Before I started kindergarten, my aunt and my mom made a couple of dresses for me. I wore this brown one on my first day of school and it’s why I really wanted to Maggie to have a special handmade dress for her first day.

And I haven’t been able to stop sewing. This was her second day of school outfit. I let Maggie pick out the fabric she helped me sew it, and a matching one for her cousin Jes.

The skirt is actually reversible and is tie dye on the other side.

This dinosaur fabric was supposed to be a dress. I bought the fabric when Maggie was three though, and she’s grown a little since then, so skirt it was.

There was just enough left to make a matching outfit for her doll, Fruity.

My aunt made this cute pink dress. It’s also reversible and the other side is blue with white polka dots.

This little red car has tons of miles on it.

It’s Annie’s preferred mode of transportation to and from the bus stop each day.

This llama dress is another favorite of Maggie’s. She has since requested that every dress have pockets.

I know that Maggie won’t always think mama-made dresses are cool, but I’m going to take advantage of it while I can.

Let’s see if I can get back into the habit of updating this site. We’ll start with the first day of school pictures (a month and a half late).

After getting them on the bus, I found a Papa penny on the walk back to the house. It was laying right in the middle of the road. I think my dad wanted to wish them a great first day too.

While the big kids were in school, Annie and I picked up our traditional cookie cake.

The kids all had a great first day.

Maggie wanted in on the fun too. This is super long. I tried to get her to end it sooner, but she was having none of it.

This girl is something else.

For his birthday dinner, Adam asked to go to Steak ‘n Shake.

So we had birthday milkshakes instead of cake or cupcakes.

He did get a really awesome cake though when we went to NY the following weekend.

He had asked my Aunt Jane to make a sports themed cake. According to Adam, “I thought it would be an easy cake because she could use real things as models if she needed to and the shapes aren’t too hard. It was my favorite cake so far. I really like how Aunt Jane spaced everything out. I really liked my Minion cake last year, but I think I liked this one a little bit more. It tasted really good.”

He’s already started thinking about what type of cake he wants for next year.

The weekend before Adam’s birthday, we surprised the kids with a trip to the huge indoor water park near our house to celebrate.

The older kids had their own little nook to sleep in. It was perfect for the three of them.

We all changed into swim suits as soon as we checked in, to go check out the fun.

Not too many photos from this trip though. I was too busy having fun (and too worried about dropping my phone in the water).

Luke’s favorite part was the lazy river. Adam loved the water slides and Maggie thought the wave pool was best.

There was a dance party after dinner.

And pajama story time with Violet the wolf.

Dave dressed up a sleeping Annie in one of the gift shops while the kids and I looked around.

He was very pleased with himself.

We were back in the water park as soon as it opened the next day.

The weekend was a lot of fun and the perfect birthday surprise for Adam.

I have a lot of catching up to do, but for now I’m fast forwarding a bit to Halloween. We have our first Halloween event of the year this weekend (super early, I know) and so I was rushing to get the kids’ costumes squared away. I finished Luke’s Sunday night and put the final touches on Adam’s tonight. We’re going with a circus theme and Annie will be wearing the lion costume Adam wore for his second Halloween. We bought Maggie’s acrobat costume (it would have been more expensive to try and make it).

Luke is going to be a daredevil (heavily influenced by Evel Knievel). We decided his stage name would be Lucky Luke.

I bought an adult white dress shirt at Goodwill and made it Luke sized. I added the star details (thanks to a 4th of July tablecloth), a zipper, and the LL logo to his cuffs. The cape is detachable and snaps on under the collar.

I also picked up a pair of white stretch jeans at the thrift shop. I ripped the seams open and made new, Luke-sized pants from them. I used the zipper from the original pants on his shirt.

Adam wanted to be the ringmaster (of course). I made his jacket (twice actually, since the first one I made was too small), vest, and cravat (tie).

The white shirt, pants, and boots were also thrift shop acquisitions.

The cane was a cheap curtain rod from Walmart (I painted the top with gold nail polish).

Overall I am thrilled with how their costumes turned out (so please forgive my bragging). It was some of the most difficult sewing I’ve tackled yet. I used my seam ripper (and certain curse words) a lot more than I would have liked. They aren’t perfect, but the boys love them and so it was all worth it.

Any bets on how long before Lucky Luke crash lands into a mud puddle? That’s a lot of white for a seven year old.

Hard to believe that school starts tomorrow! Maggie is more than ready for kindergarten. She even has a special outfit for the first day. My Aunt Cathy and I made it – though my mom, Steven, Amanda, Stacy, and Rob all did a bit sewing on it too.

Fruity (one of the dolls formally known as George) got a matching dress.

The boys are both ready with new outfits too.

Annie is still a few years away from school, but she had a quick picture snapped today too.