Last Gymnastics Class

 Here are some pictures from our last Gymnastics class in June.  Holly has really missed seeing Chloe every week to go to class.  I think she has also missed Head Over Heels, but not as much as her friends Alice and Chloe.  We of course still see Chloe at play dates all the time, but the predictability of a class together provided consistency.  I want to sign her up for a new class, But Chloe won't be taking one and I don't want to over extend her.  Right now we are signed up for Swim and Gym as well as a Second Swim Lesson and we just signed up for a Ballet/Tap Class with Mira which Holly is super excited to start.  We can;t do everything all the time, but I think I will take Holly to Open Play at Head Over Heels so she doesn't totally loose all of her tumbling skills and see how she does.

Here is a video of Holly doing her "Big Flip"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGkvUYA2lWk

Daily Video: Singing and Dancing?

Chloe and Holly often like to stand up on this ledge and pretend to do shows, they sing and dance and this can go on for an hour.  the thing is, when it is happening Kathy and i are usually in the playroom with Dylan hanging out and chatting.  Anytime we try to watch there "show" take pictures or video's they are totally resistant and tell us to go away.  In One video Chloe stops singing all together to tell me we don;t need to make a video.  In the other, Holly can;t make up her mind if she will sing, she tells me No, but then says she will sing, they are such Diva's already.

Singing and Dancing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSsVAZo-RpM

Singing and Dancing - Shy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9osVpxoRoCI

Double Trouble: Sewing Playdate

Here are Holly and Mira posing in their new dresses. Mai came up with the greatest play date idea ever!  Kids play, Mommies sew.  I had been talking about my new sewing area and how excited I was about it, and Mai has been asking to come over and see it.  So finally the stars aligned and touting a bag of fabric and sewing book Mai came over to play.... I mean Mira ;-)  Holly was excited to show Mira her dress-up area down stairs, but I think the girls had the most fun doing art projects.  Especially when it came to cutting and gluing.  I have a collection of buttons, beads and do-hickeys Holly can glue onto colored paper and the girls came up with tons of creative uses and made lots of art for us.

Speaking of being creative, after looking through Mai's sewing book we were inspired by these Pillow Case dresses she had read about on the Internet.  Holly had picked out this neat Turtle and Alligator Fabric that reminded her of Hawaii and I thought that would be perfect to use for matching dresses.  As I only had a yard, we cut the fabric in half and created the "pillow case" base which we used to make the dresses.  Mai is very meticulous and I am much more haphazard.  As a result much of what I do is pretty sloppy, I didn't even know what Bias Tape was, and when Mai asked where I went to Iron down the hems I had to tell her I didn't even own an Iron of pins for that matter and folded my hems on the fly.

That said, all of her preparation and planning often leaves her with little time to start let alone complete all of her great sewing project ideas.  So for today's play date we decided to jump right in, on the fly and create on the go.  I went first so we could work out the kinks of the design on my dress.  Then Mai, without even Ironing or Pinning sewed up her dress.  They were adorable, but I felt like something was missing.  I had this really cool green fabric that had a watery feel to it so I decided we should add a ruffle.  I think it completed the dress and was so cute. 

We simply added a knife please to the bottom and using the foot of mt machine to measure out each pleat I did the ruffle on the fly.  I was even a little nervous this time as I usually sew front side facing so I can turn it out and the seems are hidden but since we already had a cute hem I thought it would be nice to add the ruffle behind the hem.  Though while sewing I couldn't see what I was doing as well as usually due to how the fabric laid, so I was being adventuresome and trying something new.  It took a little longer the expected but I think the ruffle turned out great and the girls now have matching dresses.  and I might add the fabric is soft and cuddly, it is a fleece and it was only 2.99 a yard, we used a yard of the Hawaii and maybe a 1/3 of the green, so we basically got two dresses for about 4$ and our time of course.

But an afternoon hanging out, chatting, and playing with a friend hardly seemed like work at all.  We have a ton of idea's for the next sewing play date.  Mai is definitely the inspiration on all the things she wants to try and I am the push out the door so to speak to simply jump in and try it.  Although she has convinced me that the few minutes it takes to iron the hem or use the Bias Tape for a nice edge is certainly worth the effort as our designs get more complicated and we want to do more advanced dresses.  So in addition to getting more thread, bobbins, and zippers, I will be shopping for an Iron too.

I think there is a shopping play date to the fabric store in our future as well.

Daily Video: Princess Crash

Holly received this Princess Car from Oma in the Mail.  She loved driving her dolls around with it.  Here are her and Daddy playing, she likes to make it crash too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdPijOCN5nM

Daily Video: Snack Time

After School Holly shares a snack with her friend Joey. Joey is now in Kindergarten, we miss her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whKr0eXr1EE

Chloe's Birthday - 6/7/12

On Chloe's actual birthday (Mid-Week) she had a small little party with a little cake to celebrate on her "real" Birthday.  We were able to attend this fun Celebration play date and had a great evening.  First some yummy snacks and a My Little Pony themed cake.  The girls played dress-up and wore Birthday Crowns.  But a highlight was getting to open her presents with her friends around which our girls normally don't get to do during larger parties.  All of her friends were super excited to give her the presents they had picked out and wrapped and of course the other girls were super eager to help her with the unwrapping.

Later, after two of the other girls left Holly, Mira, and Chloe got to play make-up.  I even let Holly paint my nails, it was quite a mess.  Then it was time for Mira to go home, but Holly stayed and her and Chloe watched a Movie and took a fun playtime bath together.  Holly was dressed in her PJ's and went home, thought she would have loved to sleep over, I think no sleeping would have been done.  We had a wonderful day celebrating with Chloe, it was a lot of fun.