Slowly sewing along...

Little Bailey is now one month old! My how time flies! I somehow thought that staying home would make time go by a little more slowly. But, nope, time is passing quickly and my babies (all THREE of them) are getting bigger every day. They amaze me and I am so very lucky to be their mommy!
Anyway... they all still nap, thank goodness, and Bailey has been sleeping during their nap time as well (most days). So, I have actually been able to get some things sewn! Some days I nap, but most days I try to get in a little sewing or cleaning. Speaking of cleaning, the amount of dishes and laundry I do on a daily basis is enough to make me seriously consider becoming a family of nudists and eating only foods that require no dishes or utensils (think turkey legs). Seriously.

Here's what I've accomplished in the past few weeks!

 I suppose this first one isn't really an "accomplishment' since it is FAR from complete! But, I am in the process of making a Book of Colors. The pages are felt and I will add ribbons and fabric scraps to each page. I used my embroidery machine to put the names of each color on the page. I think this will be super cute when I finish it, if that day ever comes!

I added a velcro strap to the infant tub that I was constantly moving from the big tub to the floor of the bathroom, back to the tub, etc.

I've also been lucky enough to do some more pattern testing. This first dress is a Snazziedrawers pattern. If you are a beginner seamstress, this is a good dress to start with. You can find the Adeline dress pattern here. Quick and easy, not to mention cute! I also got her Petti Romper pattern and I can't wait to make one!

I made a matching hair flower clip, of course. I love these little things and they are SO easy to make!

I added this to a little shirt for Bailey. My OBGYN's name is Frederick and with each of my three children, he always says the same few things. One of my good friends also goes to him and he's said the same things to her. One of these things is that each time he delivers a baby he says that it should be named Frederick, if it's a boy, and Fredericka, if it's a girl. So.. I made this little shirt for Bailey to wear when I go for my 6 week post-op appt! :) I crack myself up.

I made this nap mat for a customer. This is definitely one of my favorite fabrics! 

Made this for a customer as well.

Love the zebra satin!

This is for Bailey.

I added Brooke and Ben's names to the Lowe's Build and Grow aprons and sewed Brooke's patches on from the two projects she's completed.

I also tested this pattern, The Emma skirt, for Brynnberlee Designs. I had this Hello Kitty Halloween fabric leftover from some pants I made for Brooke last year. I made a matching shirt (just appliqued a square of fabric to it) and hair flower.

I love the asymmetrical ruffles! 

I just finished up this dress for Brynnberlee Designs as well. It is called the Cara dress and she hasn't yet released the pattern. I made a little boo boo on the blue sash, so I covered it up with a band of lace. I like the way the lace looks! :)

It's super cute with the ruffle at the top of the dress!

I've also made a couple burp cloths and have to work on a couple of blankets. I'm eager to really get back into a sewing routine, but some days I just don't have the energy....YET! I can't wait until I get to sleep for more than 3 1/2 hours in a row! :) 

Meal Plan: 9/26 - 10/2

Last week's meal plan went really well! I didn't stick to it 100%, but it was nice to have an idea of what we were going to be having! One night we had leftovers and my parents took us out this weekend for our birthday's. A change I will implement this week is actually printing out the Meal Plan and putting it on the fridge. I added breakfast and lunch for this week and we will see how that goes! I definitely need to be better about giving the kids a more complete and filling breakfast! :) We shall see if my plan is a little overzealous, but hopefully it isn't!

I am really trying to plan dinners that are quick and easy. With a newborn that cluster feeds ALL evening, I find myself sitting in the living room and nursing her through most dinners. Tonight, in fact, Corey said, "Hey, you actually got to eat your dinner with us!". I plan on doing a lot of crock pot cooking, using my awesome Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker, and other things that don't require a lot of prep work.

Here is the plan for this week! I've got a ton of other recipes lined up for the coming weeks that I'm excited about!

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Brown sugar cinnamon muffins	Mini pizzas	Loaded nachos
Tuesday My BIRTHDAY! :)	Banana & blueberry smoothie Cereal	Leftover chicken Baked beans Watermelon	Chicken quarters (baked or grilled) Salad, fruit, baked beans Some yummy dessert
Wednesday	Dairy & Egg free breakfast bars	Sandwiches Applesauce	Tortilla crusted Tilapia Steamed broccoli
Thursday	Banana pops rolled in granola	Hot dogs Baked beans chips	Vegetable beef soup Grilled cheese
Friday	Oatmeal  bites	PB&J roll ups fruit	Crock Pot sloppy joes
Saturday	Blueberry pancakes Turkey sausage	Sandwiches Chips	Crock Pot Salsa chicken soup Chipotle rice
Sunday	Crock pot steel cut oats	Tuna salad	Cookout! Meat, veggies, etc

Meal Plan: 9/19 - 9/25

This week's meal plan is going to be an easy one to start with. I'm not trying new recipes or anything fancy schmancy. I will probably end up baking something from Pinterest or one of my favorite food blogs, but for dinners I'm sticking to things we have. Before I go crazy with trying to plan out some new meals and try new things, I need to use up what we have! Also, the hubs is going to be out of town for three days this week so I need to keep it simple! :)
Here it is (and I promise it will get better with time!) :)

Mon 9/19 Chicken Alfredo skillet meal, Artisan bread
Tue 9/20 Meatloaf, baked beans, sweet potato fries
Wed 9/21 Spaghetti & meatballs, Rhodes rolls
Thurs 9/22 Vegetable beef soup, grilled cheese
Fri 9/23 Crock pot taco seasoned chicken tacos, corn, rice
Sat 9/24 Texas de Brazil for birthday dinner
Sun 9/25 BBQ chicken quarters on the grill, mixed veggies

Meal Planning!

I've missed blogging SO much!! But, let's be honest.. with three kids under 3 1/2, one of whom is 3 weeks old today, I don't have a lot of free time and when I do I'm either cleaning up or trying to sleep! However, I definitely have a lot of posts planned and will get to them slowly but surely!

I am super duper excited to start something new... MEAL PLANNING!! I stumbled upon the Keeper of the Home blog and was inspired to join her Plan It- Don't Panic 6 week meal planning challenge and joined the FB group as well! There's nearly 600 members in the group so far! Every Monday Stephanie is going to post her meal plan on her blog and anyone is welcome to link up and post theirs. People have already started posting their plans on the FB page and it is nice to get ideas from others! I love the accountability piece of this. I committed to it and I've wanted to meal plan for a long time (I did it for two weeks a while back then was hugely preggers and thus lazy and slacked off..) so this is perfect! I'm competitive to a fault so I'm looking at this as sort of a competition. I will win if I stick to it for the 6 weeks! Here's hoping that by then it will be a habit and will continue! I suppose the prize is less stress and a plethora of meal ideas, recipes, and such. I'm also thinking a bonus to this deal will be some new blogging friends!

While the idea of planning meals is totally appealing to me, the actual "how to plan it" part is a little daunting. I'm a recipe Pinterwhore. My "FOOD" category on Pinterest is obnoxiously full of recipes. I have made many of them, but there's probably no way I could ever try them all! I'm drawn to the pretty pictures like a mosquito is drawn to a bug zapper! Someone suggested a website called Say Mmm and I love it! I haven't had a ton of time yet to figure it all out, but I've added some recipes and links to recipes. It is going to be an awesome place to keep track of what we will be eating (on the calendar) as well as my grocery list! Love it!  It has some great features. I will be able to share my calendar, meals, and recipes with others. It even has a way to post it onto my blog. Looking forward to fiddling with it and hoping it can become a tool that I can really utilize. Oh and you are able to access it from your Iphone too!

** Here is a post with LOTS of different ideas for planning and recipe resources! Awesome! **

The challenge doesn't start until the 26th, but I think I will start this Monday, the 19th. Since I like to take pictures of my food, I'm thinking I will take pics of the food I make and update my post with them as well as review new ones I try. We will see.

As I was cleaning up the dishes from dinner tonight though, a thought crossed my mind. If I'm doing all of this planning, it means I will be doing all of the cooking! Methinks I need to strike a deal with the hubs. I cook, he cleans.  Sounds good to me!! Either that or I need to schedule some Triple D days (Dad Does Dinner)! :)

Another goal I have (assuming I get the hang of the dinner planning), is to be better about planning healthy breakfasts and doing a better job of having well rounded meals. It seems like too often we just have the main dish and not really side dishes, salad, fruit, etc. My 18month old son has a lot of allergies (milk, eggs, sesame, tree nuts, oranges....) so sometimes I alter recipes so that he can eat them! I will post if the recipes are egg/dairy free just in case you also are looking for egg and dairy free choices!

Here's what we have for this week so far:
Monday: Pillsbury Crescent Dogs
Tuesday: Smoked Sausage (from Indiana- we pack it with us across the country after every 4th of July Family Reunion!- yes, it is that good!), Beans, and brown rice
Wednesday: Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings (changes I made: I used one can cream of chicken and one can cream of mushroom, instead of adding water I added one can of low sodium chicken broth (14oz), and I only used one can of biscuts- it was plenty). This was DELICIOUS and is definitely a keeper!
Thursday: Corey's birthday!! Homemade pizza (or calzone?...), salad, and lemon bars
Friday: ??
Saturday: ??
Sunday: cookout at friend's house

Other random stuff I have made this week:
Baked Oatmeal (I omitted the cranberries and added 2 mashed bananas and chocolate chips. I also cooked it in my Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker).
Rice Crispy Treats (made with Earth's Best faux butter so Ben could eat them)
And although I made these last week, you NEED this recipe and you NEED to make these. You will thank me.. or not since it's hard not to eat one after another after another. Somehow the fact that they have fruit in them and oatmeal, I can convince myself that they are "healthy". Go ahead and make Banana Cookies! Funny story about these- I didn't have any baking soda, so I asked my friend (and neighbor) if I could borrow some. I promised him that I would give him some cookies in return. He and his wife were busy all weekend and well.. when I saw him early this week and he asked about the cookies.. there were none left! oops!

So.. who is with me?! Take the challenge!