Mama Sews: Pillowcase Dresses

I wanted to make Ilona a dress to wear for Independence Day and a Clemson Tigers themed dress for the upcoming football season. Pillowcase dresses are super quick and easy to make so I went with that.

In addition to their simplicity, the sizing on pillowcase dresses is pretty forgiving so these should fit her for a while and can be worn with a shirt underneath in cooler weather or leggings once the dresses are too short.

These fabrics were found in my stash. I bought a 1/4 yard of purple fabric to coordinate with the Clemson and orange fabric I had since the Clemson fabric alone wasn't enough for the entire dress. I also bought ribbon for all three dresses.

The light blue dress was one I had made years ago and just needed ribbon to finish. This dress is a size 2T so I'll put it aside to grow into.

I always use Sew Like My Mom's pillowcase dress guide for measurements, etc.

After finishing the red gingham dress and trying it on the wiggly baby, I decided to bypass the ribbon ties on the shoulders for the Clemson dress and tried an elastic/ fabric shoulder strap instead. (I still need to adjust the straps to fit since she was sleeping when I sewed this dress.) Hopefully, it will work well. The ribbon ties are so cute but it is challenging to get the dress on and ribbons tied when your model is  a very active 7 month old! Haha!

I enjoyed my afternoon of sewing! 

The dress is adorable on her though and we got some really cute 4th of July pictures of the baby and Willie. Some great outtakes too--too hilarious not to share!

Lots of laughs during this photo shoot!

Happy New Year from Mary Ann's House!

We are several days in to the new year and I wanted to pop on and wish you all a happy 2019. I pray it is a wonderful and blessed year for you and your family.

2018 ended on a high note with the birth of our daughter, Ilona Joy**on November 22 (Thanksgiving Day)! We were able to meet her the following day and brought her home with us several days later.

The holidays have been a happy blur as we are adjusting to parenthood and being a family of 3. Ilona is doing wonderfully--6 weeks old today. We eagerly await finalization of her adoption which should take place sometime in the spring, Lord willing.

**Ilona is a Hungarian/Eastern European name meaning "light and joy". It is pronounced ee-loh-nah with a long 'o' sound. It is a variation of the names Helen and Eleanor. Eleanor is my mom's name so Ilona is named after both sides of the family--her grandma on one side and a nod to the Hungarian roots on the other. It is a fairly uncommon name but one we fell in love with a few years back. When we first met her, I knew without a doubt that the name was perfect for her.

Needless to say, we are in love with our little girl!

I hope to revive this space a bit in the days to come with new updates.

What was your favorite part of 2018?

Family Updates

Beautiful blue butterfly in my pot of geraniums!

It's been a while since my last family update.

Andy is still doing terrific. Regular blood work and CT scans show nothing suspicious. He continues to feel well. As I mentioned last time, his oncologist recommended surgery to remove a nodule on his right lung. This spot has been there since the beginning and really hasn't shown any growth or shrinkage. The nodule is quite small and is located in a very hard-to-reach place. To remove it, the surgeon feels he would have to remove the lower lobe of Andy's right lung. This is a big surgery and has a lengthy recovery time. We are opting to watch it carefully and not do surgery at this time. If it starts to grow at any time, we will ask for surgery immediately but at this time, since it has sat there for over a year and doesn't appear to be live cancer cells, we are going to let it be. 

As far as an adoption update, we had our update home study on June 8th. We met our new adoption worker as our previous worker left the agency to do mission work internationally soon after we went on hold last year. Our new worker is super nice as everyone we've worked with at Bethany Christian Services  has been. We received an email on July 5th stating that everything was approved and we are back to active status. We are so excited and hope for a placement soon! 

What's going on in your family? How can I be praying for you?

Ten Years Ago Today

Ten years ago today, I was meeting my husband for the first time!

We first met online via this site and then met in person at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. You can read a bit more about that meeting here.

So tonight, we celebrated 10 years by dining at Cracker Barrel!

Family Pictures

While everyone in my family was together for Christmas, we got our family picture taken at Portrait Innovations. This was our first family portrait since my sister and I both got married in 2004.We were all pretty pleased with how they turned out!

Christmas Survey

1.) Have you started your Christmas shopping?

Yes and it is all finished except for a few stocking stuffers.

2.) Tell me about one of your special traditions.

Andy and I bake our Christmas goodies together every year. Even though this takes place in November, another special tradition is packing our Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes.


3.) When do you put up your Tree?
Usually somewhere in the first or second week of December.


4.) Are you a Black Friday shopper?

Not usually. I sometimes go with my sister or sister-in-law since they love it. I wouldn't go by myself though.
5.) Do you Travel at Christmas or Stay home?

Both. This year we're staying home and my whole family will be here visiting. Since neither of our families lives nearby, we often travel for the holidays.

6.) What is your funniest Christmas memory?

Not sure if this is the funniest, but most certainly one of the most memorable! The Christmas that I was eight years old, our family went out to eat at an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. This was a great treat to us since we rarely ate out in those days. I was not feeling well that day but seemed to be well enough to go eat. By the time we were done eating, I was not feeling well at  all. The restaurant was very crowded and as we walked out, I threw up right between tables where people were eating their Christmas dinners! Mom took me to the restroom to clean me up where I threw up again. A very nice lady followed us to help out; she was so kind and very concerned for me. It was quite embarrassing and I remember very clearly now that one lady said, "Oh gross!' as I was throwing up near her table! Well, no wonder!!! What I remember the most though is that I cried and cried on the way home and Mom and my sister tried to console me that it was ok. But what I was most upset about was that I was wearing a brand-new coat I had gotten for Christmas-my first brand-new coat ever- and I was afraid the vomit stains wouldn't come out! As soon as we got home, Mom washed my coat for me so I could see that it would look as good as new! And it did. Apparently I was quite proud of that new coat!!!

7.) What is your favorite Christmas Movie of All time?

All three Santa Clause movies, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

8.) Do you do your own Christmas Baking? What’s your favorite treat?

Yes. Our very favorites are Chocolate-Peanut Squares, Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels and Chocolate-Mint Cookies. Recipes and directions for all can be found here.

9.) Fake or Real Tree?

Real. We cut our own at a local tree farm.

10.) What day (as a Mom) does the actual panic set in to get it all done?

Don't know. Not a Mom. :-)
11.) Are you still wrapping presents on Christmas Eve?

Not usually. We're not often home on Christmas Eve!

12.) What is your favorite family fun time at Christmas?

Holiday baking, driving to see the Christmas lights, picking out gifts for all the nieces and nephews.

13.) What Christmas craft do you like the best?

I don't really do a lot of Christmas crafts, per se. I do enjoy making many of my own gifts most years. I didn't make many this year, thus the reason for being done with my Christmas list so early!!!

14.) Christmas music? Yes or No. And if yes, What is your favorite song?
Yes, yes, yes. We love Christmas music. I don't really have one favorite. Two favorite albums are Veggie Tales Singing Christmas Tree and Denver and The Mile High Orchestra's Timeless Christmas. I do love Michael W. Smith's song Welcome To Our World and also Jingle Bell Rock  for some odd reason- maybe because Cherished Dog's name is Rock and it just cracks me up!

15.) When do you plan to finish all your shopping?

Either this weekend or early next week.

Any blogger is welcome to participate in this meme, even if you haven’t been tagged yet. Just simply copy and paste the questions into your blog, and then answer them. Then tag 5 or more of your favorite blogs, and leave them a comment telling them they’ve been tagged.

When you post your blog, please spread some Christmas cheer, and leave a link back to Heather's Top Ten Christmas Blog, and the blog that you were tagged by (I wasn't tagged, but I found this at In This Season.)

Any bloggers who read this are tagged to do this survey if they'd like!

My First 5K !!!

 Welcome to the Reindeer Romp! Isn't that a fun name for a run?!?

I'm excited to announce that I ran my first 5K this past weekend! It was so much fun and I met my personal goal of running the entire thing.

Before the run!

I wasn't concerned with my time but I surprised myself by running the entire 5K in a few minutes less time than I have done before in my regular routine! According to my time which started as I crossed the start line, I finished in 37:47.  According to their time which started with the gunshot, my time was 38:29. I was almost at the back of the pack to start so it took a bit for me to cross the start line. I finished about  middle of the pack.

After the run!

To run a 5K was one of my personal goals for 2009 and I am so happy to have accomplished this. For a while it didn't look like I would be able to do it, but I did! It has not been easy at all but over time I have built up some stamina and more endurance. It's exciting to look back at when I first started and to see how far I've come! God is so good!

I'm definitely planning to continue running. Don't think a marathon is part of my future at this point, but you never know!

We'd like to thank BB&T and Piedmont Medical Center for making it possible for this reindeer to romp!!!

Update: My Grandma

Thanks to everyone who prayed for my Grandma. Her blood pressure finally came down last night and she was able to come home from the hospital today!

Now you can pray for Andy's foot. He tripped over his foot this evening and in doing so, bent his foot up all weird and heard  loud "popping" sounds. Almost immediately a goose egg appeared on the top/side of his foot. X-rays  show no broken bones, thankfully, at least not yet. He does need to keep it iced and stay off of it for a bit to allow it to heal.

I'm so thankful for our friends who are chiropractors and were able to do x-rays in exchange for some coupon lessons!

Pray For My Grandma

Please pray for my Grandma. She was taken to the hospital yesterday and is in ICU. Her blood pressure is very high and they're running tests to see what is going on.

She's 88 years old and is a believer and is ready to go Home to be with Jesus.

But still, we're concerned for her health.

Thank you!

Guest Post:: Veteran's Day Tribute

 **Thanks to my husband for writing this Veteran's day tribute to share with you while I slave away in the kitchen today! This post is linked to  Veteran's Day Tribute at The Happy Housewife, where you can read many tributes and stories or link up your own tribute. 
*********************************************************

Hello friends. I'm Andy, Mary Ann's husband and I'll be your guest poster today. I'd like to offer a Veteran's Day tribute from a personal perspective.

My father is a Vietnam Veteran. He is not a war criminal, he is a proud American. My grandfathers were both World War II Veterans, and proud Americans. One of them is still here to talk about it. I am disabled from birth. Because of that I was ineligible to serve in our armed forces. I cannot say that I had any great interest in serving when I was 18 years old, but now 35, I can see where military service would have provided a great benefit to me personally.

Over the years I have learned to deeply respect and appreciate those who make the choice or are chosen to serve. I do feel some sense of regret knowing that I will never be able to do the same. I am however, thankful that I now work with a company whose sole purpose is to generate funds for the families of wounded and fallen servicemen. I see it as a way to serve those who have served so bravely.

If you know a Veteran or if someone in your family is a Veteran, please do two things today:

1. Thank them for me.
2. Thank them for yourself.

So here is my tribute.

I Am Not Like You 

I am not like you.

I have never served my country,
Neither voluntarily nor at its request.

My father and grandfathers did, but I am unable.

I have never traveled across the world to face my enemy

So my enemy would not,

And could not travel across the world to face me.

I have traveled across the world because I am free to do so.

I have never taken up arms to defend my brothers.

My defenders have done so for me.

I have never left my family behind,
To leave something behind for my family.

Though because of what so many have left behind I am here today.

I have never run to a fight when I should be running away.

And though I am unable to run at all, I am alive and free to walk.

I have never stood beside my fallen brothers.

Though I do stand beside you in my heart.

I have never given my life for my country and my friends.

Though I am intimately acquainted with a Savior who died and called me friend.

I am not like you, but in one small way I am.

I am a proud, free American.

Because you serve with sacrifice, dignity and honor

Free I will remain. 

Thank you all for your service.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig!

We're back from our weekend jaunt to Georgia! We had a great time.

Andy enjoyed his song-writing seminar which was hosted by Babbie Mason and then we had a nice visit at his parents for several days.

We drove home through pouring rain yesterday, which made the drive interesting, especially through Atlanta! About an hour from home, we were stopped on I-85 for an hour because of an accident. We drove 3 whole miles in one hour.  Such fun. Yes.

Finally we made it home around 5pm. We hurried and unpacked the car, filled up with gas and rushed to the kennel to pick up Cherished Dog before they closed at 5:30.  Thankfully, we arrived at 5:27, right before they closed. Honestly, we weren't sure we would make it there on time because of the delay! But we did.

We're glad to be home. I've been busy catching up on laundry and housework, preparing for a Dove Chocolate home party I'm hosting tomorrow. There are apples waiting to be made into applesauce and my goal is to get my Etsy shop up and running this weekend.

All that to say, I may be scarce here in the next few days!

The Headless Dog

Oh where, oh where, has my little big dog gone? 

Oh where, oh where, could be be?

With his head chopped off and his legs so long,

Oh where, oh where is he?

Please excuse the unmade bed. It was the maid's day off.

Five Years Of Wedded Bliss (Or Something Like That)

Happy Anniversary, Sweetie!

I promise I will love you all the seasons of my life and be thankful for the beauty of sharing them with you.

~From a card Andy gave me before we were married. 

Changing Seasons

The seasons, they are changing. And not just from summer to fall, either. We are going through changes here at our house and in our lives.

(I just about wrote I am going through a change, but thought that might be taken as if I'm going through The Change. Thankfully, I am not about to enter That Season quite yet!)

Now that I'm not taking care of kids anymore, here's what I'll be focusing on for this next season:

--Better daily planning and organization for my home.

--Continue working on increasing a healthy diet.

--Exercise.

--More time with God. Just enjoying time with Him.

--More consistent cleaning. This has really gone by the wayside lately!

--More intentional with hospitality.

--Yard work and home improvement projects. I have a lot of painting I need to do!

--Bring in a little income by doing more coupon workshops(I did my first this summer.) and selling my handmade items at local events and in my own Etsy shop(coming soon!).

--Blogging. I should have a bit more time to blog consistently which I am happy about!

--Laying around the mansion!:-)

My Birthday

Even though my birthday was almost a month ago, I thought I'd let you have a peek into the celebration! I've had this post and the pictures hanging around so I wanted to go ahead and get this up.

We like to keep things pretty simple around here and that includes birthdays! We give small gifts to each other and budget for a nice meal out. We do make a big deal about making the birthday person feel special and celebrated, though!

Over the past few years, we've signed up for various birthday freebies from local restaurants. This makes our birthday week really fun as we use the various FREE coupons that are emailed to us.

My husband took me out for a nice dinner to Longhorn Steakhouse a couple of days before my birthday. (I had a coupon that was expiring!) The day of my birthday, he gave me the gifts he had picked out. In addition to this gift, he also gave me a sweet flower necklace that I love and have been wearing almost daily. (You can see the necklace in the picture below.)

One of the boys I babysit showed up with this bouquet of flowers. How sweet!

His mom also surprised me with a bag filled with lunch for us!

She had made ham and asparagus lasagna, salad with fresh strawberries and nuts and a raspberry vinaigrette dressing, bread, and delicious brownie cupcakes for dessert! I was blown away by her thoughtfulness.

For supper, we went to McAlister's deli and used my $5 coupon they had sent me. In years past, we would share a big nacho plate that was priced at a little over $5. This year, however,I really wanted a chicken and basil panini so I got that with my coupon.

After supper, we went to Cold Stone Creamery and used my birthday coupon for a FREE "Like It"(their small size) cup of ice cream. I chose dark chocolate ice cream with Reese's peanut butter cups mixed in which we shared. It was beyond delicious!

What a picture! Not sure if I look scared or scary! haha

In addition, I had many birthday emails and phone calls. My favorites were my nephew calling to sing "Happy Birthday" and also birthday wishes via phone by the other little one that I babysit who was not at my house that day. A friend called and wanted to take me out for supper the next day, too!

Needless to say, I felt so loved and my birthday was very special! Birthdays like these make heading into my mid-thirties not seem quite so bad!:-)

Free Food- Not For Chikins!

What do we do for fun on a Friday night?

Dress up like cows and get a free meal!

Today was Chick-fil-a's Cow Appreciation Day and they were handing out free food to people dressed like cows. For wearing a cow accessory, you got a free entree and if you were dressed head to toe like a cow, a free meal.

We figured that if we were going to do it, we might as well do it right and get the whole meal! And we love Chick-Fil-A!



Our costumes were created using only stuff we had on hand:
--black fabric for the spots, ears and my tail
--Chick-Fil-A tie for Andy's tail
--bandana
--cardstock, markers and some recycled twine for my sign
--sewing thread, needle and tape
--our regular clothes-white shirts and khakis(closest thing we had to white pants!)

**No clothes were harmed in the making of these costumes!:-)

Thank you, Chick-Fil-A for a fun and free date night!

For more photos of Cow Appreciation Day participants, moo-ve on over to Money Saving Mom!

Baby Leila

Leila and Mommy

We got to meet our new little niece, Leila Grace, last Sunday soon after they got home from the hospital. She was born June 4th, so she's now 1 week old. What a blessing she is!

My camera batteries died after only a few pictures. I was so bummed! Oh well.. we'll get more pictures later! Here's the best of the few that I took.

Leila and Daddy


Leila with Mommy and her big brother Knox. I think we interrupted mealtime!


We had Knox with us for several days while his mommy was in the hospital. He was so excited to see his new sister. We saw the pictures on the hospital website, but I don't think it was real to him yet. When we got to their house on Sunday, he walked in and saw the baby. He had a huge smile on his face and his eyes welled up with tears. He said, "Is that my baby sister from your tummy, Mommy?" It was so sweet!

Of course, I'm a bit biased but I think she's precious! She actually looks a lot like my mom(her grandma).

We praise God for her safe delivery and for a healthy baby!

Newborn babies are definitely a finer thing in life!

Baby

by Helen Steiner Rice

A wee bit of heaven
drifted down from above-
A handful of happiness,
a heart full of love.

The mystery of life,
so sacred and sweet.
The giver of joy
so deep and complete.

Precious and priceless,
so lovable, too-
The world's sweetest miracle,
Baby, is you.



**Thanks to Amy for hosting Finer Things Friday!

A Busy Week!

Whew! This week has turned out to be more hectic than I had planned.

I made a to-do list for Monday and finished most of it by Wednesday. That is just the kind of week it's been!

My sister called Wednesday to inform us that she was being scheduled for a c-section the next morning since her amniotic fluids were quite low. We had planned to have my almost 4 year-old nephew come to visit for a few days when she had her baby, so we met them Wednesday night and brought Knox home with us. He was so excited to come to our house again!

Thursday was a bit hectic since I had my regular childcare boys as well as having Knox here. The boys enjoyed playing together most of the time. Life was interesting with a 3 year old and two 2 year olds.

Knox's baby sister and our new niece, Leila Grace (pronounced Lee-la)was born yesterday morning around 11:15 am. Mama and baby are both doing well and will be going home sometime this weekend. Once they are home, we'll be taking Knox back home, too. We can't wait to meet little Leila! Knox is excited about his new sister, too. He calls her "Weewa". It is so cute!

This morning we went out to run some errands and get some groceries. Knox had been complaining of a sore tummy off and on since yesterday but seemed to be playing and eating fine. Leaving Super Target, he threw up his breakfast in the car. We went back into Target to get some baby wipes, Clorox wipes, Febreze and some 7-up. We cleaned up the car and by that time he was feeling better. We continued on our errands and so far seems to still be fine even after devouring a huge slice of pizza at the Sam's Club cafe! (We had told him we would eat lunch at Sam's Club and he continued to remind us while we were shopping!) Hopefully, he will continue to feel ok and not be any sicker!

I have several posts half-way done and a list of more posts to write! Thanks for your patience!

I hope everyone has a blessed weekend!

Baby Shower

I was privileged to attend a baby shower for my sister last Saturday. She's due to have a little girl in early June and we are all most excited!


Kathryn and Robin.

This was a double baby shower for Kathryn and her friend Robin from church. Their babies are due right about the same time!

I really enjoyed being at this shower and experiencing the love and support these ladies are receiving from their church family! Not only did they receive many wonderful gifts for their little ones, but they had a special time of prayer before the party was over, asking God to bless these ladies and their new babies.

Kathryn's gifts.

Isn't this a pretty cake? It was delicious, too.


My sister and I!

Knox

My nephew Knox was so excited to be able to come home with us for overnight when we visited them last weekend.

This picture was taken Saturday morning when we said it was time to pack the car. He ran to get his pillow, "Spot", and both of his special blankets!

Contrary to his facial expression, he was quite excited to go! Isn't he cute?!

We had a great time together and are looking forward to his next visit!