Girl Stuff: Dancing Princess and the Lazy Days Skirt

Savannah has started taking dance classes this year. She looks so cute! She is taking tap and ballet and absolutely LOVING every minute of it! Being the busy mommy that I am, I just now started putting all the dates on the calendar from the dance studio and realized that her rehearsal and recital are on two back to back SUNDAYS! So.....it looks like we will be looking for a new dance studio now. I wouldn't mind keeping her there, but I think as the recital gets closer, she would feel so sad that she wasn't going to be in it.I was wasting time online the other day and found the cutest little pattern for the lazy days skirt. It looked so simple that I had to try it! It has been a while since I have sewn anything and I was kind of excited for a new project! I decided to practice on a Halloween skirt and was able to make this one in just under an hour and the materials cost a total of $2.50.

There are some other cute versions of this skirt here and here. Since I have a girly girl who LOVES skirts, I think I will try out some other fun fabric combinations!

Publick Days Celebration

We took a day trip to the Citie of Henricus Publick Days Celebration this weekend. It was fun to step back in time and see how the early colonists lived. Here the kids are using shells to hollow out a log for a boat. The early colonists would set fires in the hole and then use shells to scrape away at it till the opening was as deep as they wanted!
As always, Joshua loved the military demonstrations. He was wishing he had brought his gun along so he could practice!
The cannon was a big hit and they fired it several times while we were there! The ground always shook no matter how far away from it you were!

Chris and Joshua spent more time asking questions and learning from the re-enactors. I was on the speed tour with Savannah and Samuel, but we still had a good time.

The Godspeed Replica

Joshua was the only one brave enough to get his picture with the Indian!

As always, Samuel finding mischief wherever it may be.....

Savannah loved visiting the midwife and learning about what they fed babies.....chewed up food was spit into this horn and then mixed with wine or ale......EW, GROSS!!!!

I would have to say that the best part of our trip was on the ride home when Chris and I realized how enjoyable the day had been. We had actually spent an entire day without stressing out or losing anyone! We were able to relax and enjoy! So to all of you with babies and toddlers, I can only say, your day will come! Have hope!!!

Back to School

School started Tuesday for us and it was a yucky rainy day! Unfortunately that didn't make for the best pictures this year! Shelby barely made it to her bus stop, so there was no time for pictures. I will have to get one of her later this week. Caleb started high school and will be attending the Governor's School for the Arts. He was very excited and loves it so far. He has the benefit of extremely small class sizes due to the size of the school. He has one class with 6 kids and one with 10 which is unheard of in this part of the country! Joshua is in 5th grade this year. It is hard for me to believe he is so grown up! He has turned into an incredibly smart and responsible young man and I am so proud of him!

Samuel started a new school this year and attends the gifted program with Joshua. He was a little disappointed in his first day because he "didn't learn anything new"! That will come, Samuel, that will come!

The boys get the luxury of a bus stop right next to our house, so he we are waiting in the rain for our first day. Have I mentioned how much I don't like rain??? I am a desert girl at heart and rainy days were few and far between!

Here's my little Savannah waiting at the bus stop for her first day of Kindergarten. She was SO excited! The bus ended up being overcrowded, so we are driving till they get it all worked out. I am sad that she is at a different school than her big brothers, but she took it all in stride. She made lots of new friends her first day of school. She came home and told me that she had made friends with all the little black girls and was so excited because she had never had a black friend! Now she wants me to learn how to do braids and beads in her hair! Too cute!

And this is the mess I found when I went in to tuck her in the first night......

Apparently she was deciding what to wear on her second day of school! It was hilarious! I think I am in trouble with this little DIVA!!!

So now I am on my own. It is a little strange to walk into my quiet house after getting all my children off to school. It is almost spooky! I am finding that I can clean things up and they stay clean for a few hours, but I am also finding that I actually miss the mess of little children playing. I can't believe I am here.....It has been almost 16 years that I have had little ones under foot and I don't really know what to do with myself without them.

Beach Trip (in pictures)!

There Goes My Baby......

Today was Kindergarten Orientation and I accompanied my last child on her path to life-long learning. It was a bittersweet day for me and I have to admit to tearing up a bit in the classroom as the teacher talked about what they would be doing this year. Savannah picked her outfit herself. The shirt says "I'm the cute sister" which she wore because she got Samuel's old kindergarten teacher! She laid all her clothes out last night and carefully matched everything from hair accessories to shoes! I don't know quite what to think of this little fashion queen!

She came home a little sad because two of her friends from our neighborhood are in another kindergarten class together and she is sure there are no girls who look like friends in her class. I encouraged her to give it a few days and things would get better! Now I have a few more days to enjoy my sweet innocent little girl before I send her off for good on Tuesday! And life marches on......

San Francisco

Since I am forever the cheapskate and I had to get tickets for 6 people to fly across country to visit Grandma and Grandpa, I jumped at round trip tickets to San Francisco for $160 each! Unfortunately that meant we still had a 6 hr. drive to Oregon......but on the flip side, we were able to go see some place new!

Here is Joshua making friends with the crab that I ate for lunch!

Fisherman's Wharf

Shelby loved this little take-out place!

My two favorite crabs.....

Pier 39 and SEA LIONS!!!!

The Golden Gate Bridge.....I tried to get my mom and dad to bike across it, but no luck! Someday, I WILL GO BACK and bike across this bridge!

Caleb being grossed out by the sights of China Town!

I don't think the hat was meant to be worn with sunglasses!

Farewell at the airport