Ducks, Dress & Dollars

1. Ducks

We went to the Botanical Gardens on Thursday early enough to get a very good parking space. I don't usually get there in such a timely manner, but Dallin & Daphne were finishing up some filming with Susie for her "Six Little Ducks" music video.

There are only 4 ducks in this picture; I think the other two ducks (who were quite a bit younger) were with their moms' having a break.

I hung out with Sean & Hayden and just tried to stay out of the way as much as possible.

Sean entertained himself by having me sing "Kung Fu Fighting"

and he did some sweet Kung Fu moves.

Hayden entertained himself by falling off a platform and scraping his head. So I spent some time taking close-ups of his face that didn't include the scrape on his forehead.

He also loved splashing all this green water everywhere.

2. Daphne's Dress

So when Susie asked if Dallin & Daphne could film 6 Little Ducks, I asked her what she wanted them to wear. Among other things, she suggested a cute summer dress for Daphne. Well, Daphne doesn't really have any cute summer dresses that I love. And since I'd been meaning to make this darling dress from a pattern I got from my sister Jen, I thought, well, I should just whip this dress up so she can wear it in the music video.

I decided that the night before the shoot. (Yes, I'm crazy. I guess I just work best under pressure.) Luckily, it came together pretty quickly, but I had some problems with the elastic in my "shirring" (that's a new sewing term I learned from making this dress.) And I also ran out of time, so I only shirred around the sleeves once. Well, the elastic had snapped in both of her sleeves during the drive to the Botanical Gardens. Thank goodness the neck held, or it just would have fallen off her!

Here is a picture of the dress with the broken sleeves. It actually doesn't look too bad.

I fixed the elastic problem yesterday, and she got to wear her new dress to church today, and I LOVE IT! Thanks for sharing your pattern, Jen! If you get any more from that designer, send them my way.

3. Dollars

I told Dallin when he had $25 in his "savings" ziploc bag, I would take him to open a savings account. Well he has been saving 40% of his earnings for the past couple of years, so on Friday, I took him down to the bank with his $36 that he'd saved and we put it in the bank. He's totally excited to be a member of the "Young Savers Program" and gets a prize every time he makes a deposit of $5 or more. We also went to Walmart and he bought himself a wallet with his spending money (whose previous home was the "spending" ziploc bag) and has been very excited about filling it with his spending dollars, and pictures, and is looking forward to getting a library card so he can put it in his wallet.

Here's Dallin in front of the Credit Union where he opened his first Savings Account.

It's funny how the kids are so different. Dallin is very motivated to do chores and other things to earn money. Daphne on the other hand, when I tell her she can earn 25 cents if she pulls some weeds for me, says, "Um, I don't really care about money."