I thought I’d share these cute pictures we snapped on Sunday evening after church. My boys are so adorable – all three of them.

D has on a candy cane bow tie and O has one that I made out of a men’s neck tie.  Andy never wears a bow tie to Sunday church because it looks really weird with his preaching robe.  You wouldn’t believe what a feat it is to get these boys dressed for church on Sundays.  Especially since O (almost 2) runs as fast as he can in the other direction when you try and put clothes on him.  You’d never know how wild he is looking at that sweet smile.

We also had a great time on Tuesday making our favorite new food – Pizza Pockets.  Maybe I’ll post about that next week.  It’s a fun little recipe.

Here are some of the bow ties for little guys that I’ve made lately.  These things are just too cute.

Of course, I had to convince him that pink seersucker actually is cool for boys to wear.  He was a little hesitant at first but he came around to like it.

And here’s a christmas plaid one.

And a little Reindeer bow tie and neck tie set.

And finally, a patch madras neck tie.

I think I may add a children’s tie section to my little “store”.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.  This is the first time I’ve been on a computer for any length of time in a while.  A few days ago, my computer stopped working so it is now going to the apple hospital to hopefully be repaired.

I wanted to give you a bullet point-ish post though to remind you that I’m still around and tell you what’s going on over here.

• I’m thinking of starting a mailing list to let you know when I update my online store.  Is this something you would be interested in?  Do you know of a mailing list service I could use – preferably something I can put in my sidebar?  Your help is greatly appreciated.
• My model/husband has been writing a masters thesis nonstop lately and I haven’t really had a chance to get him to model the ties for me, but I promise, more converted ties are coming SOON – like within the next few days.  Some good ones for you Trad gentlemen.
• I’m planning a bow tie giveaway for the end of the month.  So be looking forward for your chance to get a handmade Cordial Churchman bow tie for free (!) and in the process help spread the word about my ties.  More info on that one in a few weeks.
• I’ve made more ascots, they actually are really fun to make and are so soft.  Some people have expressed interest so know that they are $23 and I’ll be making them less often than the bow ties so put your bid in if you’re interested. (ellielaveer@gmail.com)
• Apparently, tomorrow is Bow Tie Tuesday, so if you’re a gentleman, get your bow tie on tomorrow.  E-mail me pictures if it is one of my ties.

I’ll leave you with this cute picture of my little boy wearing a romper I made for him a couple of weeks ago using my serger.  It turned out pretty cute.  This was my third time using this pattern.  Do you remember the last time I made a romper?  It was only 4 months ago and I used the leftover seersucker fabric to make my husband a bow tie (my first tie).  It seems like forever ago – I’ve made hundreds of ties since then!

Cheers,

Ellie

As I was making this last night for Owen, my husband agreed that this shirt screams “My mom is a big dork”.  Somehow, I don’t really mind announcing that I’m a dork with children’s clothing.  I asked my 3 year old if he wanted a bow tie shirt and he said no.  Maybe a neck tie shirt for the big guy?

The best part is that even when he’s really mad, I just look at him and laugh because he’s so darn cute.

Andy found this rather ugly neck tie at the thrift store.  Today I turned into a rather cute bowtie.  This was actually my first time sewing with silk.  It was rather slippery, but I think I figured it out.  I’m excited to do a bit more of this type of work.  What do you think?

I’m sure Andy’s glad that I’ve figured out how to tie these things by myself so that he doesn’t have to get all dressed up for my photo-shoots.  He actually wore it to church tonight but we forgot to take a picture.

And I just had to show off these super cute guys.  We snapped this shot on the front porch after church today.  Can you tell that Andy dressed Deacon?  He looked sharp.

I found some adorable fabric at Ashville Cotton Company yesterday.  I didn’t even know what I was going to do with it, but today, I decided to use a little bit to make a ribbon belt for my 3 year old.  Sorry, as all crafting happens while children are sleeping, I don’t have a picture of him wearing it.  But I was so excited to show it off I just had to post it tonight.  

I’m also quite fond of my first ever diamond seersucker tie which someone ordered by special request.  It looks really huge on me, but on a man with a dress shirt it would (obviously) look a bit more appropriate.  I just didn’t have Andy around to model for me.

I’m pretty sure I tied it wrong, but you get the idea.  I bet Andy’s going to want me to make him a diamond point tie now.  They are really neat.

Here’s the jumper I made the other day.  It really looks adorable on my little boy, doesn’t it?  This one is size 4T.

FYI- I purchased the pattern HERE.  It’s a great pattern ranging from size 0 to 4T with lots of great instructions and pictures.

On Tuesday, I had quite the eventful morning at the mall.  I was with Owen, Deacon and my neice Elylah (age 3) throwing pennies into the water fountain.  I took a few pictures of them and had both my purse and camera on my arm.  My neice was sitting on a bench and must have lost her balance because she fell into the water head first (but she didn’t bump her head).  The current took her slowly away and my only option was to jump into the fountain to get her.  I praise the Lord that she is completely fine.  When I pulled her out of the water, she was most upset that her shoe had fallen off!  

I could not believe the adrenalin rush I had from the whole event.  The only other times I felt like that were when I was giving birth! I was so embarrassed and glad and scared.  Then all day, my brain was filled with the “what if?” questions.  It was really emotional.  Much more emotional for me than Elylah.  She really was over it shortly after it happened.

Oh and later on in the afternoon, a couple of large bruises appeared on my knee and I don’t even remember banging them.  Isn’t that strange?

My phone seems to be working alright and nothing else really got damaged from my purse, but the camera is dead.  So we’ll see how picturesque I can make my blog posts with-out it.  I’m going to call Canon and give them the whole sob story and see if maybe they can make a repair or replace it.  Anyone have connections or mad skills in camera repair?  I was SO happy with the camera and I’ve only had it 5 months.

And here’s the second attempt.