I haven’t started the other kids hats yet, but I do have in mind to finally finish my Estes Vest from the Interweave Knits Fall 2008. The last time i worked on this was about a year ago. All I have left is the edging and buttonloops and it will be done. Shouldn’t take too long. Maybe the mojo will stay long enough to finish it.

In other crafty news, I turned this little number that cost me $1 into something I just love. I got the chalk/bulletin board from a local thrift store and removed the cork. Then I painted it and covered the cork with fabric. I do still need to make some kind of piece for the cutout at the top. Thinking about using chalkboard contact paper so I can write my title in and change it whenever I want to. I bought some chalk markers and I love those too. If you have never used them, get some. They make chalkboards desireable again!

I also fixed (with nails, amazing) and painted this table and chairs that were mine and my sisters when we were little. We are going to use this for a our school table for now. While we would like to get something like this, it just isn’t in the budget now. This was free and will be big enough for 2 of the kids to work on. Sometimes you just have to work with what you have!

And, in garden news, we are picking green beans, banana peppers and tomatoes now. Just not as many as I had hoped for. My in-laws gave us tons of tomatoes though and some green peppers, so I can can and freeze some things for winter. I bought some corn from my favorite producer here and am working on it today. I am still hoping my second planting will be worth picking. The first was destroyed by deer, ants and worms – we only got about 5 ears. My cucumbers, gourds and cantaloupe are producing small babies now and I am hoping that they are able to grow to pickable goodness. I also have several cold weather crops to plant in a week or two so we have some yummy stuff for the fall. At least my flowers are beautiful!

I have wanted an apron for awhile now. My grandmother always had an apron on and I have such fond memories of her in the kitchen. It also seems like aprons have made a comeback and are actually cool now. So of course I want one – I’ve always wanted to sit at the cool table;) Anyway, I bought the book A is for Apron last year and there are so many cute ones in there that I want to make. I made a reversible gingerbread apron, for my secret pal last year, from that book. But while the patterns in that book are very nice I just never got around to making myself one. I got burned out on the ones I made for other people last year. So, when this pattern came up on the sew4home blog on Monday I knew I had to make it. The apron is so cute and looked much simpler to make than the ones in my book…and it was. It took me an afternoon to whip this out and I used fabric from my stash: ‘surf & sand’ by Michele D’Amore for Marcus Fabrics. I loved the colors and patterns of these fabrics and had 5 yards laying around in the different patterns, so it was perfect! The back is khaki with the white and turquoise stars, so it is reversible, the back just doesn’t have any pockets. I love the way it turned out and I have worn it the last 2 days to cook and check on my garden. Perfect!

This monkey (Mikey Monkey from Larissa Holland) was meant to be a gift for Kameron Christmas 2009. I kept putting it off because it looked difficult and even though I really wanted to make it I just didn’t have the time during December of last year. Finally on Christmas Eve I cut out the pieces and then was too tired to go any further and since he was just 15 months he wouldn’t notice, right? Babies always get jipped because they won’t notice or care… So the pieces have been sitting on my desk since then and today I decided to go for it and start…and I finished, because Larissa’s pattern is totally awesome! The pattern is so well written and it looks like a lot, but it is pretty simple. She has it all there for you so you won’t make mistakes. :) I am so glad I finally made Kameron his pirate monkey. I decided that his name will be Jolly Bean. Kameron just happened to be eating Jelly Bellys when I finished sewing him up. I just finished the pirate pieces five minutes ago though, so he hasn’t seen those. I am so happy with this monkey! I hope he becomes a family heirloom and that he isplayed with and loved and hugged millions of times. I really think this might be the coolest thing I’ve made so far. Can you tell I love it?! Have a beautiful week everyone!

Welcome to our home. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay!

As you come up our front steps you’ll be greeted by these cute snowmen that my husband’s Aunt Regina painted for us. I just love them and although they saw a rough winter last year they are still standing.

Well, don’t stand there all day! Come inside:) As you walk inside you’ll be greeted by our fireplace. I framed the entryway to the kitchen in tinsel to hang our Christmas cards. I have to have some sparkle!

The living room also houses our Christmas tree. I decided to keep it simple this year and just do lights and my favorite ornaments. No tinsel, no ribbon and no topper… The top of the tree is my favorite; that is where I always put our “First Christmas” ornament and each of our children’s “First Christmas” ornaments. Having our family ornaments up there all together makes me happy.

You’ll also see my “new” decoration of pine cones, twigs & candles that I put together. Simple things make the best decorations sometimes, don’t you think? I put my nativity up on a shelf so that it wouldn’t get broken. I’d been wanting this willow tree one for a while and my mom bought it for my last year. As I was taking it out of the box it said to be very careful with Joseph so his arm would stay intact; I didn’t think my kids needed to be able to reach him!

Come into the kitchen – I’m not going to show you the whole thing, because it’s messy! I’ve got more baking to do today on the bottom half, but look up at my favorite plates:) I’m so excited that in this house I can put things up on my cabinets and hang garland there. I’ve not been able to do that in our other homes.

The only place I had for my old but cute wreath is on the door to our sunroom. Go on out there…

This is my current workspace (one of them – I’m sure Kody thinks the whole house is my workspace). I had to decorate it a little bit too:)

If you go upstairs, you’ll be in the kids domain. They have decorations all over their rooms, but here is the tree that they set up and decorated themselves. Kody did help a little with the tree set up, but we didn’t give other instruction. They had a lot of fun decorating:) The books under the tree are all of our Christmas books – really most of them are just winter books, I guess we need a few good ones. And of course no home with children would be complete without a few Christmas-y stuffed animals!

I hope you’ve enjoyed your visit. :) Our decorations are simple, but make us happy. There are many small things you didn’t see, but I thought it best not to take pictures of everything. If you stop back by later, I’ll have some cookies for you!

From our home to yours – Have a Very Merry Christmas!

*This post if linked to on The Nester’s Christmas Tour of Homes. Go there to see many more blogs with inspiration for your decorations! Also, please excuse all our unfinished bits that you see in the photos – our home is a work in progress and we have much more to do before it is “finished.”

Kristopher got the same curtains only I didn’t do any add ons for his…yet. I am thinking about adding some pirate fabric to the hem since the theme for the boys room is/will be pirates. We are slowly turning it into a cool pirate room. But we also want to repaint the room a different color, so maybe I should wait to finish the curtains until then.

I’m trying to get ready for a craft fair we are having at our church in a month, but I keep finding things I want to make for myself or my family. It would be so nice to have a couple of days just to myself for crafting. Unfortunately I don’t think that will happen with homeschooling, homekeeping and the million other things I “have” to do! We’ll see how ready I am. Even if I don’t get much done, I already have a box full of handmade things to sell and I can sell Usborne Books since I am a consultant – I do have a fallback thing:) I would love to get a lot more done to sell though. I have so many ideas!

1. I’ve tried to start shredding with Jillian again. Last week I was able to keep it up Monday through Thursday and it was difficult because I have three children to get ready on Tuesdays and Thursdays and we cannot be late getting Taylor to preschool. So those mornings were basically spent shredding while listening to people cry and I just could not handle that. So Friday & Saturday, when I had to be somewhere early, I just didn’t do it and Sundays are always off. Then I didn’t do it Monday either and Tuesday was a preschool day. I did Shred this morning though, and I am going to try to keep it up for M-W-F from now on. Every T-T-S-S I have a place to be at 9 with all children dressed and fed and I just don’t miserable people anymore!

2. Last night was our September Women on Mission meeting for church and we voted on a slate of officers. I am the secretary now! Not that I had anyone against me, but I am still excited to get to do this. We also talked about fundraisers and are going to do a craft bazaar in November (on my suggestion!) that I am so excited about! If you’re not in WOM and would like to know more about this, let me know!

3. I made 2 Baby Taggy Blankeys as gifts for Kameron and Jakin. I’ve been wanting to make one of these since Taylor was a baby and just now got around to it. I know the boys are approaching being to old for one of these, but I really wanted to make them each one. Kameron’s is the monkey one (of course) and Jakin got the corduroy polkadot one. I have a huge basket full of ribbon, so I just picked out some cute ones and on they went! The back is white minky dot fabric.

4. Homeschooling Kristopher is going great! He is waking up and wanting to get started every morning and we have been having a good time with it. The only part that isn’t really great is the math. He doesn’t seem to have any confidence in himself with math and it isn’t really my favorite subject. He can do it though…that subject just takes longer for us. His Unit 1 tests will all be this week and next, so I can see how he is actually doing with the material. Then we get to move on to some new books! We really are enjoying this for our family and everytime I hear about something that has happened in school this year I praise the Lord that we made this decision. Here is a picture of him at his desk. This sewing desk was in the house when we bought it and my machine doesn’t fit it so we had it out in the garage. We are using it for now since it was free. It is working much better than the kitchen table did on our first day. My desk is next to it and the computer desk is across the room from it, so I can just slide my chair over from where ever I’m sitting to help him.

5. I have been trying to find coupons for my groceries and everything else I buy in the last couple of weeks. I read about a woman who gets a full cart of groceries every week for $4-$10 and that inspired me to at least get a few dollars off ours! It would be so nice to be able to do what she does, but I am not willing to spend 4 hours in a grocery store messing with all of it; 1 to 1 1/2 hours is enough! SO, if you find any good coupons let me know – I’ll take them!

6. Kody has started training his replacement at NCR and will be starting his new job at Ag Connections on October 1. We are very excited, but also nervous about this.

7. I am going to be setting up an informational meeting sometime in the next few months to try to guage interest in American Heritage Girls and getting a troop in Murray. If anyone would be interested in helping me with that or interested in having this sort of program for girls here, please contact me. This is a Christ centered scouting program for girls 5-18. They stress purity and service and stewardship to the girls and I would really like to have this available to my daughter next year when she is the right age. Go to the site to learn more about their Mission Statement and what they do.

8. I have signed up to be an Usborne Books consultant. I will be having a show at the end of September to “announce” my business and let everyone see some books. If you would like to see some before then contact me or visit my website. If you would like to order or book your own show/party let me know as well. Right now, I can get you double free books as a hostess. These books are so wonderful for kids. We have so many at our house and they are the favorite “go to” books for my kids. They really are “The books kids love to read!”

9. I am wondering, this morning, why my children cannot grasp the concept of “being quiet.” Why is this so hard. I think since we moved here last year that everyone has gotten louder…is it because of the extra space? Do they think it has to be filled with noise all the time? I just don’t get it.

10. And because I feel like I need to have an even 10 things… Here is a scripture that I read on Martin’s blog yesterday and have been thinking on. Go read what he has to say – so good!

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.” 2 Tim 2:15-16 NIV

So, I have been wanting to convert our family to cloth napkins for a few months now to do my part in not filling the landfills with so much trash. I just could not ever get around to it, even though I had plenty of fabric. I just kept buying the paper ones anyway. Well, this week we ran out of paper napkins and paper towels and I didn’t really want to spend the money on more since it’s a little tight here right now, so I got out the sewing machine and cut up my fabric and made some…27 to be exact. I know I could have bought cloth napkins cheaper, but I wanted handmade pretty ones and I wanted smaller ones. All the ones I’ve bought and seen at the store are huge. That isn’t very practical for my children or for everyday use.

I wanted to have plenty so that we could go at least a day without laundry in there. I also wanted to have lots of different ones so that we could pick out one that suits our mood or is fun for the meal. However they aren’t very manly, so maybe I need to make a few more! Mine are all smaller, think cocktail size, napkins and none are exactly the same size. I am a perfectionist in many things, but I think sewing frees me from that (interestingly enough). I just like to cut and sew and be onto something new. My favorites for the minute are the ivory floral design with polkadot backside and the orange-y toned japanese-y floral ones with white lining.

On the subject of money tightness…
This wouldn’t be an issue if several things were true of this household. a)picky eaters were not present b)we were better stewards of money c)temptations were removed from sight. I may be back later with a post about temptations or a finished quilt – we’ll see! :)

I hope you are all having a lovely Sunday wherever you are! The weather is just beautiful here. We also had a great sermon/lesson/message this morning at church. Fabulous job, Bro. Scott!! Amen and Hallelujah! So far, a wonderful day.

Our house was supposed to close this week (today actually), but now it is postponed for about a week and a half. The bank isn’t finished with the loan stuff and the closing agent is going on vacation today for a week, so we just have to wait until she gets back. We should close on June 3 or 4, for anyone who cares to know.

Taylor has been potty training now for a couple of weeks and for the most part it seems like she has it down. She has been going most of the time, with only a few accidents. Yesterday was a hard day for her, for some reason, but she still made it some of the time. I’m so glad that I won’t have two in diapers…I was really worried until this week that I would in September!

I don’t have much else this morning. I can’t do pictures right now, because our monitor is broken and has to be sent back and stuff isn’t hooked up so that I can get pictures off the camera right now. Maybe soon we will hook up a different monitor so I can get them and put some on here. Hope you all have a good day!

In January we celebrated Kody and Kristopher’s birthday. I was very sick the whole week of their birthday, so I didn’t make a big deal of the actual day. On the Saturday following, Kristopher got to take 2 friends to see The VeggieTales Pirate movie at the theatre and then we picked up some pizza on the way home. He wanted a knight themed party, so I made his cake and we bought a coloring castle that was fun. Unfortunately Taylor wanted to demolish it and it didn’t last much longer than a day! I think Kristopher and his friends had fun, and by then I was feeling better, so I enjoyed the movie. They did make us sit in the very front row though, which is not the best place to sit. Here are pictures of the cake and castle – I haven’t been taking great pictures this year, even when I do remember to take them, so excuse the camera skills.

Here is Easter in Pictures:

Holy Treasure Hunt at church

Easter Egg Hunt at Grammie and Grandaddy’s House

We lost our cat, Winnie, a couple of weeks ago. She just dissapeared, so we don’t know if she left or died or was killed. We haven’t found a body anywhere, so who knows. The kids were a little upset, but seem to be okay and don’t ask about her. Kristopher still talks about our last cat, who he probably let out of the house (really my cat, I’d had him for 10 years when he left), but he seems to be okay with this so far. Winnie was mostly outside and she had never wandered off before, so that seems unlikely. We aren’t expecting her to return…Here are some pictures of her pretty recently. She was a good outside cat and seemed to stay out of trouble out there. She caught lots of mice for us too:) Right before she dissapeared a Tom Cat started hanging around (Winnie was spayed though) and I don’t know if that had something to do with the dissapearance.

And those are all the pictures I have uploaded. Kristopher has been playing soccer as I know I have mentioned, but I have forgotten the camera at most of the games and at the others I didn’t take any pictures worth posting. Our banquet is this Friday night and then the last game is on Saturday. Kristopher is more dissapointed that it is ending than I thought he would be. I really hope I can figure out a way for him to play in the fall.

Still no further news about the house. I hope that I am doing everything right and that we close by the 24th. I have not been actively doing aything with the bank or anyone else the last couple of days and it feels weird not to be on the phone or in someone’s office, so hopefully I’m not supposed to be somewhere! I’m sure they’d tell me, so for now we are waiting…

Have a great day! I have to go open some yogurt now…Taylor is hungry…again. She has been eating a lot lately, maybe she’s going to grow taller:)