felted wool stuff & pillowcase apron

We made these felted balls and felted rocks--so tactile and colorful!

And I found this pillowcase at Goodwill for .99 and made this apron out of it.  Pretty easy, since the bottom of it is already hemmed.  I have enough left to make a smaller one for Lily, so we'll have matching ones. 

Wow, I can't believe christmas is 4 weeks away.  I have lots to do!

crocheting with Grandma & puppet theatre

Yesterday (well, Wednesday) we made a toy theatre out of a box, inspiration found here.  I added as much detail as I could with a feverish baby strapped to me and called it good.  Eric was very excited about it, crafting the felt clothespin Superman entirely himself, except for the hot gluing.

Thanksgiving Day I nearly finished Lily's scarf--just need to add some tassels to each end.

I asked my Grandma to show me how to crochet.

She is a patient and encouraging teacher.  I was able to do it under her watchful eye.  Love my Grandma!!  But curses to my camera, how I long for a fancy, new (to me) good one that's not a point and shoot.

Feverish baby was back to normal yesterday, just in time for TG.  But now it's after midnight and shoot, he's still going strong.

The End.

What We are Eating this Week and Weekly Quote

I have discovered chalkboard paint and plotting where next I can use it.  Latest project--painting the pantry doors for menus.

I also try to do a weekly quote (also on the pantry.)

On another note...it is still Fall.  Not Winter.  I can't get into celebrating Christmas in the Fall.  Not before Thanksgiving.  Not even in November.  Nope.  I say this as I see more and more Christmas decorations going up on houses.  There is a house by us that had Christmas decorations up November 1st.  Yes, the day after Halloween.  Right beside the jack-o-lantern leaf bags.

I don't want to eat my Thanksgiving dinner beside a Christmas tree (and I don't, thankfully).  We really start celebrating just a couple of weeks before, which also helps the children be patient.  With Christmas 4 weeks from Thanksgiving, that seems like an eternity to have a tree up, at least to me (and lots of excited kids). I like the old fashioned tradition of bringing in the tree Christmas Eve, myself, though we will probably get ours a few days before that.

fairy house

dolls, glue & tp

I made these dolls this morning--one for Lil and one for Calvin for Christmas.  I think they're quirky and cute with the arms pointing different directions and legs different lengths.  Not intentional, but that's how it works out.

Lily loves glue (and tape).  The other night she was cutting up some colored paper and had the glue out.  When I put her to bed I saw this by her bed.  She had glued it to the wall (!).  (We were out of tape).  So I peeled off what I could and stuck a damp paper towel on it to loosen the glue.  Which I promptly forgot about until I saw it in the morning, which is how I ended up scrubbing paper towel and paper that was glued to the wall.

And this...oh, we need a TP post.  I swear I have posted about toilet paper here before.  I bought a 30 roll pack of TP, oh, 5 days ago and let the children open and play with it, they love that part.  Which was cool until they started unrolling and throwing it around.  Then ensued a TP cleanup, it was deposited into this grocery bag.  We're still using it. 

Screen Porch Re-do

new desk setup & other nesting projects

Fall seems to make me want to nest.  I've been doing all sorts of projects, a big one being our screen porch (pics to come).  I found this AWESOME vintage desk on craigslist (which happens to match a recently painted chair!) and drove down south last night to pick it up.  The ensuing mess of transferring everything over was a PITA, but now everything is nice and organized.

before--a disorganized heap of a mess!

and after

sewing table before--I was so over the pink!

sewing table after.  LOVE it.  I added a drawer pull too, and made a sewing machine cover since it's always out.  I painted the wall shelf thing (show above) to match the lilac wall--a good place to keep scissors and pins out of reach of little hands.

This bus tent has seen some serious action.  It was a christmas present for Grace in 1999!  We videotaped her running from one end to the other popping her head out and saying "hi mom! hi dad!"  Hard to believe Calvin is the 4th child of ours to play in it.

This is why we always need to buy tape.

A couple evenings ago, Lily disappeared into her room and was very quiet for a good long while.  The complete silence is always a clue that the children are likely doing something I wouldn't have suggested, but as long as no one is getting hurt I am ok with them peeling paper off of crayons or shredding a roll of toilet paper, as it means I am getting a few minutes of peace and quiet and they are learning by doing.

She proudly requested that I come and see what she had done and I just love this.  A doggie printed on fabric, taped to her wall, using as much tape as is humanly possible (you can see the shine from the tape in the upper left hand corner up there).  So awesome.

new writing blog

I realized I needed a place to archive my articles, so I created a new blog just for my writing.  You can visit it here. 

I have lots more article ideas, stay tuned!

halloween fun

here we have Daddy Pirate, Mama punk-ish witch, Wizard baby, Pirate-Zombie-Gothic big sister, Pirate big brother, and bumblebee Lils.

a fun time was had by all!  i forgot to take pics of the awesome jack o lanterns.  much candy was gathered and consumed...though i also paid out $8 in candy purchasing from 3 children (80 pieces @ .10 apiece).

yesterday we celebrated a special 12th birthday for Grace, complete with homemade chocolate cake, ice cream, more candy, and a before bedtime '12 times the Sun' birthday ritual.  Lils held the earth and walked around the Sun 12 times, we told a story about Grace for each year.  hard to believe it's been that long.  what a joy Grace is.