Yoooooo Gabba Gabbaaaaaa!!!!

We took Eli to see DJ Lance Rock & the gang last Sunday and had a great time! This was the beginning of the act:

And this was Eli’s reaction:

Toodee, Foofa, DJ Lance, Muno, Plex & Brobee!  For those in the dark, this is a TV show on Nick Jr.

The entire concert, Eliana kept saying, “I want to hug them!” But when we finally made it ‘backstage"’ Eli insisted I hold her!  I guess stranger phobia is a good thing after all!

See how tightly she’s got me around my neck! It was great to meet Foofa!

Brobee cracks me up!

JW loves Brobee too!

Plex & Muno!

Eli finally warmed up to the monsters after some snacks!

We waited for DJ Lance to come out and it was totally worth it. He was the sweetest celebrity ever!  So nice! After our picture he swung Eliana around like an airplane! He made sure all of his fans felt special.

And here is Eliana’s newest ‘princess’ dress that she will surely wear for the next several days in a row:

Her very own Foofa rainbow dress! It was supposed to be ready for the concert, but life is not fair. The important thing is that it’s DONE now! Yay!

Because one peasant dress is never enough…

The only thing better than finishing a dress is seeing Eliana enjoy it!

After a bijillion pictures only Hattie was left…

Eliana had so much fun with her cousins but she wasn’t being a princess to poor Finn in this pic. Thankfully Finn is a gentleman

The girls helped pick weeds for the centerpiece with Aunt Benna.

Love this pic! Minus the “Eliana could have been electrocuted” part…

Poofy Peasant Princess

Ever since Eliana requested I make her a Belle princess dress I have been trying to figure out how to do just that.   I wanted to make a rough draft dress because the yellow fabric I bought for Belle is too cute to risk messing up.

In all my sewing adventures I had never attempted the peasant dress.  All the elastic and casings intimidated me!  I found a great free pattern for the basic peasant top and sleeves. Click here for Bandy Canyon’s free pattern.  I used this pattern for my blueprint, then added an underskirt, and a top skirt with gathers and bows.

This was my other inspiration for the dress:

I love the gathers and the bows! This is what the dress looks like without the poofy:

And here is a closer look at the neckline and sleeves:

The sleeves turned out super cute! But making the casing on them was hard because they are not in a straight line. Any tips on hemming a curved edge?? 

Eliana now has 2 homemade princess dresses! Judging by how much she loves them, I will be making princess dresses for the next year!  Yay!

The Big Day!

Eliana was so excited to finally go trick-or-treating!! Thanks to some special effects, we got her dress super poufy!

Ever the charmer, Eliana requested a special picture with her and Kevin. Watch out Kelsie!

It was fun to see Eli experience trick or treating in a new way this year. She got spooked at some of the scarier houses!

Here’s the loot:

And the sweetest newlywed couple ever!

And as usual we got “treated” to Eliana’s dancing!

Goodbye Halloween, Hello Thanksgiving!

Girls’ Weekend!

Since the men in our lives decided to ditch us for doves, we decided to have our own fun!  We celebrated Halloween in the sweetest way imaginable: cookie party!

Eliana is a very talented taste tester…

She worked on her sprinkle allocation skills…

and chocolate dipping….

but taste testing is her fave skill by far!

Piping is so hard!

After the gobs of sweets we made, we reverse trick or treated Hattie’s friend and neighbor.

And were surprised by a goodie bag! Thanks Cathy!

Eliana also painted and decorated a pumpkin for Hattie.

After dinner we were treated to a show by CinderEli herself:

Thank goodness Hattie had lipstick on hand for our star…

By 10 o’clock, Eliana was showing no signs of stopping. Poor Hattie got to be a play gym!

Here is Eliana’s encore performance before crashing in 2 seconds flat:

After we read stories in bed, Eliana laid on her pillow paralyzed by fatigue, closed her little eyes and was out!

We are crafted and cookie-d out! Yay Girls’ Weekend!

Cedar Park 5Miler

Eliana waited for Mama ever so patiently!

Here she comes!

JW got some cool pics of me running! I was sooooo happy right here because the finish line was right in front of me!!  I could barely believe I had reached my goal!

I didn’t even know JW and Eliana were watching me! I was so focused on crossing the line.

I found them!

I’m pretty sure Eliana was proud of me too!

I didn’t stop running at all the whole race, except for picking a sunflower for my little booster. I have to give JW credit for registering me for the race. I’ve been training for this race for 6 months! But I didn’t know they were actually putting it on until about a week ago so when I found out the race was on, I wasn’t so sure I could do it. But I thank God for giving me the strength and endurance to run my race!

I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.  Psalm 119:32