Activity Days Father/Daughter Olympics

Since we did a Mother/Daughter tea party we wanted to do something with the dads.  But we didn't want it too close to the Mother/Daughter activity either, so we chose Sept.  And we chose to do games. We spent one Wednesday night planning the event with the girls.  We talked about and chose the games and discussed our time frame and how much time we thought each game would take.  And chose some extra games in case we had more time.  And we discussed some award ribbons too.  Then we spent the rest of our planning activity working on memorizing and being able to explain the articles of faith.

We had to do this on a Saturday morning because most of the dads have callings on Wednesday nights, just like the moms.  We have about an average of 9 girls that come out to our Activity Days, but only 5 girls and their dads showed up for this activity.  And somehow I didn't get a picture of one of the girls and her dad... sorry!

 It was a chilly morning but I think everyone had a lot of fun.

We first did a 3-legged race.  We only did this one once because the rope that my husband had given me for the race was cutting into their legs.  Sorry girls and dads!

 Can you see the painful expressions on their faces?

Then  we did some games with balloons.  And we ended up having a few pop along with some of the extras, so one team had to use some scarfs bundled into a ball.  We did this a couple times so the team that had the scarf ball could do it with the balloon.  They had to keep the balloon between their backs and go up to the cones and back, without popping and dropping the balloon.

And in the picture below they had to keep the balloon in between their legs, go up to the cones and back and pass it off to their dads, without dropping or popping the balloon.

And I think you can guess what the race below is... The wheel barrel....

One of our dads had problems with his wrists, so we had a fill in...

And a water balloon toss...

This game was a favorite... my husband told me about this game, they play it every year at the father-son camp out.  You blind fold the dads and the daughters call out "dad" and the dads have to find them based on their voice.  I think it would be harder if there were more girls and dads.  But we played it a few times taking turns blind folding the girls too.  And then we also played a couple rounds where they had certain animal noises to make instead of calling "dad" or "daughter".  They all seemed to really like this game.

My husband made this board for the t-ball players to practice throwing.  So I brought it along and we used it as one of our games.

 We were saying good bye to one of girls who turned 12 and was moving onto Young Womens (this was held on her birthday) and we were also welcoming in 2 brand new girls that just turned 8 only a couple of days before this activity.  So we had cake, pretzels and root beer floats for treats after all the fun games.

We wanted everyone to have an award.  So I made up some award ribbons.  I had made 12 different ones and then while everyone was enjoying their snack, the other leader and I decided which father/daughter team got what award and we handed them out.

 To make them I just used cupcake wrappers, 2 different sizes and I printed the middle part on card stock, cut it out and glued them together.  And I used streamer paper for the ribbons hanging down.

Here is the jPeg I made for the middle of the ribbons. And please note that I put a piece of card stock on the back also, it made it a little easier to put tape on to put the ribbons on the girls and dads.

Brown Leather Shoes

I had bought this fake brown leather stuff really cheap when our Joann's was moving.  I needed a brown pair of shoes for Mackenzie for church and decided to make this pair.  They turned out really big.  They are too wide and too long.  And I thought I would try velcro this time and I decided I don't like the velcro closure.  I sort of like these shoes and I sort of don't.  I don't particular like the brown leather, it was cheap and that's the only reason I got it.  And they are so wide!  Maybe if I made them skinner I would like them better.  But they still aren't too bad.  I like to follow the pattern the first time and then make changes.

I'm really tempted to go back and make a new pair, skinner and with the loop and button closure because the velcro just doesn't stay closed.

 I forgot to change the white balance when I took the pictures of Mackenzie and on top of that she would not sit still for the pictures...

 I tired my best to fix the white balance, although it's better, it's still not great...

Click here to go to the website with the pattern and tutorial that I used the base of the shoe, it's called The Modern Baby Bootie by Tao of Craft.  I used the 12-18 month size shoe and the strap was the piece that was left over from the middle of the outside piece.  I just cut it into a straight rectangle and folded it in half.  I first sewed the the velcro to the side that would be on the bottom (I made sure my folded edge was facing down, because it looked nicer), then I folded it in half and sewed around it to give it a more finished edge.

I would recommend putting a layer of quilt batting in between the two sole pieces for the bigger sizes, it gives the sole more cushion for walkers.  I did not do it in this pair but I did it in a purple leather pair I will post later, when I catch up posting.  And to make it easier to attach the soles, if you have basting spray... glue them together with the basting spray.  But obviously if you want to make them so you can't see the seams then you can't do it that way.  However with the leather being thicker and the ruffle, I thought it would be too hard to make this pair so you couldn't see the seams.

Also, I took a pair of shoes she has (size 4) that were skinnier and traced that sole over the top of this sole pattern and cut it to the skinner sole.  For girls this pattern is just really wide.

If you would like to see my loop (with elastic) and button closure instead of the elastic you can see how I did it here in this pair of pleated Mary Jane's that I made.  I also have a tutorial for the pleated Mary Jane shoes there too.
For the leather "ruffle" I kind of guessed the size.  I measured the width that I wanted, held a ruler up to the shoe and decided how wide I wanted it.  Then I cut a long strip and folded/pleated it and then held it up to the shoe top to decide how long I wanted it.  Before you sew the heel together you want to sew the ruffle onto the shoe top.  At first I thought I didn't want the ruffle part to get stuck in when I sewed the sole of the shoe on.  But then it did it by accident on the one shoe and I kind of liked it, so I went back and had the other one get stuck in.  They are only stuck in on the insides in the front.  I wish now that I would have made it longer and had all 4 corners stick in when I sewed the sole of the shoe on.  Live and learn, right?
Sorry I didn't take any pictures explaining everything.  Maybe that will give me motivation to make another pair, skinner and what not.  So I can take pictures of the steps.  However, you should be able to understand the differences I made and follow the tutorial that I linked too above.
Happy sewing!

Just Playing Around

I had volunteered for a little over an hour at Jayden's school, walking with his class for their annual walk-a-thon.  I totally forgot about the carpet coming that morning!  Luckily my awesome mother in-law came to my house to watch Tanner and Mackenzie while I went to the school and the carpet guys came. 

We were just walking around the school, so I didn't take my camera to the walk-a-thon.  And like always, when I don't have it I wish I did.  At one point they stopped and did the chicken dance, and Jayden actually did it!!!!!!  Woah!  I was so surprised that he did it!  I had my phone and video taped a little to send to Dave.  It's awful quality so I won't put it on here.  It sure was fun walking with his class and seeing all the kids he has school with!  And I finally got to meet his teacher in person.

Polly volunteered in the afternoon at the walk-a-thin so I watched Cozette for her while she went in.  It was so nice outside I decided to try and take some pictures of Cozette.  These are my favorite...

Cozette started coughing and Mackenzie came over and patted her back!  What a little sweet heart!!!  I don't know where she learned that.  I guess just from watching us, but I don't think we really did it that much.  Just so cute the things she picks up!!!

 When we were back inside Tanner wanted his picture taken and you know I won't pass up that opportunity!  So here were my favorite of him...

 He's such a cute little boy!!!  I do love my little Tanner man!!!

 He tried putting his hat on Mackenzie, how sweet!

Angry Bird Pizza

I had decided to just make a frozen pizza since this was a very busy week for us.  This night Jayden had soccer practice and I had board meeting with the preschool and Dave had to finish taking up the carpet and linoleum floor that was in the boys closet to get it ready for the new carpet on Friday morning.  Anyway, I thought I'd make it a little fun and turned the frozen pizza into and angry bird.  I had seen this on Pinterest and thought I'd try it.  I used Turkey Pepperoni, american cheese (white and orange) and olives.  My boys love it!!!

 At some point while it was cooking, Tanner got hurt and Mackenzie kissed him to make him feel better, it was so cute!

I turned the oven light on so we could watch it cook and Mackenzie said "ooooooooooo" when we looked in at it, it was so cute!

 Tada, it's done... and I over cooked it a little...

After dinner Tanner stayed to help daddy and I took Jayden to his soccer practice with Mackenzie and then they came to my preschool board meeting with me.  They got to play with all the toys at the preschool during our meeting.  And ever since then Mackenzie has wanted to go into the preschool and play, I guess because now she knows what's in there.

Baby Boy Gift

My friend, Natalie, had her 5th baby!!!  And her 4th boy!!!  How exciting for her to have another sweet little baby!!!  I had wanted to make her some cute  boy shoes.  She is a big time PSU fan and I thought about maybe using PSU fabric or something along those lines.  But then I just decided to go with some stuff that I already had at home.  Then I saw this cute appliquéd tie on a onesie and I knew I just had to make that along with matching shoes!  And I couldn't decided if I wanted to go with "black" or "brown" so I did both.  I can't help myself, they are so cute!  And everyone needs a black and brown pair of shoes, right?

So here they are...

 I just LOVE them!!!  It almost makes me want to have another boy... almost!

You can find the pattern and a tutorial for the tie here... I drew my own tie, and I used Steam-a-lite 2, not the under wonder that she used.  They are the same thing, I just have Steam-a-Lite 2 from other projects I've done.

The "brown" shoes... really brown and green.  This is the same pattern for boys that I've made before with the wanes tooth fabric.   The pattern is the Taylor Shoe by Home Spun Threads.  Click Here to go there.  The pattern is free and they have an awesome tutorial on how to make them.  And they show you how to make the shoes without a seam showing in the inside of the shoe.

and the "black" shoe...

Cute, right?  Well I sure think so!

And after I had mailed this to Natalie, I was in Target and I saw a onesie on their self with a tie appliquéd to it, but I like mine better!  :)  After all, mine come with matching shoes!  :)