Weekend Kick Off

The boys hit the pool this afternoon with Hubby while I took the girls to a cookie decorating/craft party with their friends and then a mother/daughter evening of dinner and shopping.

We've been busy this week making little zipper pouches and elastic head bands for their girlfriends. They wanted to give gifts and I wanted to finally master zippers, so we were all happy.

Making enormous paper snowflakes was part of the afternoon's events

Happy Friday...

Weekend Review

A busy but very productive weekend around here. I managed to get all my shopping done in one fell swoop on Saturday. It's a rare luxury for me to have time to run around on Saturdays; usually Hubby is in the trenches wrestling out the sermon. Thanks to one of our missionaries being back from Haiti and in the pulpit, Hubby was more or less off duty.

Toddzilla completed his orange stripe in his junior Tae Kwon Do class:

(The trophy was earned by the boy holding it for completing his junior black stripe)

The big three had their annual church choir Christmas concert yesterday:

Cookies and fun post concert 

Moving on today with school work, some sewing projects with the girls (Christmas related, sshhh!), and violin lessons and Tae Kwon Do this evening. Plus lots of traveling through the woods with sleds in the beautiful, fresh snow. This means my dryer will get an extra workout today - it's hard keeping up with wet hats and mittens...

Weekend Wrap Up

• I should be writing a message I need to give to a MOPS group for their Christmas Brunch on Tuesday. I'm going with the theory that sudden inspiration will strike late Monday night. 

• Hubby was busy most of the weekend with church stuff, so I took the children to one of those very manageable, everyone's buckled in, drive through lights tours. One of our state parks provides an awesome display of electricity in action. Lots of "ooohhhs" and "aaahhhs" from the backseat. It was a hit.

• The girls had their choir concert this afternoon. There's not much sweeter than over 100 children dressed in their finest, singing Christmas carols. My camera battery was DOA. Not a single picture.

• I vowed not to do any sewing or knitting for Christmas. But an idea struck and now I'm stuck. Must finish. Fast. (Only everyone wants to "help," so fast is not the way we'll work).

• We are loving The Wheel On The School right now. Great writing, lots of laughs, and too much information about storks. I'm sure that last fact really piqued your interest.

Amazing Doll Clothes

I hear doll clothes are hard to sew; mainly because of the little tiny seams, armholes etc.  I wouldn't dare try myself!

Knowing Bobo loves ancient Egypt and has an American Girl Doll, one of the little girls at her party gave her this amazing outfit for Nellie.  Her mother made it.  I'm in awe.  Check out those shoes!

In other unrelated news, I finally ordered A Thomas Jefferson Education. I've been waiting forever to read it, hoping either my library would have a copy our I'd find it venturing through Barnes and Noble. No such luck.  (Do you ever find anything you're looking for at Barnes and Noble? I actually found Misty of Chincoteague there recently, but that's been the only book on my list in the last few years they've carried in the store.)

Fun Fall Skirts

These little Lazy Day Skirts were too cute to pass up for my girls.  They were easy to whip up in an afternoon (but I could never manage the "before dinner skirt" that Soule Mama has perfected. I can't add anything to the pre-dinner melee, let alone a full fledged sewing project).

    

Vintage Sewing

My mom sent these cute shirts that my grandma made for me when I was little. I remember the red and white one from a picture of me on my first day of school. The girls immediately fell in love with the "old fashioned shirts" and have been taking turns wearing them ever since. They barely fit Bobo, but that doesn't seem to bother her.

I decided it was high time to try my hand at sewing clothes. I've been wanting to learn the whole art of elastic for some time. That was the easy part! I had no idea how hard sleeves are. The seam ripper came in very handy on this project.

The pattern was no help whatsoever in terms of the sleeves. I ended up using the ones my grandma sewed as a guide. I added a bow for "extra beauty," Fancy Nancy style. Now it's on to a matching pair of capris. Anything without sleeves!

Easy Graduation Cards

We picked coordinating scrapbook paper and stickers, sewed one sheet inside to be the opening flap, and then made a little money pocket inside.

(After using your needle on paper, you have to replace it before sewing with fabric. Soulemama's great tip is to put it in an envelope marked "for paper" and be ready for the next non-fabric project).

Learning Room Make Over 2

The learning room is pretty much done. We still have quite a bit of Dick and Jane fabric left, but I think we're done decorating for now. I say "we" because this was a collaborative effort. In other words, don't go looking at the seams. The girls helped pick fabric combinations and guided the pieces through the machine -- with help. We've made four pillow cases, a book bag, and the valance.

As for the rest of the room, I like to keep it simple with not too much visual distraction. This suits me perfectly, so I'm glad our little students feel the same way. I remember Bobo's first experience in a "real" school room. She was in Daisy Scouts back in Fargo, and they met in the kindergarten room of the public school. The walls were covered with posters of this, that, and the other. There were plenty of toys and gadgets and a play structure in the middle of the room. Bobo got that glazed over, deer-in-the-headlights look, and exclaimed, "Do they learn in here?" Ah yes, a chip off the old block...

Suffice to say we've kept the walls basically free of "schoolish" stuff. We do have a map and globe that we use along with our history studies, and a home made time line we're adding to as we go through Story of the World.

Learning Room Make Over

I've been inspired by Rebecca and Cheryl to de-clutter Peter Walsh style, especially in the learning room. (My oldest, seeing Walsh's book laying around, has adopted his title as her personal motto. Feeling overwhelmed by anything, she'll run around incanting "it's all too much!")

Since we've only been in this house a short while, the room needs more of a make-over than a real purge. I'm not done yet, but I found this adorable Dick and Jane fabric and can't stop sewing. I'm working on pillowcases for the comfy reading corner and a valance to top our window. (Not all the fabric is as busy as this one; I also bought a red with little white polka dots that is a nice compliment). I have visions of chair covers for my children's little white chairs, but that may be beyond me. Maybe cute book bags?

Clutter is a constant battle. It is all too much! The papers, projects, and goodies that come home from a single Sunday School class is alarming. And a McDo Happy Meal --forget about it! I dread McDonalds more for the chaos of all the stuff (can you unwrap this? where's my toy? what is it supposed to be anyway? did you get honey mustard?) than the smell of the playland and the questionable edibles put together... Sigh.

One room at a time...

Look, look, oh look! See Mom Work!

A Little More Christmas

Christmas is long over and done for us... With a move thrown into the mix, we basically wrapped up the season on Christmas day (sorry to the liturgical purists, we didn't come close to making it to Epiphany).

All said and done, I did manage to pull off my "hand made" pledge. A few projects had to be scrapped or started again, but all extended family received something I either sewed or knitted. It's not all pictured, but here is most of it:

Now that I can't find anything (still in boxes), it will be a long time before I get back to handiwork. I just wanted to motivate myself to get organized so I can get back to some fun stuff in the near future!

And Miles To Go Before I Sleep...

I'm still busily working away on my Home Made Christmas plans. The pace is not rushed, considering I started in August. A little sewing here, a bit of knitting there, and I should wrap it up in good time.

Currently, I'm working on scarves and hats for my two aunts and one uncle. I don't knit much anymore, so this has been fun. My daughters launch into a full fledged game of Little House on the Prairie when I whip out my needles. I, of course, get to play the incredibly industrious Ma, the girls are Mary and Laura, Toddzilla fluctuates between playing Carrie and their naughty cousin Charley. Crockett, as you can see, doesn't have a choice. It's all baby Grace for him. He's very good natured about the whole thing, thankfully.

The hardest gift by far will be for my father. He's impossible to buy for; I can't imagine finding something to knit or sew for him. I'm determined to find a pattern that I think he'll actually wear or use. If all else fails, I'll resign myself to golf club covers or something horrendous like that. (Read: I'm open to ideas. Any ideas!)

A Homemade Christmas

You might remember my husband bought me one of these at the birth of our fourth child. He probably thought sewing would be yet another passing fancy, but he tends to humor me in my new found loves. So off I went to sewing class.

I'm not one to do anything lightly. I usually jump in with both feet and hope for the best. So of course I decided to sew as many Christmas presents as possible this year. It feels quaint. And quiet. And relaxing. Seriously.

I may feel differently come December, but right now I'm enjoying the creativity and simplicity of it all. It's one of those crafts I can even do with my little ones around. The girls love to watch the machine do its magic; Toddzilla is content as a clam to help 'push the pedal down.'

Inspiration for the creative family life abounds (and amazes) at SouleMama's. A must see!

From Scratch

There have been two things in our home that have helped to motivate my children to do their chores: The Little House books and home made aprons.

After reading all the Little House books last year, my girls were constantly wanting to sweep and mend, cook and clean. Endless games of Mary and Laura continue to be played, all focusing on the joys of domesticity. Everything made in the kitchen now should surely be "from scratch;" if they only knew what life was really like when a good old box of Duncan Hines cake mix was non-existent. I'm all for being idealistic, but a cake mix sure comes in handy once in a while.

Recently I made these aprons and purses for the girls on my new sewing machine. They immediately asked for chores! And asked. And asked. I know, I know... this will surely be short-lived. But I'll take as many days as I can get from my willing little workers.

The aprons and purses are from Bend the Rules sewing. I altered the purse pattern quite a bit and added a rosette instead of a velvet bow for my more -classic-than-chic girls.

Another sewing post, sorry!

Yes, I'm a bit obsessed. But an old Peter Rabbit crib bumper was just crying out to be cut up and made into bean bags for my little ones. Having just watched Miss Potter, I had some added inspiration. Great movie, by the way. I didn't realize Beatrix lived in the lakes country of England at about the same time as Charlotte Mason.

Theodore The Wild

Introducing our beloved bear, Theodore the Wild. I can't remember why he was so christened, but the name signifies the poor fellow's role in so much of my children's play. Before they had brothers, Theodore the Wild posed as whatever bad guy the girls needed. He's not a stock character though; Theodore can quickly become the dad, the suitor, or the knight in shining armor. Such versatility is hard to find in bit part actors these days.

The point of this whole post, however, is the apron, not the bear! I finished my reversible apron and am quite pleased. I think Theodore the Wild just might be getting a bit domesticated in his old age...

Apron Strings

Have I mentioned I LOVE sewing? I'm currently in a beginning sewing class. We get to pick our own projects (bless our teacher's heart, I didn't really want to sew flannel pajama bottoms). I've chosen a chic, reversible apron from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing. I made the apron strings last night. I'm waiting for class tomorrow to start cutting the fabric for the actual apron. I can't wait!

Which of my precious little ones wouldn't want to be tied to these?

We've Got A Project!

Bless the Lord, O my soul! I actually completed my first sewing project on my brand new Janome machine... A gift, I might add, from my dear husband on the occasion of our newest little guy's birth. (He always wants to get jewelry; I always opt for the fun and practical -- last time it was a KitchenAid Mixer!)

If you could actually see the seams, I wouldn't be posting a picture. My own personal placemat and napkin set. Just setting them out for morning coffee makes me smile!

Five Fat Files

Elizabeth George got me started on the Five Fat Files. It's nothing more than gathering info -- in one place -- on those subjects you're always coming back to. For a long time, especially during grad school, my files were mainly theological subjects. Now that I'm a wife and mom, they're a little more... practical.

A new one for me is SEWING. My daughters are constantly asking (a.k.a begging) to sew. A few of their favorite people - Mary and Laura Ingalls, Samantha Parker and Nellie O'Malley (American Girl Dolls) - are always working on their "samplers." At four and six, there's not a whole lot my girls can manage on their own. We've done all the projects for little hands we can find at Michael's. We've even unearthed my Tiny Tailor a few times and tried to remember how to thread it.

We think we're ready for the big leagues. Inspired by all the projects going on at Elizabeth's -- not to mention the amazing fabric they're using -- we're going to buy a real sewing machine.

Hopefully, soon we'll be posting a few projects!