Cake Party!

She loves Food Network and wanted nothing more than to have a cake party for her birthday!

My mother and I cooked up single layered cakes and had them on single plastic plates (they came packaged at the Dollar Tree for 2 or 4/$1.) Each guest iced their own cake, decorated it and took it home along with their aprons.

The day before I went to sewing up aprons for each of the guest chef's.

-I bought a yard each of a few different fun fabrics (I got $1/yard value fabrics at Walmart).
-Sketched out a super simple apron shape onto parchment paper.
-Folded the yards in half.
-pinned the "pattern" to the folded yard.
-cut out the aprons.
-Sewed simple folded seam around the edges, added ribbon for around the neck, added ruffle at the bottom.
-Done!

The parties can be really "fancied up" but we loved the easy flow and relaxed feeling of the simplified version. The time went fast and it was just super fun!

The Spring Review

From Baseball to Mother's Day and flings in between...

She was being a goofball that night, it's usually the youngest who refuses to have pictures taken.. :)

Mother's day cakes!

Annual Spring Fling at school.. water day!

Once upon a time there was a making of a pattern..

Littlest needed a cover up for her communion dress so I figured I might try to make it myself. So I started with sketching out the dress outline on parchment paper, then used one of her shirts to sketch where her shoulders would end. I made some more sketches.

and some more sketches...

and we arrived at the final "pattern".

I created a "test" model out of scrap material so she could try it on and see if it would fit. Then to create the finished version....

Mother Hen

Greek Mythology Birthday

My sweet 11 year old daughter celebrated her birthday, but not just any old celebration. She had a party fit for gods and goddesses. She had a Greek Mythology birthday party. When I asked what kind of party or theme that she wanted this is what she told me! So with much research (ie consulting the 11 yo expert), planning, and searching the town for needed items, the party was a success.

All her guests came dressed to fit the occasion. We played games like discus throw

Smite the villains

Lightning Plunge

Topped off with some Greek Mythology Trivia and a cake directly from Mount Olympus!

She whispered to me towards the end of the party "This is the best birthday ever!" She such an awesome girl!!! :)

Mother Hen

Project Monster

Pinterest has created a monster out of me. The ability to find projects easily and pin them to go back to later, just awesome!

I'm happy to say I've tried a few things so far. I hope to try more as time permits. Now that I've been sewing more lately, the children has started to notice. They've seen enough now that as we walk by any fabric, anywhere, they're stopping too. I watch as they rummage through bolts of fabric, feel each fabric between their little hands, and talk aloud about what they would want to make from it. (or rather have me make, lol). But it really is just something beautiful.

I'm afraid they may be too old for sewing clothing for them beyond a skirt or two. It's hard to tell. Maybe they'll wear some of it, maybe they won't. Perhaps if they're they ones to "design" the outfit, and I provide the slave labor, err I mean sewing, they may just wear handmade clothing....

Maybe it's not too late for me to turn into a hippie mom. :) After all, I just pick up coffee grounds from Starbucks and spread them all throughout the garden.

Let's end with a picture of the most recent sewing project: My First Skirt!

Mother Hen

Peaceful

Enjoyed sitting outside by the fire tonight. It was peaceful and such a nice way to ease into the weekend.

The sweetest surprise, the countless blessings

I arrived home to a note from my joys, a present of life, and the quiet of peace. There are no words to express my love for my family.

Made this skirt for Airbear tonight in a couple of hours.  I love how it turned out.  I've the this fabirc for *years*.  Magpie wanted one too.  Looks like I'll be sewing skirts on all colors for the next few weekends, lol!    I really did enjoy making this one.  I might have to make matching skirts for all the girls of the household!   :)

Here we are!

Now that we've gotten through the "start" of the New Year, I hope to get under way with our actual plans for it! Instead of setting resolutions, as some may know, I set a theme for our family for the year. "Live Simply".  What does that mean for us?  Well, it means to just enjoy life, in simple ways as often as possible.

This past weekend was a prime example.  Despite DH feeling under the weather, we enjoyed nearly the entire weekend outside in our backyard.  The kids play outside from time to time, but something about this beautiful weather, and perhaps that we were all outside, it was just so much fun!  (I never knew I had so many different color "berries" around my yard! O.o)  This spurred on the idea to collect more in the coming weekend or two and work on lesson on ancient civilizations and dying clothing!   :)  I'm so excited to do that with them.

I hope with our new blog that the whole family will be posting and sharing, including the kidlets.  I hope that they will be able to offer posts about their adventures, books they've read, and photos they've taken.  It may take us a little time to get in the grove, but keep checking back with us (And nudge me if we fall behind!)

Toodles!

Mother Hen