Improvising

I woke up this morning and realized that today is Jeb's Kids' Day Out Halloween party. I slightly panicked. He is going to be a rock star for Halloween, but I still don't have his outfit completely pulled together. At the last minute, I decided it would be easy to let him go as a nerd. That's right. I said a nerd. This was quite difficult for me in that I love dressing my boy child in 'cool' clothes. I sucked it up, though, and got him all ready... then proceeded to laugh for the next 30 minutes every time I looked at him. Oh how I love you, Son. (I hope you can say the same about me when you're older and see these pictures.)

Family Pictures by Blaire

Remember those family pictures I mentioned finding outfits for? Well, here are a few of them. Blaire Perry did a wonderful job for us. Thanks so much, Blaire! These are just a few she posted on Facebook, but there are SO many wonderful ones to choose from. Be sure to check out her website and give her a call!

WINNER and My Easy 'How-To' for Fabulous Legwarmers

And the winner is...... (DRUMROLL, PLEASE!!)

Jill at MK Chick.

We'll hook up, Jill. Hope you enjoy!

NOW HERE'S MY HOW-TO.

STEP ONE: Pick out a really cute pair of women's tube socks. (The longer the better!) Target has a pretty big selection, and you can get 3 in a pack for around $7. I bought this pair from Wal-Mart for $3. I just loved the little balls and tassels. (And so did the girls.)


STEP TWO: Lay the socks together, matched up perfectly, and cut both STRAIGHT ACROSS (at the same time) just above the heel before the curve. (If the socks you purchase are too thick to cut together, just make certain they are cut at the exact same position so that one legwarmer won't be longer than the other.)

STEP THREE: Now make another cut straight across about an inch above your initial cut.

STEP FOUR: You should have 4 pieces now: 2 long, and 2 small (as shown below).

Turn the 2 smaller pieces inside out...

STEP FIVE: Working with one long piece and one small, fit the small piece down over the top of the long piece, matching up all the raw edges as perfectly as you can like this.

STEP SIX: Now fold the smaller piece up from the bottom, and once again, match up all the raw edges at the top as perfectly as you can.

STEP SEVEN: Pin all the way around. (I suppose you wouldn't HAVE to pin, but it just helps me ensure that the edges will stay lined up until I can get them sewn. I recommend it.) Oh, and make sure you're not pinning the whole thing shut! You should be pinning three layers together the entire way around. Remember, a little leg has to fit in there!

STEP EIGHT: Here's the part where you sort of have to know how to sew a straight line! Simply sew as close to the raw edge as possible, pulling out your pins as you go.

Your result should look something like this....

Now cut away any excess thread and unfold. This is what you should have! TA DA!!

STEP NINE: Find a sweet little girl whose outfit just needs a little extra something and slip them right on. Here is fashion model, Estella Dru, posing in the finished product. Fabulous fashion for $3 and no more than 15 minutes of my time.


A couple more tidbits: I have had no problems with the legwarmers staying up on the girls' legs, but if you have a tiny little girl, you might try buying girls' tube socks and following the same directions. I have also seen little girls wearing them on their arms, and it was adorable. Just an idea!

Legwarmers Give Away!

A few weeks ago, I set out to find coordinating outfits for our family pictures. I found two adorable striped dresses from GAP for the girls, but they just needed a little punch of color. I'm bored with tights, so I decided to find some really cool, funky legwarmers. (P.S. Those ARE back in style.) I searched. And searched. And searched. The ones I found were either A.) Not cute enough or B.) Adorable but WAY more than I wanted to pay. SO... I came home, got on the Internet, and did some searching. Instead of finding a good site that sold them, I stumbled across a website that talked about how to make your own. I was hooked. And though the tutorial was hard to understand, I figured it out and loved the results. Here is a shot of Estella in her homemade, cool, funky legwarmers.




I have gotten so many compliments on them and have sort of gone crazy making the girls more and more. SO... I thought it would be fun to have a little legwarmers give away. I'll make this really simple. If you want to enter, leave me a message that says something along the lines of I want to enter, and make sure I have your email address. On Tuesday of next week, I will do a random number generator to find a winner. Also, it would be great if you gave me a shout out on your blog, but that is totally optional.

Even if you don't have a little girl, these would make great stocking stuffers. On Tuesday, I'll announce the winner and also tell you how you can make your own at home. If you can sew a straight line, you can do it and for a FRACTION of the cost you would pay at a boutique.

Here's what you could win--four different sets, so leave me a comment! I love give aways!

All things FALL at the Slaughter house...

Before and After

One day last week, this is how I sent my kids to school. All cute and put together nicely in their little uniforms.




And this is how they came home.




Seriously, Slaughter girls. It looks like I picked you up off the side of the road! I hope other mommies can relate.

It's not Elmo all the time...

Must be watching Elmo, right?

Maybe Diego? (He made that little laundry basket/tv watching area all by himself, by the way.)

Nope. This guy has another true love.

This History Channel. Ahhhh. A boy after my own heart.

Be still my heart.

I found this heart today after Belle went to school. She left it in a place she knew I'd find it. I always thought if I had the opportunity to see some of the timeless works of art from the great ones--Picasso, Michelangelo, Da Vinci--it would probably bring me to tears. This morning, I had no need to see the famous paintings of the world. Her heart was the most moving work of art my eyes will ever see, and I was actually able to hold it in my hand. How amazing.

It requires a bit of translation. My artist is only a first grader.

FRONT: "I love you so much Mommy"

BACK: "You are cute. You are a good mom. I dode no how old you are?"

When I read "You are a good mom," be still my heart. No words could sound more precious than those, coming literally from the heart of my child. And then how can you beat "You are cute," followed closely by, "I dode no how old you are." Just perfect. I love my Ava Isabelle.

Kitchen Re-do

I have not been a good blogger lately. I stink, actually. We have just been extremely busy here in the Slaughter house. Matt has been gone for two days in Arkadelphia for the state golf tournament with his team. Also, I've been writing a lot AND we are re-doing our kitchen. Huge project. From the first moment I saw my kitchen is was hate-at-first-sight. We've been here a year and are finally getting around to a make-over. Matt ripped down the yucky white, laminate backsplash and replaced with a brick colored tile. We are now working on the cabinets which is a tedious job! We are doing them in black then distressing a bit. My sweet friend, Kirsten, gave us some awesome tips. You need to visit her store, by the way!! I am absolutely loving how they are turning out so far.

Next will be repainting the kitchen walls. (The countertops will have to wait till another day.) It's still very much a work in progress, but I'll give you a little sneak peek even though it's a big mess....

Tile going up.

A little progress.

Freshly painted cabinets, just waiting the final 'seal' clear coat.

I can't wait to post pictures when it's all complete! Hopefully that will be sooner than later.

Seeing James Patterson

The Conversations Breakfast was James Patterson was fascinating. I was so starry-eyed throughout his talk. He was funny and informative and relatable. Matt was worried he would be bored, but even he admitted to being interested and entertained. Mr. Patterson was so down-to-earth and someone who, you could just tell, doesn't take himself too seriously.

There are two things he shared that really stuck out to me. 1.) 30 plus publishers turned down his first novel. It later went on to be a best seller. And 2.) At his first book signing, there were 400 of his books piled up behind him, ready to be signed, and not one person showed up. He said his girlfriend at the time was with him, and he just kept signing her book over and over. Listening to him really was a lesson in persistence and following your dreams. Someone whom 30-something publishers turned down has since generated $2 billion in book sales. Just incredible.

Since there were lots of people in attendance, we weren't able to really visit with him one on one, but I did get to say hello and that it was an honor to meet him. He was very gracious. I was able to have two books signed... one for me and one for my Aunt Shirley who has read a ton of his books. It was a great morning, and I am so thankful that my sweet husband made it happen.