the birth of little duncan! we're so happy for you guys & can't wait to get up there to meet the little guy :)

i'm also about to bake these...

*picture courtesy of her blog - see below for link

they look amazing, huh? they're tiger butter bake sale bars from this super cute site. part of me chose this recipe for our father's day treat just so i could lick the bowl :)

which leads me to father's day - tomorrow! we're celebrating today by going to the pool this afternoon with a little picnic of treats.

in following last year's tradition, we'll be munching on raspberry yogurt covered pretzels from heb's bulk section (SO GOOD!) & honey wheat pretzels with the fresh honey roasted peanut butter from heb (jaime - didn't you just blog about this?). it may seem like pretzel overload, but it's realllly good.

and IF i have time, i'll be browsing through this super cool book i just got from amazon...

i love this gal's blog. it's so inspiring & so is the book. i'll probably be sharing more about it as i get the chance to read it (you know, i all my extra time!!!).


well, happy saturday to all :)

food addictions

well, it's been a week now that we've been chocolate milk free (see this post). i swear - that stuff is like crack. hudson has asked for it constantly - pointing to the fridge, like it's just something we keep in there all the time. i do think the addiction is slowly wearing off as he's asking for it less & less. whew.

though this morning we drove by chickfila & he pleaded & cried for chicken nuggets. oh, brother. i think it would have been okay if we hadn't 5 minutes later gone by our favorite ice cream place where he started the pleading & crying routine again, only this time it escaladed into full blown wails.

i really must be the worst mom ever. heehee :)

in situations like that where i can't discipline him (in the car), i just choose to ignore it & turn up the radio. when he was finally quiet, i called my friend stephanie - needed a marinade idea & she's the expert - & with a glance back @ him, realized he was asleep! i guess the fit wore him out, which really was fine with me :)

EXCEPT now it's 2:05 & he's still not asleep in his room! oh, brother again. i hope this doesn't turn into a napless thursday.


anyway, i'm just going to ignore him because i have big plans of making this...

it's a summer squash gratin.

sounds fancy, huh?

i just discovered 101 Cookbooks food blog & mmmm am i glad i did! this will be my first venture into one of heidi's recipes & i really cannot wait.

i'll let you know how it turns out...

oh, & ps - i'm getting to the new alacritydesigns stuff i promised...

oh, & pps - did you know "au gratin" means "with scrappings" (or something similar)?? stephanie, you really are becoming a foodie :)

alacrity around

just a few pics i found of alacritydesigns stuff around the web.

just kidding :) these are people i personally know, but still cool to see my stuff around!

the darling miss emery marable in the ladybug combo...


the watermelon from beulah's in fredericksburg (did i tell that's our new store?!!)


and these are from a post from clint's blog (yeah, he has a blog now!). he stopped by the houston store that carries alacritydesigns the other day - just to get to see my stuff in a store :) it's all still pretty crazy to me!




hope you're enjoying your week...

what i'm up to

hello blog world.

i'm really trying to keep up with you, but it's hard! i have ideas to blog about, but either they slip away before i get to the computer, or i can't seem to remember to get a picture to go with them!

anyway, i thought i'd just let you know what i've been doing this past week, pictures or not! one, hudson has began a new obsession with what he lovingly refers to as his "bubba want". more on that later when i get finally get a picture! (i know, what a cliff hanger, huh?!)

two, um what did i do last week? uh, well i remember what i did this weekend, so i'll just skip to that. one, we went to caleb's birthday party & hudson experienced chuck e. cheese for the first time. eeeek!

there was a lot of this...


and a lot of this going on.


and then we had a fundraiser @ our church for this place. check out the website - it's an INCREDIBLE project - building a long term home for women & girls coming out of the sex trafficing trade here in houston. YES, i said sex trafficing!!!!!!! are you as shocked as i was to learn of this HUGE industry here in texas? houston happens to be the #2 city in the u.s. for this disgusting industry & women/girls are being brought from all around the world (including from cities here in the u.s.!!) to "massage parlors" & store fronts that look legit, but are anything but. one of the worst things about this whole mess is that once the girls are rescued, they often have no where to go. enter home of hope.

okay, i think i've convinced you on how amazing it is, huh? :)

btw, the fundraiser went really well. it was a complete "loaves & fish" kind of deal where god took a small gift & multiplied it like crazy. wow.


so how do i transition from that? well, i cooooould show you some new projects i'm working on. would ya like to see that???! :)

yeah, i think i'll do that later this week! stay tuned :)

a few bites

i thought of a few more recipes i wanted to share with you...

hummus

lately, i've totally fallen in love with hummus. it's so easy & YUM for lunch & i loooove to have something yummy to look forward to @ lunchtime, know what i mean? so i combined a recipe from my sister & one i found on this blog & came up with this.

2 cans of drained chick peas (or just pick them from your backyard, right stephanie?)

2T water

juice of a large lemon (maybe a lime??!)

3 T tahini (this is sesame paste & can be found @ most grocery stores - try the international isle)

4 garlic cloves, minced

at least a teaspoon of sea salt

4 T extra virgin olive oil

several cranks of the pepper grinder

toss in your food processor (or i hear a blender works just fine) & blend into a paste. you can add water (a T @ a time) to get the right consistency. now sometimes it still tastes a little bland to me (this is especially due to the tahini), so i'll add more salt & pepper, or lemon juice.
my sister uses paprika in hers & i bet that's good, too.

now my favorite way to eat this good stuff is with carrot sticks or toast made in my good ol george forman. i'm IN LOVE with heb's marathon bread. there's just something about the days when i make this & can sit down with hudson to enjoy lunch together! yes, i do make him a little mini-bowl of "dip" & give him a carrot & toast. & yes, he does take one dip of a carrot, lick it & make a face :) but i just breathe deeply & know there's more hummus for me!

hope you enjoy!

chocolate milk & other drama

hudson had his first experience with chocolate milk last week & as you can see, he throughly enjoyed it. he was doing a good job just sipping it until i took my hand away to snap the pic & that's when he tilted the bottle & chugged it! funny guy.

he's been asking for "choc milk" ever since & i'm not proud to say i've already bribbed him twice with it. the lows you'll stoop to as a mother :)

the latest choc milk bribe was this morning. we had to wait in what i knew was going to be an intense line in a government office (oh joy!), so being the stellar mom i am (heehee), we went by chickfila & got chicken minis & choc milk to eat in line. that lasted the first 15 mins & then we went for various toys, talking to strangers, & ended with a good 15 minute stint with elmo on mommy's phone. i was feeling pretty good about hudson's waiting skills & realizing we'd been waiting for over an hour, when we got in to see the lady. that's when all hell broke loose as she explained to me that we needed to come back wednesday. WHAT???? you've GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! i just endured what in total was an hour & a half with a 2 yr old in a stroller & you're asking me to come back AGAIN??? i won't go into the details, but let's just say she was less than helpful & when i tried to ask polite questions, said "i know what i'm doing, i've worked here for SEVEN years." neat.

i was wishing clint were there - he's really good @ negotiations in those situations, whereas i just waver between screaming @ the lady or bursting into tears! i did neither. well, on the outside anyway because on the inside i was definitely yelling "have you ever had a 2 year old????!"

so that's where we'll be on wednesday morning - @ the happy government office, living it up. & YES, there will be another choc milk bribe :)