Serene turns four

Our big girl is four! Serene requested a "kitty dollhouse" birthday, a concept I tried to execute by incorporating her favorites of late: kittens, the color pink, role-playing, flowers, and pancakes. Since having kids, we've managed to surprise them the morning of their birthdays with a special breakfast and gifts. I originally planned on making a hoop wreath to serve as a backdrop for Serene's birthday breakfast. I wrapped strips of white fabric around a dollar store hula hoop and arranged fresh light pink flowers onto its frame. Floral arranging always makes me nervous because I've much to learn about floral design, but Serene loved it, which is what matters. I cut out cat ears and whiskers to attach onto the hoop wreath, transforming it into a kitty silhouette. "It looks like a married kitty, Mommy!" she exclaimed. We also gave Serene cat ears to wear so she could be a kitty herself.

For breakfast, the birthday girl had a tall stack of pancakes, layered and dusted with powdered sugar to resemble a cake. A silver pipe cleaner twisted into the number 4 was the impromptu cake topper. A few chocolate cupcakes purchased from the store became kitty cupcakes after adorned with cat ears cut from black construction paper. She also had strawberry milk, a blended concoction of milk, strawberries, and honey.

Serene had been asking for a dollhouse for a while, for she has a penchant for role-playing with little figurines. In the midst of researching dollhouses during the couple of months leading up to her birthday, a sweet friend graciously gifted us her daughter's hardly used dollhouse and furniture. Such an undeserved blessing! We got a nursery set to complete the collection so that the doll family includes a baby, just like ours. Serene was so excited to furnish and play with her dollhouse, especially because she has a "daddy doll, mommy doll, jie jie doll, boo boo doll, and mei mei doll."

My heart swells with gratitude to behold the gift Serene is to our family. She is observant, inquisitive, enthusiastic, outgoing, and loving. God uses her to teach me much of Himself through her eagerness to learn about Jesus and anything we're trying to teach her, her willingness to be helpful in a sometimes chaotic household, her tender love for her siblings, and her knack for finding joy in the littlest things. We love you so much, Serene Joy Joy! May you continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our precious Lord and Savior!

It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Even though the sound of it
is something quite atrocious.
If you say it loud enough,
you'll always sound precocious.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Happy Halloween from Mary Poppins, Bert, Jane & Michael Banks! Mary Poppins is near and dear to our hearts. We are huge fans of the book, music, movie, and musical. Alex proposed using a vintage Mary Poppins book. We've seen the musical onstage several times. I'd been ruminating since last year that we could dress up as Mary Poppins, Bert, Jane & Michael Banks this year. They're quite the classic quartet: a nanny, her chimney sweep best friend, and the big sister-little brother pair under her care.

We all had bits and pieces in our closets that provided staples for our costumes. To transform into Bert the chimney sweep, Alex donned a gray button-down shirt, wool vest, and black pants he already had. We thrifted a newsboy cap and a burgundy wool scarf. I sewed the scarf into a necktie. We grabbed a broom from the house, smudged black eyeshadow on his face, and his costume was good to go. For my Mary Poppins costume, I thrifted a high-neck white blouse, sewed the neckline with lace, and made a red felt bow to pin onto it. The black straw hat is thrifted, which I glued artificial cherries and white flowers onto the brim to resemble Mary Poppins' signature hat. A simple midi-length skirt, black tights, and black umbrella complete my outfit. Serene's Jane ensemble comprises of a vintage sailor dress, knee-high white tights, and brown t-strap vintage shoes, all of which she had already had. Valor wears a white button-down shirt, brown wool vest, mustard shorts, and gray knee-high socks, all of which he already had as well. I had minimal sewing to do this year, for which I'm thankful. The kids were not keen on taking pictures in our costumes, so these were the best shots we could muster up. Serene fancied the umbrella and Valor simply wanted to be held. I'm thinking they needed a spoonful of sugar ;) Looking forward to spending time partaking in festivities today and seeing everyone's creative costumes - so fortuitous Halloween falls on our family day!


See our past Halloween costumes:
Halloween 2015: The sun will come out tomorrow
Halloween 2014: In Wonderland
Halloween 2013: The sailor man with a spinach can and his fam
Halloween 2012: I dreamed a dream of time gone by

Serene Joy turns three on the third

We heralded Serene's golden birthday two days ago with a special breakfast (layered pound cake slices, strawberry Greek yogurt, strawberries, and orange juice) and her gift: a mama-made mermaid softie, her third request besides a mermaid tea party and chocolate cake. Since she had been asking me to sew her a mermaid doll, she was so excited to meet her new lovie. I gave the doll a heart "ballerina bun" (Serene's favorite hairstyle), and a mermaid tail in orange, Serene's favorite color. She turned out much larger than I had anticipated - nearly as tall as Serene herself, but it's so cute to see her loved already. Serene named her Isa, short for Isabelle. Isa currently accompanies her wherever she goes. After breakfast, we spent the midmorning at Disneyland, where the refreshingly balmy weather facilitated the loveliest time celebrating our sweet girl. I can't believe we have a three-year-old. Serene Joy is perky, chatty, silly, and sweet. She is inquisitive, talks and sings all day long, loves spending time with friends, prefers wearing dresses, answers catechism questions with gusto, insists on doing things by herself, cares for her little brother, and enjoys role playing. She says silly things that make us laugh like "My tummy hurts. I need ice cream." She is such an inexpressible treasure to our family. We thank the Lord for granting her three years of life thus far. We love you so, Serene Joy Joy! May you come to know the Lord's deep love for you which surpasses all the world has to offer.

A keepsake softie

When a friend had the thoughtful idea to turn his wife's beloved baby blanket into a keepsake softie and asked me to help bring his vision to life, I was thrilled to help. I thought he had such an amazingly sweet idea. The baby blanket was so soft and wonderfully worn; I used it as the doll's dress. I selected other fabrics in colors that would complement the baby blanket. The doll has a sweet embroidered face, purple felt hair, green-and-white striped legs, and a removable cape made from vintage linens. Serene and Valor each thought I was making the doll for them, and were so sad I wasn't. Valor kept crying and reaching for "bay-bee," and Serene has been requesting a new softie ever since. A mermaid soft doll, to be exact. I'm thinking I know what to make her for her third birthday coming up soon.

Ollivanders wand workshop

Harry Potter fever has been at an all-time high around here. I've been wanting a wand of my own for future trips to the wizarding world, so we decided to host our own wand-making party last week. An "Ollivanders wand workshop" sign welcomed fellow witches and wizards to become Ollivander's apprentices for the day. To evoke the magic of the wizarding world, we decorated the dining room with simple floating stars cut out of golden yellow cardstock hung with white yarn, and "The wand chooses the wizard" scrawled in chalk on black butcher paper as backdrop for our work area. Guests had Madam Puddifoot's afternoon tea consisting of assorted tea sandwiches, blueberry scones, and chocolate chip cookies. They washed it all down with Polyjuice Potion (sweet tea) and Felix Felicis (lemonade).

I saw a couple of tutorials online where wands are made of normal chopsticks decorated with hot glue, and then painted. I brainstormed on ways to make the wand-making experience as magical and authentic as possible. Before we all started making our own wands, we had our wands officially choose us by taking the Pottermore wand quiz. Once our wand wand chose us, we knew exactly the unique combination to create since our quiz results tell us the length of our wand, the wand wood, and the magical core. I wanted to figure out a way to insert a core into the wand, since other tutorials online omitted that step all together. I thought about drilling a hole into the wand wood in order to insert the core. After consulting a handy friend, he confirmed it might just work! We used the following supplies to create our wands:

Materials:
18" bamboo cooking chopsticks as wand wood (Chopsticks have tapered ends like wands. I chose 18" because those were the thickest I could find. I got them here although they are also available online)
Red, gold, maroon, brown feathers as phoenix feather cores (available at craft stores)
Silver speckled white string as unicorn hair cores (cut into short pieces. Available here)
Gold speckled burlap as dragon heartstring cores (dethreaded into short pieces. Available at fabric stores)
Tape measure
Pen
Serrated knife
Power drill
Mini hot glue guns (available at craft stores)
Mini hot glue sticks
Craft paint
Sponge brushes

Directions:
1. Take a chopstick and use a tape measure and pen to mark the desired length of your wand. Ollivander states that most wands are between 9"-14" long. Cut to desired length with serrated knife.
2. Drill a hole through the top (blunt end) of the wand wood with a bit big enough where you can insert your core easily. Insert your magical core. Ollivander uses phoenix feathers, unicorn hair, or dragon heartstrings for his wand cores.
3. Seal the opening with a dab of hot glue. Use the hot glue gun to "draw" designs on the wand wood. Let dry.
4. Use a sponge brush to paint your wand with craft paint. Let dry. That's it!

We had a blast nerding out about Harry Potter and making wands together while the movies played in the background. Alex surprised me with a Ravenclaw robe I got to don in time for the wand-making party. It was loads cheaper than the ones at Universal, and it included a Ravenclaw tie, sealed Hogwarts letter of acceptance, Hogwarts Express ticket, and Death Eater tattoo. I was a happy witch waving my 11 1/4" redwood with unicorn hair wand around!