Archive for July, 2012

Celebrating a decade

Posted in Celebrations on July 27th, 2012 by jen – 7 Comments

Ten years ago, we became Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sellers. It's been a wonderful decade and we hope for many decades more!

Bride & Groom finally eating

We already took our big tenth anniversary trip, but last night we had a nice date night to celebrate. Thanks to Aunt Caroline for playing with girls while we were out.

Celebrating a decade

It was a perfect evening to wear my new "fancy" dress, as the girls deemed it. After many years of sewing for Molly and Leah (and their friends!), I finally sewed a dress for myself. I felt like a real seamstress too. I first made a muslin dress to test the fit of the pattern, then made adjustments before moving on to the real fabric.

Finally sewing for herself

Splashing around with friends

Posted in Leah, Molly, Playdates on July 16th, 2012 by jen – 1 Comment

Molly and Leah went to a pool party on Saturday. I have been encouraging Leah to swim on her own ever since she did it with G'Mom. We're not sure what motivated her, but she finally did it! She was such a happy little swimmer.

A happy swimmer

She was so excited to show Daddy!

Daddy, look at me

Leah and Matilda had a great time swimming together.

Swimming buddies

Leah is still working on kicking her legs to get her moving. Several times she got stuck because her little legs just weren't moving fast enough to combat the waves from other swimmers.

Kick those legs

Even Keira, who's not a big swimmer, couldn't resist the fun of playing with Molly in the pool.

Fun for all

When it was time for cake, Molly was quick to take the seat next to one of the birthday girls. She did not hesitate to dig in to the cake either!

It's cake time

Nice smile, Leah, but your teeth look like you don't brush them.

Needs brushing

Leah took the seat next to the other birthday girl. I guess our two girls think alike.

Lined up

Appropriate for a pool party, I made the birthday girls swim cover-ups.

Swim cover-up for Allison

Swim cover-up for Rachel

After the party, we actually joined the birthday girls for dinner as well, followed by the opening of presents. Rachel had to put her cover-up on right away, despite not having on her swimsuit anymore. I think she liked it!

Covers up anything

Sky VBS: Everything is Possible with God

Posted in Church, Leah, Molly on July 15th, 2012 by jen – 1 Comment

The girls had a fun week with friends at Vacation Bible School. At the end of a fun and exhausting week they know that no matter what, trust God!

Sky VBS

I taught Molly's class again, and we had a fun time learning, singing and dancing together. The singing and dancing extended into Molly's quiet time, which during VBS week was not so quiet! She sang this song over and over for almost 30 minutes one afternoon.

We Can Trust Him by Molly

Leah got to experience part of VBS even while in the nursery. Several days she left the church declaring "That was a great day!" Leah had her own favorite song too. I recorded this one night sitting outside her door.

I'll Fly Away by Leah

It’s blueberry time

Posted in Field trips, Leah, Molly, Playdates on July 7th, 2012 by jen – 2 Comments

Did you know that July was National Blueberry month? In honor of that, the girls, some friends and I headed up to Larriland Farm to pick blueberries on Thursday. The hot weather didn't stop the kids from having a great time!

It's blueberry time

Leah was great at picking the blueberries, though not one actually made it into her bag.

The littlest helper

The next stop was the red and purple raspberries. Clearly, Leah preferred the blueberries since there are actually raspberries left in her box! (Or it could have been that she had to share this box with Mommy!)

Moving on to raspberries

Looking for the perfect one!

Picking a good one

I could have stayed all day picking fruit, but the kids had had enough. We now have blueberry ice cream to show for our efforts!

First time for fireworks!

Posted in Celebrations, Family outings, Leah, Molly on July 6th, 2012 by jen – 2 Comments

We decided to take the girls to see fireworks on the 4th of July for the first time. It meant staying up way past bedtime (which is normally not something we do in our house), but we threw caution to the wind and headed out. We joined Simon, Matilda, Keira, and Maya (as well as their parents) at UMBC to see the Catonsville fireworks.

Independence Day celebration

We brought blankets, chairs, and snacks for pre-show fun on the UMBC field. This picture was taken before the sprinklers on the field came on and sent people running for cover. Thankfully, we were near the edge of the sprinkler range, so only got a little wet and only had to scoot a few yards to reach dry land.

Picnic

Before the fireworks started, many of the others around us set off their own small fireworks. The kids thought this was great. They cheered and screamed for each one, and then immediately chanted for another when it was done.

Hooray!

Once it got dark enough, Stacie broke out glow wands and bracelets which were a huge hit, of course.

Glowsticks

Here's Molly with a glow necklace, a glow bracelet, and a glow wand in her hair.

Glow, Molly, glow

The fireworks were perfect. Close enough to see well without being so close as to scare the kids.

Fireworks

Red, white, and green

Red, white, and blue

We'll definitely make this a tradition. The girls had a great time, and did remarkably well considering the very late evening.

A week full of birthdays

Posted in Celebrations on July 5th, 2012 by jen – Be the first to comment

Aunt Caroline turned 21. While we gave her cooking related gifts, Aunt EA gave her something more specific to this particular milestone. That's 71 airplane bottles of assorted alcohol. She said the idea was to give Caroline a variety of things to try to figure out what she likes.

Happy 21st

The party was not just for Aunt Caroline, but for Grams and Pop as well. Grams was immediately excited to get these cupcake stands, though it took a bit of explaining before she appreciated the solid state drive we gave her as well.

Happy birthday Grams

We celebrated Pop's birthday as well. This celebration took place at our house instead of Chad’s parents, as their power had been out for two days due to the derecho that knocked out power to over 1 million people in the Washington area.

Pop too

The birthday peeps and Pop's two helpers blow out the candles.

Second try

The icing from the cupcakes seemed to be specially formulated to stain lips.

Sweet lipstick

Bahamian boutique crafts

Posted in Sewing on July 4th, 2012 by jen – 3 Comments

As I mentioned in this post, Chad and I visited Bahama Hand Prints while in Nassau. I decided to purchase three yards of "Dancing Hibiscus" cotton-poplin fabric.

Dancing Hibiscus

I came home and immediately started searching for a dress pattern to use. Being inspired by the dresses I saw in the boutique, I bought the Lillian dress by Children's Corner. It had the same a-line shape with little bows at the side seams.

Bahamian boutique dresses

If you look closely, you can see the extra detail of the covered buttons down the back. Chad mentioned that this added more character than the boutique dresses. I love when he appreciates my craftsmanship!

Buttons down the back

Shortly after getting married, Chad and I decided that we would try to take a trip for our anniversary instead of giving gifts. We always pick up an ornament as a keepsake. So, in addition to the dresses, I made a Christmas ornament for us. I used this tutorial for the fabric ornament.

Anniversary ornament

The dresses and ornament took less yardage than I thought and after I finished them, Chad looked at my sewing table and said, "It doesn't even look liked you've used any!" My response, "Believe me, I will use every inch of this fabric!"

So, to thank my parents for coming to stay with the girls, I made them a few gifts too. For my mom, I made a Multipocket Tote from this Martha Stewart book. Mom always has lots of things in tow, so a tote with multiple pockets is perfect for her.

Multipocket tote

For my dad, I made a tie with this Puking Pastilles tutorial. I've never hand-sewn that much before, and ow, my fingers were about to fall off! I made Chad try it on to make sure it actually fit before gifting it. When Dad received it, he said it certainly would be a conversation starter!

Dancing Hibiscus tie

My last project was to make the girls Oliver + S bucket hats. They love them and walk around calling them their "Bahama hats."

Leah's "Hama" hat

The hats are reversible, so I added a pop of color using Moda's Hoopla Cherries in Yellow. The girls insisted on showing everyone who came over (or Skyped with them) this weekend.

A pop of color

A cute pair of hats…and girls

I still have roughly a fat quarter of fabric left, but no current projects lined up. But don't worry, I'm still brainstorming on how to use up every last scrap!