Lyla's Photo Shoot

We think that she is into abstracts.

She makes it look so easy!

My mom is so talented. She always amazes me at her skill and patience. Whether it be sewing a purse, piecing a quilt or throwing a pot, her work always comes out looking top notch. 


She showed us how to throw a pot on her wheel in the garage when we were visiting. The kids squealed in delight to get their hands full of wet clay. It was so much harder than it looks. It might look like I was doing it on my own but mom stepped in to make it actually look like a bowl and not just a tall mound of clay!

World Wildlife Zoo

Tommy is on a quest to visit as many zoos around the country as he can so that he can write a guidebook describing their positives and negatives. I think that guidebook will be a little outdated when he gets it published but it is fun to document our numerous zoo visits.

So, when Grandma Pam said she wanted to take us to the World Wildlife Zoo just down the way from there house - Tommy was on it!

The kids had a lot of fun and in particular loved the Log Flume. I think we have some wild ones on our hands. And that's not good because I don't really like amusement park rides and Tommy isn't that interested, either!

Pitchers and Catchers Report

Hearing the news that pitchers and catchers have reported for Spring Training is wonderful news at our house. And to add icing to the cake, having weather like spring in February makes it even sweeter. We took the kids to the yard for pitching and catching practice and a few days later down to park to hit off the tee. Thanks, Cousin Jack for the T-ball bat!

Steven our ace pitcher



Lyla catching like a pro



Daddy retrieving a foul from under the car


To top it all off, Grandma came for President's Day weekend and bought new Royals outfits for the kids. Lyla got a dress and Steven got a hood-ded (we don't call them hoodie's around here and we just can't bring our selves to correct the kids because it is so cute to hear them say it).

Little Miss Sassafrass



Pure joy, Go Royals!

Snow Day

We had one snowy day in February and Tom was the only parent brave enough to take his kids to .... the zoo!

At least Nikita didn't mind the snow!

The models



Wow, didn't realize I took this one. Watch out Michael Jackson!



Upcycle: A Robe for Lyla

When  you do one for one kid, you've got to do one for the other!

Lyla's robe was constructed with the same pattern as Steven's but I had a few modifications because there was not enough material from my choosen item for upcycling. My sister Lori gave me some old clothes to upcycle at Thanksgiving, including a Hannah Andersen adult jumper made from a jersey knit. I'd never sewn that material before so I was a little nervous but it turned out to be pretty easy. I just had to really pay attention to steadily feeding the material through the machine.

The color is this photo is off, the shirt in the back is pink.

I had a few errors on this project but in the end it turned out pretty cute. I had to improvise on the hood because there wasn't enough base fabric. I tried to get enough out of it but ended up cutting out two left sides of the hood so I had to scrap it completely and go with some old shirts. The hood turned out pretty cute and I decided to make the tie out of the shirts to make it all work together. Thanks goodness I have two bins of old clothes that are eligible for upcycling, now I just need to find my next project!