close up of the quilt

This fabric was the inspiration for the girls room. I love their quilts. I still need to put the binding on. I feel like it's just been crazy busy, but it's on the list of things to do.

I made the quilt tops and had a friend, who has an awesome quilting machine, quilt the top for mw. She did a great job!

Aleah's party in action

I asked Matthew to be in charge of games and he was very happy to do it.

He pretty much ran the party. I would much rather be the behind scenes and he's good at running the show. It works out perfect.

the first game was musical pillows

then a mummy wrap game

Of course, the traditional Pin the tail on the donkey

then we did lunch and a pinata, which there are no pics of

present opening,

and some birthday cake

traditionally you do cake first, before presents, but we were losing them

There was a little extra time and we already did everything that was planned, so Matthew, with the help of a friend, found a few more games to play. Still there was more time so Matthew did basketball drills with the kids. He said they liked it.

Well, it was a good time. Aleah enjoyed it and we had fun doing it for her.

Birthday parties can be a lot of work. Good thing we've only decided to do parties for #5, #8, and #16 birthdays.

Aleah's 5th birthday! (the decor)

the banner

the dessert, candy, drinks and inside decor
the cupcakes

the treat bags

the drinks

the deck, where the kids ate lunch (thanks Christensens)



I don't have a good pic of the cake. Shannon took all the the good pics, so I didn't bother. I just forgot to download those from her camera. Oops!

quick dresses

For my dad's wedding, he wanted each family to wear Aloha print that was the same color. So I picked this blue because I already had a dress that I didn't look too big in. We found Matthew a shirt to match and then I bought some light-weight fabric for the girls' dresses. I made a simple spaghetti strap dress that just slipped over their heads and added some hibiscus flowers with fabric paint. Here's a quick pic. I guess I don't have a better picture of the dresses or the whole family together. But the girls looked cute!

I made some dresses for my nieces that would match her family's color too. They turned out pretty cute. (Dacia you'll have to send me a few pics so that I can post those.)

My favorite thing about doing projects like this, is that they go very fast and they're cheap. I paid about $8 for the fabric for my girls' dresses, which I still have a yard left over. And for my sister's girls, it was $6.50, again with fabric left over.

girls' room

When we moved, the girls' room was our first priority. It was a bold royal blue, that was not fun to paint! We redid the baseboard to match the crown molding and we still have to replace the door and the frame around the door. I bought bunk beds, made the quilts, and made the bean bags for their little reading corner. There's still some things to be hung, like hooks behind the door, some vinyl above each bed and the girls' silhouettes in the oval frames.

I'm going to make little stuffed animals for the shelves and decorative pillows for the beds with the same fabric as the bean bags and quilts.

But for now, this is all that's done.

Here are a few pics.

as you open the door



reading corner

bean bags




the beds and quilt tops

the sheer curtains which make it so light and breezy



we took off the closet doors and hung white curtains with sheer curtains over it to match the nice breezy feel, but also covers the clothes in the closet

the wall that the door is on.

The girls' room is my favorite place in the house. It's so peaceful, light and airy. I feel like a breeze blows through every time I walk in there.

Aleah's dance recital

Rainbow connection

Hey Good Looking

Aleah had a great time in dance this year. We are so proud of her and she is so beautiful! We love this girl!!

Not a fan of LaUnDry

I am not very good at doing laundry, and it gets worse when I'm pregnant. I don't mind washing or folding, it's the putting away that I'm no good at. Anyway, this is me trying to organize our laundry during our move. Miserable! There's about a million loads.

No, really, I'm grateful for all the clothing we have. We are spoiled!