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Monday, December 10, 2007

We just got back from vacation....to Cancun, Mexico. Brooks plans pretty cool surprise vacations, eh? Pictures of that when I upload them.
And in other news, check out my website for my sewing business. It's not hugely well done or anything, but it's the best website I've ever made.
www.seamstressemily.com

Friday, November 23, 2007

Life with Elijah and the Parents

Thanksgiving is exhausting. Very exhausting. The celebration of the strenuous holiday results in folks across America who never take mid-afternoon naps keeling over helplessly at the first sign of a cushy sofa. All three of the members of my family fell prey to the sleepiness of this holiday yesterday, and today we are still bearing the effects. To wit, that while I woke up automatically slightly later than normal, Elijah and Brooks have both woken up and rolled over helplessly back to their dreams. And now it's after 10 o'clock in the morning, and they're both sound asleep next to each other in the big bed. So I will take this rare moment where the rest of my family is unavailable for playtime and update you on...

Life with Elijah and the Parents

Elijah has been growing and developing much while Brooks and I learn more and more that the life of a parent is expended mostly in efforts to provide, teach, protect, feed, and simply keep our child clean. He (the baby, not Brooks) now weighs 20 pounds and has grown 1/2 an inch over the last month. But that is now, this is then...

About a month and a half ago, the first time we found him standing up waiting to be picked up when he woke up from a nap.

Showing love and gratefulness for the quilt that his Great-grandma Lederman made for him.

Exploring the great outdoors (and eating as many leaves as he can sneak in) at Herrick Lake.

Getting dedicated to the Lord at church.

Attending Ellie Poole's wedding with Mom and Dad (aren't my men handsome?).

Getting his first real head-bonk (as he fell he pulled a chair on top of his head, hence the scrape).

And trying to help Mommy wash dishes.

In other events, my friends Melissa and Crissy came in town on their way to a conference and stayed a few days.

I got to know Melissa at a TESOL training and also spent a lot of time with her on my first trip to Taiwan. Crissy is her younger sister that I've gotten to hang out with a good amount also.

And then a few pictures from Thanksgiving yesterday...

My mom's beautifully laid table Thanksgiving morning.

Elijah with Aunt Laura and Grandma Storm.

And Brooks, Chris, Jesse and Will doing what boys on vacation do...networking all their computers together to shoot each other with maximum ease. Over and over and over again. Apparently much shedding of (virtual) blood equals a really great time for the male gender. A cup of tea and some crumpets while we share our hearts together, girls?

I hear Brooks "roaring" at Elijah in the other room, so I suppose they have woken up. That is their favorite Daddy-Son game: crawling around on the floor roaring at each other. They're not lions or bears or tigers in particular, just roaring humans. ROAR!!!!

And since I just have a moment left, hear is the last bit of breaking news: Elijah is going to be a big brother some time next summer... (!) We're very excited!

Friday, October 12, 2007

Our First Fall in Two Years

I've been very lax in posting here, but I mean to be more consistent. The announcement of my sewing business should give you an indication where my spare time has gone! More updates later, but wanted to share with you a picture of our joy in life.
Our Cutie Pie next to our (future) Pumpkin Pie.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Announcing...
The Start of Emily's Sewing Business!
It all started while Brooks and I were talking late one night when we were still in Taiwan. I was tutoring about 6 students in English at the time, and I enjoyed the chance to exercise my brain, teach, and earn a little money. I wanted to continue earning a little once we came back to the States, but I didn't think there were many people who wanted English lessons in America. At least, not as many as Taiwan, where it seems that everybody and his cousin is learning English. We talked about many different options, from teaching piano (but I have no piano), taking in some office work to do at home, working part time some where (but we really didn't want to leave the baby with someone else!), and nothing sounded good. Nothing seemed right. Then all of a sudden, Brooks said, "how about a sewing business?" Perfect!!!
I've been sewing since I was about 9 years old. My grandmother sews. My aunt sews. My mother sews. My sisters sew. It is in my blood, I'm good at it, and best of all, I can do it from home while the baby's sleeping or playing. Brooks immediately thinks about it from the business point of view, thinking about how to make it truly profitable and not under-sell myself, looking for markets that would be a good fit for me and where people are willing to invest in quality sewing. We thought of the wedding industry and how people want beautiful, unique dresses that are very well made. So that's eventually what I'm hoping to get into, sewing brides, bridesmaids, mother of the bride, and flower girl dresses. For right now, while I'm establishing my business I'm open to doing other projects as well.
When I emailed my sister Anna about the idea, she emailed back with a "great! you want all my projects?!" She's been sewing for other people but with baby #2 due any day (actually over due any day...) she doesn't have time for it anymore. So immediately when I came home I was lined up with sewing a bridesmaid dress, and some alterations. Later on I altered a bridesmaid's dress and now am working on a ballet costume. I'm looking for more work over these next few days.
Right when Brooks suggested the idea of a sewing business, my mind raced to the biggest project on my sewing "resume" - my wedding dress.

I made my dress in less about three months, besides working and planning a wedding. I started with a wedding dress pattern, made a mock-up with scrap fabric, changed a few things, and added details like ribbon embroidery on the sleeve cuffs. You can't see it in this picture, but on the left sleeve cuff I put a little blue butterfly (something borrowed, something blue...).
Next on my resume is probably the bridesmaid dress I made for my sister Anna's wedding. I've made two other bridesmaid dresses for myself (for my cousin Andrea's wedding and my friend Colleen's) but this is the only one I have a picture for.

Then after that would probably be the two suits I made during my debating (and coaching) years (that's my friend Emily Van Vliet on the left):

Then my Civil War costumes...

And then, before I started these projects, there was an era in my early teens where just about everything I wore I had sewn for myself.
Church dress of courdroy...

Skirt and blouse...

Summer sundress...

um... baking dress...(notice I'm getting younger and younger?)

wow-that's-a-lot-of-red dress...

And the first dress I ever made myself (I'm holding baby Laura Jane):

And my first ever sewing project (uh...it looks that good because my Grandma fixed up the nine-patches after I was done!)...

So...if you have anything that needs sewing, or if your neighbor or friend does, just send an email to seamstressemily@gmail.com, or call 630-664-1799. (how's that for a shameless plug?)
I knew this was a good idea when I was genuinely excited about starting to sew for other people. And the first few projects have confirmed that to me. Can't wait to set up the extra bedroom at our house as a sewing room!
Emily
Goodbyes and Hellos, Part II
Sooo.....we've been back in the States for almost two months. And what have we been doing to keep ourselves busy? We have been...
Introducing The Lige to his family

Elijah is shown here with Grandpa Walker. I think this was the first sucessful Grandpa-Grandson bonding time. For some reason, Elijah was scared of Grandpa Walker at first. It might have something to do with Grandpa suddenly shouting "Got'im out!!" during a baseball game when he was holding the baby, but we're not sure. All we know is that he's gotten used to him now, along with the rest of the family. I think that it was a bit of a shock to him to find out his parents were actually part of the racial majority in their home country. He'd been used to lots of Oriental faces but not so many Caucasians.
While Elijah was the first grandchild on the Walker side, he isn't on the Storm side. He was preceded by his cousin Ruth. One of the things I was looking forward to doing the most when we came home was to have the cousins play with each other. They seem to like it quite a lot and have spent hours staring at each other. Well...Elijah stares. Ruth (now 13 months) is a bit more mobile and has done everything from trying to kiss Elijah to almost sitting on him. Purdy Cute.

Looks like the little lady's about to run off with his burb rag.
Well, it's probably okay since he's using her bib. Yummy rice cereal!!!

We have also been...
Vacationing at Gull Lake in Michigan. I felt I married into the right family when my husband came with a family pool. But when two lake cabins in Michigan were also thrown into the bargain, I knew for sure. Here is Lige swimming with Daddy.

And Brooks putting up the sail on the catamaran...

As I mentioned in the last post, we've been living at my family's house for the summer until our house is available again on September 1st. Brooks has been taking Financial Reporting I from Northern Illinois University and working for his dad (who has a remodeling company) on his off days. His goal is to become a CPA, and so he's working on that while he looks for a full-time job in accounting for this fall. He went on several interviews this week and things look very positive so we're excited to see what may happen. (Side note: Taiwan is a pretty casual country so while we brought his suit he never had a reason to wear it. For his interviews I had to find his suit in the suitcases and iron his dress shirt. Man, I forgot how handsome he looks all dressed up! It'd been over a year since I'd seen him that put together!) I've been taking care of the baby, of course, spending time with my mom and my siblings, and also...starting a business of my own. More about that in my next post. In between all these things, we've been helping my parents out at home. Brooks led the project to re-roof the garage this Saturday and earlier put in about 30 feet of fence with my brother Chris, besides other small projects for my mom ("Brooks, would you be so kind as to hang these two pictures for me? ... Wow, he actually measured! I never measure!!") I've helped with house cleaning a little, made some meals, baked some treats, sewn with Laura, and helped Will practice his reading. Everything's been fun and certainly very busy.
Few more pictures:
Elijah in the front seat of our new car. Brooks scouted out a great deal for us and we now own a '93 Toyota Corolla in excellent condition. Possibly the nicest car we will ever own. Our last car purchase was an '85 Pontiac at a garage sale.

And here is Elijah with one of his favorite toys...his very own baseball glove. He'll be following in his daddy's footsteps very soon! Brooks dreams of the day when he arrives home from work and Elijah meets him at the door with a "Dad, I wanna play baseball, Dad! Dad! Dad, play baseball with me, Dad!"
A happy wife and a happy mommy,
Emily