Finally Finished!

Well it took me 6 months to make these dresses and another 2 to get family pictures taken with them and a total of 12 months to get them posted. Wish me luck on their dresses for this Easter!

The Project that never Ends!

Vivienne's Bodice

Genevieve's Bodice

Embroidery

Skirt Scallops with eyelets

These dresses were originally their Easter dresses. I had never done any embroidery before and I had no idea the amount of labor involved. I will post updates as I finish more steps.

These are some of our beach pictures this summer. Jeff has been working at the Manhattan beach pier so that's where we've been going this summer.

Toilet Paper

San Diego Zoo Trip

I'd been wanting to take Genevieve to the San Diego Zoo of a while, so when Helene was going to the zoo during her trip to California we tagged along.

Vivi take some assisted steps

Clare and Genevieve on the Fourth of July. As usual Jeff was working the fourth so me and the Girls went to Ojai. It was a pretty full house and the kids had a great time.

Santa Monica Pier with the Cousins

It was so exciting to have Helene and her kids come to California this summer. Genevieve was thrilled that "her friends" were here. I don't know if she really remembered much from the last time we saw them in May.

For two nights they came to stay with us. I was hoping that we could have beach weather and spend the time here in Redondo Beach but the weather this summer has been rather cold so one day we went to the Santa Monica Pier and 3rd Street, and the next day we went to the Grove to see the American Girl store. On the was home from the Grove Genevieve realized that her cousins weren't coming back to our house, she cried almost the whole way home. She hadn't been so upset since we made her leave the pumpkin patch last year.

Poor Vivi she hardly got out of her stroller for both of the trips. At the end of our day in Santa Monica we got some Pinkberry and hung out at the fountains at 3rd street.

At the base of the pier they have a tiny play area that is sandy with a dragons head and a boat made out of concrete. The kids played there after we ate our hot dog on a stick. And for those that our interested this is the first hot dog on a stick location.

Here is the view from the Ferris Wheel, you can tell how beachy the weather was.
Jeff and Giro, There are fair like rides on the pier, and the line to buy the tickets was right beneath one of those boat rides that swing about 180 degrees. Each that thing was above me I wanted to run out of the line. But I managed to suck it up for a few minutes and get the tickets.
Genevieve and Clare on some of the Kiddy rides
3rd Street and the Fountains

Disneyland Trip

The girls at church have organized a Mom's group and one of the activities is Disneyland day. Jeff had the day off and so did some of the other mom's. I'm still a little bit chicken to take both of them with me together. It was really nice to hang out with some couples since SeQuoia and Christian have moved to Ohio.

I have an Intense urge to dress the two girls a like. And this trip I was able to indulge, so you might notice that they have the some jumper on.
This was the first time that we have put Vivienne on a horse by herself and at I think that she liked it.

A Walk in the "Woods"

I still forget to upload the picture backwards. While in Ojai we took two of my parents dog: Pandy, and Jossette, for a walk in wheelers Gorge. Genevieve was lucky enough to be able to walk Jossette.

It was so neat to see with an adults eye the places you've seen as child. Growing up it wasn't unusual at all on a hot day to take a little drive and play in the creeks and streams.
Genevieve needed a little help going up the steep parts of the trail but other that that she maneuvered quiet well. Jossette seemed to know that she was holding the lease and didn't really pull at all.
We checked out the streams that we used to swim in as children and were able to look at all the water bugs and things living there.

The trail head

A look Back

Dancing with Daddy

On our way to bed Jeff and Genevieve had an impromptu dance party

Vivienne is Rolling Over

Vivienne has just started rolling over consistently though she still gets stuck. I thought I would get a few pictures of her in the act but to no avail. She would only lay down with her head on the ground put her rear end up in the air, and then pop up and stare at me to help her.

This is when I took pity on her and rolled her over myself

This was a dress that I wore as a baby. I love having my girls wear hand me downs.

I still haven't figured out how to get the pictures in the right order. Here she was staring at me trying to get me to roll her over.