Spring Break Projects!

Yesterday Lily and Rowan and I worked on new dresses for their dollies.  They both helped some, watched some, listened some, and took breaks to do other things while I sewed and ironed.  ;)  I didn't get any photos of Lily, but she was very anxious to do as much of the sewing herself as I would let her.  Sewing is not my most favorite thing, but I hope that my girls will learn and enjoy it, so I tried to keep sighs and negative comments to a minimum.

Rebecca and Gwen model their new dresses.  Gwen's was sized incorrectly when I printed out the pattern, so it turned out a bit, um, flirtier that we were expecting.  You can get away with that when you are an 18" doll, I guess.  The free pattern can be found here.

I think children from large families have such hard lives.  No one pays enough attention to them.  I know they must feel sad and lonely much of the time.  Do you think Eli would agree?

This is his 'Cheeeeese!' face.

Oh my goodness, he makes me smile.

This morning I prepared a special breakfast of honey-nut cheerios.

I am always so impatient to buy flowers by March.  Last Friday was a gorgeous day, and I went ahead and bought some annuals for my front porch.  Saturday and since have been cold, cold, cold.  Yesterday I thought my poor little flowers might like some outdoor afternoon sun, even though it was cold, so I set them out.  This morning I suddenly realized that I forgot to bring them back in last night!  I rescued them and though they look a bit rough, I'm hoping they'll revive.

I am redoing Keely and Annes' room, and I couldn't settle on art for Annesley's side, so I decided to create some for her.  I printed out lots of things that she likes and decoupaged them onto an $8 canvas.  I thought decoupage was fool-proof, but turns out it can be goofed up.  The pink ink from the 'Keep Calm and be a Princess' page ran everywhere!  I'm going to try to salvage it by adding some pink paint elsewhere and then covering the whole thing in glittery stuff.  Annesley likes it, so I suppose it's a success anyway!

I have just discovered the treasure trove of free printable art to be found here!  I picked up this frame several weeks ago for $3.  The stand on the back was completely missing, but I knew that it would look nice on a picture frame stand.  The butterflies image is from the NYPL digital library.  I love it!  This spot needed a little color.  And I am kindof into butterflies right now.  :)

So, this week has been full and fun, and it's not over yet!  Tomorrow we'll get ready for dinner guests and try to savor our last day of break.  Hope your week's been great, too!

Feelin' the Love

I love love love Valentine's Day--all the more now that I have children. I can't wait to give them their little V-Day goodies tomorrow morning! Here's an idea we tried this year that I think will become a tradition in our home: Valentine envelopes, hung up a couple of weeks ago, filled 'secretly' with cards, notes and candy from the kids to each other. They are so excited about being able to look in their envelopes tomorrow and read all the notes from their siblings. Look how full those things are! See? They do love each other. :)

Veterans Day Crafts

I printed some star templates that I found on the internet and cut construction paper stars. The kids each got a pile to decorate, and we made a fun garland to hang in our schoolroom.



We called my Dad to thank him for his service in the Vietnam War, and talked about the sacrifice and service of veterans over our country's history. I also had Keely and Noah do this and the Vietnam veterans memorial quiz here. Row and Lil each made one of these cool bags.

Good thing I was in a craft-y mood today!

Hot Mish-Mash on a Cold Day

Beautiful birthday flowers from my Aunt Bren and Uncle Gary

Well, anyway it's cold here. I think 48 degrees is cold for Kansas in October. But I *love* it! Dreary days seem to make home even cheerier, don't you think? And hot mish-mash? Mmmm. Enjoy.

Here's an interesting take on recent children's picture books from Al Mohler. I've made the mistake of not flipping through the little ones' choices at the library and have sometimes been surprised at what I found inside when we got home.

I really, really wish I liked to sew, especially when I see adorable projects like this. Isn't that too creative and cute?

To throw in a little somethin' for you homeschoolers of elementary aged children: I have been so pleased with Rod and Staff's grammar textbooks. It is grammar, so nothing is going to make kids love it, but I love that as sentence structure, adverbs, poetry, and the rest are explained, students are working with Bible verses and stories, as well as other wholesome and uplifting themes. I also appreciate the broad scope covered in these books: everything from telephone manners, to creative writing, to outlining. Each grade set includes a teacher's manual, textbook, supplemental worksheets, and tests, for around $50. Of course, the consumable stuff is much less, so the cost for my younger kids will be less per year as I'll already have the textbook and teacher's book. According to my Mom-in-law, this publisher was one of the first available to homeschoolers in the '80's.



Lastly, I am so glad that a few brave souls held garage sales today. I picked up these two Southern Living Christmas idea/cookbooks for $2 each. After perusing them, I'm feeling inspired to do better with Christmas baking for gifts this year.