Isn't she adorable? My mom made her for the Two Year Old, who absolutely loves baby dolls.  She came with an extra diaper, which was a huge hit.

Are you overwhelmed by the sheer awesomeness of it? (Too many viewings of Kung Fu Panda...)  She did it sans pattern! Amazing.

She even made matching PJ's for the real live Baby Doll. Love it!

But I get positively giddy when I drive past a gas station these days.  Today, I found gas for $1.88 a gallon! My joy is indescribable.

A few years ago, I got all prophetic and declared we would never see gas fall below $2 again. But look at us now! I have to physically resist the urge to stop at every gas station. I keep wanting to just "top it off," in case prices sky rocket again tomorrow.

I know, I should be shrinking my carbon footprint and using less oil and all of that.  But I just can't imagine shuttling my two children on to a bus to drop the oldest off at school. For one, I imagine we'd accumulate far too many tardy slips.

We are those sort of people, the ones who use our vehicles as a second home/storage facility.  The other day we arrived at school in a panic.  For weeks, there'd been one purple tennis shoe riding around in the back seat, while the other was somewhere in the house.  Yesterday, my daughter grabbed the second tennis shoe from her room, believing its mate was still waiting in the car.  When we arrived at school with one shoe on, the other purple shoe was nowhere to be found. 

Seriously, I have no idea what one does when one shows up for school with only one shoe. On a rainy day, no less.

Fortunately, I found the shoe. It was in the front seat--under the umbrella, my winter coat, the baby's diaper bag and last week's mail.

Still, we were tardy.

We made our annual trip to Rombach's Pumpkin Patch this weekend, and it was an absolutely beautiful day. I just love fall, with its crisp air and early sunsets. Love it! 

I've been to a couple of other patches around here, and some of them have better attractions for the kids.  But Rombach's is our favorite. Maybe because it's the pumpkin patch where our fall family tradition began some 5 years ago.  Maybe because it is indeed the best patch in the area.  

Last year's crop was awful.  Most of the pumpkins were rotting in the fields. Very disappointing.  This year, the field pumpkins had already been cut from the vines and were just sitting there waiting to be hauled back to the parking lot. The purpose of the precut vines, I think, was probably so the pumpkins didn't rot again this year in the warmish weather.  But, still, it felt a little silly walking out to the fields to "pick" a pumpkin...

The patch really isn't that far from our house, and I'm relatively certain the air composition is 98% identical.  Nonetheless, it somehow feels fresher out there in the middle of all those pumpkins. It feels more like fall. 

Yes, September is nearly upon us, and the stores have begun the transformation...time to start thinking about Christmas.  Before I was a crafty person, I rejected the notion that we had to think about Christmas before fall even arrived.  I groaned as the stores moved in Christmas decorations earlier and earlier each year. I was appalled at the idea of Christmas music in November (yes, even November was too early for me).

But now, I get it.  This is a crazy holiday, friends.  Last year, I waited until December to start working on my handmade holiday gifts. Frankly, I just wasn't in the Christmas mood during November. I hosted Thanksgiving, and I was busy!  By the time I was in the Christmas mood, I didn't want to engaged in a frantic sewing marathon.  I wanted to enjoy the softer, traditional Christmas activities.

I wanted to see the Way of Lights, ride the camels, drink hot cocoa and eat kettle corn. 

I wanted to hunt for the perfect Christmas tree,  

Haul out the decorations (you thought I was going to say holly), light up the house.

I wanted to stroll around the mall and window shop. I wanted to watch Christmas movies. I wanted to bake cookies and decorate gingerbread houses.

I wanted to sew, too, but in a leisurely way. I didn't enjoy the stress to "just get it done."  I wanted to mosey, while watching Christmas memories unfold outside my window.

In order to make time for such things, I am beginning the Christmas crafting early this year. Do it with me!

I won't pretend I've thought of this on my own.  A few days ago, I stumbled upon Organized Christmas.  It's an amazing site, with all sorts of tips to walk you through getting ready for the holidays.  You can find some great tools--I've only just started exploring the site, but have already downloaded the "Gifts to Make" planning sheet and the "What's in the Gift Closet" list. 

Over the next few weeks, I'll share my Christmas ideas and reveal the things on my list.  I'm hoping there will even be some sneak peeks as things get finished (fingers crossed that things get finished).  I might have to be a bit secretive, because some of the recipients might occassionally read my blog (*cough* mom, dad *cough*).  

Of course, I won't be handcrafting it all myself.  The wonderful world of Etsy will most certainly supply a gift or two.  

As I mentioned, the Kindergartener started a new school this year.  It's a good school, where she has many friends and wonderful teachers.  However, we hesitated for a very, very long time before deciding to enroll her, and the number one reason for our hesitation was the "uniform dress" policy.

For the past three years (since she was about two), we've allowed our daughter to express her own creativity through her clothing.  She takes great pride in choosing her clothes (right down to the socks) and dressing herself.  She's worn Halloween socks at Easter, Christmas socks in the middle of summer, and dress shoes with shorts.

I know there are moms who would rather gnaw off their own fingers than have their children seen like this in public. I am clearly not one of those moms. 

Nonetheless, we're now attending the uniform dress school.  Granted, it's a little more flexible than a true uniform, because the kids can choose any solid-colored collared shirt, and they can choose from three colors of pants/shorts/skirts/dresses.  But I've spent the last couple of weeks explaining what a "solid color" is.   ("Yes, honey, pink is a solid color.")  To a girl who regularly mixes stripes and plaids with polka dots, it's a tricky concept. 

But the point of this whole post is this: I can no longer get excited about sewing. I'm having a horrible time looking at fabric and appreciating it. I can't even invision the wonderful things that could be made from it. Because right now, I can only think about solid colors. It's killing me. The navy, khaki and black are literally sucking me dry.

Even when I think about sewing, all I can think about it how to make a fun dress that won't get my daughter kicked out of Kindergarten.

Sorry for the sudden abandonment!  We took a short family vacation to Branson last weekend, and my own web paranoia prevented me from telling you about it in advance.  Didn't want some crazy stalker to find my blog and discover my house was unattended, what with all my pretty new fabric sitting on the kitchen counter.

Two of my recent projects went along on vacation with us.  One was the purse-sized first aid kit, which came in handy when a certain five year old managed to scuff both knees at Celebration City.  Alcohol wipes and bandages to the rescue. And I made everyone declare that I was an awesome mom. Seriously, made them say it out loud. Which they did. 

The other, was the reusable grocery bag (in pink butterfly print).  We grabbed it at the last minute to throw the phone chargers and make up bags in.  This bag became the most useful item on the trip.

 
Day one, I tried to bring the large, non-flexible diaper bag along to Silver Dollar City. It was too large and too non-flexible. It wouldn't fit in the awful rental stroller and it was an overall nuisance.  Day 2, the reusable bag came with us. It's straps were the perfect length (and flexibility) to tie in a loose knot (nothing fell out) and then hang over each stroller handle. 

You can see that I took along the cheesy umbrella stroller to save space in the car...I thought we'd rent a larger stroller at the amusement parks. Turns out their strollers were pretty useless, and for $10, a waste of money. So umbrella stroller made a go of it and did a fantastic job.  My reusable grocery bag was awesome.  Just like me.

If you find yourself in Branson (and I'm not necessarily recommending that you do...), head downtown and check out Pinkiedink's Cupcakes.  They have a ton of different cupcakes, all pretty and all tasty! At $2.50 a piece, my husband declared them the best deal in Branson.  Seriously, these people are a few doors down from a place that wanted to sell me a $4 hotdog. It's not even real meat, people!!

Where did the sun go?! We're back to the rainy, rainy days around here, and the lack of sun is beginning to drive me nuts! And the humidity. Killing. Me.

And so I reflect on those sunny days we had this winter, where we broke out the sidewalk chalk...and made a city...

with streets...

and neighborhoods...

and public services...