Palm Sunday

It's Easter Sunday today, but I thought I'd post the pictures of the girls from last Sunday at church.  I just happened to have my camera in my purse, so I was able to snap these lovely pictures of them waving their palm branches.

One dress pattern, three different looks

Back story #1:
I was quite content to buy the girl's Easter dresses this year.  In fact, I was looking forward to not sewing something huge for the holiday.  However, when I went to pick up Abigail from Sunday school a couple of weeks ago, her teacher told me that another little girl had announced that her Mom had bought her an Easter dress from Costco, and I guess Miss Abigail piped up, "My Mom is going to sew me my Easter dress."  So, the challenge had been issued.  I'm sure that Abigail probably wouldn't remember if I hadn't sewed her a dress, but I think part of intentional parenting is to try and not let them down.  And besides, it might only be a couple of more years and they aren't going to want to wear what I make them.

Back story #2:
I have a friend named Janice.  She has a daughter who is the same age as Annika named Miss G.  Janice and I were talking the other day, and she had mentioned that she found someone to sew a pillowcase dress for Miss G and it would only cost her $30.00.  I looked at her like she had two heads and told her she could find a pillowcase for $2.00 at Value Village and I wouldn't charge her to sew the thing because they don't take that long.

Present story:
I raided my somewhat extensive fabric stash and found some pretty eyelet.  Pink for Abigail and a cream with purple flowers for Annika.  Annika took one look at it and turned up her nose, so I let her pick out what she wanted to wear.  She picked lace.  I also had a very pretty purple material that quite possibly could be taffeta.  I've had it for almost 10 years and had never put it to use, so I decided to make Miss G a dress that was NOT a pillowcase!

Do you remember the Christmas dresses I made?  Since I liked that pattern so much, I decided to use it again to make the Easter dresses.

Dress #1 ~ Miss G

 

 

If you remember from the Christmas dresses, there is a band on the bottom of the dress that is supposed to match the sash.  However, I didn't want the dress to look cheap, since the sash fabric is cotton.  I made the bottom band out of the same material as the main body of the dress.  The bodice is fully lined, and so I used the butterfly fabric for that.  I think it turned out really nice and Miss G (and her Mama) like it.

 

Dress #2 ~ Annika

 

 

 

 Like I mentioned earlier, Annika picked lace.  This is a bit of a surprise for her, since she is not my girly-girl.  I have never sewed with lace before, so I was up for the challenge, but it was quite frustrating at times.  I think half of it was from the lace getting stuck on the foot of my sewing machine and half of it was the lining was really slippery.  I persevered however, and the final project is quite pretty!

 

 

Dress #3 ~ Abigail

 

 

 

I think if I had to wear any of these dresses, I would pick Abigail's.  I have a fondness for eyelet, and since I was saving money and going cheap for this project, I searched my house for something I could use for the lining.  I had half of a white sheet left over from a different sewing project, but there wasn't enough to fully line the dress.  I used the white for the bottom band and lined the dress with a pink sheet that I had from my childhood.  I think I could safely say that it was approximately 20 years old.  It was still in good shape, and there's nothing like a well washed piece of cotton next to your skin.  It is so soft, I think it would be very comfortable to wear!

 

And then, because my Mom guilt set in that I wasn't making anything for Tyler, I'm going to be whipping him up a new bowtie and a pair of suspenders...but they aren't made yet, so I couldn't post a picture.  Here's a picture of Tyler though, that boy has a sixth sense when it comes to me pulling out a camera, he always wants his picture taken!

 

 

Cute things Abigail says ~ Part Eight

"Mom, I was just trying to show Annika and Tyler a trick." said Abigail when I was drying her off from a shower, since she had poured a cup of milk on her head.

Saturday snapshot ~ Let's play a game

 

Let's play a game.  It's called FIND THE DIAPER.

 

 

The first person to guess correctly wins a prize!

Ombre cupcakes

It was Moogie's birthday last Friday.  I thought that having breakfast with her on Thursday would be enough of a birthday celebration, but apparently I was wrong.  Friday night at 10 PM, a little girl named Abigail came out of her room in a panic.  "Momma, we didn't go to Moogie's house for her birthday party today!"  I told her that she could call in the morning, and if Moogie didn't have a party yesterday, we would throw her one at our house.  Abigail said "Will there be cake?"  Saturday morning, she called Moogie and asked if she had cake yesterday.  The answer was no, so we went to work to make cupcakes.

The problem with having my husband home while trying to do stuff like this is he makes more work for me.  Just as I was going to pour my plain boring white cake batter into the cupcake tin, he came into the kitchen and said "Couldn't you make them rainbow colored?"  I could, except apparently the only colors I have in my pantry for food coloring are different shades of pink, blue and green.  So, I jumped on the ombre wagon.

These are the five colors I decided to go with.  Two blues, two teals and a light green.  What a lot of work.  They kind of turned out.  I think it would have looked prettier if it had actually been a rainbow.

Too bad I had to eat half of that cupcake in order to get a picture on the inside!

A special gift

Our boarder went away during reading week to New York.  His uncle lives in New Jersey, so off he went for a visit.  The kids were so happy when he came back.  They were VERY loud during supper that first night, and I asked him if he was happy to be back in all the chaos.  He just smiled and said "Yes."

He brought me back a present.  It was very sweet.  He came into the kitchen and handed me a bag and said "I bought you something, but I am not sure you will like it."

This is what he brought.

Isn't that the coolest thing you ever did see?  I love how they come in a bread bag.  He was right, I don't like it.  I LOVE it!

Cute Things Annika Says - Part Fifteen

Overheard this morning:

Annika:  Abby, you're naked.  Let me get you dressed.  Put these pajamas on.

Abigail:  I want to wear these pajamas instead.

Annika:  Abigail!  Sometimes you have to let your brother, or your sister, or your Mommy or Daddy make decisions for you when you can't.  Let's be realistic.

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Annika:  singing the alphabet

Abigail:  turns on the hair dryer, scaring Annika

Annika:  Abby!  Turn that off.  You gave me the shakes!  Oh, now I lost count.  Starts singing the alphabet over from the beginning.