The girls Easter present

As a kindergartener, part of a child's homework is to retell a story that was read to them earlier in the day at school to their parents. Each Wednesday, the teacher reads them a story and then the kids make characters and props about the story. The idea is that the props/characters will help trigger their memory when retelling the story at home. Then, the parents sign a piece of paper stating the child retold them the story. This homework is meant to help with listening skills, memory and comprehension. I believe it is Sissy's favorite homework assignment next to Guided Reading.

However, each Wednesday when it's time to retell the story Sissy tries to create some kind of stage to use with her handmade props. The week before Spring Break she tried to put a blanket over a staircase railing (mind you a circular one) and perform her story for Sugar there. After many falls of the blanket this ended up being quite a challenge and Sissy was a little frustrated.

After the tenth fall of the blanket I decided it was time to make the girls a puppet theater. I had actually planned on making them one, it was just on my looong list of things to make. So after the 'fake theater stage' attempt this project moved pretty quickly up on my to-do list.

So over Spring Break I got out my new favorite book titled Bend-the-Rules Sewing by Amy Carol. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, I usually copy or wing most of my projects so this book is right up my alley. The floral fabric is what originally was going to be the girls shower curtain...until they loudly and firmly told me they wanted a Pink Flamingo bathroom. The plain pink fabric I got on clearance for $3.88 a yard and the cute pink ball fringe I got for just over $5.00. Whoo-hoo, I love bargains!

Anyways, below is the end result. Since it was an Easter present I found some cute finger puppets at JoAnn's so they could use it over Spring Break. The best part is that it has a matching case to store it in when they are not using it. If you want to view a few more you can go here and here.

Who needs a beach for Spring Break?

Not us...the girls and I had the best time of our lives on our two day trip in Holliday, Texas! Oh yes, we headed to the true country with some friends and didn't want to leave. The girls played and played, had some good country food, seen more horses and cows than they could count and learned how to go four wheelin'!

Who says you need the beach to have fun? All we needed was our good friends, a few acres, a trailer, a four wheeler, a tree house and the best darn folks you ever met in your life.

Here are some pictures of the girls and I from the past two days...by the way, next year's spring break will be scheduled much sooner and for a lot longer time in the country. Get ready Gigi and Bopper! :-)





Thanks again for such a fabulous time!! Holliday rocks!

My latest sewing project

I must admit I get a little weird-eyed when people say, "oh you can sew" because really I have not taken any sewing classes, I don't use patterns and I literally make up everything I make or I copy it from something I see in a catalog.

This time I saw a valance I liked after searching through my Design Ideas for Windows I picked up at Half-Price Books store. So I bought some fabric and trim and started my little adventure. Now I wish I would have bought more fabric to make it a little more 'scrunched looking' but of course it is discontinued. I originally bought the fabric for my kitchen nook but realized it wasn't what I wanted so I used it for our master bathroom hence, the shortage in fabric. :-) See I told you I wing everything!

I made it while hubby was out of town last week and surprised him when he got home. He really liked it! There was no suggestions this time that came out of his mouth (like most other times) about changing it, yeah! So if any sewing project gets hubby's approval - it stays and mama's happy!

Here is how it turned out...

Wow, three posts in two days...I don't know about you but I'm impressed!! :-)

Wonderful Snow Days here in Texas

You read that right...this past week we had two days with snow! We got about an inch or so on Tuesday then Thursday a winter storm came through North Texas and we got a total of 5 inches! You know what that means?? Snowman time!! This is why I love Texas so much, Wednesday we were in the driveway doing finger paints and the next day we were building snowmen. It was a beautiful day!

Time for some major updates!

My little Sugar is now three years old. I can't believe it...my girls are growing so fast. She celebrated with a Hello Kitty party with friends from the neighborhood, her ballet class and her preschool. We played pin the bow on Hello Kitty and the kids decorated their own cupcakes. Check out some of the moments we captured from her party.