Happy November and DIY Costumes!

It’s November already, although it hardly feels like it. My weather app says it’s 85 degrees. I’m still wearing my stinky summer OTBTs and my closet is still in summer mode. This is the worst time of the year to attempt to dress with the season and not sweat to death. Monday was Halloween, and below is my trio in our (mostly) DIY Costumes. My 10 yr old’s costume was a 2:00 day-0f purchase from Target (Santa pjs) and I made the beard from a piece of white felt, jumbo cotton balls and too many glue sticks to count. Oh and a piece of elastic! It was in shambles before we hit the first house and was no where to be found 20 minutes later. He also wore a Santa hat so Skinny Santa had a great night of trick or treating. Bonus: PAJAMAS!! He can wear them to sleep in too! Side note: his friends were a snowman and an elf, so they were a cute trio!

My 8 year old knew a week or two in advance that she wanted to be Larry Culpepper (see Dr. Pepper commercials). Luckily the 10 year old played Larry last year so all we had to do was pour out some DPs and hot glue them to the lid of a shoe box and attach a cooler strap. By the end of the night I think 1 can was left, but she was adorable in a sea of girly costumes and loved every minute of it.

The 13 year old. This was our Sunday afternoon painting-in-the-driveway project. If you live in the Southeast, then you know who Alexander Shunnarah is or have seen a billboard or two (or 380). He wanted to dress normal and be a “bottle flipper”, but one day while driving to work last week I saw a billboard and decided this would be much funnier. His costume was a hit in the neighborhood and on Facebook! Plus it only cost me about $13 in alphabet stickers.

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In other November news… did you see our Girly Turkey aka Digitizer’s Pick? I sewed this on a little t-shirt Monday and it’s one of my all time favorite Turkeys! Plus only 3 fabrics. It’s $1.50 for a ltd time!

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Here are a few of our new designs also! The Holly & Wreath are both raggy, and I used 1) red gingham on bottom, 2) white flannel in the middle, and 3) green polka dot on top. Check them out at Applique Cafe for a better photo! These designs plus all the others are 40% off through Tuesday, November 8th, which happens to be ELECTION DAY!! Won’t we all be glad when that’s over!?!?

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Enjoy the rest of your week!

Back to School 2016

It’s Back to School time around here! Summer went by in a flash I tell you. We have had some big changes going on in the fam jam this fall! My kids all went to the same school up until last year, which we looovvveeeed (and still love). Browder moved across the street (literally) and did 6th grade last year at a different school. It was all good at the Gulledge abode with them being in 2 different schools until Mama decided to go back to work this past February. Long story short we decided to move the other 2 across the street this year so that everyone would be under the same roof and on the same schedule (and go to school until 3:00 every day so Mama could work). They started Tuesday with a 1/2 day and yesterday was their first full day. They were excited and seem to love it and all I heard about yesterday was the lunchroom. This was a huge transition {for me mostly} after being at the same school for 6 years. They all started Kindergarten there and after 6 years, you pretty much know every nook and cranny and how everything works, what to expect, where to put the box tops and what to do when the copier jams. We are now transitioning in to the new school and hopefully one day it’ll feel like home! The kids have already made some cute new friends (and reunited with friends from church and past soccer seasons) and hopefully I will fit in somewhere too!

Garrison is in 4th grade, Browder is in 7th and Mallory is in 3rd!

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Not sure about this one but Browder is smiling. G is in 4th…. not sure what Mallory is doing…..

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Another huge change is that our soccer loving boys are not playing travel soccer this fall! We’ve done travel soccer for the past several years, with me managing G’s team for the past 2 (which was another part time {non paying of course} job for me). Suddenly our calendars are wide open this fall to let us adjust to a new school! Browder is doing Cross Country with the school so he has a hand full of meets and Mallory will do gymnastics. Garrison will just hang out and enjoy his break from 10 year old high pressure soccer! 🙂 Part of me misses it (the kids and families) but it’s nice to have a laid back fall too!

THIRD big change… our little family bought a little fixer upper lake cabin last month which we are now fixing up. Only Chip & Joanna aren’t here and it’s taking much longer than an hour episode of Property Brothers. We did enter in to this endeavor with another family so when we get together to paint, or haul off limbs, or spend 2 hours at Home Depot staring at ceiling fans, it’s a lot more fun. I will post some before and after pics soon! We had hoped to move in by Labor Day but I don’t think that’s going to happen. We’ve been painting for a few weeks and are redoing the bathroom and doing new floors before we move in.

When deciding a name for the compound, which is 800 or so sq feet of red + the also-red boathouse, Garrison brought up Terrence from this summer’s Angry Birds movie. The name has sort of stuck! Terrance is on Lake Martin which is less than an hour from where we live. Jeff grew up on this lake so it has been exciting to fix up a place so that our kids will grow up there too!

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I hope you all are enjoying your last days of summer, or are easing back in to the school routine like we are! Don’t forget to check out our new designs over at Applique Cafe too! We are still adding a few new ones here and there every week or two!

Happy Summer 2016

Happy Summer everyone! Since my last post, school got out and we’re just enjoying our {very short} summer! It’s already July 7, and my kiddos go back to school on August 9th. That is a month + a day or 2 away!!!! We still have more beach, more camps and more fun to squeeze in! I’m not ready to think about school supplies yet. We are nowhere near done with summer reading or math packets. I did, however, check new school uniforms off my list. Not. ready. nope. no. summer rules. As Mallory would say “summer is my life!”.

I thought I’d share with you a few of our summer pics. Here are my 3 this week on the 4th of July obviously! “G” is 10, Browder is 13 {gasp} and Sissy is 8. Don’t you love our store bought shirts? Pay no attention to Browder’s 2015 version.

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This keeper is from our beach trip we went on as soon as school let out. #chacos

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Another one from our May/early June beach trip. We were in Perdido Key, FL and are headed back there soon for another family vacay.

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This may be my favorite picture from the summer!

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I am also working part time this summer (3 days a week) and squeezing in a little monogramming/applique work too. Here are some shirts I did for some sweet sisters up in Birmingham. These are all Blanks Boutique t-shirts that my customer purchased and had shipped directly to me. We are also adding new designs here & there and you can check them out at Applique Cafe!

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Enjoy the rest of your summer! Thanks for stopping by! 😉