Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Everyone! May you all have a wonderful Christ-filled day filled with peace, joy, and many precious moments!

RaeRae and Ally sang special music for church the first time on Sunday. The Preschool Sunday School class said their memory verse and sang Away In A Manger.
1 John 4:10 "God loved us and sent His Son."

Pictures of the kids

So excited!

When I saw that the theme for this weeks photo contest at www.iheartfaces.com was "Excited!" I had to enter this photo of RaeRae and the peonies in our backyard. The girls love flowers, and the peonies were so big... and their favorite color... pink! She was having so much fun!


Look for more "Excited!" photos at I ♥ Faces!

Crib Skirt Tutorial - single box pleat

My first tutorial! Hopefully this makes enough sense...

This tutorial is for a box pleat crib skirt or otherwise know as a tailored crib skirt I believe. This picture and fabric does not show the box pleat very well. There is just one box pleat in the center of each side of the crib. There are no pleats on the ends.

Step ONE: Cut fabric.
You will need:
2 lengths of fabric that are 62 1/2" x 15 1/2" for the sides of the crib and
2 lengths of fabric that are 29" x 15 1/2" for the ends of the crib

For a crib skirt with a stripe at the bottom in accent color (for example see my valences) you will need:
2 lengths of main fabric that are 62 1/2" x 11"
2 lengths of accent color fabric that are 62 1/2" x 5 1/2"
2 lengths of main fabric that are 29" x 11"
2 lengths of accent color fabric that are 29" x 5 1/2"

Step One B (for crib skirt with a stripe on bottom only): Match up each piece of main fabric with an accent color fabric piece of the same length. Sew main fabric piece to accent color piece with right sides together 1/2" from edge (or surge to keep from future fraying). Do this with all four pieces of main fabric so that you have four lengths of fabric with the main color on top and a stripe of accent fabric on the bottom. Continue on to Step Two.


Step Two: Hem fabric ends.
Fold the narrow ends of each piece of fabric over 1/4", then fold the end over 1/4" again so that the raw fabric edge is on the inside. I hate to pin, so I fold as I stitch which is why I do a 1/4" hem on the ends. It is much easier to fold a 1/4" hem as I sew than a 1/2" or 1" hem. If you are not comfortable with folding the hem as you sew, then pin.
Step Three: Hem bottom edge.
Here you will want a 1/2" hem. Fold the bottom edge of fabric over 1/2" then fold it over 1/2" again so that the raw edge is on the inside. Pin. Sew. Of course you can always do as I do and cheat. I love The Nester's saying that "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." So when I do things for my own home I'll take whatever shortcuts I can as long as it still looks great. So I "cheated" on this by just doing as I did on the end hems. Fold and sew a 1/4" hem instead of folding, pining, and sewing a 1/2" hem. It just makes the skirt 1/4" longer.

Step Four: Create the box pleat.
This is the fun part! Not because it's difficult, but it's a box pleat skirt so it's fun to finally see the pleat. Or maybe I'm just easily amused... Anyway I've drawn a diagram to help you see this. (And besides, I goofed up and didn't allow enough fabric to make the size pleat that I wanted to so I ended up with only 1/2" where I should have had 2". Follow the diagram and your's will be much better than mine!)

Find the exact middle of both of the long lengths of fabric and mark with a pin or marking device (if you stay within 1/2" of the edge you should be safe to mark with a pen or pencil as it will be in the seam allowance and not show in your final masterpiece). (Note that there will only be pleats on the sides of the crib skirt and not on the ends.) Then measure 4" on either side of the middle and mark. Pinch fabric at the far left mark and bring it in to the middle mark. Pin. Repeat with the right side.Your fabric should be folded as in the diagram above only tighter and pinned with raw edges together of course instead of loose. In other words the point at which the two sides should meet is on the line right under the 4. (Does this make sense or is it confusing. I seem to have that effect on people... Confusing them I mean...)

Next stitch the pleat together 1/4" from the edge (only 1/4" so that your seam will not be visible in your final masterpiece). This will hold your pleat together till you stitch it to the deck (the part that goes under the mattress) without the risk of a pin falling out.

Step Five: Cutting out the deck.
In a perfect world everything would come out to the exact specification that you intended: the need for a deck piece that is 54" x 28" (remember we are allowing for 1/2" seam allowance). However, the world is far from perfect. And I don't know about you but my sewing isn't always perfect either. So I save this cutting for now.

Lay the fabric from which the deck will be cut out on a large, flat, preferably somewhat hard surface (ie: your living room floor) with the right side facing down. Really any fabric can be used for this. I used some cheap muslin that I had on hand. Then lay out your skirt piece like in the picture below.
Once you are satisfied that your corners are square and the sides are straight, and the inside rectangle is approximately 53" x 27", trace the inside edges with a pen. Remove the skirt pieces and cut the deck fabric 1/2" on the outside of the line you traced (seam allowance remember).

Step Six: Sew(Surge) the skirt to the deck.
With right sides together sew (or surge) each skirt piece to the deck 1/2" from the raw edge.

Step Seven: Put Crib Skirt on crib.

Step Eight: Stand back and admire your beautiful masterpiece!

Encouraging Husbands During Financial Trials

No matter what the pundits and politicians have to say, the economy is a challenge for most of us normal families out here in the real world, and in some parts it seems to be getting even more challenging. As helpers suitable for our husbands, how can we, as godly wives, encourage our men when they are feeling down about their job situations and money issues?...

This is such an excellent post by Kimberly Eddy over At The Well. For most of our five years of marriage we have been living paycheck to paycheck, but finances have become even more of a struggle for us over the past two and a half years. It seems that we barely get back on our feet and "caught up" before the next layoff hits. This year alone My Man has been paid Unemployment more weeks than he has from his job. He was laid off due to weather and lack of work from the end of October till July, and now he will be laid off for all of September while the construction company he works for is in between jobs. But as Kimberly writes, "God is my provider." He has taught us some valuable things through it all. The first is that God is faithful. The second is that Debt KILLS! STAY AWAY FROM IT!!! The third is how not to be attached to things (we had to sell our house). And there is so much more! Like worrying about tomorrow... It seems that this is lesson that God must teach me over and over again. He IS in control, and I just have to trust in Him. My attitude will affect my husband. Kimberly gives some excellent advice as to how we can encourage our husbands during financial trials. Read her post At The Well.

International Babywearing Week

I love babywearing! I didn't always. When the girls were babies I had a Evenflo Snugglie; but it was so hard to get them in and out, especially if they were sleeping. I did find it useful when RaeRae was a small baby. We lived only a block from the library, so I would put her in the Snugglie and then zip up My Man's winter jacket over the both of us. It wasn't long though before she grew too big for that. I also had a ring sling but it was too big for me (it didn't have a long tail) and it had such thick padding on the rails that the baby seemed to get lost and smothered in it. Needless to say I didn't think very much of babywearing at that time. When I was pregnant with Baby Bear though, I knew that I was going to have to be able to carry him hands free more than I had needed to with the girls. I had some friends who had been able to babywear successfully, so I thought I would do some more research into it. I am SO glad I did! The MUST-Go-To site for finding out more about babywearing is The Babywearer. They have so much information about so many different kinds of baby carriers, pros and cons, how to's, diy tips, and so much more! My most used carrier has been the Wrap Style carrier. Also known as the Moby Wrap. I actually have three of these that I made myself. Two of a brown cotton/polyester blend, light knit fabric, and one of a cotton gauze. The knit is great because it's no-sew, so it's super easy to make! I just took 4 yards and cut it in half length-wise so I would have two carriers. It's also great for small infants and for nursing because you can get a snugger fit. The con of knit is that it does tend to stretch and sag if I carry Ally with it. You also wouldn't want to use a 100% polyester knit... It's way to hot!
Here I am hiking with Baby Bear in what Moby Wrap calls the Lotus Hold. His feet are crossed and tucked up infront of him. It's a great position for babies who are gassy, or like Baby Bear, want to feel more secure but still face forward to see all that's going on. He fell asleep so I tucked his head just inside the part going over my shoulder so his head wouldn't bob all around. Also to make the wrap look more stylish I tied the knot on the side, as you can see, instead of infront or in back. (I wouldn't recommend doing that for all holds though.)
Here's the Baby Bear after he woke up. His feet are still tucked up to his chest, but his arms and head are free to move around.
Here he's a little older and feels safe enough to let his feet dangle.
Here I am using the wrap made from the cotton gauze. It's more light weight than the knit. The cons are that you do have to hem or surge the edges, it's not as stretchy so it's harder to get the right fit for nursing. The knit wrap is my first choice to take shopping. Especially if I'm shopping alone with all three kids! It makes shopping trips much quicker too because I don't have to stop and sit to nurse Baby Bear... I nurse him hands free while I shop! And with the knit wrap it's very modest and discreet.

To find wearing instructions for a wrap style carrier go here to the Moby Wrap website, or here to The Babywearer for links to other sites with instructions.

Though I love the wrap carrier, I found that I sometimes need a carrier that's quick and easy to put on. So I decided to make a Ring Sling. The fabric I used is a medium weight linen. (Simple cotton weave/quilting fabric is not wise to use as it's not made for heavy wear and tear.) The Ring Sling is versatile (although not as versatile as the wrap). Baby Bear's favorite position in the Ring Sling is similar to the Lotus hold in the Wrap carrier, with his feet crossed and tucked up by his chest.
Here I am with the Ring Sling that I made. (Baby Bear was sleeping so I borrowed a baby doll to pose with :-) ) You can find all the information you need to make a ring sling at Jan Andrea's site. Before making your own Ring Sling, PLEASE!!! read the information that she has first! It's important to the safety of your baby that you use the right fabric and rings.

The last type of carrier that I made was a Pouch Sling similar to HotSlings or New Native. I wanted something that would be easy and more "manly" so that My Man could enjoy "wearing" Baby Bear as well. Especially since he travels for work and is gone most of the week. I thought this would give them more bonding opportunity. The instructions are found at Jan Andrea's site
Here is My Man posing with Baby Bear's baby bear (Baby Bear was already sleeping). Honestly though, this carrier hasn't been used much. A Pouch Sling should be custom made to fit the adult wearer, and I'm afraid that I made this one a touch to small. It works, but it's a little snug. For more help in measuring for the right fit watch this video from ZoloWear (I wish I had seen it before making the Pouch). If you are not certain of the amount of fabric you should use add an inch or two. Remember, you can always make it smaller. The other thing that would make this a little nicer is a button to adjust the fit. ZoloWear has video instructions on how to use a Pouch Sling and you can see the advantages of having an adjustable fit (Getting Started video).

So there you have it! I hope this was helpful. Do you have a baby carrier that you enjoy using? I'd love to hear about it and why you enjoy it.

Happy Babywearing!

New Design

I decided that it was time for a new design. So tell me... What do you think?

Summer days

Ah, the swing

RaeRae's first fish!

"Ally's" first fish

Helping Great Grandma water the grass

Fishing on the dock

Watching Mommy hang out clothes

So sweet

Swinging with Auntie Jen

Peace and quiet when motherhood is stressful

Ah... Peace and quiet! It's a rather odd thing in our house, unless I stay up late or get up extremely early. No, it's not late or early... it's only 8:00pm! Matt decided to set up the tent in the backyard and camp out with the girls tonight. Hope he sleeps well! I know I'm going to enjoy this peace and quiet! I've got my favorite radio station on (abindingradio.com) and my favorite large mug from AtHome America full of Nestle's Rich Chocolate hot cocoa mix with milk. The only things that would make this better are fuzzy slippers, a comfy chair (not the kitchen table chair we currently have at the desk), and pleasant candle burning (I would but the desk is too crowded, but now that I think of it I might have Matt hang a shelf over the desk just for burning candles...).

Ah yes... time to take a breath, to clear my head. It seems things have been so busy and hectic lately. Has it really been or have the kids just been acting up more...? As I logged on to blogger just now and skimmed over the blogs that I follow I came across this encouraging post on At The Well. Motherhood has been rather stressful for me lately. I have a portion of THE MOM SONG by Go Fish as the ringtone on my cell. "If you have a lot of fun, but your work is never done, you're a MOM!" Lately I've been feeling like the work is never done, but I haven't been having much fun. I love my kids dearly; but these last few days I haven't been able to enjoy them. That bothers me. I know that they will not be little for very long. And God gave children to be a blessing, not a curse. I have to say though that the fault does not lie with my children. How can I show true 1 Corinthians 13 love, when I am not meeting regularly with the source of love, Jesus Christ? Obviously when I am trying in my own strength to meet the needs of my family, I am going to fail. It's only when I am leaning on Christ for His strength and letting His love shine through me, that I will have peace and joy and will truly be able to enjoy my kids! It's so easy to let the cares of this world crowd our lives. The cares of home: dishes, laundry, clean toilets, meals. Even the cares of church. Matt and I love being involved in our church. We want our children to grow up learning how and desiring to serve God. Yet even church ministries should not crowd out our children.

Abiding. Abiding in Christ. Drawing from His love, His strength. Being Christ focused. Not world focused, not home focused, not ministry focused. CHRIST focused!

John 15:4-5

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Cherry Pitting

Last weekend Aunt Tammy brought us back some cherries from Door County. Beautiful, bright red, tart cherries. Perfect for fresh cherry pie... except for one thing: the pits. So I called Matt's mom, the cook, to see if she had a cherry pitter. "No," she said. "I found that you fingernail orks just as well, or a pointy end of a spoon." Well, using my fingers sounded very messy (I had tried that with Bing cherries), and I didn't have a spoon with a narrow pointy handle. But as I was digging through my silverware drawer, I found my Pampered Chef orange pealer (I've only gotten orange pealers from Pampered Chef, so others might be the same way, I don't know) which on the opposite end from the orange pealer side had the perfect end for digging out cherry pits. Perfect. It really was quite easy with the right tool. Note: this works well for tart cherries, not with bing cherries which have a larger pit (I tried). Before the kids woke up from their nap I had 8 cups of cherries pitted. Enough for two pies. So I made two, baked one and froze the other. Yummy!

Fun with Friends

Not long ago my friend LeAnna from Written Windows and her family came to visit us for a few days. LeAnna and her husband are on misionaries on deputation to New Zealand, and they needed a place to hang out in between meetings. We always love having them visit! I was glad they came when they did too because that evening, right at supper time, the tornado siren went off! So down to the very messy basement we all went. This was quite an adventure. First the tornado siren is right next to our house... very loud! Then as I said the basement was quite messy, not just because it's a basement, but because we have pretty much ignored it since we moved in 3 months ago. And don't forget that it's supper time! 4 kids, 3 adults, 1 baby in a messy basement at supper time. Well, as you can see we made it work!
Before they left we were able to go to the park.


They all have so much fun playing together!
Check out that hair!

Camping

A couple of weekends ago we went camping to one of our favorite places to be. The Bible camp where I grew up, where My Man and I met, where My Man proposed, and where my Mother-in-law still works as cook.

We had such a great time! The girls loved sleeping in a tent, fishing, hiking, seeing the horses, and their favorite part... picking the raspberries that were next to our camp site. Actually, we picked a great weekend to go because the raspberries were abundant. I was able to bring home about 7 cups to stick in the freezer to use in Mrs. Sedovic's Raspberry Christmas Pie... YUM! Of course there will be some extra to use in... whatever. I love raspberries! And it seems that Ally has inherited that from me. She spent every moment she could picking berries and popping them in her mouth!Here are the girls helping Daddy set up the tent.

Nana with all her kiddos: RaeRae, Eli, Ally, and Baby Bear

A quiet evening fishing and the camp lake... yeah right... the girls are 3 and 2! But it was fun, and I caught the only fish. A bass, but too small to keep.

Baby Bear all snug for the night in the tent. This is one of the fleece sleeper sacks I made before RaeRae was born. Isn't he so cute in it!

We really had a great time. Hopefully we will be able to go camping again, but for longer than just one night.

Rainy Day and Potty Training

I have done it. Well, ok... we're working on it. But I am determined! It is TIME for Ally to completely potty train. We started working with her five months ago but had several set backs. Now however, we WILL do this! We are almost out of pull-ups (just enough left for Sundays and shopping days), and I am NOT buying more. (Can you sense my determination?) Monday was good. We spent a lot of time outside, so I took the little blue potty chair out with us. We only had one accident all day! I think that it helped that she thought it so fun to be able to go potty outside... Tuesday wasn't so good, by the time I caught on to the fact that she wanted to go on the "blue potty" which was outside, it was pouring rain. I should have just gone out in the rain to get it. Oh well... Today was better than yesterday. We still had several accidents, but not as many. And... she stayed dry over nap time! That's a first! She got a popsicle for that (and one to share with RaeRae). I wanted to spend most of our time this week outside. Alas, that has not happened. We woke up this morning to more rain. So, as we like to do occasionally when it's supposed to be rainy all day and we can't go out to play, we had a Rainy Day, Pajama Day! Well, the girls stayed in their PJs. The Charter guys came this afternoon to switch our internet to a wireless conection so I had to get dressed. After breakfast they asked to watch a movie. As they were picking out what they wanted to watch, I had a brillant idea. Why not let them watch a movie in a tent? Then I realized how perfect our front entry is for building a tent. A king sized blanket, a couple of clothes pins, and three dining room chairs, and we were all set!
Of course that was just the tent top... We had to make this really comfy, so the girls got the cushions from the back of the sofa in the office and a pile of blankets to make a comfy cozy bed inside the tent. The cushions fit perfectly under the piano.
They had fun (despite having issues over sharing the pink minky blanket), and I had some quiet, not a bad morning.

Hair Braids

I have come across a couple of new hair blogs recently, and I thought I would give some of the ideas a try. This one came from Kenzie Girl, and was supposed to look something like this.However, Ally's hair was to short; so the braids stuck out like Pippy Longstocking. So I pulled all four braids together into one pony so it looked like this.
I ended up doing RaeRae's the same way.I love braids because generally, with my girls, they can stay in for more than one day, and the girls love the "poofy" hair when you take the braids out! :-)

Stephanie's giveaway

My friend Stephanie at The Hanes Family Chronicles is having a giveaway in honor of her Sweet Pea's first birthday! If you haven't checked out her Etsy shop, Sew Inspired By Baby, her button is in my side-bar. Right now she's giving away these two cool items. Check it out here!

Pouring Pitchers - Preschool

I found these pitchers at Goodwill when we were in Appleton the other day. Pouring Pitchers is a Montessori preschool activity that teaches coordination and pouring skills. I had AllyOoper use the two plain pitchers (Still thinking of something for the flowered one) to pour water back and forth. Be sure to demonstrate this very precisely before allowing your child to do it herself. I found that a towel placed under the pitchers is quite helpful. :-) The first pour ended up all over the table! This is the second towel in the picture. Ally did this for about 5-8 minutes before starting to get sloppy (which is when I took this picture). RaeRae did it for a few minutes too, but she needs a little more activity to the game, so I might find some cups for her to pour into.

Book Finds

Every time I go to Appleton I like to go to the Goodwill by the mall. In the past I have found some pretty good finds at pretty good prices. Like this:
However this time the selection was small compared to normal and the prices seamed to have gone up. Still, I was very excited to find these two books. Both of these books I had growing up. I have been looking for the Christian Mother Goose book for some time, so I was very excited to see it at Goodwill. And as a bonus, it was 50% off! So I only paid $2.00 for it. Happy Day!

Glitterful Felt Stories Giveaway at Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls

Hop on over to Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls for this neat giveaway. Glitterful Felt Stories provides a creative and interactive introduction to literacy. They have felt sets that go along with classic stories such as Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and Goldilocks And The Three Bears, and fun songs. Looks like a lot of fun!

Back to work

Matt went back to work today. Finally! It's been way too long. Unfortunately, he is in Minnesota. He'll be gone now from 3:00 Monday morning till 9:30 Thursday night for the next 8+ weeks. :-( It's been 18 hours, and I miss him already... The girls couldn't understand why he was working so late today. I didn't have the heart to tell them that he wouldn't be home till Thursday. They have been used to having him around most, if not all, day. But the good news is that I made it through day one without pulling my hair out. It helped a ton that the girls spent two hours at Tammy's (Matt's aunt who runs a daycare) this morning. I probably would've been pulling my hair out too, if it were not also for my sister, Jenelle. She moved in with us two weeks ago, and I'm so glad that she did. Bedtime tonight would not have been as "fun" if she were not here to hold Baby Bear while I put the girls to bed. One down this week, three to go...

The last month

I feel like I have so much updating to do! A lot, and I really mean A LOT has happened in the last month. Which is why I haven't blogged in quite some time. We ended April with the good news that the sale of our house was approved and we should start looking for some place to move to because we were likely to close within a month. This is what I dreaded when we signed the contract with the realtor back in January, that we would end up moving in May or June. Well, we already had a place lined up to move into, it just involved moving the previous occupants (family) out first which we weren't planning on doing just yet. Well after talking it over we all decided that it would be best to move as soon as possible so that we could be "settled in" before the baby was born. So all plans were put on fast forward and within 2 weeks we had most of their stuff moved out and our things moved in. The following weekend we had a rummage sale then Baby Bear was born, then we had to finish emptying our old house. It was such a relief to hand over the keys to the buyers at the closing! But of course while we were focusing on readying the old house, we were putting off projects on the new house; so then our focus switched; and though things have slowed down some, we're still running! So as I'm able I will continue to blog... here... and there... and maybe in between...

My Mother's Day gift!

Barrett Daniel
born Mother's Day, May 10th at 12:37pm
9lbs 7oz, 21 1/2in

Mother's Day morning I woke up crabby, tired, and rather depressed. For the last few nights I had not slept well due to contractions that would come 8 to 10 minutes apart, sometimes closer. Alas during the day when I was up and moving around they subsided. Saturday I made sure to walk a lot. It was town wide rummage sales that weekend; and while Matt was watching over our own rummage sale trying to sell everything that was leftover after our move (more on that later), I took RaeRae and we walked, and walked. Our (former) town is small enough that you can walk everywhere, but it is still a lot of walking especially when you are carrying an extra 45lbs straight out front or when you are 3 1/2 yrs old.

And being that all the rummaging wasn't enough we went shopping after, just to do some more walking. This baby boy had to be born that night, so I thought. Matt's brother was flying back to CA. Mother's day afternoon and from there would be shipped to Afghanistan in other 10 days. So if he was going to see the baby it had to be soon... Well, obviously my contractions did not continue to increase on Saturday; and after another sleepless night and then contractions subsiding again on Sunday morning, I really did not want to go to church. (Besides who really wants to hear the comments "You're still here?!" what do you know, they can see!) But it was Sunday; and there was still going to be Sunday School and church; so I needed to pick out clothes for the girls. There I am standing in their closet, and all of a sudden... a warm gush down my leg... my water broke! It was going to be a baby day after all! Half an hour later the contractions started, and within an hour we were headed to the hospital. Now since I had tested positive for Group B strep, I had to have an IV of antibiotics when we got to the hospital, and ideally another dose 4 hours later to give the baby the most protection. Well... that was not going to happen... My water broke at 8:10, we got to the hospital about 10:00, IV started at 10:30, 12:00 I was at 9 cm., 12:15 started pushing, 12:37 Barrett was born. Whew... Though we didn't get the second dose of antibiotics, God protected our little boy and he did not show any signs of infection at all. He was strong and healthy; our little Buddy Bear! And though I didn't get breakfast in bed on Mother's Day, I did get breakfast in bed the next day, and a soak in a big whirlpool tub, and a free hand and foot massage! Thank you for my Mother's Day gift Barrett!