A Texas Smile

My great-niece, K. in 1994 wearing one of the dresses that I made for her. A little Texas girl, all grown up now!

sew busy

I have lots (literally hundreds) of little handmade dresses that I have made.
They range from newborn thru little girls size 10. I started my seamstress business back when my oldest daughter was a newborn in 1992. People would ask where I bought her little dresses so they could buy one too. I made them!!! That's how it started.

I even did matching Mother/daughter dresses and sister/sister dresses by custom order. At one point I even did custom order "nursing front" dresses for breast feeding Mom's {I fed all three of my babies}.
They are mostly made of calico's and vintage fabrics. I love to reuse, recycle and repurpose old buttons, trims, fabrics and ribbons.

Road Trip To Frankenmuth, Mi.

The kids and I went on a spur of the moment road trip to Frankenmuth yesterday.

We like to go there but don't get to go often, it's pretty expensive to do most of the stand by touristy things. I had been given some money to take the kids on a road trip and we decided to go north.
I had my new tires put on my Mom-mobile in the early morning and we needed to test them out...well, didn't we????? The new tires have about 270 miles on them in one day. They ride just fine, I'm glad to report.
We went to several of the hundreds of shops in the picturesque German (tourist trap) town. One of our favorite stores is a Country Store where you can find just about any kind of candy. Below is a picture of A. sitting in front of it by the wooden Indian.We bought candy buttons {those tiny dots on white paper strips}, bb-bats {taffy suckers}, root beer barrels, tiny ice cream cones filled with marshmallow"ice cream", rock candy, and some others.

N's favorite thing is wooden nutcrackers, so of course I had to take a picture of him next to a giant one.

We ate at Zender's where we always get the most delicious family style chicken dinner. Frankenmuth is famous for this! The waiters/waitresses dress in old fashion garb. They bring big bowls and platters of food to your table. Fresh fruited bread, cranberry relish, pate' , mashed potatoes, stuffing, buttered noodles, vegetables, gravy, yummy chicken and several other things I haven't even listed.
We went on a carriage ride around the town. It is fun to hear history of the settlers and the original houses and churches as you ride. In the one picture below you can see the Zender's sign in the background through the back of the carriage. E. visited with the big horses and chatted with the drivers about the horse rescue barn she volunteers at.
Frankenmuth is also famous for the humongous store called Bronner's. I was lucky we haunted as many shops as we did and my gang didn't want to even attempt Bronner's this trip!!

We had a great day and returned home about 10:00 p.m.

I am ashamed to say that we were oh so close to my uncle & aunt's house and we didn't stop by to see if they were home. Shame on us!! We love you, really we do.

Bigger Bunnies!

The 3 babies are 10 days old! And their eyes are open!

We plopped them in a laundry basket with the 12 inch ruler just to get some pictures that would document their size.

You can see the runt is growing but is still way behind it's siblings in size.

Above: Here is A. holding the 2 larger babies. See, the dark one is sticking out it's tongue!! They love to be cuddled and they lick you. It tickles!!!

Note: A. is 11 and really a girly-girl. She has always had long nails and often has them polished. Currently her toe nails are polished red, white and blue!!

Below: Here is E. holding the dark runt along with the white baby. You can tell their eyes were just about it open wide and see the world!!

Note: E. is one week away from her 15th birthday and has always been a tomboy. She tries to show interest in jewelry and makeup but is MUCH happier being with animals and nature and having dirt under her nails!!

Stay tuned to this bunny blog for more bunny updates.

We are trying to think of names for the 3 babies.

Other bunnies that currently live / have lived at our house are:

*Peter- he looked like Peter Rabbit. He lived with us about 9 years and was potty trained. He was allowed to hop around in the family room for short, supervised intervals. Sometimes Peter and our dog and cats would romp together like Noah's ark animals, playing and bathing each other! Peter lived in a cage in the house. Peter is now in our pet cemetery.

*Cotton- short for Cottontail was a "Rex" rabbit which means the fur is soft as velvet! Cotton was white with tan spots all over her. She had a double chin and loved to eat tomatoes!! Cotton lived in an outside hutch. Cotton is now in our pet cemetery.

*Batman Bunny - is N's male bunny. He was adopted from another family and N. named him. N. takes him out for walks in the yard on a bunny halter and leash. We still have Batman Bunny and he lives in an outside hutch.

* Clover- is our Momma bunny. She has a hutch outside but she is now in a special nursery hutch on the glassed in porch.

* Toby- is the son of Clover and Batman Bunny. E. and her friend named him. He also likes to go for walks on the leash. We still have Toby and he lives in an outside hutch.

* Jenna- was Toby's sibling and was the runt of last year's litter (Clover's first litter) and A. named her. She is now in our pet cemetery. Jenna had 2 other siblings that died without names.

* Kitty-is A's bunny and she is a "lion's head"rabbit. She has a long mane and a large head. She wears a purple collar and A. often plays with her mane by putting bows and barrettes in it!!!! Kitty loves the attention. Kitty is also potty trained and is allowed to sometimes hop about the house (supervised). My cat Isabella and Kitty bunny are buddies and love to play together and bathe each other! Kitty lives in a cage in the house.