Pumpkin Patch

I love this time of year.  I took the kids to the pumpkin patch and we had a lot of fun.  I also got to go out to lunch with Jessi...JUST ADULTS! It was awesome :)  We talked until our heads were about to fall off and best of all, her work is really close to our new house.  

Karate

Jackson started karate yesterday.  This is his first extracurricular activity.  We waited as long as we could b/c we just wanted him to be ready for it.  He had gotten leaps and bounds better about being shy and has really improved on his behavior in the last year.  His teacher at school said they highly recommend karate and I see why now.  His first class was amazing.  All they talk about is respect, listening and following instructions, and doing the right thing.  It was a parents dream.  He did ok, he did kick when he was supposed to be punching and kicked the instructor right in the "family jewels", but luckily he doesn't kick too hard ;)  

Onesie dress and t-shirt dress

One of my best friends Nicole is having another baby girl and asked me to make her a dress like my friend Jessi made for me when I had Bailey ( http://jackson-ballard.blogspot.com/2010/09/bachelorette-parties-gt-football-and.html) . I can't believe I have never tried to make it and I even had the instructions pinned on pinterest (http://barefootinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/11/dress-for-coco.html).  So I took on the challenge and was so excited with how it turned out!  Luckily I had kept Bailey's dresses that Jessi made for her and could even have something use as a model :)  I was so happy with how they turned out!  I even went further and thought, hmmmm...I could make this for Bailey but instead of a onesie, use a t-shirt.  

**My only tip I will add that the lady doing the tutorial did not is that when making the flower, it is easiest to start with the smallest petal and then make them bigger and bigger holding each one and cutting around the next.  I hope that makes sense ;) Also, I used Frey Check all around the edges of each pedal to keep it from freying. It seemed to work great.  I love Frey Check, it is awesome.  I use it around button holes I make too.  It seems to really work. **

 Well, the t-shirt was a success too!! I used the same instructions and math and it turned out great!!!  So excited.  Instead of measuring the length of the onesie, I measured the length of a dress that had the length I was trying to achieve.  Most importantly, Bailey LOOOOVES it and didn't want to take it off :)  Whew!  

Re-purposing Bubbles for girls

I am SO EXCITED about this!!! I was looking though Bailey's closet and was just so sad that there was really nothing I could do with this bubble.  She actually hardly wore it this summer b/c she was potty trained and it was too much of a hassle.  Well all the sudden it just HIT ME!  I could make this into a tunic!!!  It took me all of literally 10 minutes!  

Here is what it looked like before...

 And here it is after...(ignore my non-cooperative model and ignore her pants...I didn't even attempt to change them!! LOL).  

 All I did was cut out the elastic and all the way around the bubble as close to the elastic as possible, serge the edge (if you don't have a serger you can just double fold the raw edge) and then hemmed it!  It was that easy!! So excited!!! I think I actually like it like this better!  Or if you have one that is WAY too big for your little one and already monogrammed...make it into a dress!!!  So fun!

Birthday Party

The kids had another great birthday.  Jackson begged for a bounce house and man was it worth every penny.  He spent the better part of 8 hours out there jumping in it.  Unfortunately their favorite (and only!) cousins couldn't be there b/c they were sick, but thankfully he had a blast with the only 3 friends that could come.  I didn't invite anyone from their classes b/c we don't know anyone that well.  Plus, it would just get way too big with having them both together :)  At one point all the adults (which we had a LOT of) were on the deck and Jackson said, "wow, I sure do have a lotta adult friends" lol. He is so funny!  We have a lot to celebrate, we have been very blessed this year.  Love this time of year.  Kids birthdays and our anniversary is right around the corner too :)

 Our very dear friends and old neighbors came over to see us on Sunday.  We just love seeing and spending time with them.

Payton and Kessler taught Bailey a new trick...hahaha

Bailey is 3!!!!

Bailey is 3!  We had a great time today.  I let Jackson play hooky (even though he seriously begged me to go to school today, really...he just loves it!) and I took the kids to the Zoo.  It was a beautiful day and it wasn't crowed at all.  We got to see some really awesome stuff too.



Of course, they are both obsessed with the map.  Especially Jackson.  And he does really well with it and takes it pretty seriously ;)

The gorillas were so amazing.  They all had little babies and it was just so beautiful to watch.


How cool was THIS!?!?!  The tiger just walked right up to us!!! It was scary even with the super thick glass!  It is such a beautiful animal though.

Bailey was telling the tigers where they were on the map ;)

The Cumming Fair

We went to the Cumming Fair yesterday and had a great time!  Grandma even came with us.  Me and Grandma took Bailey on all the "little" rides and John took Jackson on some super fun big kid rides.  We were all exhausted by the end!  And I do have to say, as far as fairs go...this was the best one I have ever been to.  It was clean, the crowd was good, and the rides were pretty awesome :)  I only brought my iphone and didn't take to many pics, but here is what I had...