Father & Sons Campout

Jack was so excited all week for the campout. He talked about it non-stop. He loves spending time with dad and loves the outdoors (just like dad).

But the thing Jack loves most of all is the camping food. He knows I will buy treats for camping that I don't normally buy, so he made his menu early: powdered donuts, cinnamon poptarts, BBQ chips and a lunchable. He asks for the same thing every year, except this year he was a little more specific and wanted Indiana Jones on the lunchable package. Eric actually took a camera this year, so it was fun to see pictures of what goes on.

You can see here how special that lunchable was to Jack.

Although I was excited Eric was taking a camera this year, he didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked him to. He probably took about 20 pictures, but only 2 of them were of Jack. He got plenty of pictures of the rest of the ward and even nice pictures like this: Why would you take a picture of this??? Men....

I love the Father and Sons campout every year, because I get to spend it with my girls. They also pick the same activities to do every year.

We started the night off with a tea party,

we made purses,

then made cookies...

We ate lots of cookie dough,

and then some more cookie dough,

and even more cookie dough.

We ate so much cookie dough that we couldn't eat a single cookie once they were finished and the girls were on quite the sugar high.

Then we laid out blankets, snuggled up together and watched Strawberry Shortcake.


Of course, we woke up the next morning and had cookies for breakfast.

Mother's Day

The kids came in early this morning and woke us up- and like Mother's Day tradition, Eric hopped out of bed and shut the door so I could sleep in. And, like every other year, I pretended to sleep through all the clatter in the kitchen and waited for Eric and the kids to come "wake me up." Once the kitchen gets quiet, I know they're ready to come in for the surprise. They open the door and the kids all scream "Happy Mother's Day!" Tommy handed me a dozen roses, Jack gave me a card, Liberty gave me a bag of sunflower seeds and Eric gave me breakfast in bed. While the kids serenaded me with songs, I ate my breakfast, which was surprisingly all warm this year and was full of all the yummy things I love and never fix for myself. Tommy even included a whole bowl of sunflower seeds (which is a snack I normally love, just not for breakfast.) Then they all joined me on the bed. It's always tricky eating my mother's day breakfast in bed with the kids. All the kids dig into my food, hug me, hop around the bed and I try to balance my tray so nothing spills and it is always a memorable morning. Once breakfast was finished, Jack treated me to a back massage and all the kids were so sweet. It's those moments that make me so thankful to be a mom.

The kids showered me with lots of hand-made gifts which are always my favorite. This was one of my favorites this year. I don't know where he came up with some of those answers, but at least he got the important stuff right. I do love him and love to spend time with my family.

Take me out to the ball game...

Jack had his first T-ball games this week and man, is it entertaining! Some of his team mates get bored out in the field and sit down, some zone-out and some actually play the game. Jack not only plays the game, but dances the whole time he's playing. Everytime he stops on base, he starts the dance. Anytime there is a lull in the game, he's dancing. He does not stand still for a minute. Not only is he dancing (and playing) he will talk and talk to whoever is closest to him. Surprisingly, with all the other activities Jack is doing during the game, he is actually doing a great job.

Here are some clips from the game.

Isn't he great??

Dress Tutorial

I had lots of requests for instructions on how to make the dress from the last post, so here goes. I took my girls to Goodwill and let them pick out a couple shirts. I was hoping for some cool fabric, but there was not much of a selection. Paul's shirts were a little too small so it was much easier to do with a man's shirt.

Here is one of the shirts Liberty picked out...

First cut shirt apart at seams. Cut the side seams, the sleeves, collar and at top of yolk. Also, unpick any pockets or tags you want to remove. When you are finished, you should have the back piece, front piece (which is actually two pieces when unbuttoned), two sleeves and collar; like this:

The back of the shirt will now become the front of your dress and the yolk will become the bodice. Take the chest measurements of your daughter and add a couple inches for ease. My daughters chest were around 21 inches. I added 3 inches to make a 24 inch bodice. Divide your chest measurement by 4. (So, my 24 inch chest now becomes 6 inches). Fold the back of the shirt in half and cut the chest bodice according to your measurement. Cut the rest of the fabric like this:

Then use the front piece of your dress as a pattern to do the same to the back (the piece with the buttons. Make sure you leave only a small seam allowance above the top button so you will have a button at the top of your dress and it wont hang open.) Sew the front and back together at sides.

Now, you are ready for the sleeves. My girls requested no sleeves on this dress, so I did it differently on this one. Cut the sleeve so you have a straight edge like this:

Then use the edge of the sleeve that is already hemmed and fold to make a one inch casing. I wanted the widest part of the finished ruffle about 3 1/2 inches. So after you sew the casing, fold the sleeve in half (like the picture above) and measure about 4 inches across the top and gradually cut to bottom like this:

Hem the outer edge of ruffle. Cut 3/4" elastic about 9" long and insert through casing , sewing across one edge and pull through like this:

Find the middle of the front of the dress and mark. I left a 3" opening between the sleeves so mark out 1 1/2" from middle on both sides and attach edge of sleeves. The sleeves should be sewn in between the two yolk/bodice pieces. So iron in edges of yolk about 1/4" and attach sleeve, then topstitch closed. Try it on your daughter. Make sure the sleeves are not too long so the front of the dress does not show too much chest. If the sleeves are too long- pull the elastic and cut it shorter. I ended up cutting one inch off my 9" piece of elastic. Then mark the sleeves in the same place on the back and attach to finished edge.

Now you can finish the bottom of the dress. Try it on to adjust the length. You can add a trim or a ruffle. I thought it would be cute with a knife pleat trim, but I was too lazy and just hemmed it.

Here is the finished product.

If you prefer more of a sleeve like the other dresses, it is easy to do also. You need to determine how long you want the sleeve so the bodice does not come down to low. I think my sleeves were about 8 inches (maybe longer- again, try the dress on and measure your daughter so the sleeve ends up how you want it) Fold in half and cut like this:

Then find the middle of the front of the dress and measure out 1 1/2" on both sides so you have about a 3" inch opening. Attach the sleeves 3" apart to the front of the dress with the finished edge of the sleeve at opening. You will probably need to trim the unfinished edge so it is the same length as the front of the dress you are sewing it to. Attach the sleeve to the back of the dress in the same place. Finish the outer edge. I added a little pleat so it tapered a little better around her arm like this:

Happy sewing!