Cue ZZ Top

‘Cause every girl’s gonna go crazy for my sharp-dressed man.

Yes, I’m finally posting pictures of Konik’s ring bearer outfit! Here’s where I talk about the making of it.

He would like you all to see his van.

Yeah, they look like high waters when he’s sitting down. I added some length to the legs, but it looks like I probably could have been a little more generous. These won’t fit him long. I might add a cuff…

Like this, Maman?

This pose was totally his idea. I was having trouble getting him to stay in one spot because he always wants to come see the picture display on the back of the camera. Problem is, he starts coming to look before I’ve even snapped the shot. So I told him to stand on his car mat. For some reason, he took a knee. Funny dude.

That was supposed to be in my mouth.

He was trying to chew a straw like Axl Rose does at the beginning of the “Welcome to the Jungle” video. Yeah, I know Axl wasn’t the first to chew on a straw, but my kids don’t know that, and they think his every move is cool. So in an attempt to emulate their hero, they pull straws out of my broom. Gross. Besides, what does a straw + suit make? Hick chic? Not that the cabin backdrop really goes, either, but ya get what ya get.

Wouldn’t you know it

We got back yesterday afternoon from nearly a week of family reunion/wedding stuff. It was great, a lot of fun, but hectic! At any one time, there were 13-25 people in the vacation rental house, and seven of them were children under 6 years old. “Busy” is an understatement. The day of the wedding reminded me of the scene in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” — people running up and down the stairs in various states of dress; Oops forgot to grab the girls’ hair ribbons; Has anyone seen Mom’s shoes? Somebody needs to get out of the bathroom ’cause I still need to do my makeup! — and we were the family of the groom!

Things didn’t get any better when we arrived at the reception site for pictures. I went to help my sister unload the wedding cake from her car and we were greeted by a mass of mushed up cake and frosting in the back and dripping off the hatch onto us. It was horrendous. In ten years of my sister making and decorating wedding cakes, she has never had one collapse. She was heartbroken and we all felt awful for her. My little brother has the most even-keeled personality of anyone I know, so he took the news in stride and L’s family were all very gracious about the cake disaster. My grandpa took my sister to the store to try and find some kind of replacement cake. When the pictures were done, Mr. Gren took our crazy monkeys back to the house to burn off some steam before the wedding and I stayed at the reception site with my sister to help her dress up the pseudo-wedding cake. We still managed to have some time to wind down back at the house before the actual wedding.

Everyone should get to see how lovely the cake was before it died.

At the wedding, Mr. Gren found his seat and carefully distributed brand new coloring books and crayons along the pews where the six little flower girls and one little ring bearer would be seated after they performed their duties. Meanwhile, my sister, sister-in-law and I were corralling all the kids in the back room waiting for show time and trying to keep them out of the way of the bridesmaids and bride. Of course, right when the wedding coordinator popped her head in to let us know it was almost time to line up, I noticed that Konik wasn’t smelling so fresh… and Mr. Gren had the diaper bag. Ugh. But the kids all did a good job walking down the aisle and filed in to their seats just like they were supposed to (and then Mr. Gren whisked Konik away to get him cleaned up).

In the midst of all that chaos, neither of us got a picture of little man in his spiffy wedding clothes. Not even at the reception! So, unless one of my family members got a photo of him, we’ll have to try to stage a shot. And of course, it didn’t occur to any of us to take a picture of me in my new dress, either. I’ll try to get some pictures taken this week!

Rana waiting for dinner at the reception

But, despite all the craziness on our end of things, my brother and his bride were beaming the entire day and thoroughly enjoyed all the festivities. And that’s the most important part!

Congratulations, S & L!

 

Somebody’s gonna look good

In just a few days, my little brother (little in years, not in stature) is going to get married! He and my soon-to-be sis-in-law asked if Rana & Granota would be flower girls and if Konik would be the ring bearer. Well, of course the girls were thrilled out of their little minds! Princess fantasies abound! I did not have to make flower girl dresses because my four nieces are also going to share the flower girl duties and naturally, they all have to match. A whole little flowery entourage. Unless they’re going relay style in honor of the recently completed Olympics… (S & L, I’ve got an idea for you!) Originally, I wasn’t going to have to sew anything for Konik, either, but the lovely Miss L couldn’t find a tiny suit in his size. So I volunteered to save her some time hunting and set to work sewing.

Cute stuff!

This super cute little vest was made with help from the tutorial by Ashley at Make It-Love It. For my template, instead of a t-shirt, I used the button-up shirt that Konik would be wearing underneath the vest. And lucky me, I didn’t have to sew that either! We found a tiny white linen Children’s Place shirt for a couple bucks at the thrift store. Woo hoo! The pants I made using the same pattern as I used for his Easter suit. I added a little extra length to the biggest size and it’s a good thing I did! Looks like that will be the last time I can use that pattern.

The fabric is polyester shantung. I hate polyester and try to avoid it whenever possible. But, in this instance, the only alternative is real silk shantung and — in case you’ve missed it — we’re not exactly in the tax bracket that can afford making silk suits for 2 year olds. Sorry, kid. I love ya, but I know what you’d do to it and that, in turn, would make me weep. Not like anyone can fault me. For less than $15, my little man is going to be stylin’.

Real pockets, fake fly.

I can’t let him wear it just yet, though. I would be beside myself is something happened to these clothes before the wedding! Now, if we can just get him convinced to wear his new black dress shoes that go with it…