We Have Procured the Easter Dress!

I am so excited. SO EXCITED, I tell ya!

I am usually the world's worst about procrastinating when it comes to big events. I will wait till a week before Thanksgiving to even *consider* what I will be bringing to the family table, and I'm the one shopping last-minute for Christmas gifts THE DAY BEFORE we leave to go to Decatur to exchange them. I know, it's a problem I'm working on.

For this year's Easter, however, I am at least somewhat prepared. I have already located the Bean's handpainted Easter basket and am trying to decide what the Bunny will bring. AND GET THIS - I just bought her Easter dress! Yep, no kidding!

Last year, I had my eye on a lovely mint-green Will'beth bishop style with pink bullion flower smocking at the neck and flutter sleeves. It was a confection of spring, with a sheer white, pintucked overlay that let just the tiniest hint of green show through. I was in love with this dress, but not so in love with the pricetag - $60 plus shipping. Yikes! I don't know about you, but $60 seems a little steep for a dress for a 1 year old, even if it IS for Easter. Nevertheless, she had to have it and did, indeed, look absolutely stunning in her Easter frock. Remember this?

So this year, I decided to start early and scour unconventional sources - like eBay. Whilst perusing their selection of Easter dresses, I found one that was just too sweet. It's a white batiste high-yoke style toddler dress with puff sleeves and embroidery on the yoke and a sweet heart design with a bow down the front. I absolutely love it!

Side note:

You may or may not know about my "thing" with hand embroidery. My first job out of college was working at MPC and helping design Sew Beautiful magazine (seriously, click the link - can you say EYE CANDY?!?!?), as well as creating the instructional drawings of how to do hand embroidery stitches. To know how to draw them, you have to know how to DO them, right? So I learned many of the basic and advanced hand embroidery stitches and have developed an appreciation (addiction) to all things hand-embroidered.

Ok, back to the story.

So after consulting with the Spouser, I tentatively placed a bid on "The Dress". Isn't it just a DREAM?!?

(Sorry the pictures are kinda poor quality - I copied them from the eBay listing)

And we won!

I got her Easter dress for less than $30! I know I probably should've waited to post this for Thrifty Thursday or something, but I just couldn't help myself. I just couldn't believe we got it for that price - and it was still well under my maximum bid. Thank you, eBay, for being so good to me!

Now, on to find a high-yoke slip and perhaps a ruffly Charleston bonnet (cause everyone's got to don an Easter bonnet, right?) I am already envisioning what the Bean will look like in this and I'm liking it - I'm liking it A LOT!

Tablescape Thursday

Thanks for checking out my blog on Tablescape Thursday, brought to you by Susan from Between Naps on the Porch. Check out HER BLOG for more great tablescaping ideas!

This tablescape was done by my mom for the "January Birthdays" party for my family this year. My husband, brother in law, and aunt all have birthdays in January, and since it's so hard for all of us to get together individually to celebrate, we had one big whopping good time and had a combined party!

Mom got out the Lenox Federal Platinum, Strausburg silverware, crystal stemware, and linens to set a bold tablescape in tones of red, black and white. She was so excited to find a dozen red roses on sale at Kroger for only $4 - so she bought two and created these beautiful centerpieces! I hope someday I will acquire the flower arranging skills my mom has - I'm still working on it, Mom!

We had a great meal of fresh, green salad, baked potato, my grandma's baked beans (recipe HERE), and chicken tenders with a delicious birthday cake from SIMPLY DELICIOUS for dessert! Thanks, Mom, for making every event - an EVENT!

Playing at the Park

Remember when you were little, and small things like collecting pine cones, watching birds and swinging on ancient, rust-laden monkey bars just MADE your day? We had a day like that yesterday.

I know I only have *so* long before the Bean grows up and won't let me put matching hairbows in her hair or bring me nature's detritus with a gap-toothed grin and the exuberance only a two year old can muster. That's why I wanted to document this day as "Doing Nothing Day" - a day when we didn't do a whole lot other than go to the park and hang out together.

(And yes, I'm aware that she's wearing a pink Bass Pro Shops sweatshirt! It was obviously not "Mommy's Going to Take Some Beautiful Portraits of Me" Day, so please excuse the wardrobe, even though I thought these turned out really cute.)

The Pied Piper

We went to the library tonight for an event co-sponsored by the Jane B. Holmes and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. It was GREAT! A member of the ASO came and played the oboe, and talked about how music can tell a story just like a book. The kids were given various musical instruments to play throughout her reading of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" and the Bean had a rockin' good time! Here are some pics of the "instructional" part of the evening:

And here are a few of the Bean whooping it up with her rhythm sticks!

Joe Tucker Park - Friday

Well, as promised, I took the Bean back to play at one of Helena's city parks, choosing Joe Tucker because we'd just finished up at the library. I got some cute portrait shots of her (love the silly monkey face!):

And some good action shots too! All in all, MUCH better than the other day!