Fun with Sewing!

This afternoon has been so much fun! The girls decided that Barbie and her friends needed more furniture, so I went on Pinterest, gathered some ideas, and we got to work.

The girls are SO proud of what we came up with! Take a look...

Kayla sewing her first pillow:

 Melissa sewing her first pillow:

 Kayla designed and sewed her 2nd pillow:

 Kayla's 1st pillow:

 Melissa's 1st pillow:

 All of the pillows and the super cute sofa Mommy made:

 Melissa's 2nd pillow:

We had so much fun doing our little projects that they are already planning our fun for tomorrow!

Kayla asked me several times to take a video of her sewing, but I have NO idea how to flip it over! Sorry.. enjoy!

Sunset Beach, 2012

We had SO much fun at the beach this year! We went in May and shared a house with Grandma, Poppa, Tia Ria and her family, Aunt Laura and Little... while we were all anticipating a lot of chaos and tension, it was completely the opposite experience... it was relaxing, fun, and one of the better trips I remember taking! The kids played so well together and enjoyed having a children's area, aka* the loft* to themselves. It worked well having a place for their toys, that they only had to clean up before bed, and that they could look out from and still see the adults. They played games, watched movies and taught the boys how to play barbies. Such fun! We enjoyed watching the kiddos go on a treasure hunt where they found buried treasure down at the water... it took a while to find it though, because SOMEONE forgot where it was buried... not going to name names.... :) 

   While I was going to make a video of our trip, I decided to post some of my favorite pictures instead and save the photos for printing.

The picture below is of my 3 beautiful baby girls down at the water for our "picture day."

 Mermaid Melissa

 Melissa fished down at the pier with Poppa and myself for an entire day! She was such a trooper and LOVED catching sharks and counting jellyfish. (there were soooo many jellyfish!) While we didn't catch any fish, we did catch sharks and skates... nothing we could eat. 

 Kayla was so excited to eat the boil, she couldn't stop jumping in her seat! The big kids ate at the counter, while Abbie and Little ate at the table with the adults. Emma, sat in her bouncy seat or on her daddy's lap. 

 This was one attempt at taking our family pictures on "picture day."

We are cute, even when we are goof balls!

 The 3 oldest kids had a blast fishing with Poppa on the dock at our house... they actually caught more (tiny) fish in their little nets than we did with the rods! LOVE this picture of the 4 of them!

 Beautiful Melissa.

 We turned our car into a pirate ship for our trip to the beach. Daddy painted pictures of us as pirates on the back, we played pirate games, received treasure and wore pirate bandannas. It was a good, fun trip!

 Playing down at the water.

 Fun with our cousins!

 Trying to catch minnows.

 Beautiful Abbie Girl

 Beautiful Kayla

 Abbie LOVED the beach! She cried when it was time to leave the water and said, "Go, Daddy, Go!" The whole time he was pulling her in the wagon to the water. She is such a hoot!

 Pirate Daddy!

I have NO idea how to change the order of the photos, but wanted to post them before I forgot. We had so much fun with our cousins and siblings and only wish everyone else had been able to be there. We are looking forward to next year when all of my brothers and sisters and their families can join us. Until next year!

Making Memories, One Fire at a Time

Our girls and their cousins LOVE to have a bonfire and roast marshmallows every time we go to Grandma and Poppa's house. It's a "tradition" they tell me... 

The picture below is of a teeny tiny lizard Melissa found. It climbed up her arms and around her fingers. She LOVED it!

Amazingly, Kayla found a lizard almost identical to the one Melissa was playing with! She was SO happy to have found one!

Abbie was happy and content playing with the zucchini.

 Eating marshmallows.. Mmmmmm

 They REALLY enjoyed those gooey, sticky mallows!

 Poppa let the big kids play with the fire this time. They were so proud of themselves!

Thank you for the memories, Grandma and Poppa!

Fishing With Poppa

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Daddy's Day

We had SO much fun with Daddy-O this year on Father's Day!

The girls made him an amazing back-scratch shirt. They drew roads and buildings on the back of a shirt and then gave him 3 cars for them to drive around on his back. He loved it and so did they!

We had a bit of a delayed breakfast in bed, as Daddy was up taking care of a very sick Melissa in the wee hours of the morning. They slept in a little and, when he was ready to wake up, we took his gifts and breakfast up to him.

Donut holes for breakfast? We're crazy!

(Abbie was more than ready to help herself to a few donuts!)

Daddy is an amazing man, who takes such good care of us. He is our anchor and we love him! Happy Daddy's Day, Daddy-O!

My Melissa

The one word that comes to mind when I think of my Melissa is thoughtful. She is constantly doing things for our family, thinking of ways she can share the Gospel with the neighbors and trying to brighten our day with her little acts of service.

The picture below is a tea party she arranged and set up for her sisters and Grandma.

 This is a centerpiece she made for the tea party.

 She was sweet and made Abbie's bed for her!

I love this sweet, thoughtful, mischevious daughter of mine. She brigtens my days and occupies my dreams at night. I am so blessed to have her!

Kayla Brooke

 Kayla's self portrait above.

Lovin' on her sister.

 On the way home from a date with Grandma and Melissa to Golden Corral. She LOOOVED the chocolate waterfall!

My Kayla Brooke is one of the silliest, most thoughtful, sweetest kids I know. She is constantly writing little notes and letters for people, singing us songs and trying to make us laugh. She is amazing. I am so blessed to be her mama!

Now!

I found this special little note several days ago. Melissa has no idea I even saw it as when I walked past it again, it had been erased. It's a good thing she let those words out by writing them and not verbally! That would not have ended very well..... This? This I think is funny and cute. Poor babe.

My Abbie Girl

Abbie having her own, personal dance party above.



Stole this statement from my Mom's facebook status today. "Abbie looking out the window at her 2 older sisters playing quietly & nicely together on their back deck out of the blue just said, "Be kind,Kayla".
Then when her Mom tells her to come & scare Grandma, she walks up to her Mom & says, "Be quiet, Mom" This little 22 month old is precious, precocious & quite full of herself! Fun times."
This little girl keeps me on my toes, doesn't miss a thing and has our entire family wrapped around her tiny little fingers. I wouldn't have it any other way!



The Aliens are Attacking!

A few weeks ago Melissa looked out the window and saw a very unusual bug. Ray screamed, "Alien!" and in an instant the bug went from the picture on the left to the picture on the right.

Ray said Melissa ran to the pantry, grabbed the foil, and began making hats stating that, "she didn't want the aliens to eat her brain!" Ha! She was sweet and made hats for her sisters also. Whew! Crisis diverted.