Wow. Sunday evening and the weekend is pretty much over and Brave is officially five. We had a grand time celebrating her birthday yesterday. If you follow @3ringcircus, @mishalulu, or me (@rubyellenbratcher) on instagram, you might have seen little peeks. It was a Swan Lake party complete with a real dancer, lots of little ballerinas, and a performance. Plus, loads of sugar because every birthday party needs lots of sugar, even if it is at the Bratcher house. “Sometimes foods” still happen over here, but there is a reason we call it “sometimes foods”. The result is one really happy Bravey.

Lots of pictures were taken and I can’t wait to share them with you. My friend Kim (and the love her life Andre), who is amazing behind the camera, snapped pictures for us. It is always so nice to have someone else taking pictures to help record the moment because that leaves us free to just enjoy it. Once, I get them from her, you bet I will share them here! BTW- Kim, who also happens to be the new photographer for designlovefest, is heading to Florida next week (8/8-8/10), so if any of you Floridians need to get some pictures taken, you better contact Kim asap at [email protected]. Be sure to see her site and blog. I am sure you’ll love it!

This week’s learned and links…

Did you see my Paint-by-Numbers Pillow on A Beautiful Mess?

This new to me shop has amazing beaded necklaces. I love them!

Love this going green post. I love having plants in my home.

I’m coming out of bridesmaid retirement because my best (guy) friend is getting married to this gal and I am honored to stand up next to them on their wedding day.

True is so sweet and creative. She went all out making things for Brave’s birthday. Her makings deserve a whole post of its own.

Starting my day off in prayer and in the Word is infinitely good for my soul.

The Mixie giveaway winner was announced on twitter.

I’ve got lots of vintage (home & some kid clothes) goodies to sell and am joining in will be selling some goods at this event with Oh, Hello Friend, 3 Ring Circus, and Misha Lulu. Come and stop by! I would love to meet you! RSVP and get details here.

Thank you for your reassuring words on my roller coaster post. It’s nice to feel normal about being abnormal isn’t it?!

We’re still recuperating from yesterday’s party while the three big girls are off at the Happiest Place in Southern California with the grandparents to continue the birthday celebrations for Brave. I’ve got my fingers crossed that I can get all the laundry put away before they get home. What was your weekend filled with?

This week has felt a bit more peaceful. I think last week I was feeling really frantic and crazy, well, I feel crazy almost 99% of the time, but just unusually so and all the tension I had was coming out in anger and crankiness towards the girls. Then, this lady (oh. my. gosh. it’s crystal lewis!) and her daughter came over and they invited me to a special women’s study they were heading off to. I decided to go and am so glad I did. The message was exactly what I needed to hear.

I love being a mother. Before I had kids, I knew it wasn’t an easy job, but oh man, once your knee deep, it’s a really crazy ride and a whole other story. Just like a roller coaster, sometimes there are parts of that ride that are terrifying and you just want the ride to stop and get off, and other parts of that ride are so exhilarating that all you want to do is yell at the top of your lungs from excitement. Last week was one of those, “STOP THE RIDE, I NEED TO GET OFF!” kind of moments. And I think that’s normal and totally not wrong to feel that way.

I needed reminders of my role and how to take joy in it. I was so cranky, that on Friday, on our way to pick up some dinner, I didn’t even want to talk to Ben because even just talking was too stressful. I just wanted to zone out and be quiet or watch some exciting, live action movie (I’m totally a guy when it comes to movies.). Really though, I wanted to go on a mini vacation by myself. I thought about that as we drove, but then I felt kind of bad about leaving Ben if I actually did. It was just that kind of week when you feel horrible about everything you said and did and I wanted to just run away.

Running away never really solves problems and I wouldn’t have been running in the right direction if I did. This week I have been trying to run to God and I think that’s put my head back on straight. Well, kind of straight. It’s still kind of crooked, but I think that’s my fault. I am working on it though. This week my load has felt a twinge lighter and it’s been more “THIS RIDE’S CRAZY, BUT I LOVE IT!” kind of thing. I do really love being a mother, crazy parts and all.

Oh and to my surprise, Aunt Flo came on Sunday. No wonder I was crazy hormonal.

Last week, I was itching to make a couple shirts for myself and on that same day, saw that Rachel was making some and got the itch even more. Of course, I had a couple things I was working on last week (like this) that took up any free time, so shirt making got put on hold. Today I finally had some free time, the babies were napping, the big girls were next to me coloring, and I got to cutting up some fabric. I’ve been wanting some more plain simple tops to go with the pants and shorts I have been wearing of late and making is always better than buying. At least for me it is.

I just went for simple, boxy tops and didn’t follow an exact pattern, but just used a shirt (this one) I had and did something similar. Rachel has good tips here if you want to copy a shirt you have. I also added some bust darts to help give it a bit more shape. I really like the loose fit though and they just feel so comfy. I used some nice, striped, light-weight cotton and am so glad I have been hoarding this fabric forever because it was just what I was envisioning. Plus, stripes are so great, right?! I just know these shirts will be getting a lot of use. Naturally, after the big girls saw that I made two shirts for myself, they were bugging for their own. I had enough fabric to make each of them one, so the sewing continued.

Little things are much easier to make than big things. As I was sewing away their shirts, True was gathering all my scraps. After each shirt was sewn, she created a picture on each shirt using the scraps. I didn’t tell her to do this, she just did. She laid the scraps out on the shirt and told me how to sew them. I pinned them down where she placed them and sewed them on. For Brave’s, she asked for a fabric marker and then she drew a face! This oldest girl of mine is quite clever and Brave was so excited to be the recipient of not only a mama-made shirt, but a True-made one too!

It took more time than I had originally planned with the addition of two little shirts, but it was a good way to spend time with the girls and not only scratch my sewing itch, but it also scratched their creative itch too! Then when Ben came home and we were all wearing our shirts, he said, “Oh wow! You all have new shirts!” Yup. We were all so proud.

My lastest contribution post over at  A Beautiful Mess is up… the Paint-by-Numbers Pillow. This is something I was churning in my head for awhile and had to recreate a couple times until I was absolutely happy with it. Oh boy! You should see my first one, it had a mountain in the landscape and when it was done, it just looked like a big chocolate chip cookie in the picture. That was no bueno. So it was back to the drawing board again until I had a result that I loved! I have a couple more in mind and next time I will use fabric medium (as suggested by someone in the comments) to see how that comes out. You learn and get better each time you do something. I love that challenge. Head over to ABM and check it out here!!!

The girls decided to wear hats. I guess I was hat girl growing up, I had the big old Blossom (loved that show!) style hats as a kid, and still like wearing them on occasion. Not so much those Blossom ones anymore, just regular straw hats. I guess my girls got that hat love too. They take my hats and even Ben’s hats and wear them all the time, and for some reason this past Sunday they both decided those hats were particular outfit completers and wore them. I was going to tell them not to and that they didn’t really go, but I took a chill pill and went with it. Our hats look much cuter on them than us anyways.

And really, as many outfit sharing photos I’ve taken, I never really get comfortable in front of the camera. I’m no model and don’t have the skillz, yes, I put a z at the end of that, to pretend I am one. I just have one sure way to pose and that’s with a smile (or look to the right because I like my left side better). So after those very few poses in my repertoire, silly is what you get. Plus, my girls are all about silly.

on me: shirt, aa from sister. pants, urban outfitters. shoes, c/o boutique unicorn. necklace, lo fidelity love. on true: dress, vintage. clogs, c/o lotta from stockholm. on brave: dress, vintage and gifted. shoes, vintage via rachel’s pop up shop. on soul: dress, vintage. shoes, vintage via etsy. on glow: romper, old navy.

Monday already?! I got a lot of things done this weekend because Ben was here to help manage the girls. I am pretty jazzed about some projects I finally completed, just for fun we had a family dinner by candlelight, and we even went out on with some friends on Sunday. We also made sure to sneak in some Olympics here and there. This week’s schedule is already full because it’s Brave’s birthday on Saturday and we got some special plans going on. She is so excited about it and keeps telling us that she is. She’s even got a countdown going on.

Oh and if you want to follow on instagram just look up @rubyellenbratcher or click here.