Riley and Avery

It was hard to get good pictures, but I tried. The school is so small, was packed with parents and fast-moving children. I was up until after 5am the night before finishing their skirts, only to have them complain in the morning for having to wear plain red shirts. So, I had to quickly applique a butterfly onto each of their shirts. Just what I wanted to do after 2 hours of sleep! But I did it, not that they came out as well as they could have had I been given more time and hadn't been in a rush. Avery actually stayed on the "stage" for the whole program. I thought for sure that she would have come to me and refuse to go on at some point. She looked bored out of her mind, but at least she stay put! Riley had a bell solo and played Jingle Bells. She had only been practicing for a day or two. I'm glad she did it. I envisioned her getting nervous and refusing!


Riley so loved the shiny black shoes I bought them for this occasion that the slept in them the night before, then spent the morning of the program polishing them. So cute! Who knew that a pair of cheap Target shoes could bring so much joy?




In other news, I have scraped most of my handmade present plans. Poo. Just ran out of time. I am making them each a simple quilt instead and going ahead with the plans for the play canopy. They love their baby quilts, but they are getting too small. Riley also does not have a blanket for her bed, so hopefully they'll like the quilts. I am doing a simple bento box pattern, turquoise and orange for Riley, and purple and green for Avery. The play canopy doesn't look that complicated, just unwieldy. I mean, working with 10 yards of fabric can't be fun, can it? I had to leave some components out though, for cost reasons. The pattern calls for a round cushion more than a yard in diameter, and the foam is far too expensive. The pattern calls for more than 5 yards of velcro (!) which would be far too expensive, even with a coupon. I'm not even sure what the velcro is used for. I have a hunch that it may be put around the diameter of the cushion to hold the bottom of the canopy in place, in which case I won't need it anyway. Which reminds me, I have to go buy a hook to stick into their ceiling (hopefully I can reach the ceiling, as we don't have a ladder).