Photo Dump Wednesday: Life in general

Its been a good few days. We had a lovely weekend as a family. We decided to spend more quality time together instead of spending it running errands. We went to the mall and JOE enjoyed playing there.
We also now have a tradition of Sunday afternoon popcorn time. JOE loves popcorn and eating it with her dad is one of her favorite Sunday after Church activities. It's amazing how quickly kids learn stuff. We started this popcorn thing like 4-weeks ago and already, now she'll ask for it once we get back from Church on Sunday. Then she'll say "dadda, sit here!" in her very commanding voice. Oh so cute!

Anyways, here are some pictures from the past week.

Here is JOE cheesing it for the camera.

Those lashes! Love every single one!

Look at her growing teeth!

I love her side smirk. Its like she knows something that she's not ready to share.

When we went to the mall, I saw one of these vending machines. Looks like a regular one right? Except it is exclusively for parents with kids! It has juices, baby food, diapers, wipes and other items. How cool is that?

Just a few updated shots of my hair. Its been a month since I did the big chop. I am happy to say that things are coming along nicely. 

I did my first real non-assisted (as in no additional puff) puff this morning. I like it! I did miss a couple of pieces around the corner because I was in a rush this morning. But so far, it turned out OK. 

Its a tiny puff but it is growing :-).

Another view.

And my birthday present from my sister FINALLY arrived last week. I couldn't wait to try them on. I love these boots! They are sooooo comfortable! And fit around my not so small calves! I couldn't wait to wear them to work today. Now I feel really ready for the Fall/Winter.

Also, thanks to my sister for this hair brush for JOE. Most times, I have a tough time getting JOE to settle down for me to brush her hair. Even though I detangle in the tub, its quite long and curly so its always a battle. I mentioned this to my sister and she ordered this brush for me. Last Saturday's hair session actually went MUCH better than usual. Yippee!

So glad it is Wednesday and my last work commute day this week. My commute is certainly not the worse in this area but waking up at 4:30am in the morning 4 out of 5 work days can be challenging. Looking forward to waking up later tomorrow. Woohoo!!!

Hope your week's going well so far. 

DIY Monday: JOE's candy giving outfit

If you read my last post, you know that JOE dressed up as Doc McStuffins last week Friday to hand out candy to our neighbors.

She did a great job for the first hour of the evening. Then she got bored and didn't even want to bother going to the door so it was just me from there on out. 

Anyways, I figured I'll post this incase anyone is interested in making one for their daughter. It was quite easy and really just needed some imagination. 

JOE already had this onesie but she'd grown out of it. Since it was similar to the pattern I needed, it worked perfectly. If you're interested, we got this onsie from Old Navy. I believe it was 3 for $12 last year. Anyways, I cut off the bottom part so as to attach it to the "skirt" later.

I got a piece of Fabric from Walmart. I believe I got 1/4-yard. It was less than $4 for the fabric. 

I folded it in 2 and very loosely hand stitched it as shown below.

Then I flipped it over and pulled the stitches together to make gathers.

Next, I flipped the onsie inside out and pinned the stitched skirt piece to the top.

This is what it looks like pinned up. 

We also had a pair of tights that JOE has outgrown length-wise. JOE's waist is rather tiny so most smaller sizes fit around her waist but not necessarily the length. I figured this would be perfect.

This is a quick mockup of what everything looked like after I finished the onsie/skirt combo.

What do you think? Pretty close huh?

Then it was on to the lab coat. I ordered a 3T white shirt online from Amazon. It cost $12. 

I cut the sleeves because I wanted it to be more 3/4 as opposed to a full length sleeve. Then I hemmed it in.

Sorry for the blurry picture. I was trying to show that I left the opening on the side of the sleeve because I wanted it to give room since JOE would be wearing something else inside.

Next, I used my trusted stitch remover to carefully take off the pocket which was on the top left side of the shirt.

I decided to move the pocket to the bottom right side of the shirt.

And there you have the completed outfit.

My little Doc McStuffins. JOE LOVED her outfit. She wanted to wear it all day.

Got really excited when the show came on on TV.

"Time for your checkup! The Doc is in!"

I don't think J was amused at the fact that we were watching Doc McStuffins on Saturday morning but JOE certainly was entertained :-D.

The total cost for making this outfit was just under $20. But that's primarily because I already had the tights and the onsie at home.

It was relatively easy to make so I say if you know how to use a sewing machine, you can certainly make this one.

Hope you had an awesome weekend! It's a short work week for me. I am so looking forward to it! J & I are taking the day off on Friday to celebrate JOE's birthday! We have some pretty fun plans lined up for her.

Have a blessed week!

Blurred lines: Halloween 2014

No. This is not a post about Robin Thicke or Miley Cyrus. I think they have had enough headlines to last me a while.

This post is about Halloween! We don't celebrate Halloween in our household. J & I had this discussion before we got married and before JOE was born. My family didn't celebrate it growing up and I never felt like I missed out on anything.

However, you know what they say about the best laid plans right? As JOE gets older, it is becoming harder to figure out how to handle this.
Thanks to Disney Junior, JOE loves to call ANYTHING Fall related "trick or treat". She received a Halloween card from a good friend of mine and called it her trick or treat card. She likes to look at the carved pumpkin we worked on last Sunday and always says "let's go look at trick or treat pumpkin".
Needless to say, while viewing the world through JOE's eyes, a once clear black/white line is now becoming blurry and somewhat gray.

I decided that even if we don't go celebrate Halloween because of what it stands for, there is no reason to prevent JOE from getting dressed up. I am not a fan of scary characters and since JOE happens to LOVE Doc McStuffins and Minnie Mouse. I figured her birthday theme is already Minnie Mouse, so we'll go with Doc McStuffins.

I wasn't interested in spending a ton of money on a costume so I decided to make her one. I'll post pics of how I made her outfit later. It was basically a mix of items she already had at home that were getting too small for her and a small piece of material from Wal-mart.

On the left is Doc McStuffins and on the right is a mock up of JOE's outfit.

This entire outfit took less than an hour to make. I finished it on Saturday and JOE loves it! She walked around saying "Hello, I'm Doc McStuffins!"
It was nice to see how happy she was to be wearing her outfit. At the same time, at the back of my head, I am still wondering if I am doing the right thing by letting her get dressed up for festivities I don't believe in.

On Sunday, we decided to carve a pumpkin. JOE wanted to show her dadda her handy work but not before trying to pick the "bu-berries" off the bushes in front of our house. I am tired of telling her these are yucky berries. She refuses to listen.

 Our very first carved pumpkin. Its a Pirate Pumpkin.

The additional markings on the top are thanks to JOE. She had to add her own touches :-).

Complete with the black tooth that's almost falling off and the mole and eye lashes. 

I put in a tea light at night and here's the finished product. Not too scary I hope.

On Monday, JOE's caregiver brought JOE a surprise! She got her a Doc McStuffins outfit! Great minds huh? :-).

So here she is again wearing her outfit and checking herself. First her mouth...

And then her eyes...

For those readers who don't celebrate Halloween and are also parents, how do you handle it? Have you found it more difficult to not acknowledge the holiday in the midst of all of the festivities around us everyday?

Will you be handing out candy?

I know this might come off as a controversial post since on the one hand, I am saying I don't believe in Halloween and on the other hand, I am carving pumpkins and making my daughter an outfit. But that's why I titled this post "Blurred lines" because I honestly am hoping to get your opinions on this.

Photo Dump Wednesday: The many faces of JOE

Hump day! I haven't done one of these in a few weeks! Today's photo dump post features the many faces of JOE...my almost 2-year old.

Here she is wearing her Doc McStuffins headband and watching her favorite show. Can you guess which one it is?

And out of nowhere last week, JOE tells me "momma look, I'm a cowboy!" Thanks to Disney Junior's Sheriff Callie!
To finish out her outfit, I got her one of my summer hats and clipped it at the top. She in turn got my clear headband from the drawer and proceeded to use it as her lasso!

Yup...she is full of character this one.

I told her to take selfies with me and this is what I got.

I do so love taking pictures of her beautiful face while she is sleeping!

Oh and check out the length of this girl's hair! It is getting longer! Unbraided, it goes down to her butt! Not even sure of how to handle this long term. Her dad says no to cutting it. I wasn't really serious about cutting it though. I just got frustrated one Saturday when she wouldn't let me detangle it and it was all matted. The joys of having a girl!

Hope you're having an awesome week so far! October is almost over! November for me marks the start of many holidays. Woohoo!!!