Saturday

Okay.
SO today has been busy.
Between getting three kids out of the door for dance, buying new tap shoes for Julia, making Sweet Potato Souffle for Sunday's 95th Bday Party for Opa, making lunch, feeding the kids, sewing a 'woodsy' costume for Julia to wear for fun, preparing a bright shirt for sewing another day, sitting on the porch swing reading my bible and Doc. Suess to Julia, trimming our chia pet for our first harvest of sprouts for sandwiches, putting kids down for naps, changing poopy diapers, calming attitudes when siblings don't see eye to eye, breathing deeply to prevent outbursts (of my own) when the two year old is SO SO WHINEY, trying to laugh instead of scream when the two year old (yes him again!! haha) freaks out because a certain door on a toy won't close all the way (he is very particular about doors closing....aayiyi!!), .....well between all these things...all these things occurred. so there you have it.

I love these shots of J with her new Bow and Arrow that she loves. i made the quiver out of real deer hide that Opa shot. And that tunic is the 'woodsy' outfit i made today. i adapted a fleece-hoodie pattern. it worked well, even though it is meant for stretchy fabric. i just took that into account when sewing certain parts and cutting the fabric out.

speaking of fabric.. the messy picture of boxes and bags of fabric is my sewing corner. man.... my house will never be clean !!! :)

well.
off to celebrate a bday in w-town. must pack the bags and get the greek salad out of the fridge.

love to all.
if you want some beautiful encouragement check out this blog:
http://resolved2worship.xanga.com/

i go there often to be refreshed.

also check this for GREAT kids clothes that are all kid... carefree and whimsical!
http://www.hannahkatespecialcollection.com

BYE!!

THE FEAST OF THE SAINT CLAIRE

Hello all.
to my US readers, may we all remember on this memorial-day weekend those who have served their country.

Today dave and i taught sunday school to the 3 and 4 year olds. that is always a hoot. yes, i said 'hoot'.

Then we packed the kids into the van and headed south of the border. just our kids. not the ones in the class from sunday school. HA.

3 years have passed since i last traveled south for this certain festival weekend, and i was so excited to finally wander the canvas tents at the Feast of the Saint Claire with my favorite person in the world, and my other three favorite people in the world.

Every tent is canvas, with a fire out front and cast iron tools surrounding the fire for cooking. Each participant in the Feast-festival is dressed in simple linens, cotton dresses and bonnets or well worn pants and linen shirts tied or fastened with leather. Knives, guns and cannons are everywhere. And Julia came home with her VERY OWN bow and arrows, i will be making her a quiver this week!! exciting! The people selling food have to use propane or camp fire to cook it so as to keep with the theme of the 1600's.

I dressed the girls in their Amish country bonnets, complements of Oma. Julia also wore a pretty shawl to look the part of what she called, "a pioneer girl".

it was a blast. We shared a turkey leg for lunch. and watched (very little) of the battle re-enactment. The guns were too loud and scarey for my kids. Wow. my kids are very quiet-calm-loving kids. hahaha. i don't mind. we went to the candle making station and the kid-games of the 1600's instead. WHICH WAS AWESOME. i think we need some rope circles and little wood pegs (ring toss)or a rope and two short tables to play tug-a-war on !! waaahoooo.

well. enjoy your springy weekend folks.

Here is an inexpensive way to treat the teacher-principal in your life! :)

Brownies as the 'dirt' in a basket or planter, with homemade flowers sticking out of them. On the flowers, we wrote Julia's favorite things about her teacher (for her teacher) and the things she was thankful for (in regards to her school) on the flowers for the Principals' gift.

It was fun.

there are some extras, you know, a picture frame, an outdoor candle (since we are nearing the season of outdoor bugs and stuff)and little treasures from our local Liquidation world (love that place).

enjoy the last few weeks of school!! :)
su

i decided to start the day outside with a picnic breakfast - it was so lovely, peaceful and fresh.

TA DA!

Here it is! So far this is how the yard has transformed. if you want a before and after idea, check out the last post - the picture of sam and all the logs - that is the front yard where we changed everything. :)

it is still in the making. the bricks separating the dirt of a garden space from the mulch are recycled from when dave dug up the back of the house. :) All the props are free from dad, yippee! i love decorating on a dime! the broken basket will be filled with soil and plants, probably an herb garden. :)
su

As the Green Things Grow....

So, Blogger has been strange lately, with the photo's i upload coming out as text instead of photographs, so that i don't know how to separate them and put my comments below the pictures. Instead, i have to write all my comments here, at the bottom of the post. so here goes:

We have been busy, busy, busy in the yard for the last 3 days or so. Taking Sunday off to go to the zoo (sorry, forgot the camera in the car that day!!). Dave dug up four feet of dirt to seal the back of our home so he doesn't have to hate the rain anymore. (translation: no more water problems in the basement every time it rains) He and some very helpful friends dug and dug and dug. then sealed and sealed and sealed. they filled and filled and filled. I helped where i could, but you know how it is... being pulled in a lot of directions during the day tires one out. three kids, and endless home-and-yard projects can keep you hopping! But - BUT BUT - working outside and in with the ones we love is very satisfying and sanctifying.

Sanctifying- because there are so many stress points with training kids to be respectful, polite, kind, thoughtful, etc etc. and when you are making the choice to have your kids work along side you, so you have 'teachable moments' , you are choosing to be stretched and flexible for their greater good (and in turn YOUR own greater good). This means a lot of 'letting go' of the 'exact way' of doing things (which sounds soooooooo much easier than it is! haha) and needing to be okay with time delays and interruptions. So, now that you all have pictures in your minds of times in your own life that look like this... you probably see why i call them Sanctifying! we either learn from them, and see how God desires us to change and grow. Or, we blind ourselves to them over and over and over again, without realizing a pattern in our life that is there to give us the chance to change and grow.

So like all those green and blossoming things out-of-doors i hope i rely on God to give me strength to change in the ways he is showing me to.

Picture Notes:
the slices of tree stump are from our rotting tree that had to come down. We are using them as stepping places across our garden. Dave is so creative!!!

the ferns are from the plant sale at Julia's school... i am so so so excited to plant them. I LOVE FERNS!

is it really May already????? WOW!

As a birthday gift, the crowned king Mark and Queen Karla invited Princess Julia over for a royal feast and treasure hunt .(since they had stumbled upon an aged map that needed special decoding, and Julia specializes in decoding in her junior year - of kindergarten- *ahem*) haaha.

The three royal figures were quite the sight as the wandered our homely streets!!!

hmmm...the food picture is a memory of a productive day and a weekend that was cook-free because of it. i like looking at those photos, and saying, "ah yes, some days ARE productive." the photos help keep the (few and far between) memories alive.

of course i say this in jest, since i have had the blessing of being able to complete most of my 'to-do' lists every day now that our sicknesses have slowed to colds, and i am no longer held up at hospital and doctors' waiting rooms! Praise the Lord!!

The lovely outdoors have been our workplace as of late. I'll be the first to admit it has been more dream than nitty-gritty work at this point, but as with most things, it is a process. dave made this whimsical fence today, it is the beta version since we only had a stick bundle from the garbage heap down the street to work with. I LOVE IT and think Dave did a beautiful job!! soooo excited to make the yard a green-lovely-growing place of intrigue and delight!! :) and i aim to 'do it on a dime' so to speak. I am talking, pick-it-out-of-the-neighbors-trash (check that one off already! haha), find for free, make it myself, recycle natural products kind of cheap!! Since we have to purchase compost (b/c i don't have room for a composter in our yard), peat moss and other good-growing-earth products, plants and such, i want the decor to be cheaply free. :)

well. happy gardening all. :)
i'm going to enjoy the sun now! :)