Father Daughter Dance

So, it all started with this:

You see, our school has a Father Daughter Dance every year.  I tried and tried to get my oldest to go when she was in  elementary school, but she never gave in.  The thought of putting on a dress and dancing in public was not her cup of tea.  My daughter, E, is in Kindergarten now.  I was so excited that she wanted to go.  She asked her daddy if he could take her to the Princess Dance and of course, he said yes.  Honestly, I was a little surprised by his enthusiasm.  I can't even get him to even dance with me in the kitchen.  But, I was very excited for my little one. 

E had a great time looking online for dresses.  She picked three or four that she liked, but insisted that it needed to be gray and black.  So, I sort of combined the design of them and bought all the fabric,as seen in the photo above.  Next, I drafted a pattern and went to work.  Wanna see how it turned out?

E's eyes are sensitive to light so she almost always closes her eyes if I use the flash.  ugh!

Here she is getting in the car:

She was so excited! 

This is a closeup of the flower headband I made to match the flowers on her dress.  I used this tutorial to make the flower for the headband and the flowers for the neckline of her dress. 

Eyes open without a flash.

Hubby said she had a great time and danced a lot.  There was a craft station where the girls made necklaces.  They snacked on Chick-Fil-A, cupcakes (or in E's case, icing) and punch.  He also mentioned that there were several moms there taking photos and videos.  I have GOT to get my hands on one of those videos!  Anyway, E had a great time with her daddy.  Can't wait until next year!

Halloween and Puppies

Well, Halloween is over and I feel like I almost missed it.  It's been so crazy busy around here, I didn't put up any Halloween decorations.  It just never happened.  I thought I would post the kids in their costumes, but you have to promise me something.  You see, because I've been so busy, my house is a wreck.  So, please excuse the background of this photo.  We recently switched satellite companies too so ignore all the wires and manuals on the mantle as well as the cable boxes on the floor.  I'm so embarassed!

J is Luigi (AGAIN!), E is a butterfly pixie, although you can't see her wings very well, C is some sort of skeleton thing with a red cape(all her creation), and L is Charlie Brown. 

C's matching skelton sock monkey she made. 

So, our other news is that my Emme had puppies on Saturday.  She had seven little girls (one fawn, five flashy fawn and one white).  They are healthy, doing well, and PRECIOUS! 

Emme and the girls

Sweet face!

So, how was your Halloween?

Pumpkin Patch

Well, it's that time of year again.  That's right.  It's time for field trips to the pumpkin patch.  This will be a photo heavy post, y'all.  L's class went two weeks ago and E's went last week.  I decided I'd wait and post it all together.  Your welcome.  So, because my two youngest go to different schools, we went to two different pumpkin patches. 

There were pig races.  Can you see them in their gates?

L and his sweet teacher petting a donkey.

L playing on the hay playground.

L with his pumpkin

Hubby on the hayride.

E on the hayride on the way to the actual pumpkin patch.

E with her final pumpkin.  She changed her mind A LOT!

E coming out of the hay tunnel.

This baby girl LOVED feeding the goats.  She is so much like her daddy!  Gosh, they need a farm.

I would like to point out that there are a few more photos of E's field trip because she doesn't automatically look away every time I pickup the camera.  L, on the other hand, looks away every time he sees the camera.

First Day of School (Photo heavy)

It seems like just yesterday I was dropping off my teenager at the Kindergarten building.  Yesterday, I dropped off my youngest.  To tell the truth, I've had mixed feeling about school starting.  I was ready for my oldest three to get back in their school routine, especially L (an autistic kid out of his routine is NOT a good thing), but I wasn't quite ready to let go of my last baby.  It seems like just yesterday she looked like this:

Today, she looked like this:

She was pretty excited.  This is the dress she WANTED to wear for the first day, but she had PE Monday which meant she had to wear tennis shoes.  So, we had to change clothes for the next pictures.

She seems pretty happy, right?  I wish that were true for the rest of my little ones.

Getting back in his routine!  WOO HOO!

He's sooooo NOT excited about school!

She just did not have time for all this picture nonsense! 

I'm happy to report that I did not cry (in front of E).  I did cry Sunday night.....a lot.  You can probably tell from the above photo.  Swollen eyes make for a lovely picture.  HA!  Also, E had a GREAT day and loves school, which makes it a whole lot easier on me.  It also helps that my SIL works at their elementary school and kept me updated all day.  E did cry a little this morning when I dropped her off, but was fine before I left the school.  AND, Hubby has the morning off.  WOO HOO!  A few hours of alone time sounds GREAT to me!

Have a great Tuesday!!

First Haircut and I Didn't Cry

So, as I mentioned, school starts Monday.  This was the week to get everything done.  I've been meaning to cut E's hair all summer.  She's never had a haircut before.  She was NOT excited.  I was not excited. But considering she's got just enough natural curl to tangle easily combined with the fact that she rolls around on the floor with the dog and the boys, I knew it HAD to be done.  If not, I would've had to spend 30 minutes a night combing out this child's hair after a sweaty day on the playground at school.  No thanks!  It was time.

See?  Not happy. 

After

It's a little shorter than I had in mind, but we had to do it quickly before she made a run for it.  It makes her look so much older.  Now that it's over, I want to cry a little.  So long pretty little curls.  Hello big girl.  Next stop, kindergarten.  I love C's shorter hair though.  Are y'all's girls sporting the feathers too?

Have a great weekend!

CRAZY WEEK!

Well, it's the week before school, which means it is crazy up in this house.  I've been so busy that this is the first time I've had to even pick up the computer in a few days.  I've spent some of my time shopping and sorting through this:

This is for the youngest three.  My oldest already got most of hers sorted.

Also, our school updated their dress code.  I totally forgot that E, who is starting Kindergarten, can't go sleeveless.  SO, I'm having to start over in the wardrobe department for her.  I bought a few things and I've added appliqued tees to her collection of capris that I had paired with halter tops.  UGH! 

Last night was open house at school.  E, who has been begging for over a year to go to school, got really nervous when we got to the school.  She was NOT excited to be there.

So, I'll be spending as much time as possible with my little ones this week.  I only have five days left with my babies before school starts.  So, I may not be around much.  I've got lots of important things to do, like playing games, getting haircuts and painting toenails.

ALSO, I want to wish my mom a very Happy Birthday!  I'm so blessed God chose you to be my mom!!!  Hope you have a great day!!!  Love you Mom!!!

A Day At The Fire Station

This time of year is always super busy and exciting. The end of the school year always means field trips, end of the year parties, recitals, band concerts, and field days, but Wednesday's events were something new for us.

Our local fire department sponsored a fire safety contest for all the local third graders. The participants were to make a poster of their floor plan which included the location of all the fire detectors, the escape plan for everyone and the meeting place outside of the house. Each elementary school in the area had a winner. J won for his school.

The kids got to tour the fire station.

J got to sit in the fire truck.

I had to take C to school, but J got to stay and eat breakfast with the firefighters. 

After breakfast, J got to sit in the firetruck and do the radio test.  Then the best part....J got to ride to school in the firetruck.  All of the third graders were waiting outside when he arrived.  They cheered and clapped for him.  He was so excited.

Alright, so he doesn't look very excited.  He was a little embarassed.  He's not used to people clapping and cheering when he gets to school (although sometimes I clap and cheer when they all go to school).  He was excited though.  It was definitely a day to remember.

** Only two more days left to enter my giveaway.  Click HERE for details.

I Remember It Like It Was Yesterday

I remember it like it was yesterday.  I walked around all day hiking up and down the side of the hill on mom and dad's property just two days shy of my scheduled c-section.  After walking around all day, we stopped for a few last minute things at Wal-Mart.  That's when I realized I was.....leaking.  So, after calling my doctor and my mother-in-law, we headed to the doctor's office to "be checked".  About two minutes after stepping foot in the exam room, my water broke and I
 mean REALLY broke.  So, after some more quick calls to the rest of our family, we were off to the hospital.  A few hours later, we met the sweetest little boy ever. 

One Year Old.

and now he looks like this...

Where did the time go? 

Happy 7th Birthday Baby Boy!  I am so blessed to get to be your mommy!

Recital Weekend

Did anyone else have Blogger problems last week?  I couldn't post Thursday or Friday?  Was it just me?

Well, it was a busy weekend.  L had a field trip Friday to the local "bouncy house" place.  We had such fun climbing, jumping and sliding. 

L coming off the bouncy slide.

Also, the girls' had their recital and we had a house full of company for the occasion.  My BIL, SIL, my niece and my in-laws came to visit.  They all stayed here in my little house....talk about family togetherness.  It was tight, but we had a GREAT time.

This is little Miss Pouty Britches before her performance.

Here is the much happier after recital picture with her flowers.  She also got a trophy for being the leader in her class.  She was so excited about her trophy that she slept with it right next to her on the dresser.  The next morning she got up and said, "Good morning trophy" and carried it around the house with her all day long. 

C also did very well in the recital.  However, she HATED her costume and not only refused to smile for a decent picture, but pretty much hid from me until she changed clothes.  Therefore, I have no picture of C to share.  Teenagers!

So, what did y'all do this weekend? 

Birthday Party Weekend

It's been a great weekend in the FFB household.  Hubby was off for three days, which always makes my weekend better.  We worked around the house Friday and Saturday and Sunday we had a birthday party at my mom's.  That's right, my baby girl is now a big girl.  I can't believe it.  I mean she looked like...

..this just a few weeks ago.  Time goes by so fast, doesn't it? 

Anyway, since everbody's schedules are soooo crazy, we have a party at my mom's for all three March birthdays - E, J and my brother M (J and M's birthdays are later in the month). 

Because we didn't do a big themed birthday party for each kid, I decided to make a few cupcake toppers to make them feel more like it was their own celebration.  E kept changing her mind, but finally decided she wanted Belle, J wanted Mario, and I decided to make my brother an Arkansas Razorback cupcake topper.  Keep in mind that I am NOT a computer whiz so this took a little while to figure out. 

I found a picture on google images and saved it to my computer.  Then I resized it in Paint.  Then I copied and pasted it to a Word document and printed it out.  Then, because I don't have one of those fancy punches, I traced a circle around the image.

Then, I traced a slightly bigger circle on scrapbook paper, cut them out with pinking shears and glued them together. 

Then I hot glued the whole thing on Craft Sticks that I got at Wal-Mart for $.97.  When it was time for cupcakes, I stuck them on top.

J looooved his Mario cupcake.

E REFUSED to blow out her candle,

but she DID love her Belle cupcake topper.

We all had a wonderful time at the party.  Mom cooked so the food was delicious as always.  It was a wonderful day with the family.

What did y'all do this weekend?