Scrub Skirts From Pants

My Mother-In-Law recently needed a few more scrub skirts.  I was able to turn pants into below the knee skirts for her.  I used my Jean Skirt Tutorial, but made the front and back seams come straight down instead.  I think they look very nice.

Week 33, MFW Adventures & K

This week we continued to use Science With Air.  Above, Caleb is dropping two identical pieces of paper.  One is balled up, and one is flat.  You can see the ball already fell.  I love seeing the wonder on Caleb's face in these simple experiments.  Below, we also made parachutes for plastic dinosaurs!  (And then tested them outside.)

We covered Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona in our state studies.  We made fry bread to go along with New Mexico, it was yummy!

In history, we also read about Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and the Wright brothers.  We watched these movies to supplement our reading:

 

We didn't do anything extraordinary in math, English, or spelling this week.  In bible, we continued to talk about the importance of words.  Below are their marker cards, coloring beach balls (Rebekah's is first.)

Rebekah finished up the letter Q and started her last one, Y!!!  She really enjoyed her math activity of sorting a large box of crayons and graphing the results.

She also made a collage of pink things, her favorite color!

And finally, Matthew is learning how to eat solid foods.  Here he is not enjoying some baby cereal!

That's it!  On to our last official week!

Girl's Swimming Skirt with Attached Leggings

I made Rebekah a swimming skirt for this summer.  I bought a top at Target, but I couldn't find any bottoms for her.  I was hoping to find some swimming shorts so I could just add a skirt, but no luck.  So, I started from scratch and made a swimming skirt with attached leggings underneath.  She loves it, but we haven't gone swimming yet!  I'll have to come back and update this post later.

Want to make one for yourself or your little girl?  Take a look at this set I made for myself, Rebekah's first outfit, and second outfit.  Here's how I did it:

First, you'll need 1 yard of swimming or active wear fabric.  I bought mine at Hancock Fabrics using a 40% off coupon printed from their website.  I think Hancock's has the best selection of swim fabric.  I also purchased material to make a skirt and shirt for my mother-in-law (stay tuned!).  You'll also need a length of elastic to fit and a ball needle for your sewing machine.  This really makes a difference, so get one!!!

Once you have your fabric, find a skirt and leggings that currently fit.  Lay them out on your fabric and trace around them with a 1 inch seam allowance.  For the leggings, I only traced around half of them.  Once you cut out your first piece, flip it over and use that piece to trace your next one.  You'll need 2 of each piece for the leggings (mirror images).

Below are the pieces, 2 for the skirt, and 2 of each mirrored piece for the leggings.

Sew two mirrored pieces of the leggings together, but only the crotch seam.  Use a zig zag stitch to allow for stretching (and your ball needle).  Do this for both sets.  Now you have a front and back of the leggings, but they should be the same.

Can you see my zig zag stitch?  Use this for the entire skirt!

Lay the front and back pieces right sides together and pin.  Sew both outer seams and the inseam of the leggings.

Flip them right side out and you have a pair of leggings with no waistband!  You'll want to try them on at this point and make any adjustments necessary.

Now, sew the skirt side seams by laying them right sides together, pinning, and zig zag stitching down the sides only.

It's time to attach them together.  With both turned right side out, put the leggings inside the skirt.  Pin them so that the tops of both are together.  Sew them together as close to the top of the fabric as you can.  Now, fold the top down about an inch and sew around again creating room for the elastic waistband.  Make sure you leave 2 inches open.  I also like to make a little tag to distinguish the front from the back.  (They are the same right now, but after my daughter sits in the sand, they'll be different!

Measure how much elastic you'll need by putting around the person's waist.  Then thread it through and sew up the opening.

Hem the skirt and you're done!  Or you can add a ruffle or other cute decoration, just google it.  I added my ruffle  on top of the skirt.  I've found from experience that having a seam right by your knees is a bad idea because it will rip out.

Now she's ready to see the ocean for the first time this summer!!!

Once again, if you're interested in why we choose to wear swimming skirts, this book will help you understand.

Week 32, MFW Adventures & K

This week's bible verse was John 1:1, a verse that Caleb memorized during bible quizzing this year, so he was excited to quote it to me every day.  We did a lot of talking about how important words are.  Above is a picture of them putting a bible verse together.  We cut up the words and scrambled them first.  We also watched this movie about Helen Keller:

For science, we continued with Science With Air.  We made some homemade instruments!  Not pictured are the rubber band "guitar" and bottles filled with water.

In history, we learned about McCormick's reaper, the sewing machine, and the telephone.  Caleb loves learning about inventors.  We also are making a push to finish the states, so we covered Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming.

We took a vacation to Wyoming almost 2 years ago to see Yellowstone, and also saw a lot of the state on our drive out and back.  Here's a picture of Old Faithful we took.

Here is a drawing Caleb did for English (Primary Language Lessons).  He had to read a story and then illustrate it.  This is a bird in a tree, and the fox on the ground with the cheese.  I would have liked him to color it and maybe add a bit more, but it was a nice day and he really wanted to go outside.

We actually did painting this week too!  Outside!  They did a painting card from I Can Do All Things and then painted bird houses that they made last year.  They love painting, I really should let them do it more...

Rebekah started the letter Q for quail.  I love her quilt drawing!  And I'm impressed with her question mark!

And she did a bit of subtraction, which she loved because it made her feel older like Caleb!

And Mr. Matthew is rolling over!!!

Week 31, MFW Adventures & K

This science experiment was really fun!  We made a windmill that lifted a button!  I'm always hesitant to do these experiments... it means getting everything out, making a mess, being loud when the littles are napping...  But I'm always glad that I did them after they're done!  Science is Caleb's favorite subject, and both of them get so excited when I tell them we get to do an experiment!

In history, we learned about North and South Dakota.  We took a vacation last summer to South Dakota and saw Mount Rushmore, so we looked at all our pictures too!  (Yellowstone Vacation)

Caleb loved listening to the Armed Services Medley, it's his new favorite song.  He still loves The Battle Hymn of the Republic too!

Caleb has happily moved on to measurement in math.  He's about halfway through Singapore 2A and just finished A LOT of borrowing/carrying addition/subtraction!

Here are their marker cards for this week.  I decided to skip the drawing and colored pencil lessons and just do the marker and paint ones.  If I can handle the mess, I'll let them paint.  If not, they can do markers that day.  We've only been doing art once or twice a week lately.  It's not our favorite subject!  (Caleb's is on top, Rebekah's on bottom.)

Rebekah enjoyed this unit, V is for Vegetables.  We learned how God's Word helps us grow, just like vegetables help us grow physically.  We read The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and then she drew Mr. McGregor's garden.  She didn't want to color it.

Her math page involved measuring with a ruler, just like Caleb's!  I think she felt like a big girl!

We cut off the tops of some carrots and put them in this pan of water.  Now they are growing!  We'll be planting them in our garden!

And Joshua is always around causing mischief!  Here he is playing with my buttons.  It's a great activity until he starts throwing them...

And here he is cooking mashed potato flakes!  (I was taking a shower...)