A Skater Dress, School Days, and Hazy Days

Tomorrow I will officially have a kindergartener.  This girl right here.

  Tia, playing dress up

Late last spring, we made the decision to enroll Tia in an art-based, play-based half-day (morning) kindergarten program.  Iris will be joining her two mornings a week, too for their young 3s program.  They have an outdoor classroom, a vegetable garden, and Tia will only have nine other kids in her class.  It's perfectly our philosophy.  It will give her something fun to do while I work on homeschooling with the older two kids.  And I won't be as stretched at home.  Jude and Indigo came to homeschooling knowing how to read and write, having been in school, and that worked so beautifully for us.

 Tia is absolutely obsessed with art and after we toured the school she asked, "Can I started tomorrow?!"  She's so excited.

Of course, such a big occasion as starting school for the very first time called for a special dress.  I chose the Skater Dress (highly modified).  I shortened the bodice, added width to the skirt and gathered it, and left off the sleeves.

 

I bought the fox fabric here.  I had planned to use it to make something for Iris last spring, but the moment Tia laid eyes on it, she fell in love and asked me, ever so sweetly, if it could become hers.  How could I refuse?  I love when my girls share in my enthusiasm for fabric.

 Tia was so excited to try on her new dress for the first time. 

Hazel is doing so well and we are soaking in all things newborn.  She's such a sweet, sweet baby.  It's been hard to come up with a suitable nickname for her.  Indigo calls her Swazel, a combination of Sweet Hazel.   I've found myself calling her Hazy. I've been kind of obsessed with taking photos of her.  Newborns change so quickly and I'm astonished at how hard it is for me to remember the details of my other newborns.  Maybe it's because newborn days are kind of hazy in their own way.   Here are some photos of our Hazy days.