a Pioneer family

I can't pinpoint the main reason but it seems like this year my family and I have enjoyed dressing up. For Easter we dressed up like this, then on Halloween we were this and this year for our ward's Christmas party we looked like this....

our ward's Christmas party was themed "Christmas in Nauvoo." If you are familiar with LDS history, Nauvoo is an important place to our Pioneers. That's where our early LDS members settled in after being persecuted in Kirtland OH. Anyways they made Nauvoo home and built businesses and homes here and the committee that put this activity together did an amazing job transforming rooms in our building to look like the town back then with toy and candy shops, post office and museums. The kids played games that they would play during that time period and we ate desserts like pies and muffins. We even had a barn dance which was super fun, (if only I was still graceful)! But all in all it was absolutely a well put together activity that I'm glad we didn't miss.

Anyways we were "encouraged" to dress in pioneer clothing. I didn't plan on doing so before this week because, well I just didn't think I had the brain power to tackle that project on top of the already overwhelming list I had, but my husband wanted to do so since he was serving cider at one of the "shops" in the activity. So with a few clicks on google to look for "pioneer clothing" and then heading straight to goodwill this is what we came up with.

 I have to say it wasn't that difficult after all to put together our outfits. The boys had the black pants and white shirts already so we just added some vests to the mix. Mitch had his leather motorcycle vest already so that was good and I got Marcus' vest at the Goodwill. It was a lady's vest so I had to do some adjustment to make it fit him better. I had the checkered brown/red fabric in my stash already and since it looked vintage, I used that for their neckerchief/neck tie thing.

By midweek, after going through a few bonnett tutorials online, I was feeling frustrated because I felt like my sewing skills couln't help me accomplish this task. So I went back to goodwill and browsed for some ideas and what do you know....I found one! I saw this pink valance that had ruffles and the lightbulb hit me. I bought it (for 45 cents), cut it in two pieces and played with it until it "somewhat" resembled a bonnet. After finding the right look to it, I added some ribbons to the end so I can tie it around Maddie and my face.

We got a few remarks with our outfits and that makes all the worry and stress pay off. But I think my most favorite part of this whole thing was how my family and I come together when dressing up. Even if Marcus refuses to put on his "outfit" in the beginning, he does it anyway and that just makes me feel good that we are a "team". Nobody refuses to participate and I love that.

I think Maddie was the most happy with her look,  I mean look at these poses from her.....

she even wore her dress again today at church. Funny girl!

Till next time,
Grace