Feeling better about the dress but worse in general!

I think I'm getting what George has been fighting the last few days. *sniffle* We won't be bringing this extra set of germs to Provo. I'm SOOO sad but REALLY glad I ran up there last weekend.

I made a matching vest for the blue dress and added lace to the bodice. I think it's better. (Lie say it's better)
I discovered it truly is a size 7/8. It was an exact fit on my darling size 8/9 model.

I also finished up this set. It's going to be the last thing for the show. Unfortunately the only person that I know with kids to fit these sizes (3 months & 2/3T) is Amber and she lives in WAY different sunshine. If I had all the time and money in the world I would send them to her and pay Candace to take fabulous pictures of them, but I don't so I'm stuck with these pictures.





Now I need to finish printing pictures for the photo album and make some semblence of business cards and/or a brochure. Oh yeah and Harvest Festival will be over in 48 hours.

The Rest of the Day

No Diet Cokes magically appeared on my doorstep. :(

We didn't go to Jen's she and her kiddos are sick so I took the time today and made another thing (A Vida Jumper) for the sale in WA. I think it should be called Butterfly Bling. This was actually more expensive to make than the first dress. All the fabrics have glitter on them.



It has butterfly buttons and beaded fringe along the bodice on the front and back.



It also has beaded ribbon/lace trim between the fabrics
and a beaded sequined lace around the bottom.


My girls think these korker bows ought to go with it ...


I think the bows ought to look more like this one, it's not done yet.
I have to bake more twirls first.


I think this set will go for $50. I won't make anything off it but I don't know if anybody will buy it for that much!

Teaching my children to Never Forget

As most of the adults in the US I will never forget how I found out about the tragedy in NYC, DC & Pennsylvania. I will always remember where I was and the horror I felt at the unfolding events.

Just like my Mom remembers where she was when she heard JFK was shot. She lived in Turkey at the time and she was walking home from school with her little brother through the trailer park and it came over the loud speakers that the President had been shot. She was 9 but she knew it was a sad thing and that it was a huge thing for all Americans everywhere. Obviously it's a story I heard many times growing up and it made the whole experience far more real.

Raising 3 children in post 9/11 USA I have tried to teach my children to never forget. We talk about what happened. Why it happened. And if it would ever happen again. Some parts of the tragedy I haven't gone into details about because I don't want them to be unnecessarily frightened but they know what went on and how I felt.

Every once in a while I reference my childhood or something I did pre 9/11 that is no longer relevant like waiting for a visitor at the airport. Jr. couldn't wrap her head around the idea that you'd go to an airport and sit and wait for someone inside. When these topics come up I try to explain the best I can that it's one of those things that changed that day.

Since my Spoiled Princesses are accostomed to new clothes for special occasions like Easter, Christmas and Birthdays, I try to make them something for Patriot Day as well. They know if I'm going to all this work it MUST be an important occasion.

Jr. designed her own dress. I found the hair design on the internet.


Fred's outfit was a compromise. It started out as a skirt but I didn't have quite enough fabric. Her red was a headband.

Fridays are always school spirit day (they wear purple/yellow/white or a school shirt) and the kids usually remember but it was awesome to see all the red, white and blue on the playground today while I waited for the bell to ring.

I hope I will be able to teach my children why September 11th 2001 changed their world in so many big and little ways. Why we need to honor the men and women who risk their lives everyday to serve our country and our cities. I hope someday 20 years from now they will be able to tell their children where I was when I heard about the tragedy and they will be able to pass on why We Will Never Forget.

ANTM?

Fred, Jr. & George are very excited to see who wins America's Next Top Model tonight. They are rooting for Allison who "Has eyes as big as Jr!" I made this for George this afternoon and we had a mini photo shoot, "Just like America's Next Top Model!"

The Pout

A Profile

All natural

Sweet as can be

Rockin' the angles

She loved the top saying it made her look like "A big Fatty Easter Egg" something that is apparently... good?

Pinch Me!

Here are my cute little monkey's all dressed and ready to go.

George had a bath this morning so she got cool hair.

Happy Valentines Day! (ummm ... yesterday)

Some quick update pictures

All 3 on Friday. George is having a cow because she refused to get dressed so I had no time to do her hair.

Jr. Who got dressed right away and was all ready had cute hair,
which inspired the jealousy fueled fit.

ElCid and I woke up to breakfast in bed. I got a cupcake, a piece of cake and some punch Fred made by mixing orange soda with fun dip powder. Because ElCid doesn't do wheat he had a lollipop, carrots, cheese stick, and an apple. It was so cute listening to them get it all ready and they sang us happy valentines day to you.

After breakfast we gave them their present - a cell phone for them to take with them when ElCid and I leave them places. Dance class, activity days, parties and things like that so they can always get a hold of us. It's Verizon phone like mine so they can call anybody on Verizon. (ElCid's family this means you. :)

ElCid bought me my daffodils and the girls roses.

They painted cookies, they had McDonald's lunch, I took Jr to the dollar store to spend her dollar and I got each of them a red heart balloon, we hung out, played Wii, I worked on the handouts for my class, had KFC for dinner (it was a really lazy day), watched Enchanted, they had baths and went to bed. All 3 declared it had been a great day and I definitely agreed.

Painting cookies, the under dresses double well as nightgowns.

Then ElCid and I hung out, watched Somewhere in Time, Must Love Dogs, and he really liked his present. :)

My lesson went well and I hoped they all got the idea they are happy because they make themselves happy.

Valentines Day Preveiw

Here are pics of the projects I've been working on.

The girls in their cute outfits.
I have big plans for cute hair on Friday.

Treats for Teachers, Office Ladies,

Cafeteria Lady, Ken (Barbie doesn't like treats).
I got the idea from a blog I found via Cake Wrecks
called Bakerella.

They are cake that you bake and crumble into a bowl,
add frosting and mix. My flavor is Cherry Chip Chocolate.
You scoop the mixture into the shape and dip in candy melts.

Piles of Puff = Pettiskirts!!

On Internet boutiques super puffy skirts are all the rage. They are called pettiskirts. They look like those slips you put under square dance dresses.

I think they are super cute, but sadly I don't have $80 a skirt to spend. I do however have the Internet and can Google "How to make a pettiskirt" On the long list that gets spit out at you the 2 most helpful things I found were these two eHow & Martha Stewart.

The eHow is very straight forward. The Martha Stewart is laughable at several moments like when Martha sews 2.5 inches and then asks the girl like this? and then when Martha says it would be less painful to just write the check for $80, and last when Martha asks if the machine people have at home is similar to what the girl uses in her company and she kinda pauses and is all yeah this machine will work just fine.

You know me and one version isn't good enough so I combined the 2 ideas and came up with this.

I used the measurement method from eHow and the multiple layer idea from Martha (except I did 4 layers and they said to have 2). The first picture is the yoke with the first layer, the next is layer 2, and the last is the ruffle. It took about 3 yards of fabric and about 3 hours for each skirt. I got lucky on the fabric I found at Heddy's it is 120 inches wide ($5.49 a yard) making it a lot faster than sewing 45 inch wide strips together. It was certainly less painful than $80 each!I made one for each girl, George's looks the best so hers is on here for now, I'll take pics of the other 2 later.

Being the Grown-Up

*sigh* Why do I let me kids have opinions on their own costumes? I let Fred have some say on her Lemon Meringue costume and it was painful for me! Here are two pics. The first is how I would have left it, the second is how I did it because she wanted it that way. The second way isn't bad and it does reflect more accurately the doll we patterned the whole outfit off of but without the logo she could have worn the top other places.

I had also really wanted one more outfit to donate for Harvest Festival tomorrow and I probably could have got it done but, there are several other things (like Fred's costume) I needed to complete fully and I wouldn't want to do something halfway and have it reflect badly on me. It's also a better idea for me to have some sleep before tomorrow!The fabric and all won't be wasted I'm going to use it for my kid's Christmas dresses.

Fall Twirl Top/Dress size 4/6

Hello Kitty Halloween Dress/Tunic and knit peasant blouse size 4/6

Spirit Day Outfit, white butterfly top and purple capris size 6/8

Okay back to the rest of the work!