halloween 2014

I'm a week late here, but I feel like I rarely take photos of my girls in their Halloween garb despite their continued cuteness.  This year, I vowed to document it.  I even made Olivia dress up in her costume JUST to take her picture...the other girls were already dressing up for another party.  

Claire and Meredith decided that they wanted to have a theme this year.  Meredith chose to be a detective (Nancy Drew), so Claire went with a robber.  

Claire put together her own costume this year.  She already had the pants, sweater (that used to be mine...gasp!!), and hat.  She made her mask out of felt and duct tape, and she made her money bag from a cheap reusable shopping bag.  So easy.  Loved that she did it herself.  

I wish Meredith could have sewed hers herself. :)  I made her detective cape from a Martha Stewart tutorial.  I've never made anything with the bias tape on the edge.  It was pretty easy to use, and I thought the edging really dressed it up.  She didn't want a hat (which probably saved me a ton of time), so I made her a quick headband to match.  She had a little magnifying glass earlier that week, but it broke, so she had to stick with just her notebook which had a photo of the robber inside. :)  

My little minion. :)  She won the creative costume award at one of our parties.  Yellow shirt and suspenders ordered from Amazon.  We took a sock hat and covered it in yellow duct tape.  With the help of Pinterest (of course!), I added goggles (Ball jar rings), pipe cleaner hair, and printed eyeballs and laminated Gru emblem.  It really was a fun little costume. :)

And my cute little chicken.  Awww.  This one probably came from a resale for less than $5. :)  I love that I can put her in anything and she's happy!  Makes things easy.  The best part of these kinds of costumes is how WARM they are!  I can't appreciate it enough for a little 3 year old on a cold Halloween night.  

{DIY doll bunkbeds}

Meredith absolutely loves playing dolls with Amelia.  They play almost daily and have an entire doll world forming back in their bedroom.  They have an entire story line that involves a queen and horses and all kinds of fun stuff.  

So, I told Josh that bunk beds for her dolls would be a great birthday gift.  I found this post on Pinterest, and I knew that my hubby could get this gift moving in the right direction.  

Needless to say, Josh won Father-of-the-Year.  

I whipped up some mattresses and pillows, and Claire sewed the blankets.  They're not completely coordinated since I just used fabric that I had on hand, but I think they turned out pretty cute!

We made them reversible so that she could have a pretty side or a fun side, and she could make them the same or different.  They were a huge hit!!

 

{celebrating meredith}

Yesterday was Meredith's 7th birthday.  It truly was a fabulous day.  Two years ago, we celebrated Meredith's birthday in the hospital.  Claire was in for one of her fever spikes.  I was so sad for Meredith that year.  Then, last year, I was sooooo sick on Meredith's birthday.  When your mom is 8 months pregnant and sick with the flu and pneumonia, it doesn't make for a very fun birthday either.  

Needless to say, I was really looking forward to Meredith's birthday this year!!  I was praying that we could just have a normal day at home to celebrate!  And, thankfully, we did just that.  

Here's my birthday girl!

Close up of the cake {thank you pinterest}.  Seriously, I think I should go to "making castle cakes" school.  This is my third variation.  I'm wondering how many more will be requested. :)

For Christmas, a friend from church generously gifted her American Girl doll, Josefina {from Mexico/New Mexico}, to us for Meredith.  Meredith was so excited on Christmas morning.  What she has wanted more than anything since getting Josefina is a "Josefina outfit".  So, I sewed her a skirt and a rebozo.  She LOVED it...that's putting it lightly.  

Blowing out the candles!  My mad decorating skills reveal the leaning towers.  This makes for a great photo op, though, as it appears Meredith is blowing so hard that the towers are being blown off the cake! Fabulous.

We ate cake with some of our good friends who have 5 girls {and 1 boy}.  Needless to say, there were a lot of girls running around our house last night!!  So much fun.

I'll end my post with my status update from facebook yesterday:

Happy 7th birthday to my Meredith Ann!  You are the emotional version of me {only magnified...which is both lovely and crazy at the same time}.  Your sweetness is almost unmatched.  And that mean-streak that we experience?  Well, I'm hoping that will continue to work it's way out.

I love your passion for this life.  You wear your heart on your sleeve.  I find the creativity in your artwork absolutely beautiful.  You truly impress me with your designs.

You have taught us about choosing our battles.  You have taught us that some children HATE socks {and that's putting it lightly}.  You are oozing with quirkiness.  Your fashion sense is lovely.  We love you oh so much and can't wait to see where you take this sweet life of yours.