Hey! I'm Nichole...Sew At Home Mom to Austin and Grace. I dabble in selling children's clothing at Full of Grace Boutique over on Etsy and Facebook.

I've been searching....and searching...and yes....SEARCHING for a combination knit/woven dress pattern for a long time. Okay, maybe not THAT long, but I have been looking. And more importantly, not finding anything!!

Sooo...can you imagine my delight when I saw the most adorable knit bodice/woven skirt pattern, recently released by Ali's Cottage?! It was exactly what I had been looking for, and I needed it ASAP!

I had the pattern in my hands less than 12 hours before I had to dig in! And let me tell you...it is what I've been waiting for.  And more!! This pattern is really quite awesome.

Best of all, I cranked it out this morning in a couple of hours. My hours may be different than yours. I live in Toddler Time. So I had many "potty training" breaks. If you have potty trained, and can recall for me a second...that is a lot of breaks!

So, lets take a look, shall we??

Can you take the cuteness? Me either.

Now, who can make this dress? Anyone I say! I would say an adventurous beginner could tackle this no problem. You really couldn't get any better directions with the pattern.

My FAVORITE part about the pattern is that for those who don't need 250 steps to complete the pattern, you can breeze right a long!

Why, well because all the extra, helpful information is located at the back of the pattern. You will find information on everything from picking knits, to choosing your needle.

My daughter is completely in love with this dress! She just looks so comfy in it too, which is why I've been dying to find a great knit/woven pattern!

Great thing about knits...is upcycling. I used an old shirt for the knit on this dress. Including the ribbed neckline. I did have to adjust the size of the ribbed pieces, because it didn't quite have the stretch that the pattern required. BUT, the pattern does include some great helpful tips to help with this!!

So, for those of you out there that shy away from knits....DON'T!! You can do it, don't be scared!

So overall, I give this pattern two huge thumbs up!!

Pros:
          Great pictures
          Easy to understand directions
          Tons of helpful information included in pattern
          Quick Sew

Cons: (although I wouldn't necessarily call these cons)
          Some knowledge of knits would be helpful
          Adding ribbing can be tricky for 1st timers

I love this pattern, and plan on making it a staple in my daughters wardrobe!

Chubby Cheeks

"Hi, my name is Chubby. My mommy's name is Chubby..my daddy's name is Chubby...even my dog is chubby." 

Grace when she had her big ole chubby cheeks. <3 Why can babies pull of cute chubby cheeks?

I do the "chubby cheeks" with Grace all the time. She loves it. Gets a good crack out of it. As a kid, my sister did the best ever "chubby cheeks". Her "smile" was priceless. :)

Okay, anyway my point is not to reminisce on the silly stuff my sister did as a kid. My whole point is that I'm feeling like I can do the "chubby cheeks" game with Grace...and I don't need any hands. :/ My face is getting chubby enough that I do not need to press my cheeks! UGH!!

So...starting tomorrow, for my sake, but also for my entire families sake...I'm going to start eating and cooking better. I HAVE to. I don't loose weight like I used to, which is just some evil trickery of getting old I guess. So, now I'm really gonna have to dig my heals in it looks like. I'm also not going to be able to make pans full of delicious Million Calorie Bars. :( Okay, every once in a while MAYBE, but not on a regular basis.

I feel kind of sad because I've got this lovely, new, big kitchen that allows me the room to bake. Yeah, I know I can still bake, but I don't get that same satisfaction baking little bran muffins as I do millionaire bars. I've got to change my outlook on food. I've got to make food healthy and delicious. Not just healthy. That is what I've done in the past. Whenever I "diet" I don't put any kind of thought or planning into it. I just go to the old trusty lean cuisines or my basic diet staples. This time...I've got to enjoy it. And I think I will.

I just started e-mealz and I'm pretty hopeful that it will help me get organized and healthy. So anyway, starting tomorrow, ;) I'm going start this new food journey. I'm going to enjoy cooking healthy for my family. It's my DUTY.

Also, maybe I will dust off the treadmill and give that a try. Praying my knees don't kill me and stop me dead in my tracks. :( What I need to do is get on the ball and contact our little rec center here in town. They have a indoor swimming pool, which would be really easy on the knees and I love swimming. Great exercise. Okay...I will do that soon.

Tomorrow...healthy eating and treadmill.

Today..finish brownies off. I love the "day before diet starts"...Finishing off the bad foods. ;)

A Fresh Start

While you might think since it's January 1st, that the title of this entry is referring to some kind of resolution. Nope. I don't do resolutions. Only because I don't follow through with them. ;)  I'm certainly not going to make known to the world what I'm resolving to do or not do this year, only to forget about it 3 days later. But, the new year does bring that "fresh start" feeling. The feeling that you can somehow start over, or do better. It does for me anyway. 


It feels pretty similar to baking bread. I'm quickly falling in love with baking bread. <3 You get the "fresh start" feeling, every time you go to bake a loaf. I'm not new to baking, I love to bake. But baking bread has always been intimidating. Well, yeast intimidates me. It's 'alive' you say? Okay, that's scary enough right there. But, thankfully I have a friend that was willing to come over and show me that it's not that scary after all. The BEST part about it, is if you mess up, or it doesn't turn out just right....you get to try again. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Plus, nothing, and I really mean nothing, beats the smell of a hot, fresh loaf of bread straight out of the oven. Even if it tasted horrible and turned out like a brick...it would likely still smell wonderful. But that is beside the point. The point is...each loaf of bread you make is a fresh start. You get to fix what you think you did wrong last time. Or tweak something this time. It's just a great feeling. There is something about baking bread for your family that is truly satisfying. It's like....we can make it through anything as a family, and we will have bread. :) It is a very simply way to use what God provides for our family, and it feels good. 

Is there anything better than warm bread from the oven frosted with butter and drizzled with honey? I think not.

So, one thing I will say I am resolving to do it blog more. Not because it's the new year, but because I want to. ;) Even though I've hardly blogged at all, and not once in over 6 months, it doesn't change that I still enjoy looking back and reading them. I'm not a writer, and will never pretend to be. In fact, maybe I will share my hideous diary entries from my younger years someday. I promise, you will be terrified. And you might wonder, if you don't already, how I can even form a basic sentence. It's bad..but still, I'm glad I have it to look back on. Same with this blog. I also would like to keep a diary of sorts of my baking adventures. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Most likely, a lot of ugly. But, that is okay...it makes for good pictures. :)


So Happy New Year!!...I'm off to find a something a little more difficult than the basic white bread recipe I've attempted so far. Maybe I'll get a little crazy and make some rolls. Stay tuned...

First Slide Ride ;)

RSV, Topeka and Skinny Jeans

It's been a while since I last wrote. There has been a lot going on in the Akre home it feels like! We just got back from spending a week at my parents house in Topeka, KS. Previous to that, Grace had came down with RSV so it was kinda crazy around here.

Thank God she got over it fairly quick and no hospital visit was necessary.

Anyway, the trip was nice. We could have used a little better weather, it snowed once, and rained most of the rest. Generally when we travel out to Topeka over spring break, its gorgeous springtime weather, so that was a little disappointing. But our last day the weather broke a little and we were able to hit the zoo! It's not a trip to Topeka without the zoo! I love that zoo!! :)

2010 Topeka Zoo, 17 weeks pregnant

2011 Topeka Zoo

The trip was a reminder of one year earlier when I found out I was having a girl, on March 31st! My Mom, Adam, Austin and myself went to a little ultrasound place outside of Kansas City so we could find out what I was having! Adam was the only one that said girl! :)

I was almost 18 weeks pregnant here! <3

We of course had to hit up Tad's Hawaiian Shave Ice while there. It is seriously the best! We were the first customers of the year, as they open on April 1st. We were there waiting! LOL

Here are some more pictures from the trip.

Okay, the following pictures are from Adam's birthday! Now, let me explain these first....my Mom and I had the idea to get Adam skinny jeans as a joke for his birthday. This idea was born after talking about how all the people from a concert we went to (men) were wearing either skinny jeans or jeggings. None of us could really   believe it, it was pretty funny. Anyway, we were talking about how funny it would be if Adam wore jeggings!! So, here you have it!! We let him know it was a joke after he came back out with them on and announced "they were too small" It was quite hilarious and something I won't soon forget!! He was so gracious though when he opened that package and saw "skinny" jeans!!

Grace sleeping with Larry Boy, she picked him out at the bookstore by answering twice in a row that "yeah" she wanted him. It was soooo cute!

Grace and Austin's Dedication

A Song of Ascents, of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep. Behold, children are a gift of the LORD; The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They shall not be ashamed, When they speak with their enemies in the gate. 

Psalm 127:1-5

So today we had the kids dedicated to the Lord at church. It was a great reminder that our children are in fact gifts from the LORD! Adam and I both understand that dedicating our children to Christ does not save them. They both will have to accept Christ as their own Savior when they come to an age of understanding. We acknowledged, as parents, before the body of Christ, the following:

• We will raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord
• We will pray for and with them
• We will keep them in the house of God and with God's people
• We will be faithful in our home life to Christ, as we live it before them
• We will do our utmost personally to lead them to a saving knowledge of Christ at an early age

It is such a wonderful feeling knowing that our church family will be there to support and pray for us on behalf of raising our children. They have already proven that prior to this dedication. We have been truly blessed by our family at Immanuel.

God Bless!! 

Nichole

Parkin' It

Well, the weather has finally broke above 40 degrees around here! In fact, this past week has been gorgeous! Took the kiddo's to the park on Thursday and it made it into the upper 60's. Austin wanted to wear shorts and a tank top of course....I remember those days!! I always wished I was that girl at school that had her shorts on in early April because it was 70 degrees out! So, I empathize with him, but like myself, he won't be wearing them for a while yet! Ha-ha!!  He made due with a "sweatshirt" for his jacket!

I of course picked a day to go to the park when all the town kids were out of school early, so it was nice and busy! Oh-well, gave Austin kids to play with, which he enjoyed! First thing he hit up, same as always, was the merry-go-round thing. That thing always makes me a nervous wreck, but he was on it alone that day so it wasn't too bad! I'm always afraid one of the kids are gonna go flying off....I know, I know...he is a boy!

 Miss Grace had her first ride in a swing! She wasn't too sure what to think of it...she didn't know if she wanted to scream or not, so she just sat there in a trance. I think it was actually making her really sleepy!!

So, now that we all have spring fever REALLY bad, it is supposed to snow tomorrow!! Oh-well....spring is right around the corner!