before easter skirts

thursday my friend marie and i decided it would be a way cheaper and more fun idea to sew our own skirts for our girls this year, and make them match!! we love the cute matching dresses some kids get to wear, but being so many sizes apart, it is hard to find them for rebekah and rachel. i jumped all over this idea. friday i met her at the fabric store, where she immediately found what she was looking for. i took a little more time, but eventually found something i liked too. we started working on our projects after school, and after a few hours, she was done with one skirt, and i was done with my sister's curtains. (did i mention that my sister asked me to do curtains for her condo at the same time?) then i got to start on my skirts. so at the end of the night, she was done with both of her girls main sewing, and i had one thing done. ruffling is NO FUN!!! saturday morning things went much more smoothly, and when marie came over with her finished skirts, she could show me what to do next, and i finished a skirt too! the next one was much easier, and soon we were both done. my sister liked the curtains i had made so much, she ended up going and picking out fabric for another window, and coming over to join in the sewing party! she hasn't sewn in many years, so marie taught her patiently how to pin and sew and she did the whole thing herself. marie made her skirt our of 3 panels of the same material as the girls, but i wanted something more adventurous. i cut out a pattern and tried to put together a skirt that sandy, nathan's mom, gave me the pattern for. it was much more advanced that anything i have ever attempted, and was way over my head. thankfully, right at the point when i was ready to throw in the towel, she came through the door. she said i had been on her mind all day, and she came to see if i needed help. she finished the skirt for me, much faster and easier than i could have dreamed of!! it looks wonderful, and i couldn't thank her enough!! so we went to church today all matching, in our easter skirts that we can't wear next week because of general conference.

what do you think of these?

here is the finished product!! you can probably scroll through older posts and see us sitting around the old ugly kitchen table. well, i got sick of it, but didn't know what to do. my good friend marie suggested i sand down and paint the table, which took longer than i thought it would to dry! we were out of a table, and sitting on the floor for a few days. we worked it out though, and now we have this masterpiece to use!! it isn't quite perfect, but for a first project, i am quite proud of myself! what do you think?

the pinewood derby

colby's neon orange car

so anyone that knows our family, knows that rebekah has long gorgeous curly hair. so what happened? apparently as you get older, and your hair starts out curly, it gets straighter. at least this is the case with my darling daughter. so, instead of sporting the straggly, almost curly, but not quite, look; i cut it off, and now it is smooth and straight!! who would have thought? and it naturally flips out in the cutest little hairdo. i love it. and she does too. and here's the real kicker.....NATHAN does too!! i thought he would hate it, and hate me for having the nerve to do it (i did it while he was asleep!!), but he came up to me, and exclaimed how gorgeous she looked, and why did we wait so long to do this? i was shocked and speechless!! and proud!! i did this, and nathan liked it! wow!! not to toot my own horn, but wow!!!

then there's rachel, who is just as mischevious and adorable as ever!!

here's the whole crew, all snug like a bug in a rug!! i love them all laying in our bed like this! :)