Callie went Camping

Callie had the opportunity to attend YCL Camp with the other girls from the stake.  It was held up in Yosemite, so they left on Monday and drove 8 hours up there. Then they spent Tuesday thru Thursday doing camp-ey stuff and drove back on Friday.  It was a long time for her to be away when she wouldn't have any cell service!

Our traditional pre-trip selfie.

Last photo before she's heading out. She is with the only other girl from our ward who went.... so the only girl Callie knew.

Group shot of the girls and leaders.  I think there were 11 girls.

The green tent is Callie's.  She was going to take a tiny one, but I encouraged the larger 6-man tent so she'd have room.  She said it was a good choice.  She did have it all to herself and she liked having her own space.

And she did collect photos for me so I could see some of what she did.  She was not impressed with Yosemite, because it is just mountains and trees. I still think she got some pretty photos. And here are her pictures:

 

Wrapped in Hugs

The "Mama Dragons" group that I am in does a Wrapped in Hugs program where you can sign up to make a blanket or quilt for a kid who  needs some love.  Moms or others can nominate a kid and they will put the stats on the FB group and you can sign up to make one.  

One lady said she could do the tops of two Harry Potter themed quilts, but couldn't put them together, so I offered to put them together.  

She finished the two tops and sent me the tops, plus some Hogwarts fabric to do the backs.

Cute top, right?

Well, mostly.  There were some issues.  Mainly that the backing was stupid microfiber, which had zero stretch and was super light and a royal pain to work with.  Also, she didn't anchor her seams (should have backstitched at the edges!), so the edges were coming apart.  It was frustrating and definitely not my best work.  

And man, the backing was upside down on one and totally off center on the other.  Sigh.  But a lot of love and work went into it, so I hope that's all they saw.

It was an exercise in love, that's for sure!

I picked up a project for a kid who liked purple and cats, and I found this awesome fabric!!

Isn't it fabulous?!

And the backing is minky fabric and so soft.

This blanket I was very happy with and it did come out really cute.

 

The End of an Era!!

Rylee is the last kid in the family.  And this week, she finished elementary school.  This means we are ALL DONE having children in elementary school!  How crazy is that?!!

This has nothing to do with school, we just have been experimenting with her hair to try to dampen the poof and encourage the natural curl.  It is going fairly well. 

Anyway, she had a short and sweet "Promotion Ceremony"  Which consisted of waiting her turn, then walking into the gym, posing for photos and collecting her certificate.  

This is the masked photo, since all the kids had to wear masks at school.

And faces!  The unmasked picture. The aid is on the left, and Rylee loved her.  Her teacher is in the right, and we loved him too.  It was a good year and a good ending for her.

And here is our selfie to celebrate!

 

Delaney did a thing

This is Delaney.  

She has glorious golden tresses that are soft and perfect.  But she was tired of it.

So we went to the hair salon.

The stylist put all the lovely locks into a braid......

...... and cut it all off.

Then she snipped some more.

And even more!

And this is what Delaney wanted and she loves it!

This is the gelled version.

This is the all-natural look.  She loves the coolness, the ease of washing and wearing, and the cuteness.  

She's cute.

 

Exciting times for Callie

Callie had a big birthday.  You know.  The important one!  Well, one of the important ones.

She requested Strawberry Pizza Pie. 

Fine.  I like Strawberry Pizza Pie and my birthday is right after HER birthday and I didn't have time to make cheesecake, which is what she wanted, because I didn't have the ingredients.  So we had what I wanted on her birthday and then we made cheesecake later that week.  And both were delicious.

Se, she ate it and she liked it.

And she got good loot.

She's so cute.  I like her.  a lot.

And now she is old enough to start learning to do this!!!!