First Days of Fall

Too bad the weather is getting cooler because last Friday we discovered a great splash pad at Terra Burger!

Here is Cora splashing about.

And here is Cora practicing her levitation skills with a rock!

Later that day we took Eli to another park and she found an adorable big girl friend who was as smitten with Eli as she was.

Wheeeee!!! Eliana learned how to slide this weekend!

This slide was a little steep for Eli to ride alone, so naturally....

Saturday we visited with Baby Grace! She turns 1 in November and this girl can already walk!  When she walks she is as Graceful as a baby chick!

Here is Eliana contemplating the grass and the chill of Fall!

Almost Alice

Ta-daaa!  Last night I stayed up way too late to finish Eli’s Halloween costume.  Dressmaking is like running.  My favorite part is finishing!  This dress is d-o-n-e. Unfortunately there is now an apron to worry about. Unlike the dress I don’t have a pattern for the apron so wish me lots of logic and spatial skills!

Last night after finishing the dress I was so excited to see Eli in it that I woke her up and tried it on at 3am! Just kidding I didn’t do that. But I did have a very hard time going to sleep after that so since God knew how badly I wanted to see Eli in it, He decided to wake Eli up at 5:30am!

I was very grumpy about sleeping just a few hours but I quickly changed her out of her pjs and into her dress. She seemed to really like wearing it and later on in the kitchen she held a kitchen towel to her chest and said, “Deh!”  (dress)

She may very well have the dressmaking gene in her! She comes from a long line of domestic dressmakers.

I do apologize if you were hoping to see a picture of Eli in her new dress, that’s not happening until Fable Fest in October. As a  matter of fact Eli will wearing this dress so much in October you may get sick of seeing her  in it!

Until then, we are livin’ for naptime!

Weekend Fun

Friday MK and I decided to give the girls a splash day. Coco & Eli were in hog heaven!!! They may as well have been in hot tubs. They were so happy and probably more happy that they each had their own personal pool.  Cora was in the big girl deep end pool because we filled it too high!

While Eli practiced her entering and exiting the pool skills,

Cora worked very hard on her bubble-making skills!

Whoa! Swimming is so exciting!

Can you find Coco?

Friday night we celebrated Tia Kena’s or as Eli says, “Ten-Ah” birthday with dinner and dessert. Here is JD, Kena & Eli showing off her Abuela-made new bracelet.  I dolled up Eliana for Tia’s visit with chongitos, her pearl necklace and her new gold slippers but because Eli can never have enough adornment, she decided to color her face with markers during dinner:

Today I endured the agony and despair of getting threaded for the first and last time in my life. I suspect JW tipped the threading lady because he enjoyed watching me writhe in pain!  When he asked her if she was pulling the brow hair by the root, I was quick to say, “YES,  it is definitely coming up by the ROOT!”  Eli was captivated by the whole thing but I felt sad knowing that one day she may have to endure the same hardship, especially since it’s looking like she is getting JW’s great eyebrows. Afterwards we treated her to a little joyride:

Here is Eli watching me try on sunglasses. Let’s see how long I can keep my sunglasses before breaking them, losing them or leaving them at someone’s house!  I think this is my 3rd or 4th pair this year!!! I hear this trait is genetic…although Eli still has all her sunglasses!

We also stopped by Lammes’ and got treats! They had samples of brownie fudge- yum!  We were very happy to find they had sugar-free lollipops! Those really saved us at Costco since we were pushing Eli way past her nap!!  I had never seen a happier kid strapped into a grocery cart!

I hope you enjoyed seeing our weekend! And tomorrow is church day! Or as Eli says, “Chuh”. I hope she doesn’t get mad again that we only go to one service now. That girl likes her church friends!

Princess Dress Rehearsal

Last night I stayed up way too late finishing this dainty dress: 

Unfortunately it is huge! But that’s ok because this dress is the  Halloween/Princess dress rough draft. It is a princess-y style dress & it is my warm-up before tackling Eli’s Halloween dress. I was really into the shift dress because it was relatively simple but this dress wasn’t too difficult in comparison and seeing Eli dance and twirl in it is priceless!

In case you thought one pair of gold shoes was enough for any girl, you were wrong! These gold ballet slippers are thanks to Hattie & Bear Feet!

I gave Eli’s room a makeover this week to make it more toddler-friendly. She developed a habit of climbing up the changing table via the glider when I got in the shower. Now there is no glider in her room and she has a cute lil’ reading corner instead. And our bedroom mirror has also moved into her room now!  Does anyone want to volunteer to paint it for us? ;)  Did I mention Eli has a sticker obsession?

Here is the Big Girl reading corner!

And here am I breaking my rule of “Don’t ever take a picture with a cute baby or toddler because I will never look as cute as said baby or toddler.”

Let the Halloween costume production begin!

More Beach Fun

The beach we went to today was more kid-friendly. Here is Eli with Aunt Benna.

We didn’t get any pictures of it but this water was  perfect for Eli’s ladybug floatie.  I’m not sure if she loved that or playing in the sand better??  She loved them both!

Here is Eli buried under the sand the first time. She wanted out!

And here are her tickle toes!

Eli did not like me getting buried in the sand at all!  She cried and then ran away!

Here are The Timperlakes, our gracious hosts!  Eli was a little sad to say goodbye but her love of her own home kept her from getting too sad!

Goodbye tickles with Aunt Benna!

Aqua Eli

Eli may not remember our last trip to the beach  but she still loves the sand and surf!  She didn’t find the sand as tasty as she did last year though.  And now that she can walk, she wouldn’t walk through the water because she felt too wobbly!

She even ended up crawling across the water!  Thanks Benna for the great pictures!  Eli was trying to spit out the sand in this pic.

Dada is having fun burying Eliana’s legs in sand.

Thank goodness we got to shower off the sand and take a dip in the biggest pool in Texas!

Here is Cousin Genelle giving Eli some tickles!

And guess what? We forgot Eli’s bed!

Guess how long I rocked Eli to sleep?  To be more accurate I rocked/sang/prayed/held/nursed/jiggled/rocked/rocked/rocked Eli to sleep!

One small victory for me, one giant leap for motherdom!    Mami’s in control!!!

Sweet♥ neckline: at last!

Melissa: Yes we are bad influences on each other! Here is my experimental dress we talked about…I want to see Cora’s now! Although I decided not to do the skirt-ish dress just yet. I’m a little nervous about stitching straps on an elastic casing!

As an aspiring baby fashion designer I have been drooling at princess style dresses for a while now and I just love heart-shaped necklines!  So here is my first attempt at one.  This dress is an experiment so unfortunately taking it off of Eli is a bit of a chore since Mama made it a little snug around the bosoms!  I also used leftover scraps to make it!  Isn’t it wonderful what leftovers can do?

Here is Eliana looking for the ladybug that is actually sitting on her neck!    The next experimental dress I make will have a lower waistline so it looks more princess-y.

Eli’s Favorite Blond People

Patti…

Hattie…

And Dada!

The “I” post

Since Eliana is truly coming into a fuller understanding of what “I” and “me” means, I thought it was only fitting to devote this post to her “I”:

I found dirty water and wanted to drink it until Mama took it away!

I like my new flowers!

I’m getting better at running!

I like smoothie pops!

I get brain freeze!