The Lucy Dress

Lately I've been attempting to develop my sewing skills. I don't naturally come by the precision that is required of many sewing projects, but I am getting my feet wet with simple projects. I recently finished a project for my four-year-old (soon to be five-year-old) niece, Grace. I won't post a picture of it because my sister reads this blog and the present is almost as much for her as it is for her daughter!

I did finish a little dress for Lucy today, though. The great thing about it is that the adjustable nature of the neckline will ensure that Lucy can wear it for a few years... eventually it will become more of a tunic top that she can wear with pants or leggings. Here's a couple pics of her wearing it.

If she doesn't look like her normal happy self in the pictures, it because today she isn't. She got some of her immunizations today and hasn't been a happy camper since. I'm not sure who cried more over it: me or her. Hopefully the TLC (and baby tylenol!) I'm giving her today will make a difference. Anyways, here's the dress:

Too Cute Not To Share

The picures below where taken today. In the first couple, Lucy was just modeling one of the sweaters that I knitted for her before she was born and the cupcake hat you've seen before.

The next pics are of her first horse "ride" at our church's Fall Family Festival. The miniature horse, " Rascal" belongs to my friend's younger sister who kindly took Lucy and I on a ride in a little cart that he pulled. Then we just posed Lucy for a couple shots of her sitting on Rascal. What a cutie! Thanks for arranging Lucy's special ride, Shanda!! : )

Enjoy!

Real Life

I haven't managed to post in awhile... the simple reason for that is the fact that "real life" is happening a lot around here.

What I mean by "real life" is:

• Having a baby who has gotten a cold for the first time in her little life...
• Having a dog who has lost control of her bowels and is leaving me presents around the house that don't smell too good. (Sorry, to gross you out, folks but, you saw the title of this post before you read it!)
• Trying to encourage my husband who is in the midst of a high-demand couple of weeks at work and can't help but be consumed by it.
• Learning about trials that are going on in the lives of some of my loved ones, and dealing with the grief and disappointment alongside them.

This isn't news to any of us, but real life isn't glamorous. Sometimes it's not pretty. But it's genuine, it's... real! And it often has a way of revealing to us those in our lives who care deeply for us. And, for those whose hearts and minds are open to it, real life has a beautiful way of revealing the presence of a mighty and loving God in our world and in our lives.

So, thank you, God, for real life... and for stooping down to show your kindness to me in the midst of it.

A New Look and a Touch of Fame

Well, I suppose "The Knitting Hummel" 's new look is a bit obvious! A wonderful girl, Bre, who is in our church youth group designed the new header for my blog! Check out her blog and all of her creativity and artistry documented there, here: Bre's Blog.

Also, I'm happy to share that Lucy Land enjoyed a small spotlight of "fame" on the Better Homes and Garden's Better Blog yesterday! My new friend, Kayla, is a journalism major at Drake University (check out her blog for Drake here) and she is a summer intern for Better Homes and Gardens right now! (How fun is that?) Part of her responsibilities are to write for for the Better Blog and as soon as she saw Lucy's room for the first time, she asked permission to add it! Here's the link to the post about Lucy Land: Whimsical Walls.

And for those who don't already know, it was also Bre (with the help of Rachel) who blessed us with her talents and painted the illustrations on the walls in Lucy Land! Here's a cute pic of the girls working hard on the room back before Lucy was born (what a fun memory!):

Rachel on left, Bre on right.

Bre, thanks, so much for using your creativity and artistry to bless me and so many others! AS a thank you for making the new header for The Knitting Hummel, let's have lunch sometime soon-my treat!

"The Stevenson Summer Games"

Well, it is 12:23 AM and I SHOULD be sleeping and not blogging, but I haven't been able to fall asleep yet. I've found that when I can't sleep it helps if I don't try to force it, so often, I'll just get up and do something else. I came downstairs to update "The Knitting Hummel" in hopes that before too long, my brain will catch up with the rest of my body and give in to some much-needed sleep.

I thought it'd be fun to share with you the excitement that happened at our house earlier this evening! It is, in fact, the adrenaline from the day that has me wired and unable to sleep in the first place...

Darin, Lucy and I hosted an "08/08/08" party! It's going to be quite some time before this world sees another August 8, '08 so we decided that was reason enough to celebrate. Throw in the fact that today was the begining of the Beijing Summer Olympic Games, and we had even more reason to party. So we had no choice but to host "The Stevenson Summer Games". We had a blast with neighbors, friends from church, co-workers, former co-workers, family and other friends from miscellaneous settings! We grilled about 120 hotdogs/hamburgers/chicken breasts, whipped up some sides, gathered several desserts, gave out about 42 paper "gold, silver, and bronze medals", filled up two kiddie splash pools, handed out about a dozen bottles of bubbles, and competed against each other in silly back-yard games. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun in my backyard!

I hope you enjoy the following pictures of the festivities:

The food and beverages waiting to welcome the guests:

Lucy won a gold medal for excellent work in her "exersaucer":

People are starting to dig into the goodies:

The splash pools were a hit with the kiddos:

A bird's eye view of the picnic dinner:

The good ol' three-legged race:

Very few could resist the water balloon toss!

These grins make all the work I've been putting into this party for the past two weeks worth it!

My First Earnings as a Stay-at-Home Mommy

Yesterday, a woman I met at the yarn shop I used to work at, brought her six-year-old granddaughter to my home for a knitting lesson. She is also making plans to bring two teen girls from her church over in the fall and have me teach the three of them how to make Christmas stockings. I only charge $10 for one hour lessons, so it's not like I made much money yesterday, but it felt significant:


I have never had any problems with the concept of staying at home. I never had huge career aspirations, and I'm more than happy that our family lives on Darin's income alone. It's such a privilege to stay home with Lucy and be able to be the primary shaping influence in her life as she grows. But there is just something about being able to use my skills and creativity in small ways to earn a little money... it feels nice. It's a financial contribution to our household even if it is a small one.

I feel much like I did as a "tween" when I had my first babysitting job (which probably earned me more money than my lesson did yesterday!). When I took that first job, I had hopes that the family would then refer me on to other families. Sure enough by the time I graduated high school, I had quite the list of families I babysat for and had to turn down "jobs" often. Similarly, I find myself hopeful that yesterday's lesson might lead to another, which may lead to another and so on and so forth.

It will be fun to see what, if anything more unfolds!

Craig's List Joys!

I don't mean to gloat, but I'm just so pleased with myself, I could do the dance of joy!

I've been feeling a little bad about the fact that my sister-in-law and parents-in-law have way more toys for Lucy to play with at their houses than we have at our's. I can just hear an articulate Lucy a few years from now saying, "Mommy, can we please go to Aunt Dawn's? Her house is more fun than our's!"

I actually don't want to flood our house with toys, I'm too afraid that an excess of play things will end up stunting Lucy's imagination and creativity. But one toy that I've been wanting Lucy to have for awhile now is an exersaucer. It's a stationary "walker" of sorts with a swivel seat and plenty of audio, tactile and visual delights in primary colors. Its essentially a mini-wonderland for 5 to 12 month olds. I picked one out that I liked at Babie's 'R Us, but I didn't like the price.

So Craig's List entered the scene. It's like E-Bay but local to your city and no bidding or shipping costs. I managed to locate the exact exersaucer I wanted--gently used, in great condition and HALF the retail price! Joy!!

Not only did I go purchase and pick it up yesterday, but I think I may have made a new friend! The gal who sold it to me ended up chatting with me for a bit. She's part of a local moms' group called "The Hip Mamas" (with a name like that, how could I not be intrigued?) and has invited me to check out some of their events with her!

I'll keep you posted on how all of that develops. In the meantime, enjoy this cute pic of Lucy showing off her mama's purchase:

Doesn't that look like the face of a little girl who thinks her house is REALLY fun? I sure think so!