A day at the museum

We actually did this several weeks ago, Jared took so many pictures that it's taken me a while to sort through the ones I wanted and get all the editing done. Enjoy!



One thing about living in Dallas is we have about 6 million things we could go do every weekend, unfortunately they all cost money. Usually a LOT of money. Mellie keeps asking me if we can go to the museum and really how many 3 year olds ask to go to the museum? After some searching we found a museum of natural history with a small children's museum downstairs out at the fair grounds. Good news...family of 4, under $20! YAY! My kids ages change depending on where we are :) Don't judge, you know you do it too!



The first thing Mellie asked to look at was the dinosaurs. This kid is obsessed with dinosaurs. They had a really cool digging pit where the kids could get in a wear fancy hats and use their little brushes to uncover bones. Mellie had a ton of fun, Katie mostly covered everyone else in dirt!



Here we're looking at a fossilized dinosaur footprint. Mellie wanted to compare her foot to the dinosaur one.



Next we headed down so they could explore the children's section of the museum. It was pretty cool. The first thing the girls saw was the fire truck and it was all Jared and I could do to keep up with them. Those little kids are agile things when it comes to ducking through adults legs to get to their prize! It seemed like everybody elses kids were very well behaved and then we brought our heathen lot in. It was too near nap time so that's why you see so many binky shots of Katie. I'm such an enabler!



This little boy was so sweet! He kept trying to help Katie put her hat back on.





Next we headed to what I dubbed the 'creature room'. They had ant tunnels in the middle of the room for the kids to pretend they were bugs and what not. I love Katie's face in this one, and check out the kid behind her. Makes you think she just did something she knew she wasn't supposed to and was hauling out of there. Oh I so fondly look forward to her teenage years!





Katie was fascinated by the fish, can you tell?



Melody Kept trying to get me to go look at this 'really cool thing' that turned out to be a tarantula, which is why you don't see to many pics of her in this room. She stayed over by it and I wouldn't go near it!Katie found these cute bug hats to dress up with. I love her face in this one! Such a little character!



Here's the Farm Room. They got to play with all kinds of fake fruits and Veggies. The kids took their little shopping bags and stuffed them as full as they could then dumped them. All in the same bin. Unfortunately they had previously been meticulously sorted into their own little bins! Ah my kids, they are truly mine.

They look so cute on these little horses! I think dad needs to buy them real ones, and while he's at it one for mom with a few acres to keep them on! :) A girl can dream can't she?



And finally, my newly discovered weight loss plan. I intend to carry this mirror around everywhere!
Before:

After:

Who needs to waste time on dieting!

I heart dollar stores!

The other night I had planned to make a run to the craft store for something I needed to finish a fall garland I've been working on. The dollar store is three doors down from Micheal's so I thought I'd go there first and see if they had what I needed. I not only found what I needed, I found what I needed to finish three other projects! I still don't have the fall garland done, but I did finally get these baskets done.

If you remember I posted a while back about the twigs at my local park and how they are completely straight. With the help of my little ones I collected a TON! I made two baskets just by alternately stacking them and hot gluing them in place. Then I used floral foam and spanish moss to fill it, but that was as far as I got. I knew what I wanted them to look like, but I never found the right flowers. Until I looked at the dollar store. You wouldn't think you'd be able to find very good quality flowers at a dollar store, but I was pleasantly surprised! These were PERFECT! I love how they turned out!

This planter I've had for a few years and never managed to get anything in it. These worked out great and it filled the space on top of my entertainment center really well!

If you look in the background of this picture you can see on the wall a montage of pictures. We have a giant wall at the top of our stairs that was in serious need of attention. I have a pencil sketch of the bountiful temple framed in black and thought it would be nice to surround it with black and white candids of the family framed with black frames. Unfortunately all the cheapy frames I found a Wal-mart and Target looked as cheap as they were. Again the dollar store solved my problem. They have a huge selection of frames that are actually nice! I've been buying them a little here and a little there. I'm thinking four or five more and that should be enough to fill the space.

We've lived in this apartment 4 months, and I'm finally being able to get the place put together!

Sewing madness!

Not to long ago I came across a blog, Little Blue Boo , that I now follow religiously. She is quite simply an amazingly talented lady! She is always posting pictures of the latest dress pattern she's come up with and it inspired me. My mom always made clothes for me when I was little and I loved them. With our shortage of funds and two girls that, in spite of never eating anything I make for dinner, never stop growing I needed to get creative with the wardrobe expansion.

This dress pattern that kept popping up on her blog here, here and here got me thinking. It's a really simple, straight forward pattern, but what I saw was an empty canvas just waiting to be made beautiful. There are so many options with this dress. I've actually made two dresses and two shirts out of this by just shortening it. Luckily I can make a dress for Katie and it'll fit Melody as a long shirt, then Katie can just grow into Melody's dresses. These will last for ever!

I've actually had a couple of these done for a while it just takes a little extra effort to get my models to cooperate for pictures. Good thing they're so cute!

This was the first one I made and it was SO easy! The dress made up in under two hours start to finish, and then I added the waist band later. I did a running stitch across the front and then gathered it slightly before I sewed on the waistband. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

This one was tough, I would not suggest doing this with denim unless your accustomed to swearing! Maybe it's just that I'm a rookie, but the thickness of the material made for a well used seam ripper! I think I'm going to either add some belt loops to keep the sash where it's supposed to be, or do the same as I did with Katie's and put in a gather and sew the sash down. I can't decide what would look better, so until I do I'm just going to leave it alone.


I used the 2T size to make this shirt because Melody is such a skinny mini. I really like this one. I would wear this if I could. All we need is some pig tails and cowgirl boots and we'll have a cute little country girl!

I'm not overly fond of this one. I think if the material had been reversed it would've turned out better. I really like how the waist band on this one works. I'm thinking about doing a dress like this only with a dropped waist so the top will be kind of billowy. Also, maybe have the ties come out on both sides instead of just the one. I'm definitely going to make a few more like this one!

Wal-Mart has solid long sleeve shirts for $3.50 right now. I'm going to get a few to go under these so they'll last all winter. Thankfully it won't get cold here for a while longer!

Such a great opportunity

Sometimes I love that we don't live in Utah! Like tonight, for instance, was the General Relief Society Meeting Broadcast. In Utah every other person you meet is LDS, but here you deal largely with non-members, so when the opportunity to come together as sisters comes along it's always a wonderful experience! Our stake is actually not as spread out as it is in other areas. We include two very large cities, but we're still spread out enough that we don't run into each other in the grocery store!

Tonight, when the meeting started and we were all singing 'There is Sunshine in my Soul Today' I had this overwhelming feeling of belonging. Here I was, sitting in this room with all of these other women from all walks of life. Young, old, rich, poor, married, widowed, we all had different circumstances and stories to tell, but here we all had gathered together to listen to our leaders speak, be uplifted, and find a greater sense of peace. I had this realization that I can totally be myself with these women. We all have the same goal. We all are going the same direction, even if our individual paths take us on some twists and turns, we all are striving for the same thing! I'm so grateful for this church and the organization of the Relief Society.

In everyday life I worry about silly things like how my clothes fit and look, how my kids behave, how people perceive me, ect. But tonight all of that trivial, unimportant stuff just lifted off my shoulders and I just felt at ease. I love it when I'm given the opportunity to refocus. To remember what is really important and find a renewed sense of happiness. Happiness to just be who I am and know that my Heavenly Father loves and accepts me for who I am, faults and all. I hope you all had the opportunity to attend this broadcast tonight. If you didn't you can find the video HERE.

Moments that melt my heart.

I got home from a baby shower last night and Jared had already gotten the kids bathed and in bed (so many husband points awarded here) so I went in to check on them. Melody was still awake so I laid down to snuggle with her for a minute. This is the conversation that just melted my heart...

Melody: Did you have fun at your party?

Me: Yeah we had a lot of fun.

Melody: What did you do?

Me: Well a friend of mine has a baby in her tummy and all the mommies got together to give her things she will need to take care of that baby when its ready to come out.

Melody: Oh, so that's why you made the bibs. So her baby could use them.

Me: Yep we all bought or made her things to help her get ready for her baby.

Melody: Mommy, someday, when I get big, I'm going to get a ma-sewing-ma-chene and make things to help people get ready for their little babies.

Even though we don't get along very well sometimes, moments like this really drive home that she watches everything I do and say and it constantly makes me ask myself what kind of example am I setting for her? She's getting so big so fast and has this understanding of life that surpasses her 3 years. I just love her too too much!