Father/Daughter Dance! (last post for the month)

Ok, you saw my poodle skirt project from a few posts ago, and now it's time for action!  Tonight is the Father/Daughter dance at the church and H3 has been talking about it all week.  Everywhere we've gone, she's been telling random people that her daddy is taking her to this dance.  A few minutes ago, we got her dressed up and took a few pictures before they headed out the door. I'm so happy for my little girl. The grin on her face lights up the room, and she is so thrilled about her "Daddy/Daughter Date"!

Practicing dancing--please ignore the mess at the moment!

All spiffy in his high school letterman jacket!

And off they go!  Have a wonderful evening!

~H2

Two Quick Notes

I've got two things that I wanted to share quickly. The first wasn't originally going to be posted, and that is the fact that our central heat has suddenly decided to have a hiccup, on a weekend that it is supposed to be below freezing no less. I'm thankful that we have space heaters, but it's still going to get chilly in here! When I called today, the soonest they would get someone here is Monday. Sigh.

The other note is more important for blogging purposes, and that is that after this weekend, we won't have Internet for the next month. I got tired of arguing with the company that we have to go through and am basically cutting it for a month so I can pay an extra $30 less per month after we sign back up. Charter is a pill and I could say so many things about how much I despise them, but I'm gonna keep my mouth shut. All that to say, there probably will not be any posting until mid-March or so, unless I can sneak over to the library for a quick update. See you next month!

~H2

Valentine's and Bacon

Of all the celebrated holidays, Valentine's Day usually goes at the bottom of my list of favorites. I generally think of it as an over-hyped up holiday, but it does afford me the opportunity to make extra cookies to keep around the house, and brownies, and a few other goodies. H3 has been decorating cookies with me on several occasions over the last week and it builds a good memory for us.

H1 and I usually exchange cards and small presents.  This year I decided to try being a bit creative.  A while back, he'd showed me a picture he saw online of bacon roses that he thought looked really yummy. I laughed at first, and then thought, why not?  So for this year, I sent H1 off to work today with his lunch, a couple egg & cheese biscuits for breakfast, and this bouquet of 14 bacon roses!

I almost caved and ate one.  They smell really yummy!  

There's a part of me that really wants to write something meaningful and sappy right now, but one kid is already running full-steam and if I ever want to get my shower before baby-ness wakes up, there's not time for sentimental. Sooooo......

Happy Valentine's Day!

~H2

Poodle Skirt Craft

I found out a while ago that the church we have been attending is hosting a Father/Daughter dinner and dance on Saturday, the 16th, for fathers and daughters age 4 and up. I thought this would be a wonderful thing for H1 and H3, but then I realized that it was a 50's theme and poodle skirts were requested. I wasn't too sure where to find one, and so was thinking about maybe not buying tickets. But then one of the moms at church started talking to me about making a felt poodle skirt and said it wasn't hard.  I decided to give it a shot and went with her to pick out fabric.  H3 wanted a bright green, so bright green it was. We made an afternoon out of it, shopping for fabric and supplies with the 4 kids (2 mine, 2 hers, and our daughters are less than a year apart) and then stopped for Sweet Frogs frozen yogurt before heading home.

Back home, I spent some time on Google and decided to combine instructions from two different sites and add a twist of my own. I also decided to break out the sewing machine instead of the no-sew methods.  I confess I sat for a few minutes staring at my grandma's old Pfaff before turning it on to begin. This is the machine I learned on and since my newer one is broken and I have no clue how to fix it, I was trying to remember a few of the nuances about this one.

Grandma's 1950's Pfaff, such a wonderful machine!

I didn't have a pattern, so Josh pulled out some butcher block paper from the garage and I made one.  H3's waist is 20 inches and I decided to make the skirt 18 inches long, and one of sites I used to make the pattern said to add 1/4 of the waist measurement to the planned length of the skirt.  So, from my center point, the radius was 23 inches. 

The waist was cut out by using 1/4 waist measurement as a radius. It looks like a big donut, right?

Now it's a bit more recognizable.

I sewed in an elastic waistband and then came my little twist.  H3 picked this beautiful green but she was also going crazy over a sheer glittery fabric. I purchased a yard of it and added it to the bottom of the skirt.  Then I used an applique poodle from Jo-Ann's Fabric and Craft and some pink polka dot ribbon for the leash, the leash idea from Prudent Baby.

And here is the finished product!

So, it's not gorgeous or professional, but for my first attempt at a poodle skirt, I'm pretty happy with it.  I think it will do for the Father/Daughter dance and H3 loves it, so mission accomplished!  And that was my Thursday and Friday evening.

~H2

A Creative Week

Given this title, I suppose I should specify that I am not a creative person by nature. It takes effort for me!  I'm also not a huge fan of mess and chaos, which is the definition of a 4 year old with glitter. Still, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the activities of this week and I'll put up a separate post for my own craft of the week.

First off, it was chilly these week, but we still bundled up and went for a walk. I love H4's little hat and thought I should share her cute chubby cheeks.

One of our first projects of the week was to make Valentine's Day cards to send to the grandparents and H1's brother and sister.  H3 has really wanted to make these and has been asking me for the last couple weeks, so on Wednesday, I pulled out a lot of my Valentine's stamping/crafting materials and let her create whatever she wanted.

Here are a few of her results.

On Friday we rolled out some sugar cookie dough and set to work on our masterpieces.

I say masterpieces because H3 spends quite a bit of time sprinkling each cookie.

We had a lot of other enjoyable moments this week. On Monday we had swimming class, Tuesday was MOPS and another couple came over for dinner with their 2 kids, Wednesday was dance and church, and Thursday we went shopping for fabric with the two kids and mom from Tuesday, which led into my Friday craft.  (See next post).  It was a full and happy week for all of us, and I believe all of us are about back to normal with nobody being sick for the first time so far this year!

~H2

A Moment to Celebrate

H1 and I are approaching 8 years of marriage, and during this whole time, we have been steadily chipping away at 3 student loans. Two of them are his and one is mine. We have never deferred them or applied for reduced payments, despite the fact we more than qualify with our one-income teacher's salary. Today, we paid off the remaining balance on my loan. It's a small victory, to be sure, but right now it's a reason to celebrate, so I'll take it!

So here's to moving forward and enjoying a good reason to smile!

~H2

Quick pics from the week

I've got like 5 minutes here, so just a quick post!

First of all, here's our little volcano. H3 is 4 years old, and I didn't feel the need to create anything complex or spectacular, because I knew this simple demonstration would do the trick. There's a little baby food jar in the middle with play-dough around it, and then 2 tbsp of baking soda and a couple drops of red food coloring inside the jar. Add a little vinegar and fizz!

 

H4 is happily checking out a book

Ok, I had to post both of these.  The one above is H4 and the one to the right is H3 at a similar age.  You can't tell they are sisters at all, right?  It just amazes me how much they look alike, and how similar their personalities are. There are some big differences of course, but they are certainly cut from the same cloth.

~H2