Kids Aprons

Last week I dusted off my trusty Bernina and had some fun creating these vintage children's aprons. My friend "Tink" came over to show me how to make my own patterns and after a little trial and error this is what I came up with. I just love this apple pear fabric from the Alexander Henry Collection.

Ruffle Pocket. Pre-teen size.

I am also happy that my new wire dress form served another great purpose. :)

It's hard to tell but these pixie aprons are sized approximately for ages 3-5.

Butterfly apron.

I was feeling a little guilty having so much fun creating these girly aprons since I have two boys, so I made one for the little chaps too.

Tell me what you think!

In b(ache)'n we trust......

Warning: This blog post probably contains too much information about practices within the Hall Family. Although, such practices have rendered successful results in the past and therefore information shared is considered privileged. Now, don't you feel special? If you want to read more about it. Read on.

(FB friends click here for the full post: www.hallsrock.blogspot.com )

Weston's brother, Dustin, was yearning for a little brotherly love and flew into town last Wed evening. He came into town first, to see us. ;) Second, to participate in Weston's personally designed LSAT boot camp. Special, just for him. Dustin aka Dusty/Dawg is taking the LSAT on Sept 26th. For those that do not know, the LSAT is the Law School Assesment Test that one has to take to get into Law School. Four score and seven years ago, after Weston took the LSAT, he scored high enough that he was able to become an instructor for KAPLAN, a test prep company that prepares people for various grad school entrance tests.

It is great to see two brothers bond in such a way. They have been REALLY tight since they were younger. For instance, on many occaisions, Weston felt the desire to pick Dustin up by his head. Over and over and over again. Calm down, he didn't grab his neck or anything. He was much more gentle. He just put a hand over each of his ears and squeezed real tight and wah-lah, Dustin was air born! What can I say? They are tight like that. Another great story I get to hear about is the "bendy bendy". You can probably figure it out but it has something to do with seeing how bendy your legs really are. Literally. Although the one feeling the love of the bendy bendy is usually not a volunteer. :D

Well, I wanted the boys to be able to focus and not let "bonding" get in the way of their studies. This was serious. So, being the best wife in the land that I am ;) , I prepared for Dustin's arrival with all the basic LSAT boot camp sustenance. It proved well for Weston and therefore I naturally wanted to share the wealth with Dusty. Gotta channel that LSAT chi!

LSAT booster secret No. 1: Eat bacon. A lot of it.......cause if big brothers happy, Dustin's happy and so are his neck and his legs. ;)

LSAT secret No. 2: Find your fight song. Meditate the words and play every morning to start your day. You are currently listening to Weston's (Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins). Dustin responded well to it also.

LSAT secret No. 3: Eat cookies. Not any cookies. My special cookies. Eat a lot of them. (not pictured)

Day 2 (Thursday): I greeted the day with a (fight) song and just after eating a full bacon breakfast the brotherly bonding started and they headed off to work for the day. Weston being the good samaritan that he is, bent over to pick up a piece of paper for his secretary and threw his back out. Oops. That didn't stop them, though. They were committed. Coincidentally, we have a friend who is a chiropractor staying with us for several weeks right now. He went in, tried to adjust him but it was too painful for Weston that day and we went home. He was stuck in a horizontal position but the LSAT study chi....was flowin.

Weston's back didn't seem to be getting any better. In fact, each day it seemed to get worse. Sunday he woke up and he was in more pain than ever and so we took him into the ER.

Day 5:

He is not checking in at the desk. He literally could not sit down for more than 1 minute and so he had to stand leaning against the reception desk the whole time. Poor guy. Eventually, after about a half hour of leaning right in front of her, the nurse had mercy on him and brought us in the back and let him lay on a stretcher in the Hallway.

Finding humor in triage, I had to take this picture. It was like they were waiting for him. Trying to lay down in "Hall Triage". They gave him lots of drugs and sent us home.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....Dustin was taking care of us. I tried to scat him back to his studies but he was always thoughtful to help clean up after meals and played with the boys. Warren was so happy to have him here that it was a job in itself to keep him out of their hair. Despite Weston's injury they got some good studying in and we even found time for a little fun.

Day 6:

Dustin is a Halloween junkie and so is Warren. He has been wanting to decorate for Halloween for months now. We decided to break out the decorations a little early so they could do it together!

Weston's back is FINALLY feeling better the last two days. His shuffle is getting a little quicker and the groans are getting softer so I think we are on the home stretch there! Dustin is taking the LSAT this Saturday and we want to wish him all the best! You are going to do great Dustin! Don't forget your bacon & fight song. Goose.

Fab Find.

The other day I found this little treasure! I am SO excited about it and so I had to share. I have been looking for a display piece for my jewelry for sometime now. I have seen many in craft stores but most are too victorian looking for me. The other day I had a few minutes without the boys so I stopped at this little boutique in Kingwood I have been wanting to go to for a while but certainly wouldn't attempt with the boys in tow. I am SO glad I did! When I went in the owner was rearranging the entire store and had pulled this out of the back and I saw it! I talked her into selling it to me and wha-lah! It was the only one she had. (insert happy dance here)

You can also take it off the stand and display it table top.

Isn't it simply perfect?

1 2 3 Magic...(Take 1)

It has been just over a year since we moved into our house. We moved in Aug 1 when I was 9 months pregnant, scheduled to deliver Ben on August 15th. We knew when we bought this house it would be in need of some renovations and we have been very busy the last year doing just that.

Since I knew I would be practically changing everything, I took awesome "before" pictures when we bought the house but I lost them when my computer crashed last Thanksgiving. I scrounged up these pictures from the realtor. They were the ones used when it was listed on the MLS.

Our first project started just 3 days after we moved in when we paid a crew to come rip out all of the old flooring downstairs: white carpet and glued down wood (orangy oak) floors. Many have asked for pictures and I have been reluctant to post any because I wanted to have it ALL put together before I did. However, finding the "perfect" art, chairs and money to do it all doesn't always come together as quickly as I'd like! So, here is the first area we tackled, thus far:

Dining room before:

White.white.white. They are invisible here but before the base boards were 2.5 inch off white.

Dining after: Weston & his brother Dustin installed the floors, during his paternity leave I must add. ;) Five inch hand scraped maple. I installed & painted the 6 inch square baseboards all throughout, curtain rods, hemmed linen curtains & painted all the walls.

Here is another view.

Sitting/Office area before.

After:

I have big plans to turn this into a mini library, adding more bookcases (we have like 10 boxes of unpacked books still), some comfy reading chairs and a love seat in this room but we are still working on the money tree thing & the energy to do it all. ;) Notice my bare walls. I have been searching for that perfect art for over a year now.

The lighting in this picture shows the true paint color a little better.

This is the best picture of the entry way before that I could find. This was taken at the YW Christmas party held at my house (they were performing the nativity). To orient yourself....here you see the piano (behind the girl wearing the blue sheet) and the front door entrance.

Front entrance after. (The piano is behind the pillar)

Another angle. The door you see is the entry to the powder room which is currently under construction but getting close to being done. Pictures to come soon. We replaced all the doorknobs, light sockets/panels, plug sockets/panels & painted all the doors. I plan to paint the stair railing all white like the rest of the trim. I have found my new console table but I am waiting to purchase......"oh money tree, oh money tree!" :)

Now this here... is a (insert Uncle Eddie accent) "fine piece of art". ;) I have also been searching for the perfect chandalier for the past year and I think I just found it but I am waiting for the darn thing to go on sale! Therefore, I am stuck with this one a little longer. For the time being, I am going to paint it junk chic style. Anything will look better than this. I will post pics after I do.

We have been working hard in other rooms as well (kitchen, family & powder room). Soon to be starting the master bedroom & bath. I will post pics of those when I can too. :)