Projects for Allison

Dan built the headboard for Alli's bed, while I made a throw pillow and a little pillowcase for her "mini" pillow.

I have been sewing

Actually, I've been sewing a lot lately. But my computer will crash if I try to show you every picture in one post, so over the next few days I will try to post my latest projects.

For now you will have to be content with pictures of me sewing. And giving Dan the evil eye for taking pictures of me sewing. (It's not a very convincing evil eye, I know.)

Pillows

New pillows for our couch and chair. I have so much fun with Anna Maria Horner fabric!

* not sure why this post is under my last one, but I don't have time to figure it out. I can deal with it.

I don't like this picture

I mean, it's cute and all, and it shows that my daughter's hair is actually growing, but I don't

like it.

Not one bit.

Why, you ask?

Isn't it obvious?

She looks at least 23 years old here. Okay, so maybe not 23, but definitely not 2 1/2! This picture makes her look like a girl. Not a toddler, and not my baby. And I don't like it.

At least she still has her chunky baby thighs . . .

You Might be a Redneck if . . .

. . . you use the umbrella stand in your patio furniture to anchor your clothesline, and then proceed to hang clothes out to dry in 40 degree weather. A few hours later is started to sleet! I think it's time to get the dryer fixed, or else I need to convince myself that I'm saving the earth by reducing my carbon footprint here.

Great Intentions

I've had so many ideas for posts. They float around my head, forming themselves into sentence fragments and partially completed paragraphs, only to get shoved out with important information like, "I need to add bleach to my shopping list."

So my blog had deteriorated into cute anecdotes of my kids and pictures. Not that there's anything wrong with blogs like that, it's just not the only thing I intended for my blog.

Maybe one day I'll have the perfect combination for blogging: a quiet moment and a focused brain. I'm not holding out for one soon. In fact, this morning I was contemplating a post (focused brain) while the kids were still sleeping (quiet moment) when the magic was killed by Alli when she came downstairs complaining that she was "very poopy." I instructed her to get a pair of undies and wipes from her room. She disappeared upstairs and returned a moment later with the aforementioned undies, 2 dolls, a pillow and a tiny plastic pooh-bear figure. She forgot the wipes. So I sent her back to the bathroom to get wipes and she returned and proceeded to name all the characters from Peter Pan pictured on the box. I had her lay down to change her, when she decided she needed a pad to lay on, so she disappeared again to find the changing pad. Finally she returned and was ready to get changed. What should have taken less than 2 minutes ended up taking around 10. Do you see why I don't have time to blog?

Of course, I need to address the fact that kids are not an interruption to my life. They are the job I'm called to perform right now and I'm not complaining about it. It just makes doing all those other things that interest me more difficult. I'm not begging for sympathy, just a little understanding when you check my blog day after day and never see a new post. That's all I want - a little understanding. And maybe a big cup of coffee, with a blueberry muffin and a good book to read . . . and the quiet time to read it . . . and a clean house . . . and a full-time maid . . . and a slimmer body . . .

. . . but you get the point.

"Ooh, spicy!"
Alli's response to blowing her nose on a tissue from the new box of Puffs Plus with Vick's vapor.

Favorite Music

I have a vivid recollection of my mom repeatedly asking me to turn off the music in our house growing up. She cherished peace and quiet and I thought I couldn't live without background music. Maybe I imagined it as the soundtrack of my life, but I can still hear a song that I listened to as a teenager and instantly remember the people and places and situations that were were occurring at that time. I don't think I'm alone in this phenomenon.

However, I have found since having children that I too enjoy the peace and quiet that occurs for only 2 hours (or less) each afternoon when the kids are in their rooms. But I've also found that my mind wanders and it is better to listen to music to keep my thoughts focused on Christ. So here is my list of favorite Cd's to listen to when it doesn't threaten my mental well-being:

(in no particular order)
1. Redemption Songs by Jars of Clay
2. Grace like Rain by Todd Agnew
3. Songs for the Cross-Centered Life by Sovereign Grace Ministries
4. Remedy by David Crowder Band
5. Good Monsters by Jars of Clay
6. And ANYTHING by the Newsboys!

These are what I've been listening to lately, how about you?

Best Buds

Little Red Riding Hood

Keeping me Humble

Elijah, on explaining how much he loves his new booster seat in the van:

"Mommy, I love my booster seat so much that I will never
want to move out of it. But someday my bottom will be as big as yours and
it will touch the arm rests and I won't be able to fit in it anymore."

New Year's Resolutions Begin to Waver . . .

. . . when you hit Leviticus. Dan and I are still plowing through, although we are doing it on our own so that we don't put each other to sleep at night when we sit to read.

Waiting for Spring

Elijah at 5

We had weekend guests during the weeks surrounding Elijah's 5th birthday, so I wasn't able to post this. But here is my tribute to my eldest child, my buddy:

Elijah, you have been more excited about turning 5 than any other birthday in your short life. You started planning your party last fall. The necessary ingredients for your party included: balloons, spiderman masks, those things you blow that curl up and straighten out (you called them "woozles" - not sure where that came from) and a pinata. You also changed the guest list hundreds of times, always including girls, "to be fair" you said, and even kicking off some friends so there would be a place for Mrs. Lenz (thanks for relinquishing your spot, Sarah!).

You had so many gift ideas, but I love that you were satisfied with every one you received, as well as being content when you couldn't get every one you wanted. Although you already have a list for next year . . .

Things that I always want to remember about you at 5:

1. You learned to blow your nose . . . finally. At least, you convinced your grandma that you learned, so she would pay you the $10 she promised for "big boys who blow their noses."

2. You still love to cuddle.

3. You started wiping off my kisses and told me that you prefer Eskimo kisses. That kinda makes me sad, but I promised you that I would always kiss you anyway.

4. You love Lego's and use your imagination like crazy inventing strange and wonderful creations with them.

5. You make your own bed and get yourself dressed; you fold your own clothes and put them away (I try not to let my ocd nature take over and rearrange them); now if only I could get you to wash your own hair . . .

6. You love math, dislike reading lessons, but love that you are learning to read.

7. You tell Alli that you love her every day, and cry when she is in a mood and says "I don't love you."

8. You are convinced that you will learn to ride a 2 wheel bike this year, because Carra did last summer when she was 5.

9. Your idea of a good time is helping Dad with whatever project he is doing, and always dress the part of "the worker man."

10. You want to learn to sew, just like your mommy.

11. When I told you that I didn't think I was ready for you to be 5, you lectured me that "you can't change God's plan and His plan is for me to grow older." I'm being reminded of the sovereignty of God from my 5 year old. I love that.

Happy Birthday, Elijah. Your dad and I love you at least one billion. You are a joy to us. But try to stick with being 5 for a while, okay? Maybe another 3 or 4 years?

Extra Fabric = French Memo Boards!

In an effort to redecorate Alli's room on a budget, I decided to make her a french memo board with some scrap fabric. So it all started with this one . . .

. . . then Elijah decided he wanted one, too . . . . . . and then I decided my craft area could use a memo board, and I had this extra fabric from a handbag that I LOVE, so I made #3 . . .
. . . only to find that I still had enough of this fabric to make #4 for downstairs.

Now every bedroom has one, as well as the hallway by the kitchen. I think this should be enough for now . . .

Scrumptious Fare

I found this recipe a while ago, and never got around to making it until last night. The whole family loved it, and when I had to turn Elijah down from his 4Th serving, I decided it was definitely a keeper, and one to share with you all! So here is the recipe for our 5 star dish -

Sweet-and-Sour Meatballs
1 can (20 oz) pineapple chunks
1/3 c. water
3 T vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
3 T cornstarch
1 batch of 30 meatballs (frozen or thawed) - I use Sam's Club frozen meatballs, they are our favorite!
1 large green pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
Hot cooked rice

Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Set pineapple aside. Add water to juice if needed to measure 1 cup; pour into a large skillet. Add 1/3 c. water, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar and cornstarch; stir until smooth. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly. Add pineapple, meatballs and green pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until heated through. Serve over rice. Yield: 6 servings

What makes me different than a typical person on Groundhog's Day . . .

I'm excited if our local groundhog sees his shadow. That means only 6 more weeks of winter around here!

My New Favorite Website

I don't even remember how exactly I found this website, and after visiting it for a month or so, it seems I am the last person on earth who hasn't heard of it. But in case you haven't either, let me introduce you to

The Pioneer Woman

When I first found the website, I intended to visit it only for recipes. It wasn't until I started poking around that I found it's author, Ree, blogs about life on a ranch, photography, homeschooling and decorating/gardening! If only she quilted, this might be the only blog I would ever need to visit! So take some time to peruse the site and I guarantee you'll find something you like.

And when you are completely addicted, as I now am, you can send me presents to show your appreciation . . . I'll be patiently waiting!

Weekend Update

As my previous post might lead you to believe, we had a crazy, busy, sickening week. The kids were better in time for their grandparents to visit for an early birthday party for Elijah, but Dan suffered most of the weekend with his own, albeit less explosionary, sickness. Even so, we had a nice, quiet visit that even allowed my mom-in-law, who is an excellent seamstress, to help me with a project that had been rattling around in my head for a few weeks now.

We have this wicker/rattan type box in the living room that I use to store the toys. It's a little more "decorator-friendly" than a typical toy box. It came with a brown fabric lining, that was held on by an elastic top. Well, over the 4 years we've had this toy box, the elastic has been stretched and stretched until it wouldn't stay in it's place anymore. So I had been trying to figure out the best way to replace it, without having to buy a ton of fabric that would just be hidden under toys, or just replacing the elastic, which would be utilitarian and economical, but boring. Since one of my new year's resolutions was to add a little more color into our life, I decided to add fabric on the outside of the box, covering about half of the wicker/rattan exterior. And I just happened to have enough of Heather Bailey's Pop Garden fabric to finish the job. So my wonderfully talented mom-in-law figured out how exactly to do it and then took over and finished it herself. Thanks mom!

Here is the final product:

Fun, huh? I love it and it only inspires me to do more with fabric in my house! Stay tuned for pics of my memo boards . . . another way to incorporate some delicious fabric into your decor!

Oh, and I must not forget to share the most exciting, exhilarating part of our weekend. Anyone who knows me should know that my game-playing skills are lacking, to say the least. I play games because I can lose and still have a good time, which is a good trait for one who loses as often as I do. But this weekend . . . this glorious weekend . . .while playing games with my husband and in-laws . . . I won in THREE different games. I won in a 4 round game of Blokus (first time I've used all my pieces!), Rook, and in Rage. I went to bed glowing, and told Dan that this weekend alone would be enough to carry me through a 6 month streak of losses, although I think I'm on a roll . . . :)

Hope your day is great!

Only a mom knows about this . . .

How is it that EVERY time my daughter throws up, it is within 24 hours of her eating corn and mandarin oranges? And just trust me when I tell you that this information was easily discerned. I'll leave it at that and let your mind do the rest . . .

Have a happy day!

Handmade Christmas, part 3

Somehow I missed getting some pictures of a couple of gifts, so I'll have to show you these and tell you about the others.

These gifts were for Dan's side of the family, with whom we didn't celebrate Christmas with until New Years, so it gave me a bit longer to finish. I made these reversible cloth napkins for my mother-in-law, in the colors of her kitchen. We apparently have similar tastes, because these would match my kitchen and dining room, too! My trendy sister-in-law, Noelle, picked out this fabric from Anna Maria Horner as a favorite on a recent trip to the quilt shop, so I made a mental note and went back and bought enough to make 4 coasters . . .

. . . and 2 hot pads. Both were easy to make, so I might have to make some for myself this year!

I also made 2 more fabric footballs for our nephews and gave my sister-in-law Jennifer an "On the Town Diaper Pack" that holds a small package of wipes and 4 diapers. I've made a lot of those and one day, when I finally get around to opening an Etsy store, I'll list those for sale.

Well friends, this ends the 3-part series on my Handmade Christmas. Hope you liked it. I really enjoyed making all these gifts, but I resolve in 2009 to start a bit earlier! Maybe next month???

New Year, Same Resolutions

We've had a wonderful few weeks of celebrating Christmas with both our families, although that always involves a bit of travel. I'm winding down and looking forward to a few weeks with nothing big planned, and a chance to really think about my goals for the new year. Here are a few that I've come up with so far:

1. Resolved to stay in touch with my siblings more often - even if just through Facebook.
(side note to Erik and Kevin - the phone connection works both ways!)

2. Resolved to read through the Bible in one year - Dan helped me with this resolution by suggesting we do it together. I don't know if that will make it easier or more difficult. We see each other (awake, that is) only a few hours a day.

3. Resolved to sew for fun, but to not let it take over my life and finances! Along with that resolution comes mine and Dan's desire to add a bit more color into our lives.

4. And the biggest resolution I have made is to strive to find the balance between serving in the body of Christ and knowing when to step back before I get so stressed that I have heart palpitations! That's an on-going struggle that I don't expect to fully solve - it's going to be a constant battle, but one that I'm hopefully more prepared for.

Well, that's my list so far. I'm sure I should add exercise and less sugar consumption, but I'm afraid if I write it down, someone will actually keep me accountable for it.

Stay tuned for my last installment of "Handmade Christmas" and some of my favorites of 2008!
Happy New Year Everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

May you experience the hope, peace and joy that only comes from knowing our great Savior.

Have a blessed holiday.

But God,

being rich in mercy,

because of the great love with which he loved us,

even when we were dead in our trespasses,

made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved -

and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

so that in the coming ages he might show

the immeasurable riches of his grace

in kindness toward us in

Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-7

*Our family picture was taken by Dan's talented brother, Michael. Visit his website at zempelphotography.com

Handmade Christmas, Part 2B

Mom shows off her quilted wall hanging . . .

No wait! Don't look too closely, or you'll see the mistakes! And don't let my great aunt quilter extraordinaire see them, either!
Oh well, she seems pleased with the Santa I made her. Hopefully she won't look for mistakes on him, either. (Somehow I forgot to get a picture of that project.)
Merry Christmas!

Handmade Christmas, Part 2

This past July, I decided to make a quilted wall-hanging for my mom's Christmas present. The pattern is called "Tuscan Village" and I thought it would complement my mom's decor quite well. It all started with a bunch of thin strips of fabric . . .
cut and pieced to form a nice little, log cabin square . . .and then stitched together to form a row. Many, many rows later, this is what you get:This was my first ambitious project, since my other two quilts were pretty basic. I got to try my hand at free-motion quilting, mitering corners, and stitching "in the ditch" which I hate. There are plenty of mistakes, but I won't point them out to you! Overall, this was a fun project and I am very happy with the results. And this was going to be the only handmade present I would make this year. Yeah right, then I had to go crazy . . .I finished it last week by sewing on a patch so that all posterity can learn from my quilting errors, while blaming me by name.This football was inspired by my friend Sarah, who has one for her little guy. Thanks goes to Debbie, for letting me use her machine to embroider it. Truth be told, I stood by and chatted while she did all the work!

These are wristlet wallets/purses that I made for my two teen aged nieces and my lovely great aunt, who is a seamstress and quilter extraordinaire. Inside are two pockets, to hold money or your cell-phone. I love these so much that after Christmas I must make one for myself!

And since the best part of making gifts is the moment you give them away, stay tuned for the pictures of our Christmas celebration from this past weekend!

Snow Day

Usually I relish snow days. Even though my kids aren't in school and it doesn't really change my schedule at all, I still feel that child-like excitement whenever we get a big snow.

However, this storm really messed with my schedule. We were supposed to be leaving tonight for my parent's house, but since they got a nasty ice-storm and are currently without electricity, we are stuck at home.

So Elijah played outside, Alli stayed in to color, and I shoveled a walkway on our deck for the dog. Poor thing, the snow is so deep she doesn't dare to walk off into the yard, fearing being buried alive. So she does her duty on the deck snow. I won't even go into the lovely icicles I found while shoveling. But moving on . . .

I decided to set out a bowl on the deck to collect snow to make snow ice cream. (Mind you, out of the reach of the dog.) I just found this recipe and decided a snow day was the perfect day to try it:

Snow Ice Cream
8 cups fresh, clean snow
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

mix and eat - quickly. It's rich, so a little goes a long way, but the kids loved it!

Now to decide whether or not I should unpack the bags . . .

A New Kind of Superhero

Last night the kids were playing with Dan when I heard Elijah say that he wanted to be a superhero and his name would be . . .


wait for it . . .


"super-visor"


Yep, supervisor. The hero you call when you need a pesky question answered. Rest easy citizens, he's here to save the day.

Handmade Christmas

I've been busy crafting all sorts of Christmas presents this year, and I thought you might like to see some of them. Since we have yet to celebrate Christmas with either of our families, I have to be careful of what I show you. However, since I am fairly certain that my kids don't read this blog, I will showcase the projects I completed for them.These pajama pants were relatively easy, and I find that I am becoming more comfortable with garment construction, although it is still not my calling in life. My plan was to make a pair for all of us (to take advantage of matching pj's before the kids get too old to object!) but at $10 a yard, this snowflake flannel was too expensive for adult-sized pants. Maybe next year I'll catch it on sale.

This doll quilt will go with a cradle for Alli's dolls. I used the leftover fabric from her quilt, which is back in my posession, but won't be finished until after I am done with all the Christmas projects! This small quilt took no time at all and I love that it will match hers!

Even though I had plans for multiple other handmade gifts for the kids, I over-extended myself on projects, so my ideas will have to wait for other holidays. But these were fun!

More to come in the following weeks . . .

Painting Pottery

A few weeks ago the kids and I accompanied Dan on an overnight business trip and we visited a pottery painting store as a diversion while Dan was in meetings. I wasn't sure how much the kids would enjoy it, but my budding artists had a blast! We each chose a project and enjoyed the time we had to be creative.Alli chose a heart pendant to paint, and we all had the choice of 6 different paint colors to use. She opted for pink . . . that's all, just pink. So I suggested a little yellow, and this is what she ended up with.
Elijah chose a gift to give his dad, a mug with golf clubs on it. Dan doesn't golf, but the "I love my Dad" painted on the side made it special. Elijah really enjoyed painting it and was even more excited to show it to his daddy.
I chose to paint a plate, since I've always wanted a special celebration plate. It's rough - I'm no artist, but I'm happy with it and excited to use it! What a fun way to spend a couple of hours! I'm thinking this might be a fun project to do again.

Some Christmas songs are difficult to understand . . .

Elijah (singing) - Ho! Ho! the missing toe . . .

Me - No, it's mistletoe.

Elijah - Oh. (commence singing) Ho! Ho! the muscle toe . . .