Four Little Turkeys

Happy Thanksgiving from our four little turkeys!

We decided to stay here in BCS for the holiday. Since Rodney is hopping at the office, his day off yesterday wasn't really what we had planned. Add to that a sinus infection for Anna Beth, we are thankful that we stayed here. It wasn't exactly a traditional Thanksgiving (we had pizza for lunch!), but it was relaxing & stress-free. Exactly what we hoped for. We will head to Dallas over the weekend to attend Richard's forty year anniversary celebration that our former church is throwing, so we'll finish the holiday weekend with some family time.

We hope that everyone's Thanksgiving celebrations are safe, blessed & happy!

Return to Craftiness

I've taken a far too long hiatus from crafting/sewing. Creating things is something that I thoroughly enjoy. Since Vivian has finally ceased her daily/nightly hours of screaming I can now get back into my crafty mode.

I had this fun (maybe crazy) idea that I would make at least one Christmas gift for each of the girls this year. Today I was able to create & complete (GASP!) Vivian's gift. I was so pleased with the results that I have plans to make a companion item to give her as well.

Have you ever heard of Taggies? They are a double sided, super cute sensory blanket for babies. They retail for $20. I searched for an online tutorial so that I could create my own since I did not want to pay $20 for a square fleece blanket embellished with scraps of ribbon. Here is the tutorial in case you would like to make one!

It was incredibly easy & talk about inexpensive! I think it cost me all of about $3 in spare ribbons, thread & the fleece (on sale!) I purchased at Joann's. Here is my finished product... I think it is even cuter than the original Taggie blankets.

I enlisted Anna Beth & Corinne to craft with me today. It was a ton of fun to work with them. Anna Beth really got into it. We made hats for their American Girl dolls. Anna Beth is creating items for her doll that she doesn't even have yet! She will be purchasing her Kit doll this weekend in Dallas. She has been saving for it for months. Anyway, I will have to post a picture when Hannah (Corinne's doll) is awake & willing to model her hat.

Here's to happy creating!

And the winner is....

University Interscholastic League is a literary and scholastic competitive program. Anna Beth was asked to represent her school in third grade spelling. This was quite a challenge for her due to her Spanish curriculum. She is just now learning English spelling words this year and they are probably words that most regular first graders learn. Since she is such a strong reader (reading on a 7th & 8th grade level) we had faith in her ability to learn. After many weeks of practice before & after school and on weekends, she had a great time this morning at the UIL competition. Despite a low grade fever (masked by some Motrin!) the results were......

To avoid eye strain, please look for Anna Beth in the near center/right, about three "rows" back (does that make any sense at all?!) And please forgive my poor filming from today. I was juggling Vivian, Lila & the flip camera. At least Corinne was sitting on the floor watching!

Vocabulary Hat Parade

The girls' school has an annual Vocabulary Hat Parade to celebrate Halloween. This year our words were...

Anna Beth - Community
Corinne - Winter

It's a fun time for the kids (maybe less so for the parents with all of the "creating" going on), but all in all we enjoy it. It was extra special this year because Rodney surprised the girls with his attendance. He had been working in Dallas all week & was able to finish up in time to schedule his arrival at the Vocabulary Hat Parade.

Bald is beautiful

All of our babies have been bald. For what seems like forever...until they are at least two! Corinne never had any hair until she was two & a half and then boy, did it come in! Imagine our surprise when Vivian was born with hair. Lots of dark hair. We all thought that she would be our brunette baby in a house full of blondies. Things are changing.

Vivian's hair has been steadily falling out all week. I was shocked the other day when I was nursing her, I rubbed her head (one of my favorite things in the world is rubbing our babies' heads, so soft!) and I had a clump of dark, fuzzy hair wrapped around my fingers. WHAT?!?!

Her hairline has receded all the way back to the back 2/3 of her head. She looks so funny, but I know it will look normal when she finishes shedding. Here is a picture of the top of her now very bald head. I've also included a "before" photo, one from the other day before the serious shedding began. She still has the "old man ring" of hair around the back. I wonder when that will disappear? No matter what, she is a beautiful baby to us!