TFSC - Week 4 - Sewing Week

Tobler Family Summer Camp Week 4: Sewing Week. We started out with weather week with barometers and wind currents and all sorts of fun things that were WAY over the kids heads. So we very quickly swapped to sewing week.

 

Duke designed a doll inspired by Ugly Dolls. He drew it out, picked fabric from the stash and sewed on my lap.

I controlled the foot pedal and he did all the driving.

This was the PERFECT project for him because the more obscure it was, the better it turned out. I taught him how to sew on a button and he stitched on both eyes like a pro!

 Duke was so close to finishing his doll, but I had something I had to do so E taught him how to slip stitch the side shut! I love that she was teaching him after I had taught her just yesterday. He did a great job too! 

 Here is his completed doll and his picture mock up! I love how he came out and he is SO snuggly! 

Way to go Bear!

For E's doll she wanted to make a Hermione Doll. She found a pretty cute rendition on Pinterest but it required us going t o the store for supplies. I then suggest that she use a modified rendition of the fox pattern that Gretchen and I designed a few years ago. 

 

 She was sold. Using only supplies we had on hand, we began to make her doll. At first E sat on my lap and I controlled the pedal. After a few minutes of that, E asked if she could try it on her own. My new sewing machine has a lot of play in the pedal and it went just the right speed for her. 

 E made the hair for her doll completely on her own from winding it, positioning it on the ribbon and then hand stitching the hair to the doll. She also sewed the doll 100% on her own. I help with positioning the arms and legs and stitching around the body.

 E didn't want her doll to be naked so she put her unicorns dress on hr while we drafted up a uniform and robe. 

Since we were drafting the robe pattern from scratch, I told E that we had to make up a muslin for sizing. I had her cut out the pattern and stitch it together, then rip it apart once we figured out what we needed for a guide.

 Then it was off to the races stitching the robe.....

... all...

 

 ... on...

... her own!!!!!!!

Then for the sake of time, Mama made her tie, shirt and skirt. Mama also did the hand embroidered Hogwarts Crest. 

I am completely obsessed with how it turned out. This dolly was a labor of love and she came out even cuter than I had hoped she would! 

I may or may not have to crochet a vest and scarf for her. 

She is a good size dolly and just perfect for snuggling! WAY TO GO PEANUT!!

 For Sprout's stuffy I asked him what he wanted. He told me he wanted a puppy. Okay I thought, that should be easy enough. I told him to pick out any fabric he wanted out of the stash and he came to me with fur. *Face palm* I tried to persuade him to use ANY other fabric but his mind was set. I knew there was NO WAY I was going to be able to sew fur with a wiggly Sprout on my lap, so I looked up a pattern online and I sewed it for him after bed one night. He was pretty excited in the morning so I'm calling it a win!

And that brings sewing week to a close. It was a busy one folks but it was SO worth it. Maybe we'll do something a bit easier next week.

Happy Father's Day

I have never once heard Jakob complain about being a Daddy. He is always there with a calm perspective, snuggles to chase away bad dreams, or awesome dance moves to make everyone laugh. He rocks out bath time, makes dinner, and is always ready to wrestle. He does it all, literally. He's our rock and he loves these kiddos with his whole heart. I cannot imagine going through this adventure they call parenthood with anyone else by my side. We are so grateful that he's ours. Happy Father's Day babe!

TFSC - Week 3 - STEM Week

 This week was STEM week that the Tobler house. Our first day we built boats out of tin foil and then we tried to sink them with coins. I was amazed at how HARD this was for the kids. Duke did a really goo job and his stayed floating the longest.

 The next day we made marble runs using pieces of foam taped to plates. Think this was the activity of the week. Sprout LOVED this one. 

  

Mama's run.

 

 Duke did a great job! His was a little bit tricky to complete though. It took some serious plate balancing talent. 

Sprout was hilarious while we made these runs. this is his run and while he was using the marble he kept whispering "almost there, almost there." It was so dang cute!

 Day 3 we made catapults. This one I did have to order the Popsicle sticks. Once they made their catapults, we launched pom poms into little cups. It was rather tricky. 

Day 4 we did an egg drop. I told the kids they could use whatever supplies they wanted to protect their eggs. the both opted for pom poms and tin foil. I think if I would have guided them a bit more we could have been a touch more creative, but alas this worked too. 

 

E's egg survived!!

Bears did not. I really like this week because it showed the kids that everyone is good at something. Duke was the better boat builder and E was the better egg saver. Each had struggles and successes and that was okay too. 

Day 5 we made ice cream in a bag. It didn't really work, mostly because we didn't have enough ice, but they got to make a vanilla smoothy and they all said it was tasty. Another fun week of camp in the books!

Duke's (Late) Hair Chop

 We are a few months late with Duke's yearly hair chop. We usually wait until it starts to get warm outside, but this year it stayed pretty chilly. Duke finally said "Mama, it's time." So we had to take some before pictures. This is the longest his hair has ever gotten. 

A few weeks earlier I had cut Jakob's hair and it turned out HORRIBLY! I mean it was so so so so so bad, so I told Jakob he could cut it. That may have been a bad choice.

He essentialy gave Duke the exact same "cut" that I gave Jakob. The short on the sides and long on top thing is hard to handle but got darn it, Duke can rock anything. He has hair straight from heaven. You are so handsome my boy and he looks so grown up now!!

Clay Creations pt II

A couple of months ago we had a clay date out in the driveway with friends. We got our pieces back and got to paint them. It was like having round two of creative time. We loved it!

Here are some of my favorite pieces that we made. E's little fairy house for the fairy garden. We didn't plant many flowers here this year, so it looked rather pathetic but this little house was so dang cute!!

Gmones! I love gnomes!

My bunny family! I can't wait to put these guys out at Easter. these little bunnies were inspired by some bunnies I saw at Jo-Ann's. It turned out they were $15 each. I love that I got to make some vs buying them. Perfect, no, but so personal!

And speaking of families. I finally got my little ocean rock family made and I LOVE it! So simple but so dang cute! 

This little guy was a trade for a gnome I made for Anna. I can hardly wait to sip cocoa from this beauty while sitting infront of the Christmas tree! Swoon!

TFSC - Week 2 - Magic Week

 This week was magic week and it was SO. MUCH. FUN! Every day we worked on a new trick and at the end of the week we invited Papa and Gram and our friend Ken (who is a professional magician) over to watch our show. We set up a table and a curtain and the kids practiced and practiced and PRACTICED!

 

First up was E, both E and Duke did two tricks. E did a card trick and made a cow appear out of a hat. The cow trick was a surprise that Duke hadn't worked on.  

She rehearsed her lines and even had a joke at the beginning. It was so cute!

Duke made a toothpick disappear and then he had a magic coloring book. He did a great job remembering what to do!

 Mama had to help Sprout do his trick and Daddy didn't take any pictures. He made some coins disappear. Our audience was so supportive!

Daddy had a match trick and Mama did magic cookies. We had cake and magic drinks that changed color when you poured in your soda. It was a great week and a fun night. Summer camp is AWESOME!

Mrs. Edge

 This year Ms. Edge retired and our hearts are broken. We have had good teachers but Mrs. Edge was EXCEPTIONAL. She was organized, thoughtful, kind and loving. She set boundaries and expected the children to meet them. She SAW E and those two had a bond I can't quite describe. She was more than just a student to her, Mrs. Edge loved E. She was her girl. When she asked if we could meet up for lunch I couldn't say yes fast enough. We met at Freddy's and E was glowing the entire time.

We visited for more than two hours, sitting together and just savoring every second. Because of COVID, E wasn't able to finish the school year in class or get to say a proper goodbye and she needed this. It was an amazing afternoon and I am SO thankful for teachers and women like Mrs. Edge. We LOVE YOU!!!!

River Adventure

I called up Gram and asked her if she wanted to go strawberry picking with us. She said she was up for an adventure and so we loaded up the kids and off we went. We arrive at the address and could not find the place. After some searching we found it and it turns out, it was closed. We were SO disappointed especially since this was our first outing since COVID. I then asked her if she wanted to come on an adventure with me. She said she was all mine for the afternoon so off we went to the river.

This was a little stream about 25 minutes away and it was so dang cute!! Of course I didn't have any extra clothes for the kids but it was a perfectly warm day so they just splashed and played. 

 

I was so happy to have Gram there just snuggling Roo, sharing her water and smiling! It was so nice to have an extra set of hands and eyes to help with the tiny humans. We had the best chats too. So thankful for her!

It was a magical day with my crew and exactly what we needed! I can't wait to go back some day with Daddy!