Monthly Archives: March 2013

The Story of two little girls

17 Replies

They are cousins, born only days apart in the month of March.  It was only natural that we would expect them to be close, but in those early days it seemed a little doubtful.


Huge crocodile tears were what we most often got when we put them together.

Sometimes they managed to fain indifference

“Hey Cora, does this bumbo make rear look fat?”

But before long the two little girls who could hardly stand to be near each other became…

… completely inseparable.

They turned four this month.  We don’t always do combined parties but this seemed like a good year to do one.  Their very first all-girl party.  We asked them what kind of party they wanted and we got a one word response… PINK!  Very well then…

On a beautiful spring day we set the party table up on Jessica’s back lawn.  Seven little friends would be there soon with their party frocks on.  We planned a small art project, a luncheon filled with girly-pink foods and of course; pink birthday cake.

The two birthday girls waiting anxiously for their guests to arrive.


We put the party favor baskets down the length of the table.  In my head this seemed like the perfect solution but in reality it was a constant source of temptation and confusion for the girls :)   Fortunately everyone went home with their favor baskets in tact… mostly.

We started the party off with a craft project.  I found a free Birthday Crown printable on the internet. Jessica and I bought lots of fun paper flowers and glitter to decorate them with.

The grandmas stayed to help with the party.  You never know how art projects are going to go when you have a lot of little ones to help, but it went fantastic!  Jessica came up with the brilliant idea to use small bowls of glue and q-tips for application and that made all the difference in the world!  The girls carefully decorated their crowns and we left them to dry in the sun as we finished the party.

Next was the party lunch.  Lots of berries, pink milk, pink yogurt and heart shaped sandwiches.

(for the record, once the girls ate all the berries off the skewers they used them to sword fight)
 


They were pretty excited and I’m not sure a lot of eating actually happened, but at least we attempted to feed them.

Here they all are with their party crowns. 

I just love the way they turned out!  They all looked so darling with their party dresses and hats!

This is just a shot of the little hair clips I made to put in their party favor bags.  Right now you can buy these little crocheted flowers at Michaels.  A package of 12 only cost $2.00!  I think I need to go back and get a bunch more!

So many lovely presents to open!

And what Birthday would be complete without cake and candles!

Happy Birthday sweet girls!!  Looking forward to many more celebrations together!

This & That

13 Replies

Such beautiful weeks we have been having!  The days are getting longer, the weather is warming up, and everything is starting to bloom.  Not that March won’t still bring some chilly, rainy days but for now we are loving every moment of this perfect spring weather.  The kids have been staying outside until the last bit of sunlight disappears behind the hills.

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law and I took the kiddos to the annual Almond Blossom Festival.  Almond blossom season is a much anticipated time of the year and the Almond Blossom Festival is everything we have come to love about small town parades.   It was another gorgeous day (although a little on the windy side).
 
We arrived early to get prime main street seating, and pizza by the slice from our favorite local pizza store.  While we were waiting in line to get pizza, four of the Almond blossom princesses came in all decked out in their princess finery.  The princesses waved sweetly to our little girls who were too dumbstruck with sheer admiration to do anything but stare with mouths open.  It was so funny!

The stream of marching bands, fire trucks, police cars, and horses started at last.


The boys waving to the firemen up on the big red truck.


Lots of candy, pencils, and stickers were being passed out to bright-faced children who lined the edge of the street.  We waited until the very last car passed by and slowly made our way back to the van.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last week our school celebrated National Reading Day by coming to school in their pjs and spending the day reading books to each other.  They brought blankets, pillows and their favorite book to share.  Throughout the day the teachers arranged to have quest storybook readers come in and read the the classes.

Even Mrs. B came in her jammies :)   For lunch they ate a big pancake lunch (which my boys thought was the best thing EVER!).  It’s times like this that I am ever so thankful for the teachers we have been blessed with!

Miss E and I have fallen into a sweet routine at home while the boys are at school.  I really do love it.  After we drop them off, we come home and enjoy a leisurely breakfast.  Occasionally we even drink our coffee and hot coco out of fancy tea cups. 

The simplest things delight her!  She follows me around doing her best to mimic my every step, chatting happily (sometimes a little too endlessly) as we do the chores.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday afternoon was just too beautiful to stay indoors, so we all piled into our little golf cart, and took a quick trip down the canal to the cousins’ house.

This is what the central valley looks like at this time of year.  I think it must be impossible to be unhappy during almond blossom time. 

When we arrived we found everyone outside and the boys practicing baseball.  They quickly rounded up some gear for J to play as well.

We moms sat and cheered and chatted while the kids did their best to play baseball.  Lots of chasing balls down :)


Mr. G injured his ankle while playing on the trampoline so he sat on the sidelines with me.


A fun spur-of-the-moment afternoon with the cousins turned into a “hey why don’t you come back to our house and eat pizza with us” evening!  Some of use rode back in the car.  The big boys wanted to ride their bikes back to our house so my husband followed them in the golf cart.  Such a fun perfect night!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ve also done some sewing!!  It’s been a solid two in a half months since my sewing machine has seen any action, and I was aching to use my new patterns and material.

This pattern in the Geranium Dress from Made By Rae.  It’s a PDF pattern that you can purchase on Rae’s website.

I knew I wanted to buy the pattern the moment Rae introduced it, but I was fortunate enough to win it during her 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway!  My mom came over one Friday.  We worked on it together and by that evening the dress was done.

I’d like to make her at least one more dress and the tunic version as well.  Such a sweet and fun pattern!

Last but not least….

My tummy gets kissed by this girl at least a dozen times a day.  She is already so in love with this baby.

And that’s all the juicy news from our little corner of the world.  Hopefully I’ll be posting a lot more sewing projects soon!  I have an ever growing stack of fabric and patterns piling up to make for this little one.