Olivia the Pig Birthday Dress
I made a special birthday dress for the birthday girl. I used the Feliz party dress pattern, which means happy in Spanish. It certainly is a happy dress. It was also a lot of work, but it came together really nicely thanks to a wonderful, step by step
sew-along on the Trillium Designs blog.
On the big day, Molly wasn't feeling up to modeling her dress much, and had to be coaxed. I couldn't get a good shot of her away from the furniture unless she was twirling!
This dress has a very full, ruffly skirt that is great for twirling. It's also so long that I think it will fit her well into next year and even beyond. The top is adjustable too, so it should be plenty big for years to come!
Look at all those ruffles on the skirt. Even though it was a lot of work, this dress was so much fun to sew. Sewing this style of clothing was one of the reasons I wanted to learn to sew in the first place. Remind me of that when it's time to make Megan's fancy, special birthday dress!
Birthday Party
Saturday afternoon, we had a little birthday party for Molly. My parents came up and Scott's parents were in from Arkansas for a long-weekend visit. Molly has been obsessed with pigs for a while now, so we decided on an Olivia the Pig birthday theme. I decorated the cake...
Not my best work but she was happy with it.
Blowing out candles - I think she's getting the hang of this finally!
Opening a present from Nana & Grandpa Stone - a lamp. She's been wanting a lamp for her room for ages, so she was thrilled with it!
After present opening and cake eating, we just hung out and visited. It was nice to have everyone all under one roof.
Trick or Treat
Here in crazy Central PA, they don't trick or treat on Halloween night. Ever. They do it on the Thursday before Halloween. Which this year fell on...you guessed it...Molly's birthday! What a day this girl had.
A practice run at our house :)
I made Megan's princess/fairy costume - she helped pick out the fabrics.
Patsy walked around with me to take the girls Trick or Treating. We didn't go too far - just a few blocks. They were just as happy to come home and run back and forth between our house and the neighbors' down the block who have a 7-year old niece that Megan likes to play with.
Birthday Presents, Part 1
After the parade and the rest of the morning at preschool, Molly came home to open her birthday presents from us. We usually do this separate from the rest of the party and
Here she is opening the much requested Little People Castle. A few weeks before her birthday, we had received a Fisher Price catalog in the mail with this castle in it. From day 1, she was asking for it for her birthday, Christmas, or any other occasion! When I found it on sale a few days before her birthday at Toys R Us, I couldn't resist.
Molly spots her other gift - her new bike! She has outgrown her trike and is still too small for the bike Megan has recently outgrown. So she needed her own little bike. She saw Scott looking at the "Cupcake" bike online and decided that's what she needed. She was thrilled to see it here for her birthday!
Happy birthday to my baby girl. I'm not sure where the time has gone, and how she's already 4. The other day, she told me she'll be 5 at her next birthday. While I know it's true, I can hardly imagine.
Halloween Parade
On Molly's birthday, she also had a Halloween party at school. Oh the horrors of having a birthday near a holiday! Here she is all buckled in dressed as Elmo.
There's her whole class and teachers, in costume. They had a blast parading around the school gym, showing off their costumes for all the parents.
After the parade, regular classroom activities resumed. Each student gets to put a sticker on this chart every morning, to show that they were at school that day.
Then some play time ensued - complete with dress up - Molly's favorite!
As another special treat, Megan stayed and read a story to the class. They enjoyed having her and it was good practice for her, too. Fun morning for everyone!
First Lost Tooth
Megan lost her first tooth. Finally. After wiggling it since early in the summer. It has been hanging by a thread for weeks. The threat of going to the dentist to get it extracted seemed to finally do the trick. Her bigger tooth is already half way in, so there is hardly even a gap. I think her teeth are going to fall out as slowly as they came in!
Molly Started Preschool
Molly started preschool on October 1. She has been asking all summer long when she gets to go to school, so we started looking for somewhere for her to go. She and Scott visited her new school one day towards the end of September. She jumped right in without so much as a glance back at Scott. Because they don't prorate tuition for a partial month, we had to wait till the first of October to begin. Every day she asked if she could go that day - those few days of waiting were agony!
Here she is all ready to go to school. She was up early and dressed in record time. While we were waiting for Scott to get back from dropping Megan off at school, we took some time for a few photos. When did my baby get so big? By the way, this is her new "cheese" smile.
And once we got there, we hung up her coat and backpack. She was so excited to jump in and went right in the classroom. She got to sit next to a new friend Emma and we've been hearing all about her lately, along with all the other fun stuff she's been doing. I'm so glad that she's happy to be at preschool and so far, all reports from her teachers have been good.
Cyber School
After a tough first 6 weeks of school, we decided to pull Megan out of the public schools and school her at home using Agora Cyber Charter School. They had spent 6 weeks doing assessments and reviewing things they should have known before even coming to kindergarten. She was very frustrated, very bored, and we didn't get a lot of assurance that things would be changing anytime soon. Both of us had spent time in that boat, and knowing that we had the ability to do something more for her, we decided to give it a try.
Agora uses the
K12 curriculum. It is offered through several Cyber Charter Schools throughout the country, and they also sell the curriculum directly to home-schoolers. About a week after we enrolled her, we received a computer to use for her schoolwork. Then the boxes of curriculum arrived. Three large boxes full of materials for her to do first grade at home. Each subject was packed in its own box - some even had two boxes! Math, Science, History, Language Arts, Phonics, Music and Art are all in there.
Once it all arrived, her enthusiasm was through the roof. She was so excited to dig into those boxes of books and other fun stuff. This is what school should be about - enthusiasm for learning...rather than "learn to sit and wait patiently if the material isn't challenging enough for you". We can't wait to get started! I get the feeling we are preparing to embark on quite the exciting adventure.
