Breanne Sews

So for Christmas, there were two things Breanne asked for.  A computer, and a sewing machine.  Yes, this is totally evidence of who her parents are.  Cory did give in and give her a (really, really old) computer (a Mac Classic II, if you want to know just how old, which had just been sitting in our garage gathering dust), but I just couldn't make myself buy her the cheapie Singer kids sewing machine for $30 that I'm afraid would just cause more frustration than fun because of its poor quality.  So, I got her a little sewing/cross-stitch/embroidery kit instead.  And I present to you, her first project.  She sewed it all herself, and was so proud.  I'm proud, too.

Immediately after I took this picture, she took off one of the frog's eyes, and proclaimed him the Pirate Frog King.  He keeps his eye in the pocket on his stomach for  safe keeping.  Kids are weird, man.

Today...

looked like this.  Plus a few extra parts that I skipped.

Breanne was cold before school.

She got dressed and looked so grown up, I had to take a picture.  She tucked in her shirt! So cute.

After I got out of the shower I could hear Janey and Cailin yelling about something.  Turns out Cailin got stuck in her new baby crib.  Hahahahahaha.  Haha.  Ha. Haha.  I almost felt bad for laughing so hard and insisting on taking a picture before I got her out.  Don't worry, she was fine.  P.S.  I did my second Couch-to-5K run today.  Turns out it's a lot better when I don't drink cocoa right before.  

I contemplated on cleaning up my crafting space.  Didn't happen today, but my closet does look much neater.  All our suitcases are officially unpacked and put away.  You can expect to see craft space progress in the next few days.  I can only take so much.

Rode some bikes after school.  Yup, that's right, Breanne was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, and it was warm enough.  Why don't you people come visit me?!?

Cailin looked adorable after I fought to get ponytails in her hair.

You can see all three girls and bikes!  Right after this Cailin pushed Janey around on her bike.  Janey yelled "I know how to ride my bike!  Don't push me!" several times until she realized, hey, it's fun to be pushed, and much laughter ensued.

Then, when it was time to come in, Cailin carried her own bike in.  Yeah, she's tough like that.  :)

And then we finished off the day with homework, play-with-toys time, and dinner at Chili's, because we had kids-eat-free coupons.  Now that's a good day.  

Tow-tow

Nearly every morning since I introduced hot chocolate to Cailin, I've woken up to a bright-eyed little face  asking me sweetly for repeatedly requesting absolutely demanding "tow-tow." And then it happens again pretty much every time she can't think of something else to say.  Seriously, the girl wants cocoa at least 10 times a day.  I only oblige once.  Maybe twice.  And well, I mean, who doesn't love a little cocoa? Good thing I was given 4 very large canisters, and one smaller can, of Stephen's milk chocolate mix, and a Cocomotion Hot Chocolate Maker. Best Christmas present ever. Or at least most useful in the present.  I love it.  And so does Cailin.  :)

P.S.  Don't drink cocoa and then do your Couch to 5K run.  Trust me.

Christmas Dresses 2011

So if you're my friend on Facebook, you probably saw my post about finishing up the girls' Christmas dresses the day before we left for Utah.  I was SO excited to finally be done with all my Christmas sewing, plus they turned out even better than I expected.  Truth be told, they'd been "finished" before, but didn't quite... um... work.  I mean, yes, the girls could wear them, but they had really wonky waistlines, and were just kind of ugly.  Well, not anymore.  I'm pretty excited about how they came out.

This is the only picture I have of all three dresses together.  I had to steal it from my mom.

Yeah, I know.  Lately, my girls seem to refuse to want to be all together for pictures.  Either that, or we're in too big of a hurry to get to church.  Something like that.

Now for a little more detail--

Cailin's dress:

(Yeah, she fell on our stairs and scraped up her nose. Poor girl.)

White satin-y bodice, green diamond pin tucked fabric skirt.  I fell in love with the green fabric before I'd figured out how exactly I wanted the dress to look, but this is what I came up with.

Cailin's is the only dress without a sash.  I'm not sure exactly why I didn't put one on hers, but I really like the way it came out anyway.  The little row of topstitching above the gathering just pulled it off for me.  Also, it really does fit her better than this picture portrays--the bodice doesn't actually drown her, I swear.

Her dress also ended up with buttons in the back, as I didn't make it with a stretch velvet like the other two.  Yeah, I did buttonholes without a buttonholer.  You may now tell me that I am awesome.  Thank you.  :)

Now for the other two dresses... Yeah, these pictures are even worse.  Why can't my kids stand still?  Crazy girls.  At least they like each other, right?

You can see the sashes here:

All I said was stop touching each other and hold still.  They gave me this.  I can't stop laughing every time I look at this photo.  They're posing exactly the same!  And I love Janey's face.  Hahaha.

And here, we finally have, after a rousing round of "Put your hands on your head.  Put your hands on your hair.  Put your hands on your stomach.  Put your hands to your sides." (*click*)  

Oh silly girls.  

Anyway, like I said before, stretch velvet on the tops, then some specialty apparel fabric on the bottoms.  They have sashes, and I really like how they pulled the dresses together--you'll just have to believe me when I say they didn't work before I put them on.  I also actually really like how the necklines came out--they're sort of a half-turtleneck.  I was afraid that they wouldn't stretch enough to get their heads through, but since I used my serger, which allows for a little more stretch, they worked out just fine.  Yay.  :)

So there they are, the Christmas dresses of 2011.  I love 'em, and I'm glad they're done.  Ha.

Thoughts for 2012

I have a bunch of Christmas posts I should be working on, but honestly, this is what is on my mind, so I'm posting it.

2011 was a pretty awesome year for us. Lots of changes. I can't believe when I look back at the pics from January of last year, that it was only a year ago. Cailin was a baby just turning one. Cory got a new job and moved out to CA without us, leaving us to pack while he found a house. We moved to CA (a place I never thought I'd live).  My big girls turned 3 and 5.  Cory turned 30. We went to a couple of really great weddings.  The girls got some pretty serious haircuts.  Breanne started kindergarten.  Janey started preschool.  Janey then got shingles.  I had a super awesome birthday that I somehow didn't blog about.  We made some really cute costumes for Halloween,  We had our very own thanksgiving for the first time ever.  And Christmas was awesome.  :)  Really, minus a couple minor things, it really was a great year.  I'm so glad all this went so, so well, when there seemed like so much potential for craziness.

So after things went really well with our move and everything else, I started to get complacent.  I began sewing more and more, and spending less time interacting with my children.  I mean, I'm still around, and I listen to them play together and run interference all the time, but I don't get down and play with them very much.  I started thinking that going to pick up Breanne from school counted as some sort of outing with my kids.  I spent more time online than I should, just checking Facebook and Pinterest.  I feel like even though I'm kind of trying to get my life in order and do fun things with my kids, I'm just constantly frustrated by my lack of organization and energy.

I've been thinking lately that something really needs to change.

So.  As this past year came to a close, I actually spent a pretty good deal of time thinking about what I want to change and accomplish in the new year. I'm not usually a resolutions kind of person, but this year, I just feel drawn to the idea of having specific goals that I'd like to work on. I've gotten pretty lazy in my own way (no seriously, just because I sew a lot does not mean I'm productive. Promise.) and I'd like to move past that and really feel like I'm doing my best, instead of just coasting through the days. I feel like my children are growing up before my eyes, and I'm missing it. I'm not saying that I'm totally changing my ways, I still want to sew and have some time just for me that way, but I need to pay more attention to what is happening all around me, not just here on the computer or on my sewing machines. So, with all that in mind, here are a few of my goals for this year. I figure if I post them online for all of you all to see, I will hold myself more accountable to them. The fact that I'm actually outlining them in my head is probably enough, honestly, but since this is so heavy on my mind, I figured I'd share them here, too. This blog is titled "I'm Thinking," after all.

1.  Plan at least one activity with my kids each day.  Can be art related, time at the park or children's museum/Happy Hollow, a trip to the mall or store (that is exciting to them), inviting a friend over, or just time playing with them.  Just something done with all my attention on them.

2. Get my kids outside more. We have (mostly) great weather here--it's in the 60's all this week. We live in a long circle (court? cul-de-sac?) with very little traffic. Our neighborhood is generally very safe. I need to take advantage of that and let the kids out to ride bikes and play, and I need to take care of our yard.

3. Be better about reading the scriptures, both on my own, and with my family.

4. Read the lesson material for sunday school and Relief Society before church, and take my manuals with me to church.

5. Cook for my family at least 3 dinners a week. Cory is a great cook, and will help pitch in on the nights when I don't make something, and we seem to always need to eat leftovers at least a couple times a week, so I think 3 nights of cooking a week is a pretty solid plan.

6. Get my paper situation under control. Since we moved here, I've wanted to reorganize our filing system, and I just haven't gotten around to it. That needs to happen, and soon. It's making me crazy. 

7. Get my craft stuff all organized. Patterns filed, fabrics reorganized, ribbons and flowers put away in a manner that would make it easy to access them. I'm so tired of my craft spaces being such a mess--there are so many great organization ideas out there, I just need to take the time to implement a few of them. 

8. Complete the Couch-to-5K program in the next two months (it's a 9 week program). I've been feeling so sluggish lately (especially around 3-4:00 in the afternoon--I can barely stay awake, seriously), and I just need to do something to get some energy back. I also hope to start walking to pick up Breanne from school at least once a week (it's only 1/2 mile to the school, so 1 mile round trip. It's the uphill with a double stroller bit that always stops me from doing this). Anything to get a little more exercise into my day (without, you know, having to head to the gym or something). And then, once I complete the program, continue exercising 3-5 times a week. I'll decide at that point what kind of exercise I want to do. Perhaps a kick-boxing class? 

So there it is.  My list of goals for the new year.  I'm ready for some change.  How about you?