Yay!

I finally finished Maddy's pioneer outfit at about midnight last night. I'll try to get some pictures later. I can't believe it took me two weeks to sew these things!

Funny stuff

A while ago I posted this link on facebook but today I was looking at it again. It still makes me laugh as much as it did the first time I saw it. So, I thought I would put the link on here if any of you haven't seen it yet...
All dogs go to heaven

The project

As I have mentioned before, Abi and I have been reading the Little house on the prairie series for a while now. We read a chapter or two every night. It has been so much fun. 

Because of this, we decided that later this summer we will be visiting a few of the places where the Ingalls family lived and where the books took place. 

I knew that when we got there I would want to buy a dress and bonnets for the girls so I decided that instead I would make some so they could be fully immersed in the experience and I wouldn't be tempted to buy them there. Also, this way I could make them out of any color and fabric I wanted. 

I chose gingham prints for the dress because I have loved gingham all my life- ever since playing with the Gingham girl paper dolls as a kid and watching the wonderful barn raising in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

So, I picked up some gingham- blue for Maddy and purple for Abi since it is currently her favorite color. I decided to make the bonnets out of floral fabric that would complement but not be too matchy.

I was determined to get these dresses done early so they could wear them to the Pioneer day picnic.

That did not happen. I figured this would be pretty easy. It was a basic pattern or so it seemed. I have done much harder sewing. I was mistaken. I just barely finished Abi's outfit last night and after trying it on her this morning I need to take up the bloomers one more tuck. 

So, now I will have to get to work on Maddy's. Hopefully it won't take me another week since I perfected a few things on Abi's but it might. 

Like usual, I had to invent ways of doing things because some of the instructions just didn't make sense to me but in the end I am very happy with the results. 

Here is Abi modeling her dress, apron, bonnet, and bloomers....

Pioneer day... a day early

Our ward celebrated Pioneer Day on Saturday with a picnic and games at a park nearby. I have been sewing something special for the girls and hoped to have them ready by Saturday but I wasn't even close. So, Friday night I stayed up really late to at least finish the bonnet for Abi....

She wore her Rapunzel twirl shirt to match it and Maddy just wore our old bonnet from Nauvoo. The funny thing is that lately Maddy has taken to wearing that bonnet around the house for fun but as soon as I wanted her to wear it for "festivity" she kept throwing it off. 

Abi liked wandering around the big field where we were having the picnic.

And of course, Maddy did too.

There were some really cute games for the kids. Maddy loved playing with the beanbag toss but I had to keep trying to show her to throw it in without standing on it! I was afraid she was going to break it.

While Abi waited in line for a game the primary kids were playing, Maddy enjoyed playing frisbee...

and using the frisbee as a tambourine....

The kids had partners and were trying to walk on the tin cans...

while Maddy played ball...

Abi was doing really well at first but she was getting frustrated with falling off and going slow

she saw other kids getting help so she was so happy when Daddy came over to help her to the end.

the kids then made little snack campfires that they had to eat without using their hands...

It was a lot of fun. As usual we were wimps about the heat and bugs and left after Abi was done but we had a great time.

Peek a Boo!

Maddy still loves playing Peek a boo. We play it a lot! Her new favorite way to play it is to put the blocks box on her head and then lift it up to say Boo.

Sometimes she wears this box around like a hat just for fun. Funny girl!

Movie day

Our local movie theater has a summer kids program with really cheap movies and we used to buy the pass and go every week. Last summer we bought the pass  but then ended up not being able to use it more than a couple of times because I was babysitting most of the summer. 

This year I had planned on getting it but then decided against it knowing that we really wouldn't be able to go every week. I did promise Abi that we would go to at least one of the kids movies so we picked one that we hadn't seen before (all of them are old movies so we've usually seen them)... the Veggie Tales Pirates that didn't do anything.

I had to pay for Maddy this year so I made sure to get her a little booster seat so she wouldn't be in my lap the whole time. This was the first time she has sat in her own seat in a movie. She did great. She actually sat there until about the last 20-30 minutes when she started getting restless.

Abi loves getting the little snack pack. It is pretty cheap and comes with popcorn, a soda, and a long Laffy taffy. She was one happy girl.

Hula Hooping

 A couple of months ago I bought Abi a hula hoop. She couldn't do much at first. But now, after practicing every day, she can hula hoop for a few minutes at a time. She also likes to spin in circles while she does it (which amazes me) and do little hops. She wanted me to videotape it the other day. She was too close to the curtains and couch and Maddy was wandering around so she didn't go as long as normal but it gives you the general idea...

That was a long drive for a tea party!

Friday we had a slow morning. Abi built towers...

while Maddy made huge messes (as usual) with her oatmeal. I took this picture thinking it was kind of funny how messy she was and that she was smearing oatmeal on her cup. A few minutes later I left the room and then came back mere seconds later to find her sitting on the table smearing it on her feet. Not so cute anymore... well maybe a little funny.... but yuck.

Doug got home from work early and stayed with Maddy while I drove down to Illinois to a Pottery Barn Kids store for a free fancy tea party.

We got there early and Abi really enjoyed playing with all their amazingly cute but so expensive toys...

The tea party was packed. They had cookies and pink lemonade.

One of the ladies read them a book. Abi was excited that it is a book we have. (Tea for Ruby)

They got these funny little butterfly glasses and then they made tissue paper and pipe cleaner butterflies for the craft.

It was fun for her. After the fact I felt like I had driven way too far for it, but it was worth it to make Abi so happy. I love making memories with her.

Letterboxing Adventure

 I decided to find out more about letterboxing and last week the girls and I finally set out on our first letterboxing adventure. I found a list online with directions to a few different locations in our area. 

It said that you need to have a 'team' stamp and name and then take along a little notebook that you can then use for stamping with the letterboxes you find.

I got out a box of stamps and let Abi choose which one she thought would best represent our team and told her she could name us.

She picked a flower stamp and dubbed us "Flower Power".

We decided to make a day of it and stop off at McDonalds for a quick breakfast.

We had to run into Walmart to get a mini notebook to use and Abi asked if they could ride this car. I thought Maddy might not like it but she did.

Then we went to Petrified Springs Park to try to find some letterboxes. Abi ran ahead to the trail head sign.. the first clue. Maddy was loving running around in the wilderness!

Abi was all business with her compass attached to her belt loop, looking for clues. Maddy just wanted to pick up sticks and rocks...

We walked and walked and walked and backtracked and walked some more. And then backtracked again. And we never found the two that were supposed to be on this trail. It was crazy. 

We got attacked by a bunch of mosquitoes along the way and when we came out of the woods at one point and realized we were on the other side of the park, we decided just to walk back through the park to where our car was.

It was a long walk.

Maddy kept getting off track and running around in the grass and Abi would go get her and guide her back to me. So cute.

When we got to the car we all drank some much needed water and played in the shade for awhile with bubbles.

We were parked near this tree so we had to get a quick picture. Neither of the girls liked it up on that even though it was only a few feet up.

I was ready to go home but Abi begged me to try to find another because she just couldn't go home without finding a letterbox! I could understand her disappointment with how excited she had been to find a treasure and then not being able to so we headed over to the lake to one that sounded pretty easy.

We walked along the lake and found a crack in the sidewalk next to a certain lamp post that led us to the rock shaped like Kentucky and sure enough! Abi found it in a hole under the rock.

She was thrilled!

First she used our Flower Power stamp to stamp their book...

and then we stamped our book with their stamp.

Abi took it back to re- hide it.

At this point we were all hot and tired but we just couldn't leave without spending some time at the lake. We stood on a little pier for awhile watching the waves break over the rocks...

the girls played in the sand...

and we spent some time in the gardens...

It really was a lot of fun and we are planning on trying to go letterboxing at least a few more times this summer.