Leah's New Dress

I just finished making Leah a new dress, it is one of a few more that will soon follow. I decided to try and make the bulk of her winter wardrobe if I could be successful and find a pattern I liked that was easy enough to use over and over again. So this is it, I really like it and it was very easy. It is McCall's # 4908. I got this pink fabric which is a fleecy chenille with an embossed star pattern. It is very cozy and warm. I also got some other knit prints and a purple printed fleece. It took me about 2 1/2 hours to make it, not including time cutting out the initial pattern. That is about the quickest I've ever been able to make a dress I think. It called for a zipper in the back, but I really didn't want to go through all of that, so I just sewed the back skirt completely together and sewed the back bodice together halfway up. Then I finished the edge at the back of the bodice and added a hook/eye to secure the top. It fits easily enough over her head. I also considered using a bit of velcro at the top, but the hook/eye worked just fine. Although this dress looks pretty "dressy", I intend for them to be play dresses for her. I'd like to find a pattern for some tight fitting leggins so I can make some coordinating and so she doesn't have to wear tights all the time! Anyways, there are a couple more pics of the dress on my webshots album if you care to see! Happy sewing!

PUMPKIN TIME

We just went to get pumpkins at the farm on our road this weekend. This was trip #1 with the parents. Trip #2 will probably soon follow with the grandparents, for they want to be in on the fun as well!!! Of course it was great to see them having so much fun running around looking for the perfect gourd, waiting for Bay to smash one as it slipped out of his hand, and hear Leah say "pumpkin!" about 500 times! We were surprised when Eric picked out one of the smallest pumpkins...usually he wants the biggest and best, but this one seemed to make him happy this year!

The weather has just cooled down here considerably, as it probably has everywhere lately, so it seemed a fitting time to visit the farm. We are also looking forward to several fall field trips with our home school group...to the local corn maze farm and also to the Baltimore Zoo. We may even squeeze in one more family camping trip if the weather cooperates! Hope you are enjoying your fall and follow the link to our webshots album for more pics from the pumpkin hunt.

Men's Group Picnic

Recently, Dennis' Men's group had a picnic together at my parent's house. It turned out to be a beautiful day since the first scheduled one got cancelled due to Ernesto :) It was nice to relax and get to know each other's families a little bit better, and as you can see from the photos, our kids had a lot of fun. Leah even did a preview of her Halloween outfit!

It is really starting to get cool and feel like fall...cool enough that we can't even have the windows open anymore. Not quite time for flannel sheets, but it won't be long!

COUNTY FAIR

We just finished up with our local county fair, which turned out to be a big hit for our family this year! Eric, Bay and Heather entered LOTS OF STUFF (Dennis' woodcrafts are too big to enter!) and we won lots of ribbons. Here's the run-down:



Bay: 1st place on a noodle/painted art piece

Eric: 2nd place on a model airplane, 3rd on a wooden table, 2nd on a noodle/painting, 3rd on a drawing of a dinosaur and lots of honorable mentions on other artwork, writings, lego collections, etc.

Heather: 2nd on canned green beans, 3rd on canned applesauce, 2nd on a women's skirt and a dress for Leah



We all had a great time viewing the exhibits, walking through the animal barns (Leah especially love the bunnies), wishing we could get some of the really neat looking chickens, and having ice-cream.



Some miscellaneous news on the kids:
Leah is talking more and more, and is learning to speak up for herself...she is very good at saying "NO!" when Bay tries to take something from her. She is expanding her vocabulary as well, and is getting out some two-word sentences, "Grandma bye-bye", "Mommy shoe" and the one word she has the most trouble saying right now is Eric-it comes out "Icky" He really doesn't like that one!

Eric is doing great in school, and has started up with a homeschool support group once a week. He is glad to be meeting some new friends...he even got to hold the flag for the pledge at the first meeting! He has learned to sing and memorized "America the Beautiful" and is very good at it!

Bay has started to join Eric in his violin lessons, and is doing some pre-Twinkle activites....learning to bow, hold his box violin...and loves to hum the Suzuki songs while playing, but absolutely does nothing on cue or performs for anyone! He is such a character!



Life seems to have been rushing by at an exhausting pace lately...but hopefully this busyness will only last for a season!



More photos from the fair are in our webshots link...

Our Funny Little Cowgirl!

Leah with her new boots, and her new smile! She walks around saying "Boots, boots, Daddy, daddy" which translates to, " Look! I have boots just like Daddy!" If you are taking a picture and tell her to smile, this is the funny face she makes!

New Table

Dennis just finished making us a new dining room table, and we are very excited about it! Whenever we have people come over for dinner, there is never enough room, so now we have plenty of room...I think I calculated we can squeeze 14 around if necessary! I painted the bottom the same color as the walls in our living room, then added 2 coats of polyurethane for protection against knicks and dinks. The top is black walnut from a tree that once stood in our back yard. It is finished with 100% tung oil, 8 coats to be exact!

Next, Dennis will make a bench to match the table to go along one side and we will probably have some chairs made to match by the local Amish folks.

Also I've inlcuded some recent miscellaneous shots of the kids in our webshots album....

Night at the Carnival

The kids just had a blast this past weekend at the local fireman's carnival. Same simple rides as there are every year, but oh so much fun. It was even more fun this year that Leah got to enjoy everything as well. Bay's favorite ride is pictured above, he rode it many many times. Leah loved the train and "dinging" the bell. Eric's favorite was the Tilt-a-Whirl, but that goes too fast to catch on film! Even mommy, daddy, Granni and Gramps rode on a couple of rides, though the last ride I went on with Eric made me sick...guess my stomach's not so young any more! Follow the webshots link to the Carnival folder for more pictures!