A Few New Things

...and lots of pictures!

It has been a while because I keep telling myself that before I can post anything else I have to post about Halloween, which I can't do because I still haven't taken pictures of the girls in their costumes. I have a few from the church Halloween party but I forgot my camera when we went trick-or-treating. 

Chloe was a pirate, I made the vest and the skirt was a thrift store t-shirt made into a skirt.  Vienna was TinkerbellI also made the little dress and the under skirt which you can't see is made out of a sheer curtain.  Eve is a princess, which luckily I didn't have to make. She is wearing the tiara I wore when I got married.

Naomi was a ladybug.  I just made a black fleece hoodie and some wings and sewed them on, and some antennae.  It was pretty easy but turned out cute.

Here is a shot of their loot.

We only took out the older three, and they got some good stuff. Of course it was gone in a few weeks.  They had lots of fun but their bags were not very big and they got heavy pretty fast. Next year I would like to make some bags like this.

Now that I have got that off my chest.... a few more things I have been making.

A cute skirt for Vienna. Panel, exposed elastic waist, just serged on the bottom to finish. I used less than two fat quarters. What a goof that girl is!

Our old stroller seat bit the dust so I made a new one.  It was pretty easy, just cut up the old one and use it as a pattern. This is the tutorial I (kinda) used. I wish I could take pictures like her too.

Some coin purses for the girls. I put a snap on one and realized it wasn't worth the hassle so I did buttons for the rest.

This next one is just a cute picture of Vienna and Naomi.

This is one of our favorite games. My camera has a screen that can swivel so you can turn it to take self portraits. Me and the girls love to try to all fit in and then make crazy faces. I probably have a hundred of these. Most of which I would never post because they are just too embarrassing (for me)!

These ones I just love. I love that my girls are getting my love of reading, especially Chloe. She is learning in giant leaps and is already on to chapter books...with no pictures! Eve is doing really good too. It is harder for her, especially since they are learning to read French at the same time.

This is Naomi's "picture" face that she does when she knows I am taking a picture of her. She is such a ham, and she will do things just to make us laugh!

This post is getting super long, I guess that is what happens when you take a break for a few months, but I just have a few more pics I couldn't resist.

Naomi loves wearing things on her head, weird I know.  Especially for an 18 month old.

Merry Christmas!

Little Bird Purse and Pencil Case

So, as I mentioned earlier here, I was doing a bit of manic sewing. I forgot to take a picture of that specific gift but don't worry! I had to make another gift for the next Saturday for another birthday party and this time I took pictures.



I didn't realize when I took these that there were little white fuzzies all over.

This little purse was made from the bottom of a pair of pants, so I only had to put one seam along the bottom.

A pencil case filled with a few crafty supplies.

Bound with some kind of velvety ribbon. I used the tutorial here, except I didn't use knit for the back. I used two layers of cotton wrong sides together and it still worked really well.

Chloe being my little model!

Now I have to go make another one. Three birthdays three Saturdays in a row!  My girls are busier than I am sometimes.

Have a great day!

My Girlies

There is a reason this blog is called what it is. Because of these four princesses.

I feel so blessed to be their Mama. They fill my days with amazing highs and occasional lows. They are my greatest joy and treasure.

If someone told me when I was young, or even 10 years ago, that I would carry and give birth to big healthy twins I wouldn't have believed them. And then have two more after that! I am still sometimes amazed that I am the mother of all these kids! (Not that four is like sooooooo many or anything :)

Eve, my first born, is sweet and sensitive. She thrives on positive reinforcement. She was made to be an older sister, although she constantly wishes for an older brother, or even a baby one would be fine in her books. I don't think she knows what she is wishing for!

Chloe is a girl of her own as Jeff would say. She seems to be above it all but in her heart she is just as sensitive as her sister. She is confident and a little sassy and very social.

Vienna is Vienna....... what can I say. She pushes everyone's buttons and discipline doesn't seem to even phase her. She idolises her big sisters though and wants to do everything they do, which causes some strain in inter-sister relationships. She can be sweet and so funny when she wants too.

(Poor little one is always sick)

Naomi, or Yohmstein as her sisters have dubbed her, is our little sweetie. She is just starting to find her independence which sometimes has me scrambling! It is hard to say what her personality will pan out to be but I think she is going to be on the quiet side. Although at 15 months and no words yet she still manages to make herself heard!

So there is kind of an overview of my girlies. In a nut shell. As if a little girl could ever be contained in such a small space!

I wonder how you add a signature to the end of a post, I feel like I am just kind of leaving it hanging....

Too Much Baking

I don't know what I got myself into. Sometimes I have very relaxing days with no commitment, just what I want to do. And then there are days with too much commitment.
 Today my day went like this:

• wake up
• get the 3 girls to school
• home and put Naomi for a nap
• sew like a mad woman (a gift for a birthday this Saturday)
• pick up Vienna from pre-school
• cancel play date because I have too much to do
• ichiban for lunch
• make corn bread
• make homemade granola bars for school lunches (cause it's cheaper right? ha ha)
• make corn bread
• make cookies
• make corn bread
• make supper
• make corn bread
• sew like a mad woman with a little glitter added this time

Jeff is in charge of our ward Chili Cook-Off this Saturday and he volunteered me to make all the cornbread. Well ok, I volunteered myself. I didn't know at the time I would have sewing commitments as well. Ok ok, I decided to make a gift instead of buying one (it's cheaper right? ha ha, this time it actually is because it's almost all from my stash). Pictures to come as soon as I have time during the day to take some.

On a different note, our application for the Leisure access Program was accepted, so now we can go to the zoo and go swimming again! Yay!

And just to add some cuteness factor, here's a pic of Naomi from this summer. Who can resist that cute mug?!

 

First Days of School

I can't believe Vienna is in school! Today was her first day of preschool. She is only in for two mornings a week, but still! What am I going to do with all this time? Ha Ha, all what time I say.

She is so grown up and was very brave. She was pretty excited about school, she has been talking about in since her birthday but when we walked in there were two kids screaming and suddenly she wasn't so sure about it. Her teacher was speaking French with her which threw her off a bit too. When I went to pick her up she barely glanced at me and ran off to play. Vienna has always been my independant one. I made that dress she is wearing but we were running late so no pictures of the whole thing. It takes (surprisingly...or not) way longer to get 3 kids ready for school.

Eve was home sick today so I didn't get the break I was hoping for, but I did get a little sewing done. I had some leggings for the girls that were too big, like size 12 or 14 too big! So I took them in and also a sweater that Eve loves that was also too big.

This picture is from Eve and Chloe's first day of grade 2. They started on August 30! When I was a kid we always started on the Tuesday after Labor Day. They do get a lot of Fridays off through out the year though, almost every second weekend is a long one.

One more picture of my fashion queen. Chloe loves to match, she loves to make outfits and is very particular about it. Last year for her birthday all she wanted was an "outfit". She talked about it for months before hand. Since I can't afford Gymboree we have to scour the thrift stores. Everything she is wearing is a thriftly find. She loves it though.

A New Page

This is a new chapter in my life. Jeff went to a family history training today and we were discussing how important it is to keep a journal. Well, hopefully this can be a sort of journal of my life. My basic plan is to just write about every day life in the Joseph household and also add a few crafty projects that I do. That's all for tonight but hopefully this next week will see some fun stuff on here! A blog post is no fun without a picture so here is a recent one for you all (as Jeff would say).