Senior Photos of my Sister

My large family is a family full of talents and we all kindly share them with each other. One of my sisters is  a cake decorator, and she makes everyone's cakes.  Another works for a phone company, and gets the younger ones phones.  Yet another is a hairdresser and cuts and styles all of our hair.  My job is generally to do the artistic things such as sew things and take photos.  With my youngest sister graduating this year, she asked me to put the latter of those things to work for her senior portraits.  This is some of what we came up with together. 

Bunny's Village Frock

I saw this dress on one of the sewing blogs I was perusing the other week and fell in love with it.  Problem is, that it is not longer available, as you'd know if you just tried to click on the link.

So, I googled it, sure to find SOMETHING I could go on to make it for Bunny, since I had decided upon first sight that it was a dress I MUST make for her.  

 I came up with lots and LOTS of pictures of cute Village Frocks (that is the name for it) made by many sewers who were lucky enough to get their hands on the pattern, but no pattern. 

So, I decided I'd draft my own.  I've done it before and it seemed feasible enough.  So, I sorted through all the google images I found looking at shapes and construction as I started drawing plans for my own version of the Village frock.

 It was while doing that that I discovered this, similar pattern. 
And I even found a tutorial--that might be helpful to someone. 

With these resources and a tutorial on making your own Bias Tape, I made Bunny her little Village Frock using fabric I'd found years ago on clearance at Walmart that I'd been dying to find a use for ever since.  I'm pretty pleased with the results.  And she got more compliments on this dress than she ever gets.  It was especially a hit at my sister's bridal shower. 

Thank You, God, for Blessing Me (Book Review)

Lately, at bedtime, I’ve been teaching my two year old daughter to pray. We started with simple things—just thanking Jesus for all the things in her life that she loves and she really grew to look forward to that. She knows exactly what to do now when I say, “Let’s pray.” Now, we’re moving on to learning how to just talk to God about her day and all the things she did and experienced in addition to thanking Jesus for every blessing she enjoys. Teaching a child about prayer and their relationship with God at such a young age is imperative in my opinion, because it’s when their faith is the most simple and uninhibited. "Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matt 19:14)

Thank You God for Blessing Me by Max Lucado is a lovely little board book that does just what my daughter needs most right now—it teaches about prayer. With beautifully water colored illustrations it takes children through little Hermie the caterpillar’s simple prayer to God, thanking Him for all the blessings in his life. It not only gives a great model for prayer, but teaches the reader to really be thankful for all God has given them, and to count their blessings. It’s also a simple enough book with clear enough pictures that my daughter can pick it up and narrate it herself—either by making up her own story, or repeating the words it contains because she’s heard them so often. This is definitely a book I’d recommend for parents of small children who are just learning to appreciate books for the first time, and who are also old enough to start to pray on their own.

Booksneeze gave me this book for free in exchange for my un-biased review. The opinions expressed here are all my own.

Faith like a child

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."
--Matthew 18: 1-5 

 Last night, Bunny and I went through our typical bedtime routine as usual.  We laid down in her big girl bed together and we cuddled, and sang, and prayed.  As I normally do, I said, "Bunny, do you want to pray?" and she responded with,
"Thank you Jesus for Mommy and Daddy, and thank you Jesus for..." and she went through the whole list of people that she is thankful for.  We've been doing this for a long time, now and she seems to really get excited to thank Jesus for all the people that she loves.  And sometimes, she remembers or I remind her to thank Jesus for her house and her food and her toys because not every little girl in the world has all of those things.  Last night, however, I wanted her to more fully understand what her relationship with Jesus can be like, so I made a suggestion: 
"Bunny, do you know that you can tell Jesus about everything?  You don't have to just tell him what you're thankful for.  You can tell him about your day because He loves you and He really cares about those things."  So I guided her through that prayer and we listed all the things that she'd done today.
"Jesus, I really liked playing with my friends today.  Jesus, I liked the new Mickey Mouse shoes Mommy got me today.  Jesus I had fun watching Sesame Street in Spanish today," and then she added all on her own, "And I have my baby."  Then, she suddenly looked up into the room and pointed.
"Jesus has long hair, Mommy," she said as she seemed to be tracing his long hair in the air.  Immediately I felt goosebumps everywhere as I watched my innocent and faith-filled daughter point up in the air at Jesus.  Was she really seeing Him?  I know that He is right there in the room with us--that He always is--but as an adult who is polluted by so many skeptical ideas, it seemed so unfathomable that His image would be so palpable to her.  As I lay there speechless, looking at my wise little two year old, she tried to snap me back to attention, continuing to point up towards the ceiling:  
"Mommy! Jesus has long hair! He has long hair!"

Whether or not Bunny was actually seeing Jesus--which I think is definitely possible--or whether she was remembering pictures of Him in her Bible story books, I don't know.  But I am brought immediately to stories of Jesus with the little children.  He loved little children and if you read the gospels you'll see that He spent lots of time pouring into them.  As I watched my little Bunny, I suddenly saw her from His eyes--innocent, pure, and full of perfectly uninhibited faith.  I realized that Jesus expects me to come to Him in the same way, with the same faith that truly believes that mountains can be moved and that mustard plants can come from a seed.

Matthew 19: 14 says:
"Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

$12.99 for Fuzzi Bunz OS Diapers!!!

Dude, so did you see the sale on Zulily?  The one where they're selling Fuzzi Bunz one size diapers for $12.99 apiece, and a few of their perfect sizes for 9.99?  This, in my opinion, is an unprecedented price.  I've never seen FB diapers sell for so low!  And, Fuzzi Bunz, which is my ALL TIME FAVORITE cloth diaper for leak protection, absorbency, fit, and durability.  They're amazingly awesome diapers! If I would have found them first, my stash would be exclusively Fuzzi Bunz.  Unfortunately with Bunny potty trained (yes, potty trained, I'll have to write a post about that soon!) I don't need any more :-(  But I might have to splurge and get some of the "Does this diaper make my butt look big?" diapers anyway because how cute is that?  Go on over and check it out!!!