homebodies

 

Can you spy James?

The kids and I have been so strangely inactive this week, and yet such busy bodies. I'll explain what I mean with some simple stats from the week:

Number of times left front door of house: 5

Number of those times we went more than one mile from our house: 2

Destinations more than one mile from our house: play date and library

Destinations within one mile radius where we were headed the other 3 times: park and woods trail

Number of (official) crafts done: 2

I won't divulge whose pumpkin is whose; but I will say that only one of us had the creative intuition to put a mustache and freckles on their pumpkin.

Number of baking projects that James helped with: 2

almonds, oats, flax, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, coconut oil, honey, spices..mm...

Number of home runs James has scored from basement baseball: 41

Number of obscenely large forts built: 3

Number of days we stayed in PJ's until 10 am: I'll never tell

Oh, and number of blog posts attempting to make up for not blogging since last Friday: 1

I caught a glimpse of myself in the office mirror and just had to take a picture. My stay-at-home uniform: nursing tank top, leggings, droopy sweater, messy braid...sadly, this picture doesn't show the tasteful wool socks that I am also rocking. 

This weekend we are continuing to stick around the house. We will be doing our usual farmer's market, Beaver football cheering, and general joyful-life-living... 

Have a wonderful weekend!

eleanor's style

I know this post is about Eleanor, but I have to begin it with my own confession: I haven't bought her any clothes.

Okay, that's not entirely true. I did buy her some plain white onsies and a couple pairs of pj's (all of which she has already outgrown), and some clothes from a friend of mine (although she doesn't fit in most of those yet). But, for the most part, she has only worn clothes that people have given to me or hand-me-downs that I have received. I hold the same philosophy for her clothing that I do for James and my own: I would rather do a lot of laundry than have a lot of clothes. Especially since she grows out of everything about five minutes after I put her in it.

We have also shopped James' closet a little. The onsie in the picture above was found in James closet, but I don't remember him ever wearing it. (What a coincidence, she is wearing an "I heart NY" onsie and playing with brothers' wooden taxi cab. What are the odds?)

The adorable outfit above was one that I bought from a friend. It is a little big for her, but is so sweet and girly that I will have to take better pictures of her in it when it fits perfectly.

This dress is a hand-me-down. It probably doesn't fit anymore, so I had to document the one time I put her in it. Also, the over-sized bow just kills me.

Light pink cords on those chubby little legs... Does it get any cuter?

The above sweatshirt was Lane's when he was a baby. She wore it to the aquarium because it has a little whale on it (themed clothing: cool or completely nerdy?). I had to pair it with offensively pink leggings because I am trying to avoid at all costs ever hearing "Oh, what a sweet baby! How old is he?"
That was the first and last time she will ever wear the sweatshirt as it barely buttoned over her adorable barrel of a belly.

This sweatshirt also belonged to Lane when he was a baby. I love that it shows off those gorgeous blue eyes. (Can you tell that this is the only photo in this post that I took with my nice camera?)

Last, but certainly not least: Elle rockin' the bandanna bib. These are great because a. they can capture drool regardless of which direction the head is turned b. no dealing with rough velcro c. they are stinkin' cute. I must purchase more of these...

So there you have it. A quick run-through of Eleanor's style. Most days, however, she dresses just like her mom: casual top and comfy leggings.

If you are a mom of a girl: How do you dress your daughter?
If you aren't: How do you think you would dress her?

This time, a year ago: a trip to the art museum and morning glory muffins

decisions, decisions...

Somehow Lane and I came to an agreement that if he bought a board game, I could buy a shirt (it's prison rules around here while we are still saving for a house). I honestly don't know how those two things became paired together, but, he bought a board game.

I am sure you remember my confession about not only despising shopping, but also having absolutely no knowledge of what I am doing. And so, I am hoping that you fashionable friends of mine will help me out.

Here are a few possibilities I have picked out. But they may all be horrible, so I am completely open to suggestions (do you sense my terrible insecurity about all things trendy?) :

From J. Crew:



From Madewell:



Also from Madewell:



Apparently I'm into stripes right now.... Any votes? Any suggestions? Thanks!

mom fashion

Let's talk about fashion. Wow, I never thought that the word "fashion" would enter my little blog unless preceded by the words "I know nothing about."

But (as dumb as it may sound) lately I have been thinking a lot about fashion. I realized I don't really like my wardrobe, and I just keep adding boring things to it. It's like if you have a set of boring and not very pretty dishes, but you break one dish at a time, so instead of buying a whole new set, which takes time to pick out and a lot more money, you just keep replacing the broken ones with the exact same dishes.

Every once in a while I will buy something trendy. Last year (okay, once in a great while) I bought a super-cute pair of black leather boots. But in order to wear the black boots, you have to have the leggings, and then you have to have the strategically long shirts, or cute skirts and tops. Or you have to have skinny jeans, in which case you have to have skinny thighs...

My point is, I hate shopping for clothing. I wish I could hand someone a wad of money, give them my sizes, and let them buy it all for me. I realize that there are people who make this their profession, but I think they charge a ridiculous fee. And they shop at the real Nordstrom instead of the Rack.

The other problem -aside from no money, time, or desire to go shopping- is that I want to look cute, but my clothing has to also be functional. I can't exactly show up for library story time and sit criss-cross applesauce  in high heeled boots, leggings, and a miniskirt. I also shudder to think of myself crawling into the bear cave at the OMSI kid's room in "skinny" jeans.

I know that there are much bigger problems in the world, and I am so lucky to have clothes at all, especially so many clothes that keep me warm and dry and comfortable. But, c'mon, I am a girl in my mid-twenties, and you just wouldn't think it to look in my closet. So, I have been trying to get creative and to re-purpose some old clothes. Here are some examples of my attempts (things are about to get weird; let's just say I'm no budding clothing photographer, and these pics look more like a person melted and left only what they were wearing) :

Above: Layers are always good, right? My mom gave me this jacket a few years ago; it's from Levi and apparently was the same one that the blonde actress wore in "Kill Bill", and my mom just had to have it. The black hoodie is probably the softest thing I own. It's cashmere that I got on a huge after Christmas sale at Gap my senior year of high school. As in, eight years ago. Underneath the sweater is a redish T that I found on the Target sales rack for about six bucks. The scarf that I wear around my head has a red that matches the shirt, and I wear it when I haven't had time to wash my hair the night before. It was a Christmas gift from an old boss.

Above: The pumpkin-colored sweater was actually given to Lane, but he is not sure how he feels about the V-neck, so I swiped it from his side of the closet. I belted it with an old leather belt my mom gave me to make it less manly, and wear it with a blue scarf that has big pink, white, and orange flowers. Luckily, the sweater is long enough to wear with leggings and then I can wear my hippest clothing item- the boots!

Above: I feel like this outfit could either be super old lady, boyish, or maybe it is just really hip. I bought the flannel shirt last mothers day, which, by the way, was the last time I actually went shopping. I wear it with this awful sweater which I think could be extremely mom, but I like to think that I make it edgy by wearing it with the flannel shirt, cool earrings, and my 7's. I'm not sure if I'm correct in this assumption.

So, here is the question: What's a girl to do? How do I make my style less suburban-mom and more up-to-date without spending a fortune? What are your favorite style tricks and ways you use old clothing in trendy ways?

PS I love that yesterday I checked my blog to see if anyone had posted rainy day ideas (thank you Jane, we will be flying paper airplanes very soon, and hopefully I will be brave enough to make some flubber) and I noticed that the blog fairy had visited. I now have a boarder on the sides of my blog! So fun.