my babies in the bluebonnets

These also count as the twins' 3 year old pictures - happy birthday to them! xo They are in their Easter dresses, which I made for them.

walk, walk, plop!

Today we took a walk (and a few plops) in the snow since the temps are finally becoming survivable. We've been stuck in negative temps for over a week, but this week we will be up in the 20's and 30's, which is very exciting! With it being so cold, all the snow we've gotten over the last month has hung around. Hard frozen stuff, about 6-7 inches deep on the bottom, and light fluffy dry snow, about 18 inches deep, on top.

Today was to be an adventure, so we figured we'd check out the walking trail. The sidewalk was nice and clear and the trail seemed clear as well.


The creek is frozen, of course, with tons of snow on top of the ice, so you almost don't even know it's there.


About halfway down one side of the trail, we discovered it wasn't as clear as we thought! It didn't *look* that bad, so we pushed through.

It was at this point that the twins started to "plop" in the snow as much as walk in the snow.



It happened a lot! They are lightweights, so they didn't sink into it much, but I was about knee deep, trying to keep them and myself upright while not getting the camera stuck in the snow. It was a workout!

Not sure why I only got pics of {P} plopping - {E} did it just as much!




The bridge was nice and clear b/c the snow just falls right though. With 2 ft of snow on the ground, it didn't seem nearly as high up!


Walk, walk...


PLOP!



Towards the end of our "walk" the kids sort of gave up and began plopping on purpose when one would fall. lol


I pointed out that they might as well make snow angels since they were already down.


{E} didn't quite get the concept and just thrashed around in the snow, which was pretty amusing!



Here's Miss Snaggletooth...her bottom two teeth are loose and ready to go at any moment. Not a great pic, but I figured we'd better document her before the big loss happens!


The last leg of the walk was the trickiest. We hit the really deep stuff! Of course, on the other side of the creek, where we began our walk, the city workers suddenly appeared to clear the path. Someone must have called to tell them there were crazy girls out there getting stuck in the snow! While they cleared, I got stuck...over and over again...up to the thigh! Almost lost my shoe! Poor Sarah doesn't have snow pants that fit, so she was crying about being frozen. We eventually made our way home and defrosted just fine. There's more snow in the forecast though! Fun, fun!

{p} the pumpkin witch...errr...princess...witch...

It's the day before halloween and we still haven't quite decided if little {p} will be a pumpkin witch or a princess. lol Originally, I thought maybe I could put her super cool tiara onto a witch's hat so that she could sorta be both, but after trying it, I thought it was a little too much. I think we'll go with the witch version for trick or treat, but I know she's enjoyed have 2 costumes in one.

The witch's hat is from the $1 spot at Target, the tiara was about $1.50 on clearance last year from Claire's. The boa and babylegs were gifted to us, so they were free. The tutu was her big sis's from last year and her skirt and top were made from fabric we got on clearance a couple years ago for just a few dollars. I wanted the skirt to have a bustled look, but it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted. The tutu underneath sorta distorts the shape of it, but I'll keep tweaking it until I'm happy with it. The top was super easy to make - I used this TUTORIAL.

Aside from skirt tweaking, the costumes are finished! Yay! One of the trickiest parts of costume design for midwesterners is that you have to be able to layer clothes underneath to keep the kiddos warm. We're hoping for clear skies and the temp is expected to be around 45' during trick or treat time. Not too bad!

purrrr-fectly sweet for trick-or-treat!

This year, little {E} is going to be a kitty for halloween. Her costume was definitely the easiest - no sewing! Actually, a little sewing, but not enough to count - after sewing feathers onto her shirt, I decided to switch to hot glue. I bought her some black knit pants and a striped (BabyGap) top from a resale shop for less than $5 and simply added black feather boa ($2) around the wrists and pant legs. We also embellished an old kitty ear headband and tail from the dress up box with the feather boa to make them "fluffy" and ultimately cuter. Topped off with pink bows, you have the perfect little kitty costume! She's very excited!

cowgirl dresses for my cowgirls

Not surprisingly (to most of you) we made special dresses to take with us to TX. Each kiddo got to pick her fabric and we whipped them up! I made sure to get extra fabric so that I can make some for sale in my shop soon. The blue tops are repurposed blue jeans and I kept the style really simple so they are easy to wear. Anyway, here are some pics! It rained almost the entire time we were there, so these weren't taken until just hours before we headed for home.