Birthday Celebration, 2nd edition

Tuesday evening we celebrated Elle's 4th birthday with my parents and T's parents. After goofing on Colin's cake and trying to add his name to a generic store decorated cake, I decided to spend a little more to get a nicer cake (maybe you noticed there were no pictures of Colin's decorated cake...that was why). I can sew clothing for the kids, but I'll leave the cake decorating to the professionals!! Besides, how could I possibly make icing that pink! When I picked it up at the store my first thought was it was a little bright and my second thought was it didn't matter, my birthday girl would love it!

My favorite part of the evening (well, second to the yummy cake) was a moment shared between Quintin and Elle. He had told me earlier that he wanted to make cards for his grandparents that were coming out and I suggested he make a card for Elle (sorry grandparents, I know how much you love his cards!) As I was busy with dishes and getting ready for company, Quintin made and wrapped a present for her. I knew this was going to be something I needed to capture.

Yep! Two paper airplanes! And one is pink - PERFECT!!! (Our son does not typically wear a belt with sweatpants, but he was playing a ninja, pirate, storm trooper or detective that evening!!)

It was a wonderful evening of cake and coffee pepsi followed by watching Char*lie Brown...on the floor.

More on that later....

We love you Noelle!!!

A day to celebrate!

The You Can Make This "Thrifty Under $50" Challenge ended last evening at midnight. Those 4 weeks went by so quickly. I will be taking pictures of my latest projects and adding up how much I spent. But that will wait until a little later.

Because, we have another birthday to celebrate today.

This sweet little face is turning 4 today!

age 1

age 2

age 3 1/2

Happy Birthday Noelle!!!!

Your assistance is needed...

I seem to have lost my Christmas spirit, can you help me find it?

Ugh!

One more week...

And we can move these things back into the playroom and put up our Christmas tree.

It's good it is not two more weeks or I'll be blogging in a room with padded walls.

My kids love to make messes - so why, when their toys look like above,

can they not find something to play with?

Ugh!

A few more presents to present...

This project took me the longest amount of time. LOL!! I made cross-stitched this back in 1999 for my mom and gave it to her for Christmas. With it, I gave here an idea of what I'd do with it if I had a sewing machine. I had found the cute wire hanger and gave it with the cross-stitch. I told her the idea in my head was to frame the picture with fabric and then have straps on the top to place it on the hanger.

Two weekends ago I was in my mom's sewing room and found the piece and the hanger...exactly as I had given them to her 9 years ago. I took them and said she'd be seeing it again this Christmas - because now I could finish them!! I found the adorable Christmas paisley fabric and a match was made. I finished it up very quickly, despite its 9 year hibernation. I think it turned out great. I even top stitched around the picture and just inside the outer edge to give it a more finished look. I'm so pleased with it and I just had to show her when she stopped out yesterday. I also let her know that if she didn't think she had any place for it, that I wouldn't be hurt if she gave it back to me! ;-)

I acquired an adorable tie pattern from my Thrifty Under $50 team captain and wanted to create a fun coordinating set for my kids for Christmas without it screaming "Red and Green."

Quintin's tie is a little long in the picture, but I was doing them myself...while watching a how-to video on you*tube!! T will have to tie these on a Sunday morning. Speaking of T, he was not real impressed with my idea of ties for the boys - but after seeing Quintin's HUGE smile at his new tie, he softened up a bit. I don't know if it was just more of a bother to think of having to tie them for the boys! HA!

The last project I finished yesterday is for Elle. She is getting some doll clothes for her bit.ty baby and I wanted her to have a little "diaper bag" to carry around. My mom and I made a pattern from the diaper on the bi.tty baby and she is sewing some for her too. I did let Elle pick the fabrics without her knowing what it is for - can you tell she loves pink!?!? I took the pattern of a bag I love, and printed it out at 75% to get a smaller version for her!

I have a few more projects to finish up before the challenge ends on Monday! Stay tuned for more...

(not quite) Wordless Wednesday

This was another runner up for Christmas cards - I think it's adorable. T didn't like it as much as one of them all smiling and looking at the camera, and I agree. Oh the pains of getting a good picture for cards.

We spent a good 20 minutes outside that cold morning taking pictures. Colin didn't like keeping his gloves on and his hands were getting so cold. The final picture I took, at which point I knew we needed to come inside, was the one I posted last week, here.

Birthday Celebration Part I

It was our baby's birthday yesterday. I don't know how long I can get away with calling him that, but he's 2 now, and he will forever be my baby.

Here's the birthday boy now.

Check out his new cement mixer shirt and truck book. These brought a big thumbs up from Daddy!! Note: Daddy just finished a HUGE project at work this summer - an addition to the concrete plant at the quarry - so anything cement mixer related is a big hit in this house!!

Oh, that precious face! Colin, you just make me smile ALL. THE. TIME. It is hard to correct you when you've been naughty, boy oh boy!

And yes, that would be my sweeper on the floor behind him. We are in the midst of some very slight remodeling and my brother in law was up this weekend to do some electrical work for us. He brought his 3 year old son along and we had our first "party" when he was up. (My house is a bit of a mess right now...don't even ask me about the Christmas tree!! JM, don't even think about it!!)

Colin, we love you so much and I stand amazed at how much you have grown in the past year. You are just less than 2 years younger than your sister, but I know you will soon be passing her in height. You speak so clearly already, which just blows me away. You are usually more into pestering your brother and sister than you are interested in playing with toys, but we are hoping the train set will change that. LOL!

I remember someone jokingly telling me that if they knew how their third child would be, they would have stopped at two. I have felt that once or twice with your strong will and stubbornness - but only for a fleeting moment. You bring so much more joy than frustration...but I'm starting to wonder if it is a "third child" thing - ahem, not that I would know being a third child myself...ahem. (Hi Mom and Dad!!!)

Birthday Part II will commence in 8 days...oh the joy of 2 birthdays in December!

More completed projects for the Challenge

I've also been updating my team's blog for the Thrifty Under $50 challenge this week - you can check out our team's progress here. And you can see what the 4 other teams have made by going here.

Let me start out by saying that I am really, really enjoying this challenge. I am the typical 'wait until the last minute to start a project' type person - but with the upcoming challenge deadline - I've moving right along with these gifts. I love that we will have the last 2 weeks before Christmas to just enjoy and not have the rush of making gifts driving us all insane!

This week I finished 2 aprons. One for my sister and one for her son.

I used this same denim (purchased last year on the clearance rack at joann's) to make a hot pad - putting to work those rug braiding skills from January.

Right now, my project is making 40 felt ice skate ornaments. I have several more projects before our December 15 deadline.

Oh, did I mention two of my kids have December birthdays? I'd like to make them each one thing for their birthday too - Did I bite off more than I can chew? We shall see!!

Wordless Wednesday

Too cute - but not going to put it on my Christmas card. I'll post it here instead!! :-D

I'm not hiding - I'm just buried

With only 2 weeks left in the "You Can Make This DIY" Thrifty Under $50 Challenge - I'm working to get my projects finished. Unfortunately for me, my work space is in our un-heated basement ... brrr!

A peek at some in-progress gifts:

Two finished gifts:

(an apron for my 7 year old niece)

(a pocket handbag for my mother in law)

So, now you know were I've been! I'll be popping in and out for the next 2 weeks as I work to finish everything up! :-D

So, how is your Christmas gift buying going? Are you finished, half-way, or not even started?? Are you buried or just hiding? ;-D

See you next week!

And don't eat too much! ;-D

Follow the "50"

and win. Read more here. If you save their "button" to your computer, you can upload it in your blog's layout page. Blogger now offers the choice to link your pictures - so you can link the button back to their blog!!

Homeschool Open House

Tammy is hosting a "Homeschool Open House" today. I'd like to invite you into our homeschool room today and let you know what we've been up to for the past 5 months...yep, you read that right, we started school in July - it was really hot and I figured while we are inside, let's start. We've taken some breaks along the way, but we are more than halfway through our second quarter.
**Each "title" of the products I've listed below are links and will take you to different websites showing you the actual products.

This is where we "do" school. The orange chair is mine and Quintin sits to the right of me, which works because he is left-handed. I have a huge metal basket on the table that houses most of our books. As you can see, our bookshelves are full to bursting as well. We certainly need to incorporate some more organization and storage in this room....it will come!

We are still working our way through the Weaver Curriculum's Volume 1. We are currently in chapter 9 studying money and stewardship. Weaver covers Bible, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Health, Field Trips and Memory Verses.

We use RightStart Math and guess what our current study is??? Money - yep, these are two individual curriculums and God's divine planning never ceases to amaze me that we are studying money in both programs at the same time!!

I've incorporated an additional Bible Study program into our time because the lessons in Weaver are a little above Quintin's understanding. While we discuss those themes, I like using this other program to learn more Bible stories. We've been working our way through the New Testament using the Explorer's Bible Study "Bible Foundations."

We continue to use Spell to Write and Read as our foundational phonics program. I am very pleased with his progress in this area and his love of reading. I've also introduced The Well-Trained Mind's "First Language Lessons" as a supplemental language program. It is a scripted guide and each lesson is very short. I really enjoy the poem memorization that is part of it.

We throw in all sorts of other activities that we see from TV programs or magazines. My goal is just to keep it interesting and engaging...not just for Quintin, but for his brother and sister too. They often join us at the table, if only for a few minutes, but they are still there - and I want them to see it being fun so that they continue to come back.

Thank you Tammy for hosting this. Since this is the first time I'm participating, I wanted to do an introduction to our school. I hope to post more specific activities in the future!!

10 years - so much has happened

There are some children in our church congregation that need some life-saving angels with them right now - If you believe in the power of prayer, please lift Hannah, Aliyah, John and Gavin up in your prayers.


**This is a re-post from August 27, 2007.**

Today, I’d like to introduce you to the angel that saved my life. I guess I can't really introduce him, because I don’t know his name or much about him. But I know he was there, that mildly warm November day. So, I'd like to write about what he did for me.

It was 1998, and T and I had been married for 2 years. I was leaving home, heading to school about 20 minutes away. T happened to be leaving at the same time that morning, so I followed him out of the driveway down the main road that leads past his parents’ house and gets us both to work. At the third stop sign, just before his parents’ house – something happened. Something I will never forget.

I was driving T’s first car – you know, the first one that you can call yours? It was a 1990 Acura Integra – shiny red! This picture was taken by T in 1995 at his parents’ house shortly after washing and waxing it. And it was actually my first car, too.



It was November 24, I remember the date because it is also the day of my brother-in-law's birthday. T crossed through the 2-way stop intersection and then it was my turn. As I looked both ways, several times in fact because it was a bit of a hard turn to see around, I put the car into first gear and pulled away from the stop sign.

All I can remember is hearing an extremely loud noise and yelling out T’s name. I remember smelling something strange, too. Since, I've learned that it was the smell of tires burning. I did not see the oncoming pickup truck. It hit my car on the passenger side and pushed me into a telephone pole. I blacked out and awoke on the shoulder of the road pushed up against the pole. I could reach out and touch my passenger door – it had been pushed in and the passenger seat was behind me. The driver of the other vehicle came up to me and I remember just saying sorry, over and over.

T was down the road about ½ a mile waiting on his parent’s driveway to wave to me as I went past. He had stopped to pick up the newspaper for his mom, since his dad was away hunting. Knowing I had been right behind him, he got concerned and walked off the driveway, onto the road to look for me. Their house sits back a little bit and there is an S turn right before their house, so he couldn’t see the intersection from their driveway. What he saw where cars crossing the intersection slowly and the hint of a red car in the field.

He ran inside to tell his mom and he hopped in the truck. I can still remember his blue pickup truck driving towards me and my thoughts of “Oh man, he’s not going to be happy with what I’ve done to his car.”

I was still in the car when he reached me because the seat belt would not release me. It was the type of seat belt that buckled you in when the car door closed. I was able to release the lap portion of the belt, but I couldn’t get out. I can also remember the feel of something cold and wet running down the side of my face.

I remember my eyes locking with T’s and being concerned about what he would say. He reached the car as I was wiping my forehead. He told me to stop because I was bleeding. I didn’t even know, nor did I realize I had glass in my skin. The first thing out of my mouth, after apologizing was "Call my school. Let them know I may be a little late.”

Minutes passed feeling like hours. The ambulance came and I remember them talking about using the Jaws of Life to get me out. I thought what? Just open the window, I’ll climb out. I even attempted to get out myself and they told me to stop. I was put into the ambulance and we were on our way. To this day, I still jump when I hear sirens – I feel for the person inside and say a prayer, because I can remember those feelings of: What happened? Why me? What is going on? Am I going to be okay?

I arrived at the hospital and they worked to get the glass out of my face and my gash stitched up. I only required about 11 stitches for a V shaped cut on my right temple.

Next they took me for an x-ray and found that my collarbone had been crushed – not just one nice clean break, but crushed. My passenger seat hit my right arm and my collarbone took the brunt of it. This was the same side as my incision – it was remarkable to me that I was reaching up to wipe the blood away and I don’t remember feeling pain in my arm or shoulder.

I stayed in the hospital for one night. My stitches came out and I have a scar that is barely visible. I wore a shoulder brace for 3 months to pull my right shoulder back to allow my collarbone to heal. Instead of looking like a nice smooth bone, my right collar bone looks like a rope with a knot in it.

Why was I spared? I’ve asked myself this many, many times since then. When I look at pictures from the accident, I feel that my angel pulled me out right out of that car. Then put me back in, with just a few scratches and a broken bone for good measure, after the car stopped. When I see how the only part of the car that was untouched is where I was sitting and the front driver's side of the car - I am amazed that I was in there.

That's T's blue truck in the background. You can see Riley at the driver's side window and me in the passenger seat.

I can’t imagine being in that car. I can’t believe T was so close when it all happened. It was rare for us to leave for work at the same time in the mornings.

My car ended up being towed to a garage just ¼ mile from our house. For the next several weeks, I could still see my car in the lot. I could see the top of the hatchback since it had popped into the air from the collision.

Almost 9 years have passed and I can so clearly see God’s hand through it all. I am amazed at how calm I was through the whole experience – I truly do not remember being in the car when it happened.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Psalm 170:1

Whatever difficulties you may confront today, remember it is God who holds you in His hands, just like He held me on that November day. His strength holds you up and enables you to face anything that comes your way.

Today is the 10 year anniversary of that accident - It makes me truly thankful each Thanksgiving.