A stiff neck, the Peanuts and Pollies

So far, the three favorite activities on the new Advent calendar have been:

1)  making a fort and eating dinner in it:

2)  Popping popcorn and watching a movie

 and
3) Putting out the train under the tree

I've noticed that those Polly Pockets in their go go boots and too short skirts are always looking for a free ride.  Shameful really.

Happy weekend!  Do you have all of your shopping done?

Snowboy

How can you tell if you're 5 years old?

Answer:  you make your snow angel face first

Dear William, I love that you always put your own spin on things.  Love, your biggest fan- Mommy.

Dirty Laundry

Here is a picture of our front door:

and here is what guests see when our front door is opened:

Now here is the door that our friends and family use:

And here is what they see when we open that garage door:

When we moved in this house 8 years ago, we decided to remove the cheap folding doors that covered our laundry area.  They always popped open and got in the way.  Of course we didn't know at the time that since our driveway is on the side of our house, most guests would enter this way.  For 8 years, we have greeted people into the ugliest part of our house.  This week, I have re-entered nesting mode.  I've decided to transform this area.  I am going to welcome friends and family in style!

I've been in a funk for the last week.  Can't shake it.  I've decided not to hide it.  Why should I hide it when I don't hide my dirty laundry?  Last week, we felt a strong connection to a birth mother.  We thought for sure she would pick us.  The matching process was long and drawn out, a few weeks, which is longer than usual.  In the end, she didn't pick us.  Her reasoning:  we are too religious.  Really?  I can't comprehend that.  Our faith, our stronghold in God's plan for us was in the end, our downfall with this particular birth mother.  To that I shout "Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn king!"

I wonder how many times we ask people how they are doing and they show us the pretty side of themselves and answer an automatic, yet false, "great! How are you?"  Do we really open ourselves up to listen to people's needs and offer to be a help to them?    A few weeks ago, one of Caroline's religion teachers made a point to come up to me and tell me this story.  It seems that a few days before, she had run into Caroline at church and asked "How are you?"  Caroline said "fine, how are you?"  The teacher then told me that Caroline just stood there and looked her in the eye, waiting for a response.  She was struck, as I was, that Caroline really wanted to know about her well-being.

As for me, taking a lesson from my 10-year old, when I ask how you are, I really want to know.  If you are having the best day of your life, I'd love to hear about it.  If your heart has been stomped on, by birth mother or otherwise,  I will listen and pray for the guidance and friendship to help you.    You can even come to the garage door if you want.   Actually, come to the front door for a month.  Because while true friendships are beautiful, my laundry area is just ugly.

Aside from my family and friends, few things bring me greater joy than needlepoint.  I started to needlepoint about 12 years ago after sewing and cross-stitch and many other needlework endeavors.  I first made Bart a belt (a quintessential project for the first time pointer).  When we were expecting Caroline, I decided to pass time by needlepointing her Christmas stocking and this project hooked me.  I loved having her homemade stocking hanging on our mantel for her first Christmas and even more so, I loved the long process of making it, the many hours of entertainment it provided me.  The next year, I decided to stitch her an ornament that would become a yearly tradition.  Fast forward to now, and I have made 5 stockings  and 23 ornaments.  Every year when we trim the tree, the kiddos line up their ornaments with such pride.  It reminds me that every stitch is better than any toy I could buy them. It is my personal declaration to them:  You are worth all of my time and effort.  You are the source of my joy.  You are valued and your place in the world is right here.

This year Bart snapped a picture after the kids did "the lineup"

This year's ornaments were especially anticipated because I had the children's favorite stuffed animals drawn on the canvas.  As fun as they were to make, I have never ripped out so many stitches in my life!  Trying to get the textures to look just like the favorite friends was very hard, but very worth it.

Here is Henry, friend to Caroline:

and the "real life" Henry with his ornament:

Here is Harold, friend to Owen:

and here is Bunny and Polka Dot Doggy, friends to William:

I hope you find some homemade happiness in the holidays, whether its baking, crafting or stitching.

As for me, I am already working on William's ornament for next year as these three projects take me the entire year to make.  Plus, I hope (fingers crossed) that I'll be working on another stocking!

Happy homemade holidays!

Mission accomplished!

The albatross around my neck is gone.  A little dramatic I realize, but as much as I enjoyed making an advent calendar for my children, I am very happy that I completed it (on December 1st!)  In each pocket, there is a Hershey Kiss (or Horsey Kiss as William called it today) and a piece of paper listing a fun activity for that day.  Today's activity is decorating the playroom tree.  Tomorrow's activity is getting out their Christmas snow globes.  You get the idea.  I didn't want to put trinkets in each pocket because I wanted the calendar to reflect the feeling of Christmas and not the STUFF of Christmas.  This project was very inexpensive to make - $9 for the canvas (half price at Hobby Lobby), $3 for the khaki cotton fabric and about $3 worth of felt.  Hope you don't mind that I took a few pictures.  A big shout out to my handy husband for helping me staple the backing to the canvas!

Santa's head from my Mom's vintage 1970s advent calendar.  I added his body.  I love how she pulled strands of red over the white felt on his face to make his cheeks look rosy.  Crafty, Roberta!

Vintage teddy bear and drum, new Santa bag.

Happy Advent!

Yoga Pants and a cheeseburger

I have always been a person who likes to show my best side.  I'd love you to come to my house, but please give me a bit of notice so I can clean.  I'd love to have a spontaneous lunch with you, but oh I hope I'm wearing something cute and smell nice.  I also do not like to be late, its just bad manners.

Tonight I felt as if God tested these insecurities in the funniest way.  I was 13 hours into a road trip with my family.  We had 40 minutes to go before we were home.  That last stretch of road where you dare not look in the backseat because your car is so unrecognizable.  It tells the story of three children entertaining themselves for an entire day in the car.  There are abandoned coats and shoes, favorite stuffed animals, leapster games, food wrappers, American Girl doll clothes.  I had just updated my Facebook status "my car is a traveling trash dump."  Bart was driving and I decided to do my daily check of my favorite blogs to pass the time.  My favorite blog of all is written by Stephanie Nielson.  You can read about her and her inspirational story here:  nieniedialogues  or you can click on her cute blue typewriter on my sidebar.   I started reading Stephanie's blog about 3 years ago, before her accident (again, read her blog).   It was her who inspired me to start my own blog, both to satisfy my desire to write and to document day to day events for my family.  I am inspired daily by fellow stay-at-home moms who blog and Stephanie was the start of that for me.

Back to tonight - so we're in the car blah, blah, blah.  I click on Stephanie's blog and I read that she is speaking tonight 5 minutes away from my house.  Yippee!  Problem - I am 40 minutes away and she starts speaking in 15 minutes.  I am crushed.  Bart knows that I am crushed.  He speeds up (still being safe of course.)  I tell him that there is no way I can go see her speak looking like this.  I look like I have been in the car for 13 hours.  And I know you know what I mean.  This is what people do on road trips:  they wear yoga pants, they put their hair in a hair clip, they wear their glasses, they pick that mysterious thing on their face, their winter coat is covered in lint from the unrecognizable backseat mentioned above, they smell like a McDonalds cheeseburger that they truly hate but gave into a few miles back after being convinced by the three children also mentioned above.   This was me - traveling down the road to meet someone who has inspired me smelling like a cheeseburger, with even my toothbrush packed above in the roof-top carrier.  Bart (my own personal Mr. Nielson, again read her blog) tells me that I must go hear her speak.  I love him for knowing how important it was to me. He drops me off and runs home to put the kiddos in bed, planning to return to pick me up.

I arrive late, of course, as Mr. Nielson is introduced.  Around me the men are wearing suits and the women all look lovely.  You remember how I am looking.  I listen to him tell their story that is familiar to me.  He breaks down a few times, particularly when he talks about Stephanie, and he talks about his faith.  Its amazing.  And then Stephanie speaks and it is as if I am listening to a friend I have known for a long time.  She is a child of God, a wife and a mother and in that we are the same.  She talks about how she knows she is beautiful - and she truly is.  When I met her after, I felt honored to tell her how much her stories meant to me and she was so welcoming to my well-traveled yoga pant wearing self.

It was a peaceful and faith-filled way to close the Thanksgiving weekend (more on the rest of the weekend tomorrow.)  And here is a pic of me and Stephanie:

P.S.  As a side note, Caroline and I were watching the movie Titanic this weekend (we took a 15 minute break during the steamy parts!), and there was an old church hymn sung in the movie that I have always loved but never knew the name of.  Its one of my favorite scenes in the movie.  Tonight Christian talked about the hymn and we sang all 5 verses of it after they were done speaking.  Its Nearer Thy God to Thee.  Next to me was another follower of Stephanie's blog and with her singing harmony, we sounded like the scene from the movie (her much, much better than me!)  She graciously gave me a ride home even though we had just met and I thank her so much!  Not a coincidence that this song came up tonight, just another God-given moment.

Felt like making a calendar

When last I posted, I had decided to start on an Advent calendar for my children.  Since this project needs to be finished by December 1st, I have been quite friendly with felt every day.  I have half of the 24 squares done and will be a stitching maniac over Thanksgiving to finish the other 12.  I am no stranger to craft deadlines.  When I needlepointed my children's Christmas stockings, there was an October 1st deadline to hand in the completed canvas to the needlepoint shop to have the backing sewn on.  The tightest crunch was when we were matched with William's birth mom the last week of July and I bought and stitched the stocking by October 1st.  So worth it, because of course I thought my baby would be traumatized without a Christmas stocking his first year!  I remember Bart always saying to me during those two months, "why aren't you needlepointing?" anytime I would be doing anything else!

I am enjoying the process of stitching the calendar.  I resurrected some pieces of the 1970s calendar that my mom made for my sister, my brother and I.  The background of the original is in bad shape after years in the attic, but I really wanted some of the pieces that I loved as a child to be on my children's calendar.  In the picture above, the original pieces are the green wreath, the yellow bear and Santa's head (I added his body).

I think what I really like about crafting is making something that will create happy memories for my children.  I hope you are busy creating your own happy memories today!

Bargains and a Royal Wedding

Random posting today- so much going through my mind.  Item #1 (as it should be):  Prince William finally asking Kate to marry him.  Hallelujah!  Bring on the crown jewels!  I have followed the royal family for, well.. forever.  Stayed up all night to watch Princess Diana's wedding to what's-his-name, bought a copy of her famous white sheep/black sheep sweater and truly mourned when she died.  My day with Bart touring Kensington Palace and having tea at the Orangery was one of the best days of my life!   I happen to know that couples who date for 8 years have the best marriages!

Item #2- bargains from my weekend.  Went to my mecca (Target) and found the cutest reindeer pillow.  I loved the simple, clean lines of the reindeer and the red and green were the perfect shades.  I thought it would look so cute on my fireplace hearth - replacing the black and white pillows with Christmas pillows.  The pillow was $12.99, but then Hel-lo! (say in your Father of the Bride Franc voice), next to it was the same reindeer in a place mat for $3.99.  I bought the place mat and brought it home to make my own pillow, only to realize that if you separate the front and back (easily done with a seam ripper), you can make two pillows!  I had the red polka dot in my stash which I used for the back.  Since I had some holiday fabric already, the total cost for two pillows was $3.99.

Item #3- estate sale.  Soccer season is over, the kiddos were at the grandparents sleeping over which gave me the perfect opportunity to go to yard sales.   It was pretty chilly and near the end of the yard sale season but I came across an estate sale that was full of goodies.  Really nice antiques which I did not need, a beautiful vase that I loved but didn't buy because it housed a dead mouse, but then - jackpot.  A set of eleven window candles - something I've always wanted for the center of our wreathes that we hang each year.  The bases are solid brass, not the cheap plastic ones that are out in stores now.  The asking price was $80, but were marked at 1/2 off.  I only had $30 cash and didn't have my checkbook with me.  I offered the $30 and a promise that they would be going to a great family and they said okay.  My clever husband found suction cup hangers for them so we will be good to go.  Love the red sleeves, love that they are vintage but with quality cords and plugs and love a good estate sale!

Item #4  - an advent calendar.  I can not believe that I have never made my children an advent calendar.  The really sad thing is that I made advent calendars for friends' children before we had children.  With only two weeks until December and one bum thumb, I thought this would be the perfect year to make one! Stay tuned for the progress as I continue with my neurotic nesting.

Sew dangerous!

My boys are going to share a room soon.   And while they are excited about their ordered bunk beds and another sibling, I am trying to sweeten the deal by making the room about each of them.  I thought I'd make them each something to lounge on.  I found a great pattern for a pinwheel floor pillow on my Amy Butler software.  I chose 8 fabrics for each boy that represented what they like.  I even found a to-die-for fabric called Edgy Veggies for my little chef and veggie grower.  I doubt Amy would ever have imagined a Spiderman fabric being used on one of her patterns - but as much as it pained me to buy it, I know my 5 year old super hero will love it.

Yesterday I cut all of the pieces using my rotary cutter and mat - fabulous tool, so precise and definitely worth the money.  Even when you add in the $100 co-pay for the emergency room visit, it's still worth the purchase.

So this is a picture of me at a stop light as I drive myself to the hospital when my thumb got in the way of the rotary cutter.  Yikes!
I am also holding the small piece of my thumb that needed reattached.   I think secretly the boys thought it was cool that Mom cut a piece of her thumb off to make them pillows.  And that's what it is like to be a boy Mom.

Thankful for Christmas

Why can't I be thankful for Christmas?  This time of year I hear a lot of bah humbug about town from all of the scrooges who complain about Christmas decorations in stores before Thanksgiving.   Not me, I love it. I don't understand why people complain about Christmas.  Do they try to do too much?  Are their shopping lists too long?  Here's my advice: cancel a  few gatherings and plan them for January, pick names among your family and most important:  pour your thermal mug of hot chocolate, don a scarf, pop in your favorite Christmas songs in your car's CD player and head out shopping.  Don't wait until a month from now - it will only add to your scrooge factor.  At Thanksgiving, be thankful and enjoy your family.  You will not be less thankful because you starting celebrating Christmas before eating the turkey.  In fact, you'll have more time to enjoy all that December brings: a morning coffee with a friend, a child's school play, an Advent service, trimming your tree.

I shopped today and it was fabulous- even went as crazy as taking my 5 year old to Toys R Us to buy toys for his cousins and nothing for us.  We sang along to the store's Christmas music and he caught the holiday spirit.  One of his favorite things in the whole store was this motorcycle.  It will NOT be under our tree this year - but look at that smile!

My favorite part of the store was the FAO Schwarz section - my old company.  I'm sure the FAO toys won't sell well because they have no bells and whistles, no batteries, no blinking lights.  But I loved them.  I really wanted to buy something for myself but that would just be crazy -would it, wouldn't it, would it, wouldn't it.  Well, we'll see. The season is young!

And since we're talking Christmas- have you seen the seasonal section at Target yet?  Right past the aisle of 75% off Halloween costumes you will find the oh so delicious holiday ornaments, displayed in a way that looks like candy.  I really couldn't decide.  I need to think about it.  Glitter or woodsy, homespun or classic Santas and snowmen.  The weight of the world on my shoulders!  And notice the $2 price tags! Fa la la la la, la la la la!

In progress....

The perfect night....breakfast for dinner ( cooked and cleaned up entirely by my husband) and for the first time ever, two sewing machines buzzing side by side.  Stay tuned tomorrow for the finished product!

P.S.  On a random note, I finally met blog follower Brooke today.  She's so lovely that I think I agreed to buy an eighth of a cow from her, a sentence I never thought I would utter (or should I say udder?)

While I was cleaning....

Here is what happens when I decide to clean and William is in the basement "playing with legos."  I found it on my computer and laughed so hard I played it 5 more times.  And now I have a glimpse into how his mind works.

Good grief!

Owen has always had a fondness for the Peanuts characters.  It's classic Owen  You see, he tends to be an old school guy.  He's also not a huge fan of Halloween.  Owen once said while trick-or-treating, "I'm cold and I'm miserable."  His theory: why go out in the cold when there's a big bowl of candy being dispersed at our front door?  He thrives on comfort.  He has sat on Santa's lap and requested an electric blanket and a back massager.  I love that he is his own man - just like Charlie Brown.  So when Owen made known his desire to be the world's legendary blockhead, I was determined to make this a Halloween he would never forget.

Target showed me the love with the perfect shade of yellow polo shirt.  I sewed on a black fleece zigzag and truly thought that this would be the easiest costume I've ever made.  All I had to do was make the head.  First, I tried a punching ball balloon because it was a circle versus the normal balloon shape.  I thought I was genius.  Until the balloon deflated under the weight of the first layer.   It was a very sad sight hanging from our swing set.  Take two, another punching ball balloon - maybe the first one was defective?  Not so - another sad mess.  Take three, a hard plastic ball from Toys R Us.  One week, 6 layers of paper mache, an Xacto knife, flesh tone paint, a black pipe cleaner, a styrofoam ball sliced in half, and a sharpie marker later, I shout SWEET VICTORY!  Every painstaking moment of this never-ending craft project was worth it to see Owen walk in his school's parade, receiving compliments at every turn.

My child, the shy one, the one who puts himself in the background, the one with the sometimes fragile self-esteem was able to hold his giant head high and be the beloved character that is Charlie Brown, that is Owen.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

I'm so proud of Caroline and her recent donation to Locks of Love, an organization that accepts ponytail donations to make wigs for cancer patients.  It was a long year and a half of growing out her hair.  There were days when she loved having long hair and a ponytail.  Then the summer came and her hair was not so cooperative at swim team.  But through it all, she persevered and was counting the days until her haircut.  I loved that this was a goal she set for herself, that it was sometimes hard, that its only purpose was to serve others and that she felt rewarded by the spirit of giving.  I told her that she is a girl wise beyond her 10 years.  She understands that she is only one person in the world, but that one person can make all the difference to another person.  These are the moments I wish for my children- moments that I feel will make them the most fulfilled in life.  Plus, can you tell how much she loves her new haircut?!
Caroline, you are beautiful inside and out, a shining example of service and your new haircut is the BOMB!

 

Crunch

An afternoon of boredom disappears when you announce that you are going on a nature hike.  All that is needed is 1) a preschooler and 2) a bag to collect autumn treasures.

Then a little brown paper and contact paper and you have the perfect craft for the preschooler to show off at the dinner table.

Happy Fall!  May you enjoy the crunch of leaves beneath your feet.

It's October - time for the art wall to change.  This is my cheap and easy way to decorate my living room for Halloween.  I'm a firm believer that anything crafted from a paper plate or tempura paint is a masterpiece and I like to give these "Van Goghs" a place of honor.  Nothing you buy in a store could be cuter.   So here is what you do : 1) store the holiday art with that holiday's decorations and when you get out those decorations, 2) replace everything in a frame with aforementioned holiday art.  Put a piece of fabric behind the art if needed.  See how easy that is?  The bonus is that the kids love seeing art each year that they made when "they were little" (last year).

No, I did not paint the wall for Halloween - it is always orange.  And speaking of orange, I finally got around to making this ornament last night.  It was my first attempt at an embroidered felt ornament and I think I'm hooked.  The original tutorial can be found here:  felt bird ornament

I changed the color in order to match the orange bird that lives in our orange room.  And now this post has come full circle!  Tweet Tweet!