SAY CHEESE!!!

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Jenni (my SIL) had a photography class to go to and wanted me to come wrangle the little one, she said I should get all dolled up just in case they could use me too, I stood in a few with Amelia (SHE IS SO ADORABLE) and then she took a few of just me, I'm getting some printed for John for his birthday tomorrow, hmmm....convenient! :) The thing is I haven't decided on which one(s) so if you could mention your faves, I would appreciate it! I'll be headed to Walmart tomrrow noon-ish (I am not worried about him seeing, he rarely checks my blog unless I request it :)

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pattern

Denise and Danielle, here's the pattern :) I used version D...I made the dress four inches longer because I wanted to make it plenty long because I am tall, but I ended up cutting off at least that much when I was done;)
Enjoy!
Butterick B 5181
JoAnnes is having a sale starting Monday, it includes patterns, but I don't know if Butterick is included:)

Dylan, Kaci, William, Lily visit!

I LOVE being an aunt, I know I will love being a mom even more, BUT until that happens I love playing with these munchkins. We had them over for 2 nights last sunday and monday, I was a tad nervous about Will and Lill sleeping over, they get sad at night sometimes without their parents, but they did SO great! It was so fun, I adore these guys so so much. I really treasure the time we get to spend together, they are hilarious and fun and cute and cool. :) In a nutshell, this is what we did while they were here...Watched Emperors new groove, ate popcorn, played Littlest Pet Shops, made heart, star and bear shaped pancakes, ate watermelon bowls, took a LONG walk to the park, played for two hours at the park, scooter-ing, munching on carrots, marshmallows, and potato chips, played duck duck goose, went crazy on the tire swing, went down the wet slides, caught bugs, stared at the sky, played hide and seek through the wooded area, had fun "drinking" (more like squirting each other) out of the water bottle, watched the ducklings, talked a lot about ducks and robbers (there were neighborhood watch signs along the path, lily was concerned with the picture...) ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, WILLIAM LOST HIS OTHER front tooth (a huge deal!) he looks so cute! played in the backyard, made fluffy fuzzy magical pillow creatures with buttons for eyes and "magical" stuffing!(the stuffing was 'magical' because once you put it into your little guy, he would keep you safe in the night, and you can tell him all your dreams and wishes, and if you're scared he can make you feel better). Ate dinosaur chicken nuggets and rice for dinner, played in the sprinklers, ate popsicles, sang songs with my guitar, told jokes, took a giant warm shower (they all had their bathing suits on, don't worry, and i was NOT in the shower with them...just so you know ), watched Robin Hood, fell asleep on the couch watching it, (I took William into the bathroom to pee before I put him in his bed, he was totally asleep...I pointed to the toilet and said here's the toilet, go pee, and he started taking off his pants so I left him to do his business, I came back into the bathroom to see him finishing up peeing in the trash can....nice) snuggled and talked in the morning, ate yummy sweet cereal for breakfast, wrote letters to uncle Elder Andrew, made some science field journal drawing books, went to the dollar movies to see "race to witch mountain" and on Tuesdays everyone gets free popcorn!!! Had a picnic at the park, Dylan got sunscreen in his eyes, it rained on us so we left early, set up the lemonade stand hoping the rain would go away, (I got this lemonade stand for free from sunkist.com...if you have kids, check it out, it's adorable!) the sun came out, went around the block to set up the lemonade stand (This was Dylan's FAVORITE part, he loves anything to do with making money ;) )Made NINE dollars in one hour! What. Ever. (when I was little we sold lemonade for 10 cents a cup, and we were amazed when we made more than a dollar!) waving and looking cute at each car that passed by, really worked! (John took a study break to come buy some lemonade, and he rode his bike, I recognized him from far away and said oooh, here comes somebody so handsome, I don't know who it is but I can tell he is veeeeeery handsome! SO they were all looking, when William recognized it was John he was quite dissapointed, he said "ugh, it's just John!" and went back to waving at cars...but Lily got this wonderous look in her eyes when John rode up (she's really obsessed with Princesses and Princes, and 'true loves kiss' in fact she's convinced she's going to marry william, because he is her 'prince' it's actually really cute)...anyway, after he left she started making a pile of treasures on my blanket, including sticks, rocks, pine cones, grass, leaves, etc...I finally asked her what she was doing, she said "it's all for John, I don't know how to ever thank him for being SO handsome!" pretty darn adorable!) A lot of people stopped to buy lemonade, the Schwan man, and even some Police officers! They were really sweet with the kids, they turned on their lights and did their siren for them, but before they could get some lemonade they had a call they had to get to right away, but promised to come back when they were done...we ran out of lemonade before they came back, the kids were pretty sad they didn't get to give the officers lemonade. Kaci was an enthusiastic waver to all the cars, after one particular car passed without stopping, she matter of factly said "I'm sure they're allergic to lemonade, oh well" she said it kind of under her breath, it was so funny! We divied up the money, two dollars and 25 cents each, so we went to the dollar store to spend it! They took a half hour deciding and changing their minds and finding something they would rather have, and wanting to all get the same things, etc, it was pretty funny and cute. They all felt so 'big' to pay with their OWN money, to get their OWN reciept, to get their OWN change, and have their OWN bag. When we got back from the dollar store Nate was there to pick them up and take them home, they were so sad to leave, we had such a GREAT time, Nate told me Lily cried the whole way home "I want Courtenay to come home with us, I want her to live with us again" poor thing. It was so fun though, I am so glad we had them over!
These are the cutest sour faces ever! They were eating lemons..so tarrt!

one of the visitors to the stand, a beagle puppy! He was so mellow and adorable with the kids!

i love this picture of William and Lily, it highlight their adorable relationship, William teases Lily, but loves her to pieces, and Lily LOVES william, even wants to marry him :) NOTICE WILLIAMS MISSING FRONT TEETH, i love it!

The officers stop to show off their sweet sirens and lights

Their 'cute wave' to get cars to stop to buy lemonade

Handsomest prince ever stopped to get some refreshment

At the park, you can kind of see Dylans Fluffy critter he made

Picnic, and getting ready for the lemonade stand

POPSICLES!!!

kaci, is the cutest picture poser ever, if you so much as point a camera in her direction, she strikes a pose! SO glamorous...
fun in the sprinklers, Dylan was a dnacin maniac in the water!

porr tootle-bug, she got a sliver in her finger, and I wanted to help her get it out, it was too tender though, she looks so sad!

Another sassy pose!

This is RARE, I caught Williams pose before he lost it, he's so funny he cannot hold still for a picture ever! He's adorable though!
Dylan asked some teenagers who were also at the park if he could have oe of their water balloons, then he popped it on his head, William and Kaci were right next to him trying to get a splash too :)

Playing littlest Pet shops first thing in the morning

Dylans proudest moments, making money, so cute!

Catch up, SO FUN!!!!

You have GOT to be kidding me...

First of all...it is 3:48 AM right now. I am up with some lively bowel issues...I have a colonoscopy AND endoscope at 8:30, and before you go in, you have to drink only clear liquids the day before and drink this medicine that makes you 'go' more than I care to count. I am working on the last few doses of the medicine, it's an entire gallon! And it's gross, my gag reflex has been giving me grief, it's a bit revolting, that's the only way I know how to describe it. Anyway, half a tube of neosporin, three rolls of toilet paper, and half a box of kleenex cottonelle wipes, little sleep, frequent breaks to 'go' make me a grumpy camper, not to mention that in a few hours I am about to be totally violated! Hopefully though they will be able to find some answers!

Second of all, I love to sew, BUT I don't do patterns, I make SIMPLE things with straight seams mostly and some other fun stuff, but I have been afraid of patterns, they never turn out right for me. Well, I decided I needed to get over it. I inherited some fabric from my Aunt Marilyn, she's a gem and saved me a TON of school teacher stuff when she retired, and some vintage fabric from the 1950's and such. So I fell in love with this fabric, and I had been saving this pattern for just the right material...I am SO proud of my accomplishment, PLUS this is not only the CUTEST dress I have ever seen, it is the MOST comfortable dress ever, I want to make like five more and wear one every day, it is so comfy and cute, talk about a double wammy!!!

I decided to make the straps a bit wider than the pattern said, and I added the ric rack :)
I love the colors in this dress so much!

Post about the kiddos coming to visit and PICTURES soon, I promise!