Preparing for the 4th

My preparation work for the 4th of July is a bit different than most. We have had the tradition of making pajama bottoms for this grand holiday. This year I decided I'd better start a little earlier than what I usually do (which is usually the last two days before the 4th). I bought the usual cheap 4th of July shirts early. Then Dad and I went in June to get material for the pajamas and decided that instead of pants this year we would make pajama shorts. The week after #5 Boy was born my mom came to help out. During this time we decided to get the shorts made. I was able to finish off all of them except Dad's and #5 Boy's shorts.

#5 Boy's shorts...aren't they adorable!

While buying the material I realized that our shirts wouldn't really match and so Dad and I decided that we would buy white shirts and paint them with red and blue stars. We were able to find fabric paint and shirts...but we had to make-shift our own star stamps. We bought foam stars and foam marshmallows which we stuck to the back of the stars. The kids all loved decorating their own shirts.

#3 Girl decorating her shirt

#1 Girl and #2 Boy working on their shirts

#4 Boy laughing with excitement about doing his shirt

We did the 4 older kid's shirts for Family Home Evening but waited to do the others for a night after the kids had gone to bed. These are the kids shirts.

I was a bit disappointed this year... our ward didn't do their usual 4th of July breakfast (since they are doing a big get together on the 24th for our ward's 30th anniversary) and the 4th was also on a Sunday. On the 3rd I did some usual sewing since I still needed to finish up Dad and #5 Boy's pajamas. Later in the day I decided to use all the extra material to make skirts and ties for the little ones. This picture shows #5 Boy's tie on an elastic but I ended up just sewing it onto a onesie...almost to the last stitch and my sewing machine died!

The kids loved their ties and skirts!