Our Fortune Cookie

My mom bought these cutest little fortune cookie shoes for me last year for Chinese New Year. They were more for Kara, but she wasn't born yet, so I got the gifts! I decided that I wanted to get a cute little Chinese dress for Kara and have her wear her fortune cookie shoes for this year's Chinese New Year. Well, the hunt for the Chinese dress didn't go as planned, of course. I decided that I would make one, but it didn't happen for the new year. No worries.

I know the dress is a little more Japanese in style, but that's okay too. I love the dress. It was super easy to make too. I used this Sweet Wrap Reversible Dress pattern by Heidi and Finn. I really love their patterns. And I love that we get two dresses out of one! I think she'll be wearing it next year too. I made the 12-18 month size. She's swimming in it. Next year she'll either still be wearing it as a dress or maybe a tunic with leggings.

She's so cute sometimes. We can't get over it!

Peekaboo! She's finally starting to enjoy this game. It's fun for the boys to play with her.

The cute little shoes.

The Monster Mash

...or maybe it was Monster Jam?!

Jason and his dad took the boys to Monster Jam again this year. Last year's event started Kent on his obsession with monster trucks. This year it rekindled the romance for him. I think the kids really loved going this time now that they knew what to expect. Jason was a little more excited too. He even wanted to make t-shirts for everyone. Everyone picked out their favorite monster truck picture and we printed it on ink jet paper and ironed it on to the shirts. Super easy - just had to follow the directions on the package.

Jason was so excited to see Max-D (upper left photo). I guess he came out and on the first run he flipped and didn't run again for the rest of the night. We joke about that a lot. Kent now is obsessed with El Toro Loco. He bought an El Toro Loco pillow for his souvenir. Clark still loves Grave Digger which is perfect since he wins all the time. His souvenir was a Grave Digger sword that I thought would be broken by now, but it's still slashing! They were all excited to see Iron Man. Clark loved the Zombie truck with its rotting flesh hanging off everywhere. Kent hated the Megasaurus that came out and ate cars. At least he didn't fall asleep this year!

They are already making plans for next year's big event. Hopefully they will be able to get pit passes next year and get close to the trucks. They will really love that. They tried this year, but it didn't work out. Next year it will!!

The Fox Says, "Nice Tie!"

Kent loves the fox! And he loves his new fox tie too! I wanted to make him a fun tie for moving up to Sunbeams at church. I made Clark a snake tie, but I wanted something different for Kent. The fox tie was born!

Would you like to make a fox tie of your own?

I started with this tie pattern at The Purl Bee. I made the tie according to the pattern all the way up to the SEW TIE section at the end. Then I added my embellishments. I kind of had to play with the lining a little to make sure I didn't sew it down, but it wasn't that difficult. I felt I had a better idea of the finished tie with the lining already sewn in. You could add your embellishments at the beginning if you wanted.

1. Start by adding two buttons for eyes.

2. Create your ears by making triangles. I used the main fabric for one side and a minky for the fur inside the ear. Clip the corner and trim the edges as shown below. **Check for the direction of your fur when you cut your triangle. Also, it may be easier to use the shape in step 3 to create your ears. Live and learn!!

3. I found this shape made more sense for how I was going to attach the ears. I didn't want to recut the ears, so I just tucked in the corners of the triangles and topstitched along the bottom so they wouldn't pop out...very technical. You probably wouldn't  need to sew the bottom together if you made this shape from the beginning.

4. To give the ears a little shape, I made a fold in the center and tacked it down. This made the ears curve a little bit.

5. Place the ears on the tie. Read through step 6 so you can get a better idea of how it will look when finished. Stitch the ears fur side down. Try to keep your stitches on the ear and not over the edges. Don't you love the beauty of handmade where one ear is larger than the other!!

6. Flip the ears up and topstitch again above where the raw edges end on your ear. This will hide the raw edges for a nice finished look. Keep your stitches on the ear and not over the edges.

7. Your ears should look like this. I roughed up the fur along the topstitching so that it was less noticeable.

8. Using some embroidery floss or Pearl cotton thread, add a nose. I used a satin stitch for the nose.

9. With the same thread, add some whiskers. I used only 2 pieces of thread on each side. You can kind of pull the whiskers through. I wanted to reduce bulk with knots and things on the inside of the tie.

10. Finish up the tie according to the original tutorial!!

He loved his tie! He walked around showing everyone his fox. I just can't get enough! Such a cute Sunbeam!

Supergirl

Here's the cute little outfit that I made for Kara for when she came home from the hospital. I think it fits her pretty well at 8 weeks old...sheesh!

When I was telling Clark that I was going to take Supergirl pictures of Kara he decided that he wanted to make a prop for the photos. He even told me he wanted to have her put her hand up like she was flying. I think she cooperated pretty well!

I'm thinking that if there is one word that our family should be able to spell, it would be "super." I guess we'll be working on that!!

And a picture with her Supergirl bear! I love how they are basically the same size. I know I should have taken a picture with the bear when she was first born, but I didn't for some reason. This one will have to do!

Here's the whole ensemble that I made for her. The shoes fit her when she was first born but they no longer do. I even made the 0-3 month size and they are just too small. You can find the pattern here: they are the Ballerina Baby Shoes. I used this tutorial for the flower on her headband (which is also too small now). I used grosgrain ribbon instead of fabric. The patch was from PowerPatches on Etsy. She did a custom order for me and we LOVED the result! You can get the Superman logo in any colors you want!

Kara's First White Dress

Little Kara was blessed at church today. It is such a beautiful day when a baby is blessed. I always feel the weight of my responsibility as a mother to love and nurture one of Heavenly Father's children. I think how lucky I am to get to call these little ones mine for all eternity. I think of all of the amazing things I want for my each of them and all of the great experiences we will have together. And I love to think about the little grandchildren they will give me one day!!!

This little girl just melts our hearts.

I was really excited to be able to make her blessing dress. I found a dress at Nordstrom that I really loved and wanted to copy for the blessing dress with a few tweaks. Then came the pattern hunt. I ended up buying a vintage pattern from Canada. Then my mom and I went out to Vogue fabrics in Evanston to buy some fabric. They have such an amazing selection there. And in addition to the selection, they have amazing help there too! The ladies in the bridal section were so knowledgeable and helped in so many ways.

But even after all of that, it still took making a muslin and making some alterations before the dress was complete. I do love how it turned out though even if it did make Kara a slippery little eel!

The full fam - the Wilde five!

Dad and his little girl

I always love when things look so out of place like this...a beautiful dress and a screaming baby in a car seat. She was pretty grumpy all day. That is up until about an hour ago when she finally went. You know what I mean.

Kara, it's such a blessing to have you in our family. We love you so much - grumpy or not!

Happy Easter!

What a wonderful day! Easter really ranks up there with one of the best holidays ever. I've loved teaching and learning about the Easter story with the boys this year. We are so grateful that our Savior suffered and died for us. We are also grateful that He was resurrected and that He lives. We know that we can live again too and be a family forever because of Christ's sacrifice. I'm glad I'll be spending eternity with these guys.

On a more secular note...this year I made matching bow ties (at their request) and suspenders for the boys. They looked so cute! Jason wouldn't wear a bow tie, so I made him a regular tie to match the boys. Then I had to make myself a nice little flower out of the same material so we could all coordinate. What dorks, I know! Something about Easter screams coordinating spring outfits.

Tutorials I used...just in case you're interested...

Bow Tie: http://prudentbaby.com/2010/04/baby-kid/how-to-make-a-bow-tie-2/

Suspenders: http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/05/little-boy-suspenders.html (next time I'll try to make them a little more adjustable)

Regular Tie: http://www.purlbee.com/the-purl-bee/2009/5/21/mollys-sketchbook-fathers-day-tie.html (modified so that it was thick enough at the bottom)

Flower: http://createanddelegate.blogspot.com/2010/04/tutorial-shabby-fabric-roses.html

Happy Easter from two Wilde and crazy kids (and their parents!)

Jason's SUPER Birthday

Jason turned 32 this week! Another year closer to retirement is what we always say! His main gift is his gun, but I thought I'd pick up a few things just for fun. Our favorite gift was this pair of socks. Caped Superman socks. Love.

I don't know if he liked them. He says that they are only Sunday socks. When he opened them Clark instantly said, "Those are for girls." If they aren't for girls, they are at least for guys with really skinny calves.

How tired does he look? He was up all night working again. We were glad we were able to celebrate with him though. Dinner at Famous Dave's and then loaded ice cream sundaes at home. Yum!

Happy Birthday Jason! We love you!

The Great Godzilla Gala

When Clark told me that he wanted a Godzilla and Gorilla (King Kong) party, I was a little scared. I secretly hoped that he would change his mind before I had to pull this off. But he didn't, and I had a great time putting things together for it. Here's Clark's Great Godzilla Gala!!

Jason decided that he wanted to make the cake this year. We tried to do frozen buttercream transfers, but we didn't use buttercream...oops. I think it would have turned out better if we had. The frosting we used was too soft and didn't set right. Anyway, I think the cake looked fabulous!!! Way to go Jason! I had fun designing a little logo for the party...the Godzilla holding the number 4. We used it on the favor bags, Clark's birthday shirt, and the cupcake decorations (not pictured).

One of my favorite things that we did was create a little scene for pictures where the kids could be Godzilla and wreak havoc on Chicago. Here you can kind of see the set up of the scene. I used a full 3'x4' picture for the background. Then Jason cut out the front buildings with a jigsaw and we mounted that 2' in front of the full picture. The kids (and some adventurous adults) would put themselves in the middle and act like Godzilla. Such fun!!

Godzilla vs. King Kong

Here's the full cast of characters!

Jason taught the kids how to make marshmallow gun and then we had them shoot them at a Godzilla target. That lasted for about 5 minutes and then they just shot the marshmallows at each other. Then Uncle Dave got in on the fun and really got them going. Poor kids.

One of Clark's requirements for the party was a pinata. We were originally going to make a pinata, but instead we opted for a store bought one. Made our lives much easier! And this is a good enough representation of Godzilla. Let's say he's in his party clothes. It was fun that Clark took the winning swing!

Clark was one REALLY happy kid to be four years old!

And I'm pretty sure he had a great time at his Great Godzilla Gala!!

We've Arrived at the Moustache Party

So I know we're a little late to the moustache craze, but we're here nonetheless. Actually, maybe I was a bit early. Back in my good old BYU days, I was a member of the moustache club. Insert your evil jokes here about a woman's facial hair. We had t-shirts and everything. It was the honor code friendly facial hair. Oh gross. A moustache is an awful thing.

We recently went to Red Robin where Clark wanted to get a prize out of the machines. He's just discovered these little treasures. The one he picked today was...you guess it...a moustache.

I just hope the craze doesn't last too long...