Since big brother is camera-shy again these days, Elliott has had to be such a trooper while I snap photo after photo of her.

I made her this dress a month or two ago with the intention of doing kind of a dreamy-feeling little photo session with her.  It’s been hanging in her closet ever since.  Until today.

The dress is simply a variation of my halter top tutorial.  I used leftover quilt squares from when I made her rag quilt and pieced together the skirt.  Then I added folded layers of tulle over the bodice and a little tulle ruffle at the hem.

We in North Texas are in a terrible state of drought and most everywhere you look, it’s brown.  Dead and dying vegetation doesn’t make for pretty photo backgrounds, but I managed to find a pretty green spot for her to have a little tea party.  I turned her loose and she helped herself and her friend Squishy to some tea.

Not pictured: Squishy.

Also to be noted: Squishy is a large stuffed elephant.

This child of mine doesn’t stay put for long, though.  The tea party soon ended and she was all over the place.

I am a sucker for these pretty little feet!  Long, thin, dainty and lovely.  They dance and they dance and they dance.  I love to think about all the places they’ll take her over the years.  Maybe one day they’ll be in pointe shoes.  And what will her first pair of heels look like?  What kind of shoes will she wear to her wedding?  I picture these feet grown and shoeless, pacing for hours in the middle of the night in circles around her dining room table, desperately trying to soothe a colicky baby.

Or were those my pacing feet?  And was she the baby only a few years ago?

Oh.  Oh, my baby girl.

Oh no.  Now I’m all verklempt.  Talk amongst yourselves.

Since I posted last, we’ve been staying busy with end-of-the-schoolyear activities and adjusting to our summertime schedule.  Alex finished first grade and is thoroughly enjoying being out of school.  He has a notebook for the summer that he writes a story in each day.  We’ll be working on handwriting, multiplication and division over the summer.

Elliott, well…she’s Elliott.  A fireball.  A handful.  A nutcase.  A sweetpea.  She is loving having big brother home and they keep each other entertained…and a bit stressed out at times.

Today is our wedding anniversary and we’ll be celebrating starting next Friday with a trip to NYC!  Can’t wait!

In the meantime, here are a few pics of my kiddos enjoying the incredible weather we have had!

Hope you all are enjoying your summers as much as these kiddos are!

Dad and Alex started off the weekend shooting the airsoft guns that Alex got for his birthday.

He looked soooo cute in his safety glasses!  Just look at how the straps poke his ears out!

After a few hundred rounds of plastic pellets were shot, we had a little egg hunt at my in-laws’.

I thought I would try to get some shots of them in their Easter outfits since Easter Day was forecasted to be stormy and icky, but…I had little cooperation.  When I tried pictures of them together, this is what I got:

So I just snapped what I could get.

Then we rode in Grandma’s car out to her house and Elliott gave out.

Alex peeked at me through the headrest…

We settled in at Grandma’s for the night and enjoyed a much-needed thunderstorm that dropped almost 2 inches on our very thirsty world.  Luckily, by the time our next egg hunt rolled around, most of the water was soaked up and we could go on with our fun.

Note the waterproof shoes and rolled up pants.  That’s our way with coping with mud and preventing messy cuffs.  Always prepared, baby!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend!

Today, after our 70% chance of rain dropped to 0% and the sun came out, I grabbed the camera and took a few shots of the flowers that spring has brought to life.

Here’s our lovely state flower.  We’ve got tons of them in the back yard and we can’t/won’t mow until they’ve got to seed.  Please excuse the ugly brown grass in the background.  Our drought is pretty extreme at this point.

This guy is a big fan of bluebonnets!  I swear he posed for me while I took his picture.

I took the kids for some tulip pictures, but I’m not sure I got the tulips captured well.  Might go back for more tomorrow!  In the meantime, here are some pics of these 2 kids that I think are pretty darn cute.

In no time, Shelby’s mom and I were texting and making playdate plans.  Yesterday we met up at the park and had a great time!

After feeding the ducks, we headed over to the playground where Shelby was a pro.  After seeing her go down the big slide, Elliott decided she was a big enough girl to give it a go.  She boldy climbed to the top and was so very proud of herself!

But then….she froze!

And began to panic.  Notice poor Shelby back there just wishing this kid would take her turn already!

She finally let go and went for it.  Her expression changed about 19 times on the way down.  It went from terrified to elated to terrified to thrilled.  Before she was even off the end, she was grinning and ready to go for it again!

So up they went…

And again…she froze.

They started to blow us some raspberries and that took her mind off her slide anxiety for a moment…

long enough to decide that maybe it wouldn’t be so terrifying if they went down together this time.

Then they were off to the swings.

Do you remember just how good it feels to swing and enjoy the sunshine?  These girls were loving it!  And Elliott was loving her Welby.

It was a wonderful day and I foresee many more playdates in Elliott & Shelby’s future!  There’s no telling just what adventures these girls  are going to get into together!

This one was originally pretty washed out, so I brightened, saturated and sharpened it a bit to bring it to life. I had to fight off some shadows on her face to show off that funny little expression…

This one, aside from being cropped, isn’t touched at all with Photoshop. The light made me happy and her expression is just very Elliott. I like it from my Mom-of-Elliott point of view.

The desaturated background in this one was actually an accident at first, as I meant to click ‘hue/saturation’ rather than ‘desaturate’. But….I liked the accident and went with it.

She asks to wear the outfit at least once a day and has become quite the prima ballerina.

Now if that doesn’t melt a mother’s heart, I don’t know what will.  I love my little ballerina.

Alex’s spring break officially started today, so he just left for a weekend with the in-laws. I miss him, but I know he’ll have a great time playing soccer and walking down the street to get a cup of his favorite ice cream in the afternoons.

Today, I’ll be doing a bit of playing with Elliott, cleaning the house and making clips to match her new clothes that came in the mail yesterday! Oh, the fun to be had!

Have a beautiful day!

But what is wrong with this picture?

Can you guess?

??

Any ideas???

Notice the lack of hair clips adorning those sweet lil’ pigtails. Yep. I feel like I eat, sleep and breathe hair clips lately, yet my daughter is caught bare-haired! Tragic, really. Tragic. I’ve been so caught up in making clips for all the orders and for gifts that I’ve lost sight of why I started making clips in the first place. So, as of this very moment, I declare tomorrow “Catch Up On Elliott’s Hair Clips Day”.

If YOUR daughter is running around bare-haired, I suggest you hurry on over to the contest page and sign up for the giveaway! After all, tomorrow is the big day! Some lucky winner will get to choose their very favorite set of clips for their little one!