April is the month of the military child. Today, the kids’ school celebrated Purple Up Day (everyone is supposed to wear purple) as a way to show support for students with parents in the military.

Adam and Luke got new shirts off of Amazon (they both picked the same one).

Maggie got a new dress made out of one of Dave’s old uniforms.

And a matching bow for her hair.

It was so windy when I was trying to take these pictures.

Annie even wore some purple today, even though she didn’t go to school.

The kids that did go to school each got a purple ribbon and a certificate.

I really love how Maggie’s dress turned out. I was able to reuse a couple of the pockets. Those uniforms have a TON of pockets. Seriously. There are pockets on top of pockets, there are pockets inside of pockets. It’s ridiculous.

I really love how it turned out. It’s easily one of my favorite things that I’ve ever sewn.

Even more importantly, Maggie was really happy with the dress and excited to wear it. She mentioned it as soon as she woke up this morning.

Me: Maggie wake up and get going.
Maggie: It’s Purple Up Day today!! I get to wear my new dress!!
Me: I know, and you’re going to be late if you don’t get in gear.
Maggie: “Get in gear?” What’s that mean?
Me: It means you need to hustle.
Maggie: Is that French?

Check out these cute kiddos.

Annie kept running away at first, but we were able to get her to sit in this chair (for a little bit at least).

I made Maggie’s dress in January (way ahead of the game). I finished Annie’s three hours before the photo appointment.

To be completely honest, that’s the second dress I made Annie. I made her one the night before and when I tried it on her that morning it was way too small (I used the wrong program on my computer to print out the pattern and didn’t realize it was so off).

It all worked out in the end though.

The accidental ear placement on this next pic cracks me up – only Luke.

A couple of weeks ago Maggie asked me to record her opening some mystery toys. I just realized I never shared it here. So if you’re bored and have six minutes to spare, you can check out her video.

If you don’t have six minutes, at least watch the first little bit. There’s a pretty fun part about 45 seconds in (I love those eyebrow wriggles).

We had gone to a Dr. Seuss event earlier in the day, which is where they got their faces painted. Maggie couldn’t decide what design she wanted so she sat down and asked the lady painting to surprise her. She said it was the first time she’d had a child say that to her. Maggie was thrilled with the kitty.

It takes Annie and I a really long time to walk to the bus stop.

I don’t mind.

Adam, Luke, and Maggie brought their spring pictures home from school yesterday.

They had six different backgrounds they could choose from, so we let the kids decide what they wanted.

I think they did a great job picking.

I am hoping to take all four of them for Easter photos and Luke will be getting pictures done for his First Communion. So I’ll work on sending copies of them out soon!

We spent most of last weekend building furniture and reorganizing the kids’ rooms. We got bunk beds for the boys and their room has so much more space now.

We also got another dresser, the boys had outgrown the six drawer one they shared. The instructions were humorous.

Maggie finally got an upgrade from the toddler bed. She also got to pick out new bedding – rainbow leopard print, very Maggie.

We were able to shuffle things around so that the toddler bed stayed in the room too though, so Annie can eventually join her.

It was a lot of work, but well worth it. The kids are thrilled with their new beds.

Portrait of a JoJo by Margaret Grimm

Wednesday was a big day around here. Dave upgraded to version 4.1.

And Annie learned the difference between chapstick and a glue stick.

Adam made his first stop motion animation video today. The music in the background is him playing the Harry Potter theme on his ukulele.

I think it turned out awesome and I’m so proud of him.

Maggie also got a new sweatshirt and wore it to gymnastics last night. It’s the same pattern as Luke’s, but I used a different hood for this one.

She calls this her “Dayton Dragons” shirt.

I love how it turned out. Next up is another Harry Potter sweatshirt for Adam. He’s been not-so-patiently waiting since I finished the last one.