The Shaggy Look

Russell wanted to grow his hair out.

He said that girls liked boys with hair that could "flip".

It got to the point that he got just a bit too shaggy for me.

I insisted on a haircut.

I think he looks soooo much better.

More sewing....

This spring I got to take a trip to southern Utah to visit my sister.

She had just had a baby.

Her first boy after 4 girls.

She wanted me to help her sew a nursery set for her new "little man".

Her idea of "help" was she wanted me to do the sewing.

She picked out the fabric and the construction was up to me.

After much deliberation in the fabric store and putting back 2 other "groups" of fabrics,

this is the fabric combination she came up with....

I did consult my grandmother on how to make the piping.

My great aunt and grandma helped turn all the ties for the bumper pads.

My mom cut the fabric for the bedskirt so that all the stripes matched up.

She even had to make a last minute trip to the fabric store about a half hour before they closed

because she ran out of fabric in the attempt to match those stripes.

She bought all they had left.

The sheet above is a mint green. We made a tan sheet to match as well.

I hope she likes how it turned out.

I was a little nervous in the faith she had in me to pull it off.

But I'd do it again.

Happy Birthday Russ

This is the second (actually third if you include mine) birthday we had in our family that I am now catching up to blog about.

Russell turned 9 about a week after school got out for the summer.

I don't know if you can tell but he has been losing quite a few teeth.

He has several holes in his mouth where teeth will soon be coming in.

We were sitting in church just this last week when he leaned over and asked if he could leave to go to the restroom.

I told him he would need to wait.

He then showed me his loose tooth.

I gave him a kleenex and within the next 2 minutes he had pulled it out.

Unfortunately, later that day he had it back in his mouth playing with it and he accidentally swallowed it!

He was devastated.

High tops!!!!

Big kid water guns.

Can you hear the man-child whoop of "YEAH"?

Happy Birthday, Son!

I've done some sewing lately

I never would have guessed that I would be doing as much sewing as I did the first 6 months of this year.

Janelle is in the colorguard at her high school. Before Christmas, I had several Colorguard mom's call and ask me if I would be willing to make their girls' dresses for the Winterguard season.

I made 5 Colorguard dresses at the first of the year.

(and Janelle wasn't even part of Winterguard)

Then, a friend from church asked if I could do some sewing for her daughter's bedroom.

I had fun making pink/brown pillows as well as the drapes for this little girl's room.

I made a total of 8 pillows, 2 floor length tab drapes, and a seat cover/cushion.

My girls asked if I would make them each a dress.
I started with one for Hannah.

Actually, I made a few for Hannah in different sizes mostly using scraps I had from other projects.

This red one is the one she is currently wearing.

Janelle asked if I would make one for her for her Band Banquet and Dance. It's a little more formal than just Sunday best(or so she said).

She picked out the fabric and actually watched some of the construction.

Rachel wanted a new dress for the end of school year Seminary dance. I don't remember if I got her dress done in time for that event, but I finished it and she loves it.

She picked out the fabric as well.

She wanted green and it to be the same fabric I made her Glenda the Good Witch costume out of a few years ago(taffeta).

Both Janelle and Rachel have worn their dresses to several functions including a tri-stake Youth Conference dance.

Our good friend is the Stake Young Women's President and she told me after Youth Conference, that she pointed my girls out to Sister Dalton (the General Young Women's President) at one of the Youth Conference dances and told her about their dresses.

I made a dress for Julie as well from a pattern and material that she picked out but I can't find a picture of it. I'll have to post that picture later.

P.S. to my niece Berkeley, your twirly skirt is the next thing on my table for completion. I ran into a bit of a glitch but will get it finished soon.

Double Take

Did you have to look twice to tell who it was??

You wouldn't be the first to if you did.

Yes, that's me (in the red) with Janelle.

Whom others sometimes think is me.

She even sounds like me on the phone.

You know that mother's curse is the real deal.

Not only does my child act like me (not always, Dad)

But she looks just like me as well.

I wanna be a cowboy/cowgirl

Hannah and Spencer had their own little birthday party with their friends this year.

We had a BIG party in their honor when they turned 1 but that was more of a "Thank you" to all those people who helped us get to that one year mark.

So this was their year for a friends party.

But what do you do when you have both a girl and a boy?

A friend of mine suggested a brown and pink theme and this is what I came up with...

Brown bandanas for the boys and pink ones for the girls. And a sheriff's badge for everyone.

We ran horsey relays,

drank out of brown and pink cups,

had strawberry cake with chocolate ice cream

and everyone got to take home a balloon in the color of their choice

(brown or pink of course).

A HUGE thanks to Grandma B for sending me the horse heads so all I had to do was attach them to the sticks, add hair and bridles.

P.S. We will need to borrow the doll hair needle to make a new mane.

Spencer's horse got a new hair-do thanks to the puppy.

3 Years Ago Today

This Post was originally suppose to be posted on Hannah's and Spencer's birthday.....

This is what I was doing 3 years ago today.

About this same time.

This is the story of that day.....

Actually, this is the story of 2 special little ones who joined our family that day.

We knew from early on in this pregnancy that this delivery would be our most eventful.

Hannah came first and tried to make that first cry that every mother waits to hear.

Hers was more like a kitten mewing.

She was immediately worked on to get her intubated.

You see, Hannah was born with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

She had a hole in her diaphragm that had allowed some of her organs to develop within her chest cavity.

In turn, those organs pushed her left lung up and her heart more toward the center of her chest.

When Hannah was born, her left lung was about the size of a quarter.

Her intestines and her stomach took up space in her chest.

This was all I got to do to hold her before she was whisked off to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

When Hannah was 4 days old, the doctors decided to operate.

They said she would not get better until they did.

They locked the NICU down for 3 and 1/2 hours while they performed her surgery bedside.

The doctor came to see us and reported that things had gone well. They had put a gortex patch on her diaphragm to repair the hole. The surgeon told us that if she made it past her toddler years without tearing the patch, she wouldn't need to have another surgery.

We are at three toddler years and going strong!

This is that same little fighter today.

Her favorite things to do now are:

Play house with Spencer and Julie

Have her fingernails and toenails painted

Go to church

Go shopping with Mom

When I delivered Spencer, I did something that my first OB/Gyn said I could never do...

I delivered him BREECH!!

In fact, Spencer decided to enjoy the bit of room he had and kicked away from the doctor as the doctor tried to grab his foot and deliver him.

He came only 4 minutes after his sister (much quicker than my first twin delivery).

He weighed in at 7 pounds even.

And helped fill the void of having to leave his womb buddy in the hands of NICU doctors and nurses and not mine.

Spencer at 3...

Likes to:

Go anywhere with Dad

Go swimming

Play with his dog

Pretend to be a cowboy.

I feel extremely blessed to have had these 2 little ones join our family. We truly have felt the Lord's hand in our lives.

Happy Birthday Babies!!