my sweet little family: June 2011

this week...

10:29 PM

On Sunday, Nana Judy, Bapa Ron, and Uncle Jon came down to visit! Aunt Holly is on deployment in Abu Dabi, so Jon is on his own for a while :(

It was great to visit with them! :)

The girls are in their second week of swimming lessons, and doing very well!

and I have been doing a bit of sewing, and this is the latest creation....Avery's school colors are red and black, so I figured this would be cute when she has to dress in school colors! :) Again, no where near perfect, but definitely wearable!

Rachel!

7:37 PM

Olivia's speech teacher got married today in our town! She was at her sister's house (who lives in our neighborhood) and so she stopped by and said hello! :) Liv was on cloud 9!

Congratulations Rachel!

my new hobby...

12:05 AM

putting my tail between my legs here, and showing whomever is reading what I have been up to this week. I've always wanted to learn how to sew. So, I ordered a sewing machine and some fabric, downloaded some tutorials, and went to town. I have been busy, and the clothes I have made are FAR FAR FAR from perfect, but anyhow, here they are so far....

Patchwork skirt...

Tiered skirt for Olivia

and one for Avery

This is a reverse knot dress....this is the front....

and the back of it....

This is a round collar dress for Avery, but I got stuck, and don't know how to finish this one. It's supposed to have pockets on the front too, but don't know how to do that yet! :)

A 2 tier American Girl doll skirt....

and some ruffle pants! I made these without a pattern at all. Hope they fit!

I have a long way to go, but at least now I know that I CAN sew! :)

Father's Day, 2011

12:01 AM

The girls and I were driving home from Minneapolis for most of Father's Day, but when we returned, the girls were SO happy to see their daddy! I think the feeling was mutual! Daddy misses his girls when they're gone for too long!

When we were at the Mall of America, the girls saw a gift that Daddy just HAD to have! They were very excited to give it to him!

Daddy loves his Angry Birds! :)

Ahhh....all is right with the world when you're in Daddy's arms!

Mall of America Trip, Day 3

4:16 PM

Day 3 was all about the rides at the Mall of America! We got there at 10:30 or so, and didn't leave until 10....VERY long day, and by the end, we were all pooped!

When we went 2 summers ago, the girls LOVED the Wonder Pets ride! That was the first ride they went on this time! I think by the end of the day, they went on it at least 15 times!

They both figured out how to kick their legs at just the right time, and make their bottoms rise out of the seat! :)

Bumper cars was a first for them. They mostly spent the whole ride trying to figure out how to move the car!

The Swiper ride (from Dora) was a favorite too!

We slowed it down on the Carousel ride, which for some reason made me a little woozy...

The Backyardigans were visiting, and the girls were excited to meet and greet them!

After a couple hours, we took a break and went shopping. Check out the wall of legos!

Howdy Woody!

We were all starving, and so we headed to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. We had about 30 minutes of wait time, and there was a Build-a-Bear conveniently located in the gift shop. So, Liv got a chance to spend some of her fun money from Nana, and picked out a pink flamingo that she named Ashley!

had to make sure she was full of stuffing, but still very hug-able!

cleaning her up!

making her birth certificate...

All ready to go! :)

Now, finally on to lunch! It was a fun experience for the girls to eat there. Avery thought it was really neat,

and Liv was a little freaked out by the rainstorms and moving animals!

Avery LOVED seeing the dolphins!

back for more rides! :)

she was a little mad at me for making her go on some BIG rides. Both the girls went on the HUGE Dora carousel, the log chute, the big roller coaster, and Avery and I went on some sort of atomic glider....

They liked sticking more to the kid rides!

We took another break, and went into Barnes and Noble. Wherever there is a stage, expect to see Olivia on it! She's FULL of drama!

We shopped for a while, and went back and rode the Carousel before leaving at 10 that night.

We were all so very tired, but obviously not tired enough to skip out on one last swim at the hotel! Good thing the pool didn't close until midnight!

Avery....

Olivia learned how to kick while her face was in the water! She's a little fish now!

So proud of her!!!

I'm pretty sure she's proud of herself too!

We showered down by the pool, and ran upstairs!

being silly, that Nana and Olivia!!!

good thing no one was out of their rooms at that hour!

We had a wonderful time, and hope to do this annually! Every girl needs a girls weekend once in a while!

Mall of America Trip, Day 2

11:43 PM

Friday morning we woke up bright and early, ready to go and pick out Avery's birthday present! She received some money early for her birthday, and had enough to get a doll and some accessories!

What a hard hard choice to pick out a doll! She KNEW which one she wanted, and she was determined that she was "the one"!

A worker helped Avery pick out the right doll!

Love at first sight!

We found some glasses to make her look more like Avery!

The workers are so very kind, and realize that this is such a big day for each little girl! This lady went over all of the specifics of the doll for Avery.