Fairworthy

Another donation of Hair!

2011-12-02T19:09:00.002-05:00

After much fussing and fighting with Claire's hair and my suggestion that she get her hair cut and donate her hair to Locks of Love, Claire finally said okay! I had purchased a Living Social deal for a hair cut at Claire's favorite hair cutting place as they cater to kids. We haven't been in forever because they're expensive and the results have been less than great the last few times we've went. I've been cutting the kids hair at home with equal or better results. But I figured this would be pretty straight forward. What could go wrong? Famous last words.

Before! Every time I see this picture, I cry a little bit.

Measuring. Apparently not doing a good job at it! She said we needed to make two pony tales because Claire's hair was so thick.

Cutting. I want to yell "STOP!" I had a bad feeling from the beginning when she seemed so unsure. I should have just walked out, but Claire was so happy.

Two pony tails in her hand. One is long enough for Locks of Love, the other is not. Boo!!! The good news is they are plenty long for Pantene's Beautiful Lengths hair donation program, so we are donating them after all!

After what seemed like the world's longest hair cut and more frustration on my part (I kid you not, the hair stylist wasted another 2-3 inches in trying to get it even and even then it's still shorter on one side than the other), Claire was finished. When I first saw this picture I thought Claire looked a lot like Eleanor! She likes her hair, although she's upset it's shorter on one side as well. She wants me to fix it, but at this point, we're just going to let it go. Her hair grows pretty fast and at least for the next few months we shouldn't have the same brushing, washing hair issues that we've had for a while now.

Happy Birthday Macy!!

2011-11-15T22:47:00.000-05:00

Happy 11th birthday to our sweet Macy!!!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T18:49:00.001-05:00

May you be happier on this evening than my own little Rapunzel!

Is this a blog about the fair or what?

2011-10-12T14:10:00.008-05:00

Well it is, but I've been busy okay?? Since we entered well over 50 items this year, I will just point out some highlights. Just for the record, we did not receive ribbons for every thing that we entered. I also did not win Homemaker of the year, but I did get a lot of red ribbons. Next year if I can turn those into blue, I may finally win that prize. Then again . . .

Here I am in the Home Arts building with my dear friend Kunni. She is one of the superintendents of the Home Arts building. She's grooming me to take over some day in the distant future. She's won homemaker of the year. She's coaching me on what I need to do to accomplish that too. She's the best.

Me-Fabric tote bag-2nd place.

Eleanor-no bake cookies-First!

Me-Alice in Wonderland dress I made for Eleanor. Entered it as a dress, not a costume-first!

Ben-Computer altered photo-first!

Me-Fall/Winter Attendant's Dress-First and champion in bridal wear.

Adult Costume-first and Champion with a grand champion ribbon thrown in for good measure for the Adult Leisure wear category.

Me-Children's costume birth-7-First and champion with Grand champion ribbon thrown in for Children's everyday wear. Yes, Claire wishes she could wear this everyday. She has the hair for it!

Eleanor-garment made by child 12 and younger-first place plus champion for special classes-her first purple ribbon!!

Me-child's skirt-first

Trent-Banana cupcakes with Caramel frosting-3rd!

Me-smocking-bishop birth-6x-second. Gathers too tight, but they liked my cast on flowers.

Me-Black and White photo-humor-first. My first blue ribbon in photography ever. None of my other pictures even placed.

Me-crocheted Barbie dress-first!

Me-felted bag-2nd. The first time I've felted!

Ben-7 layer chocolate cake-2nd!

Me-Old MacDonald-first for hand puppet. Cow-first for animal best representing the fair.

Me-Old MacDonald's friends-2nd in group of animals 3-5 items.

Macy-blueberry preserves-First! This is against adults, they don't have a kids division! First time ever making preserves.

Eleanor-Lego scene-first. If you look closely you can see it's an outdoor theater and they are watching Harry Potter which is also Lego.

Claire-Mr. and Mrs. Snowman drawing-Honorable mention.

And finally my placemat. It won the most votes for senior day! I lost to the most over all vote prize by one vote, but I'm okay with that. The winner was truly deserving. As I've said in the past, never under estimate the power of a Washington Redskins' fan. Oh and I also won for most placemats made-198 total. :) Next year Christmas stockings for soldiers. Feel free to send any fun fabrics you may have collecting dust my way!

Happy Birthday Eleanor!

2011-10-08T14:01:00.001-05:00

My sweet middle child is now 9! Happy Birthday Eleanor!!!

Old MacDonald Had a Farm . . .

2011-08-12T20:49:00.004-05:00

The Fair started today. Yes, despite my lack of posting, I have been busy sewing a few things here or there. I will post with my entries and ribbons after I find out on Monday. I didn't have time to take pictures of everything and I deleted some due lack of sleep. Anyway back to what I was saying-the Fair started today. That means entries were all due today as well. I would like to share one special group of items I entered in the Animals, Dolls and Toys division.
Meet my friend Old MacDonald and his farm. Are these not the cutest things you have ever seen? When I saw the patterns for these fun puppets on-line a while ago on Craft Gossip I knew I had to make them. Larissa at Just Another Day in Paradise provides the pattern and instructions here. The problem is I decided at 9:00 pm last night, I really needed to make them for the fair. Well I actually had been planning on making them, but life had gotten in the way and they were pushed to the back burner. I had the energy and the time so I went to work. 6 hours later you see the above results.

Here's Old MacDonald. The only think I wish I could add is a green hat. I'm pretty sure that Old MacDonald drives a John Deere and would wear one of their hats. Larissa doesn't have a pattern for a hat. If you visit her site, you'll see I embellished a bit on Old MacDonald. I had to for the fair judges and all!
Here's the back. You might notice I don' t have a cat puppet. That's because I had maxed out my entries in the Animals, Dolls and Toys division and I either had to cut another cat out (I had one ready to go already) so I could enter two puppets as a pair or leave it out. By 3:00am I decided that I needed the sleep more than I needed another ribbon.

Did I mentioned I embellished a bit on Old Mac Donald? Case in point-my Old MacDonald is wearing Levis-red tab and all. The pocket stitching is a bit off only because I didn't draw my lines first and I was having trouble seeing well by 3:00am.

I also love how the back of this horse looks.

So there you have it. One project done. I plan to give these to Kate's preschool teacher when school starts in September. I hope the kids have as much fun playing with them as I did making them. Now to go get some sleep. Did I mention I didn't get to bed until after 3:00 am? :)

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GIVEAWAY!!!!

2011-05-21T06:09:00.000-05:00

Come visit one of my new favorite blogs to try and win this machine! I hope I do!

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GIVEAWAY!!!!

International Night!!!

2011-05-15T21:30:00.006-05:00

Ben's school had their first annual International Night and I hosted the England table seeing as my grandmother was born there and my grandfather's family came from there and all of Trent's ancestors too. I've usually shared the England table at our elementary school's multicultural night with someone who is actually from Britain, but I was on my own at the middle school.
In the top two pictures the kids are filling out a form with a list of different well known British authors, buildings, etc. There was a drawing for whoever got them all right. They won a basket of British goodies and the latest Harry Potter DVD. Everyone seemed to enjoy this interactive way to learn more about England!

This game is called, "So You Think You Know English". I made it for the Elementary school multicultural night, but it was a bigger hit with the Middle school crowd. On the left are 14 British words and in the bag on the bottom were 14 of the equivalent American words. You had to match them up and then lift the British word side to see if you matched them all up correctly.

I had a display of popular English foods and treats. I made the lemon curd myself although I didn't temper the eggs well enough and it had little bits of egg. A bit embarrassing, but still very tasty. I also had real clotted cream! Very rich and yummy. Tastes a bit like butter, but better. I would love to try it fresh!

I served homemade scones (Recipe found here.) Chocolate chip were the favorite. I also served Ribena, a black currant drink, which I learned is a popular drink in England. It goes back to World War II. More interesting info on Ribena here. I would have served tea, but having a grandmother who was born in England does not make me a good tea maker. Mixing Ribena with water was much more my speed.

Finally I dressed as Jane Austen. I've always wanted a pretty dress like this and this was my excuse to make one. If you're interested in finding out all the particulars on what I went through to make the dress, click on my pattern review on the side bar. You'll have to become a member of pattern review, but it's free.

Happy Birthday Claire!!

2011-05-11T21:28:00.000-05:00

This crazy girl of mine is 6!!! Hard to believe she'll be in first grade next year!!.

Amigurumi Giraffe

2011-04-13T12:48:00.003-05:00

Behold my third Amigurumi project. The first one I can't find (it was a fish). The second one still needs to be sewn together and stuffed (hopefully sooner rather than later). This one I needed to finish for someone at church who is about to have a baby. Since she earned her masters in Japanese studies, I thought she would appreciate it. I got the pattern from the book "Creature Crochet" by Kristen Rask. It was part of a kit that I bought from Barnes and Noble in their "cheap books/kits" section at Christmas time. I really like the patterns and they are fun to make. They're also fast which is nice for someone like me who likes a quick project!

Alice in Wonderland

2011-04-13T12:34:00.004-05:00

My son's middle school put on a fabulous production of Alice in Wonderland last weekend. The school puts on a wonderful spring musical every year, but this year I got to help with the costumes! I made 5 (yes, that's right) versions of Simplicity 3878 for the mean, I mean, main flowers in the musical. The worst part of this whole thing was the cutting out and marking. Lots of pieces and cutting out things is never something I enjoy. Oh and the tulle. There was a million yards of tulle required (or so it seemed). I soon started referring to the dresses as Tulle monsters 1-5.

On an interesting side note, my son was not in the play, did not help with the play, but he did watch the play. After working on the dresses for many days and having our small house covered in tulle and satin, one of the dresses lay, almost completed, over a chair. Ben saw it and said, "What is that?" I said, "One of the dresses for the Alice in Wonderland play". To which he said, "When did you start making those?" Nice that my son is so observant. :) He thinks he would like to help on the play crew next year. I'll be happy to help sew some more.

For more info on the pattern and construction, click on my pattern review found on my side bar.

Silent Auction Sewing

2011-03-02T23:06:00.012-05:00

Our school's silent auction is this coming up Saturday and I've been busy making a few things to donate.

First we have this lovely bag. What? You don't see a bag?

Here it is all open now. I made five of these, but one kind of got messed up so we kept that one and donated four. I found the instructions here. One change I made was to serge the edges and just turn them down and stitch instead of binding with bias tape. Saved time and money. I also made an insulated bag with directions from here. I forgot to take a picture, but I used the same material as the folding bags. It looked a little something like this (but more blue):

(I made this one as a Christmas present)

Here we have the class basket for Claire's class. The theme was "Let's Pretend". I made all sorts of great things for this basket. The masks I made using or adapting patterns from here. The capes I made using a pattern I found here. I had a lot of fun with this basket!

Every princess needs a cape and mask!

Here's Claire modeling the crown and the cape. I didn't have thread that matched exactly for the top stitching which didn't really matter around the edge of the cape, but really stuck out at the neck where I sewed the velcro, so I glued some jewels there to cover it up. Looks like I planned it all along! Claire woke up with very sore, puffy eyes on this day, so she didn't want to model the mask. I made the crown by tracing a foam crown I had from Michaels that cost a dollar. I added rhinestones and jewels to make it fit for a princess.

Love this mask!

Batman!!!

I love how this one turned out!!!

I made this set twice. Once for Eleanor's Class basket "Cooking with kids" and another set for Claire's basket. I got the pattern for the hat from YouCanMakeThis.com. I don't remember where I got the pattern for the apron, but if you google child's apron, you will find lots of ideas!!!

Can't wait to see how much money everything brings in. I hope lots!!!

Happy Birthday Kate!!!

2011-02-14T23:02:00.001-05:00

This funny girl who brings me more joy than I ever thought possible turned 3 today. I never really liked Valentine's Day, but she makes the day extra special for me now!!!

Happy Birthday Ben!!!!

2011-01-27T20:14:00.000-05:00

This cool dude behind the shades is now 12. That cannot be possible. Happy Birthday to my favorite boy!!! (Late, but posted on the correct date.)

Macy's Most Excellent Mall of America Birthday Trip

2010-11-20T20:17:00.022-05:00

It's a little known fact (although I've told enough people lately so maybe it's more well known than I realize) that when you turn 10 in our family, you can either have a big party at some crazy place like Bounce U or you can go on a trip. It started with Ben and a trip to New York for his 10th birthday.

Macy's not much of a big fan of crowds and busy streets, so she decided she would like to try and go to the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. It's not that Macy's a big shopper or anything, but the kids have often talked about visiting America's Largest mall (well technically it's actually the second largest if you only count total square footage). Trent squeezed in a nice little business trip to London a few months before we needed to go which gave him enough airline points for two $10.00 airplane tickets and we were off.

Here's Macy on the Metro ready to start her most excellent adventure. Please note the book. Lots of reading on this trip!

Waiting at the airport. Very excited. Me, not so much. I bought Macy a new duffel bag with wheels for this trip. I failed to take the carry on luggage measurement requirements with me when we purchased the bag and so when we arrived at the airport we discovered it was 2" too long. We had to check it which meant we had to add $25.00 to our ticket. Ugh. I could have used a bag I had at home for free that would have worked (although I would have had to carry it instead of wheeling it).
We were able to check it for the low, low price of $23.00 on the way home because I checked it on-line the night before. I am all about the deep discounts I tell you. Well now we have a nice duffel bag on wheels for things like girl scout campouts and such. At least that's what I keep telling myself between slapping my head and saying "Doh!" Moving on . . .

On the airplane, ready to take off! Me, not so much.

Visiting the Lincoln Memorial. Did you know it's actually not in Washington, DC, but at the Chicaco O'Hare airport? It's true! Okay, the Lincoln Memorial is really in Washington, DC, but this replica is in the Chicago O'Hare airport. Macy has never seen the real one in Washington, DC. Maybe she'll get to someday if she's lucky.

Having a vanilla bean frappuccino (hold the whipped cream) while we wait for our flight to Minneapolis. When Macy was really little, like 2, one day at the mall she said to me, "Mommy, can I have a frappuccino?" A person in front of us stopped and turned around, looked at Macy and said, "That little one is too little to be asking for a frappuccino." She probably was, but hey they're good. Well I used to think so, but I kind of got burned out on them. I did enjoy a nice large caramel apple rolled in chocolate chips while we waited though. I'm all about the healthy snacks.

We arrived safe and sound in Minneapolis and a short shuttle ride and a short walk to the mall later and there we were. We had a yummy dinner with the fish at the Rainforest Cafe.

Macy made a souvenir penny. We were big spenders I tell you.

The next morning we woke up very early because of the time difference and had a lot of time to kill before the mall opened. I had this great idea to ride the light rail train to downtown Minneapolis because I thought it would be fun. It wasn't. It was boring. It was really boring. It was so boring it was painful. Macy was a good sport though and we got to see Target field which was impressive.

The world's most boring light rail train ride finally ended, the mall was now open and we spent most of the day playing at Nickelodeon Universe. We rode on a few rides, had a yummy lunch at Famous Dave's, shopped a bit and then rode some more rides. It was a fun day. The amusement park was nice and it wasn't crowded despite the day being a holiday. We finished off the night with a yummy dinner at Outback Steakhouse (at our hotel) and a very cold dip in the pool.

The next day we were back for more fun. Macy brought along Kit who (whom?) she purchased the first night we arrived at the mall. Macy has been volunteering for medical research and getting paid the big bucks. She's also been saving for a long time to get her Kit doll. She was very excited.

For Macy's birthday she wanted to have lunch with Kit at the American Girl Cafe. It was a lot of fun!

Kit enjoyed herself too. She especially liked the lemonade, french fries and whipped dessert with sprinkles. Kit's all about the sprinkles.

We spent the day shopping for souvenirs to take home, eating frozen yogurt and playing miniature golf. By the end of the day we were tired and ready to go home.

Alas, traveling with me, when flying is involved, is never an easy thing. I can count on one hand the times I've been able to fly somewhere without some kind of mishap-lost luggage, late/cancelled flight, etc. happening. I was hoping this trip would be different, but when we woke up the day we were to leave, 2-3 inches of snow had fallen overnight with about 5-7" more on the way.

"Don't worry!" I told Macy, "We're in Minnesota where they laugh at 8-10" inches of snow."

Three hours after our original flight was supposed to take off, the snow and wind finally died down and we were able to leave. Apparently they don't laugh at snow after all.

Here's Macy pouting because we really are going back home where we only have the 11th largest mall in the United States.

Not really, she was excited to get back home after such a long wait at the airport!

Here she is on the final metro ride home. We managed to forget our carry on while getting a quick bite to eat after deplaning. After much begging and pleading with the TSA agents (who refused to let us go back and get our suitcase), one took pity on us and went back to retrieve the suitcase. Macy had a scare on one of the escalators, but lived to tell the tale. Unfortunately she must have done something to her ankle because the next morning when she went to get out of bed, she couldn't walk and her ankle was swollen. Turns out she sprained her ankle and had to miss 4 more days of school.

She's on crutches now and can't participate in P.E. until next month. Unfortunately she didn't get to go to school on her actual 10th birthday but had to spend it at the orthopedist. I'm sure it was a toss up which was more fun-visiting the Mall of America or going to the orthopedist. On a disappointing note, it turns out that the Mall of America is not the largest mall in America if you count square footage. It does have more stores than the King of Prussia Mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania though and I don't think the King of Prussia mall has an indoor amusement park or aquarium. An aquarium? Yes the Mall of America has one of those, but we didn't go because we were going to visit the Baltimore Aquarium a week later, but that trip is for another post. :)

Happy Halloween!!

2010-10-31T21:31:00.009-05:00

Since Halloween was on a Sunday this year, we had to be a little creative since we go to church Sunday evenings and attend services about 27 miles away from where we live. By the time we would have gotten home, it would have been too late to trick-or-treat.

We decided to surprise the mom of a former preschool student of mine that lives very close where we attend church services and then trick-or-treat on her street. Apparently they didn't have too many trick-or-treaters, so everyone was glad to see us. Here's the low down on who everyone was.

Claire was a fairy. I made her costume from McCalls 4887. We already had the wings, so I found material to match them.

To say she loved her costume would be an understatement. She would not stand still while I tried to take her picture. Unfortunately I have not mastered the art of sewing with multiple layers of tulle or embellished organdy, so this costume, while much loved, is not fairworthy.

Next we have Eleanor as Alice in Wonderland. I used Simplicity 2330 for her costume and am pleased with how well it fit her. Unfortunately I was in a hurry and the apron is pretty yucky on the other side and the dress puckers at the end of the zipper, so it too is not fairworthy, but doesn't Eleanor make a fine Alice?

Ben reprised his role as the Grim Reaper. We made his scythe from a bamboo pole I bought at the Dollar Tree and a piece of foil covered cardboard. It's still intact which is more than I can say for the one we bought last year which never even made it to Halloween. Pattern is Simplicity 5512. The neck runs small, just in case you were wondering.

Macy was a cat. Store bought. Easy. Thank you Macy.

Kate was a witch. I made it from Simplicity 5402 (OOP). You may remember that Claire wore the same dress three years ago when Kate was but a bun in the oven.

Our evening was finished up with a yummy (?) dinner at McDonalds and then off to home and bed. Claire declared this the best Halloween ever.

Sergeant at Arms

2010-10-08T23:02:00.003-05:00

Macy decided to run for the SGA Sergeant-at-Arms position at her school. She's holding one of her posters.

Here's her speech:

I am happy to report that even though Macy's opponent was twice her size and looked like he born to be Sergeant-at-Arms, she won. I kind of felt bad for him. He gave such a nice speech and everyone clapped, but when Macy got up to give her speech, her entire girl scout troop gave a really loud cheer. After her speech, they gave another loud cheer. After she sat down, her opponent said, "You are so going to win." Even though I was happy she won, I was wishing he had gotten a really loud cheer too!

Happy Birthday Eleanor!!!

2010-10-08T22:49:00.008-05:00

Today was Eleanor's birthday. Today she turned 8!!! It was a fun filled day of school, donuts, ice cream, presents and performing with the high school poms team with her sisters.

For Eleanor's party, we did things a little different. She invited a few close friends and they painted pottery! Here they are picking out their paint colors.

Eleanor is making me proud by painting a mug. I love it when she makes something that is useful. I'm all about things being useful as opposed to things that just sit there and collect dust, because who has time to dust? Doesn't Eleanor look young in this picture? That's because she's not 8 yet. We had her party before she turned 8.

Hey, this does not look useful. It looks very much like something that will collect dust. Oh yeah, it's a pumpkin that the store owner gave her to paint for their pumpkin contest.

Eleanor is a think outside the box type of girl.

We finished up the day with a trip to California Pizza Kitchen for some yummy dinner and ice cream sundaes. What a fun day!!!!

Is this a blog about making things for the fair or what?

2010-09-13T21:44:00.022-05:00

Did we have a fair? Yes, we did! Did we enter items in the fair? Of course. So if you've been waiting with baited breath to find out how we did, I apologize. I find that Facebook makes a quick and easy way to post pictures/results, but leaves this poor little blog of mine sorely neglected.

I would show you everything we entered, but alas, the number of people in our family and the number of items we enter has grown quite large, so I'm not going to do that to you. I will just show some of the highlights. Just know we did not just get blue ribbons, but we did get a lot of those! Now on to the bragging, I mean sharing!

We'll start off with Macy. She did very well this year. She made the above doll of Laura Ingalls Wilder out of a 2 liter soda bottle for a school project and since she did the majority of the work, she was able to enter it in the fair. She was very surprised with her champion ribbon!

Here's another big purple ribbon to add to her collection! She won a champion ribbon in sewing in special classes. That's a dress/tunic top made from knit. It was a bear for her to sew. She thinks maybe she'll just do a pillowcase next year.

Eleanor made this lovely skirt and received a red ribbon. She had to compete in the same category as Macy. Next year Macy will be in a different age bracket which will help.

Eleanor did much better in the arts and crafts building. She received several blue ribbons on her artwork from school and a blue ribbon on this Lego boat. She beat others that were bigger and looked much better, but they looked more like they were from a kit and I think the judges were going for creativity and originality this year.

Ben received a red ribbon for these chocolate cupcakes. They don't look great and there were others that looked better, but it turns out (and I know this because I was there for the judging helping cut cake and what not) that out of 8 entries for chocolate cupcakes, the judges felt that only two entries deserved ribbons and Ben's was one of them. This is the plate he entered against the adults! He received a blue ribbon for the same cupcakes in the kids division.

It was also Ben's last year to enter a pinewood derby car. He was pleased to receive a red ribbon!
I decided at the 11th hour to decorate a toilet. Although we were really pleased with how it turned out (Barnyard Boogie was the theme of our fair this year), the judges didn't really care for it. This lovely entry placed 9th out of 10 toilets. Oh well!

I made this winter coat for Eleanor.

I made this diaper tote for someone at church who's having a baby. Champion ribbon in accessories/baby item. Woo Hoo!

Here's what it looked like on the inside. I got the idea/pattern from the Bernina sewing site Sewing Republic.

I entered Eleanor's Halloween costume although I burned a hole in the skirt side seam with a faulty iron. The judge must have never seen the hole. She was upset I didn't trim my threads. I couldn't figure out what she was talking about, but then I realized she meant all those little gathers in the red fabric. I didn't do those, the fabric came that way.

I also wasn't going to enter Claire's Sleeping Beauty dress because the hem was dirty and worn, but I found a dry cleaner who did a great job and the judges really liked the dress, despite the stains and wear on the hem.

This was one of two dresses I entered in smocking this year. They both received blue ribbons. I didn't get a big purple ribbon this year, but I tried. The lady who did always gets the purple ribbons, she just hasn't entered the last three years-that's why I was able to get them. I'll have to keep practicing to see if I can beat her. :)

I'm pleased with this result! I won best of show in animals, dolls and toys with this dolly diaper bag and it's contents that I made for Kate for a Christmas present (she'll get it this Christmas coming up).
Here's a better picture of everything in the bag. This was a lot of fun to make. Everything fits her bitty baby.

And finally my favorite contest of all-You Be The Judge.

I won again this year for most items made. Although I did crochet and knit some of the blankets, I sewed the majority of them. I really was sewing for about three weeks and was worried that I wouldn't win. To be honest, it would be okay if I didn't win the most made as that would mean even more blankets for those preemie babies. As a result of last year's contest (where I made the most pillowcases) a lot of women tried to beat me for most made this year. As a result, almost 700 preemie blankets were donated to our local hospital. Woo Hoo!!!

Of course I like to try to win the most popular vote part of the "You Be The Judge" contest and amazingly enough, I was able to do just that for the 4th year in a row with the blanket pictured above. I was so surprised and pleased as there were so many lovely blankets made and entered.

I've already started on next year's contest which is placemats for Meals on Wheels. :)

So there you have it. Another great year at the fair! I'll try to be better at keeping up to date about what we're working on and what we're entering this next year!!!

First haircut

2010-09-10T23:28:00.000-05:00

Guess what we did today? We went to get Kate's first haircut! She was very excited!

A lollipop is always in order!

Please just even it up in the back.

I know they're not "in", but I like bangs.

All done! Now that everything is evened up, we can grow it out again!

First Day of School

2010-08-30T23:23:00.000-05:00

I now have four children in school full time!

Ben started middle school this year. There is something so wrong about that.

Claire started Kindergarten, while Eleanor is in 2nd and Macy in 4th. I can't believe how big everyone is getting.

Kate is loving having me all to herself. We've kept pretty busy running beginning of the school year errands. She loves to meet and greet the girls at the bus stop every afternoon though. It's so cute!

Summer happenings

2010-07-06T18:56:00.030-05:00

It's summer and we've been busy!

We had to say goodbye to a very dear teacher and friend, Miss Mary. In February she discovered what she thought was an ulcer was actually cancer. Just a little over 4 months later, she passed away. We will miss her so very much, especially her circle times.

Ben "graduated" from elementary school. I'd show you a picture, but our computer crashed and I didn't back those pictures backed-up before the crash, so this one will have to do.

Claire finished her last year of preschool. She's very excited about moving up to Kindergarten.

We picked strawberries.

Kate didn't want to pick. She liked strawberries last year, but has forgotten that she likes them this year so she won't eat or pick them. She did want to be fashionable while being in the fields though.

We saw this beautiful rainbow on our way to

Disney World.

We stayed in the cabins at Fort Wilderness and I loved having a full kitchen, bus/boat service to the parks and not having to stay in a regular, noisy hotel. We highly recommend staying there!!!

We went to all the parks except the Animal Kingdom as Kate is rather afraid of many big animals right now and a trip to the zoo right before we left for Disney World was a disaster to say the least.The girls and I ate breakfast with several princesses.

That was fun, although every time I put food in my mouth, I had to hop up and take a picture. Kate had a really good time, she just insisted in looking at the ground for every picture.

We ate ice cream every day. That is actually something we do any time we go on a trip away from home. Otherwise the kids usually only get ice cream on Sundays. I'm mean like that. One neat thing happened regarding this daily treat though. On our first day in the parks, The Magic Kingdom to be exact, we had placed our ice cream order and I went to pay, but the guy behind the counter said, "It is your family's first visit so it will be no charge." What a nice and pleasant surprise! (He knew it was our kids first visit because all the kids had buttons that said, "My first visit" that were given to us by the hotel.)

If you have plans to go to Walt Disney World, I highly recommend checking out the book The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2010 from your local library. I would also recommend subscribing to their website touring plans.com . They have these plans that you follow step by step when visiting the parks that help cut down on the waiting in line and they really worked! The longest lines we waited in were only 30 minute waits, and there were only three of those!

One of those rides was Toy Story Mania which had that long of a wait just for the fast pass machines! Actually we wouldn't have had to wait that long had I not made a wrong turn when we got into the park. That messed us up a bit, but we got where we needed to be and rode one of the most favorite rides of our trip. It was definitely worth the wait. Soarin was another favorite as well as Star Tours.

Well Macy didn't much like Star Tours, but she liked these cute Ewoks that made their way home with us. Meet Sammy and Teepo.

It was very hot and humid. Here is Claire signing the word hot. Actually she was just talking while I took this picture and my friend who knows sign language told me it looked like she was signing hot.

I think we rode on the Buzz Lightyear ride the most.

It was fun, although we all decided it was a distant second to Toy Story Mania.

Yes, I'm wearing sunglasses inside a dark ride. It was for the picture. I was trying to look cool. I hate the way I look when taking pictures of myself, so I'm hiding behind my sunglasses.

Of course I made everyone dress up the same. Not every day, just the days we went to the Magic Kingdom. It made it easier to keep track of everyone.

We visited Japan. Not really, but we did go to EPCOT and ate some yummy Japanese food. Macy decided that EPCOT really stands for "Every Person Comes Out Tired".

We decided we really needed two days for each park. We only did that for the Magic Kingdom. We'll have to save up some more money and go back. Everyone was for that!

We spent one morning at the restaurant pictured above. It was much louder than I had remembered from our previous Florida trip when Ben was 4, Macy was 2 and Eleanor was 7 months old. We didn't spend as much time here as we had before because the free stuff was mainly for little kids and no one wanted to spend all their money on the highly expensive games. It was hard to watch Ben struggle with the realization that he spent two dollars and was only going to get to play two video games instead of the 8 or so he thought he was going to get to play. Lesson learned.

We're home now, but we've had fun playing with my new birthday present-a Wii! Actually I haven't had much of a chance to play, but as soon as fair items are entered, I should have more time for things like that. The kids are happy to help me break it in.

Did I mention the fair? Yes, I did. It's just a little over thirty days away and of course there is a lot to do. Probably won't be able to enter any photos due to the computer crash, but that's okay as there were only a couple that were possible contenders anyway. Hopefully the kids got some good Disney shots. I have a little over 180 preemie blankets to finish up for this year's "You be the Judge" contest. A few things to finish up sewing wise and I need to decide if I will bake anything. Still not sure about that. It will be the first year that I get to help with the entering of items from other fair goers. Should be fun!

T-shirt transformation

2010-05-26T07:14:00.021-05:00

We're going to Disney World to see the Mouse and of course we want to be ready for all things Disney which means new t-shirts. Being the planner/neurotic mother that I am, I wanted all of us to wear matching t-shirts for at least one of the days we would be at the Magic Kingdom. This makes it easier for me to keep track of everyone since there's a lot of us.

Disneystore.com had just what I was looking for. Well sort of. Don't worry, I'm not going to make Trent and Ben wear Minnie Mouse shirts-I got them Mickey Mouse in the same style. Anyway, they had these cute Mother/Daughter shirts on sale (plus I received cash back by buying through ebates) and so I bought one for me and the girls. Macy is modeling one of the girl's shirts. Semi-fitted, capped sleeved, very cute. Then there's mine:

Uh, yeh. This was not the look I was going for. The fit was okay, but not great. It felt too big, while at the same time, almost too snug. It felt hot and yucky and I kept wanting to pull at the neck and I wasn't even in the Florida heat and humidity yet! I knew there was no way a smaller size would solve the problem. It was time for some t-shirt transformation.
First I needed a t-shirt pattern that fit well and one that I liked. I had tried unsuccessfully at making a perfect t-shirt using the Jalie 2005 pattern. A lot of people liked it, but I just never did. I changed my version so much it didn't even resemble the original and even then I wasn't crazy about how it felt or looked on me. I had been wanting to try this Stretch and Sew pattern ever since I bought it (a long time ago!) but had been feeling discouraged by my failed attempts at the Jalie pattern. I had an old t-shirt just waiting to be cut apart and here's the result:
Much better! The neck's a little small because I wanted to use the ribbing I had from the original shirt and I really could have used a bit more, but this was more of what I wanted. So it was time to see what I could do with the original Minnie shirt. It turns out, that the parts of the shirt that felt too snug did not provide enough fabric to cut out a new shirt, so I had to purchase a much larger shirt to get my new shirt cut out. Behold the loveliness:

I first washed and dried the shirt to take care of any shrinkage that might occur. Since the shirt I was making was fitted, I didn't want to do all that work, just to have it turn out too small after I washed it. I then carefully cut apart the shirt at the seams, saving all the parts.
I laid out the sleeve pattern over the top of the sleeves. I decided I didn't want to re-hem the sleeves, so I used the existing hem even though it meant my sleeves wouldn't be as capped. I was okay with that.
I folded the front in half and laid the front pattern piece on top. Since the neckline on the pattern was much lower, I cut it much higher to accommodate the graphic on the front.
Here's the picture of the back.

The only piece that I didn't cut down was the neck ribbing as I had accidentally cut it while trying to open up my package and so I just used what I had. If I needed to, I was going to cut apart the first shirt to use the neck ribbing, but it turns out I didn't need to.After sewing up the shirt, I liked the fit much better, but was not happy with the neck. It made the whole shirt feel "off" for me. Part of the problem was my ribbing was just a bit too short and I really had to pull it to make it around the neck. I also really wanted a bit of a bigger neck as this one felt very similar to the first shirt I had tried on.

After a bit of ripping out and readjusting I had a better fitting neckline which made the shirt feel better. Don't ask me why, it just did.

Here's a picture of the shirts side by side so you can see the difference in the neck. Not a lot, but enough that the final product on the right looks and feels better.

So you can see how much better the final product looks compared to the first shirt, here they are side by side:

I think it looks so much better now and the fit is much better too! This is a shirt I would be willing to wear to Florida. Now I'll just have to hope for a bit of a cold spell. At least if the temps are too high, I won't be hating my shirt!

Here are all the shirts I've made using this pattern. I've been playing around with different neck finishes and sleeve types. I'm still having trouble making a truly capped sleeve, but I'm working on it. Can't wait to try the long sleeved and sleeveless versions as well!

(Just so you know-I don't get any kickbacks from the above links. They're just there so you can click through if you're interested!)

Happy Birthday Claire!!!

2010-05-11T13:45:00.001-05:00

Today Claire turned 5! Hard to believe, but true. If she's five, then that can only mean one thing:

Kindergarten orientation!!!!

Claire is VERY excited! I hope she enjoys Kindergarten as much as her siblings did. She's not at the same level academically as the others were going in, so it's not going to be as easy of a year as it was for the others. She is a lot more excited than they were (and they were pretty excited-well maybe not Ben, but with him it's often hard to tell). Let's hope her enthusiasm will continue with the upcoming challenges that await!

Laura Ingalls Wilder

2010-04-17T14:15:00.005-05:00

In third grade at our elementary school, the students need to read a biography, write a report and then either dress up as that person or make a doll out of a 2 litre bottle of that person and then give an oral report to the class. Macy has been really enjoying the Little House books and since I am a big fan too, I had Laura Ingalls Wilder's biography and so Macy read that for her assignment.
We used a Styrofoam ball for the head and covered it with fabric that I had gathered together in the middle to make a nose. I realized while we were trying to cover the Styrofoam ball that we should have used knit fabric. Oh well, when it's Eleanor's turn, we'll do better. I guess we just left the ball white for Ben's project (His report was on Paul Revere). So anyway, that's why the fabric is wrinkly. Wouldn't be a problem if we were making Laura when she was 90 years old. We made a dress out of brown calico (with red flowers) and added an apron and a bonnet. We stuffed the shoulders and sleeves of the dress with leftover scraps of yarn from her hair and then sewed her hands into the ends of the sleeves to keep everything in. I wanted to make a little Charlotte doll for her to hold, but then Macy reminded me that this was her project not mine.
As you can see, Laura is not wearing her bonnet on her head, because we all know that she much preferred to wear it hanging by the straps on her back. That's a good thing because even though Macy sewed the majority of this together, I made the pattern based on one I found on the web and the bonnet ended up a bit too small for Laura's head. Laura wouldn't be complete without her braids and red hair ribbons! Even though I helped with pattern making and a few other things (like working the hot glue gun), Macy did the majority of the cutting out, sewing, etc. so she'll be able to enter this in the fair this summer.

Pinewood Derby

2010-03-15T19:48:00.010-05:00

This was Ben's last Pinewood derby as a cub scout. He becomes a Boy Scout this week. The Pinewood derby has always been a favorite scouting activity for Ben (and myself), even though he hasn't always done very well.

This year Ben did 90% of the work himself as he should as a Webelos scout. I helped with the drill and getting the axles polished (I held the drill) and the hammering of the wheels into place. A neighbor helped Ben saw the bit out for his Lego man. His car is a space ship on wheels.

Patiently waiting for the races to begin.

It's hard to see, but click on the video above to see the first heat. I'm not sure why the picture that goes with the video clip isn't showing up.

For those of you who don't know Ben, he's a bit on the shy/quiet side. He enjoys scouting, but doesn't really have any close friends. It was very touching to hear his den cheering for him before the race.
In case you couldn't tell, Ben came in first in the first heat! He also came in first his second and fourth heat. His third heat he came in second. This was the best Ben had ever done in all the years he's participated in the Pinewood derby. Even though he did well in each heat, there were a lot of other great cars with faster speeds and so we weren't expecting much other than the joy of doing so well in his individual heats. Imagine my surprise when they announced den placements:

That's right, Ben placed third for his den. While this wouldn't have been good enough for him to go to the district races (he wouldn't have been able to go anyway because by the time they took place, Ben would no longer be a cub scout), it meant he received a ribbon. He was very pleased and so were we.

Happy Birthday Kate!!!

2010-02-14T18:49:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet, sweet, wonderful baby girl. Two already! Who would believe it? Not me!

Let it snow!

2010-02-07T20:50:00.008-05:00

This was in December. We got about 22 inches of snow. It was a lot of snow, but it was pretty and we had fun. We get one of these storms every 5 or 6 years. We thought we were done. Nope!This was yesterday. It was a bit more than 22 inches. We had no power. It was cold. We couldn't play in it because we had no way to dry out or warm up. I worried about freezing pipes, but our house actually stayed fairly warm. The power came on about 9:30 at night-I was already asleep.
Here's the snow on top of our compost bin. Our neighbor's fence is almost covered.Those trees behind our swing set are supposed to be standing up, not lying down like that over our neighbor's fence. Please don't break our neighbor's fence!!!
This is how it looked this morning. It was very cold, but I had fun shoveling all this glorious snow. No school for the next two days. That's going to mess up our summer vacation to Disney. Did I mention there's more snow forecast for Tuesday? What a winter!!!

Happy Birthday Ben!!!

2010-01-27T07:42:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy who turns 11 today!!!

He's a jolly happy soul.

2009-12-15T15:59:00.006-05:00

Claire wanted a Christmas dress for her Christmas program today at school. I've been working on this smocking plate off and on for a little while now. This was just what I needed to get it done!The material was salvaged from a jumper dress I had made for myself when I was teaching. I had several with different fun fabrics. This is the last one that I've cut down to make into a dress for my girls. The fabric is a perfect match for the smocking plate!
Here's a close up. I'm sad to report that later in the day after this photo was taken, Claire got ketchup on the O in the first "ho". I hope it will come out, but if it doesn't then I won't be able to enter it in the fair. The risk of letting the item be worn in between fairs!

Edited to add: The ketchup stain came out! Don't worry, I'll let Claire wear this dress as much as she wants, even if it means it can't be entered in the fair. I just always hope it will stay nice so that I can enter it in the fair!

Ben finally gets to visit the Washington Monument.

2009-12-12T22:19:00.001-05:00

It was very cold day,

but Ben's dream of going up into the Washington Monument finally came true.
Macy didn't want to go into the monument, so I stayed outside with her and Kate.
While we were waiting for the others, a bunch of wandering Santas, reindeer and elves came for a visit.

Macy got her picture taken with Santa when she discovered they were giving out free candy canes. I know, I didn't know them from Adam, but I let her eat the candy cane. It was wrapped well and she's okay.

Kate chose to wait while leaning on these marble benches. I'm sure this would be pleasant on a hot summer day when something cool like marble would feel good, but this was not a hot summer day. It was COLD.

Did I mention it was cold? There weren't a lot of people out and about. We always know how to pick those less crowded days. We live for those less crowded days, because lets face it, we are a crowd.
While we were down on the mall, we visited a few museums. Ben wanted a picture of this dinosaur.
Macy and Eleanor wanted this picture of a Shark's jaw.
Claire and Kate wanted their picture taken in front of this penguin.

All in all it was a good, but cold, day.

I couldn't help myself

2009-12-07T13:20:00.002-05:00

Ben is going to be so mad when he sees that I've done it again. Done what? Just see for yourself!

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Happy Birthday Macy!

2009-11-15T19:31:00.000-05:00

This funny, sweet, often quiet (except when she's not) and sometimes goofy girl (who can be very stubborn too) is now 9! How did that happen? It seems like just yesterday that I gave birth to her at the Maternity Center-a stand alone birthing center with just Trent and our midwife present. I remember feeling so strong and powerful after that experience! On our way home a couple of hours later, I called my friends on the West coast to let them know the good news and they were sure I was calling to say it was false labor. They couldn't believe I had already given birth and was on my way home. That birthing center is now gone due to high malpractice insurance rates in our state-so sad! It was my first out of hospital birthing experience and it was so wonderful! Macy loves to tell people she has never been in the hospital. When they say, "Oh, yes you have. You were born in one." She slyly smiles and says, "No, I wasn't!".

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl!

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-10-31T20:11:00.012-05:00

Happy Halloween everyone!

Here we have the grim reaper. Easy costume. Didn't finish seams or hem, because he's death after all. Pattern is Simplicity 5512, size 8 but I added 5 inches to the length and the sleeves.

Glinda the good witch says hello. The zipper on her dress is one of the few things that makes this dress less than fairworthy, but Macy loves it none the less. Pattern is McCalls 4948, size 7. I made her crown from a silver piece of poster board. Her wand is a Christmas ornament wired onto a dowel painted silver.

Eleanor our vampire looks ready for an evening of trick-or-treating. Her dress is one of my favorites and I wish it were fairworthy. Unfortunately I burned a hole in the skirt with a faulty iron and didn't center the front bodice piece (which is drapery fabric, but I loved how it looked!), but she loves it all the same. This is the same pattern (McCalls 5731 or P277) I used to make her Halloween costume last year, but I cut a size 7 this time.
She wanted a cape and I wanted it to flow with the dress. I used the cape pattern from the Snow White dress that Macy wore last year (Simplicity 9384-oop) and added hooks to each end. I added the same trim on the cape's neck as on the rest of Eleanor's dress and then we were able to hook the cape onto the dress trim and it looked like a continuation of the trim. I was proud of myself for figuring out that one!I also used size 14 snap source snaps for the snap in stand up collar. I applied them first and then sewed the trim over the rings. They were fast, sturdy and I didn't have to sew in any snaps. Woo Hoo for me!!!

Finally the pièce de résistance. Please welcome Claire starring as Sleeping Beauty. This pattern (Simplicity 9384-oop)-I cut the size 4-had many pieces and the skirt was a bit fiddly with lots of godets and matching of dots, but I persisted and we have a winner! Unfortunately it rained and her skirt bottom got soaked and dirty. It's a long time till the fair, but maybe a good cleaning will make all right. I may just enter it anyway. I was dreading this dress most of all and as a result didn't get started sewing any of the costumes soon enough, but I'm glad I persevered, because it turned out so nice and wasn't as bad as I had thought. Macy's dress actually gave me the most trouble due to the bead like bumps on her outer fabric!

Did everything cost more even though I made them? You betcha! Will they last longer than those cheaply made costumes you can buy? YEP! Was it worth it? Of course!!!!

Happy Birthday Eleanor!!!

2009-10-08T20:08:00.000-05:00

You are fun and sweet and now you are seven! Where did the time go?

Halloween Fun

2009-10-07T10:21:00.001-05:00

I saw one of these on a friend's blog and had to make one with the kids. Hilarious!!!!

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After 19 months of waiting . . .

2009-09-21T09:55:00.002-05:00

Ribbons

2009-09-21T09:07:00.012-05:00

Okay, I promised a post about my fair winnings. To be honest, this feels a little like when I used to write my grandmother and tell her about every single present I got for Christmas. So instead I'll just show you a pictures of my ribbons. It was a good year. Here's a couple of highlights:
So pleased this dress won after everything I went through. So glad I didn't give up and throw the completed smocked piece away. The judge commented "Your smocking compliments the fabric!" So glad she thought so since I bought the fabric to compliment the smocking!

I made this dress for someone at church who was in her sister's wedding. I'm so pleased it also won a big ribbon. I will admit though that I think I was the only entry in Wedding garments. That said, I once was the only entry in Tailored Garments and I only got a red ribbon because that's what I deserved. So if they didn't feel like it was champion worthy, well then I wouldn't have gotten the ribbon.

All the kids did really well and Macy won a champion ribbon in Children's Candy for some chocolate fudge she made. Recipe came right off the back of the Marshmallow Fluff jar. Maybe it was the Trader Joe's Belgium chocolate that put it over the top. Claire's first entry of chocolate chip cookies won first place in children's and adult's. I have never been able to do that. Maybe since I helped her a bit, you could say I almost won a blue ribbon in cookies. I did get a blue ribbon for my Lemon Poppy Seed muffins, even though I forgot to put the almond and vanilla extract in the glaze. My cheesecake was undercooked and so it did not even get judged and there was a big "Undercooked. DO NOT SELL" written on it's tag. How embarrassing. See, after the judging they cut up half the cakes, take half the cookies, etc. and sell them to support 4-H. I only know about my cheesecake, because I had to pick up my spring form pan bottom. Oh well, there is always next year.

Ben and Eleanor each received a ribbon for all of their photography entries which is very difficult. None of the rest of us were able to do that. In fact poor Trent got no ribbons on his pictures and only received 7th place for his toilet. I was surprised. This year's toilet was so much better than last years which placed 4th. Oh well, go figure.
Here's a picture of some of the ribbons I've earned over the past few years. I have a lot more little ribbons, but I think they're in my hope chest. I keep wondering what to do with them. For now they're in a drawer with some yarn and other knitting/crocheting supplies.

As I was going through the ribbons, I made some observations (please forgive that the photos are sideways, I was too lazy to take the extra steps to rotate).
Here is the very first champion ribbon (Adult Tailored Garment-Men's Sport coat) I ever earned.
Last year the above ribbon was the champion ribbon. Not the Grand Champion or even Best of Show, but just champion. Now granted it was the special 60th anniversary year of the fair, but still.

It was even bigger than the Best of Show ribbon.

This how the progression used to look.

Now there's no difference between the grand champion and the champion ribbon. In fact the Best of Show ribbons are still a bit smaller than their lesser prizes. Funny!

In case you were wondering, I've already started on my preemie blankets for "You Be the Judge." Two are completed (crocheted) and I have material to make some "quilted" ones as well. I'm hoping to win the most made contest again. It will be tougher this year since I really irritated some people who thought they were a shoe in with 40 pillowcases. Ben was pleased because we received a special prize of Miniature Golf tickets just for him since he challenged me to make so many. Me? I won a gift certificate to a nail salon. I was really hoping for a gift certificate to Jo Ann's since I am a horrible nail biter. I'm thinking I'll take the girls for a special manicure instead.

A day of firsts.

2009-09-03T18:51:00.005-05:00

Monday was the first day of school. It was a good day and everyone enjoyed going back. It's Ben's last year of elementary school. That makes me a little sad. He's not sad at all. All he can talk about is middle school. Let's hope that enthusiasm continues when the reality of middle school hits next year.

It was an especially good day for Eleanor. Can you guess why?

She lost her first tooth on the first day of first grade!

Well, actually she didn't lose it at school, it was hanging by a thread all day, but as soon as she got home, we pulled that baby out! Now just three more wiggly teeth to go!

You be the Judge

2009-08-25T21:39:00.002-05:00

I have fair results to post at a future date (our Internet has been out), but I'm excited to share that I won this year's most popular vote for the "You be the Judge" contest. I also won the contest for the most pillowcases entered and they wrote about me in our local paper. The link to the article is here.

A tale of three dresses (or more than you ever wanted to know about smocking, material and my quest for perfection)

2009-08-14T20:58:00.016-05:00

In January, I decided to make my girls four matching smocked dresses to wear to their cousin's wedding in June. In the past I had been able to smock fairly quickly and felt like 6 months would be more than enough time to complete my project.

I went to the Smocking Bonnet to purchase 12 yards of Imperial microcheck in light pink. I also purchased about 6 yards of pink Imperial Batiste for lining. I had planned on making the dress on the cover of Sew Beautiful Issue 82 May/June 2002. My only problem is that I am a perfectionist and felt the compulsion to hand pleat the fabric so everything would be just right. Unfortunately it took me about a day to pleat one row. I worked doggedly at it, but by the end of February, I realized at the pace I was going, I would be done pleating by the end of May and would not have time to smock or construct the dresses.

I then decided to pleat white fabric to make inserts to go with the fabric I had purchased and smock the inserts with a combination of some of the pattern from the Sew Beautiful dress and a few others I liked. I worked hard, but the going was slow either because I have five children or I've become too much of a perfectionist. I finished one insert, without roses, when I realized my thread did not match the material I had purchased. While in the store it appeared to be a perfect match, after smocking, it appeared to be a bit too "peachy". Back to the drawing board.

It was now May and the wedding was drawing close. I decided the material would be perfect made into Simplicity 2918. I had more than enough material and I even found that I had trim that matched perfectly in my stash! Although the pattern did not call for the dress to be lined, I went ahead and lined them (with the pink batiste I had purchased as well) so the girls wouldn't need slips.

So that leaves us with the single smocking insert that I had finished, but did not use after all. I added pink and yellow roses and I bought some fabric that I thought went perfectly in the store. Got it home only to discover that the smocking that had appeared too "peachy" with the previous pink fabric, now appeared too pink with the new fabric. Back to the fabric store. Many fabric stores it turns out. I finally purchased a piece of fabric from Capital Quilts my local quilting store. I wasn't keen on the fabric, but Macy really liked it. So we purchased three yards and turned it into this:
A variation of Maya's Heirlooms Annika dress. Although there is no yellow in the dress, the green really works with the yellow roses. Macy loves it and I do too.

Of course you would think that was easy once I got the fabric, but nooooo. I had to get material to make piping trim as all good heirloom dresses have it. So I bought some at the store which looked to be a perfect match. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. It was too "pink" and made my insert look too "peachy". Was this ever going to end? Well yes, it did. I amazingly enough found some perfect not too pink, not too peachy fabric at Hancocks and made my piping. Here's a close up:
What about that lonely piece of microcheck so lovingly hand pleated you ask? Well several times I just about pulled those pleating threads out, but I am so glad I didn't. I had been looking at Australian Smocking and Embroidery Issue No. 73 for smocking plate ideas for the above mentioned smocked insert when I remembered the baby dress on the cover. I thought the material I had hand pleated would be perfect for the dress and I was right. I had by chance pleated just the perfect number of rows. I also knew of someone that was pregnant and her baby would be the perfect recipient of this dress. (Now she just needs to have a girl.)

So I smocked. And smocked. And smocked some more. This was a hard plate and I didn't enjoy it at all. There were times I was ready to throw it away, but I plugged along.

I added the bullion roses, which were a bear in and of themselves. They turned out better than I thought, but I'm still not happy with them. I need more practice.

The finished project which I am so pleased with.

So in the end I ended up with 6 dresses, three fair entries and enough left over microcheck to make something else for someone else. In the process I almost lost my mind. Of course I kept saying, "never again, never again" but now that everything is entered . . .

Fair entries are in.

2009-08-14T19:44:00.016-05:00

Yesterday and today we entered all the items we have sewn, baked, created, photographed, and decorated. Too many pictures (which I didn't have time to take), but I'll include a few.

Claire entered Chocolate Chip cookies and a pillowcase for "You be the Judge".

One of Eleanor's Photos

Eleanor entered:
brownies
a skirt made from Simplicity 9854
pillowcase for "You be the Judge."
2 photos
various drawings/paintings/etc. from art class and home this year

One of Macy's Photos

Macy entered:
chocolate fudge
skirt made from Simplicity 9854
pillowcase for "You be the Judge"
4 photos
Girl Scout SWAP collection
Lego sculpture
Clay mug made in Art this year
various drawings/paintings/etc. from art class and home this year.

One of Ben's Photos

Ben entered:
Two drawings.
pinewood derby car
5 photos
chocolate chunk/reeses peanut butter cup cookies
one pair of sleep shorts McCalls 9206
pillowcase for "You be the Judge"

One of Trent's Photos

Trent entered:
Three Photos
One decorated toilet:

"the playing field" complete with players, cheerleaders, goal posts and a ref.

"the jumbo tron"

As for me I entered:
5 photos

Salted White Chocolate chunk Oatmeal Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
Mint Sandwich cookies
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (of which I forgot to add vanilla and almond extract to my glaze-ugh!)
Skirt from Simplicity 9854
Bridesmaid dress made from New Look 6864 out of yellow linen
Claire's Dress from Simplicity 2918
Dress from McCalls's 8108

Powder Puff from AS&E Issue #73

Simplicity 2876 complete with bound buttonholes

Maya's Heirlooms Annika

124 pillowcases for "You be the Judge"
Three will be entered for the actual contest. These were for a separate contest for most pillowcases sewn. At the time I entered, I had indeed entered the most. I will find out by the end of the week if I was beat in that category or not!

The aftermath of a morning of non-stop baking. Oh how I love the fair!

Pictures for the fair-decision time

2009-07-18T23:50:00.012-05:00

It's that time again. The fair is fast approaching and decisions must be made. It's very late and I need to go to bed, but first I need your help deciding on which photos will be entered this year in the fair. I can only enter five. The photos I have posted are at a lower resolution for ease of posting, the real ones will look better. Please let me know which ones you like best! Here are the choices:

For portrait-one person, posed or unposed (or something like that) we have the following contenders:

Kate eating an ice cream cone (Ben and Macy's favorite)

Eleanor with a pine cone bird feeder (Trent's favorite)

And a late contender, Eleanor eating a Slurpee.

No decisions here. I'm entering this one in portrait-two or more people. I'm pretty sure I will enter this one unless I take a better picture between now and the fair. I like it. The judges may not, but I do, so I'm entering it.

Next we have some strawberries. Like it. Entering it.

Next we have another choice. If I decide to enter a picture in the animal category do I go with:

Cuttlefish. One of my favorite animals.

Jellyfish (Ben and Trent's favorite choice).

Panda. (Macy's favorite)

Or do I not enter anything in the animal category and go with this Praying Mantis:

View one

Or View Two

Or here we have a photo from last year's fair:

This would be entered in "Photo from 2008 fair."

So I'm definitely entering a one person portrait-but which one? Definitely entering two or more person portrait. Definitely entering strawberries.

Then comes the hard/confusing/whatever part. Do I enter one animal photo (which one) and the praying mantis one (again which one)? Or one animal and tractors at the fair? Or praying mantis and tractors?

Decisions, decisions, decisions. I need to go to bed, but feel free to comment and let me know what you think!

Free Slurpee Day!

2009-07-11T13:40:00.005-05:00

EAT MOR CHIKIN or There really is such a thing as a free lunch!

2009-07-10T19:54:00.015-05:00

Did I really get my children to dress up like cows for Cow Appreciation Day to get some free food at Chik-fil-A?

Yes I did!

Eleanor had a great time.

Claire enjoyed the adventure.

Macy not so much. Just kidding. She had fun. So did Ben. Were they embarrassed? Yes, they were, but they will look back on this day with fond memories. Or not. :)

Kate enjoyed her first taste of a Chik-fil-A nugget.

Kate just wants you to know that I dressed up too. The owner of the Chik-fil-A can vouch for me!

Dutch Wonderland, Camping and a Skunk

2009-07-09T20:41:00.032-05:00

Three summers ago, Trent went on a business trip to Germany. Being the crazy mom that I am, I took my then four children to Lancaster, Pennsylvania:

to see Thomas the Tank Engine:

and to visit Dutch Wonderland:

We had so much fun, that it has become an annual summer tradition. Although we haven't visited Thomas the last couple of summers, we have continued to visit Dutch Wonderland:
I love Dutch Wonderland. It's a small amusement park right in the town of Lancaster. Parking is free, all the rides are geared for children 12 and under and it's one of the few places where the size of our family is not unusual.

This year was a little different in that we decided to camp during our visit instead of staying in a hotel. We had to take two cars to fit all our camping gear, but it was so worth it. We saved a ton of money and the weather was perfect. We stayed at the Old Mill Stream Campground which is on the grounds of Dutch Wonderland. It was great! Our campsite couldn't have been more perfect. We were right by the playground where the kids enjoyed playing:
Across the river was a real farm with a real Amish Farmer:
And right next door is Dutch Wonderland! This was perfect for many reasons. First we could wake up and eat a healthy breakfast of scrambled Eggs, bacon and French toast:

with Nutella, of course:

Then we could just walk right over to the park, but not before capturing this moment with our new friend Luke:
What, you don't see Luke? Look a little closer:
See him now? He is five, hasn't started Kindergarten yet and is wearing a shirt that says "Pull my finger." He would come over whenever we came back for a meal or a rest begging us to take him with us. He wasn't sure what Dutch Wonderland was and didn't seem to understand we were right next to it (apparently the large roller coaster right next door was not something he noticed), but he definitely wanted to go. He happily made himself part of our family by popping into our pictures that were taken while using the automatic shutter feature.

After a fun morning of crossing floating bridges:

getting our picture taken with a large dragon:and a large pretzel:Driving choo choo trains:and embarrassing my children:

We came back to our campsite for a little lunch:

It was back to the park for more fun! Milking plastic cows:driving cars:riding sky rides:and visiting some Amish relatives. The resemblance is uncanny!

After dinner (back at the campsite) and a few more hours back at the park, we were ready to relax with a nice campfire and some yummy smores. Don't worry, Luke is there ready and willing to help us eat those smores. First he would like to know what a smore is.One of the things Trent and I liked the best about this campsite is that it's right in the middle of town, but feels like you are out in the country. I commented that I liked the fact that we didn't have to worry about bears. Maybe because of this comment, or maybe because we were tired after a long day, Trent and I failed to remember to put our garbage sack in the car. Around 2:00 am, I woke up and Trent says, "There's a skunk getting into our trash!" After a few tense moments, it finally wandered off without making too much of a mess. Luckily Trent did not barge out there like he first wanted to do when he thought it was a dog. Now that would have made the trip memorable!

The next day we packed up our campsite, but we weren't finished yet. We were in railroad country after all! A quick trip to the railroad museum:

where I made Claire work hard shoveling coal:

was followed by lunch surrounded by more Amish farmland:Before driving home, we made a stop at the ever popular Choo Choo barn.

Despite making everyone wearing matching shirts, the kids once again had a wonderful time. If you don't believe me, just ask them:

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-04T12:51:00.004-05:00

Happy 4th of July!!! Today we got up early and picked these :

Blueberries! Yum! We're hanging around home and eating burgers tonight. Trent, Eleanor and maybe Claire will see the fireworks tonight. Ben's skipping because he doesn't like the loud noises. Kate is missing because it's way past her bedtime. Macy is missing because it's Saturday night, and because she needs more sleep than the others, she decided she needed her sleep to be fresh for bible class tomorrow. :)

However you're spending the day, hope it's a fun one!

Summer Vacation is here and the fair is coming.

2009-07-03T22:40:00.020-05:00

We here in the Palmer house believe in getting things going for summer vacation as soon as possible. The day after school let out we left town and went to everyone's favorite summer vacation destination Rock City. Okay, it's probably not everyone's favorite. In fact, I'm not sure it's our most favorite, but it is a favorite.
Growing up in Arizona, (maybe it was Idaho-I can't remember) I once saw a show on PBS about how people would paint "See Rock City" on the roof of their barns. I always wanted to go after seeing that show. Although the first time I went it was nice, it has been much more fun taking the kids.

The kid's favorite part of Rock City is called the "Fat Man Squeeze". It's almost all they ever talk about when we go (or when we're not there, but talking about Rock City). Another favorite is where you can see seven states at one time.

Then we make our way to Fairyland Caverns.

Inside is Mother Goose Village. We spend a lot of time in here.

Lots of dayglo painted nursery rhymes. It's quite impressive. You know what else is impressive? That this picture turned out so well considering it's dark in Mother Goose Village and I didn't use a flash.

After visiting Rock City, we drove on down to Trent's parents. We attended the wedding of his nephew. It was very beautiful. The girls all wore matching dresses that I made. Here's a picture of Claire in one of them:

I would show you a picture of all the girls, but I didn't take one. Someone else did. Maybe someday if I get a copy, I'll post it. The dress above is the only one that is fairworthy. It escaped the wedding and reception feast of BBQ unscathed and is now hidden safely in a closet where it will stay until fair time.Next on the agenda was to visit the place where all Cabbage Patch Kids are born. Although I was a bit too old for Cabbage Patch Dolls by the time they were really popular, I always wanted to visit this place.

I think this is Eleanor's doll. They give all visiting Cabbage Dolls a visitor's tag. Very cute.

Checking out the newborn nursery.

We were able to watch a really live Cabbage Patch Birth! I was so excited I forgot to take pictures. It was a girl! Eleanor was chosen to give the baby it's middle name. She chose Grace. So if you go visit and see Cinderella Grace on your visit, you will know who gave her her middle name.

Visiting the cousins and brothers and sisters as they like to say.

By the end of our trip, Kate couldn't go past one of these without getting her picture taken.

We did other stuff too like bowling and watching movies, but you don't need to see pictures of that. We also got to see my great nephew. He couldn't be any cuter if he tried.

As is often the case when visiting Trent's family in Georgia, there is a lot of driving involved. That means lots of time for me to smock!

Here's one of the things I finished up. There's a story behind this one and I'm not sure it's over yet, but it's close, very, very close. I'll tell it another day when I've gotten some sleep. Is it fairworthy? Yes. Would I like to bury it under a rock and never see it again? Yes!

I also worked on this. It's been a pain and I'm not entirely happy with it either, but I'm a perfectionist-especially when it comes to things I'm going to enter in the fair. Recognize the fabric? Claire's dress is made from the same fabric. There's a story behind this piece too and believe it or not, it's related to the previous photo of smocking.

The fair is 6 weeks away. I'm sick with anticipation. I'm literally sick. I feel like I will throw up every time I think of that deadline, but that is another post for another day.

Things I did today.

2009-06-10T21:00:00.008-05:00

I picked strawberries and made two strawberry pies.

I bought one blueberry bush,

with blueberries!

I had Claire try on Simplicity 2918 to see how it fit. It fits nice. I just need to hem it.

Here's a close up of the bodice.

I also made a cake, read some blogs, ate shrimp scampi for dinner and turned 40.

It was a good day.

A new baby!

2009-05-28T13:02:00.002-05:00

I have a new great nephew!!! His name is Jet, he was born on Tuesday and he's very cute. If you'd like to see him (and you know you do), please click here.

Eleanor just wants to know

2009-05-27T22:23:00.002-05:00

What shoes would go best with this outfit?

Micki throws a Dora Luau/Beach Party and lives to tell the tale.

2009-05-08T19:51:00.022-05:00

Monday is Claire's birthday, but today we had her party. She loves all things Dora, so a Dora birthday party it was! We decided it would be a Dora Beach Party/Luau because those were the decorations that were plentiful and cheap.

I got little to no sleep this week leading up to the party. It was a lot of work and Trent is away to Kenya for work. It has rained everyday this week leading up to the party. Today arrived warm and sunny. I was so thankful as I wasn't sure how to fit 10 girls, their parents and the two workmen working on our bathroom all into our house. Oh, didn't I mention we were having one of our bathrooms worked on? Don't worry, it worked out. It turns out that one bathroom was plenty.
Here's Kate helping me out. While I was getting the decorations put up this morning, she decided to throw our shoes and boots outside. Wasn't that so kind of her? Despite her help, I got almost everything done. A few parents stayed to help and the party was ready to begin!

Of course we had to go on an adventure to find Dora. Here's our Map. We had to find the sandbox, then the ocean, and then the tree. I gave each girl a purple backpack with items inside that would help them with our adventure. First we looked through binoculars to find the sandbox.

When we got to the sandbox we needed to find a magic shell to show to the mermaids in the ocean. Here's our resident toad. He is the keeper of the shells. The girls had little pails and shovels in their backpacks to retrieve their shells.

As we went on our way to the ocean we came across Swiper the fox! He wanted to take our magic seashells, but of course we said, "Swiper, no swiping!" He's looking a bit runny because we accidentally squirted him with the hose. I thought I would cry when that happened. All that hard work ruined so quickly. The girls didn't notice. On to the ocean!

Here is the keeper of the ocean. She and her mermaid friends are keeping watch over a secret treasure box!

Oooh it's dark in the ocean! It's a good thing we had flashlights in our backpacks!

We found the golden treasure box and inside were bracelets like Dora's!

We then had to follow the stars to the tree. (Sorry, no pictures. Just imagine blue shiny stars taped to the side of our house leading the way from the backyard to the front yard.)

Surprise! There was Dora waiting to give us a surprise. I left the pinata sign attached in case anyone thought it was the real Dora. Everyone grabbed a string and pulled! Dora was hiding all sorts of lollipops, laffy taffies and smarties!

Here's Claire with her backpack. She's done with the adventure.

She's ready to swim now!

We ate taquitos, pizza, little chimichangas, watermelon, grapes, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and M&M's. Those are Dora's favorites right?

Here's Claire not blowing out her birthday candles. Everyone else did it for her!

Since this was a Dora Luau/Beach Party we needed a monkey and a fun inflatable palm tree that doubled as an ice and drink holder.

Claire finished off the party by opening up her presents. What you don't see is 9 other little girls trying to help her rip the paper off!

All in all, the party was a success. I did learn a few things though. After all that hard work and planning the thing the girls loved the most was the pool. All through our "Adventure" they kept saying, "When can we go in the pool?" All I really needed to do is fill up that pool, feed them cupcakes and they would have been happy! I also put too many things in their backpacks and made our adventure a little too complex. They were juggling all the things they needed to use and it got a bit crazy. Still everyone had a good time and I'm glad we did it! Adios!

Kate is nuts for Nutella

2009-05-04T19:54:00.017-05:00

Hi, my name is Kate and I like Nutella!

I especially like to eat it spread on a homemade waffle.

Just look at all that wonderful Nutella.

My mommy likes to eat Nutella on a banana.

Macy and Eleanor like to eat Nutella on a bagel in the morning for breakfast.

If we don't have any bagels, they'll eat it on bread.

Claire likes Nutella too, but she licks the Nutella off the bagel and leaves the bagel. That makes mommy mad, so Claire isn't allowed to have Nutella on a bagel anymore.

My daddy likes Nutella on bananas like my mommy.

My brother doesn't like Nutella. He doesn't really like a lot of things.

This waffle would be so much better if it just had a little more Nutella on it.

What do you mean I've had enough Nutella already?

Please? Just a little bit more.

If you give me some more Nutella, I will give you a big kiss!

I am so glad I'm not allergic to tree nuts!

More dreams, more sewing and one cute baby.

2009-05-01T13:26:00.003-05:00

I dreamed last night that I was a guest at the ranch of Ree AKA The Pioneer Woman. It was awful. I was super shy. All conversation was tense. I kept thinking "Why am I here?" My children were there and they were bored (bored!) because no one was around to play with them. I was thinking "This is the dumbest thing I have ever done" when all of a sudden there was someone in the corner who was trying to pin up a hem on a skirt and they were having such a hard time. I went over and began to help and after that I was fitting in and having a good time. Weird.

I've finished the muslin of a bridesmaid dress I've been working on and it's perfect. I hope to cut it out in the next couple of days and sew it up. I'll share the pattern, materials, etc. in a future post. My friend is letting me enter the dress in the fair! It was my first successful full bust adjustment. Now I want to really get sewing on something for me.
And as promised, one cute baby.

Eleanor is a hippie chick.

2009-04-24T19:56:00.003-05:00

Today was hippie day at school and here's Eleanor all ready to go. I got the kerchief, necklace and button (it says Green is the new black) at Target. Eleanor tie dyed the shirt last summer for the fair. You can't tell, but her pants are bell bottoms. Ben and Macy dressed up too (well Ben just wore a tie dyed t-shirt) but I didn't get a picture of them before they had to go to school.

Pillowcases

2009-04-17T18:54:00.003-05:00

Do you see that big pile of fabric? Those are all pillowcases waiting to be sewn. There's at least 120, maybe a few more. I've sewn one. I've been cutting and ripping and matching and buying and this is what I have. Unless we get a bunch of donations or we come across some money, we probably won't make the 365 because it's just too expensive, but 120+ is not bad! I even had the cub scouts (in Ben's den) make pillowcases for their craftsman badge. They'll keep theirs. Macy and Eleanor have picked out their fabrics and Ben wants to go shopping for his. This will be their first year to enter "You be the judge."

I'm not sure if I'll win for most sewn. I hope so, since none of the pillowcases I've cut out so far have really just grabbed me as a big vote getter. Not too worried since it's all for a good cause and that's why I do it!

I'm glad to say the pillowcases have also helped me get out of a sewing funk. I'm working on a muslin for a friend who will be in a wedding and I did my first successful full bust adjustment. I've bought a few patterns and hope to work on those soon. I've also started making headway on all those boxer shorts I've cut out for Trent. Now if I could only get further along on the girl's smocked dresses. Seems for every step I make forward, I go 3 back!

Spring Break Day 5-Duckpin Bowling

2009-04-10T19:49:00.020-05:00

Today we went duckpin bowling. I had never heard of duckpin bowling until I moved to the Washington, DC area. I've only been three times and that includes today. It's a lot of fun.

The first difference between duckpin and ten-pin is the size of the pin. As you can see, the pin is about 1/2 the size of a ten-pin.

The pins are set up the same way as in ten-pin bowling.

The second difference is the size of the bowling ball.

As you can see, the ball is much smaller and much lighter. Claire can easily hold the ball which is about 2 pounds. There's also no finger holes.

You wear bowling shoes just like with ten-pin. These are Trent's. He wears a size 13.

The final difference is you get to roll the ball three times for each turn. If you knock down all the pins the first try, it's a strike. If you knock them all down with the second ball, it's a spare. If you knock them all down with the third ball, it's a 10. If after three tries there are still pins standing, you must not be a very good bowler. Just kidding! Your score for that round is the number of pins you knocked down. In duckpin bowling it is much more difficult to knock down all the pins than in ten-pin. That's why you get three tries. No professional Duckpin bowler has ever achieved a perfect score of 300. That's how hard it is.

Duckpin bowling is still more popular in this area than anywhere else, but even so there are only a handful of alleys still open. The one we visit reminds me of when I used to go bowling with my mom a long, long, time ago.

The most modern thing about this alley is that the computer does keep score for you, although you have to punch in your score after each turn. When we first came here, I marched up to the counter and said, "Something is wrong with our computer. It's not recording our score." To which they said, "You have to punch it in." Oh! Then we noticed that the pins weren't getting cleaned up between each ball. I went back up to the desk and said, "There's something wrong with our lane, it won't clean up the downed pins." To which they patiently said, "You have to step on the pedal after each ball." What pedal?

This pedal.

Then we noticed that after we had rolled our three turns, the lane wouldn't reset. We went up to the front desk and they asked, "Did you press the reset button?"

Ben is pointing out the reset button.

That was our first time. Today went much smoother. We just forgot what we needed to do to sweep up the knocked down pins, but after a quick reminder, we were on our way.

Between turns, the girls spent their time and quarters buying little trinkets by the front doors.

Kate and Trent helped keep score.

Ben tried his hand at the "A Winner Every Time" game. He only won candy that he's not supposed to eat because of his mouth expander.

And the winner of the day? Eleanor!!! She did a great job! Tomorrow we go to the pool. Indoor, of course!

Spring Break Day 4-Lunch with Dad

2009-04-09T15:56:00.002-05:00

No pictures from the restaurant because I forgot to bring my camera (and I don't usually take pictures when we go out to eat). I was holding Kate though and wearing the same jacket so just pretend the above picture is in a Chinese Restaurant (instead of a creative dance class) and Kate and I are surrounded by Trent and our very well behaved and hungry children (instead of little girls wearing tutus). We had a lot of fun and the food was yummy. Afterward, Trent went back to work and we went to a park for a little while.

Coming up tomorrow-Duck Pin Bowling.

Spring Break Day 3-The National Zoo

2009-04-08T22:03:00.020-05:00

Today we went to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park or we just like to call it the National Zoo.

We saw animals that you can't see just anywhere.

Sea lions, (or were they seals? I forget.)

pygmy hippos,

pandas,

cows,

(What? You don't believe they have cows at the zoo? They do, it's true and you can't see them just anywhere. I know for a fact that if I look out my front window, I will not see a cow. So we make sure to see them when we go to the zoo.)

and my favorite, cuttlefish.

I used to be an intern an the invertebrate exhibit where the cuttlefish lives. That was right after I graduated from high school. About a million years ago. Have you ever fed a cuttlefish? I have. It's fun. I've even fed baby cuttlefish. That's even more fun than feeding big cuttlefish. I've also fed an octopus, brittle stars, sea anemones, and lobsters. You know what we fed all those things? Shrimp. Like the kind you buy in the store. No kidding. Well actually we fed the baby cuttlefish glass shrimp (otherwise know as ghost shrimp) and they were so fun to watch, grabbing the shrimp that was as big as they were, shooting ink all over the place. I guess you had to be there.

Moving on.

In addition to looking at animals, we also climbed on top of statues that look like animals.

We ate lunch.

More climbing.

Watching.

We took lots of pictures.

Kate was upset because everyone had a camera except her. I lent her mine and here are some pictures of the animals she enjoyed (starting from the top left corner, going clockwise) zebras, cheetahs, tigers and the pandas. Kate has quite the view from her stroller doesn't she?

This was the last picture of a busy day. The zoo was crowded, but not horribly so. Minimal whining and fighting over who could climb on which statue first. Even Kate did a super job considering she couldn't really see much. On the agenda for tomorrow? Lunch with Dad!

Spring Break Day 2-Monsters vs. Aliens

2009-04-07T21:23:00.002-05:00

We went to the movies today. We saw Monsters vs. Aliens. It was cute. The kids liked it, even Claire and she scares easily at the theater. Kate was a handful as most of my children were at this age. That's why we rarely go to the movies, that and it costs so much. We usually just go to the free summer movies or check them out from the library.

This is how I feel after two days of spring break. Tomorrow we go to the zoo!

Spring Break Day 1-Cupcake Bites

2009-04-06T15:23:00.020-05:00

It's Spring Break in the Palmer House and that can only mean one thing. Five children at home with nothing to do! I, their crazy mom, had this great idea that we would make cupcake bites like Bakerella. It looked so easy. Even Pioneer Woman made them with her daughters, so of course I could do it with my children. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Okay, stop laughing. It wasn't that bad. Let's take a look shall we?
First we made the cake and crumpled it up into a bowl and added the frosting. We used a white cake mix and vanilla frosting because that's what the kids wanted to use. Besides I had those on hand which I bought with double coupons. They were cheap!

Ben doesn't look to sure about this. He never was one to play with play dough. Come on Ben, it's not that bad!

Much better!

The girls have always liked to play with play dough, so they dug right in.

Here they are ready to go into the freezer. The next part is to form the bottoms. I wanted to take the easy road and use candy molds for the bottoms, but Michael's was out of the candy molds I needed. The cashier said they were unloading the truck right now and I could come check next week. Yeah right. So I bought some tiny cookie cutters that looked like flowers and formed the bottoms myself. It was tricky work and even then they looked terrible.

Then came the dipping part. Everyone had fun with that part. Well Kate didn't because she was taking a nap for part of it and Claire would just throw the whole cupcake bite into the bowl. She's a bit of a wild child.

Here they are with the bottoms coated. We dipped the tops after they hardened a bit.

Then we added an M&M and some sprinkles.

Here's the first one we finished. Not Bakerella, but not so bad.

Here's a few more.

Here's Kate. She woke up from her nap about halfway through the process. She helped us by eating M&M's and watching the Wiggles. She wants to know when the cupcake bites will be ready.
Here's the older four hard at work. The kids really enjoyed the bites, but to be honest I think you could cover a dirt ball in chocolate and they would eat it and think it tasted good. Trent and I thought they were just okay.

I would like to make the easier version with the candy molds and use red velvet cake mix with cream cheese frosting like Bakerella does to see if I like that flavor better.

Here's Claire explaining how to make the cupcake bites. If you need more info, go visit Bakerella. She's the queen of the cupcake bite. If anything, just go to see how many wonderful ideas she has come up with.

Girl Scout Camping

2009-03-21T19:17:00.017-05:00

Last weekend Macy's brownie troop went camping for the very first time. Okay, not real camping, just sleeping in a large cabin on a Girl Scout camping facility, but for all intents and purposes, camping. I thought Macy could go without me like she's done on every single brownie outing since I had Kate, but this one required parent participation. Since I am still nursing Kate, an overnight was out of the question.

Macy was the only girl who wasn't going to be able to go, so they bent the rules a bit and let us come for crafts and dinner. Woo Hoo! They did this because Macy is a sweet and wonderful girl. Everyone likes her-kids and grown ups. I even like her. She's very popular in an unassuming way. If she had been born in a hospital, I would swear they switched babies on us.

When we arrived the girls had already been there since early morning. Everyone stopped what they were doing and shouted "Macy!" just like they used to say "Norm!" on Cheers.

Macy's first craft was to make a candle nestled in some plaster of paris with some sea shells.

They turned out very cute. We love ours. The kids fight over who gets to blow out the candle after dinner.

The next craft was to paint a bird house. Since they didn't think Macy was coming, we had to buy ours and bring it with us. They just said to pick up one that cost five dollars. There were a million bird houses that cost five dollars, so I just had Macy pick one. Of course hers is the Taj Mahal of bird houses. Everyone else's looked like this:
You would think everyone would be saying, "Why does Macy have that kind of birdhouse and I don't?" Or maybe you would think that Macy was concerned that hers didn't look like everyone else's? Nope. Everyone admired hers and Macy could have cared less if hers was different. Again, I am amazed that she is my child.
Finally she finished up with the traditional peanut butter on a pine cone and rolled in bird seed bird feeder. Fortunately for the troop, no one is allergic to peanuts.
Between craft stations the girls colored bandannas. Bandannas are a big deal in Girl Scouting when camping. They are great for all sorts of things. I didn't know about the wonder of the bandanna until I became a girl scout leader myself. Now we never go camping without several of them.
Macy's favorite thing to do with her bandanna is to wear it on her head. Her new leader is putting it on her. Her new leader is great. Everyone loves her and she does the neatest things with the girls. Her leader last year never did anything fun. The leader's excuse was that she was sick and pregnant and then she had this new baby. She was so lame. Oh yeah, that was me. Moving on . . .
Finally, after making dinner, almost burning down the cabin with an electrical fire and eating, the girls washed the dishes. Macy and I soon left to go home. It was so much fun, that we wished we could have stayed to spend the night. Maybe next year. It's a good thing we came home though because Kate decide to start throwing up at 4:00 in the morning. Now that would have been a shame to miss.

This is one cheesy ride

2009-03-13T20:13:00.008-05:00

Behold the Cheesemobile.

This is Ben's entry for this year's Pinewood Derby. The Derby is tomorrow. Let us not forget that Ben can also enter this in the fair. I definitely think it is fairworthy.

Ben came up with the idea himself and did most of the work, although we had a neighbor cut the wedge with his electric saw and I helped hold the car while Ben drilled his cheese holes. I also helped with the wheels. He put them on, but I directed and held the car in place. It can be tricky! We glued the axels in place this time because last year one of his wheels fell off during a race and he never won a race after that happened.

We waited too late to get enough weights and when we went to get more last night, there was none to be found. We had some left over from last year, but needed to add a whole ounce to the car! We used magnets, but some are not fully attached and they need to be for his car to qualify, so I'm going glue them on tonight.This is a picture from Richard Scarry's book "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go". It was Ben's favorite book when he was little. He insists he didn't get the idea from the book, but I can't help but think this picture has been sitting in his subconscious all this time.

Edited to add: Ben didn't win anything at his pinewood derby, but he had a good time. The cheesemobile awaits it's summer entry in the fair, where I'm sure the judges will be impressed and amazed.

WANTED: Various Household Items

2009-03-09T21:08:00.013-05:00

If you are like me (I know, a scary thought, but stay with me) then you belong to your local Freecycle Yahoo Group. Everyday many e-mails arrive in our inbox with the titles of OFFER or WANTED. The WANTED are my favorites. I like them because they are often an easy way for me to give something away without actually having to post on Freecycle myself. I have given away carseats, clothing, lawnmower and even a computer after reading the WANTED postings on freecycle.

A week or so ago, a WANTED e-mail arrived in my inbox that totally redefined the term "household items" for me. The e-mail is printed below, exactly as it was sent to Freecycle.

WANTED: Various Household Items

I recently have moved into my first apartment and I am in desperate need of the following household items;

a 19" or bigger color televison,

working dvd and vhs players,

a microwave,

dining room set,

wooden hangers,

and pushing it but hopefully will be possible to have a working (could even be outdated) laptop that could be used for school and work.

Any of these items would be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately I was unable to help this person, but hopefully she was able to get some of those deperately needed "household items". Makes me wonder how I ever survived in my first apartment, since I thought all I needed was some sheets, towels and pots and pans! :)

Snow Day!

2009-03-02T12:19:00.008-05:00

A snow day! Not an "Innauguration" snow day. Not a "we got an inch of snow and we were supposed to get more" snow day. Not an "1/2" of ice all over the place" snow day. A real snow day with real snow. We had to wait until March, but who cares. Lots of snow! Woo Hoo!

Of course the temperature is 24 degrees but the wind chill makes it feel much, much colder.

Claire, how about you shovel off the deck?
Doing a great job!
You missed a little bit over there.
What do you mean you're tired of shoveling?
Eleanor isn't feeling too well, so she's just relaxing in the snow.
Kate's just happy she's inside where it's warm.
Ben wants to know if 8:30am is too early for a cup of hot chocolate.

Happy Birthday Kate!

2009-02-14T19:41:00.005-05:00

It's hard to believe it's been one year since that wild ride! Kate has been so much fun. She's not feeling so well today. She has a runny nose and a cough. Macy made her birthday cake in her Easy Bake oven. Kate received a baby, a car, some socks and a Tigger toy from the family. She's playing on the floor right now learning her states and capitals. In this family you can never learn that information too soon!

Baby Shower Fun and burp cloths

2009-02-11T09:12:00.014-05:00

I recently had a baby shower for someone at church who is having twins. I thought I would share one of the games that we played. I got the idea from the internet and then adapted it to meet my needs.

It's called the dirty diaper game and the way most sites recommended playing it was to make or buy these little diapers and then you just pass them out and then everyone opens their diaper and looks inside. If they have a "dirty" diaper, they win. Kind of boring.

Another way to play was to pass out the diapers at the beginning of the shower and then whenever someone said "baby" they had to give their diaper to the person who caught them. We've played a game like that before, but most of the people at the shower didn't really know the mom and since the only topic that was the easiest to talk about was about the babies, I wanted to encourage conversation. So I came up with the idea of putting the diapers on name tags. Here's how I did it:First I cut out a triangle that was 2" wide and 1 1/2" tall.Then I folded the bottom point up and the side points in like you would a cloth diaper (well one in the shape of a triangle anyway.)Then I needed to make holes for the pin. I have this nifty very tiny hole punch that was perfect for the job. I have too many gadgets like this. At least it's getting some use!This is what the diaper looked like after I punch the holes.Add the pin.
Attach diaper to name tag. Everyone wore the name tag not knowing it was also a game. At the end of the shower, I had everyone open up their diapers to see if they had won.
I also made some burp cloths for the mom to be. I used these directions as a base and the made a few changes to make them easier and faster to sew up. I do have five children after all.
Since she is having twins, I thought I'd better make twelve. I never burped my babies, they burped very well on their own. They did spit up a lot though and I never seemed to have enough diapers for both their bottoms and my shoulder. Although the mom isn't going to cloth diaper (and I wouldn't use these types of diapers anyway), she is having two babies and so I figure there will be lots of burping and spitting going on.

I'm off to buy fabric for smocking today. The Smocking Bonnet is located in Mt. Airy which is fairly close to me. So Claire, Kate and I are going up there to get in trouble, I mean buy some fabric for dresses. Trent's nephew is getting married in June and I need something to enter in the fair or my nightmare will really come true.

Nightmare

2009-02-03T14:52:00.003-05:00

I was with my family. We were at the fair. It was strange because they had decided to display all of the Home Arts entries outside. I was worried because it looked like it was going to rain. I was also worried because it's so dusty and dirty outside. Why would they put the entries outside where they could get dirty?

We are walking around and I'm feeling uneasy. I can't put my finger on it, but continue to walk around, looking at the entries. I notice that there are not very many entries this year and I think to myself "If the entries continue to diminish like this, they're going to cut out the Home Arts division all together." Then it hits me. . . I've forgotten to enter anything in the fair! I'm so upset. How could I have forgotten to enter anything in the fair? I walked around so sad, talking to anyone who would listen to me saying, "I usually enter at least one thing every year, but I forgot! I don't know how I could have forgotten. I can't believe this has happened." I was very upset. Then I woke up.

It's been forever since I've actually had a dream that I remembered and I had a dream about forgetting to enter something in the fair.

I need to get a life. Either that or more sleep so I can remember a better dream.

The Misadventures of The Science Fair Project

2009-01-31T20:58:00.007-05:00

In December (?) Ben brings home paper for science fair project. Ben must turn in idea for science fair project by Jan. 9th. Mom encourages Ben to think of idea and turn in ASAP. Ben looks at his mother askance. He would never consider turning in anything before it was actually due.

Ben decides to do an experiment on what will sink and float. Mom reminds Ben that he is no longer in kindergarten and must think of a science experiment that is more in keeping with being in fourth grade. Ben is stumped.

Knowing that Ben loves cars and has learned how to measure angles in math this year, mom suggests some type of experiment where Ben will measure the difference in how long it takes a toy car to go a certain distance and whether or not the angle of the track affects the time it takes. Mom wonders aloud if the greater the angle will always make the car go faster. Ben likes the idea and quickly writes down project idea for teacher approval. This is done one week before due date. Ben refuses to turn in paper early.

Ben takes paper to school on Jan. 9th. Mom discovers paper on Jan.13th in Ben's assignment folder and asks him if his teacher has approved the experiment. Ben looks confused. Mom determines that Ben has forgotten to turn in paper to teacher. Ben loses computer time and promises to turn in paper the next day. Ben remembers with help from a note from Mom and gets approval.

Four days before project is due, Ben remembers he needs to work on his science fair project.
First he takes a picture of the cool car he will use in his experiment. He bought it in NYC.
With help from Dad, Ben measures the angle of his ramp. He starts at 5 degrees and increases each run by 5 degrees. Note $10.00 protractor. Okay, the protractor was only $2.99 if purchased alone, but Mom decides to get the kit with a calculator, compass, other rulers and a handy carrying bag for $10.00.
Now Ben waits for the signal to let go of the car.Here is mom with her cell phone. Note that it has a stop watch. Mom does not notice this until after she spends $10.00 on a stop watch at Target. The very same day she is waiting for her children to get off the bus (it was a single digit day and Kate was sick) in her warm van and decides to play with her phone. She discovers the stop watch. Mom goes back to Target the next day, returns $10.00 stop watch and buys $80.00 of other stuff.

Experiment commences. Kate starts to fuss. Claire continues to run into track. Mom is about to lose her mind. All decide track is too short. Ben is sent to look for more track.
While looking for more track, Ben loses his car. At this point it's 5:30 and mom needs to start dinner. She sends Ben to find the lost car or at least get another car. Mom starts the pasta and bbq beans on the stove. Gets hamburgers ready to broil in the oven. Gives Kate a graham cracker to keep her happy. Ben is no where to be found. Ben has forgotten we are working on his science fair experiment. Mom pounds her head against the wall.
Ben gets another car and a picture is taken for science fair portfolio. Extra pieces of track are added and experiment recommences. Claire jumps on track. Kate loses graham cracker and begins to fuss. Pasta water begins to boil and beans are bubbling. Mom picks up Kate, pours in pasta and turns down beans. Ready, set, GO! Unfortunately everyone else says GO!, but mom. Mom is the one holding the stop watch. Mom threatens anyone who even thinks of saying GO! other than her. Room is once again quiet.

Mom says GO! Ben lets go of car. Mom starts stop watch. Mom stops stop watch. No she doesn't. Mom hits internet browser button on phone. Ben must repeat the run. Pasta is starting to bubble over, mom turns down stove. Everyone starts again. Mom hits the wrong button again. Will this ever end?

Soon all runs are completed and recorded. Dinner is ready. Mom is looking forward to working on Science Fair portfolio with Ben tomorrow. Or maybe not.

Class Basket

2009-01-31T20:51:00.003-05:00

Another year, another class basket for the school auction. This year's basket had the theme of scrapbooking. I ended up making this basket for another class since all of my children's classes already had someone and they needed me to help out a class who didn't. (Did that make sense?) It made it easier not to add too many things myself since I already had donated to three other baskets. I didn't get very many donations, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. The best part of the basket was the rolling tote. It was $70.00 at Michaels and I had a 50% coupon for JoAnn Fabrics. Michael's accepts competitor's coupons and so it was mine for only $35.00. I had collected $26.00 in cash and so I covered the rest.

Now I'm off to make some burp clothes and diaper name tags for a baby shower that I'm helping to host next Saturday! Stay tuned for a recount of our adventure's in working on Ben's science fair project!

Easy Bake Oven

2009-01-28T14:59:00.004-05:00

Macy received an Easy-Bake oven for Christmas. We decided while Ben and Trent were in New York, we would try it out. The hardest part was just finding a 100watt light bulb that wasn't a long life or soft light. After a trip to Target, we were ready to go.

After a few lessons on how to use the oven, Macy was ready to go. Here she is sliding a tray of cookies into her oven. I still find it amazing that you can bake cookies or a cake just using a light bulb. I remember having an Easy-Bake oven when I was Macy's age, but it seemed much harder to use. Maybe it was, I know we only used it once.

Sugar cookies are always better with frosting!
The cookies were pretty tasty considering who knows how old the cookie mix that came with the oven was. Macy has offered to bake and frost the cakes for Kate's birthday. I may never have to bake again!

Ben loves New York

2009-01-28T14:46:00.006-05:00

For Ben's 10th birthday, Trent took him to NYC. Ben has had a real fascination with New York for the past year or so. When we asked him if he would like to go, he was more than willing.

For only $36.00 round trip for the both of them, Trent and Ben took the Bolt bus from downtown DC. Quite a deal!
This is what Ben wanted to see the most. He is fascinated with tall buildings, but this is his favorite.

Of course they had to visit the library. Ben hasn't met a library he didn't like.
Another favorite area was Times Square. Lucky for him the hotel was very close. Unlucky for Trent, it made for a noisy couple of nights. At least it was convenient.

Happy Birthday Ben!

2009-01-27T21:30:00.005-05:00

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years. As they say, the days were long, but the years were short. I thank God for letting me have you. You have brought joy to my life. I love you!

Catching Up

2009-01-24T14:04:00.003-05:00

I finally have a few moments to splurge on the computer.

Up until today only Macy was sick with a tiny cold that made her voice raspy. Today Kate has a runny nose!

I am catching up on my self initiated bible study with these ladies. I read and work on my lesson each night while sitting with Kate as she gets used to sleeping in her crib. It takes a while, but nobody bothers me.

I joined face book because someone from my children's school invited me. I discovered an old friend from college. I asked her to be my friend. What if she says no?

I found an old friend from high school, she said she would be my friend.

I have aged a lot more than some of the people I used to know. When I graduated from college everyone thought I was graduating from high school. I definitely look my age (or older!) now. I always wished I would look older. I got my wish!

Ben and Trent are in NYC for Ben's 10th birthday.

My neighbor's daughter came over to say she's having a birthday party tonight and to please not call the police if the music gets too loud. I told her to turn down the music when it gets late. I'm looking forward to tonight-NOT.

I actually bought some fabric to make some burp clothes for a shower I'm helping throw in two weeks. Not hard sewing, but sewing none-the-less.

Now to finish the boxer shorts I cut out for my husband 2 (3?), years ago.

I'm almost caught up with the laundry. Please no more lice, stomach bugs or any other similar catastrophe. I am so thankful for our washing machine and dryer.

I. am. so. tired.

2009-01-10T22:39:00.002-05:00

One baby with pneumonia.
One husband who almost passed out because he has an electrolyte imbalance.
Two children with head lice.
More laundry than I care to even think about.
One nasty case of mastitis.
Two children with coughs that make sleeping difficult.
A dirty/dusty house because who's had time to clean since Thanksgiving?
I. need. some. sleep.
Pray for me.

I would like some cheese with this whine.

2009-01-04T15:45:00.005-05:00

I had a stressful Christmas. Kate had pink eye which I got plus I had a horrible ear infection (that is still not quite gone) with a lovely pounding headache to go with it and so I was in much pain and misery while I was getting everyone packed up and ready to go on a trip I did not want to go on. I kept telling myself that I was doing this for the kids and Trent, but I never felt good and it was a struggle the entire time. I wasn't very happy and so I wasn't much fun to be around. Kate came down with a new respiratory virus the day we left to come back home and so we seemed to be back where we were before we even left.
This is what we made for Christmas presents. They didn't turn out very well and looked very homemade. I meant to get these sent out before Christmas, but I was sick and Kate was sick and we had to leave and it never got done. I won't be mailing them anytime soon since after I took this picture I knocked them off the table and they broke.

Let's hope 2009 a bit more fairworthy.

Merry Christmas!!!

2008-12-25T12:00:00.002-05:00

However you celebrate, here's hoping you have a wonderful day!!!!

Have glue gun, will travel.

2008-12-20T22:30:00.008-05:00

I bought this gingerbread house kit from Costco. I piped the frosting and the kids added the candies. The royal icing was not doing a great job at keeping everything together as you can see from the photo above.

Enter the best glue gun in the world.
House is back together and has stayed that way. The kids are lamenting that they cannot eat the house now. I keep telling them that gingerbread houses aren't really for eating. I think next year we'll make them from scratch so they can eat some of it. I did that a couple of years ago-we made a train, but it was very labor intensive and I didn't have a 10 month old needing my attention.

RSV

2008-12-19T15:02:00.004-05:00

Life with five children is never dull-unless you are sitting in the hospital with one of them. Kate came down with RSV a week or so ago. By Sunday she was so sick she could hardly breathe. We had a very scary ride to the doctor and then another fun experience in the ER. They finally admitted Kate, as her blood oxygen level was 89%. Her pulse was a very high 180-200. She was very sick. This picture was taken Tuesday night and we were able to come home late Wednesday afternoon.

All I could do was hold her, which was difficult due to all the wires and tubes. I slept (if you could call it sleep) with her in the crib, since there wasn't really anywhere else to sleep. I lived for meals and when Trent was able to come and visit as that was the most exciting thing that happened all day. Eleanor was ornery to our neighbors who helped us out by watching the others so Trent could come and visit. They'll think twice before volunteering again I'm sure!

Trent did an amazing job taking care of the kids, but everything that needed to be done has not been done, because I wasn't able to get much done even before the hospital stay because Kate had been sick. Oh well. At least Kate is well. We are very blessed.

More bible class ideas

2008-12-06T21:22:00.011-05:00

This post is for those of you who were interested in more ideas to use when teaching bible class to young children.

The first thing we do when starting a class is talk about who is in class and who is not. Some people like to use an attendance chart. I don't. At least not with the younger (ages 2-4) children. The reason is because I want to make it very clear who is there and who isn't. This way we can pray for those who are missing. I like to use pictures of the children for this activity. They love to see themselves and they recognize their friends as well. I have done this activity many different ways.
Above are two examples. The flower on the left was what I did one spring quarter. I had a metal bulletin board (made from metal sheets I found at Home Depot) and put grass on the bottom and the words on top "We're growing in God's Word". Then each child that was present, would place their flower on the board. We would count the flowers that were on the board and then we would count the flowers that I still had and would then talk about who was missing, why and that we would pray for them during prayer time. Another time I put their heads in little car windows and they would "drive" their cars from their house (a house on one side of the board) to the building (on the other side of the board). On the picture with Macy, it also had their memory verse for the quarter and when I would hold up each child's picture, they would say their verse before placing their picture on the board. I always have blanks for those who are visiting.

After we see who is in class, who is not, who came to worship with the kids, etc. we have a time for prayer. The first thing I do is ask "When we pray, who are we talking to?" and the children say "God!" Then we talk about how when we pray we can ask God for things and we can thank God for our blessings. I then remind them about who is gone from class, who we know is sick from the congregation, etc. and say something like, "Let's remember to ask God to help ______ get better." or "Let's ask God to make sure _____ has a safe trip while they are on vacation."

Then I tell the children that God has given us many blessings. This is can be a hard concept for children to grasp. So what I did was cut out pictures of things the children have or can thank God for-clothes, food, the world, animals, their car, their friends, their families, etc. Depending on the size of the class, I will let the children pick out one or two pictures to show what they are thankful for. The children can then hold them during our prayer to remind them what to say thank you for or they can put them up on one of our bulletin boards that I have labeled "I am thankful for . . ." If you look in the picture below, you will see the picture on the top has magnet tape on the back for this very purpose. We haven't always worshiped where we had access to a magnet board, so I used a cookie sheet instead. With older children, you could write these things down to give them ideas.

The next (and final activity for this post) activity we do is talk about The Bible. The first thing we do is ask "What is the Bible?" and the kids say "God's word". Of course if they are really young, we say it for them until they can do it their selves. Then we ask "How do you spell Bible?" and at this point I have a sign with the letters B-I-B-L-E on it or I pass out these and each child points to each letter and we say them out loud. Then we sing the B-I-B-L-E. Sounds boring, it is boring, but the kids love it. The littlest ones get really antsy and hold out their fingers because I will hold their finger and help them tap each letter as we spell it.
The Bible above is not a "real" bible, but one I made. You can make individual bibles like this or you can make a larger set of cards to hold up for this next activity.
The next thing we do is talk about how God's word is very special. We talk about how we should take care of our bibles and read them everyday to learn about God and Jesus. Then I have the children open the Bibles and we look at the pages. There are four examples of something that the children should not do their bibles-cut, rip, fold the pages or scribble.
We go through each page and I'll say "Oh dear, look at this. Someone has cut this page of the bible." or "Oh no! Someone was not treating this bible gently and this page has been torn or bent." or "Look at this! Someone has been scribbling in this Bible. Is that how we treat our Bibles?"
Then on the last page I have a heart and when we turn to that page I say, "What should we do with our Bibles/God's Word?" and they point to the heart and we say "We should love our Bibles/God's word." If you aren't comfortable cutting up an old Bible, you can just type up some words on a piece of paper and use those or you can draw a picture of a Bible with a pair of scissors, crayon, etc. around it and put a frown face or something to show it's not okay. I make sure not to say, "We never write/color in our Bibles" because many of us in fact do write notes or highlight certain passages.

Of course during each of these activities, we sing one or more songs that relate to that topic. Depending on the age of the children, I will go into greater detail about the bible, it's parts, the books, etc. On Wednesday nights we practice saying the books from memory. Even the youngest can do many without help! On Sunday morning I mainly focus on the book that our study comes from for that class.

Hope this gives you some more ideas. Depending on the size of your class, you have already filled up 15-20 minutes of class (or more!). These are 15-20 minutes that you don't need to plan out every week because the process is the same each week.

Playdough Cookies

2008-12-06T20:54:00.012-05:00

After we came home from the Secret Shop, the fun wasn't over yet. We decided to make Playdough Cookies. I got the idea from a post at the Crafty Crow. The idea is a simple one. Take four different colors of sugar cookie dough. Place them together and roll them into a snake. Coil that into a disk, place on a cookie sheet and bake. You can make your own dough, but I had some crayola dough that I purchased through a school fundraiser that worked quite well.

Here Eleanor demonstrates how to roll the dough into a snake.

Macy has taken her snake and coiled it into a cookie.
These little lovelies are waiting to be baked in the oven. I know, they do look delicious don't they? After baking, some of the cookies looked like this:
While others looked like this:
Overall the experience was only half as frustrating as our usual cookie making sessions. Here is what we had left after I ate at least ten, maybe more.
You don't believe that I ate ten? Here's my blue tongue to prove it:
I gave a cookie to Kate. This is what she thought about it:

(Translation: There is no way I am going to eat something that looks like this.)

Secret Shop

2008-12-06T20:24:00.005-05:00

Today we went to Macy's old preschool for their annual Secret Shop. This is the fourth year we have taken the kids to do their holiday shopping. They LOVE it. They get a present for Trent, me and each of their siblings. This is the first year Ben and Macy used their own money (it's amazing how frugal they can be when Mom isn't writing the check). This was the first year Claire was old enough to participate. (She went way over budget!)

In addition to family presents, the kids are allowed to get one present for themselves. Most of the items are either gently used, new-but previously owned, hand crafted (and there are varying levels of talent represented believe me) and what I will call "other". Items cost anywhere from .50 to 17.00. I usually give the kids a budget of 10.00.
Here are Eleanor and Claire with their gifts to themselves. You are wishing you were getting these lovely items for yourself aren't you? Let's take a closer look.

Here we have a lovely little Christmas tree. Not only is the tree decorated, but it comes in a lovely ceramic Santa boot. I know this will surprise you, but it only cost $2.00. Eleanor just wanted you to know that. She feels it was a steal and thinks she may have may the best purchase of the day. Lucky her. I wish I had a small decorated Christmas tree tucked in a ceramic Santa boot. She is quite the shopper.

Claire purchased a tin full of candy for herself. Remember I said some of the presents were hand crafted or "other"? Well apparently the people who put on the Secret Shop get together about once a week for a couple of months and during this time they put together the hand crafted gifts and "other". Claire's tin falls in the "other" category. Apparently they get these empty tins and they fill them with candy and sell them at the secret shop. Here is what was in Claire's tin:

That's right for the amazing price of $1.00, Claire bought a tin filled with one small bag of Curious George fruit bites, one largish Tootsie Roll and about 10 of the mints shown at the bottom of the picture. I know, you are speechless. I must ask though, why the fruit bites and the tootsie roll? Why not just the mints? I guess it's the little extra surprises that make it special. You would expect mints in a tin, but not a little bag of Curious George fruit bites and a Tootsie Roll. I could take a lesson or two from those creative workers who put together gifts for the Secret Shop.

The kids have already pinched and poked and are dying for everyone to open their presents. We'll do that on December 24th. They'll be making things for each other between now and then too, but it wouldn't be the holidays without a trip to the secret shop. I can hardly wait to see what they've picked out for me.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T07:25:00.002-05:00