Pretty Pretty Princess...

I forgot to blog about my sewing projects!  I wanted to sew a costume for my niece Tori, and I saw some pretty yellow fabric at Hancock's the other day so I decided on a Belle dress.  Now, you have to understand that my total count of things successfully sewed was 3 before this dress--a pair of pajama pants, a skirt, and a button up shirt that fits super awkwardly.  A costume was like, way out of my league, but I figured that if it didn't fit quite right, who really cared?  And if worst came to worst, I could hot glue it together, right?  So anyway, I got the costume pattern from JoAnn's and got to work.  I had already done pretty much everything the directions were asking me to do before except a liner for the bodice.  I've never sewn a liner because we weren't that advanced in our beginning sewing class, but I knew I needed to learn, so I figured this was a good time.  

I was nervous the dress would be hideous or wouldn't fit her at all, but it actually turned out great!  Things I learned:

-People are not exaggerating when they tell you slippery fabrics are hard to sew with.  Wow that satin was a nightmare!  I didn't realize how easily it caught and slipped around under the presser foot!
-Simple embellishments like sewing a ribbon around the bodice is going to add a lot of time to your project when you're not that great at sewing even just the basics.
-Tulle is super cheap and easy to sew because you can't really see it, so who cares if you mess up?
-You can't sew a dress for one niece, and not for the other.

Notice jealous little Riley in the top right
corner...that broke my heart.  

Overall, though, it was a blast.  It didn't take as long as I expected, and Tori was adorable as she pretended to be Belle and dance around in her dress for about 2 hours.  Here are some pictures of the process..

I was so excited after I finished the bodice!  

Here's what the dress looked like just according
to the pattern directions (minus the hem).

And here was the finished product once I'd
added some jewels and the ribbon.

And here's Tori in her dress!

Of course, after giving Tori her dress and about breaking into tears at seeing Riley's disappointment in not getting one, I raced to the store to pick a pattern for Riley.  I settled on a much more colorful dress because I have to admit, I was so done with yellow after Tori's.  I wanted something cheaper and quicker for Riley so I found a pattern using mostly Tulle.  I decided I would just pretend it was Sleeping Beauty and call it good :)

Loved the sparkly tulle and cheap costume
satin that worked wayy better than Tori's!

Her sleeves were harder, but so cute!

The belt was actually velcro so it could detach,
 but it's pinned here so it looks awkward...

Final product!  The belt looked a little space warrior princess
so I added a rose made out of the scraps I had left over.

Riley was so adorable in it!!  It was a little small for her, but I knew that was going to happen--
I made a mistake cutting it.  That was a lesson learned--Don't Do That!!!

10 Life Lessons Learned...

Well, according to my few, but faithful readers, I have been majorly slacking on my blogging for the past month. (This post was started a month ago so we will say 2 months now...) My apologies, friends, but sometimes life throws you curves and blogging just has to take a backseat to the more important things of the time. In this case, my life got pretty unpredictable almost exactly two months ago when my oldest sister went in to surgery to have her gall bladder removed. It was supposed to be an outpatient same-day procedure...haha, oh the irony...basically, you just need to know that Christi was in and out of hospitals, doctor's visits, bedrest, excruciating pain, nausea, and basically, dying for the next month or so waiting for the doctors to figure out what they could do to fix her internal issues.

Now, it is important to note that Christi is the mother of two

adorable little girls who

I actually recently blogged about. But you have to realize that they are ages 2 years old and about 6 months. You can imagine feeling as awful as Christi felt this entire time and still trying to stay up through the nights with the babies and comfort the girls........bottom line--she didn't.

That's where I come in! It wasn't really like I was the only one helping out, Annie and Mom were super helpful too, but I think I was up in Salt Lake about 3 or 4 nights a week for the last month and a half of Winter semester to stay up with the babies and help feed them their bottles, comfort them back to sleep, etc.

Who wouldn't want to wake up at 3am for that face though, really? :)

Thusly...

10 Life Lessons Learned:

1. I want to have my life a little less planned so that I can on a whim be available to go help someone who is desperately in need.

2. I am never having children if I am still trying to do school. Ever. There is just not enough time or energy in the day to be a full time mom and do well in school if you take too many credits. I have a whole lot more respect for the girls in my classes who bring their babies with them and attempt to take notes, listen respectfully, feed the baby, and comfort them at the same time. I don't think I'll be giving any dirty looks to that distraction in the corner of the room anymore. They have my sympathy :)

3. Never pick up a 6 month year old without a burp-rag on your shoulder...seriously...It doesn't matter how many times they've spit up already...they will never cease to amaze you.

4. Kids understand a lot more of what you're saying than you think they do. It was amazing how innocently ignorant Tori remained when I told her time and time again to hurry up and finish her lunch, but as soon as I mentioned the park in a casual conversation she was the most obedient angel you ever saw.

5. Lack of sleep can change everything about a person. I think I can blame my apathy from my previous post on the lack of sleep I experienced for this period of time. My college life in Provo stopped mattering as I worried about the girls, Christi's health, how my mom was faring, etc. Suddenly school and social life here seemed like the least important thing.

6. Explosive Diarrhea? It exists. Who knew? Props to the people who had to WASH cloth diapers once they'd been soiled. I have never been so appreciative of disposable diapers.

7. Contrary to popular belief, disliking vegetables is NOT a learned behavior. Riley seriously gagged on every vegetable baby food we tried to feed her. She knows where it's at, that one. Fruit all the way.

8. Avoid playing tennis with two year olds running around the courts, no matter how great you think your aim is...I may or may not have raised a tennis-ball sized bump on Tori's head accidentally...

9. Once kids have been taught to clean up their messes. Do. Not. Clean. Up. Their. Messes. I got myself into a lot of trouble when I put away one of Tori's puzzles before she was done with it. I never knew a two year old could make me feel so guilty with her little eyes showing a world of betrayal and hurt newly introduced to her.

10. Do not teach children to play with their food. I didn't realize how literally Tori would respond when I suggested that the 4 grapes on her plate might be a family. Needless to say...she would not eat one grape for the next two weeks. Sorry Christi, my bad 0:)

I'm obsessed...

So...I kinda can't get enough of my nieces :) I'm so lucky I get to live just 35 minutes away from them so I can visit pretty much anytime I want! My professor cancelled class today so I decided to spend the day in Salt Lake with Christi and the girls. They are just so cute! Tori and I had a fun day playing together, while Riley had her fill of spitting up on me and flashing me huge smiles...It was so much fun...I didn't want to leave!

I know no one cares about pictures of them as much as me (and possibly my immediate family who are deprived right now), but I just needed to post some of the pictures we took today! Enjoy!

This is Riley Shae Higham^^ She's about 6 months now and just starting to babble. She's known for holding her own bottle, but dropping it when she gets too excited about eating, smiling all the time, and drooling like nobody's business.

Also, I love her :)

This is Tori Annette Higham^^ She's about 2 and a half years old. (How are you supposed to write that? 2.5? 2 1/2? two and a half?) Anyway, she discovered that the iPhone has a camera on both sides so she could be taking pictures while she saw herself! I found her having conversations with herself in the camera more than a few times :) We played a game where she tried to copy my faces. I was pretty impressed!

We played at the park!

She let me curl her hair and for the rest of the day she couldn't stop saying, "See my hair? It's curled!". Also, she enjoys walking in big people's shoes for some reason...

These pictures don't do lunch justice. We a blast making faces for about 20 minutes while she ate and we practiced all the sign language words I've been teaching her (mom, dad, chocolate, thank you, candy, you know...the important ones...) and she kept throwing her hands up saying "delicious!" (a recent addition to her vocabulary).

I just love these girls so much and I am so happy whenever I get to spend time with them. I have loved living so close and we're finally to a point where Tori can pronounce "Aunt Erin" (which is a big deal...it's hard to say apparently). I feel blessed to have such beautiful little girls in my life :) And a sister who always lets me come visit whenever I want. It's simply the best!