My Sunday Best: Mother's Day

I'm really excited that Rosie has picked up the torch on the Sunday outfit posts, and hereby resolve to sail in at the last minute with my poorly-lit pics more often.

We spent the weekend moving five yards of manure around the yard, so Mother's Day was pretty low-key here. We did spend an hour at the zoo later in the afternoon, followed by hunting down the only deep-dish pizza in town. At Mass, Thing One was so here there and everywhere in the pew that we actually went through with revoking donut priviledges. Thing Two, in true little brother fashion, proceeded to make Bean look even worse in comparison by pointing out Jesus and "Ai-YU-ya" at every opportunity, while imitating Father's gestures.

Dress: ages-old Anthropology (I think I may have actually paid $19). Still wearable courtesy the elastic panel in the back.
Sweater: Banana Republic Outlet. I wear it every few months because I forget that small fingers cannot resist poking through the mesh all through Mass.
Shoes: Penney's clearance, selected by Peanut.

I usually try to get a picture of the boys on Mother's Day to send to their godmothers, but Peanut fell asleep between Dunkin and home, so this is what we've got:

I'm told that upon waking, he got halfway through his stretch-and-yawn, then suddenly stiffened when he remembered. "I EAT NONUTS!" May we all be so single-minded (but about Jesus, instead of donuts).

Bean, meanwhile, has apparently just been drafted by New Orleans

Find more Sunday Best at Rosie's!

What We Wore Saturday: Handmakes and Bargains Edition

We went to Easter Vigil Mass this year, so no pics were taken the day of, since we weren't exactly running early, and didn't get home till 1:30 or so. But, DH is working late tonight, so it was a prime opportunity to pull out the tripod and torture the kids for a few.

Dress: Vogue 1302
Sweater: Ann Taylor
Shoes: Kate Spade (via eBay)

When this Vogue pattern came out, my very first thought was how it had great potential to be converted to a nursing dress (there was no way a non-nursable outfit would fly for a three-hours-at-bedtime Mass). There was a bit of origami involved in getting an opening in both the bodice and lining layers, but I think it was my most successful attempt at such a conversion yet. I had a couple of issues with other aspects of the construction, but the shrug mostly has those covered. The hat was one of three I made for Holly's wedding out of various Etsy components:

The shoes were a NIB eBay score from earlier in the week. Even at a huge discount from retail, they're close to the most expensive shoes in my closet. I'm trying to move towards buying fewer, high-quality pieces, though, and these will replace two or three pairs of shoes that I wasn't in love with, but couldn't get rid of because they were the only ones that matched a given outfit. So far, I'll say that they're way more comfortable than my usual Kohl's or Macy's heels, so I'm feeling good about shelling out.

"Don't mind me because I am totally NOT dragging my brother towards the wall by his jacket collar..."

Bean
Shirt: Gap
Shoes: Jumping Jacks
Jacket: Burda 9781 (OOP, replaced by this)
Tie: pattern here
Pants: Butterick 4002 (OOP)

Peanut (who seems to be doing his impression of "My Son John" here):
Shirt: Janie and Jack
Pants: mashups of various vintage patterns, but view C here is a similar idea

Jacket: OOP pattern (similar to the Eton jacket here)

If there's one sure way to get Bean dressed, it's to offer him something red to wear. With that in mind, I whipped together a pair of red pants, and a matching bowtie (out of real, mill-end bowtie fabric!) I convinced him that suspenders were the way to go, thus getting myself out of making belt loops. His jacket has been wearable for a record three holidays, though I did lengthen the sleeves a tad before Christmas.

Upstaged!

Peanut's overalls were inspired by the ones in this post, and were made out of an old pair of men's linen pants. I had to work around a few spots and stains, but my only investment was about $2 worth of buttons! The jacket was all leftovers from other projects, and the shirt was an after-Christmas clearance find.

Both boys made it through all three Triduum liturgies (plus Easter Vespers) like champs. Bean got to hold his own candle at the Vigil this year, which was a significant help to his attention span (he still asked to go out for a drink of water three or four times, though). Peanut somehow managed to gnaw grooves in the varnish of the pew in front of us, but even he was pretty engaged in what was going on ("Oooh! Whatdis?"). I think it really helped to go to a historical church with lots of lovely things to look at, rather than our usual suburban eighties parish.

Though there was plenty of the usual writhing around the pew, Bean was definitely more engaged in the goings-on this year. For some reason, the Good Friday intercessions really caught his attention. He stood up straight the whole time, hands folded, and followed the deacon's chanted instructions to stand and kneel. Maybe he just really likes Catholic calisthenics?

On Easter itself, we slept in (as much as the kids would allow), and put Basilica Mass on the TV while I whipped up a steak-and-eggs brunch. Then we spent the afternoon soaking up the good weather (since gone) with some friends, and finished off with Vespers at the Basilica (more candles!) where Bean, who usually doesn't do any of the responses, chanted along with the Lord's Prayer, the intercessions, and lots of Alleluias. Maybe we'll have to make the effort to find inspiring surroundings more often.

Find more WIWS posts at Fine Linen and Purple!

WIWS: Pancake Breakfast Edition

 Bean's Mass attendance grade was probably a C- today, which is pretty good considering we spent Saturday at a raucous get-together with eleven under six. And considering that he spent Sunday morning insisting that "We will not go to reg'lar church! We will go to parachute church and guys will jump out of planes!" (Cowboy churches: consider this a challenge.)

Though of course (of course), on the once-in-a-blue moon that we got a stewardship homily, he decided not to put his coins in the basket and instead insist (audibly to at least the next pew over) "No! No, put them back in the purse!" He also, I found out after Mass, decided to rescind his Sign of Peace to the lady behind us at the last second. Hmm... maybe we'll make that a D...

Anyway, he was not-terrible enough that we decided to go to the pancake breakfast in the gym after Mass. The kids ate four pancakes between them, so I'd say they got our money's worth for us, considering they were both free.  One of the Knights asked Peanut if he wanted to join them, but another insisted he was probably more pure-of-heart than their usual applicant. I think he'd still be up for it as long as they kept feeding him pancakes, though.

Anyway, on to the clothes.

Top: VanHeusen Outlet
Skirt: upcycled
Belt: Kohl's
Shoes: Steve Madden (these, in red)

I bought these shoes way back before I was married, which 4" heels were still doable for a day that involved walking. Now they mostly keep their appearances to brief Sunday morning forays.

The skirt was some sort of hand-me-down that was both too big and kind of a dumpy length, so I took it in up top to make it high-waisted and my size. I might do a little more tweaking, as it's a tad lumpy in spots, but the fabric is of the sort that you can throw it in the corner for weeks and it will be magically unwrinkled when you pick it up, so I think it's worth salvaging.

Oh, the best part of my Sunday? DH had to clean out his car because he's doing airport runs for a conference, and Bean insisted on helping, lest he miss out on any treasures, so I got a virtually uninterrupted afternoon for myself while Peanut napped. I may just have napped, too.


Find other "What I Wore Sunday" posts at the linkup.

WIWS: Game night edition

The "S" is for Saturday this time. Notre Dame was playing a night game, so, since we were already going to be up a little late, we decided to make a date of it (Netflixing "Ghostbusters," because we're hopelessly romantic sorts), and sleep way, way in on Sunday.

With apologies for the awkward angle. My camera holder was busy, so I tried to go it on my own.

Dress: Anthropologie (pretty sure I acutally paid the $19.95 that's listed)
Cardigan: me
Shoes: Kohl's (a little gold to go with my blue)

On a fashion note, I'm pretty sure everyone should have one pair of satin flats in a bright color. Wear them on your slobbiest day and you'll still get compliments.

The kids were both good at Mass (good enough that I tossed that box of pumpkin Krispy Kremes in my cart at the post-Mass grocery run, anyway), and Mass was a little higher than usual for the feast day. The Bean got to hear his name in the Roman Canon, and I actually didn't have any complaints about the music. There was even a bit of Latin!  Tack on an Irish victory and a Sunday morning that actually was easy, and it was about as good as a weekend gets.

Read about everyone else's Sundays at the WIWS linkup.

What I Wore Sunday: Bad Camera Edition

So, this is what happens when you fail to check your pictures on a real computer, even though you're about to send your camera back on a warranty claim.

Your normal-looking picture turns out to be out of focus, while the ones that did focus have bad lighting, an awkward angle, and look like you're wearing a very irreverent hat.

Aaaanyway:
Sweater: Sears, forever ago.
Dress: Evan Picone (a gift)
Shoes: Seychelles

This was our first Mass back at the home parish with just our family in quite a while, which might explain the D- behavior from Bean. He tried to redeem himself after the closing hymn ("Oh, thanks for going to church!" "Did you like praying?"), but it was too late: no orange juice was purchased during the quick grocery run afterwards (even though DH might have been sadder about it than The Bean).

The day ended on a nicer note, though, as we just so happened to have some rib-eyes in the freezer, purchased in an Aldi sale before vacation, and there was fresh corn on the cob from Saturday's farmers market. I even mixed up some lemon-dill butter to go with it.

We've been praying Compline as a family lately (by candlelight, which is key to keeping the three-year-old with us for the whole 10 minutes), and he finished the day by showing us that he now knows the whole, "Protect us, Lord..." antiphon.

I'll take it.

Find the other "What I Wore Sunday" posts at Fine Linen and Purple.

What I Wore Sunday: Mother's Day

Since it's Mother's Day and allergies have left me kind of blah this week, I decided I needed a pick-me-up and wore something oh-so-pretty and springy and just crossed my fingers that Peanut wouldn't get hungry during Mass, since it's not super easy to nurse in this one (though technically possible).

Dress: Vogue 2960
Cardigan: Loft
Shoes: Macy's

My plan seems to have payed off, since he fell asleep before Mass and was okay when he woke up midway though. The tradeoff was that he decided to fill his diaper instead, so we ducked out the back way to avoid the post-Mass May Crowning crowd and changed him in the back of the car. Cause we're classy like that.

Bean was in a belligerent mood because I told him he couldn't wear his moon buggy shirt to church, which discussion ended with me literally sitting on him to get church clothes on. The ride to Mass was peppered with "We can not go to church?", and, when that wasn't panning out, "We can go to a different church?" But as usual, he was quiet enough in Mass, he just crawled all over everyone and everything. And stared longingly at the bag of Goldfish in the pew behind us.

A couple of sewing notes on the dress, while we're at it. The pattern is listed as "easy," but this is Vogue we're talking about, so that's only true if you consider welt buttonholes and a front placket "easy". The fabric is a bottomweight sateen from JoAnn, and it would be a dream to work with on a lot of projects, but the satin weave didn't play nice with all those little clipped corners, so I had to hand overcast over a couple of spots to cover frayed edges.

The back of this dress doesn't really work with a normal bra, so I added lingerie strap guards to the shoulders, which also helps keep the cap sleeves in place. The original pattern had a center back seam, but I had enough fabric to skip that, so I did. Other than that, I think the only thing to change if I made it again (and I very well might) would be to add pockets.

To see some other great Sunday outfits, check out the "What I wore Sunday" linkup at Fine Linen and Purple!