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!

Day 2- Brazilian Butt Lift...NOT!!!

I didn't do it today! Although it was seriously a good workout, I was very slow moving about today. My husband convinced me to wait until after my PT test this weekend and start Brazilian Butt Lift then. I don't want to be too sore for the PT test and fail! I haven't been to the gym this week, but I have been going faithfully until recently. Maybe if I decide not to go the rest of the week and save my energy (and running efforts) for the test I will do better than the minimal. We shall see!!

Day 1 Brazilian Butt Lift

Well...day one of Brazilian Butt Lift is complete and boy did it sting! I got a PT test coming up Saturday (my dad's 60th birthday) so I can't do too much more than the usual. I feel like I will pass, I've been eating okay and exercising three days a week. Back to the BBL...my butt is tightening up as I write! I won't post my before picture until I know I am getting some results. BBL combined with a 900-1100 calorie diet and exercise 3 times a week, I can reach my goal of losing 25 pounds to transfer to the Air Force (if I decide to).
Wish me luck!
P.S. I will post a pic of my kids instead!

Easter Sunday 2012

A week late, but Easter Sunday was great! The Allen family color for this Easter was lavender, so my mom-in-law purchased TJ and Leila's Easter outfits for their birthday. It was great not having to be concerned with anyone else's clothes but my own (for a change). We had a fun-filled day at my mother's house: Easter dinner and egg hunt.

Opening Day-Baseball

Yesterday was Opening Day for Hattiesburg Dixie Youth Baseball as well as HubFest. Two major events going on in the city of Hattiesburg, but one event I could not miss was TJ's first coach-pitch game. Dressed in black and gray, he was an awesome sight to see! Leila kept me running all day while TJ ran on the field..it was a long day!

Long Tuesday

Well, I finally got my hair done after months of neglect (had to finish my research paper this month). Hair, I won't do it to you again! I paid for it, too! My hair was dry, my scalp was itching, and I thought I needed a relaxer. Magic Hands Salon hooked me up last night and hopefully it will last until next appointment.

Tomorrow is the 23rd!

The first time I posted a blog post, my son was only 18 months old. Now he will be a whopping 6 years old on March 23rd! My! How time flies! I sure do think he has turned out to be a mighty fine little man...I wish he could stay 18 months old sometimes...my baby is now a big boy!

Leila, Leila, Leila...

My daughter turned 3 on Lephrechaun's Day! Just kidding! St. Patrick's Day. She had a birthday party (TJ too) on Saturday. I bought her a birthday girl shirt from The Children's Place, but she refused to wear it, opting for her yellow shirt instead. For weeks she has been telling me she wanted a "Ye-row" dress, but she wants to wear the dress all the time! Well, she got the dress for her birthday and she was very excited!

Today I decided to go Valentine's shopping for my husband...it was like the day after Thanksgiving out there! The town where I live is a small college town with limited roads, so there are only two ways to get to one place. I went to JewelMasters, a local jewelry store, but they ony had watches for men (plenty of pretty jewelry for me). There were balloons by the entrance that my son, TJ, was fascinated with, so he stayed in one spot the whole time.

New teeth

My 10 month old daughter recently got two new front teeth, and boy is she excited! Everytime someone smiles at her, she grins and shows her set of four teeth! It is just too cute and I am glad to see she is transforming into a toddler. Right now she is sleeping, but I can see her smile while she sleeps and she is beautiful. My 3 year old son loves to see his baby sister, and most importantly, he loves to see her smile.

Oh no! My eggs!

My son is hilarious! Every time he does something silly I tell my mother, only to hear her say, "Well, you did that too!" The other day at my sister's house, my two nieces (ages 3 & 7) were running around in the family room chasing my 3 year old son. The youngest of the two girls decided to jump down into a cheerleader split. My son, seeing the split my niece did, decided to attempt one as well. He jumped in the air and landed with his feet spread out, stretched his shorts and said, "Oh no! My eggs!!" Thankfully he realized that there was precious cargo "down there" and his "eggs" would be damaged!! We all sat around and laughed while the children continued to play in the family room. When I told my mother what happened at my sister's house with my son and his "eggs", I told her, "Now I know I did not do that!"

First official blogger day!!

Well, today is my first official day of being a blogger. I guess I won't truly be considered a blogger until I complete a few blog entries. My 18 month old son and I walked down the street to a rummage sale at the First Penecostal Church. I knew the rummage sale was a bust right when we walked in because my son was yanking my arm so we could leave! Once I entered the "sale", the disappointed faces of the other sale hunters immediately captured my attention. I was not pleased with the faded butterfly-collar shirts and pleated skirts, so I spent all but two minutes in the rummage sale. The only thing that I thought was worth the 25 cents charged on poorly kept clothing was hearing another lady at the sale asking where the "plublic bafroom" was. I think she was drunk and slurring words because my son looked at her like, "I know that is wrong!"
Lesson for the day:
If you decide to sell clothes at a rummage sale, please sell clothes that you think other people would like (preferably clothes purchased within the past five years).