Greta's birthday dress (and a dress I made for Holly from the same pattern) was such a big hit that I made the girls each one more. I used the Sally dress pattern and Tamara Kate "Flight Patterns" fabric. I love that this pattern has no buttons, no zippers, no closures. It comes together fairly quickly and it's easy for the girls to slip on. They both love the big pockets! I love the pink on Holly, but for whatever reason, I really prefer anything but pink on Greta. She's more of a red, green and yellow girl to me, so it's very rare that I make up anything pink for her. These yellow butterflies are just right for Greta in my opinion. I love sewing for my daughters - I wish I had more time for it. Whenever I'm working on something for them, they're always anxious for me to finish. I'm looking forward to summer sewing!

This past weekend was chilly, but we still made it out to Half Moon Bay for some beach time. There were a ton of dogs and the girls played with and petted almost every single one! It was pretty much heaven for them. The beach was covered in these gorgeous blue shells. I couldn't help but fill a pocket full of them - I haven't seen shells like that at any other beach. We had a lovely time and were surprised at how quickly the afternoon passed. I love where we live! There's always new things to discover!

Matching dresses are so much fun! And these sisters are such a wonderful pair. Thank you Nana!

Holly, Greta and I did some easy and effective Valentines' Day crafts that I thought I'd share. You likely have all the supplies in your home already.

First, we made some love bug lady bugs. This is done with construction paper, scissors and glue.

Second, we made heart garlands. I traced hearts onto card stock, the girls and I painted them, and then I cut them out. Using embroidery floss and a sewing needle, I strung the hearts into two garlands. You can do this craft with any age that can paint. They don't need to stay within the lines - you'll just be cutting the hearts out!

Easy Peasy!

On Friday, we celebrated Greta's third birthday. It was a regular day jazzed up. A special breakfast - crepes and OJ and some present opening in the morning. Greta loved opening the gifts and her reactions were awesome! "Another box!" she said many times as she kept removing the wrapping paper to reveal another box. Holly made painted wood beads and strung them into a necklace for Greta and as you can see below, Holly was very excited for Greta to open up the gift! Greta was very, very spoiled this year! Lots of fun new things to play with, lots of Sleeping Beauty. One of our gifts to her was a book and the girls were so confused when it was opened up and claimed we already have it. But no, we don't. We've just borrowed it from the library so many times because Greta loves it!

I printed off 28 photos of Greta from her last year of life and created a collage and taped them to the gifts. Growing up is bittersweet.

We wrapped up our day with cupcakes! We didn't do a birthday party this year, but we did have a fun family outing on Saturday. I really love this style of celebration. And I adore celebrating my daughters!