Easter Outfits 2013

I made Bella and Bear outfits for this Easter too!

Bella had picked out her accessories when we went shopping one day.  She wanted to full look!  Hat, gloves, purse, and shoes with her Easter dress!!!  I had some blue fabric still left from previous projects (remember my gathering fiasco?!)  I knew it would be perfect for Easter!

I took her dress from last Easter and traced the bodice as a guide.  I wanted it to have a white waistband and tie.  I had some of this beautiful white fabric left over still (I have used it in 4 projects now!!!)  As I sewed up the final seam bodice I decided to keep it sleeveless (I wish I had decided that earlier!)

The skirt was the hardest part.  In the end it was not perfect but still very cute!!!

For Bear I got a piece of remnant fabric and a fat quarter to make him a vest.  I also used some of Bella's leftover fabric to make him a tie.  I did most of the vest on the machine but had to hand stitch the last bit as not to wake the kids or neighbors!  I also hand stitched his entire tie!  I could not find my button foot Easter morning so I "cheated" and just sewed the buttons on one side and safety pinned it underneath!!!

Bear did not want his pictures taken!!!  Still I love the pics and my kidos!!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Reading!!!

What my son is feeding me....

Here I am trying to eat right and exercise.  I had bought a bag of treats to eat occasionally as they are my FAVORITE holiday candy!  Apparently Bear does not care that I am trying to eat healthy and loose weight....he just wants mommy to eat her chocolate....

Spring? Don't think so!

Today is supposed to be Spring... yesterday looked like this at our house....

Not exactly my vision of Spring... it was quite beautiful this morning though.  I had to sit and appreciate it because (hopefully) we won't see the likes until fall or winter!!!!

This is my new favorite tool for cleaning off the car!  It is a tool we use for dusting inside but it works awesome for cleaning off the car of an SUV!!!

Last year at this time we had temperatures in the 70s!  We also had almost no snow. 

Bella thought it was Spring though and this is what she wore to her gymnastics class...

Casting Crowns Concert

God loves you

God wants you

Come to The Well

He will deliver you!

My college roommate and I went to a Casting Crowns Concert last night!  It was their new Acoustic tour.  It was a great concert.  During the concert it snowed a couple of inches but we made it home safe!  The words above are some words that spoke to me during the concert.
 

Here are some links to a few of my favorite of their songs!

Sewing Frustrations: Gathering

I had my first experience gathering when I made myself a shirt.  I was scared at first because I had no idea what I was doing. It was a very small gathered spot and it turned out fine.  Since then gathering has been a breeze.  Until this week....

I decided to make Bella a skirt out of some fabric that I had purchased and chosen not to use for a project.  It is a beautiful shiny blue fabric.  I chose to make it into a simple skirt but instead of an elastic waistband I decided to gather it into a straight band and use a button closure.

I used my largest stitch setting to make the gathering stitches and off I sewed.  As I started to pull on the thread to gather it I started to get worried.  This was going to be tough!  The fabric did not want to move on the thread.  I stuck with it but it took longer to gather the fabric then it would have to pull the stitches out and do it by hand!

I have some more projects for that fabric and I will be doing the gathers by hand!

Bella's Reading

Bella asked us to teach her to read when she was 3.5 years old.  Now at 5 years old and in Kindergarten I wanted to know how she was doing.  I found an assessment over at Let's Go Learn.  It said that she was reading on a mid-K level, has an oral vocabulary of a mid-2nd grader, her phonemic awareness is mid-1st grade, and she needs to work on spelling, fluency, and some comprehension.  It also said that he is at Guided Reading Level C.

To help with fluency we are going to work on sight words and word families.  I have the Bob Books: Sightwords - Kindergarten on its way as well as 100 Words Kids Need to Read by First Grade and Learn to Read by Starfall.  I also plan on letting her spend more time on Starfall playing games and reading books.

Bella loves the BOB Books!  We borrow them from the library a lot and I know she is going to love it when she finds out she will have her own set!!!

As for spelling we had already gotten a spelling book but we have not been focusing on it.  She has not spent much time writing things down so we are going to write a book together but I am going to have her do as much of the writing as she can on her own.

For the most part I think Bella's reading comprehension is okay.  It seems that she is not thinking while reading and that is causing her to read slowly.  We had purchased and started using Memoria Press' literature studies called Storytime Treasures.  Even thought the books are above her reading level I think it will help her process the stories more.

She is enjoying reading Little Bear and is doing well with it.  It has her practice and discuss new/hard words before she reads.  It has her do a picture walk before she reads as well.  She seems to understand and enjoy the discussion question and activities that go with it.

Most importantly I will be having her read every day.  Some days it is a struggle to motivate her but most days she is excited and willing to read!