Sewing a Skirt

Emily's skirt she sewed this summer. She did it all on her own except for me having to close up the elastic, but that was all I did.

June, So Far...

About 2 weekends ago Mike and Jason tilled up the grass in our old sandbox area and some spots in the yard that the rabbits ruined and then they put down some sod. It looks ten times better.  Our yard is just so huge that it takes almost all summer to get it looking the way we would like.

The kids also finished their first session of swim lessons. Emily didn't need lessons, we mostly just put her in them to help Mordecai be excited about going, which surprisingly we didn't need to do because he was excited on his own.  Emily just worked on perfecting her free-style and back stroke. Mordecai is still a little timid. He isn't afraid of the water, but definitely isn't as daring as Emily was either. I think he will be in the first class for a while. I was at the pool Monday through Thursday for two weeks straight. Mordecai's lessons were at 10:00 a.m. and then Emily's was at 11:00 a.m. so we had a tiring morning at the pool, especially because Ruby is as crazy around water as her older sister and thinks she can just do anything. So I spent my time at the pool watching lessons and making sure Ruby didn't drowned. We also have had pool days with Marci, Mine and their kids. I love pool days!!! We are crazy with only 3 adults to watch 11 kids between 2 pools but it is so nice to hang out with them and the kids have fun too.

 



Emily also has been bugging me to have "sewing lessons". I thought I would start he out with just sewing shapes like my Mom had me do. I also thought it would take her a couple of days to get the hang of it, but I was wrong. The perfectionist in me wanted to take over and tell her what to do, but I didn't even touch it. She was a natural and did it almost perfect the first time. She has picked some fabric and she is going to make herself a skirt.

 





I also have been working on my running. I am pretty pleased with how I have improved. When I started running, before Ruby, I was only able to run at a 4.2mph and no incline. Since then I have been working on improving my speed and time and now I am at a 5.5mph and a 1% incline. I do run outside in the summer and the fastest mile I have recorded outside was a 9:59 minute mile. I signed up to run my first 5k with Marci and Mine at the end of July. I love running! Its hard for me because I have sports induced asthma, but I love pushing myself and improving on things. Just this week I ran my 3.1 miles on Wednesday in 34:07 and then I PR'd that on Friday with 32:58. My goal for my 5k is to run it in under 35 minutes which I think I will be able to do.

Crafty

I have been a little craft lately. Usually I don't attempt things by myself, as is the case with the first two crafts. The countdown blocks are my project for our "Christmas in July" Relief Society meeting, so I needed to have them made for display in June. I found the directions here.

This chore chart I found here and my awesome friend Rachel did one on her craft blog so Kristal and Elissa and I attempted them. The idea is that you have these chore magnets put on the persons sheet and when they complete them they move the magnets off. I was going to just leave one blank for the kids to move their magnets on, but then I decide Mike and I needed a spot for our chores too. I also bought more sheets, so on the off chance we have more kids I can make another board with 4 spots.

Then for this craft. It is a bill sorter. I found it here. I didn't do mine exactly the way she did, but it works perfect for our space. I hate going downstairs to do our bills, and I hated having the mess upstairs on the fridge. The pockets are for: Bills, To be Filed, and Action required. This is going to be handy and way more tidy.

Quilt for Comfort

A while back I got a phone call from my mom telling me about this "Quilts for Comfort" program. Basically Downy has teamed up with some organization to provide fabric and patterns to make for kids in long term hospital situations. All you had to do was sign up and wait for the packet to be shipped. Once you got the packet you only had to supply the batting and thread. It was very nice to know that I was helping in anyway.

Skirt

Two weekends ago I went to Joann's with a friend to buy some fabric to make bow boards. While we were there I bought some fabric to make a skirt for me. I was proud of myself, cause it only took me about an hour and a half to make it. It isn't the most professional looking but I like it. The picture of me is a little weird because Emily was the photographer.