13th Avenue Co.

T-Shirt Up-cycle Sew Along

**Disclosure: This blog and the posts on it may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation when you make a purchase using my links at no additional cost to you. This allows me to help my little family, and I appreciate your support in doing so!**

Day Three: Sewing the Shirt

We made it to day three! This part is the most fun in my opinion.

As far as construction goes, I’m going to encourage you to follow the tutorial from the patterns I recommended.

All I’m going to add is a few tips I’ve learned along the way.

Here’s what you’ll need for Day Three:

Sewing machine and/or serger
Ballpoint needle
Scissors
Fusible hem tape
Ballpoint straight pins
Cut shirt from day two

A Few Housekeeping Notes:

When you’re working with knits, you will need to see with a stretch stitch. I usually use my serger in everything, until I get to the hemming, and then I switch to a double ballpoint needle on my sewing machine.

If you don’t have a serger, that’s okay. Almost sewing machines come with a stretch stitch. My machine’s stretch stitch is 05.

**You also need to make sure you’re using a ballpoint needle to sew! This needle is made for knits– a regular sharp needle will not work.

Here are my tips:

Tip One: What To Do When You Forget To Transfer The Markings From The Pattern

It is still possible to make this shirt, even if you forgot the notches. Raglan shirts are easy to tell the front from the back, because the back sleeve line is longer than the front. On the sleeve piece itself, the back comes up higher than the front. That’s how you’ll know what parts to put together. (See pics below.)

Tip Two: Preparing The Neckband

This tip is great for if you forgot to mark your center front and back, and will help you to “quarter” your neckband accurately.

First, fold the shirt so that the sleeve seams are meeting each other at the neck hole. Pin the Center Front and Center Back.

Then, make your Center Front and Back pins meet each other at the neck hole. Mark with pins. Now you’ll have 4 pins placed in the neck hole, which is marking your quarter points for you.

Now you can pin your quartered neckband to your quartered neck hole. I always put the seam in my neckband in Center back. Match all pins together. **Note- the neckband is smaller than the neck hole. When you sew, you’ll have to stretch the neck band BUT NOT the shirt. **

Tip Three: Hemming and Top Stitching

I failed to point out on day two when we were cutting that I kept the original hem on the shirt. This cut down my sewing time for me! I like to use a double ballpoint needle when hemming. It gives a professional look, and it is a stretch stitch which is needed when working with knits.

After sewing my shirt together and sewing on the neckband, the only thing I had left to do was hem the sleeves. I also like to topstitch(understitch) the neckline, so that my seam will lay flat. I do both of these with a double needle on my sewing machine. I had some maroon and navy thread in my machine from my last project, and I liked how it looked on this shirt, so I kept it that way!

I was able to hem my sleeves by folding 1/2″ under and stitching with my double needle. This worked great with the medium weight fabric I used for the sleeves.

** If you have a lighter weight fabric, hem tape or interfacing will be your best friend. It will stabilize the fabric so that your double needle stitch won’t cause tunneling. **

I also used the double needle on the neckline.

Annnd we are finished! I love the way I was able to bring this old shirt back to life.

If you’ve got questions on anything from this sew-along, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment below!

Happy sewing!

❤ Kayliegh

T-Shirt Up-cycle Sew Along

Day Two: Cutting Your Fabric

Have you ever heard that saying, “measure twice, cut once?” Well, that definitely rings true for sewing, especially when you have fabric you love. Hopefully my tips today will help you be successful!

If you missed yesterday’s sew-along day, I went over how to prepare your pattern. Check it out here.

Here’s what you’ll need for today:

1. The shirt you want to up-cycle.

2. 1/2-1 yard of knit fabric for the sleeves. (How much you’ll need depends on what length of sleeves you’ll be cutting. With 1 yard, you’ll probably have some left overs but it will ensure that your sleeve pattern fits well.)

** My striped fabric pictured is a double brushed polyester knit from my fave Raspberry Creek Fabrics. This fabric is like butter. **

3. Cutting scissors- love my Ghingers!

4. Pattern that you prepped on day one.

5. Weights of some sort (note my awesome tuna cans).

**You can use pins or clips instead of weights, I have just found that I prefer weights, especially when working with knits. I also like it because then I don’t have pins tearing up my pattern. **

Lets get started!

Step one: Test your shirt to see how the pattern will fit. To do this, find the side seams of your shirt and make the meet, so that the center front and back of your shirt is folded.

Lay your pattern front or back on top. This should give you a good idea of whether you’ll need to cut into the sleeve.

Step Two: Option 1

If your pattern fits on your shirt without using the sleeve fabric, cut the sleeves of your shirt off.

Then cut up the side seams.

And the shoulder seams. Now you’ll have a front and a back piece.

OPTION 2: if you need to leave the sleeves on, cut up the side seam and through the bottom sleeve seam, as well as the top of the sleeve and through the should seams. This will give you a front and back piece. (Pretend the sleeves are still attached in the pic. The black lines are the cutting lines.)

If you need to use the sleeve fabric, you may end up with part of the old sleeve seam. That’s okay!

Now you can cut the neckband off.

Now we are ready to cut the shirt out!

Step 3: Cutting Front and Back

Fold shirt front in half, being careful to match up all the sides.

Lay pattern over shirt, securing with your weights (or pins or clips).

Step 4: Cut out the fabric, paying close attention to the markings on the pattern. (The sleeves and armholes will have notches that will help to match front and back when sewing.)

Repeat step 3 and 4 for the back of the shirt.

Step 5: Cutting Sleeves and Neckband

Fold your coordinating knit fabric in half. This will give you the mirroring you need to cut both sleeves at the same time.

Place sleeve pattern on the fabric, and secure with weights.

Cut sleeves. Don’t forget to cut the markings from the pattern of necessary!

Cut neckband, following pattern instructions.

And now we are ready to sew!

Here are a few tips that will make your life a little easier:

Don’t stretch or pull the knit fabric while you’re cutting it. You’ll end up with a skewed pattern piece.
Make sure your grain line matches up with the pattern. When you look at your fabric, the grain line is usually going up and down. Cutting off grain will cause your fabric to twist while you’re wearing it.
When folding your fabric in half, don’t use the grain rather than the selvage or top and bottom edges. When your fabric was cut, chances are it wasn’t cut completely straight.

If you run into any more questions or challenges while cutting, feel free to send me a message through my contact page, OR leave a comment below!

See you tomorrow for the FUN part: sewing the shirt!

❤ Kayliegh

T-Shirt Up-cycle Sew Along

Day One: Preparing the Pattern

Welcome welcome! I am excited to get started on this project. I’ve got a stack of old t-shirts that I can’t bring myself to get rid of, but can’t fit my mom belly in anymore. This is a great solution that will allow me to bring some old shirts (and memories) back to life!

Let’s get started!

To begin with, you’ll need the following:

Your pattern. I am using a Raglan pattern for this sew-along. If you’re a beginner, the Raglan is a great place to start! I’ve mentioned before that I love to use PDF patterns. My favorite raglans come from Patterns for Pirates and GreenStyleCreations . **the P4P is my affiliate link**

2. Wax paper. I like using wax paper over parchment paper. I’ve found that it works better for what I need. (The Reynolds parchment paper works TOO good- I can’t get tape to stick to it!)

3. Permanent marker

4. Some sort of weight to keep your pattern and tracing paper in place. (Yes, those are tuna cans. They are the perfect weight and height to make tracing a breeze!)

Once you’ve got your materials gathered up, find a good-sized, hard surface to work. The kitchen table is usually my choice. (Someday I’ll have a work space for this- when my new house is done being built!)

Follow these steps:

1. If you printed your pattern on 8×11 paper, you’ll want to piece it together using the guide on the pattern.

2. Find what size you’ll need. The guides on the patterns I find to be very accurate.

** if your measurements fall into different sizes, you may need to grade the pattern. I will be doing a tutorial on how to do that in the near future. For now, if you have questions, send me a message through my contact page and I can walk you through it. **

3. I trace one pattern piece at a time. Rip a piece of wax paper off- enough to cover the piece you’re tracing. Depending on the size, you may need to tape two pieces of wax paper together– I usually have to do this on the bodice pattern pieces and the sleeves.

4. Using the key on the pattern, find the right line for your size. Trace around the pattern piece. Also be sure to trace all of the pattern markings, and label what pattern piece it is. There’s nothing worse then trying to use a blank pattern later on and not knowing whether you’ve got the front or the back.

This is how I usually label:

P4P Raglan

Sleeve

Size LG

Cut 2

I use the permanent marker to trace, and I usually do dashed lines, rather than tracing the whole line.

When you’re finished tracing all the pieces, cut them out and you are ready to cut your fabric!

**I use this tracing method because I like to have a master copy of my pattern. I sew for family and clients, and I need to be able to use the pattern more than once. If you are using the pattern for just your own personal use, you can absolutely skip this tracing step and cut your size from your printed pattern. It’s all up to your preference. **

See you tomorrow for day two: cutting your fabric!

❤ Kayliegh

Sew Along

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I’d be doing a sew-along to upcycle some old t-shirts. See the post Here for details on what you need and for a chance to win some fabric!

I just wanted to show what the before and after of this project will be like!

Can’t wait to see you there! Message me here if you have any questions.

❤ Kayliegh

Monday Makes

It’s my goal to make something new every week. What better day then Monday? It will give me something to look forward to at the beginning of the week! Starting next week, I’ll incorporate a sew-a-long with my Monday make. Are you ready for what I’m going to start with?

I’m going to be taking some t-shirts that don’t fit me well and make them into raglans.. if you’re not familiar with the jargon, that is a baseball-style shirt.

Since this will be my first sew-along, let me tell you how it will work (if you’re wanting to do it with me):

1. You’ll have your materials prepped and ready to go on the day we start. This means fabric and pattern.

2. This is what I’ll be covering in the tutorial:

Pattern piecing and tracing.
Cutting
Construction

3. It will take a couple of days to do this. You can join me on the same day, or catch up on your own time. I’ll be doing videos to show the process, so you can come back and watch them anytime.

I am so excited about this! My favorite raglan patterns are from Patterns for Pirates, look for the Slim Fit Raglan or the Women’s raglan (looser fit then the Slim Fit.) and I also love the Centerfield Raglan from GreenStyleCreations.

Go grab your pattern and fabric now!

I’m also going to pick someone to win a yard of fabric for this project! Send me an email telling me why you’re excited to join and I’ll pick a winner! Deadline is Wednesday 1/31/2018 at midnight MST.

I have got to do some super fun projects lately, but I have a bad habit of not taking pictures.

My sister is having a baby girl any day and requested a car seat cover that doubles as a nursing cover- I’m sure you’ve seen them around! I have a lot of fun fabric and I could decide which to use, so I ended up making her two:

I made a pattern for these using this awesome tutorial. The mauve stripe fabric is called double brushed poly, aka butter, and the floral stripe and solid are both jersey fabric. They are all 4-way stretch, which is important for the functionality of these covers. The fabric is from Raspberry Creek Fabrics. You guys, she designs and prints her own fabric, and the prices are amazing.

Be sure to enter to win a yard of fabric!

See you Monday for the sew-along!

❤ Kayliegh

Sewing Tips

How To Make Your Own Clothes

If you saw my post from Thursday about making your own clothes, I didn’t want to leave you hanging. Even if you’ve only ever made a pillow case, this is something you CAN do. But trust me, once you start, it gets a little hard to stop. It’s amazing how we as humans are wired- with the ability to create and design.

Okay, without further ado and blabbing, here are my tips:

1. Find a sewing machine. This goes without saying- unless you are planning on hand sewing, which is going to increase your completion time exponentially. I prefer to use a serger for the majority of my seams, but it is possible to use a sewing machine for the whole process. Walmart and Joann’s have great options for beginning sewing that won’t break the bank. Honestly, I’ve had friends find good quality machines at the thrift store! You could also see if any relatives have a machine they aren’t using. It’s not too difficult to get your hands on a machine.

2. Start with something simple. I would suggest pants or a raglan shirt.

I love pdf patterns. You can print them off on your printer and piece them together, or you can have a copy shop print it for you on a larger paper size, so there’s no assembly required.

One of my favorite pattern companies is Patterns for Pirates- and they actually have a free legging and pencil skirt pattern. Those would be a great place to start. Check them out here.

3. Pick your fabric. The very best thing you can do when it comes to fabric is use what the pattern calls for. It will save you time and headaches!

***You’ll want to make sure you get the right type of fabric. Knit fabric stretches, and woven fabric does not.

4. Follow the tutorials and guides from the patterns. Take your time! If it doesn’t turn out perfect, don’t give up.

5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you have any questions along the way, send me a message through the contact page on the blog!

Keep watching my blog for more tips and to sew with me!

❤ Kayliegh

Thrifty Thursday

Why You Should Make Your Own Clothes

What do you think of when you hear of someone making their own clothes? If you’re a nineties child like I am, I’m sure you’ve got images of Easter dresses made by grandma running through your head. Along with lace and rick-rack. Oh the rick-rack. And the collars and bows. (See below. Handmade dresses from the 90’s. If you’re wondering if o duh through some scrapbooks to find this, the answer is “heck yes I did”.)

Our grandmothers were amazing. Sewing was just something they knew how to do. My Nana used to make our Barbie clothes.. can you imagine sewing tiny sleeves in for those!? I feel like for a while, sewing was a lost art. Not many people knew how to even sew on a button. But since I’ve been doing my thing, especially since I’ve found so many awesome pattern and fabric companies, I have seen people my age and younger want to learn. It’s very cool.

I have always had a DIY attitude, and when I learned to sew, I was always trying to figure out how not to pay an arm and a leg for things I could make myself. I’ve definitely had many failed attempts, but it’s true what they say about how practice makes perfect. It is that way with anything.

I had the opportunity in college to take some sewing classes, and you can bet I took full advantage of that. I took every class the university had to offer, and then some (my professor did some “specials” classes for a few of us). At the time, there was only a minor for clothing construction, but I learned so much about clothes and how they are made; the whole process from the patterning to the finishing hem. My patternmaking professor was an amazing lady with a lot of experience, and I was blessed to be able to be her TA and learn even more. I soaked up everything she could teach me. At the beginning of my flat pattern class, she told the class that by the end of it, we’d be able to look at any magazine, and make an outfit from it. I didn’t believe her, but now I’m here saying that it is possible.

Now I know this is not an option for everyone. But you don’t have to have a college education in sewing to be able to make your own clothes. I have since found a whole new world called “PDF patterns” and follow some very talented pattern makers. It is quite satisfying to make yourself or your child or your husband, or you sister, Mom, cousin, etc a price of clothing that fits them better then anything they’d find in the store.

Let me tell you a few reasons why I like to make clothes, because let’s be honest, it does take some time and it’s not like there’s a shortage of clothes out there to buy.

1. Fit. As I mentioned before, the patterns I use are amazing. The fit is always right on. Have you ever bought something off the rack at a store and imagined how it would look so good on you, only to try it on and have it be too short/too tight in the sleeves/not a flattering style on you? The clothes you find in stores are manufactured in bulk. They make their best guesses at what will fit, but no one’s bodies are the same shape or size. When you make your own clothes, you can adjust as needed to make it work for you.

2. Quality of work. Back to store bought examples… the people in the factories who make the bulk clothing generally get paid per piece. This is great for the owners, because it really is a very efficient way of making clothes. Those little ladies can sew a front fly zipper on in minutes. But that also means that seams get missed, hems are not accurate, etc. I should also mention that the fabric they use is usually thin and cheap. How many times have you got a hole in your shirt after wearing it a couple times? I have found some amazing sources for fabric. And we are talking good quality fabric that you can put through the ringer.

3. Fulfillment and satisfaction. It really is so satisfying to make yourself or your kids something that you’ll love.

So whether it’s Easter dresses, or a whole wardrobe, I’m challenging you to dust off grandma’s old sewing machine and make something. If you’re a beginner, start with pajama pants. If you know your way around the machine, challenge yourself!

I am excited to use this blog platform as a way to help others with what I have learned. I am going to be doing some tutorials, some sew-a-longs and some plain just showing off my work.

For now, here is a list of some of my favorite pattern makers:

Patterns for Pirates: women, men and children’s patterns! Use my link!

Ellie and Mac: so many patterns to choose from! And on Wednesday’s, they do patterns for $1. Use my link!

Peek-a-boo Pattern shop: I have loved everything I have made with them. They have a huge selection! Use my link!

GreenStyleCreations : they have a lot of athletic patterns. Yes, you can make your own workout clothes! Website

Made for Mermaids: I love their girl’s patterns. My daughters need one of each style in their closet! #goals Website

Keep watching the blog to sew-along with me!

❤ Kayliegh

Lessons Learned

I wanted to share an experience while it was fresh on my mind. First, here’s a short backstory that will help it make more sense: We are currently living in my parent’s basement, while our new house is being built. My brother is also living with my parent’s while going to college. It’s a party every day.

The other night, the husband was out helping a friend. My bro and I had taken my kids to get some dinner from the drive through, and were almost home when the car overheated. Luckily, we had exited the highway and were at the stop sign. We were just down the road from home. A nice man stopped and helped us get the car off the road, and it became evident that it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It’s January in Idaho, people. It’s COLD! Luckily my mom was able to come and get us and we made it home. I feel it necessary to insert a fun fact here: my brother’s car had not started either. So we were down 2 cars.

Emotions were high after we got home- talk about stressful. My brother was unsure of how he would get to class the next day. The semester just started and although he gets ONE absence in the class, it’s not something you want to use up right away. For me, I am usually home, so it’s not dire that I have a vehicle. I’ll admit that it’s hard to feel like you can’t just jump in the car and go when you need to, but I do have a bit of a free, fly-by-the-seat-of-my pants spirit. I was feeling pathetic and plain dumb for thinking I needed to feed my kids cheeseburgers when I could have stayed home and had cereal for dinner. It was a little chaotic discussing our options, and with stressed people being put in a stressful situation, there was a little bit of tension. Not long after, my husband called and told me that his friend’s car had just broken down, and he was going to help wait for the tow truck and then drive his friend home. Other factors like broken tow straps, lost jumper cables, and 4 page papers due definitely helped the chaos factor. *** I’m pushing to rename January 17th as Day of the Dead for vehicles. I’m sure it could be a national holiday next year.***

Whew… the evening went on. We were able to loosen up a little and a couple hours later, prayed that we would be able to get the car home. My brother and I drove to where the car was sitting on the side of the road, and lo and behold, it started right up. He drove it quickly home before we got into any more adventures. As we were sitting there waiting for the reinforcements that would be able to help identify the car problems, we started talking. Maybe it was the prayer that pushed our minds and hearts in the right direction, but we started seeing the blessings of the day, rather than the problems. “If I had gone to town like I was going to, it would have been way worse. Who knows where we would have ended up.” “That man was SO kind and helpful.” “I am so glad my morning class got cancelled and I have time to fix my car before I go.(brother)”. And so many more.

Car problems are pretty common. If you own a car, you’ve probably experienced problems with it at one time or another. This is not the first time that I’ve been stranded on the side of the road, when my husband was not available to help me. It really is not the end of the world. But it got me thinking about the other trials that I am going through right now. The ones that are happening behind closed doors and not many people know about. The ones that are threatening to drag me down to darkness and crush me. If I’m being honest, I have been in some dark places with these trials in the last few months. I have given in to darkness more than I care to admit. It is cold, and lonely, and HARD.

I am blessed to have grown up with a mother who has taught me to live with a grateful heart. When my parents divorced and she was a single mom, we had these gratitude journals that we had to write in every night. She made us think of 5 things we were grateful for every. single. day. That experience has taught me how to count my blessings. I am far from perfect at it, but I do know that it has gotten me through many hard times in my life.

Imagine for a moment being in a pit, where there is absolutely no light coming in and it is cold and dark and lonely. And suddenly, a ray of light shines through and there is a ladder placed in the pit so that you can climb out. This is how I picture the role of gratitude in our lives. Every time we can count a blessing when we are living in darkness, it’s like reaching another rung on the ladder. Until finally, you have climbed out of the pit and you are submerged with the light. That light comes from our Savior Jesus Christ and having faith in Him. Now, the pit may not go away, just like sometimes we have trials for longer than we’d like to have them. But now you are focused on the light. And on the things that are GOOD in your life.

I am trying to remind myself every day to let the light in. There is darkness all around and it is so easy to give into it. But when I start to look UP and look OUT, I can see so many beautiful and wonderful things. It’s my kids catching my eye and smiling at me; it’s seeing my husband with my sweet kids and hearing giggles erupt from the room; it’s a stranger saying hello to me at the grocery store; it’s a conversation on the phone with a family member. There is SO much to be grateful for.

So cars will break down. We will get stranded on the side of the road, in January in Idaho, while the car is billowing smoke. Our hearts will be broken by people we love. We will deal with illnesses and sickness. We will lose loved ones- to death and to misunderstandings. But if we will look for the light, we will make it through. One thing I know to be true, because of my testimony of Jesus Christ and his gospel, is that light will ALWAYS conquer darkness.

I hope you’ll join with me on my quest to let light in everyday. And because I am a die hard Harry Potter fan, I’m going to leave this here:

“Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”- Albus Dumbledore

❤ Kayliegh

Before I was a Mother

Recently, my little crew and I were sitting at my husband’s indoor soccer game in the cheering section. He’s a man of little words, but one thing I know is that he loves when we get to watch him. It’s hard to beat the “go, daddy, go” cheers that erupt from my sweet girls’ mouths.

In the section we were sitting in, there were a few other moms with little kids sitting by us. As we sat and watched the game, I heard one of the moms sternly tell her little girl, “no more to drink! We were up 5 times last night in the bathroom and I’m not doing that again!” I chuckled to myself, thinking about how much actually having kids of my own has changed me. Before I was a mother, I would have heard that comment and thought, ” I will never say something like that to my kids!” Ha. Now I can say for certain, I absolutely have said something like that, on more than one occasion. It made me think of all of the things that I used to think about what kind of mother I’d be.

Before I was a mother (and my husband was a father), we would see a child misbehaving in a store or restaurant and think: “our kids will never act like that in public. Now: we have been those parents in the store/restaurant with the screaming children. Don’t get me wrong, we expect our children to behave politely and try to teach them how to channel their feelings and emotions in a way that won’t make them explode. That being said, and the thing we’ve learned: children are learning too. They are learning their boundaries, and it is healthy for them to be told “no” and not get everything they want. This can sometimes result in an emotional explosion. It doesn’t mean parents with screaming children are bad parents– it means that they have normal children. The best thing you can do is give them a smile.

Before I was a mother, I had never experienced what “sleep deprivation” actually meant. If I wanted to lose sleep, it was completely of my own choosing. But now, after experiencing many sleepless nights with my kids, I would not trade it for anything. Because while being a “mombie” (mom-zombie) has become my new norm, I would have missed out on late night snuggles, opportunities to kiss fever-ridden cheeks, and priceless bonding time while nursing. That’s worth losing sleep to me.

Before I was a mother, I gagged at the sight of kids using their sleeves to wipe their snotty noses. I was not a dependable source to clean up messes. I was encouraged in college to choose nursing as my profession, but I knew I couldn’t hack it. I wouldn’t say now that I am a pro at messes, but I certainly don’t bat an eyelash at a booger. And I’ve gotten really good at breathing through my mouth while changing poopy diapers. It’s amazing the strength and ability that you find within yourself when it is your child. When they say, “it’s different when it’s your own,” it’s true. And I actually plan on going back to nursing school someday.

Before I was a mother, I only kind-of understood the love my parents have for me. There are alot of different types of love that we as humans can feel. I am grateful for the blessing it is to be able to experience the maternal type in my life. It’s a love that will NEVER fade. It is larger than this world– it is eternal. It is an emotion that helps us understand God’s love for His children- and having that opportunity is truly a privilege.

Before I was a mother, I was an amazing employee. Having a job came so easy to me. I worked hard and excelled in everything I did. My managers would sing praises about my quality of work and my work ethic. It probably went to my head a little bit even! So when I had to go back to work after having my first baby, it hit me like a brick wall. Suddenly, my job was not so important. I cried every day for the first week I was back at work. I had never been so flaky. Baby got sick, I took a sick day. Baby had an appointment, I left work early. It went on like this until I went part-time and eventually quit working for a while. Now that my oldest is almost 6, I have been in and out of the work force. I still get a rush from a job well-done. But I have realized that as bad as I want to be a good employee, the most important thing is that I’m a good mother. My kids deserve that. I have never wanted so badly to be good at something.

**I support both working moms, and stay-at-home moms (who are also working moms 😉 ). I have been in both situations. Only a mom can know what is best for herself and her family. **

I love being a mom. Sure, it is hard and messy and the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. But you’d be hard-pressed to find anything that’s more rewarding. You get paid in love, and that is the greatest thing of all.

❤ Kayliegh kayliegh tyler engagement

The Grinch and Relatable Quotes for Motherhood

So I have this gift where in most situations, there is a movie quote or a song lyric that pops into my head that perfectly relates to what is going on. It’s a very entertaining, though not always appropriate, to live life this way.

As we’ve been in the holiday season, I’ve taken the opportunity to watch my favorite Christmas movie as many times I can without having my family kick me out of the house. That movie is Jim Carrey’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I find it hilarious, and quote-able all year round.

As I’ve been watching it this year, I’ve made some connections to my motherhood experiences that have made me chuckle. I hope you will get some pleasure out of it as well.

1. Nursing, especially nursing when baby gets teeth.

2. Anytime you see the crazy come out in your kids I.e. going to the store, Christmas Eve (I would argue the whole month of December), after grandma’s House.