This is the June Catch-Up Post

And a couple from May 31 that I missed in that post.  And I'm skipping family camp, to come back to it later, because I have around 700 pictures from family camp.  And I'm not exaggerating!

Anyway.  I don't usually buy satiny, frilly dresses for Grace.  I'm not sure why...I guess I just prefer cotton!  But, this one that she had been eying went on clearance, so I surprised her with it, and she was thrilled.  She has worn it so much, and gotten so much pleasure out of it, maybe I should change my ways.  I think I said the same thing about her Christmas dress, but I still haven't learned my lesson.  These pics are from May 31.  

Now, on to the June pictures...almost completely unedited.

Grace is becoming quite the colorer and often asks for complicated pictures to color.

I love the sweet moments when they paint together.

Benjamin was so proud of this drawing of a jellyfish.  He said the body was the shape of an igloo.

Sleeping with her monkey

He wears his Keens almost exclusively, which makes for some funky tan lines. 

Pretty much the most exciting, most anticipated week of our whole summer was family camp.  And this year was more exciting than ever because Anna, Brian, Sam, Katherine, Malaka, and Alexa were road-tripping out here to join us for camp.  We could hardly believe it and had been talking about it for what seemed forever.  It's hard to explain how much time and energy we spent getting excited for their arrival.  Before they came, the kids cleaned their rooms and put some of their own personal touches on them as well so that they would be ready to welcome - and sleep - four extra people.  Can you believe that we had seven not-so-little kids sleeping in these two bedrooms?  Anyway, here are their rooms.  Kids' rooms change so quickly as they grow - and they have, even since these photos were taken.  They're fun to look at.  And they don't show the confetti that Jonathan made and put up on his ceiling fan, along with a sign giving the guest a choice of whether to be confettied.  He wanted to booby trap his room, but I didn't allow it.

Right here...this is where we went to family camp with our dear friends.  That story will be on a different post.  Between all four of us adults, we took more than 700 pictures.  I will not share all 700+...but it will still be quite a post!

The kids never tire of playing with their daddy.

But HE gets tired sometimes...

and, so does she.

Having a close-in-age sister means having someone to sculpt your hair.

More playing in the pool!

Our yard is not very big, so you wouldn't think there would be much of an opportunity for exploring nature, but the kids have found plenty of space to explore in this little flower bed.  The roly-polies are thriving here, and the kids like to catch and watch them.

The end of June means the end of blueberry picking season, so the kids and I went out for one last picking session first thing in the morning before it got too hot.

We were pretty ambitious, but we soon found that the berries were not as large as plentiful as our visit in May (which I didn't blog about.)  Still, we had fun hunting for them - there still plenty to be found.

In June, the kids took swimming lessons - all at the same, time, and no parent participation this year.  We skipped last year, so we were definitely ready to try again this year.  I was so proud of the kids - they all did so well listening to their teachers, trying to do what the teachers asked, and even jumping off of the big diving board.  That hasn't always been true, so it was wonderful to watch.  Although, when I scheduled their lessons to be late in the afternoon so I wouldn't have to sunscreen them daily, I forgot how miserably hot it would be for me to watch them!

I'll tell how their lessons ended in my July catch-up post.

I was late in getting birthday gifts to my sweet, faraway twin nieces, but I did get to do a little sewing for them:  Some Frozen pillow cases for Brianna,

and some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pillow cases for Hailey.

At the end of June, I sprung for some of those gel-cling-window-sticker things from the Target Dollar spot.  They provided quite a bit of entertainment for the kids!

The Dresses I Made from Dad's Shirts

When Dad passed away, he left behind an extensive collection of clothes.  Way back then, I decided that I wanted to do something with a few of the shirts to make dresses for his granddaughters, who were aged newborn to toddler at the time.  I thought and thought and pinned and pinned...and I knew that the right idea for those shirts would come to me, sooner or later.  I have lots of ideas on my Pinterest board about what to do with a man's dress shirt, but none of them was quite right...until I realized I could use Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom's Peasant Dress & Tutorial.  I had made three of them before, so I knew the dress was quick, easy, and cute!  If you're here from Pinterest, welcome...and all the credit goes to Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom!

These shirts of my dad's were size 14 1/2 to size 15 1/2, so the sleeve piece had to be squeezed in a bit on some of them.  Otherwise, though, it was very easy to cut the body of the dress from the body of the shirt, and cut the dress sleeves from the shirt sleeves.  If you wanted to make a dress out of a larger shirt, you could probably make a long-sleeved dress, too.

This is the first one I made - the test.  I used some scraps from fat quarters that I used on these dresses for Grace and her younger twin cousins, so this dress was almost free - I just bought some matching bias tape to make the casing for the elastic on the sleeves.  (One thing I enjoyed on this pattern was making the casing out of contrasting bias tape and ribbon.  I was pretty happy with how it looked, but  I made some mistakes in its construction - nothing anyone can see, probably, but things I changed in the next dresses.

After my test dress, I got to work making the others.  The top dress stayed with us, and these next two dresses went to Charlotte.

Each time I made one, Grace decided that it was her favorite and that she wanted to keep it.

For this dress, the ribbon that made the casing on the sleeves was an exact match with the fabric I used for the little ruffle.

 This next dress stayed with us, too.  I should mention that when my dad was buying his shirts, different colors were being manufactured than are in stores now.  I had a terrible time finding anything to match with these peach stripes!  Have you noticed there's nothing peachy out there right now?  Not even ribbon.  There is a green shirt that you don't see here because I couldn't find anything anywhere to match it.  I had originally planned for the green dress to go to Charlotte.  Anyway, it was a stretch, but I found something that worked for the bottom contrast panel, and I was able to use a scrap from those same fat quarter dresses for the ruffle.

These next four dresses went to Mary Ann and Darcy.  By the time I made them, I had made a few more minor changes to the way I made the dresses, and they were turning out much better than the first ones.  (Sorry, Charlotte and Grace!)

Grace liked how the silver bias tape matched the silver dots in the fabric.

I used ribbon for the casing on the sleeves and the stripe at the bottom of this dress.

These two yellow ones ended up being my favorites.  I loved adding rick rack to the bottom of each of them.  Each one was a bit different, but they still went together.

It was such a long process for me to find an idea that I loved for my dad's shirts that I decided to pin my post in hopes that it helps someone else.  I hope that making his shirts into dresses will give all four girls a sweet and happy way to remember him.  And they are pretty cute, if I do say so myself.  Thanks again, Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom, for sharing your idea.  I have used it a LOT!  And, and edit:  Here are a some pics of how the dresses look on her.

And...

Well, I accidentally took a big break from the blog, and I caught up on May in the post below.  I also put up the wish list ideas for those who ask. Remember, though, small and modest gifts are great at our house...as are quality time and special experiences!  :)

A Huge Catch-Up Post from May

Not necessarily in order...here are some parts of May worth remembering.

My sweet family spoiled me.  In addition to the Jamberry Mother's Day box, they spoiled me with breakfast in bed and some handmade goodies, too.  They are at the age of making cute stuff for Mother's Day, and I'm soaking it in while it lasts.  Here we are on Mother's Day morning, with me in all my just-woke-up glory.

Edited to mention:  Yes, I ate my breakfast from a tray that was actually a Lego baseplate.  Breakfast included syrup in a Christmas ramekin as well as a marshmallow.  Jonathan made an origami model of me eating breakfast in bed.  Benjamin is holding the card he made, and Grace is making a heart with her arms, which is the sign for "I love you" that we make to say it to each other without words.

Jonathan made this at church.  I'm so glad to know that I make good oatmeal.

Grace made this in kindergarten.  Somehow I didn't get a photo of the contents, but as you can see through the tissue paper, it has a footprint and handprints, and says that she loves me from the bottom of her heart to the tips of her toes.

Jonathan made this at school, apparently against his wishes.  He said that he was forced to, and it didn't rhyme, and that bothered him.  If I didn't know his quirky personality as well as I do, I would have been offended, but since I know his well, I was just amused.

Benjamin made this at church.

 

And made this at home.  I love how he always draws happy faces.

I led him through the sounding-out process of reading this sign, and he was able to figure out what it said, so we took a picture of it.  He was so tickled that he figured it out, and so was I.  He is nowhere near reading on his own, and I feel a little guilty about that, but we will work on it.

In late May, we enjoyed a visit from Cheryl.  Normally I would take the time to crop and enhance all these photos, but since I am so behind on the blog, I'm just going to post them all in their unedited condition.  We enjoyed a visit to the best aquarium anywhere (in our humble opinion!) with Cheryl.

I don't know who this little boy is.  Benjamin makes friends everywhere.

And Jonathan makes origami everywhere.  This is an otter in a bucket.

Grace could have stayed here touching everything for the whole day.  We only moved on because the rest of the crew wanted to.

We took a picture of our reflection.  Too bad we weren't the only ones in the picture!

After we were finished with our fun time at the aquarium, Cheryl took the kids home and we stayed by the coast for a couple of nights.  It was so wonderful to be on our own for a bit.  With as much as Jeff travels, it's extra special to have that time with him.  He splurged and scheduled a whale watching excursion on a sailboat for us.  It was fun and terrifying for the first 30 minutes.

After the beginning of the sail, I got seasick (yes, I took Dramamine) and spent the rest of the time concentrating on not vomiting and praying that I wouldn't vomit.  Sorry...it's the truth.  It was a beautiful and memorable excursion, and my prayers and efforts were rewarded with not throwing up.

In happier news, we enjoyed some beautiful meals.  This one had a gorgeous view, yummy food, and uppity waiters.  I do love eggs Benedict, but Jeff's mom's version is even better than the restaurant fare.

It's always a treat to be reminded that we still enjoy each other's company and have plenty to talk about - more than ever, actually - and that marriage does get better with time!

In mid-May, my dear friend Anna said goodbye to her wonderful mom, for now, as she finished her battle with cancer and went to heaven.  Thanks to Jeff's frequent travel, he had miles to share with me and I was able to fly to visit Anna and Cherissa and their families and go to Anna's mom's funeral.  It was a gift to have this weekend with them - we laughed hard and cried hard - it was a weekend packed full of time together.

I didn't get as much plane reading or napping done as I hoped because I sat next to a very talkative person on the way out there, but I did get to re-read one of my old favorites.  Read this one and The Golden Road - they're a great pair.

I was so thankful for some time with Cherissa and Lucas and their sweet crew - they were so gracious to host me and cart me around - and I was thankful to be there for Anna and her family.  I hadn't seen her kids in a long time, so I loved spending just a bit of time with each of them so that when we got together in June (more on that later,) I wouldn't be a stranger to them, but would be the Aunt Amy that they recognized.

Cherissa and Anna and I were able to spend some special time together frequenting old haunts and making some new ones - and talking over deep and not-so-deep topics - and shedding some tears - and laughing lots and lots.

Anna's mom was a gem.  We all miss her, truly.  Her service honored her a little and God a lot.

I am truly thankful for this friendship that has spanned more than 20 years.

Again, thanks to Jeff's travel, I had plenty of leg room on my flights.

I saw some beautiful sights on my flight home.

While I was gone, our church had an all-church, all-weekend campout.  We had all planned to go, but I didn't go, obviously.  Jeff still wanted to go, and I thought he should skip out, but the compromise was that he went for one night.

If you are squeamish about teeth pictures - first of all, you probably aren't still following this blog, and second of all, you probably won't be surprised to know that I am about to share another Tooth Incident - number seven among the three kids.

Consider yourself warned.

On the campout, the kids brought their bikes, and even though the younger kids had never ridden on gravel before, Jeff set them loose and they were off without fear...and Grace crashed almost immediately.  On her front teeth.

There was a kind nurse there who looked at her teeth, and he told Jeff that she could take some Tylenol and then she'd be fine.  I hear from friends that Grace kept asking for it for the rest of the campout - not because she was in pain but because she did not remember ever ingesting the stuff before, and it's sweet...

Anyway, here are her teeth - the way they looked on Monday morning when I first saw them.  This happened Saturday, but I didn't see them until Monday morning.  Since this was not our first Tooth Incident, I took one look at them and called the dentist and the chiropractor.  We visited them both that Monday morning - I can't remember where we went first.

The dentist took x-rays and found that she did, indeed crack those front teeth a bit, AND they were pushed back a bit, AND she gave them a 7/10 chance of needing to be pulled.  She'd check them in six weeks.

When we went to the chiropractor, he checked her alignment, and yes, one leg was WAY longer than the other.  That fall from her bike whacked more than her teeth.

He did a gentle adjustment, and...

Ta-daaaaa!  All fixed.

 And, all smiles, she snuggled in and rested for a couple of minutes.

Since this is a catch-up post, I can report on the final results of the tooth fall and tell you that the teeth will not have to be pulled unless we notice any changes for the worse before they come out on their own.  The dentist thought they looked better.  And since Grace has yet to lose any teeth at all, I'm especially thankful they would stay in.

AND, I should mention that Jeff did a great job with the kids while I was gone.  He is much more adventurous than I am and has a much higher tolerance for chaos than I do...and the kids love that about him. They had a great time, and I never worry while I am gone.  Although I am thankful they still have all their teeth!

Yes, they love him.

And love to read with him.

Near the end of May while Cheryl was here, we were able to help my Grandma celebrate her 86th birthday.  Benjamin, Cheryl, and I went to breakfast with her - we didn't go to her house because her living room and dining room were being painted!  I'm thankful we had a nice visit and nice breakfast with her!

 And, right after school ended, Grace glued these flip-flops that she colored at the gym onto a big piece of paper and made us a Happy Summer! sign!  was - and am - truly happy that we get a summer break.  I love having the kids home.

Happy summer - thanks for your patience as I have totally neglected the blog - and thanks for excusing any errors I made, as I haven't gone back to correct my work!