It's Finished!

made from a vintage sheet and napkins, with some 'new vintage' prints added in, I LOVE THIS BABY QUILT! now if i would just have this baby girl...... (11 days overdue)

Did I Really Do This?

Just wondering if I really pieced and pressed this quilt top in one day? I mean, I did it on my due date, August 28th....so I'm thinking I was hormonal or something- it just isn't like me to actually get a project done in one day. I think it took longer to lay out the pattern than sew the thing together. However, I LOVE IT, and I can't wait to give it to our baby girl, who, by prediction from her Grandpa, will arrive tomorrow, September 1st.

We'll see!!!

quick-n-cute baby gift

A few weeks ago, a friend contacted me about making a baby shower gift. She wanted some burp diapers and a nursing cover. These make for super cute gifts and are very easy to make too! The hardest part was picking out gender neutral fabric; I think it all turned out super cute! 

I use this great tutorial anytime I'm asked to make a nursing cover.

For Baby Evan

 
Here is just a quick glimpse of the baby gifts I made for my dear friend Traci who is welcoming baby Evan into this world in a few weeks. I used the pattern for the booties out of this amazing book that my friend Teresa gave me (I will be forever grateful). Traci and Kenny aren't your typical Baby Blue parents.... I would have to say they are more of Rocker Red! So I tried to find fabric that reminded me of their style and I think it works well.

 

Congrats girl-I can't wait to meet him!

The Great Goodwill Find and a matching clutch and shoe re-do!

I found this amazing little yellow silky dress at Goodwill a couple months ago. It being a size 14, I knew it would eventually fit my big baby belly, hopefully in time to attend a friends' wedding. I spent a lot of time thinking about what shoes would look good with yellow, and even looked a few places only to find nothing. Also, I really can't imagine spending more than $10 on shoes for a one time event, so I started to brainstorm on how I could transform something I already had....then it hit me! MOD PODGE! I love that stuff! I have never used it on shoes before but I knew my faithful crafty friend would come through for me once again. My sweets surprised me one day with some of Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane fat quarters and they just happened to match the yellow perfectly! I started by making a ruffle clutch first and loved the fabric so much I knew I had to attempt the shoes. It took me a few days to finish; I wasn't sure if I could do it.....but I finally finished! And I couldn't be more happy with the outcome! Check it out!

The $4.99 Goodwill dress of inspiration:

 

BEFORE:

AFTER!!!

The Whole Ensemble:

Friday is our 11th anniversary....I never got to go to the wedding mentioned above, so I think I'll have to wear this out with Joel. I LOVE IT!

(oh- here we are on our date!) 

 (no- that's not a yellow umbrella- it's my baby belly!)
:)

A Day in the Life of Me

Today was quite a day. I can't seem to slow down these days! Being almost 7 months pregnant I understand the nesting thing...but do people really nest for say, 3 months straight? I just keep going and going and I hope the energy never ends. This morning, while Ellie was at a friends, I took the boys out for a couple of hours. Our first stop was at Starbucks for some white hot chocolates, then onto a few garage sales. We scored big time at the first one we went to and the rest were bombs. I let the boys each pick out a toy and they were thrilled at what they finally decided on. Ezra quickly spotted a little Buzz Lightyear, as if he doesn't have enough of those, while Avery picked a remote control airplane that we weren't sure worked even if we put new batteries in it. It was a price he was willing to pay as he promised not to be disappointed, so I agreed. Kole of course picked out this little set of rockets you could put together and launch; it helped that it had never been opened so all the parts looked extra cool through the plastic. I found Avery a pair of run-around shoes, and myself a cute hat I'm going to embellish with a ruffly flower, and a pair of New Balance tennis shoes for 50 cents! All together we spent a whopping $3 and the boys and I even got a yummy cookie from the church ladies upon checkout! I was thrilled and Avery was nervous the whole way home as to whether or not his plane would work upon our return. We ended up finding another yard sale on our street and got a bunch of teenie socks for the baby as well as some like-new bibs and burp cloths each for a dime.

When we got home, we checked the plane with new batteries, and sure enough, much to Avery's dismay, the thing was a no-go. So I ripped the antennae off the thing and took it outside to hurl it into flight and it worked! The boys took turns tossing it back and forth and getting it stuck in trees, but it was definitely worth the 50 cents we spent on it.

Ez hasn't put his Buzz down yet, and Kole spent the day experimenting with all the little rocket parts and ways to launch them...it was so cool to see how happy those boys were over nothing. I love that we have raised them to be content in the small things and they don't need expensive things or the latest craze to keep them interested and happy. It's how it should be.

The rest of the day consisted of helping Joel get ready for his gig, then back out to pick up Ellie and get some groceries. Joanns was on the list as well, as I needed to pick up the pleating tape I need to make the living room curtains I've so desperately been wanting to do since we moved in 2 years ago. We also made a stop at DQ so I could introduce the kiddos to crunch cones! Oh my, did licking those crunchies bring back memories! I finally got to plant my lettuces this afternoon; the rain didn't stop all week until today! I also cut and screwed together some 2x4's as a frame to put around the 5 bags of topsoil that will become my little garden tomorrow. Thanks, Mom, for sending me the Mother Earth mag with that idea in it! A peaceful part of my day was when I spent a few moments with this little guy, John Duquesne. He cuddled up to my leg and tried to eat my pants. He's such a weird thing, but I'm starting to love the little turd. (He became a turd after he got out of a gap in our fence and our family had to chase him around the neighborhood while everyone watched!)

He's our new 4 week old Shetland Sheep that I am seriously considering bringing back to his previous owner...he stresses me out- kind of like having another child to take care of and worry about all night.....sigh. Last night I dreamed a fox got him and for two hours this morning I layed in bed listening for his little baaaaa...and nothin! Guess he felt like sleeping in for the first time in the 3 days since we got him. Wondering what in the world are we going to do with him when he's full grown- even as a Shetland, they still get pretty big. The only thing I can think of that he would be good for is his wool, and I did love spinning, dying, carding and felting wool in college....so we'll see what happens. Maybe I can make these to go with these that I made last year:

I'd have to say the low-light of my day was shoveling the gobs of chicken bedding and poop from their pen. It had gotten so high in such a little space. I had some serious flashbacks to shoveling manure in Grandpa's barn.... then I hauled several wheelbarrows back to the corner of the fence. Maybe that will become my new compost pile. I need one of those too. Joel gave me the welcomed news that a friend of his is coming on Saturday to help him build the chicken coop. I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when he told me. I really didn't feel like doing it-well, I did and I didn't. I'd rather have a professional builder in on the thing. The night ended with showers for the five of us, tomatoes on toast, corn on the cob, and baked beans, dishes....oh, and 5 of the new pretzel M&M's for each of us before brushing our teeth and a game of Mancala to end the night- that put us at a 10:00 bedtime, and some seriously tired and pooped out children- not to mention me.

So here I sit, relaxing with a tall glass of lemon and lime water, waiting for Joel to get home from the wedding he DJ'd tonight. I feel wiped out, but blessed to have so much to do to keep me busy. I love my family, my home and life. My cup runneth over.....again.

Baby Belly

 This is me on Mother's Day looking super plump....however, I've only gained 10 pounds so far and I'm 24 weeks along. Not too shabby seeing I gained 40 pounds each with the other 4! I gotta say, 

I'm a bit proud of myself!

This isn't your typical baby belly picture, but I wanted to capture the perspective I get to see everyday. It makes me smile and thank God this is happening to me.....again.

not your average dandelion

Ezra discovered these amazing flowers were blooming in the yard.....far cry from the dandelions he normally brings me with a smile. So happy to have some fresh homegrown flowers to brighten up my day.

 

Freedom Fighters!!!

 

My dear friend Nicki is part of an amazing opportunity, Freedom Fighters, that helps free women from the sex trade industry....please check out her facebook page and do what you can to support her in this endeavor.

Ellie's 10th - Our 1st

Well, it finally happened...we threw a 'real' birthday party for Ellie's 10th. Like, with invites, food, games, prizes and all. I can't believe it myself, actually, that we pulled it off. 15 kids total, including ours. Ellie had decided to have a dance party and her Dad would DJ. All but 1 friend from school were able to come, which I was excited about for Ellie. So I cleaned and baked, and we arranged the house to accommodate all the kids and everything came together perfectly! Ellie had decided on a menu of pizza rolls and fruit salad and I added lots more treats and goodies. I made punch in an amazing Goodwill find, (see pics below) and even made my first ice cream cake, at Ellie's request (which was waaaay easier than a normal cake).

Here's a breakdown of the night:

~ guests arrive at 6

~ intros and b-ball

 

~ in for dancing and food

~ game: guess that song

~ dancing and food

~ game: balloon stomp

~ dancing and food

~ outside for freeze tag and b-ball

~ back in for dancing 

 ~ game: singing contest

~ game: bubble gum blowing contest

~ more dancing

~ Ellie's cake and presents (wow, kids and their parents are generous!)

~ more dancing!

~ dancing

and

~ dancing

~ then collapsing!

I was proud of us, and the kids- everyone got along so great and they all danced and sang. If I heard "this is the BEST birthday party I've ever been to!!!" once, I heard it 50 times. We even had one girl call and asked if she could come back and spend the night- when she got there she told us she had never been able to stay away from home but that she felt comfortable with our family....needless to say, she woke up with no issues, and even had a 'good dream' as she put it. I was so proud of her!

We really do have amazing children, who show kindness and love and respect to others and I can't begin to explain how proud of them we are.....I think we are doing something right. I think this will be a place their friends will always feel good about coming to...and we've always wanted that.

WHAT A NIGHT!!!

 

 

dipped doughnut holes, my amazing enamelware Goodwill find ($6.99) and my first ever ice cream cake-YUM!

cotton candy sticks- how FUN!

I can't WAIT to do this again when Kole turns 10- next year!

We're goin' PINK!

I can't begin to tell you the rush of emotions I felt as Joel came to me several months ago, and told me that he had been thinking that all of the reasons he didn't want another baby all these years, were selfish ones. He told me he didn't want to be the one to stop God from allowing another child into our already big family. He already had his 'surgery' consultation scheduled, but we gave it a shot for one month just to see if God had other plans for us. Of course He did! We found out we were expecting the morning of that consultation! God's timing still makes me laugh! I knew when I gave birth to Ezra, our 4th child, I just didn't feel done...and I was right. With all that Joel and I have endured in the last year and a half, it was a complete miracle that we were about to embark on a new journey of a fifth child. It took Joel buying me 6 pregnancy tests to convince him that it really did say 'positive'! He just couldn't believe it! He was actually excited!

I grew up with a sister, just one sibling, and always wanted Ellie, our oldest, to experience the joys of having a sister....and today, we had our ultrasound and we found out that dream is going to come true! Although I was prepared either way, I just flipped when the tech told us that she was 100% sure it was a girl.....could it really be, that God would answer our prayers? Of course...because that's the kind of God we serve, one who is in love with the details of our lives, and knew exactly the joy having another girl would bring us.

She should be born around the beginning of September, so I'll get to be big and hot all summer, and sportin' some cute summer preggo wear, which I'm excited about! It's been almost 5 years since I've been pregnant, and it feels so good! I just knew our family wasn't complete! Tonight I am thanking the God who put that conviction in Joel's heart, and for letting me hang on to the dream of having another little girl....

"Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
      you formed me in my mother's womb.
   I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
      Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
      I worship in adoration—what a creation!
   You know me inside and out,
      you know every bone in my body;
   You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
      how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
   Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
      all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
   The days of my life all prepared
      before I'd even lived one day."

Psalm 139: 13-16

Trash to Treasure

One of my all time favorite places to shop is Goodwill. I always hunt for stuff I can re-purpose and I never come home empty handed. Whether it's a pile of khaki pants for the kids' school uniforms, or a dress I love and may never wear, it's the best place to find amazing deals. I found this small cork-board the other day for $1.99 and new I could dress it up to use near my computer. I brought it home and found the perfect scrap of fabric and matching craft paint and I LOVE how it turned out! It was super easy to make cute...I will definitely be buying up all the cork-boards I come across from now on. You should too!