They're in the Mail

Elsie's having a Mickey party for her birthday.  She loves him so much!  The invitations were a family project.  Stephen cut out the Mickey heads and pants.  I sewed the pants onto the heads.  Elsie glued the buttons onto the pants and I printed, tied and stuffed the invitation details.  Elsie also helped to address the envelopes.  She wrote her friends' first names on them.  Mary Grace really didn't do much for this project, except for behaving while we worked on them.  I'm pleased with how well they turned out.  She only wanted to invite a few of her little girlfriends from school so we only made 10 of them.

Here's the finished project.  The photo quality isn't perfect because I took the pictures with my iPhone.  Also, I blurred out the kids' last names and addresses.

I Have a New Hobby!

That's right, I've taken up sewing.  I bought a little Brother machine with my birthday money and have been sewing up a storm since then.  I've made several pairs of pants for the girls like the ones seen below.  And the top that Elsie is wearing in this photo:

 And  this skirt, the "Katie" skirt from Children's Corner.  I've made several of these.  It's fully lined and has pockets on the sides.  I've also made a jumper for Elsie, and several aprons.  Next up, I'll be making a dress for Mary Grace out of the pattern that I used to make Elsie's top in the photo above.  I found the cutest red and black Eiffel tower fabric and some coordinating red and black polka dot fabric for the sleeves.  Then there is a bag that I'd like to make for myself and I'll be making Roman shades for the back doors at our house.  I just wish I had more time!



Terrific Kid!

I am the proud parent of a Terrific Kid!  The character word of the month was "peace" and Mary Grace's teacher nominated her for the award!  We are so proud of her and thankful that she's doing so well in school.  She received the award at her school's pep rally on Friday.  Her favorite part was when everyone gave her "a big hand".

Christmas Wrap-up

I had planned to do more blog posts in December but school parties, other parties, and illnesses got in the way.  So here is one big Christmas wrap-up post.  I think it's safe to say that we had the best Christmas EVER!
We hosted our second annual Christmas cookie decorating party on Christmas Eve eve.  On the morning of Christmas Eve, we traveled to Raleigh and arrived just in time for the candlelight service at Trinity.  It was a sweet service.  It's always fun to be there in such a big sanctuary with so many people and to sing with so many other voices!  At the children's moment, the church gave all of the children a copy of the book, "Love Came Down at Christmastime".  The service ended in an upbeat way with a spirited, jazz-band version of "Go Tell it on the Mountain."
We spent Christmas Eve night at the rental house in North Ridge.  I think it was a record Christmas Eve crowd for the family.  Ten names made it on the ornament this year!  (You have to spend the night on Christmas Eve for your name to be on the ornament.)  We awoke Christmas morning to a load of presents under and all around the tree.  Santa brought Mary Grace a new bike that even has a seat on the back for her babydoll.  And he brought Elsie a "plasma" car, which she calls her "Mickey rocket".  It does kind of look like a Mickey rocket and she had asked for a Mickey bike, so that's what we're calling it!  The girls also received lots of toys, games, dolls, and a big dollhouse to share.
The Monahans had us over for Christmas dinner and the snow started while we were there.  By the time we woke on Sunday morning, there was at least 4 inches of snow covering the ground and it was still pouring from the sky.  We tried to sled that day but the snow was just too deep and soft.  Everyone spent the night at the house again that night and we woke to much more sled-favorable conditions the next morning.
On Monday afternoon, we headed back to St. Marys.  Then on Tuesday, the Kinneys came down for the week.  We enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing week with them.  We hardly left the house the entire time they were down! 
That's a short recap in words, here's the story in photos: