I got nice surprise when my niece asked if I would take her senior pictures while they were visiting this past weekend. Of course, I was up for the task, and Mike and I immediately discussed where to take her for the shots. Obviously, I had to take her downtown after the fun pictures I got of the girls down there, and how could we not include beautiful Lake Michigan? K is a gorgeous girl, so I didn’t have to do much to get some wonderful pictures of her. I really hope she and her mom are as pleased with the results as I am. You can view all the images in a slideshow here: kayla’s senior picture slideshow.

Annie and Mimi are as different as night and day. Oh sure, they are both girly, love to wear dresses/skirts, and just bathe in femininity. However, their personalities couldn’t be more contrasting. Annie loves people and is very outgoing. She will go up to any stranger to ask a question (for instance, at the bowling alley yesterday she had no problem going up to the front desk by herself to say we somehow forgot to add a player and could they add one). Mimi would curl up into a ball in the corner if asked her to talk to a stranger. And I really don’t think Mimi likes people all that much because she sure can be quite the bully at times. Annie seeks higher learning by constantly asking questions about things or will read whatever she can get her hands on. On the other hand, Mimi is perfectly happy using whatever knowledge she acquired by just existing. I could go on for days about their differences, but this brings me to the point of this post. Annie does not get attached to things whether tangible or abstract. She’s always moving on to the next best thing and rarely takes a second look at what she used to like or love the past moment. Oh, how Mimi is the exact opposite in this regard. To say she gets attached to things is an understatement. She practically obsesses. When she was a mere wee one she loved baby dolls. You would never catch her without a dolly locked under her arm. Eventually she grew to adore other lovies such as Franklin, Baby Jaguar, Pink Bunny, Toto, and many more and will most times take a lovey with her where ever we go and/or to bed at night. You may also notice in many of her pictures she’s got on a headband. That’s pure Mimi. I will fix her hair into the cutest styles, but she always prefers to have on one of her handy dandy headbands. For the past few months, another obsession of hers has been a different set of accessories. The blue socks. The blue socks rarely leave her feet and are usually worn with the black shoes. Forget that it’s nearing a 100 degrees here today because the blue socks apparently provide much needed comfort to a little girl named Mimi.

Note to all readers of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series: Can you see a similarity between the title of this post and the title of one of the books?

The girls don’t have nearly enough to wear especially in the dress department, so I was compelled to make them more (tongue is firmly planted in cheek here). Once again the Matilda Jane knot dresses have been the inspiration for me to make these dresses. I was very surprised at how easy they were to put together and cut out which is always the lengthiest part of the project. Many experienced sewists may gasp at this statement, but I used the rotary cutter for the entire cutting out of the pattern pieces. However, the front and back yokes were the only non-rectangular parts of the garment, and there was only one curve to those as well. My new serger also made the project much more streamlined and easier to proceed through the project (thanks, Mike, for my early birthday present). The girls were very excited to try on their new dresses and got to wear them to church today. I already have another project lined up to make for them, but I don’t know if I’ll have time this week to get them finished due to our upcoming trip to MN. Make sure to check out the gathered pockets I also added to each dress (the 3rd picture shows the detail).

I don’t know if it’s the nicer weather or what, but I have been full of enough energy and inspiration lately to dust off the sewing machine and get some projects going again. The ruffly leggings are really a new favorite of mine, so I made some more. This time the fabric choice made the leggings look a bit clownish. Ok, they are very clownish, but I think cute, little girls can pull off such a look. I had to laugh when I thought about myself or any other adult dare trying to wear such an ensemble and immediately thought of the Brady Brunch.

The girls had a lot of fun trying them out.

This winter has been overwhelming with so many unplanned events, so I have had to put off the numerous sewing projects I’ve wished to do for so long. I do have a couple of jackets that are partly done, but I got intimidated and have put them on the back burner. As a way to make myself feel better, I decided to pick a quick and easy project to make. The Matilda Jane clothing that I’ve purchased in the past for the girls has such a fun style but also seems to quite simple to reproduce. Those clothes are too expensive to completely wardrobe my daughters with, so I thought I’d try to make a few items for them for a much cheaper price. I actually did make some MJ-inspired dresses for Annie and Mimi last fall, but I failed in my duties to photograph them for the blog. The next time they wear them I do promise to capture it on digital film.

In the meantime, I did complete another project for the girls. I made them ruffly leggings (again influenced by MJ designs). The leggings ended up being fairly simple to make after I overcame a few sewing-with-knits-for-the-first-time headaches. Unfortunately, the consumer fabric world doesn’t make many cute, knit fabrics suitable for leggings available to the general public. I had to settle from little selection, but the girls were still thrilled. At least Annie was; Mimi is a whole different story. She is apparently anti-leggings and is currently in talks to spearhead the “Coalition Against Leggings” (otherwise known as CAL).

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Banana.

Banana who?

Banana!

Banana who?!

Orange.

…Orange who?

Orange you glad I didn’t say banana???

Remember that one. I personally like the dumber and more obvious version with the punch line, “Orange you glad it’s ME!” When I was looking for a shortcut to just copy and paste the joke I also came across this after the punch line was revealed…HA:

. . . . . . . .. . . . . .,.-�. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .�-.,
. . . . .. . . . . . ..,/. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . �:,
. . . . . . . .. .,?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\,
. . . . . . . . . /. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,}
. . . . . . . . ./. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,:`^`.}
. . . . . . . ./. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,:�. . . ./
. . . . . . .?. . . __. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :`. . . ./
. . . . . . . /__.(. . .�~-,_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,:`. . . .. ./
. . . . . . /(_. . �~,_. . . ..�~,_. . . . . . . . . .,:`. . . . _/
. . . .. .{.._$;_. . .�=,_. . . .�-,_. . . ,.-~-,}, .~�; /. .. .}
. . .. . .((. . .*~_. . . .�=-._. . .�;,,./`. . /� . . . ./. .. ../
. . . .. . .\`~,. . ..�~.,. . . . . . . . . ..`. . .}. . . . . . ../
. . . . . .(. ..`=-,,. . . .`. . . . . . . . . . . ..(. . . ;_,,-�
. . . . . ../.`~,. . ..`-.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..\. . /\
. . . . . . \`~.*-,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..|,./…..\,__
,,_. . . . . }.>-._\. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .|. . . . . . ..`=~-,
. .. `=~-,_\_. . . `\,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\
. . . . . . . . . .`=~-,,.\,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . `:,, . . . . . . . . . . . . . `\. . . . . . ..__
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .`=-,. . . . . . . . . .,%`>–==“
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _\. . . . . ._,-%. . . ..`\.

Anyway, the reason I’ve got oranges (not bananas) on the mind is because I finally completed one of Annie’s requests. Thanks to Grandma Florida Annie now has an American Girl magazine subscription. Each issue features a fun and/or cute recipe to try. The past issue featured jello oranges, and Annie has been itching to try it out ever since. Mike was the good parent and finally purchased oranges, and I surprised Annie this afternoon with the completed task. I must say it was pretty easy to do and is quite a crowd pleaser. The girls were very excited to eat their “oranges” tonight with dinner.

I will spare you any pictures in this post because I’m sure you can figure out from the title that it wouldn’t be pretty. As is apparently custom in this household Booger Barnes made his biweekly visit again. Yes, that means that the girls are sick again. I’ve since lost count how many times my kids have been sick this school year. I’m almost embarrassed to mention it anymore because people are probably starting to think that I suffer from Munchausen’s syndrome. I really don’t, and I REALLY DON’T want my kids to be sick constantly or to gain attention from all the illness we deal with in this house.

I don’t think that I mentioned before that Grandma Minnesota stayed with the girls while we were in San Diego (thank you, oh so much!). Booger Barnes thought it would be a nice treat for Grandma if he visited Annie. He made the visit extra special by not only filling her with mucous but also afflicting her with pneumonia. Grandma was sure busy dealing with all of Booger Barnes’ presents during her whole time here. Booger Barnes didn’t let us off easy though because Violet got her fair share of goodies during our vacation in San Diego.

Not long after Grandma went back to Minnesota Booger Barnes almost forgot to leave presents for Mimi and came back and gave her a grand soiree of mucous and hacking coughs. He really wanted Mimi to feel especially important by sticking by her side for over 2 weeks which resulted in a doctor’s visit chock full of a breathing treatment, x-ray and a diagnosis of bronchitis.

Booger Barnes wasn’t done yet as he thought Violet didn’t get enough gifts while in San Diego, so he has given her a bonus amount of mucous this go around. Oh, how we love Booger Barnes.

P.S. I’ll give you a prize if you can guess the Booger Barnes reference.

Alright, I won’t leave you without any pictures. Vi is SO close to crawling. C’mon, girl!

I love my ViVi! It’s not possible that she’s already 8 1/2 months old. Sniff, sniff; her baby time is slipping away much too quickly. I had her in the crib the other day playing while I was sewing (or attempting to, anyway), and I looked over to find Violet nearly standing with assistance from the railing. She’s very close to crawling but is a pro at sitting up and moving herself all over the place via her belly and backwards pushing.

Those eyes could melt anyone’s heart. She is destined to bring about world peace with just a stare.

That tongue! Mike and I have attempted some of her tongue tricks and are left tongue twisted.

Vi has shown a little shyness lately. Mimi did, too, and it tricked everyone into thinking she was this sweet and timid little girl. Boy, did she fool everyone. I wonder if Vi pulling the same wool over everyone’s eyes.

At last! The weather is making a turn for the better. Today is absolutely gorgeous, and we plan to take full advantage of it. The girls insisted on wearing shorts to school today. I made a deal with them that they had to wear long sleeve shirts in order to wear shorts. It was a deal. We venture up to MN for the Easter weekend and really hope to get similar weather up there. Fingers crossed.

Vi is vigorously vivacious to experience her first spring and Easter.

Violet has been certified to be a half-year-old baby and is on track for her milestones and size. At her doctor’s appointment last week she weighed in at 16 pounds, 4 ounces and was 26 3/4 inches long both of which chart at around the 50-60th percentile. Violet’s favorite mode of transportation these days is rolling over from one end of the room to the other and can do so with much swiftness. It occurred to me that I’ve been neglectful with the camera lately, so Vi and I did a quick photo shoot while the big girls played outside. It had to be quick because Vi got pretty fussy and wanted to feed and nap shortly after. Please note that the mustache is coming in nicely (this is what Mike refers to Vi’s strange cowlick in front).

Vi isn’t quite able to sit up on her own, but I was able to get a couple of shots of her sitting up before she toppled over. Why do all my babies roll over and almost crawl before they could sit up whereas it seems other babies sit up before they even roll over?!?

Violet loves getting put down on the floor so she can roll over and can really pull herself up high during tummy time.

This face was a first, and I’m glad I captured it. Too funny!

And had to include a smile. I don’t know if you can tell in the picture, but Vi has a way with her tongue. That baby can curl it in the strangest ways like I’ve never seen anyone do. Do I see a future talent (her daddy would be proud)?