My old picture link is back on my bloggy post page!  My Mom sent me this old picture tonight, don't you just love it?  These two are just too precious for words.

Hey, I can't add any pictures!  What happened?  The only options for adding pictures to my blog is to choose existing pictures on my blog, from the web, or from Picasa.  I always add them straight from my PC.  Since that's no option, I guess this will be a picture-less post (boring, I know).  I hope I won't have to break down and use Picasa, as I hate it.

In children news, there have been no self given haircuts in close to a year!  What a milestone.

Nate played The Entertainer at the Jr. High talent show this week.  He didn't win, but he did get in front of hundreds of people and played - quite an accomplishment.  He also won the outstanding trombone player out of all of the 6th grade band tonight at the Spring concert.

Matt has been bit by the reading bug.  He's currently reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Paperback Boxed Set (Books 1-3) series.  In 5th grade, they are supposed to read a book and take an AR test on it to test comprehension.  The goal is for every student to have 20 AR points a quarter.  Matt has 65 so far for this 9 weeks at the halfway point!  I also am AMAZED that this boy has found not one but TWO lost hamsters.  When I say lost, I mean they were out roaming the room for over 24 hours and he found them!!

The Collingsworth Family came to our church a couple of weeks ago.  They were an amazing musical family.  One of the daughters played the violin; which inspired Chuck to work even harder at his playing.  He is part of a strings group through school and now he is adding private lessons once a week.  He has been so excited - he met his teacher for the first time yesterday and was even happier when he saw how cute she is!

The other three are there usual crazy selves.  What more can I say?  They are the ones who keep the dog fed, feel the water bowl up, dump it out, feel it up, dump it out, etc. 

I love them all.

Azaleas

My younger three are all one year apart, so this Spring they are 6, 5, and 4.  Today, they had fun decorating a lawn chair with Azalea blooms.  Isn't it beautiful?

Of course, they thought it was a perfectplace to take some pictures; and I think they were right.

To give you an idea of how huge the Azalea bush in our front yard is, I zoomed out.  It's really 2 bushes next to each other - on the other side the blooms are white.  It's beautiful; but since we haven't trimmed it in a few years, it has gotten a bit scraggly.  Is that a word?

I have so many more pictures; but I thought I'd spare you in this post.  Stayed tuned tomorrow.

Easter

Wow, what a busy week I had.  The girls had picked out their own fabric for me to make them Easter dresses.  My week was so crazy that I didn't even start cutting out and sewing until Friday afternoon.  Of course, I picked out some crazy patterns and was completely overwhelmed.  I think they turned out great, though.  Both of these patterns came from the book to the left, Sewing Clothes Kids Love.  Being true to herself, Anna picked out some wild Amy Butler fabric that we bought from Glenna.  Molly was a little more reserved and picked a nice paisley from Hobby Lobby.  I really thought it wouldn't make a pretty dress, but once made up, I love it!

Here's the skinny on the dresses.  For the pink one, I used the Manhattan Special Occasion Dress pattern.  Let me tell you, it was a doozy.  The skirt part alone is 16 pieces; and there are just as many on the bodice.  I think it would look pretty cool with different color materials to show off the design.  The instructions were slightly unclear in some sections; mainly because the pattern pieces aren't marked well.  Well, the name of each piece is marked well; just not which direction it should go. It is fully lined, so it can be reversible; although I didnt put any loops on the lining so you can cinch it up in the back the other way.  It is way too loose without the ribbon in the back.  This pattern also runs big.  I made Molly the size 3T/4T and she usually wears a 5.

Anna's dress is made with the Feliz Party Dress pattern.  This dress ended up being heavy by the time I added all the ruffles in the back, but she loves it and wants to wear it everywhere.  She is begging to go to Disney to meet Alice in this dress.  She picked a blue fabric since that is what Alice wears, you know, and she thinks Alice would love this dress.  I want to make this dress again, but leave the overdress part off and I think it would be cuter.