Frozen Dress

 We borrowed and watched Disney's Frozen movie this past week.  It was... cute.  Not my cup of tea because there was way too much singing.
But my neice loves it.... so a dress had to be made inspired by one the lead characters.

It was to be a dress up dress...so easy on/off and doesn't need to be lined.  And it had to have a cape.
And be sparkly.   This was key.
I used a peasant dress pattern from Simplicity 2377, which is an easy pattern, and I've used it before.
I had most of the fabric in my stash (I think I was going to do a Cinderella dress at some point).  I just had to pick up the sheer cape material.  Here's Tam modeling the nearly finished project.  I used a new old technique of torching the edge of the cape to finish it, instead of sewing a rolled hem or using the serger.  Easy and it gives a clean, wavy, finish.   I still have to put elastic in the cuff of the sleeves and finish the hem.  I may take in the waist...still considering...it was based on the 6x size of the pattern and may be a bit big.

Not exactly the same...but I didn't want to try form/fitting top without a pattern :-)
And it twirls well.

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday, Jude!
On May 17, 2011, our little Jude was born...and now he is three years old!  He has grown so much in this last year.
 Latest accomplishments:
* Talking up a storm and always expressing his opinions
* Potty trained...mostly...and wearing big boy underwear
* Putting shoes on and off, at least his favorite Crocs
* Brushes teeth by himself
* Sings his ABCs, and can carry a tune :-)
* Sings "We will Rock You" and "Jingle Bells"
* Counts to 12, but skips a bit: 1, 2, 3, 4 ,5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12.
* Favorite # is 10..."1 and 0 make Ten!"
* Recognizes his shapes and colors.
* Favorite shape is the star
* Recognizes many letters, tries to read like big brother
* Knows his name starts with the letter "J"
* Very into art and craft projects at school. Likes to color with markers.  Drawings are mostly circles still.
* Still takes and afternoon nap, but some nights has a bugger of a time going to sleep in bed.
* Finished his first kiddy ice cream cone all by himself, and most of it got into his belly and not on his face.
* Knows his body parts.
* Great at running, kicking balls, and throwing overhand.  Loves to swing at playgrounds.
* Likes to pretend to be a puppy dog, especially when playing with grandparents' greyhound Kirby.
* Favorites are tiny cars and tiny airplanes, helicopters, geotrax trains and thomas trains, loves to cuddle and sit in laps, reading books, legos, and playing with friends.
* Gets frustrated easily when he can't do something or something isn't going his way.

Favorite phrases of late: 
"Don't know"
"Please help me"
"Play on kindle?"
"One and Zero make Ten"
"That's my car, and Tam's car, and mommy's car, and daddy's car" (As he points to 4 different cars, or trucks, or plants, or whatever vaugley resemebles a family).
"No!"
"I go potty"
"That makes me happy"
"You make me sad" (when he gets into trouble and is scolded).
"I do it"

We celebrated over a couple of weekends, which included a big party with neighbors, friends, and family and a smaller party with Brian's folks.  I made this Number Three shirts for the little guy the night before the party...he choose the yellow color and that there should be 3 stars.

We decorated the downstairs with balloons and streamers.  I know the boys love playing with balloons :-)

There was cake.  I freely admit I like to NOT have to make the cake.  Giant Eagle came through with an awesome Thomas the Tank Engine Cake. Jude thought it was Awesome!  After blowing out his candles, he immediately made to dive into the cake with both hands outstretched.  No, Jude!  Let us cut out pieces for everyone first.  Besides cake, Brian also made a big pot of chili, and lots of chips/dip/and veggies for everyone to eat.

There were presents...and all the kids wanted to help Jude open them.

Jude loved opening the wrapping paper...but wanted to play with each gift right away.

The grown ups had a good time mingling around and talking.  Our neighbors brought their new little baby for all of us to coo over.  It was good to see some of our friends from college again, which is one of the new luxuries of living closer to the Cleveland area.  The pack of kids had fun playing good guys / bad guys together...Ciearra was quite unnumbered by the boys, so she played princess dress up mostly by herself.  Jude had fun playing with all the older kids and being included in their games.

One of our great gifts to Jude (and Tamlin) was an imaginext castle.  I had been looking for this at consignment shops for over two years since it is not manufactured anymore.   I totally lucked out last winter and found it, with a whole bag full of knight dudes.  It has lights and sounds and trap doors and lots of other really cool functions.


And the dragon swivels around and CHOMPS DOWN ON THE KNIGHTS! 
How wicked cool is this!

 Jude was a little afraid that the dragon would chomp him at first.

It was a great party and everyone left with smiles and full bellies.   And, I'm pretty sure that his most favorite thing from the day was the Thomas Tank Engine and Coach that came on his cake, which he can now play with around the house.

Spring day at the beach

 It was a wonderfully warm afternoon, so we walked and rode down to the beach.  Jude has mastered the little blue car and loves gaining speed so he can cruise.  Tamlin's mode of transportation choice varies from day to day.  Lately, he's been on his big-wheels.  It is good to see him pedaling fast and spinning through curves.

 Jude decided that his socks and shoes needed to come off as soon as we stepped foot on the sand.

 Tam went down to investigate how cold the water was... realized it was still freezing cold... and opted to keep his shoes on and not try wading out to his rock.

 Rocks were the theme of the visit.  Jude picked up all the larger rocks he could and chucked them into the waves... or at least tried to with his little throwing arm.  He would yell "I did it"  each time one of the hurled stones actually made a splash in the water.

 Tamlin opted to play with the large rocks.  He found a friend and played "King of the Mountain."  This eventually led to jumping off the rocks pretending to be superheroes.

We found some sea glass, a few shells, and lots of pretty stones to bring home with us.  I enjoyed hearing the waves crash against the break wall and the beach.  I missed that sound while the lake was frozen through the wintertime.  Looking forward to when it is warm enough to swim :-)

Easter... A bit late

 It was wonderful to spend Easter morning at home and then see family for Easter dinner.  I think it has been a bazillion years since we were able to do this :-)  The boys loved finding their eggs that were guarded by creepy spiders and bugs. Jude loved eating all the chocolate.

Marker fun

I am an awesome mom.

I tend to let the wee ones attempt things that I was forbidden to do...

like use markers frequently for artistic efforts. Both boys way prefer markers over crayons currently.

Well, after lunch, markers were out for drawing.

This led to me (awesome mom that I am) allowing them to draw on themselves with markers!

Yeah...Talking belly buttons!

We all had to give it a try. Yes, Tamlin's outie belly button became a nose instead of the mouth.  Oh, this was a hoot and we all ending up laughing like maniacs.

This quickly went downhill...
Both boys thought the idea of drawing on their skin = awesomeness.  Tamlin even attempted drawing on his back to marginal success.  Jude was drawing dragons all over his chest.  Tamlin gave himself matching anchor tattoos on the arms to make him appear like Popeye; note his strong-man pose.

Brian even helped foster this activity by providing marker tattoos on his sons that were similar to his own tattoos: the phoenix and the Cheshire Cat.

Oh, it was a wonderful family activity.  I told the boys they could use markers for paper, but with permission they could use markers to draw on themselves (arms, chest, and back only; no face).  Walls and toys were still right out as canvases.

It was a bath night so the artistic efforts were temporary :-)

I would say 90% of the marker came off with soap and water.  A bit more came off with some baby oil and baby wipes.  However, there are still faint red lines decorating Tam's skin and a bit of stubborn black lines on Jude's chest.  The blue marker came off the easiest.  I wonder what the daycare workers will say on Tuesday if any of it can still be seen.

Easter Bunnies

I have tried to make it a bit of a tradition to sew bunnies for Tamlin and Jude for their Easter Baskets.  I thought it was a sweet little thing I could whip together, even if time is short before the holiday.  I've done upcycled socks into bunnies and zipper-mouth bunnies and traditional bunnies.  The bunnies go into and out of favor throughout the year.  Currently, both sock bunnies are high on the love list and have been sharing sleeping quarters with the boys all this month. 

This year I have made them beanie bunnies. The inspiration was from a fellow mom blogger :
http://www.sewmamasew.com/2014/03/spring-bunny-tutorial/

I let the boys pick out the fabric from the stash and encouraged them to pick what they thought was soft like a bunny's fur.  Tam surprisingly went for the same green fabric that I have used for another one of his bunnies.  Jude went with a soft brown that I have also used for his beloved Monster. The resulting bunnies are very soft and filled with pellets so they are very squishy too.  I used hand-me-down buttons for the eyes and embroidered hearts on the back of their heads.  I think they are just reaching out for a bit of love and hugs.  I hope the boys like them :-)