Pumpkin Patch and Pony Ride

Sienna and I went with a little friend and his mom to the Irvine Park while the big kids were at school.

We went to the zoo with free coupons from the library.

Then explored the pumpkin patch.

Last, Sienna did a pony ride while her friend went on the train.

Snoopy Chadwick

We all made ourselves into Peanuts characters.

Sienna wanted "bad guy eyes."

Peacock Halloween Costume

For the third year in a row, Maggie has chosen to be a bird for Halloween rather than follow our family theme. To be fair, I am also not theme-ing, because "pregnant Minion" etc is weird.

She wanted to be a peacock and helped plan the costume, including colors, ordering of colors, design of her hat etc.

Maggie's peacock costume was under $20. I had to buy a roll of ribbon, four rolls of tulle, and a few sheets of felt. I had all the yarn on hand from previous projects, and most of the felt.

Crocheted Peacock Hat resources

free peacock feather crochet pattern

peacock hat pattern

free basic crochet hat pattern in various sizes

I didn't buy the peacock hat pattern, just used it as an idea.

Peacock Tutu resources

peacock tutu tutorial (idea and visual for feathers)

no-sew tutu instructions

I used the same tutu instructions I used for Sienna's Sulley tutu last Halloween.  I cut the tulle in longer lengths toward the back. I used the same color blue from Sienna's tutu (half a leftover roll, and 2 full rolls).  I also used a roll of lime green and a roll of beige. The beige looks pink and I wish I'd bought black instead. Oh well.

The feathers are cut from felt and fleece.  I glued them together with fabric glue, and sewed some lines to help keep them together. The center line up to the blue part of the eye also attaches each feather to the ribbon.

My beautiful peacock!

Side view.

Nursery Singing Time Apron

I made this apron for singing time in Nursery. I used a variety of fabric scraps, some from a friend in the ward, on a monkey background with a polka dot ribbon to tie it with.  I just hemmed the monkey fabric, with a casing at the top for the ribbon.  The pockets are hemmed on one side (the top) and I sewed down the other three sides.

I bought some painted wooden shapes to use to represent some of the songs, and printed and laminated a bunch of pictures and clipart.  There's a variety of Primary songs, fun songs, and even a couple hymns, some of which the kids don't know at all, which doesn't matter because I'm usually the only one singing. The kids love getting to "pick a pocket" if they are sitting nicely in their seats and participating.  We have so many kids that each of them getting one turn is plenty of singing time for my poor pregnant lungs. I have about 30 pictures/shapes, so we mix up the songs every week.

Some examples of the images/songs I used:

Popcorn bucket: Popcorn Popping

Family: Families Can Be Together For Ever

Church: The Chapel Doors

Sun: Sunbeam

Monkey: 5 Little Monkey Swinging

Fish: The Fish in the Sea Go

etc.

Sea World and Dolphin Play Time

We went on family date to Sea World for my birthday.  I got kicked off the kiddie rides.

Feeding the bat rays. John's favorite part of the day.

Dalton and I got to play with a dolphin as part of my birthday gift.  We got to pet her, use hand signals, feed her fish, dance with her and more. It was really fun! 

Pineapple whip!

This sea turtle was very interested in the people.

Maggie surprised me by actually remembering the fish spa we did at the aquarium in Bangkok.

Potty Prizes

Two excited kids who earned rewards recently.

Home Preschool: Circle Theme

We made treat necklaces with circle treats and cereal for our Circle Theme home preschool. 2 years ago.

Minnie Mouse Dress

The Minnie Mouse dress is the second in what I hope will be a collection of princess peasant dresses for Sienna. The Rapunzel one was knit and didn't turn out nearly as well, so I've put off the knit Briar Rose one I bought material for. But the Minnie one turned out perfectly.

I bought a new pattern for this, in a larger size, otherwise I would have used my standby (Simplicity 5695).

This is Simplicity 2377. It's basically exactly the same.

And why make one when you can make two for twice the price? I sold the other to a friend.

My kid is adorable.

Here's the knit Rapunzel dress.

I also made a couple sparkly Elsa capes. I basically hemmed a rectangle of fabric and put some FOE at the neck.

Gale Center Museum

Here's another really old post that never got published.  The Gale Center museum is still around and still free and still recommended.