Loose Ends-- Sometimes it is the little details that truly satisfy.

The details these days are fun and mundane. Just the way I love em. :)

Emmett is still obsessing over letters.

Coincidentally, he's also discovered how to unzip his pjs.

And when the 2 coincide, I find a stash of letters IN his pjs.

I read to Caroline's class on Dr. Seuss's birthday. She reminds everyone EVERY chance she gets that that is NOT his real name. 

She was BEYOND excited!!!

Gwen has been experimenting with hair. Luckily not her OWN head, too much, but she is going crazy with doll hair!

And me? Well, it has been a stressful but well-resolved week. I had crazy anxiety at the beginning of the week, but it ended up working out and that little bird of hope that landed in my soul wasn't squished. What a relief. I did the 17.1 Crossfit workout with my friend, Diane, though we lengthened our time and lightened our weights below the regulation requirements. But we DID it and that is what matters! I've walked through our house with 3 separate moving companies this week and we had a lengthy talk and tour with our realtor. Now I've got this urge to do as much as possible to get the house ready for selling. Still too wintry to do our spring house face-lift projects or to pack away the winter blankets and coats... So what am I supposed to do to scratch this insatiable pack-it-up itch? 

I'll tell you what I landed upon:

I am SCRAPBOOKING!!!

lol, and while that seems like an incongruous leap of logic, bear with me while I explain. 

I can't get rid of this paper and these supplies and this stuff because I might need it to finish my scrapbooks... from High School and college days!!! Yup, that is right. Everything I do for our family photo albums now is digital photo books. But I have all these hard copy prints from back in the day when THAT was the kind of photos I took...

so. Turn this huge pile of hard copy photos

 and this 

 and this into...

THIS. 

And look at the gems I've uncovered! Sisters in Mexico... ah, the exciting memory of my sister getting heat exhaustion after ascending the pyramid ruins and having to carry her on my back returning to our tour bus bc this was before cell phones and we weren't with the rest of the fam.

Or the memories of this gem of a day in Eureka Springs with these awesome HS friends!

 Or this post-caving pic with these gals at Devil's Den!

Weekly soccer with these college pals!

Teaching a fan? English fast? Ah, the wonderful memories with my MTC companion!

Scrapbooking complete. 

Extra supplies donated. 

Itch successfully scratched. 

Next up: donate all the extra stuff we don't intend to take with us. Then:  Take down all the picture frames hanging on the walls and pack them nicely wrapped up in bubble wrap.

Sewing Sewing Sewing

I have been sewing like CRAZY!!!

Seriously, there might be a slight manic to it all. See, I have this stash of fabric and want to deplete it enough that it doesn't spill out of my tupperwares for our move, but I already winnowed out the fabric I don't love. So what remains is all stuff I want to use rather than get rid of... And therefore I have had lots of sewing to do as part of my moving preparations! I've been averaging one completed project a week--- which is lightning speed for me!

I made these awesome leggings which I absolutely adore! I bought the double-brushed poly from printknitstudio.com  and LOVE the buttery-softness and the non-sheer stretch! I found a pair of LulaRoe leggings at Goodwill and used them for a pattern, so basically they are my own version at a fraction of the cost. It wasn't hard, but I did have to take the waist yoke apart and re-sew it because originally I made it too large (I gave extra seam allowance bc I figured I could always make them smaller). So happy with the result!

I sewed the girls Valentine's clothes. Fabric from Girl Charlee-- it has adorable hearts and flowers in a trendy tribal print! I did Gwen's first, so her tunic-style handkerchief hem dress (I used a square circle skirt, if that makes any sense) is exactly what I wanted. Gwen loves the spin! Caroline got the fabric remnants for hers, so a dress was out of the question. She wanted a shirt so she could wear it to school. From all the remnant pieces I managed to get the stripes to line up in the front, BUT the sleeve stripes are not symmetrical, which drives me crazy. But she doesn't care, so I am letting it go. I finally had to put a ban on that shirt because she was wearing it multiple times a week and I wanted it be special for Valentine's Day. At least I know she LOVES it!

Striped handkerchief hem dress with a drop waist dress for me. I got this fabric on clearance, so it was a real bargain, and I knew I wanted to use it for a dress like this. Trouble is that the fabric I had constrained me to certain things because I got the bargain lot cuts. For example, the stripe up the sides is a cool color-blocking design element, right? One that I HAD to use because the panels weren't wide enough. I rather like that element. I would have preferred the drop waist to be not quite so dropped with the skirt length making up the difference (right now the proportions feel a little off to me), but I just didn't have enough fabric for that. I like it even if it isn't destined to be my new favorite wardrobe item.

I made the girls these purple floral dresses. I love this dusty rose fabric from Girl Charlee and think these dresses turned out great! Comfy and cute, what more could I hope for?

I made a maternity dress that I suppose I could model for you, but it wouldn't quite look right. lol

I made this wonderful diagonally striped maxi dress! I think it is so flattering! I will do another post later with more info on my design and pattern-creation process for this one.

And guess what? 

Now I can close those fabric tupperwares!!!!!

A Toothless Birthday

Gwen's Toothless birthday party was a huge success!

Since we celebrate birthdays with a 'friends' party only every 4 years, this 8th birthday party was a big deal! We kept it frugal by DIY'ing everything. It was a lot of time and effort, but she had such a great time and I was completely happy with the way everything went down. Thanks to careful planning and an incredibly supportive husband/father, I managed to not be all that stressed through it all! So here are the fun details:

 Dragon riders were invited to the dragon training party! The invites I made in Word. Super fun!

 Goodie bags were simple black bags onto which I glued green cardstock eyes. I wrote out names in runes, looking at a font online for lettering. 

This t-shirt bleaching activity was my favorite part, but also the most expensive. We purchased a t-shirt for each party-comer from goodwill/once-upon-a-child. We ironed on freezer paper stencils and then lightly misted with bleach. Cutting out each stencil took Eric and me an evening movie to complete. :)

 Since the ironing portion was a 1 on 1 craft, we also had this viking shield craft for all the kids to do while waiting their turn to make a shirt. Eric attached duct tape handles on the back prior to the party. Caroline was happy to practice her writing on her shield!

 Here you can see the variety of shields we had! That's Gwen's Toothless shield in the front, there. 

 Eric led the games while I cleared the crafts from the table and set up the food. We had a fun "sheep toss" relay that really brought out some enthusiasm and competitive spirit in these kids! Eric kept challenging them to new heights and they loved it! We also had a hula-hoop of dragon fire that the kids had to "fly" through musical chairs fashion. I didn't get a picture, but there was much haggling about whether or not a foot or head was actually in the fire at the time the music stopped... those kids were serious about their games! Plenty of cheering too!

Emmett loves the yarn "sheepies" that I made for the sheep toss!

 For lunch we served Viking ships 

 snacks included dragon poop (marshmallows coated in green melt candy)

 dragon's favorite food: fish! (of the Swedish variety) and a combo of cheesy snacks: fire balls, dragon claws and scales. 

 since it was lunch, I made sure there were healthy options too. Green and black. Emmett was all over the black option. :)

 Crystalized fire and Toothless tears

 and 7-up lime sherbet dragon drool. 

 The awesome display of edibles! the backdrop viking hall banner is a green table cloth and a black table cloth that I cut out in the shape of Toothless. 

When the eating was winding down, Gwen opened her presents. Then we gathered back in the kitchen for cake and ice cream.

 Gwen's Toothless cake breathed fire! Chocolate pumpkin cake, chocolate buttercream icing, and gross store bought fondant that no one ate but was just for looks. (No way was I going to attempt to get black on my own, so I got it from Joanns with a Q). I carved the shape, which I thought was great. I had moderate success putting on the fondant. But Gwen thought he was adorable, and that was all that matters!

 Gwen didn't want Toothless's face to melt (she's thoughtful that way), so she blew out the candles really quickly! Everyone enjoyed cake with mint chip ice cream. Well okay, everyone except one child who only wanted to eat hot dog buns and water, lol! :) Then parents arrived and kiddos gathered up various crafts and headed home!

 My kids shirts turned out like this!

Caroline modeling hers. 

It was an AWESOME party! Thank you, Eric, for helping me with all the prep work and for being such a fun game host on the day of! The kids loved you! and so do I. :)

and happy birthday, miss Gwen! Glad we could make your special party day a roaring success!

Catchup: including Halloween and Election Day zoo excursion

What do you call the red sauce in a squeezable bottle that is required for fries and hot dogs?

Cat-sup? Ketch-up? Catch-up? 

Small tangent, but I always think of hotdogs when I say the words "catch up". Because that happens to be how I pronounce the sauce too. :) But since that isn't the point of this post, I'll move on from that random tidbit. :)

Flashback to the end of last month: Halloween pics that I never shared for family to enjoy!

Gwen was Toothless, Caroline was Batgirl and Emmett was a skeleton (by default because it was in his box already and I knew he wouldn't have a special request. Gotta take advantage of those years while they last, right?)

Gwen's wings and tail detach completely from the outfit, so even after Halloween she has been at liberty to wear the Toothless hoodie to school. She loves it!

Caroline wanted to be a super hero and finally settled on Batgirl because she originally wanted to be Batman but wanted to be cute too. Hence the tutu. 

Emmett ended up loving his skeleton-- which turns out to glow in the dark!-- and has requested it for pjs a few times since wearing it for Halloween. 

 Daddy got busy eating the remaining candy after all the trunk or treaters had come around twice already. 

 Halloween night was pleasant! No extra coats required. Kids were so excited to go trick-or-treating! Gwen might look sort of creepy in this pic; she is trying to get her Toothless eyes in the picture. And yes, they are wearing all black costumes. We didn't plan it that way. We went out before it got dark. Don't worry, Grandma Sugar, we were safe!

 After collecting their own candy, Gwen really wanted to be a big girl and hand out candy to the kids still coming around. She volunteered to sit on the steps and hand out with a smile. Of course anything Gwen is going to do, Emmett wants to do too. :) He did say, "Ew gross" about ten times because he was in such close proximity to our already rotting carved pumpkins! lol

 Jumping ahead: Election day trip to the zoo! Kids had no school that day and the weather was really nice. Since the following day (Gwen's birthday) was not so nice, we decided to make this her special birthday outing after hitting the polls. She chose the train as her special treat! Emmett was so excited!

 Obligatory sitting on sculptures for posed photos. I was honestly impressed that Emmett consented to be in this pic. He is usually a little worried around the sculptures and doesn't like to be far from Mommy.

 One of the things I love best about the zoo is that EVERY time you go, you have a different experience. This time there were 2 highlights. The first was watching and listening to the gibbons put on a show of hoopin and hollerin while we ate our lunch. The other best thing was the manatee house! There were 2 baby manatees who were very active and constantly surfacing to munch more lettuce. There was also a sea turtle who wasn't shy and kept circling the tank along the glass. But Caroline was most excited about this sting ray that swam right up beside her and proceeded to take a nap! Sorry for the blurry pic. I decided to share it anyway because Emmett was in it too. 

Caroline was pretty sure that meant they were the best of pals. :) Emmett just stood so still with his little face pressed up against the glass for what seemed like 20 full minutes (it was probably less than that, but anything more than 2 seems miraculous for that age, right?). We went to the gift shop afterwards and the kids each picked out 75 cent little mini sea creatures with their allowance earnings. Emmett chose a manatee and wants to carry it with him all the time. I told him he couldn't take it to bed (the thing is just too teeny and would get lost!) and he cried and cried. 

But he got over it. He was worn out. :)

Next post will be Gwen's birthday party, which we just successfully enjoyed this morning!