And we have Kittens!

The Cascades

We took the whole family out hiking to enjoy the beautiful fall weather today.  The girls really enjoyed the hike, and loved the waterfall at the end.

Tenley started off happy and perky, and really liked getting a ride on Daddy's back, but she was worn out before we got to the waterfall, and fell asleep.  I still got her picture at the falls, but she slept right through that part.

We are looking forward to trying some more hikes as the leaves turn colors, but had a great time today.

First Day of School!

Kayla had her very first day of kindergarten and Haley started 2nd grade today.  They were both so excited for today!

Kayla absolutely loves school.  She was so excited at the end of the day to tell me all about it.  She sang the cutest little songs, and did little dances to go along with them.

In the evening she asked for "homework."  She didn't really have any yet, but I let her do a paper from a workbook, and she read a book to me.

Of course, Tenley can't be left out of the action.

Beach Trip!

We headed to North Carolina this year for our family vacation.  We were fortunate to have great friends join us this year.  Here are my beach girls:

 

 

 

Kayla and Tenley loved playing in the sand.  We made a beach fort that Tenley enjoyed climbing over.

 

 

 

 Haley wanted to be in the ocean, she really enjoyed boogie-boarding this year.  Kayla liked it too, but she preferred to climb on mommy or daddy's back to do so.

 

 

This is what I spent most of my time doing at the beach, chasing Tenley.  She would just pick a direction and go.  Thank goodness it usually wasn't towards the water.

Pillowcase Dresses

Every once in a while I find some time to sew.  The girls love having matching dresses with their dolls.  I found a couple easy patterns.  Even though we used the pillowcase style dress, we used actual fabric that we had on hand.  With just a slight alteration to the patterns - doll and girls' dresses to match.  Haley even made one for her American Girl doll.

Here is Kayla(and her amazing, acrobatic doll Leah).  She is my action model, would not sit still.

And here's Haley with her dolls Kanani and Clair: 

I think they turned out great.

Tenley's Butterfly Cupcakes

We made Tenley a butterfly cake and cupcakes for her 1st Birthday.

My original plan was to use a butterfly cookie cutter to cut out fondant and place them on the cupcakes, but they were too big and floppy.  I ended up using a small oval cutter to cut out four wings, and placed them around a Good and Plenty.  We had some pearl sprinkles to give it a little something extra.  I think they turned out cute.

The birthday girl enjoyed them!

Tenley's 1st Birthday

Here's the birthday girl!

She was so excited about everything, but I think the card was her favorite.

She is such a daddy's girl!

Sleepover Party Cake

Haley wanted a sleepover party for her 7th birthday.  We made her cake into a bed with six little girls in it, one modeled after each of her party guests.  The girls love it when I start making the cake decorations, they want to do everything that mommy does.  To help out they each decorated some cupcakes.