His Journey

The school year has begun!

Here's a photo log of what has transpired lately:

About 10 days out from school starting. Such a big kid, now.

Indulging me with some cutie-patootie photos.

His final day as a preschooler.

I added up how many school days he would go through before he graduates high school. 2,340 school days. He's surprised and exasperated.

We read a book: The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing. Follows the same pattern as T'was the Night Before Christmas story, but about getting ready for school and stuff instead of Christmas. Then, he was off to the land of nod.

He woke up ready to start school. He was happy and very excited about his new adventure. I was relieved that he had that up-and-at 'em attitude.

Photos: First Day of Kindergarten August 19, 2013; I'm a Kindergartener paper; Stop Crying Mom chalkboard sign.

The dry erase board photos didn't turn out as well as planned. I a) couldn't find a thicker, darker marker or b) don't own any. I picked up some when I was shopping for school supplies but they were for the my son's class...not for me to use. It also didn't help that it was still dark out before we left to go to school.

When I grow up I want to be a: Super Hero. Again, would have been better with a darker, thicker marker. Then, in the car and ready to go to school. Love the smiles!

I dropped my daughter off at daycare so I could just concentrate on the boy starting school. I didn't want to drag her along with all of the craziness of the first day of school. The primary school is about two blocks away from the daycare they go to, so to avoid the madness of first day traffic, we walked to school from the daycare. We had plenty of time and I could talk to him about what was going to happen and he could ask me questions.

We found his hall and classroom. He found his name on the wall to leave his backpack, but he got to sit on the floor and wait for his classmates first. His hall had a countdown celebration and they got to throw confetti after the countdown and cheer. Fun!

I am so glad that he wasn't clingy or upset. He had been clingy the day before at open house. He's not worried on the photo on the right, he's just waiting.

We had been preparing him for a while for this day. We've had many conversations and read lots of books.

We've introduced new activities for him, beginning with fall t-ball last fall. The first day of that practice didn't go so well. He wouldn't participate. The second practice was much better, then he was fine.

One day he decided he wanted to join a kids Sunday school class (all on his own, no prompting from us. Awesome!). I decided both kids needed to go to children's church instead of sitting on the sanctuary with us being a distraction (fighting and arguing with each other) since the girl had outgrown the nursery. That has been going pretty good. They have each other.

He did spring t-ball. Then, the summer came and I put them in a gymnastics program just for the summer, and had them go to VBS.

All of the prep work paid off on Monday.

He threw his confetti and we walked into his class. He gave me a few hugs, there were no tears from either of us, and went to sit at the front of the room with his friends to start the day.

While we were waiting for the countdown, there was one boy a couple of kids away from him who was having a hard time. New things are scary and it was getting the best of him. He was so upset. It was hard for me to watch. I know how he felt. When I was his age I had a hard time adjusting to new situations like the first few days of school. I felt bad for him. His mom was having a hard time, too. I really wanted to help her and tell her he would be ok, but I was getting emotional just watching them. If I had tried to help I, too, would have been reduced to a puddle. I didn't want my son to see me upset and have it spiral downhill from there. I was able to give her a knowing smile because I have been there. It could have easily have been my son.

Once I got my son in class I asked him if he would sit next to his new friend and be a good friend to him, help him, tell him it would be ok. He told me he would be his friend but didn't want to sit next to him. *scowl/frown* We'll need to talk more about being a good friend and helping others. There was another kid in his class that he is already friends with and he wanted to sit with him. Understandable. It was someone he was familiar with. He went to sit down and I left him there, ready to be a big kid.

I went home to a quiet house. The first few minutes after I sat down and just looked around, something felt off. Then I realized it was because the house was quiet. It was a nice moment and I just sat there in it for a while. After I enjoyed the moment for a bit I did some housework and kept busy until it was time for school to get out.

My son was so excited to see me in the car line. I asked him a simple question about how his day went and without missing a beat he said, "I LOVED it!" He was so enthusiastic and emphatic about his statement. I was so happy for him. He went on to say that he didn't want to come home, he didn't want me to come get him, he wanted to stay at school. He asked if he could come back tomorrow. Yes! I guess that made up for the fact that he had to go home first. :)

His journey to Kindergarten was made easier by the groundwork we had laid beforehand. He's ready to grow up. He's joining a whole group of kids beginning their school journey for the first time. It's making me happy and sad. I'm only partially ready to let go, while he is sort of ready to spread his wings a little more. While we were preparing him for this day, we were preparing ourselves as well. It helped both us.

Have a great year, Son. You are going to do fantastic!

Love you,

Mommy

First Day

Well, we did it!
My boy is off to his very first day of school.
First day of kindergarten.
The first day of the 2,340 school days he will have until he graduates high school.
2,339 school days left.
Class of 2026.

Don't worry. He's not worried. Which you may not be able to tell from the photo. He was a very big kid. He wasn't very clingy, there were no tears from either of us, and he went to class like a pro.

He is going to do awesome!

He is going to be awesome!

He is awesome!

I'm so glad I get to be his mom.

Happy First Day of School, Son. I love you.



My Week

I have decided to join Dana over at Old Red barn Co. in sharing what we did over the week. Sounds like fun! It was a good week.

Here's what I have done this week...that I can remember:

• It's my short work week, so I get to spend more time with the kiddos. Always something going on with them.

• Still working on recovering from a virus I caught. I'm improving and am so much better than I was last week, but I still have some days that aren't as good.

• Tuesday was my day off: kids go to daycare and I get to spend some time alone. What did I do? I went shopping at JoAnn's. It was so fun to do that without kids running around and asking when we could leave. Leave?! Why would you ever want to leave a fabric store? They just don't share my enthusiasm, so I went without them.

• Housework, laundry, more housework, parenting, teaching, playing, cooked dinners...

• Spent one-on-one time with my girl. We worked on counting, and colors in English and Spanish.

• September consignment sales are coming up and I am so excited. I did some organizing and entered my items online.

• Took the kids to the library. Read books about going to kindergarten.

• Overheard funny conversations between my son and daughter.

• Discovered that my daughter had drawn on our bathroom door with a bath tub crayon. We discovered this after she was asleep. The next day I took photos of her explaining what she drew. Then, explained to her that we don't draw on the house, we use paper. I made her clean it off.

• She's actually pretty good at drawing at age 3. She didn't get that from me.

• Got an email that I had won an online giveaway from MADE!

• Went to work. Came home. Discovered later that a Preseason NFL game was on TV. I was one happy girl!

• Cut out some patterns for future projects.

• Today I will run errands with the kids. Play with them. Laundry, housework, shopping, and prepare my son for his first day of school on Monday.

• Kindergarten here we come!

My New Fave: Peasant Dresses

I had been wanting to try my hand (sewing hand) at making peasant dresses. The ones I have been seeing on Pinterest are so darn cute!

They looked fairly simple to make, I just needed a pattern and tutorial. I'm sure there are several out there, but this is the one I used: Peasant dress from Jamie at Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom. It's a free (woohoo!) pattern that you can print out from the link in her tutorial. The pattern comes in three sizes: 12-18 months, 2T/3T, and 4-7. Just choose your size from the links she provides, print them out, cut them out, and you are ready to get started.

For my girl I used the 4-7 pattern. She wears a 3T and will be moving into the 4T size by next spring/summer, and since I like things to grow with my kids I used the bigger size.

So far I have made her three peasant dresses. I tried the pattern out using the big polka dot fabric. This fabric is from Wal-Mart (Large dots aqua). I had extra of it so if I didn't like how it turned out, I wasn't going to be terribly upset that I had ruined nicer fabric.

No worries, because I loved how it turned out. I love the dots! My girl, not so much. They're not pink.

Well, that is an easy fix. I picked up some pink chevron print fabric (Studio 8), and the pink gingham apples fabric (Timeless Treasures: Tutti Frutti), while I was in San Antonio from the Creative Sewing Center. I made her two more dresses.

And then we had a photo session. I am thrilled at how all three of them turned out. She especially loves the pink dresses, and ruffles. Ruffles are just right for twirling.

I had only purchased a half yard of the apple fabric so I added the pink chevron sleeves and ruffle to finish out the dress. My twin picked out the apple fabric and had wanted me to make something using it and the chevrons. Good call, twin!


My son picked out a long sleeve, button up shirt to wear to church. I figured this was as good a chance as any to get him to wear one of the ties (link to A Little Bit Funky blog, tutorial, and free pattern) I made him that coordinated with his sister's attire. That was about the only way I could get her to wear the dress. She wasn't thrilled, but it worked.

Aww...siblings! They look adorable together. I love it when I sometimes get photos that capture one of them in a more natural state. My girl with her elbows on her knees and hands on her face. Sweet and adorable, she is.

I have more chevron fabric that I want to use for more peasant dresses for the fall. I've been thinking about adding pockets to the dress...long sleeves...or maybe an iron-on applique...hmm.

Oh, the girl also wants a tie to wear with her dress, so I will be working on something like that for her as well.

The creative wheels are a-turning!

Have a great day!

Girl Friend Princess

I saw this fabric on the Shwin & Shwin blog that I follow and loved it. And here's what I made with it!

It's Girl Friends in Bright by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman. (Look at me remembering details of fabric.)

I knew my girl would love it as well. So, I went searching for it. I knew it wouldn't be carried in any of the fabric stores in my area and I was going to Texas to visit my twin soon, so I searched online for stores in her area. Texas is bigger than SC so I would have more options...I thought. There was a sewing center that sold Robert Kaufman fabrics, but I didn't know if it sold this particular fabric, but we checked it out anyway. They didn't have it in the store, but I did find a whole bunch of other fabric to bring back with me.

The fabric wouldn't leave my mind so I found a shop on etsy that had it in stock and for about the same price I had seen it online at other stores that didn't have it, including the shipping. There was one yard left so I bought it. It's so pretty! When I showed it to my girl she gasped and said, "Oohh! Is that mine?" "It sure is."

I  loved the pajamas that Shauna made for her girl, but I wanted to make something a little different for my girl. I decided to make her a nightgown. Since she loves dresses, she also loves nightgowns. They are dresses you can wear to bed.

I don't have a nightgown pattern and I wanted it to fit her just right the first time, so I found some fabric in my stash that I didn't know what to do with yet and used it as a first draft. I picked out some articles of clothing that fit my daughter well and have the shape I was sort of going for and created my own pattern.

The finished product ended up being slightly bigger than I wanted. So I made some changes to my first draft. I made the shoulder straps thinner in width ,and made the bodice part smaller in size to help pull in the neckline a little more. The sunflower nightgown fits her, but I wanted something a little more fitted. She will definitely be able to wear this one for a couple of years.

Retooled pattern. Ready to transfer.

I perfected my paper pattern, traced it on to my fabric, and cut out a front piece and a back piece.



Pretty!

Once those were serged, I sewed the pieces together. Sewed the arm holes and neck hole under, and finished the hem.

Two nightgowns completed!









 Now, I just needed to choose buttons for the shoulder straps. I asked the girl which ones she wanted.




She chose purple. Imagine that!









Once the buttons were sewed on, it was ready to wear!

 Awww. So glad that she loves it.

The neckline is still a little wider than I would like, but it fits better than the sunflowered one. I still need to tweak the pattern just a little but more for a perfect fit. I am happy with the results, though.

 I apologize for the slightly blurry photo, she likes to dance and move. And apparently make silly faces at me.

In addition to the nightgown, I had a little fabric leftover. I saw that Shauna made her daughter matching stuffed princess dolls from the remaining fabric. I thought, "How cute, that is so clever!" So, I made some for my girl as well, but slightly different. I didn't cut as close to the princesses as she did.

 I may have gone a little overboard. I made 15 little princesses. Fourteen are pictured, I am not sure where the missing princess is at the moment. No two princesses are the same.

I am still not sure if I got all of the different princesses I could, but I plan on trying to get a few more out of the leftover fabric to give to other little girls.

The back fabric piece of each princess is from my scrap fabric pile and coordinates with their dress. They are totally fun. The first couple I made, my girl kept asking me what her name was. I tried to get her to name them instead. I think one of them ended up being Princess Pinkie 'Possum, or something like that. Creative.

Check out the Shwin & Shwin blog site (link at top). It's super fun. They have cute patterns and some are free! Awesome! If it's free, it's for me.

Magic Unicorns Sorbet

I've been working on a couple of projects and I have one ready to post, finally!

Look at this fun fabric by Michael Miller called Magic Unicorns Sorbet. It's bright. It's girly. It's perfect for my daughter who loves pink and purple.

I decided to make her some summer pajamas from this yard of fabric. I made a pillowcase top and matching shorts using the KID Shorts pattern (link goes to her tutorials page) by Dana from MADE.

This time I used the regular shorts pattern without the flat front. I still used the 4T pattern for her, like I did for her other shorts, but I used the 3T length instead of the 4T length, since she has short legs.

Once everything was cut and serged, I sewed all the pieces together.

Completed!

The original top was a little too wide for her. She was sleeping when I finished everything so I couldn't try it on her beforehand.

No problem. I just removed a few stitches, pulled the elastic a little more (I used elastic in the casing because I don't want the ribbon to run all the way through the top so she doesn't pull the whole thing out, and I kind of like the look of it better. Keeps everything gathered nicer.), and put it back together. I'm not overjoyed with having loose strings on pajamas, but I haven't quite decided how to remedy that.

She won't fully wear it until I remove that hazard.
But she sure does look cute!

In time for the Fourth

I know, it's not the Fourth of July, but I completed some projects for the kids for Independence Day. This will be the first actual projects I have made in my "workable" studio.

And I added something else to my studio. My Ironing station! It used to be...well...I don't know what it was originally used for, but for me it has been used for storage, a desk, and a baby changing station with storage for blankets and other stuff. Now, it will be my ironing station. I added chunky casters for easy moving (the original ones were tiny and rusty and only had three when I acquired it in grad school). I love it!

My project: Racer shorts for the kiddos.

I bought Dana's KID Shorts pattern (www.danamadeit.com for $6=a great price). I have used her free KID pants pattern for shorts in other projects and it works great for shorts, but what I love about the shorts pattern is that is comes in sizes 12 months to size 10. Lots of size options! (I kinda wanna see how it does with pants; just extend the pattern for the length I need...hmmm.)

While I was putting fabric away in the ironing station, I found this red, white, and blue stripy fabric that I bought (not sure where, Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby, Hancock Fabrics, wherever I got it it was in the scrap bins) to make the kids something for the Fourth of July. Perfect timing because the Fourth was quickly approaching. Since I had recently purchased the KID Shorts pattern, and had fabric, it was the perfect project.

I love having my own space now. I love working on the floor for sewing things because it's like a big ole flat table, but without taking up floor space. And I can move around without obstacles, like corners, in the way. If I have to leave to go to the house for whatever reason, like cook dinner, I don't have to clean up. Bonus!

Here's the finished product: Racer Shorts, and a skirt

I was able to fit shorts for both kids on one scrap fabric bundle. I had purchased both scrap fabric bundles to make sure I had enough for whatever I wanted to make. I used the second one for a skirt for the girl. With some scraps left over from the first bundle I cut out some butterflies and appliqued them to a plain white shirt for more interest and decoration. We have options for the shorts and skirt, plain or butterfly shirt. Mix and match.

Their Fourth wear! Adorable.

Love.

Group pic (well, minus the hubs...he took the photo).

I'm a butterfly...

I'm a princess....

I'm frolicking through a meadow....

I'm just being silly because I'm not wearing any shoes and walking through the grass...

I don't actually know what she was doing but it was a cute shot. Silly girl.

I used the size 6 pattern for the boy because he has long legs and a long torso and needs the extra room to fit him. He might even be able to wear them next year, I tried to build in some room when I was sewing them and left some extra elastic just in case I need to let them out later.

I used the 4T pattern for the girl. She wears a 3T, but I also wanted her to be able to wear the shorts again next year (which is why they look so long on her now. It doesn't help that she has short legs.) so I made them a size bigger and left some extra elastic on the end to adjust the waist if I need to next year.

I loved using Dana's KID Shorts pattern. It's easy to assemble the necessary sheets of paper to create the size you need to work with. She provides many different ways to construct shorts for a boy or girl; racer or regular shorts, flat front or elastic all the way around, and pockets. Her tutorials are also fun and colorful, and easy to follow. She has great photos to accompany her tutorials as well. Conclusion: great pattern, love Dana's stuff, and her website.

The end.