Haircuts and Grace

The more you practice sitting still, the easier it is. Tonight is the first night I didn't have to hold the baby's head while Jared trimmed around his ears. He's growing up. Now if we can teach him to sit still during Bible story time (he is improving) and church (not so good)...  Practice makes perfect though. We will keep working with him. 

One of the hardest things in parenting is recognizing when your kids are old enough to be able to handle a certain task and actually taking the time to train them. Left to their own kids will always take the easier route because they are sinners like us and we like ease and comfort. We want to be in control of what feels good to use at the moment. Parenting takes effort. It is hard work to train up a child and to teach them self control. So many days you feel like you are fighting the same battle over and over and over again. As an adult I often want to do what is easy - let my kids do what they want, but I know that won't be good for them in the long run (even though it seems fun now). It is a blessing to see the fruit of your work in small things, such as sitting still for a hair cut and listening to almost all the Bible story quietly.

Press on. Your labors aren't in vain. God uses broken people for His glory. I am so glad He is in control because I so often fall short of being a good parent, wife, friend, etc. He is always gracious. I am so glad. 

Simple game

I have been waiting for Easter clearance since last year, when I missed it, to make this game. Two packs of eggs cost me $0.89. I owned the Sharpie already. 

First, Martin lined the big ones up. 

And then he found the matches.  I tried to make similar letters on different colors. 

He finishes them all, but he takes a lot of breaks in between letters to roll around the floor and sing the alphabet song again or sit in my lap. 

And sometimes he does this and laughs. 

I wish the colors were not as similar. I should have bought a pack of pinks and traded them out for some of the blues. But otherwise, it works as well as I had hoped. 

And this is probably my Friday post, but if I wait until Friday I will probably forget. So, I am just posting today. :) 

These chickens...

Half fluff and half feathers is a bad look for anyone. I can't believe they grow so fast. Today is their two week birthday. 

They try to hide from me behind their waterer. 

Look, I got a group shot. 

Grow, chickens! Grow!

In only a week they have almost doubled in size. They are also starting to get ugly feathers that are popping out of their fuzz. 

I spend most of my time cleaning out the wood shavings from their waterer and feed dish. Silly birds. They love to practice scratching. I can't wait until they eat bugs in my backyard! 

They have started practicing flying and they jump on the waterer quite often. Sometimes two of them jump up and push each other around.  

And they eat all the time, which I guess is why they are growing so much. We bought them a 50lb bag of feed today.  It is supposed to last until they are almost ready to lay eggs...in another 18 weeks. :) 

It has been such beautiful weather this week. I spent the afternoon edging some of the flower beds and trees, after I replaced the wheelbarrow's wheel, which I broke on Thursday trying to clean out some of the flowerbeds. 

And I've been trying to finish a Charles Dickens book, Martin Cuzzlewitt. I finally finished last night! That makes my 12th book of the year. I need to update my book list. 

So, those are my excuses for not having a post up yesterday. 

Chickens

Look who is here! 

Spring forward

I have a question today. If you wake up in the middle of the night, do you look at the clock? 

I do not. It stresses me out knowing what time it is, how long it was since I was last awake, and how long I have until I have to wake up. 

Jared, I find out this morning, is stressed out by not knowing what time it is when he wakes up. He likes to know if he has 5 minutes, 30 minutes, or several hours of sleep left. 

So, which camp do you fall into? Do you avoid the clock or look for it? 

Friday post

The boys had colds and fevers again. I've been doing a lot of this and reading books. So, maybe I'll have a real post next week. 

The chickens are coming!!

I went around the front to pick up the mail and when I came back I found this. It was a gorgeous day to spend outside and burn extra energy. 

He probably worried about being replaced by our latest additions. We are finally getting chickens. I am so excited!  We (Jared) is working on building the coop this weekend and next. He has some extra time since they just live in a plastic tub for the first few weeks. I can't wait to for my first eggs ... In about 20-30 weeks... 

Green smoothie

I made strawberry banana smoothie yesterday. I didn't have any spinach, which I normally add to all smoothies.  Martin told me, "I don't want a pink smoothie. I want it to be green. I don't like this."

Ha ha. I guess this isn't a bad problem to have. 

Black Apple Doll

This is supposed to be my Friday the 4th post, but since I loaded the pictures last Sunday, it keeps moving my post to that day. Oh, well. 

I made this doll for a birthday party Martin was invited to. I have had the pattern printed out for over four years now. I found it on Martha Stewart's website. 

It took me fewer than two hours to make her. I look forward to making more (in another four years probably - ha). 

Diapers

I told myself I would at least publish something on Fridays and I had some post set up ahead of time, but they are all saved in drafts half finished. So, instead you get a few photos off my phone and some notes about diapers. How exciting. Maybe on my next free night I'll finish the posts. I have a bunch of projects and recipes that need to be posted. 

Sometimes your sister tells you about a really good diaper deal and you drag the baby out into the misty night to pick them up (we were at the Target end of town using our Chick-fil-A calendar cards - a Christmas gift from my parents every year - thanks, mom and dad. It is always a treat to not have to cook once a month).  Instead of $19.99 a box they were $8.77. 

Diapers don't go bad, thankfully. I won't need any for a while since we only use disposables at night and when we are out of the house. I am still in love with my Bum Genius cloth diapers when we are at home.  I calculate I have saved about $2000 between the two boys. That's not to shabby. It is a little work, but I also like not throwing so many diapers away. It is amazing how fast diapers fill up the trash can. However, it is also nice to not have to worry about cleaning a cloth diaper while out in public and knowing your children will sleep dry through the night. I am not firmly in either diapering camp (like so much of my parenting, I find benefits from both sides). 

Also, Target has the best, deepest child seats! But even still, the baby was less than thrilled. 

I love these two.

Some days they play together and get along for a bit. The baby unconditionally adores Martin, even when he is pushing him over and taking toys from him. 

I have to sneak pictures of them getting along. :) 

Today they stared out the window together at the cars driving past. Then they took all the shoes off the shoe rack and put them back on (with some prompting). 

Jeremy Fisher

Again, sorry about the night pictures. I always forget to take pictures until right before bed. 

This is Mister Jeremy Fisher from Beatrix Potter. I hand sewed him the night before Christmas. Ugh, why did I wait so long to start?!?

Martin loves this story.  It is his absolute favorite book.  He would have it read several times a day to him if I agreed to it. He loves all of the Beatrix Potter books (we only have the first 11). Maybe I will buy the rest of him for Christmas this year.

Favorite quilt (nautical themed - Daysail by Moda)!!

Well, I finally finished the quilt for my new niece. First it was a shower gift. Then it was bumped to a second shower gift. Next I moved it to Christmas. Finally, I buckled down and finished it for my sister's birthday (last Sunday).  I feel like I have been working on it forever, but it has only been seven months.  FYI: These pictures are in reverse order.  

I started the design of this quilt back in the spring. My mother-in-law bought me a bunch of the fabrics (mostly from the Moda Daysail collection) for my birthday and I started the actual sewing shortly after that. I already have a Moda problem. So, it is good that no shops around here sell it. However, this may be my favorite line Moda has ever made. I am in love with almost all the fabrics and it was hard to narrow them down to a few for the quilt. I ended up giving my sister the charm pack and having her select her favorites.

The background fabric actually has all sorts of nautical terms printed all over it. They call the fabric grey... Originally, I had planned to have a more greyish feel to the quilt. Then the fabric showed up and it was cream... I ended up liking that better. I can't believe how much background fabric I used up.  I ended up having to order even more of it. I think I used 2.5 or 3 yards of it. Crazy. Thankfully, when I reordered it was on clearance because it is the fabric that no one wanted out of the fabric line.    

When I picked the pattern for the quilt, I didn't realize how hard it actually was, which is good because I probably never would have attempted it. It is from the Moda Bake Shop called Stacks of Stars (I first saw it here with Daysail fabric). 

I really wanted to end up with the light blue flowers as the wide boarder. I thought it would be more girly, but it just didn't look right. It clashed with the greeny/teal anchor blocks on the inside of the quilt. So, while I love the dark blue, I never intended it to be the outside board. But I do love the way it turned out.

I also only intended on having two boarders, but it needed to have all three colors.  The reds got lost without a thin pop of red around the outside. It was too distracting to bind it in red. It took forever to figure out what colors and where to use them as boarders. Thanks to my patient husband who measured and cut them all for me. 

Also, thanks to me other sister who helped me figure out what blocks to put where. I send her pictures of the blocks before I sewed them together and we moved them around over text message. I really like the way the colors all ended up balanced (you know me, I love symmetry). And I love how some of the blocks pop out and some fade into the background. 

Okay, enough rambling about how much I love it. :)   

This is the back. Please, forgive the night time pictures. I was just about to wrap it up and I remembered that I hadn't taken pictures and the sun had already gone down. :( 

My awful "handwritting". I need to stop free handing these. I should write them first with a pen and then stitch them.  Oh, well.  It is character. 

Here it is being quilted. I stand up and quilt. I love it. Jared made me my quilting table over the top of our stairs.  It is one of my favorite places in the house. 

Here is the top just finished. 

Here are the blocks just finished and I was trying to decide which anchor block to use and what the boarders should be. 

Here are stacks of little blocks being turned into big blocks. 

The first four blocks I finished. I was so tired of sewing these blocks at the point. I remember thinking that I would never finish another 8 of them.

I hope my niece gets many years of use out of it and can even have it when she starts a family of her own. It has won over the place of favorite quilt. Happy birthday (three or four months late), Julianna! We are glad to have a girl cousin that lives close by. I hope you like nautical themed stuff like your parents. :) And we all can't wait until you are big enough to play with us. 

Tomorrow he is 3...

Tomorrow he will wake up and he will be three.  I have had the privilege of being his Mom for three whole years. Tonight I tucked him into his bed for the last time tonight as a two-year old, a toddler, the last little bit of baby. He is now almost all boy.

He can almost dress himself consistently. He puts on his own shoes. He is potty trained. And he talks up a storm about everything. He asks why more times a day then I can answer, but I always try (because I know what it is like to be curious). I try not to give him too hard of a time when he breaks something or ruins something when I can tell he was "just figuring it out". His brain will stop absorbing information at such a rapid rate now. I hope I have taught him everything he needed the first three years.

It is a whole new adventure for all of us (it always is, but this one is hitting me harder than the rest). The side will be taken off his crib. He gets actual sheets and pillows. We will put away the little potty.

I wonder sometimes when he will stop wanting to read books in my lap. I wonder when he will stop running up and randomly saying, "hey, I love you!" throughout the day. When will you not want hugs at night?  I try not to think about it. Will you still hug me when you are grown? Please, do.

Martin, I love you. As you have gotten in the habit of saying recently, "I love you forever!" I pray for you often. I don't know what the future holds or how long I will be allowed to be your mom. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with time with you. You are the best oldest son I could have ever imagined. You have taught me so much about life, about depending on God for strength and wisdom, you challenge me to think about more than myself, and especially you have shown me how to rediscover my sense of wonder for the little things in life. Look to Jesus in everything you do. He will always be there for you, even when I am not (or when you don't want me). Love Him. Cling to Him. Depend on Him. Trust Him.

Happy Three day!
I love you, Mr. Baby.

Finishing up some quilts

148 blocks all ironed flat. Now on to sewing them into bigger blocks. 

This is while I was in the process of sewing the blocks. 

Sewing is like boating

You say to yourself, "what a beautiful day, I should spend the day boating (or sewing). My machine was working perfectly last time I used it. What could go wrong?"

Half an hour later, after you have troubleshooted everything twice and reloaded your machine multiple times, it finally started working and you have no idea why...or what was wrong... Or how to solve it if it happens again. 

While I had my machine apart I decided to remove all the lint and oil it. And then since I had the oil and other tools out, I took apart and oiled my quilting machine. I hope both machines are happy now.  

It was probably all the sewing I did this weekend that did them in. 

 The snowy weather was perfect to finish two quilts, four table runners, four burp clothes, two bibs, and four diaper covers.  I am currently finishing some blocks for a quilt I started four years ago. Once that is finished, I will have nothing sitting around half finished!! What a great feeling. A clean slate. The sky is the limit. What should I make next?!?

Update: I found one other quilt I was in the middle of. So, I have two quilts worth of blocks to finish and quilt. 

Day 13

We are going on day thirteen of illness around here. That is just the baby. He finally seems to be back to his normal self, but still has a running nose. Martin is running about five days behind him. Maybe he will get better faster. I am really missing Sunday services. Sitting at home with sick children is not the same.  Unfortunately, I have nursery next Sunday morning.  So, I am eagerly awaiting Sunday evening service.

Do you like the empty salt container in my aloe plant? The baby pulled it out of the trash can and carried it around the house yesterday. I suspect that Martin was behind putting it in the plant. 

God wants to give you a real an eternal happiness!

I am currently reading God in the Dock for my reading list this year (side note: for the longest time I thought the title was God on the Dock... I kept wondering what the story was going to be that had God sitting on a dock staring out at the water... Anyhow, several months ago I realized my mistake, but I still look at the book title and laugh. My engineering brain amusingly mixes words up all the time). This gem was hidden in a question and answer session with C.S. Lewis. I have always found his answers on suffering and difficulties to be helpful. I highly recommend his book, The Problem of Pain for more on the subject.

Q: Many people feel resentful or unhappy because they think they are the target of unjust fate. These feelings are stimulated by bereavement, illness, deranged domestic or working conditions, or the observation of suffering in others. What is the Christian view of this problem?

Lewis: The Christian view is that men were created to be in a certain relationship to God (if we are in that relation to Him, the right relation to one another will follow inevitably). Christ said it was difficult for "the rich" to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, referring, no doubt, to "riches" in the ordinary sense. But I think it really covers riches at every sense – good fortune, health, popularity, and all the things one wants to have. All these things tend – just as money tends – to make you feel independent of God, because if you have them you are happy already and contented in this life. You don't want to turn away to anything more and so you try to rest in a shadowy happiness as if it could last for ever. But God wants to give you a real an eternal happiness.

Consequently, He may have to take all these “riches” away from you: if He doesn't, you will go on relying on them. It sounds cruel, doesn’t it? But I am beginning to find out that what people call cruel doctrines are really the kindest ones in the long run. I used to think it was a “cruel” doctrine to say that troubles and sorrows were “punishments”. But I find in practice that when you are in trouble, the moment you regard it as a “punishment”, it becomes easier to bear. If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it's not so bad.

Poor snowman.

His head melted and his arms drooped in the rain yesterday. I've been laughing at him all afternoon out my kitchen window.