day 30; date night...

it's not often that i get one on one time with my big girl. so when jeffrey volunteered to stay home with laney last weekend, libbi and i decided it was high time for us to go on a date. ;-)

she dressed herself for this lovely mother-daughter outing and was none too pleased that i requested she put a skirt over her leggings. (which just so happened to be white and completely see through....helllllo, dora panties!) 

our first stop was the park. swinging is definitely one of libbi's hobbies. that girl could stay on a swing for hours. she was swinging and sliding and having the time of her life. it was so much fun to just watch her have a good time and enjoy playing. she's at a great age for playgrounds (in my opinion) because she's able to play independently on most of the equipment and i don't have to worry about her stepping off a ledge or falling through some random opening (who designs these things anyway?!) 

when it was time to leave the playground, libbi had a bit of a meltdown. it wasn't one of our finer moments, but we made it to the car in one piece. as we were driving away she said, "momma...i'm sorry i was fussin' about leaving the park." SO sweet! i told her that i knew it was hard to leave and that sometimes doing the right thing is hard. i was really feeling this teachable parenting moment. and i was pretty sure she was, too. so when she said, "momma...i need to tell you sumfin'" i just knew it was gonna be good. 

i waited expectantly for her response to our heart to heart and she said, "sometimes....dogs wear sweaters." 

right. of course they do. ;-)

and that was just the beginning of our conversations throughout the car ride to the restaurant. as she was singing from the backseat i said, "libbi, you're a really good singer." to which she replied, "i know..... and you're a really loud singer." 

oops. guess i'll tone it down from the front seat. i didn't realize i was belting out 

frère jacques so forcefully. as we were pulling in to the mexican restaurant, we saw a convertible. libbi thought it was hilarious to see a car "without a top" and she laughed and laughed. i asked her if she knew what that kind of car was called and she told me it was "a....limo....limo.....lemonade!" 

if swinging is libbi's hobby, then a mexican restaurant is her own personal heaven. that girl LOVES her some chips and queso. we lucked out that the band was there and they were basically our own personal entertainment for the evening. libbi LOVED them when they were on the other side of the restaurant and she could just listen and watch, but when they approached her for a song request she immediately froze - ha! 

she was so still that i considered checking her pulse a few times. ;-)

we had the best time just talking and laughing. i was so happy to be able to spend some time with my big girl. it was such a treat to be able to take our time, talk to each other, and go at our own pace. i'm pretty sure libbi told me at least five times that this was her "most favorite day ever!" and that it was just "momma and libbi. no daddy, no yay-knee. just momma and libbi - the big girls!" and i have to say, i agree with her. our momma/daughter date night definitely went down in my books as one of my favorite days ever, too! i can't wait to do it again! :)

31 days; day 29 - costume parade...

libbi had her costume parade at school today. it's one of her favorite days of the school year...and one of mine, too - ha! she loves it, because she gets to combine two of her favorite things: school and dress-up. i love it, because seeing all of the little kids in their costumes is just about the cutest thing ever. libbi had originally planned on wearing her georgia cheerleading uniform especially after their big win this weekend (go dawgs!!!) but after coming home from mimzy and buddy's house with a minnie mouse costume, she changed her mind. she made sure to tell me that a cheerleading uniform is "NOT a costume!" and that only things like "minnie mouse, belle, and spiderman" are. oookay, then. so her costume for the parade changed at bedtime last night. nothing like last minute. :)  

she gave a few poses before leaving for school this morning. she wasn't thrilled about wearing pants or a long sleeve shirt under her costume. minnie mouse does not wear pants. but after much "discussion" she finally conceded. (which tends to happen when given the choices of 1)put on pants with your costume or 2)wear your regular clothes). 

i dropped her off at school then went home to pick up jeffrey and laney. jeffrey had taken the day of work so he could go to the parade. we found our seats up front...and after dragging laney off the stage.... we settled in to get ready for the parade. 

precious libbi. i can always tell when she's nervous or unsure because she'll fold her little hands in front of her. the first lap around the audience she was clenching those hands and pretty much had a blank stare. but she was brave and kept on walking and doing her thing! :) 

by the second and third laps, she was feeling confident enough to give jeffrey a high five when she walked by. laney enjoyed the parade, too. she was watching all the kids walk by and waving to each one. 

after the parade ended, there was a cookie and juice reception (which is right up our alley!) but we had to pick libbi up from her classroom first. laney was so excited to see her sister and ran straight to her - it was the sweetest thing....

at least WE thought it was. libbi was a little unsure :) 

when we came home, the girls decided to have a parade of their own, complete with matching "hats".... and you may notice that both girls are missing a certain clothing item.... apparently pants aren't necessary in the tippins sister parade. :) 

31 days; day 24; the great pumpkin...

last year around christmastime, i posted about our felt christmas trees that i made for the girls. (you can see that post HERE.) libbi enjoyed it so much that i had the idea to recreate it, halloween style! 

i had a difficult time finding orange felt, so i just bought a yard of orange fleece. it works just as well. i also bought one yard of black felt (but 1/2 yard would have been plenty). 

i freehand cut a pumpkin out of the orange fleece (go big or go home, right?) and used the black felt to make different shapes for the pumpkin face. i found different items around the house to trace with a piece of chalk and used them as templates for my shapes. i cut out circles (from a block), squares (post-it notepad), rectangles (old iphone box), and triangles (piece of toy birthday cake) - easy! i also saved the scraps from where i cut these pieces out so they could be used as eyelashes, hair, bows, or anything else her little imagination might come up with! 

once the shapes were cut out, i taped the pumpkin up to the wall and tried it out! 

when libbi woke up from her nap, she was pleased as punch to see a pumpkin on the wall. and she knew just what to do. she immediately got to work. {and yes, she did "nap" in a princess dress}

even laney got in on the fun....bed head and all. :) 

until the princess decided to put a stop to it. sisters. :-)

the girls had fun decorating and redecorating the pumpkin. and it's a nice, easy project with little to no clean up. since the felt shapes adhere to the orange fleece on their own, it's mess free fun! 

after laney went to bed, i decided to extend our pumpkin activity just a little further. libbi is very into "gluing" these days, so i figured she would enjoy making a paper version of her pumpkin, too.  

i would create a face on the large wall pumpkin and then it was her job to recreate the pumpkin i made using paper shapes and a paper pumpkin. it's an excellent way to practice so many valuable skills. (excuse me while i slip into my former teacher voice) "matching, shape recognition, transferring patterns, counting, spatial relationships, and one to one correspondence." (end teacher voice). 

what's so great about it, is that she just thinks she's getting to use a gluestick - ha! she has no idea all of the "learning" that is taking place!! :) 

and i have to say, i was extremely impressed with her ability to copy and transfer the faces that i made onto her smaller scaled paper pumpkin. maybe she'll be good in math like her daddy.... or maybe she'll just be crafty like her momma ;-)

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31 days... day 22; real life

i posted yesterday about the shirts i made for the girls. i failed to mention the work that went into trying to get pictures of the girls in their shirts. seriously...why does it take so much time/energy/patience/bribery to have one little picture made?! 

there were quite a few outtakes that didn't make the cut. so i thought i would share them for your monday viewing pleasure and for a glimpse into "real life" ;-)

i wanted a cute picture of laney in her ghost shirt, but she wouldn't quit eating the alphabet puzzle. you'd think we never feed her.... 

so being the sweet mother that i am, i took it away from her and she exercised her new word, "THAT!" 

obviously, i didn't give in to "THAT!" poor, poor, pitiful laney. ;-)

and then there's libbi.....

not exactly what i had in mind when i asked her to "pose" for a picture. i was going more for "shirley temple" cute, she was going for "george costanza" 

when individual pics didn't go as planned, i went for the sister pictures.... 

they both have their cups and laney is eating a cookie. unbeknownst to libbi, her cinderella has conveniently fallen into laney's lap....

libbi is trying to "CHEESE!!!" and laney has discovered cinderella and abandoned her cup for it. girl's got a firm grip on that cookie, though. 

at this point, i'm pretty sure they're both considering their next move....

libbi has now noticed that laney has her cinderella...aka "the beginning of the end"

the cinderella is confiscated, a nose is wiped, a cookie is eaten, and oh yeah! did you get a look at their cute shirts??! ha! 

libbi is distraught because her cinderella is wet due to her teething sister. laney is obviously remorseful and decides to eat her feelings. 

libbi is using HER SHIRT (that i am so unsuccessfully trying to get a picture of!) to clean off cinderella. 

almost clean... and laney's still trying to figure out what's going on. 

libbi suddenly remembers i'm trying to take a picture. laney remembers she has a cookie. 

and this is as good as it gets.... at least they're both looking, right?! ;-)

31 days... day 20; fluff

this is definitely one of those "fluff" posts, where there's not a whole lot of significant content. so if you're not interested in silhouettes, making tshirts, or halloween, then you might want to just wait until tomorrow's post to read. 

today is all about DIY with the silhouette!

i made these shirts for the girls for halloween....

obviously, laylay is as shocked as i am - ha! :) 

{please ignore the chocolate milk running down the ghosts's face....it's par for the course w/laney}

the ghost shirt i totally copied from my friend miranda. and the pumpkin shirt is another easy one that i'm sure is not really an original idea (seeing as how i just used the silhouette shape to make it). but, regardless - they were cheap, easy to make, and turned out pretty cute. what more could i ask for?

before i tell you how i made them, let me just say that i've been a nervous wreck typing the word "shirt" so many times. i'm so worried that i will leave out the "R". i've proofread this at least 100 times, but i still worry there are some "you-know-whats" unintentionally dropped in this nice, innocent little shiRt post. ;-) so if you run across one, let me know, okay?

the ghost shirts were probably the easiest ones to make. i pretty much followed miranda's tutorial from her blog.

i already had a black shirt for laney (it used to be libbi's - it's a garanimals (walmart) brand) and i picked up one for libbi from hobby lobby using my 40% off coupon. so i think i paid around $2.50/3.00 for it.

i ordered the tshirt flocked vinyl from expressions vinyl. if you have a silhouette or cricut machine and you're not ordering from expressions vinyl....you're missing out! i order almost every thing from them and not only is it cheap, it's usually here within days. it literally ships the same day i order. (they did not ask me to say this, i've just been really pleased with their company so i thought i would share!)

the flocked vinyl is different than the smooth vinyl because it has that "fuzzy" feel. i downloaded a few fun halloween shapes and decided on this cute, friendly, little ghost.

now, if i'm being honest, i'll tell you that i messed up. a lot. i tend to think i have the right settings when i don't. or have the vinyl loaded in correctly when i don't. or even have things aligned properly and i don't. there is a such a thing as a "test cut" but for some strange reason, i never think to use it until it's too late. so on round one, i messed up so many times that i only had enough vinyl left to make one shirt. and i made the mistake of making it for laney, not libbi.

poor libbi was completely beside herself that she didn't have a ghost shirt. such a poor, deprived child is she. and you better believe that she didn't let me forget it. thank goodness for fast shipping, because i heard about that blasted shirt at least ten times a day until it was finally made. :)

if you want more details on how the shirt was made, you can check out miranda's tutorial HERE.

if you have any questions, feel free to email me! :-)

{sister originally had on a cute little jean skirt, but decided she was better of without it...}

the pumpkin shirts were a bit more work.... but still fairly simple. i used the smooth heat transfer vinyl for these also from expressions vinyl.

after finding a pumpkin shape and font i liked, i reversed the images (only after cutting them TWICE and forgetting to do this) and loaded the vinyl into the silhouette.

{laney...always a collector ;-)}

once it cuts, the backing peels off, leaving the shapes/letters that i cut. i cut out the orange pumpkin first and ironed it onto the brown shirts (i got these at old navy on clearance for $2!).

unlike the flocked vinyl, you don't have to wait for the design to cool off before peeling away the backing. i peeled it off and was left with my attached pumpkin.

i then repeated those steps with girls' names - except i used white vinyl. i ironed them on top of the already adhered pumpkin. easy!

lastly, i made a little bow and used fabric glue to attach it to the top of the pumpkin.

{unfortunately, this was the best picture i could get of the two of them}

are my pumpkins perfectly aligned? no. are my letters straight? probably not. but as long as i don't study them too intently, i can avoid my eyes starting to twitch. kidding! :)

they're just a fun addition to our holiday wardrobes and most importantly, they're loved by the two cuties wearing them! that's all that matters. :)