My new favorite blogs

For those who check the blog for photos and updates on Miss Isabelle, more will be coming but not today. Sorry!

I wanted to share two blogs that I recently happened on and have spent a fair amount of time perusing the last few days. If you are even a little crafty I think you'd enjoy checking them out! (Click on the buttons to go to the sites.)

I love love love Prudent Baby! So many fun ideas, now I just need to find free time to be crafty!

I'm so inspired by Tea Rose Home - makes me think I can repurpose clothes that were on their way to good will rather than buying new clothes!

I can't remember how I came across these (probably a link from another blog) but they have gotten by creative juices flowing again! I'm so eager to make all kinds of pretty things for sweet little Isabelle. So many easy sewing projects to make the cutest little dresses, headbands and so much more! I wish I had a few more weeks of summer to go through all the fabric that is currently being stored in Isabelle's closet, clothes I don't wear that could be repurposed and anything else fabric wise that could be cut up and made into something adorable for my little girl to wear.

I've been waiting all week to not have chores to do while she's napping so I could get my sewing machine out and try something! I didn't get my chance until today when she actually slept for 2 1/2 hours in the middle of the day!! (She's had a few "cranky pants" kinds of days lately which equates to short or non-existent naps.) First I repaired two pairs of Tim's cargo shorts (why do they always seem to have holes in them??) then did this to one of my tank tops. Pretty cute right??

I was inspired by Tea Rose Home to make and add some ruffles (by cutting up another shirt that doesn't quite fit so well since becoming a mommy) to a plain white tank, to make a much more adorable shirt. As an added bonus, that stain that I couldn't seem to get out is no longer an issue. Second bonus, I got to use my gathering foot for my sewing machine that I think I've only used once before and I can't even remember what for. I'm not really a ruffle kind of girl, but it was so easy and fun that I kind of want to add ruffles to all of my plain boring shirts now!

Oh, one more that I find really fun to just look at. New Dress A Day

I dream about being this talented in making clothes. Maybe someday... It's pretty fun, check it out!

Coming soon - pictures of Isabelle in all the adorable little ruffled dresses I'm going to make for her!! (Maybe not super soon since I go back to work next week - but soon enough!)

Get ready to be overwhelmed by cuteness

Just loaded all the pictures from our southern trip into iPhoto but have yet to sort them. So until I get around to doing all that, here's a couple cute pictures from the last few weeks.

Patio

Back in October we had an apple tree in our yard cut down to make space for a new patio. There was a patio already there but it was not well done and not very big. Our neighborhood is part of what used to be a large orchard, so there are some fruit trees remaining here and there. However, the one in our yard was dying and starting to rot in the middle. After the winter we had (60+ inches of snow!!), I'm very glad we had the tree taken down when we did. The tree company was supposed to come back and grind the stump but had to wait until the ground was dry enough. Well that day finally came on June 26...

Baptism

In between our summer travels, Isabelle was baptized on July 10 at St. Louis Church in Clarksville, MD by Fr. Bill Byrne (same priest who confirmed me and did our wedding mass). The baptism was in the Chapel, which was the second building for the church that was built in 1889. It's pretty small but made for a very intimate baptism with our family and friends standing around the baptismal font. Isabelle studied Fr. Bill's face through most of the baptism before falling asleep in my arms.

Isabelle wore the same christening gown that my grandfather (my mom's dad) wore in ~1914 (I can't remember the exact year...but it was a long time ago). My mom and her two sisters, my two cousins, my sister and I all wore it too. It was very special to have it. The bonnet was from Gran (Tim's mom) - I think Tim's sisters probably wore it. (My mommy brain is really showing here if you can't tell.) She also wore little booties that were mine.

Isabelle with her Godfather Matt (Tim's brother) and Godmother Erin (Matt's girlfriend who we hope will someday be a McKay too)

and with Godmother Katherine (my sister)

We were so blessed to have our entire families (and close friends)

there to celebrate with us.

Following the baptism, we had a nice reception at our house and got to use our new patio!

Stephanie's Wedding

Over the July 4th weekend we took another road trip to State College, PA for our friends Stephanie and Tony's wedding. (Stephanie and I went to UMD together.) We drove up Friday so we could spend some time walking around State College (I had never been). Our friends Sarah and Carlos were also there. We all walked around Penn State's campus for a while...

We had to go to the creamery to get some ice cream...yummy!! We saw signs for the 'Lion Shrine' which we keep following in anticipation of seeing something pretty cool. After quite a long walk we can upon a single lion statue (that wasn't even that large). Not quite as impressive as we had hoped....not much of a shrine in my opinion. Oh well...

Saturday we walked around downtown State College, had lunch at some place with outdoor seating and large TVs so we (read: Tim and Carlos) could watch whatever World Cup game was on that day.

The wedding that evening was beautiful! I didn't get any pictures in the church though. Isabelle slept through the entire ceremony, which had been her typical church routine up until then.

The reception was at the Nittany Lion Inn. Food was awesome and reception was a lot of fun. I'm a big fan of live bands at receptions! Isabelle got to dance with her daddy :) A couple pictures from the reception...

She had her own place card!

Sarah, Stephanie, Me, Isabelle

After two smallish road trips, and Isabelle doing just fine on both of them, we confirmed our plans for a week long road trip down south...

Updates....finally!

Wow, so I know it's been a while since the last real update on Miss Isabelle. We've taken several vacations and visited a lot of friends and family in the last month. And somehow, now it's August!! What!?!? The last month and a half will have to be broken into a few separate posts so I can add pictures of everything. So if you think you missed something, check the archives. I'll keep updating this week.