Costume Preview

So I have officially finished one costume!  Oh yea!  Here is a sneak peak:

I spent $3.50 on fabric and $1.50 on accessories so $5.00 total.  Not as cheap as I would like but better than buying a costume at Walmart.  Plus it's more durable, modest and cute than the ones at Walmart.  To see the full costume and little girl in all her adorableness you'll have to wait a few more weeks!

Costume #2 is in progress...

The transformation of a table

Years ago when Michael was just little we knew we wanted a train table for him to play with.  So we went to, where else, Toys R Us to check them out!  After seeing the $100 + price tag we knew we had to make it work some other way.  We decided to buy the train track set and get a table from Goodwill.  When we got home we put the train track together so we knew how large the table would need to be.  Then we began searching for the perfect sized table.  I think we spent about $15 at Goodwill and got a really ugly 90's coffee table.  We didn't like it so we did this to it:

 
Then Robert screwed down all the train tracks:

We all loved it for many years and it met our needs for a long time...until Katelyn came around.  She started to climb onto the table and rip the train tracks off the table, breaking the tracks and making everyone, especially her brothers very upset.  So in frustration I removed all train tracks from the table and against Robert's wishes I gave it a fresh coat of paint.


We were given a huge roll of paper so I talked Robert into attaching it to the table and our fun train table became an awesome art table.

This was fun but the kids really wanted roads to drive on...they even began laying out the paper and drawing roads...That is when I knew it was time for me to paint it again!  And this is what we have now, an awesome art and car driving table:

Originally my plan was much less detailed but once the boys got in on the planning, well, it became pretty detailed. It has a school, 3 houses plus and shoe hotel (Michael decided he needed a hotel not a house), pond, store, airport with a runway, helicopter landing pad, Firestone store (so they can get their cars fixed), 4 parking lots and they even insisted on two stop signs and a swing behind the school.  It turned out so great! 

I think our $15 table was a great buy!  You want one?  It's pretty easy (time consuming but easy) to make.  We began by planning it all out on paper. We then drew it onto the table measuring a lot to make sure things were mostly straight. (we measured their cars to see how wide the roads needed to be too.)  I used regular craft paint to paint it all up. Then topped it with a few layers of clear spray paint so it cleans up easier and can take the rough car driving.  It took about 8 hours to paint everything but I think we all can agree it was totally worth it!

NEXT MONTH!!!

I love it when I can finally say, "We are having a baby NEXT MONTH!!"

It has been exciting getting everything in order to welcome this sweet baby into our home.  He is definitely growing bigger.  He is still so very active; definitely the most active baby I've ever had!  It's fun to feeling him kicking and moving so much!

Nearly every day James will measure my belly with his hands...

And then hold his hands out and exclaim, "The baby is this big now!"

"When he is this big then he will come out of your tummy!"   It's so cute that he is so excited about this baby coming!

Michael has already counted this baby as part of the family.  When we make a comment about our family of 5, he is quick to correct us, telling us that we have 6 in our family.  :)  As for Katelyn she just pats my tummy smiles and walks away. She has also recently relized that it's nice to snuggle up to.

I don't feel too huge yet so I know this baby most likely won't be coming anytime soon, but I definitely am getting bigger.  Yeah for next month and a new baby!!!

Clarification:  We don't know for you sure we are having a boy.  We just strongly think we are having a boy.  :)   I know some have already been wondering about that.  We'll let you know if we are right or wrong on our guess in the next month or so. 

Latest sewing projects

For the last wedding we went to I sewed up new vests and ties for our boys...1 1/2 months ago...
Here is a picture of how handsome they look in them!

After making the last dress for Katelyn out of a men's dress shirt Robert willingly went through his closet to pull out a few he doesn't wear any more.  Here is the latest creation!

Some highlights of the dress:  I removed all the white buttons and replaced them with cute yellow ones, used the cuffs to make her cute sleeves, made a ruffle at the bottom with the hem of the original shirt, and added a white tie across the middle.  (Originally I planned to have it tie in front but in the end we decided it looked better tied in the back instead.) I really love the dress and she seems to like it too!

Katelyn was in need of a new swim suit because the one she was wearing was getting a bit thin. (It was a "hand me down"...in fact I wore it...a long, long time ago...)  We loved the way it fit her so I traced the swimsuit to make a pattern and this is what we came up with:

I really love how it turned out.  I love that it is very modest and everything stays covered like it should.

September

September is just flying by. We have been keeping busy like usual. We finally decided that we have had enough slivers from our old play set in the back yard so we finally took it down.

And hauled all the wood off.

We now just have a sandbox in the corner.  It has really opened up our back yard and makes playing ball easier that's for sure.

We had our very first Parent Teacher Conference with Michael's teacher this week.  She had many wonderful things to say about him!  He has 5 A's, 3 Outstandings and 1 Satisfactory.  It has been amazing to see how much he has learned in a very short amount of time.

He can now count above 50, he knows all the sounds the letters make plus many of the other 44 phonograms.  He can write all the letters and numbers the proper way and his teacher has been so impressed with how well he can write his name. 

I can't wait to see how much more he learns through out this year!

I am slowly getting used to the school time commute.  It takes us about 15 minutes to drive him to school, drop him off and watch him run off to the play ground.  We then drive home wait 2 hours then I load the kids back up in their carseats, drive 15 minutes, wait in a long line of cars for 10 to 15 minutes until it is our turn to pick up Michael.  And then drive home again. 

The highlight of the trip for all three kids is the snack I give them for the ride home after school. :)

Free Museum Day

So I saw this and thought other people might be interested too.  It seems like most free museum days are on Sunday, well this one is on a Saturday.  :)  Too bad Robert always has to work Saturdays.  The kids and I will be checking out the Desert Botanical Gardens near us.  And I'm hoping to find an extra $7 in our budget so we can see the Monarch Butterfly exhibit that begins on the 25th.  (I have always wanted to go and being surrounded by hundreds of butterflies, my kids should love it!) 

Click here for more info

Iron-ons are Awesome!

So I was recently reminded that iron-on paper existed when I saw a friend blog here about personalized onesies.  And then when I was searching for craft/sewing labels (just for fun) I came across a make your own labels tutorial here using iron-on paper--What a great idea!  So off to Walmart and Michaels...

I came home with two widths of ribbon and one package of Avery Light Fabric Transfers. (the transfer paper cost around $7)

In Photoshop I created a design in three different colors so I (hopefully) had it in a color I liked for the project I need it for.  (I can always go back and make more in a different color if the need arises.)

I then went on to create a few other labels. 

I printed them out onto the transfer paper, cut them apart, ironed them on and sewed the folded ones so they are ready to go.  They are fantastic!  I really like the ones that have BK on one side then you flip it over to see the size.  (once I sew on the tags all the extra strings will be gone and it will clean and professional)

I KNOW I am going to love this!  There is something great about putting a label on something that says you made it and that it didn't come from Walmart!  And besides that I am going to LOVE having the size on the items I make too.

(These are a pair of shorts/leggings for Katelyn.  When her onesie is pinned closed on top of them they keep her diaper on nicely and she still looks cute!)

All of my labels are so small that I only used a few inches of one paper...What to do with the other 5 and 3/4 pages of transfer paper?!?  I think I see a few personalized onsies in my future!

Kindergarten and so much more....

It doesn't seem that long ago that we were welcoming our first precious baby into our home...

Boy does the time fly!  This week Michael had his first day of Kindergarten and he LOVED it!!  He picked out his own clothes, combed his hair and put on his socks and shoes all by himself.  Here he is ready to go to school.  (He was so excited he really didn't want to stand there for a picture.)

He was much happier to be buckled in and ready to go.

 He was so excited, he jumped out and ran off.
 

He looked back only twice as he ran towards his classroom.

In fact he loved it so much that he wanted to stay longer.  He was even excited about doing his homework!  (I hope he always stays this excited about school and homework.)  I'm very sure I have had more anxiety about him  going to school than he has had, but I hear that just part of being the mom. 

He seems to be growing up way to fast.  Here are a few other facts about Michael:
*He puts his own laundry away
*He loves to write his ABC's and 123's
*He sounds out words very well and will spell many 3 letter words
*He can subtract and add very well in his head and corrects us all the time when we are wrong
*He loves it when I read chapter books to him and he begs me to read more all the time - we have read many of the Boxcar series and are now in the middle of reading The Indian In The Cupboard
*He is a pretty good swimmer and loves the water
*He enjoys playing with James, Katelyn, our dog and he especially loves to play with his friends
*He is VERY independent and likes to do everything on his own
*He has been able to ride his bike (without training wheels) for several months and loves zooming down our sidewalk and around our neighborhood

Robert is excited Michael has met another huge goal in boyhood-

I think he may be a bit young but Robert assures me he'll be just fine and of course he always has parental supervision.  And really as long as I don't have to mow the lawn I'm not really picky about who does it.  (as long as everyone is safe of course)

Five fun years with Michael and so many more to go!  I can't wait to see what the future holds for him!