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Monday, September 20, 2010

A little sewing

My brother and his wife had their precious little baby girl last week so I can finally post what I made for them. Baby Myah was born on September 11th and she is absolutely beautiful. They did find out what they were having and may have let it slip a few times so I did know that the baby would be a girl. So, knowing this, I was able to make them a quilt that was a little more girly and not quite so gender neutral. However, I didn't want to make a standard 'pink' one so this is what I came up with. The back is done in coral colour minky material that is the softest material around - perfect for a baby quilt.
After I had made their quilt, I realized that I had quite a bit of material left over, probably enough for another quilt! (I'm still trying to figure out why the lady at the quilt store sold me so much when I told her I wanted to do a baby quilt). Anyway, most of the pieces that I had left were smaller than the squares from the first one, so I needed to alter my plan a bit. I have only ever done just the basic squares quilt. I had seen this tutorial for a Stacked Coin Quilt and had also seen a quilt that a friend of mine had done in this pattern. I think it turned out pretty good!

I didn't have enough of the coral minky material left to do the backing of this one and I also thought because there was more of it on the front, it might be a bit much of the orange. So, in the bargain bin at Fabricland, I found this almost as soft grey that worked just as well! Now the quilte will just sit in the cupboard, waiting for a little baby girl to be given to!



Finally, last week I whipped up a few more little bags for the kids. Owen is starting his Wee College and needed a little bag to put his stuff in (the blue one). Kendra still has her Wee college bag from last year (purple one) and I let her choose the material for one to put her ballet clothes in. Very quick and easy pattern to follow. I added the strip on the top for a little more interest and if they get tired of that side, you can flip them inside out for a different look!


Tuesday, September 14, 2010

And so it begins . . .

Today we officially began the next 17+ years of our lives as we began the days of bringing our kids to school. Today was Kendra's first day of Kindergarten!!! She was more than ready to go and was very excited. After teaching for almost 12 years, it was also exciting for me to be on "the other end" of things, being the parent and not the teacher. My husband wasn't sure who was more excited last night - mom or child!! Owen was a little miffed that he didn't get to stay at school today. He took along his backpack and needed to get in on the pictures too. His time will come next year!


Ready for class to begin!

Saying good-bye to my little girl, who is now not so little anymore!

Lots of pink!

Yesterday, Kendra put on the pink tights, the pink body suit and the pink ballet slippers and went to her first dance class. She was SO excited to see the other girls all in pink as well! It is a once a week pre-ballet class for 5-6 year olds. She is going to a place called EverybodyDanceNow Studio. It was started by a few ladies out of their love for God and their love for dance and desire to join the two together.

She came home showing us her first position and second position stance. She looked pretty cute!!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

My little mover!


I thought maybe this time, with #3, I might get a calm child. Well, not so much!! Jocelyn has definitely figured out crawling and it moving very quickly all through the house. No more 'sitting nicely in one spot and playing while mommy gets stuff done'! Now, this week she has also figured out how to pull herself up on furniture. She's not so steady once she is up so her mother is a little nervous that she is going to fall over and konk her head on something! Oh well, she is generally still our happy little girl and we are so blessed to have her!

Just lookin' pretty cute in her party dress at Jordyn and John's wedding!

ZOO

My friend and I decided to get in a trip to the zoo with our kids before school started up. (We can both say that now as we each have a child starting Kindergarten this year!) It was a beautiful day, actually much hotter than I had thought it was going to be. We all had a great day walking around the zoo, getting excited about seeing different and unique animals and just enjoying each other's company! One of the zoo-keepers had this animal (I can't remember the name of it!) out of its cage and was allowing the kids to touch it. It liked to grab hats and Kendra thought that was quite funny!
Good friends - good day!

Bridal Falls

After we were finished at Dino Town, we decided we would make a quick stop and hike the short walk up to Bridal Falls. It is a nice little walk up and the fall really are beautiful. We didn't go any farther than the bottom, due to the fact that the kids were in their crocs (not know for their grip) and we didn't have a backback for Jocelyn. The kids still thought it was fun to see the falls and feel the mist!My little buddy actually wanting to pose for a picture!!

Dino Town

We caved. We took the kids to Dino Town. I think it is one of those places that you drive by and say, "Maybe one day we'll stop there." and then you just keep going. Well, this year Dino Town was closing forever so we figured it had to be this summer or never at all. And we have a 5 year old daughter that might have never forgiven us if we didn't.

So, if we were going to go, we were going to be there first thing in the morning and beat the rush. Well, as you can see, our van is the only one in the parking lot - first one to drive in, first through the gates. Kind of an eerie feeling being the only people in a whole park!!
Once there, it was actually quite a fun place to spend the day. The highlight for both kids was the go-carts. Kendra was able to peddle on her own go-cart while Owen had to sit on Kevin's lap. Because we were the first ones there, we were able to go around as many times as we wanted!!

Riding in the paddle boats was also quite fun, but a good workout for the arms.


Everyday there is a show that plays starring the characters of Dino Town. The kids were quite excited to be sitting on the front row, waiting for the show to start!


A little like another show starring a purple dinosaur! Watching this once was enough for the adults!

Jocelyn didn't get too much out of the rest of the park but did enjoy the swing!

Sitting in one of the many Flinstone vehicles. (The park used to be called Flinstone Park).

Caught in the police car.