A Winter Geranium

  

Christmas dresses have become a yearly tradition in our house. 

Oddly enough it didn't start that way- Cordelia's first couple of Christmas' she wore store bought , typically velvet, dresses. Now when I ask if I can buy her a dress instead of making one she says "absolutely not, you always make me one and it is special!"

   

In 2013 I started with the batman dress, 2014 she got matching cat dresses with her doll, 2015 was a dramatic corduroy dress, and 2016 was a spunky my little pony dress with wings. This year she requested snow flakes, sparkle, and fuzzy pockets!   

I used Made by Rae's Geranium pattern - but with some of the extension pack options, and some of my own modifications. I stuck with the original cap sleeves but used the longer bodice and the peter pan collar used in the update. I drafted a circle skirt- but with added side seams for the pockets- for the dress instead of using the original straighter skirt so it was a "twirly" dress.

You can't tell from these photos, but the bodice is a sparkle cotton, the skirt is shiny silver- and the collar is fuzzy!  

  

I thought fuzzy pockets was a strange request- but apparenty it made the dress. 

I hope you all had happy holidays- does anyone else have a tradition of sewing special Christmas dresses?!

Happy Halloween

Halloween is hands down my favorite holiday- and for me, Halloween with kids is the best. I'm not big on parties, or drinking, so I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself on Halloween before we had Cordelia. I was always dressed up with no where to go. 

Now it's almost like we have too many places to go! This year we attended: a new friend's Halloween party, trunk or treat at church, a Girl Scouts Haunted house, The school Halloween party, and we will be trick or treating tonight! And I'm not complaining, I absolutely love it- and it forced me to finish the girl's Halloween Costumes early! 

This is Adeline's first Halloween and Cordelia and I agreed that coordinating sister costumes were a must- so Cordelia is a lion tamer, and Adeline is her lion! 

One of the nice mom's at the bus stop suggested that perhaps it should have worked the other way around- Cordelia should have been the lion, and Adeline the tamer since Adeline is so much more mellow than Cordelia! I had to laugh, because that's the total truth from someone who hasn't even known them very long. 

Adeline's hood was lovingly made by my sister Shauna, and I went simple and just dressed her in "lion" colored clothing she already had.  

It was Shauna's idea to add a tail- and I think it adds to the cuteness! 

It does however confuse Cordelia when people ask about our baby boy...but then again, boy lions have manes- not girl lions! But girl lions in baby costume form kind of just look like cats, so I'm ok with the gender confusion. 

My feisty Cordelia asked to wear eyeliner, and I think I should have said no- she looks too grown up!

Cordelia's jacket is actually the pirate jacket Shauna made our nephew about 15 years ago when he wanted to be a pirate for Halloween! I added the gold trim and epaulettes to make it look more showy like a circus performer. I also made her red dress, which is her favorite part of the costume! Her hat is from Michael's Arts & Crafts, and her socks are from Target.  

I had big plans for Mime and Magician (or maybe even a strong man or clown) costumes for us parents- but I was working on a pattern test, and some commissions, and honestly I decided I'd rather sleep! And I'm ok with that! I think Halloween stressed me out less this year, I've been able to enjoy the season more, and I really love that.  I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween! 

The First Day of First Grade

It is safe to say that Cordelia was more scared to start first grade than she was to start Kindergarten. Kindergarten she was thrilled for and annoyed that we hadn't left her side yet when we walked her to her classroom. 

  

However, leading up to the first day of first grade were days of tears, indecision about what to wear, and a couple instances of flat out refusal to go at all. Nothing could convince her that her new school wouldn't be terrible. 

To top it all off this would also be her first time riding a bus to school. I desperately told Brendon I needed him to go into work late just in case she refused to get on the bus. 

Brendon had the wonderful idea to make her a bravery necklace- so she could hold onto it whenever she was feeling unsure at school. When it came time to hop on the bus she gave my hand one last squeeze, charged forward, and didn't look back. 

I felt kind of lost all day as I wondered how she was doing. But at the end of the day she skipped down the bus stairs, yanked off her necklace, and said "Mama I don't need this anymore". 

And every day of first grade has gone that amazingly. Thank goodness. 

6 years and 6 months

It dawned on me that my children were 6 years and 6 months at the same time and it seemed like such a magic moment I wanted to freeze it. So I froze it the only way I knew how- with pictures.  

Having two small children is exhausting, but there is not a doubt in my mind that having both of them makes my life more complete.

School is out now so I am back to working five days a week. The process of getting myself and two kids up, ready, out the door, pumping milk, smiling at customers, getting everyone home, fed, and to bed is taking some getting used to. Combined with the fact that Adeline is still waking up a couple times a night I haven't had energy for anything "extra". I miss making things.  I miss T.V! I know I will adjust, but darn this is hard- I am soo tired!

But mostly what I miss, more than T.V, sewing, or even sleep, is the extra time during the day with these two. Work is necessary both for our budget- and probably my sanity, but look at these faces! They are just so incredibly sweet.  

 Adeline is very interested in Cordelia. She always knows where Cordelia is in the room. She watches everything Cordelia does- and exasperatingly enough she has even developed a fake cough to mimic Cordelia's very real cough. Now that Adeline can army crawl she has started going after whatever Cordelia is playing with!   

Cordelia loves to make Adeline laugh and giggle, and really enjoys waking her up- which I am not a fan of. Cordelia calls Adeline "Smushy, Mushy, Tushie" - I am hoping this extension of Adeline's nickname doesn't follow her for too long in life because I can see it annoying her as a pre-teen. 

 Adeline is a much more mellow baby than Cordelia was- granted it could just be that we perceive her as more mellow because we are more relaxed as parents, but I think Adeline tolerates things that Cordelia never would have- like being poked and prodded by an enthusiastic six year old. 

They seem so different now that I look forward to seeing how their individual personalities develop and grow. 

I feel very blessed to have my two sisters and my brother, having siblings has shaped who I am as a person in ways I'm not sure I even have words for. At the end of the day I know that my sisters and my brother are always there for me- I cannot be alone as long as they walk this earth. I knew with all my heart that Cordelia should have that too- which adds another layer to my thankfulness for Adeline. 

They are so young and so new at being sister, but they are so connected- I hope that connection is something we successfully nurture throughout their lives. 

Rainbow Birthday Bash

Yesterday we celebrated Cordelia's 6th birthday with a Rainbow Bash theme. Originally we had planned on a small six kid party, but when we got the news that we would have to move came I figured we would do one more big party - with all of her friends invited. I hope we will be able to keep her in contact with at least a chunk of the friends she has made while growing up here, but I know busy schedules and living in different neighborhoods will make keeping in contact with everyone impossible, so I wanted to give her this last party before everything changes.   

Cordelia's party dress is the ultimate in rainbow dresses- or at least that was the goal. It's a patchwork of some of my sister and my favorite fabrics- Allison Glass, Tula Pink, Lizzy House, and many more. If you look close you can find cats, moons, bunnies, space ships, vegetables, and a whole host of interesting prints.  

The bodice is made from the Bella Sunshine Designs Coffee Shop Dress, with about three inches taken off the bottom. The skirt of the dress involved patching together 140 charm squares into seven rows, red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, blue and purple. The most time consuming part was cutting out all the charm squares! 

  

Cordelia was very please by the twirl factor in this dress. 

 

Because pockets are very important I hid two little pockets in the patchwork. 

For Adeline I made a simple rainbow romper from a vintage pattern- hopefully I will get more photos of her in it before she grows out of it! 

I think I did go a tiny bit simpler for the invite this year! 

For food we had rainbow jello cups, rainbow fruit skewers, m&m cookies (store bought), fruity pebble crispy treats, a rainbow veggie tray, colored gold fish, princes popcorn, and of course marshmallow pops (they seem to be a birthday party tradition at this point). 

Our Princess party popcorn is just regular popcorn with pink food coloring added to the butter. 

Every year I make one thing that is a little insane and time consuming- first birthday it was candy dots, second it was chocolate fish, third is was pretzel turtles...this year it was jello cups. They weren't hard but they took forever to make. 

Instead of decorating fancy cupcakes this year I made plain cupcakes and had the kids decorate them as an activity! This kids loved it, and I was glad we were outside because it was messy!

 

For other activities we had sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and a temporary tattoo station. We were also at a park so the kids had a blast just running around.  

Our only decorations (besides unicorn tablecloths from Target) was rainbow bunting. My sister found free printable bunting from Carrie Elle and we made tons of it.

  

And a free printable from the crafting chicks for rainbow seeds (jelly beans) for our favor!

Thank you to everyone who came out to party, and thank you to my sisters for their hard work, and thank you to my hubby for supporting my crazy love of party planning!