Socks & Ladybugs

Two more pages down for Sage's quiet book that I am working on.  I am finding that Corban is especially interested in this project so I might make a few pages for him.  The great thing about using a grommet system is that the book can change and adapt with the child.  I still haven't made the cover that will hold the pages but I'm thinking I might need more than one so there isn't any fighting.  There are some patterns that have games like tic-tac-toe and even ones that teach fractions and other math skills that might be appropriate for Corban or Dakota.

I finished the Sock Matching Page that I was working on last post.  We've already lost a sock but thankfully found it with a little couch cushion searching.  Something tells me they are not going to survive too long, which only seems appropriate since you can never find all of your socks after a load of laundry.  I accidentally put the grommets on the wrong sides of the pages but I don't think it matters (the dryer should have been on the left).

The next page was super quick and easy.  I adapted it from this Counting Page but I couldn't find the same beads at my Joanns.  Ok, now that I reread her post she said they were in the kid crafting area.  Whoops, never looked there.  They probably would have worked better than these buttons because mine sort of flip around.  Oh well.  Since I bought ladybugs and flowers I tried to make the numbers look like sticks and then added some leaves and ants to the party.

  

That's all I've got for today.  I'm currently working on a page for her to learn to spell her name and then I might do a camera page with family photos that she can pull in and out.

Sidenote - I decided to use a hybrid of cotton and felt for my pages.  I wanted to use cotton for all of my backgrounds because there are so many fun choices out there.  If you want to do this for your pages then you need to iron on a stabilizer first or the cotton will have difficulty holding up the embroidery and felt.  Also, the back of my pages are cotton to coordinate with the front.  They also have a fusible stabilizer on them.  

Celebrate: Dakota Turns 7! And Starts 2nd Grade!

As usual, Dakota's birthday and the start of school coincided - which is crazy to me because my nephew just started yesterday and we are already in week 5.  Hard to believe.  Dakota was really excited about school starting, in fact, she actually missed it all summer.  She absolutely loves school and I am thankful for her eagerness to learn.  She was a little nervous on the first day because she has a man teacher this year and I guess that seemed a little unorthodox to her.  When I picked her up she said, "He is so sweet!" and has really enjoyed him so far.  She also got accepted into the gifted program and will have a few days a week where she participates in an alternate class that will hopefully challenge her a little more.

 I'm pretty sure I was half this height in 2nd grade.

 First year with short hair - she got gum stuck in it and thought she could cut it without me knowing.  She cut out a HUGE chunk and I could have easily gotten the gum out if she would have told me.  So this was the fix.  It is definitely easier but I think it makes her look older...sniff.

Look how much she has grown up since last year's first day!

Dakota really is such an amazing girl.  I get frustrated over the normal attitudes that come with raising a little girl but other than those expected annoyances - she is such a big help and blessing to us.  I really am so proud of her and who she is growing to be.  

This year Dakota fell in love with Legos - especially Lego Friends.  She got a few sets for Christmas and has since become fully obsessed.  In fact, she currently says she wants to be a "Lego Maker" when she grows up.  I tried to explain that's kind of what I do only with real buildings but I think she meant she wants to get paid to play with them all day.  She can be entertained for hours with her sets, following every single little direction and if she messes up, she will start over.  All of that Lego love lead to an obvious theme for her bday.  We decide to invite a few of her closest girlfriends for a small, at-home dinner and play time. They ate, built a few Lego sets (although I don't think her friends are into them as much as she is), had their nails painted, watched a Lego Friends cartoon and just did whatever little girls do best, which involved a lot of squealing.  I don't think I'm going to be ready for a slumber party for a while...

 Lego offers lots of free downloads which is awesome so I took one of the printable invites and added all of my own text in Photoshop.  I also printed some of the mazes and coloring pages for the girls to do at the party.

 We've already established that I am not a great cake decorator so I went simple here; although I still about had a catastrophe trying to get the 7 to stand up after it fell off of it's base which was already embedded in the cake.

Little ponytail holder "lollipops" for favors.  The girls also got a small Lego set.

  We quickly constructed something to hold forks but the rest of the island was covered with her big Lego Friend sets as decorations.  Her smaller sets we put on the table for the girls to build.

The girls took over the dining room table and it was so cute.  Dakota requested:  chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, strawberries, blueberries, green beans and rolls.

I love these two girls.