Back to School Beauties!

Going back to school is a big deal when both of your parents are teachers, and your mom loves to celebrate the little things. 

How do we have a second grader and a kindergartner? 

The first day of school was wonderful. Lilly agreed to wear a dress for one more year, and was overjoyed with the amount of friends in her class. Both girls have amazing teachers. Iris is super excited to have Lilly's kindergarten teacher. Parents are asked to stay for the first day of kinder, and it is such an amazing day! Tears flowed all around the room (teacher too) as sweet books about growing up were read. After school, we always celebrate with a small cake and presents. The girls don't know it, but the gifts are things we would buy them anyway: new PE shoes, a new devotional to read before bed, and fancy pencils. Little things or big things... it depends on who you ask.

*My heart explodes when I see the years fly by in these last four photo collages. It's hard to believe I took these pictures every year since Lilly's first year in preschool. What's more amazing is the fact that I hadn't joined Pinterest yet! #insertwinkyface

So Long, Summer!

Summer memories:

 mid day carousel rides

 first tie dye fun

 good-bye, Bickel

 date with my little man

 soccer camp

 traditions

 the beach (from afar)

 Sea World passes

 late night ice cream run

 baby 1st time meeting

 crafting

 bouncing

 running

 observing

 crashing out

 water play

frozen yogurt bliss

back to school haircuts

Largest Quilt yet, Three Years in the Making

I did it! I have been working on this quilt for three, count them, three summers. The first summer, I cut the pieces and worked on the front and the back sides of the giant quilt (noun).

Last summer, I had the privilege of using my friend's long arm machine to quilt (verb) the front to the back.

This summer, I trimmed it, made the binding, and attached it using my sewing machine for every step. I have always hand stitched the back of the binding to a quilt, but I felt like that would take another summer, so I tried something new. I'm not totally pleased with how it turned out since the stitches are visible, but I think I learned a few things which is always a plus and IT IS FINISHED.