Archive for April, 2012

A great model

Posted in Molly, Sewing on April 26th, 2012 by jen – Be the first to comment

I made a birthday dress for Molly's friend, Keira. Molly was a good sport and modeled this front tie dress several times for me to take measurements and pictures.

Molly, the model

Molly has loved wearing skirts lately, so I made her a new one. Here's one sassy little girl in her sassy pleated skirt. (Note: I added 2 inches in length since the pattern was a bit short.)

A new skirt

Who can resist posing in a new skirt?!

Posing in her skirt

Fun times at the water table

Posted in Leah, Molly on April 22nd, 2012 by jen – 1 Comment

Yesterday was a beautiful day, so we spent a bunch of time in the yard. Of course, the girls went to their favorite activity - the water table.

More water table fun

Pouring...intently.

Pouring...

Leah's still improving in the potty training arena, so we have a prize box for when she successfully executes number 2. While playing outside, she had her first success in days and and got this fun tiger squeeze toy. It was perfect timing, as it was great for squirting water at the water table.

Fun new toy

Molly's on the run, moving fast. Leah is trying to keep up, but just can't. So, she has to resort to yelling, "Sttoooooppppppppp!"

Too fast

It feels like summer

Posted in Leah, Molly on April 18th, 2012 by jen – 1 Comment

We almost hit 90 degrees on Monday, so Molly and Leah put on their swimsuits and headed outside for some fun. First up, playing with water at the water table.

Fun in the sun

Another fun water game is washing Mommy's car. Leah made sure this spot was very, very clean.

Car washing

Hose it down.

Hose it down

Then pick another spot to wash with the fun sponge.

Fun with a sponge

Potty Boot Camp, Round 2

Posted in Leah on April 17th, 2012 by jen – 1 Comment

We were successful potty training Molly using The Potty Boot Camp method, so we decided to try it again with Leah. We did it over Spring Break since most activities were cancelled and I could be home with her for several days.

The idea is simpleā€¦set the child on the potty frequently to increase the chances that they are successful. If they are successful, reward them and allow a longer gap between potty times, increasing the time intervals over several days.

Leah happily went to the potty every time "Mr. Egg" dinged. She loved reading books and singing songs on the potty. We quickly learned that Leah has an amazing bladder and can hold it much longer than we expected. Unfortunately for her, that ability also meant having to succumb to a high fiber diet four days in to get her little body going.

Eight days into potty training, we gave Leah an ultimatum. If she could stay in the same underwear all day, then she could have a new pair of rain boots and an umbrella. She did it and was very excited to get her prize!

Potty training prize

After two weeks of training, we've slowly figured out her schedule. We're still working on pooping on the potty, and she's not sleep trained yet, but we're on our way to a diaper free home! Hooray!

Leah’s Easter dress

Posted in Sewing on April 12th, 2012 by jen – Be the first to comment

Since Molly wore her new smocked dress for Easter, I decided to make Leah a new dress too. After my aunt made Leah's twin quilt, she gave me the remnant fabrics, so I used those. I was inspired by this knotty jumper, but slightly modified the Simplicity 2171 pattern to create the dress. And now, Leah has a dress that matches her room!

Stripwork knot dress

Our Easter celebration

Posted in Celebrations, Leah, Molly on April 11th, 2012 by jen – Be the first to comment

Easter morning, Molly and Leah awoke to baskets full of fun.

Easter morning

As usual, Leah had to run over to Chad with each thing in her basket to exclaim what she found. I'm guessing this is "Look Dad, jellybeans!"

Wow!

The girls got to hunt for eggs again (thanks to Aunt Caroline and Charles) at Grams and Pop's house after Easter lunch.

Hunting on Easter

After hunting for eggs, the girls broke out their bubble wands from their Easter baskets and had lots of fun as usual.

Bubble wands

Once the bubbles have been created, it's important to go after them.

Bubble stalking

The bubbles need to fly higher than that to escape Molly.

Jump

After hunting for eggs, it's also important to check out your haul. These eggs were great as they had toys and stickers instead of more candy.

The goods

Leah immediately wanted to put stickers on herself. Mickey and Donald for her hands, then Goofy for her forehead.

Adorned with stickers

Easter egg hunt

Posted in Celebrations, Molly, Playdates on April 10th, 2012 by jen – Be the first to comment

Molly attended an Easter Egg Hunt with many of her playgroup friends. Here they all are posing with Mr. Bunny. (Leah was not there due to potty training, but had she actually been there, she would have been clinging to my leg! Big costumed people = not Leah's friend!)

Posing with the Bunny

Molly hunted eggs with all the 5-8 year olds and had a fun time running around looking for the eggs.

Searching for eggs

There were even eggs growing on trees. Molly like to call these "special" eggs because they were decorated too.

Growing on trees

Molly, Keira, and Riley had just as much fun opening all their eggs and taking inventory of all the treats!

Taking inventory

Top Dog

Posted in Molly on April 1st, 2012 by c-had – 1 Comment

Friday was a big day for Molly in school. In addition to being the birthday girl, she was also the Top Dog. In her preschool, each kid gets a week to be the Top Dog during which they wear a special vest and get special treatment. At the end of the week, they have a special celebration and invite parents and siblings to join in.

Jen was already helping out in class that day. Leah and I joined them with an hour to go in the school day. The kids were still doing daily activities and Leah got to join in the fun by dying some eggs and decorating them with stickers.

Leah at preschool

Since I was going to be there anyway, I offered to bring my guitar and sing some songs with the kids as I've done a couple times already this year. So, after the kids finished their activities, we sang some songs (BINGO, Down By the Bay, If You're Happy and You Know It, and The Hokey Pokey). Then we had snack time, culminating in singing Happy Birthday and having cupcakes.

After cupcakes, it was time for Molly's Top Dog presentation. When she was selected as Top Dog, we were given a book to fill out with pictures of her and her family, what she likes to do, favorite toys, favorite foods, and what she wants to be when she grows up. Here she is presenting that book to the class. After presenting her book, she is presented with bones that each of the kids have written on saying nice things about her.

Our Top Dog

While Leah was supposed to sit and watch the presentation, she ended up standing up next to Molly for much of it.

With her sidekick

Oh, and in case you missed what Molly wanted to be when she grew up - she said she wants to be an Auburn cheerleader. We haven't really asked this question until this book prompted us to, but she's consistently had the same answer every time.

Top Dog book presentation

Posted in Molly, Video on April 1st, 2012 by c-had – 1 Comment

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Molly was the Top Dog at preschool on Friday in addition to being the birthday girl. Here she is presenting her Top Dog book to the class. Fair warning, the video is almost 8 minutes long and may take a bit to load on a slower connection.