Thursday, December 1, 2011

christmas greeting


this year in lieu of sending out Christmas cards, 
we are going the stress-free route.  
posting it!

enjoy our Christmas greeting to you!

Merry Christmas from us to you!

It has been an amazing year, 
full of blessings.  
We now have a 2nd grader, 
a Kindergartener and 
a curious preschooler.  

We are so thankful for all God has given us.  
Be blessed this holiday season!  
With much love.

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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

the feeling

how are you feeling these days?
does it feel like Christmas is coming?
are you caught up in the festivities?
or just floating along?

i was on board for halloween and thanksgiving,
but somehow it just doesn't FEEL like Christmas yet.
you know?

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
the wreath is hung (thanks dad!)...
tree coming this weekend.

what is the feeling exactly?
and why does it matter if i have it?
maybe it's not about the feeling?

ah well, we will keep doing Christmasy things
and eventually i'm sure the feeling will take route as well.

merry, merry!


Thursday, November 10, 2011

pj pants

so i was reading lately about chemicals in kids pajamas.
you know, the ones that make them flame-resistant?
yeah, those ones.

and although i had read about them before,
i had that moment.
you know the moment i mean, right?
when all of a sudden the true significance
of what i was reading hit me.

somehow i had the misunderstanding
that if i bought the clothes second hand
and/or washed them a whole bunch,
the chemicals would dissipate.

not necessarily.
all synthetic fiber sleepwear contain flame retardants.
either they are added (those MAY be washed away)
or the chemicals are bonded to the fiber
(those will NOT wash away).

i immediately began to go through my kids pajamas
and was dismayed to find the vast 
(and i mean VAST) majority of their pajamas
were indeed flame resistant.

so out they went.

i scoured consignment and second hand stores
for non-flame-resistant pjs,
but came up kind of short.
the girls have just enough jammies,
but the boy-boy ended up 
with only two pairs of pj pants!

thank goodness i sew! 

using some flannel i already had on hand
(purchased on sale last spring and
"not intended for sleepwear"),
i whipped up some
cute flannel pj bottoms for the boy!








pretty cute, eh?

i have some more in the works...


Wednesday, November 9, 2011

thanksgiving runner

halloween is over,
november is here.
and that calls for a new table runner!

this one is for thanksgiving 
and i found the most adorable 
vintage thanksgiving card fabric!
it's accented with sparkly fall leaves,
and i love the way it turned out!


and, of course, it's reversible!

side one:


side two:


there's something about homemade decorations 
that make the season feel so much more festive!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

beautiful

the other morning
my sweet little moo surprised me
by making my bed.

now is that beautiful or what?



it melts my heart to see generosity
 and thoughtfulness developing
 in my sweet baby girl.


color me blessed.

Monday, November 7, 2011

artsy

here is my attempt at artsy sewing...
it is not as easy as it looks.

i made this very colorful wheel from scraps
of fabric that i had left over from other projects.


the question is: what do i do with it now?

suggestions?

Sunday, November 6, 2011

household blessings

it is the season of thanksgiving.
i try to live every day with an attitude of gratitude,
but find that i am especially mindful 
of how much i have to be thankful for.

lately we have been experiencing 
generosity and unexpected gifts.

i already mentioned the pressure cooker.


and the free sewing table.


be we were also able to finally make use of a 
giant solid wood frame that was given to us many years ago.
hubs was given some high-quality self-healing cork.
and he turned it into something beautiful!


i finally got around to unpacking some items from the basement
(packed up last spring when we thought we were moving),
and now these photos and mementos have a new lease on life!


and my favorite new item:
a big dining room table!
a generous new friend let us have 
this beautiful set of a table (with two leaves)
and six big chairs!


our old table was so tiny that the five of us barely fit at it.
this table has room to spare!
we had nine people eating here comfortably.  
nine!

i feel like this new table allows me to 
extend hospitality with a little more ease.


thankfulness is the language of a joyful heart.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

applesauce

some of you have heard the saga 
of the apples already.

in september, my father-in-law generously
allowed me to pick about a million apples
and other various fruits from his yard.

they were lovely apples 
and i had every intention of 
turning them into applesauce and 
canning them right away.

then life happened.


fast forward to november 1st.
i had managed to peel, core, and cut the apples,
but ended up sticking the lot in my freezer
due to lack of time and 
a large enough pot to can them in.

then, much to my surprise and delight,
my father-in-law came to the rescue in that respect too!
a lovely pressure cooker/canner arrived in the mail.



and i FINALLY managed to turn all those beautiful apples 
into jars of canned applesauce.
ready for sharing and 
consuming through the winter months!





aren't they beautiful?
i feel SO much better now that it's done!

Friday, November 4, 2011

fall runner

as promised, more projects!

earlier this month moo-moo and i 
picked up some tiny pumpkins.
they were so cute that i was inspired
 to make a table runner!

we stopped by the fabric store on a whim
and i made this that afternoon.





my favorite part?
the cute little pom-poms!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

fall with friends

our best friends came for a visit!

with five small kiddos in our tiny house
we needed to burn some energy;
so we grabbed the scooters,
strapped on helmets
and hit the trail!

it was a beautiful, crisp (dry!) fall day
and we found this beautiful gazebo.

perfect for pictures, right?



so, how hard is it to get a good picture of five kids?

almost... 

not bad... 

um... 

we said "happy", not scary... 

eyes closed... 

hysterical!

how about four kids?

okaaaaay... 

at least they're happy!

refueling...


  


now that's cute!