One Foot in Front of the Other

We are very excited that Eva finally took some of her first steps today!!  Sorry about the sideways video, I tend to forget that you can't change the direction once you download them.  And Aaron says he loves showing off his "Wolverine" morning hair and is so happy that I am sharing it with you 

State Fair 2010

Here are some pictures of our Utah State Fair entries. This year I entered in as a amature rather than a professional and found that it was a little more competitive. It's fun to see your own creations at the State Fair. I really enjoy walking around and glenning ideas from all the other entries.

This year my mom was in town to go to the fair with us and my sister in law Monica joined us with of her kids and grand baby. It was a great time.

I got 4th place for Eva's blessing gown

Third place for Robyn's baptism dress

No place for the story coat. I'll have to admit, it wasn't put together well. I got frustrated with it because the lining did not match up well with the outside of the coat. I took it apart and resewed it about 3 times...Gwen loves it and that's all that matters.

Emma's hand embroidered horse got first place!!

Robyn's doll, Johanna, got first place

2 of Robyn's entries both got a first place ribbion!

Gwen's embroidery of her name. Way to go Gwen!!

Aiden's "flying" house. He got 5th place for it!!

Emma and Kali

Robyn and Gabe

Gwen with her cousin, Gabe

Aiden at the "farm"

Monica, my mom Helen and myself

Look at all these kids!!! Kibbie's and the Cassleberry's (cousins)

Ode to my Old Jeans

So why is it that once you jeans turn into your most favorite comfy jeans that they wear out?! It's so sad to me that this happens. I think I am the most picky when it comes to the way something fits. These jeans have been so nice to wear that I go to great lengths to wear long shirts with them to hide the holes that have developed around the back pockets. I do not like clothes shopping because I'll spend hours trying clothes on and come away with one thing that worked. I remember having battles with my mom with clothes because I didn't like the way they fit. Sure they were cute, but if they were restrictive or uncomfortable in any way I would protest. Perhaps this is the reason why I have a hard time sewing for myself because it's hard to tailor something on your own body. If any of you out there are good at this and are willing to give me some tips I would LOVE it! Now on to my search for the perfect jeans...

Here I am in my current favorite jeans that will soon be in the "jean graveyard" (don't mind the construction in the back ground, that's what happens when your kids take your picture ;), she did a pretty good job otherwise):

A close up shot of the wearing out. Notice the holes in the knees and the fraying around the cuff...

Princess Gwenie

I made dresses similar to this one for Robyn and Emma a couple of years ago and Gwen has been asking for one for quite some time. So for Halloween I finally made one for her, but Gwenie style. My friend Tricia (check out her dresses here. Her blog is amazing and has great ideas!) borrowed this pattern a while back and made some really cute dresses so I borrowed some of her ideas and turned it into this:

Eva followed us out to check out the pumpkins

Aaron likes Gwen's serious look

I LOVE little girls twirling pictures. It shows how little girls really are...

Halloween

Here are some pictures of the kids this Halloween. We go to the movies instead of trick or treating to avoid the loads of sugar. I let them choose to stay home and trick or treat with their friends, if they so desire, but they all came with us to the movies this year. They were invited to a few Halloween parties this year and I believe they got their fill of candy.

This is not a very good picture, but if you can see Aiden's teeth, they are quite amazing. These are not staged, they are his real teeth! It's a wonder how he can still eat!

Here they are: The witch, the flapper, the zombie and the princess

Egypt

We've been using a history curriculum called Story of the World. It's great because it gives you a short story to read to the kids about that particular time in history. Then it gives you a list of books to check out from the library for the kids to learn more on their own. Last they give you fun activities to do with the kids to help them remember what they learned. This week we learned about Egyptian writing and the different ways they wrote. We made our own "stone" tablets and "Papyrus" writings. Robyn got ambitious and wrote a story using the Egyptian writings. I'm planning a trip to the University of Utah art museum that has a few Egyptian artifacts to go a long with our Egyptian studies.

Wild Days

Some of our favorite homeschool days are our wild days. We pack up our nature journals and head out for the hills. This time we got to enjoy the beautiful fall colors as we hiked and collected leaves to make fairy people. We sat under a bridge and under the canopy of oak trees. We read from our nature journal book all about oak trees, the different varieties and how to tell them apart. While we were creating pictures in our books we came across a few interesting bugs that got the kids excited. Aiden kept trying to scare us and Emma would become "creaped out". Whenever we go on our wild day adventures I make sure to bring a special treat to share with the kids to make the trip extra special. Eva got to stay home with Dad as he worked from home this day which was wonderful for her to have a peaceful nap.

At the trail head

Me

Emma

Gwen

Robyn showing us some of the acorn caps she found

Aiden showing off his very toothless grin. I'm amazed that he can still eat!

Just one more stitch!

So my sewing addiction has struck again. It's so fun to create and experiment with children's clothes. Eva needed some new clothes and I have SO much fabric that I would feel waistful not using it for what is needed (even more reason to take my habit out of the closet) and I have a book that I would like to listen to and it's so nice to listen to a book while sewing so here are some thing that were made...

I got the idea for this sweet outfit from a book called, Carefree Clothes for Girls, that my friend Tricia let me look at. The apron was from the book. My favorite part of the apron is the back of it. I love how it gives you a peak to her cute tiny body. Then I took some linin capris that I loved so much that they were no longer wearable to me (due to the holes in the rear) and I made a pair of pants and a skirt. For the skirt I added some lace that my mom found in a vintage shop and had sent me as a gift.

Here are Gwen and Eva together. I made Gwen's dress from a sweater I did not wear anymore and I got the idea from the web site Make It and Love It. I loved making the flowers. They are suprisingly simple and turn out very cute.


Here are some shoes I made for Eve from some leather scraps from the leather store in Salt Lake. I made one pair from felted wool. The wool ones are cute, but they do pill quite badly. They are pretty easy to sew if you are okay with not pinning and are very quick handmade gifts. I bought the pattern from the web site Make It Yourself.

Biking

We have taken a liking to bike riding. The kids love that Mom and Dad join them. Eva takes to uncontrollable laughter while the bike is moving. It's great being out side in the warm air, site seeing the beautiful leaves in their fall transformation and to hear the laughter and joy coming from my children's little voices. As the rains come, gratitude fills me knowing that it's much more sunny here than where I come from and even though there will be cloudy days, I know a sunny day is just around the corner.

Yes, this is my handsome little man

Robyn and Emma

Aaron with Gwen "helping" him on his ride

Myself with Eva in her seat

All of us in action

Some more for Sale

Emma has a few things for sale as well as some services offered (all proceeds go to her horse riding):

Yummy chocolate cover popcorn is going for $2 a bag.
These would be great to have for Halloween or for a holiday party.

Ordered to make Christmas Pajama Bottoms $10 each (you provide the fabric) $15 each (if we buy the fabric)
Please make sure to order no later than December 1. If you are out of state please order sooner.

Dog Walking $4 for a 20 minute walk

Babysitting $4 an hour

Poop scooping $10 for an hours worth of scooping

We also have the following pillow case dresses (these make cute nighties) and bonnets for sale. Prices are as followed:

$10 each

$8 each

$10 each

$8 each

Robyn would also like to offer the following:

Babysitting $4 an hour

Guppy Fish $1 each

Robyn's handmade dolls (custom and already made) www.robynslittlefriends.blogspot.com

Please leave comment or email us if you are interested :)

Mummification

We started a new science curriculum this year about human anatomy. Part of one lessons was about how the Egyptians mummified bodies. We did a little experiment with apples. We pealed 2 apples....

...then we covered one with a mixture of baking soda and salt and did nothing with the other...

...then we let them sit for a week. The results:

The kids were pretty surprised to see what happened to the "mummified apple".