Easter Sunday 2013

Easter Sunday was a gorgeous Sunday (for the most part), then it rained...but my family and I had a great time worshipping at our church, Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, MS, followed by the usual get-together at my parents' home in Rose Hill, MS.  All of my parents 11 grandchildren (plus one extra little guy) were present to take part in the Easter Egg hunt normally given each year.  The two oldest kids which are my brother's oldest two are too old (by our egg hunt guidelines) to be hunting eggs...so they just watched the commotion of the other 9 children. 
Coral was the Allen family Easter color this year.  What can I say? We totally rocked that coral! 

This photo was taken at my parents' home in the country (see the wagon wheels and farmland in the back)

 

I was able to put Leila's dress together easily after finding the right organza overlay material to compliment her dress.  The dress is made from a Newlook Pattern 6202 and she wanted to wear her little white cardigan over it.  My outfit, however, took some modifications.  I used the Simplicity Pattern 1690 and reversed the satin for the top to use the crepe back (just so I won't look too shiny for Easter) and used the shiny satin side for the skirt.  The skirt was cut to size, but I extended the waist just a little because I knew I was going to eat at my mother's house and did not want to burst zippers! LOL! Telly chose to dress almost like his son with a suit of almost the same pattern, paired with a coral shirt.  All I can say is wow...here are some more pictures of us on Easter Sunday.

 

 

 

JSU Alumni Talent/Fashion Show

My sister (Carla) and I originally agreed to do the next fashion show that was in our area...this fashion show was for the Jackson State University Alumni.  While neither Carla or I are graduates of JSU (University of Southern Mississippi '98 and '07, respectively), we still showed support for the Mississippi school.  The fashion show's segment of "Cream Esteem" allowed us to showcase some uber-cute outfits purchased from Ross store (dress on left) and Dillards department store(dress on right).  My husband picked out my dress and I believe he did an amazing job!  My sister dazzled in her dress with gold accessories, and I wowed them with my shoes by Jennifer Lopez.

My son, however, stole the show.  He was so handsome in his blue seersucker suit purchased from Belk department store...his coral shirt and pocket handkerchief (hanky comes from remnants of a coral dress I made last year).  Look at that pose!

He was seriously all smiles on this photo!  This suit was so adorable on him, I just had to make the coral color the Easter color for this year!

Hubby decided to jump in the fashion show (after watching me and my sister on the runway), so the fashion show director practically requested he show up with in suit for the "I Go To Work" segment of the fashion show.  He was, of course, very debonair in his suit (and very handsome to boot).  Lavender with  paisley design is most definitely one of his colors.  Leila was not old enough to participate in the fashion show (which was also a pageant for JSU Alumni dolls), but next year she gets the opportunity to be a JSU Alumni doll!  Time to make a dress! ;)

Mommy and me...I love this guy!

Mardi Gras Parade

This year was Hattiesburg's 2nd Annual Caerus Mardi Gras Parade and the children and I had a great time. The clinic I work for sponsored our float and some friends of an employee drove the float through crowds of 25,000 people! TJ and Leila were prince and princess of our float, named Krewe of Wheezers, and I surprised Leila with her own Mardi Gras top! Complete with some black leggings and boots, she looked adorable! TJ was handsome too in his own Mardi Gras shirt and mask. The parade lasted about two hours...once it as over, we went home, took baths, ad went straight to bed! No one woke up until morning! Who knew how much beads and candy throwing could tire you out!

For my baby, Leila...

I have been sewing quite a bit lately (more than my average of Zero times) and mostly for my daughter, Leila.  Although Leila is not the only child I have, sewing for Leila reminds me of the many times when my mother sewed for me and my sister.  I do have some fabric to make my son some comfy pajama pants, though (I will post the finished product later)!  I have so many craft/sewing projects I am working on, and with the addition of my new Singer Futura sewing/embroidery machine, my projects are limitless!
Below are a few of the dresses I have made for my daughter.  Maybe one day she'll appreciate the little things that I do for her...I know I appreciate my mom, too!

Her daddy's favorite team...Roll Tide!!

She wanted a matching purse for this one!

School photo...isn't she darling?

 

 

Spongebob Rules!

It has been a couple of weeks, but I am excited to post my pics of my daughter's sponge
bob shorts I made. I got the pattern off the Internet and the shorts were for a boy age 7 (my daughter is 3 and they fit my 6 year old son like biker shorts). I will post the link to the cute shorts pattern later, and I will post my next creation in the next few days.

***UPDATE***  The pattern and tutorial I used for the Spongebob shorts came from http://www.craftpassion.com/2011/06/sewing-kid-shorts-with-pocket-pattern.html

I did not use the knitted rib for the bottom hem (I did just what the tutorial stated and cut fabric according to shorts patter) and I did not sew ribbon onto the shorts' waistband for decoration (they were cute enough without it).

Daddy's birthday dinner

Friday night my sisters and I had a birthday dinner for my daddy in honor of his 60th birthday. There was nothing extravagant, as he is not the extravagant type.  Me and the hubs, along with our children, my older sis and her kids, my younger sis and her kids, Ms. Colleen (daddy's "friend" for many years) and her nieces sat down and ate dinner while daddy enjoyed some of his grandchildren.  TJ and Leila  (of course) had to get out in the middle of the floor to do some dancing and the other children followed along with them.  I thought we would be kicked out of the restaurant with all the noise the children were making, but since our party were the only people left in the restaurant, everything was fine. 

Me and the birthday guy (my daddy)

Butter Pecan cake made by Carla

My sister, Carla, seriously needs to start her own cake business! That butter pecan cake was out of this world!!! I also stayed away from sweets for the majority of the week, so I was good and only ate one slice of cake. The cake was one gift that he enjoyed, but I bet he will enjoy the other gifts (money-lol) for days to come! 

Singing "Happy birthday"

Game win!

My lil man had a game (again) versus Sports Grafix at the Doleac Complex last tonight...and they won! The kids were very excited and now their record is 3-4. A couple of those games they could have won, but this is first year coach-pitch (no tee-ball) and a learning process for them all. Leila ran Carla ragged, escaping  here and there while I was helping out in the dugout.
The game ended with TJ giving the other team the last out by chasing the little boy down and beating him to first base. He was excited...the whole team was excited! The coach even gave TJ the game ball!