Summer fun

This summer was the first time we had a school year to take a break from. We had some growing pains as a family during that time. Maddy started kindergarten at public school in January so we only had the spring semester to get used to the new routine. But boy did we get used to it, and even began to enjoy it. Once summer break started we had to get used to a new schedule or lack of one. We spent a ton of time with friends and enjoying more time with Marc in his mornings at home. This year we splurged and bought season passes to the new Hawaiian falls nearby. Boy did we get our money's worth out of them. Chris had the girls all summer so we got to spend a ton of time with them, and Johnny and Shelby. Plus our sweet friends Jill with Elijah and Reagan, and Chelsea with Sophia got passes as well. 

Summer was a great experience and I am now enjoying school being back in session. 

Summer craftiness

What a long, fun summer it has been. This was our first real summer from school so we all had some growing pains. Between play dates, water park visits and workouts I managed to get a few crafts accomplished. And build a long list of future projects of course.

This is the verse I painted on the wall of our entryway. I just love this as a blessing and prayer for all entering and leaving our home. 

The biggest project was refinishing this big boy. We found this old, solid wood dresser at goodwill and instantly saw its potential. After much sanding, painting, sanding and sealing it is a beauty of a buffet. Marc and I loved seeing it come together and working on it as a team. There will be many more items like this in our home, we became big fans of this type of work. Plus it's lovely in our home and we are proud of the work we put into it together to make it uniquely ours.

I have sewed several items without getting pictures. One project was a tote bag for my Aunt Becky and a matching smaller one for her daughter Abby. They love them and it was so nice getting to make them something. Up next is one for my grandma. 

One of my favorite items is this bible cover. I adore the fabric and was really proud of myself for being able to make it up as I went. I wish I had added a pocket but that's ok, I love it anyway. I do have a pen hook and more bookmarks now.

My last project to share is an area in the game room that we redid. I am very proud of the way it turned out and so happy for Maddy to have an area of quiet play. The first pic is before, the second is after. 

That's all the projects I can share for now. I have several Christmas presents in the works and some other posts to make this weekend. Hope your summer was a great one, would love to see what you worked on. 

Mom's 50th birthday gifts

My mother's 50th birthday is this weekend. On top of throwing a party for her I've also been seeing some treats for her kitchen/dining room use. 

I've made 8 napkins with fabric that compliments her pfaltzgraff dishes.

I found the blue fabric in a remnants bin and the two coordinating yellows at a cute little sewing shop nearby. Those were my first fancy fabric purchases, both being Moda. I can definitely tell a difference in quality. I wanted super nice fabric since they will be touched a lot. 

I still need to topstitch them once I buy green thread. 

I'm currently working on two items that can either be hot pads or just decorative place holders for dishes. 

And the bottom fabric- 

I hope she enjoys these new treats for her kitchen. Can't believe she's finally turning 50! 

Projects in the pipeline

I have been a little fabric crazy the past week or two. My stash is quickly growing, although most of it has specific purpose already. I have begun planning some gifts to make and some additions to my own house. 

Currently I'm working on placemats for my table. 

Not bad for my first attempt. I will be mixing up the patterns using the following fabrics: 

 (I forgot to include the white fabric). 

I also have these fall colors for a gift to give my grandparents in Colorado. 

I will be using these for pillows in Maddy's reading/relaxing nook. She picked most of them out and surprisingly I don't care if they match.

That's most of it for now. Can't wait to share my finished works. 

iPad case project

The world of sewing can be tricky, trying and oh so rewarding. On my latest project, that I just created in my head, I had a simple math error and ended up screwing up the project. Before I scrapped it, I decided to just work with it and see if there was any way to salvage it. I had originally intended to have it fold the same way as my iPad cover, and that's where my math error screwed it up. I had somehow cut it too short for the width. Once I twirled it around and looked at it vertically rather than horizontally I found that it was the right width, just needed another 4 inches for the length. The fabric I was using for the pocket was a large piece so I made an extension using it and extended the flap to coordinate with the back pocket. 

Once I got that little snag figured out it was pretty smooth sailing from there. 

This is the back pocket. My stitches are still a little shaky, mostly when I get overconfident and try to speed thru it. 

This is the front and flap extension. I think it pulled the project together well. 

I am still figuring out the closure. I have elastic cord but its a little bulky to fit around a button so I think I may use a small hair elastic. Also have to decide if I want one button or two. 

Only regret is not lining it, but its a learning process. 

First sewing tutorial project

I wanted to make some simple tote bags for the summer. Easy to carry things to the pool, library, friends house, park, wherever the wind takes us. I followed this tutorial and made a few modifications mid project. I changed the length of my fabric when I realized it was going to be too long for Maddy, and I switched the straps from 2 bought straps to one strap made from fabric leftovers. I changed the straps because I thought Maddy would do better with just one and it was a good use of this scrap.

I got this fabric on clearance at hobby lobby today with this purpose in mind. Maddy was quite pleased with the choice. Once I finished I had her try it on for length and cuteness. 

Success!!! I made a few mistakes along the way but with more fabric to use I know I'll get the hang of it soon. 

 

There's a grief that can't be spoken, there's a pain goes on and on

August 25th, January 7th, January 25th, December 30th, and May 3rd. These dates pass each year without much thought for other people... but for me, they mark the anniversary of a sweet baby leaving my body and entering heaven. They are a dream cut short, a future altered, a pain in my heart that has no measure.They are something else though too. You have to look closely, want to see it, NEED to see it, to survive.

 These 5 dates in my life are something so much more meaningful than anything else I've already said. They are exactly what my God does. They are chances for redemption, opportunities to seek His face, moments to turn to Him and fall into His arms. More than any other struggle I have faced to date, these hardships and the emotions they evoke, are my biggest reminder that God is faithful. He does not leave me, He has not forsaken me. He is not punishing me, nor keeping something good from me. Just the opposite. In the moments when the grief swells, and the sadness consumes, and I'm awake in the pitch dark thinking about the children I thought I'd be raising, God is there. He is not silent, cold, empty. I feel Him all around me, moving thru me, healing me, comforting me. Like the sweetest words ever whispered He covers me with His presence and love. I know without a doubt that the good thing I want (those children) is fleeting compared the the glory of His better thing I've been given...... my relationship with Him.

For reasons I don't need to know, God has given me a bounty of chances to choose him, and I do so joyfully. Could He have used other methods? Sure, but then you don't know me like He does. I'm hard headed, stubborn, just plain ornery. I like to think I have it all figured out and half way executed before others have finished looking at the situation. So God in all His goodness sought me and pursued me with a fury. He wants to be my healer, my comforter, my strength.

4 years into this trying to conceive journey and we are no closer to growing our family than we were at the start. But oh how much closer we are to our Savior, the giver of life. I've written before about how He never leaves me empty handed when a baby is taken, and this is the fullest my hands have ever been. In this complete surrender, hands open, held high, in worship.

Happy tears

Today was a special day for Maddy Moo. My tiny little human took a simple walk on a stage and became a big girl. I cannot deny that this mama shed a few tears, mostly happy.

She won the most creative writer award and did a great job walking the stage and crossing the bridge.

This was her teacher's first year and we loved Mrs.Miller so much. We made this wall plaque for her door because she didn't have one yet. Maddy will miss her this summer. Every time Maddy plays "teacher" she is Mrs. Miller. 

Nana was able to attend the ceremony and even brought her a congratulations balloon.

Grama and Grampa also came and even arrived at 7:15 for the 8:00 ceremony. They gifted her some chocolates and a play phone that stores make up. 

Her grandparents sure were proud of how well she did this year.

We just love and adore our sweet, funny, imaginative girl. Couldn't imagine this life without her. And yes, I may cry again thinking about how much she's grown and how fond I am of her. 

Memorial Day Weekend

This past weekend was Memorial Day. My Aunt Becky, Uncle Brad, and their kids Michael and Abby came to visit. We all spent the weekend out at my dad and Linda's house. We had a blast even though the weather decided to rain 60% of the time. 

Maddy is always happy when her Uncle Zach plays with her in the pool. She had him holding her all different ways while jumping in with her. Once they surfaced she'd quickly swim back to him, grab his neck and kiss his cheek. 

He is such a fun Uncle even if he's only 14. She has him pretty much wrapped around her finger. Finally on Sunday the skies cleared up midday and we were able to have a real pool party all afternoon into the evening. Aunt Ev and Uncle Rick came over and we cooked out and threw people into the pool (a staple game at these parties). 

Michael was actually being tossed in at will for this pic. 

Time spent with this family, and at this house, remind me of the best of my youth. Ever since getting this pool put in we have had the best summers with fantastic company. Marc and I agree hands down that these moments are among our favorite memories to make. 

After the weekend was over we went home and Becky and Brad came out to our house. We were celebrating Abby's birthday on Tuesday, by going to the waterpark nrh20. It had only just opened for the season that weekend. Tuesday was still a school day so the park ended up only having about 75 other people there. We basically had it all to ourselves. Lines were non existent, the wave pool have at best 20 people in it. It. Was. Awesome! We stayed for 7 hours, played our hearts out and lost our voices screaming from the fun. 

That was our big holiday weekend. I hope yours was fantastic too. 

 

Wedding Vow Artwork

I bought this canvas at least three months ago with intentions to cover it in fabric as a headboard in our room. But then every time I shopped for fabric nothing spoke to me ( what, you've never had fabric speak to you?) So it sat in my kitchen since then, just waiting for inspire to strike. And then it did. I was telling a friend a story about our wedding vows and how much I loved what we said during the ring exchange. Those words stuck in my head for days and I spent a few times daydreaming ideas of how to incorporate them into the piece. A few days later it became clear, they weren't a part of the art, they were the art. 

I shopped for the paint colors and quickly got to work with the help of my sweet friend Jill. Being able to free hand the words made it very easy to get it done in one afternoon. 

Here is the finished product, forever reminding us that our wedding rings are a pledge that we have chosen one another above all others.

Redo project

Last weekend my stepmom, Linda, gave me some items from her house. I knew I could revamp it somehow and make a super cute display for my house. It was a basic large white frame and a big iron easel. So I had hubby spray paint the frame bright red and I put scrapbook paper on the background. I shopped Hobby Lobby for a good print to use and ended up finding a great wall decal half off. 

Then I placed the decal in the middle and viola- instant art. I added it to the stand and now it's a focal piece in the corner of my formal dining room. 

 This project was such a breeze it gave me hope for future ideas. 

First time using iron on pencil

I've recently gotten into embroidery. And found that I super love it. But after stencil ing my designs straight on the fabric I found that I would rub them off as I worked on the project. Enter the iron on transfer pencil. 

It seemed simple enough. Print your pattern and trace it backwards like this :

Then you simply iron on the paper like this: (but make sure to hold the paper in place and only press down, if you move the iron across it creates blurry lines.) you can lift the side that isn't being ironed to check the progress. 

And presto- done and now you have a permanent pattern on the fabric. 

I'll post pics of the project as it gets worked on. 

**tips** trace firmly to create darker lines and press lighter with the iron to avoid slightly burning the fabric, or maybe lower heat. 

Maddy's milestone

My sweet girl had a big event today- her first school field trip. If you've read my old posts you know that we used to home school, so the fact that she's in public school is hard enough, but adding a field trip that included an hour long bus ride without me have this mama high anxiety. But she did good, and I did ok. I am so thankful to have a husband that adores being a daddy and took the time off to go with us today. We had a great time at Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch. 

She got to pet horses, camels, llamas and even a zorse (zebra horse). 

She got to learn all about lemurs and kangaroos up close. 

It was a great day with my fantastic family.

It's been a long time

I haven't been a very good blog owner. I've left it sitting alone in cyber space for over 2 years. Just my old thoughts and ambitions all ignored and forgotten til now. The Lord's been working in me for a few months to start blogging again. Not because other people need to hear what I have to say, but more that I need to get some things out of my head and worked thru and ultimately given to Him.

Life has been a raging white water adventure over the last few years. Seems like we go from out of the frying pan into the fire. But we have been good at staying high spirited along the journey. For the most part. I've come to realize that it's much easier to handle whatever you are facing if you stay focused on God's goodness and faithfulness. I have been able to get over my circumstances much easier when I've remembered who is is control of my life and who has authorized each event.

I can't wait to share with you what God has been doing in my life, in my heart, and for His glory.

Count down madness!!!

There are exactly 10 days until I'm scheduled to start Maddy's first fall semester of organized home schooling. Needless to say it's a little chaotic in my brain right now. I have 20 weeks of themes and all the plans for it going through my head. I'm actually doing great on organizing it all into a pretty good system. I wanted to get the weekly themes done through the end of the year so I can ease into this routine without stressing about the week to come during the week we are in. Am I making any sense? I feel like I'm talking in circles, lol. Part of my planning is to blog weekly, or more often, about what Maddy is learning. I'm excited, nervous, stressed and freaking out all in the same moment over the responsibility. Praying helps, and so does diving in and seeing tangible accomplishments. Looking forward to starting this journey and watching my little mooshoo learn more.

A phonics matching game & our new activity/pocket chart

The first thing I've will share is a phonics matching game that I've been working on for a month or so... I printed all the pics, colored them, pasted on construction paper and then laminated. My niece Shelby helped by making matching alphabet cards for sorting. They are just double sided note cards with scrap booking letters glued on.

The other thing we're excited to start using is our new activity/pocket chart. My fantastic step dad, Dean, who is a school teacher had this laying around collecting dust- so he graciously gave it to us. I have already made sentences for learning Maddy's full name, phone number and home address. She will love working on these things with our new chart.

I can't wait to show photos of us using these in action cause we plan to use them A LOT!

Catch up and creating stuff

Has it really been over a month since my last post? Well, in my defense May is a crazy month for us, several birthday's, mothers day, and a holiday weekend. Can you blame a girl for being absent minded? But I haven't been slacking off, I've been creating several new learning toys and getting school stuff together and home organizational stuff. This summer is set to be a lot of fun- Maddy is very active in dance class and gymnastics class. We are finishing up her first year of soccer (possibly her last, haha). So here's some stuff I've been working on:
- Home chores/ homeschool prep chart
- Popsicle stick counting
- Phonics matching
- Bead counting in ice cube trays
- Our daily board and Calendar
- Our library area
- New to us pocket activity chart

I will follow up in individual posts for these things so it's not overload.

Basically, we're still alive and thriving, God is so good and we are beyond blessed in our happiness.

sometimes it's the grain of sand keepin you down.

I can't even remember what story I'm referencing, only the basic fact that sometimes it isn't the journey that is difficult, but the grain of sand in your shoe. This has been on my mind today. A Lot. I'm slowly freaking out about all the things I don't know and haven't started yet for our home school journey. The options for curriculum is overwhelming- and I, of course, don't want to make the wrong choice. Then there's all the money that is involved. It is so expensive. Luckily, I spend a lot of time finding great ideas on the internet and ways to make them super cheap. But still- as we get deeper in this process it's gonna get real pricey. I have complete faith that God will provide in these areas, He has already called me to educate Maddy, He is currently equipping me, and surely He will provide in all areas.
So the grain of sand is a lack of support. I feel like I'm on this journey all alone. But God will sustain. He will restore my weariness and renew my spirit. If I just remember that my source of satisfaction is in Him then I'm still on track- and I'm not alone after all.

40 days of Lent.... What I'm up to...

So although I'm not catholic I was given the opportunity to look at lent outside of catholicism last year. I decided that lent in fact does not just have to be for catholics, or really just for this one set time frame. If at anytime I feel that something is distracting me from God's presence in my life, or an area that He has placed a greater need for on my heart- I in fact can observe the act of lent at anytime. This being said- for now I'm doing it at the same time as others. Last year was my first and I just went all in- I chose an area that I knew I would be able to feel the impact daily. music. Oh how I love music. I was pretty good at mixing up genres regularly but I definitely liked secular stuff a lot. So that's what I gave up- secular music for 40 days. I only listened to christian or classical (during those nice hot baths). I thought it would be hard, I was SO wrong. It was amazing. so amazing. By allowing a huge area that I enjoyed to be solely focused on praising God and remembering His goodness I found myself seeking music more and more. I discovered new artists, new songs and new depths of worship. I watched less tv and sung more. I sought meanings to music, and the scripture it originated from. I sought to experience God more- and I DID! Now that it's been a year I can't believe how much time I used to spend listening to secular music. The topics I'd let fill my mind or the lyrics I'd repeat without even thinking about them. Not that I'm condemning all secular music- I still listen to it and still have a lot of favorites. But I pay closer attention to the subject and lyrics, also to how the music makes me feel, what emotions it evokes and where it leads me. Angry music in fact fuels my anger, attitude songs tend to give me an attitude, love songs make me think of my husband... and so on. I'm also very aware of what my daughter listens to and now assert more control over what she's exposed to. I explain lyrics to her and why we sing praise to God. I still seek Him- and He still shows up every single time.
Given how much last years choice affected me I have put a lot of thought into what I want to "give up" this year. I'm in a different place in my life than last year. At this time last year I was working 5 days a week and had so much time in the car so music was something I had plenty of time to feel the change from. With that in mind, and my walk intensifying as it is I've decided to give up something that is a precious gift taken for granted daily. My time.
What do I mean? I mean that I'm giving God more of my time. This is happening in a few ways. Because I seek a deeper walk with Him and I'm so hungry for more of His truth and how to apply it to my life I've decided to commit to a few things.
1. Finishing the book I'm currently reading- The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. I am 3/4 through and it is rocking my views of being a godly wife. I've also recently found a study guide for it and I'm going to go back and work through it.
2. Read the 2 new books I just recently purchased (yes I'm addicted to half price books).
   - The Strategy of Satan by Warren W. Wiersbe. This caught my eye on the shelf as I have observed satan attacking a few people I know of and have felt him in my own before.
   - Husbands Who Won't Lead and Wives that Won't Follow- by James Walker. This one is a little hard for me to admit that I'm reading. But this is the reality of where we are at right now. I'm earnestly seeking ways to improve my role as a wife. To allow God to make me the best help mate that my husband could have. In seeking this I must acknowledge that surely there are area's that I'm struggling in.
3. Watching 3 series from Keystone Church before we started attending. Right now I'm downloading the following series : Taste and See- 2 videos (learning to experience the Bible as the LIVING word of God).
Seven Churches- 6 videos (unlocking the church according to the Bible). Jesus Loves- 6 videos (how God loves even the worst of us and me at my worst). This is actually just the start- I have several other series I'd like to view, including: High Fidelity (on marriage), This Preacher Likes to Dance (on how to have the abundant life God sent to us through your church) and Loosing My Religion (all about how church has become a dead place and how to fight against it). Ok those are my summaries... if you'd like to look into any of these or follow them with me check out www.keystonechurch.com.
4. Keep a prayer journal and a "He speaks to me" journal. So the prayer journal is pretty self explanatory- I'm not planning on writing out my prayers- just the things, people, situations, etc. that I'm praying for and any movement I see in those areas. The "He speaks to me" journal is for recording areas that I need to remember daily that He spoke to me. Jesus Christ is everywhere in my life right now- I feel Him overflowing out of my heart and I'm working on becoming more aware of all He does around me, for me, inside of me.

So there's the plan. All written out it may seem like a lot- but luckily- God's given me a lot of time. Being a stay at home mom is such a blessing. Since my daughter goes to bed @ 9 and I'm up til 12ish that gives me plenty of time to embrace this commitment. I'm so excited to see who I am on the other side of these next 40 days. Praise be to the Holy Father for working in my life and inspiring me to seek Him more. He has placed such a hunger inside of me and I'm truly praying it is never satiated. This hunger fuels me- and each step I take closer to Him feels like leaps and bounds from the person I used to be. He is truly creating in me a new being and it's wonderful. Won't you please pray for me during this time. Thanks :o)

Some Thursday Activities

Maddy finally got to sit down and work on some of the new lessons I've been planning (for the last 3 months or so). She really enjoyed them and even wanted to do more, more, more. I'm still not sticking to a schedule yet, not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing. We sit down and work when the feel is right and distractions are low. I'm hoping to transition into a more regular routine over the summer so we can start fall like regular school half day PreK. Right now my biggest obstacle is printing. It is just too expensive to print everything at home. I have the use of a black and white printer from several places but no color yet. Looking into options for this. I don't think Staples and the sort offer those services, just copying. So for now I'm printing at home sparingly and buying materials that can be stored in sheet protectors for multiple uses.

Anyway- here's some of what we worked on today.

Counting 1-5 and identifying the corresponding number.

 

Next we worked on 6-10

 this sheet is laminated so we can use all kinds of different things to count the spaces. Today we used foam shapes.

Then we worked on matching 

And some maze work

more matching and we did opposites too (forgot to take a pic).

and learning how to write # 1 and 2.

We also worked on her writing her name better. She can write each letter now we are refining it to smaller scale and in the appropriate size. She has trouble with her spacing on the page so that it can all fit left to right. This will come with time and is not something I'm worried about.

Well that was part of our Thursday, hope your's was great!!