Sewing Through 2018

Many years ago in my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) days, it was brought up that the reason they do a craft at one of the meetings each month is because Moms need the feeling of completion.  So much of our life as Moms is never finished, whether that be laundry, cooking, cleaning or for some, even our careers.  Always something to be done, or in the case of food and laundry, done again... and again. We crave little victories of completed projects.  So as our family has grown, the school work in our homeschool has expanded, and I've added work from home jobs to my plate, it may seem crazy that I've added more projects to my plate, but it has been so rewarding.

I dusted off my sewing machine for the first time in years in January of 2018 to make the big kids quilts.  Aside from a Halloween costume here or there, I just hadn't used it.  The end result was rekindling a love of creativity and I set a goal for the year to sew at least one thing each month.  These are the results of that goal.

JANUARY: Quilts for the big kids

FEBRUARY: Outfit for Evelyn

MARCH: 2 dresses for Evelyn

APRIL:  2 dresses for Evelyn

MAY:  3 tops, finished an old heirloom 

quilt (50+ years old), and 1 dress

June: ALL the hair bows! (A great scrap buster project.)

July: Deer stuffy and skirted overalls

August: A top for Evelyn

September: 2 more tops, and a Christmas dress

October: Modified top for Evelyn, 2 dresses 

and 2 sets of corn hole bags (not pictured)

November:  Flannel dress, and another Christmas dress

December: Quilt for Joel

What a year!  I've built quite a collection of patterns for one thing.... but I've improved, grown and learned so much about sewing.  Though I will add that still not one project has turned out perfectly.  Each item is and looks homemade with love.  I look forward to churning out many more creations for my kids, family, home and me.  To create is a beautiful process for the heart, mind and soul.  Sewing as an art has become my self care and my "me time" in the afternoon.

2018 Reads

My yearly post of books read.  I was disappointed at the end of last year in noticing that I didn't quite read as much as the year before.... however with other goals this year like my sewing through 2018, along with 4 kids and a new job, I wasn't sure that I would do any better this year.  Alas, here we are though, in no certain order, the books completed in 2018.

My Reads:

"More Than Just Making It" by Erin Odom

 "Far From the Tree" by Robin Benway

 "Red Scarf Girl" by Ji-li Jiang

 "Sisters First" by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush

 "Fit to Burst" by Rachel Jankovic

 "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle

 "Rethinking School" by Susan Wise Bauer

"Just Open the Door" by Jen Schmidt

"Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi

"A Wind in the Door" by Madeleine L'Engle

"The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Robinson

"The Great Alone" by Kristin Hannah
"The Masterpiece" by Francine Rivers
"Educated" by Tara Westover
"Bear Town" by Fredrick Backman
"The Dyslexic Advantage" by Brock L. Eide

I decided to add in this year, a list of read aloud books that I read with the kids this year too.  Of course there were several short stories along the way too, but these were the larger volumes that we delve into through the year.

Read aloud with the kids:

"The Hardy Boys" Volumes 1-12

"The Prince Warriors" Trilogy by Priscilla Shirer (Read all 3)
"The Winter War" by Priscilla Shirer

"My Life As a Smashed Burrito with Extra Hot Sauce" by Bill Myers  (There are more to this set that we might jump into next year.)

And an Audiobook list too.... because in my humble opinion, audiobooks ARE reading too.  I fully anticipated more audiobooks through the year, but the kids are pretty hooked on listening to "Adventures in Odyssey." (Though we only have 3 volumes of AIO left.  Oh my!)

Audiobooks (with the kids) :

"The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" by CS Lewis

.... time to start my 2019 list. 

Back to School

Maybe I'm ahead, or maybe I'm behind.  Depends on how you look at it I guess.  We started back to school with our core subjects of math, reading, spelling and language arts the first week of August.  In years past, our Summer break has been 1 month max, and this year we took a lot more considering our school year ended in May. However, the obligatory "first day" pictures didn't get taken till mid August and then with our co-op beginning this week, it seemed like a good time for more pictures and a post. 

This year we've got a 3rd grader...

And a 1st grader...

And of course our 3 year old and 1 year old along for the ride.  

I've also got another year of tutoring in our co-op ahead of me.  After a year break to sit in the back of the class and snuggle my baby, it's going to be weird to be back in front of the kids again.  This year I'll be tutoring in Leeland's class, which will also be totally different from the 4-5 year olds that I tutored previously.  

Ready and excited for our first day of Classical Conversations.

So our curriculum line-up for the year is....

-Classical Conversations

-Saxon math 

-First Language Lessons

-Writing with Ease

-All About Spelling

-And cursive writing for the biggest

I have lofty dreams of taking Fridays off again this school year, and hoping to get more fun accomplished on those days.  (Last year, I was mostly stuck under a baby exhausted.)  

Thankful for this privilege to educate our kiddos at home.  Praying for our school year, praying over what lies ahead, and that I might keep my priorities in focus.  Finding balance has always been the hardest part, but there is where I find beauty.  Thankful for God's grace and the lessons he has taught us over the last 3 years of schooling, and blessed to be on this journey.  

Happy 3rd Birthday Joel!

I don't know where to begin talking about this boy.  

He's wild and unruly.  He's spunky and silly.  But he's oh so cute, snuggly and sweet.  He's like a mix between a wild bull and a golden retriever at the same time. HAHA!  ... In all seriousness our Joel can't be put in a box.  He's a one and only kind of guy and we love him SO much! 

We celebrated him this weekend with family at a local splash park.  The splash park wasn't our original intention, but alas when the amusement rides at the city park we planned on being at broke down, the parks and rec department went above and beyond to accommodate our family.  And honestly, it was perfect weather and the kiddos still seemed to have a blast.  

Toy Story was the theme choice of the 3 year old.

Birthday invitation from Malaria Prints on Etsy.  We also purchased a pizza planet shirt in blue from Tees 4 Parties that I of course don't have any pictures of him wearing.  Whoops!

We kept the menu simple with it being an evening of playing in the water.  Pizza seemed like the obvious choice (hello, pizza planet) and salad and chocolate cupcakes. 

Honestly it was a really simple party.  I think with age and more kids, I've begun to remove some of that 'perfect party' pressure and just enjoy my family.  We were surrounded by family who loves our kiddos so well and we were so thankful for the quality time with each of them. 

In true fashion of my family, many of Joel's gifts were full of snacks.  You might remember Evelyn's party recently and the image of her surrounded by baby food pouches.  Everyone knows that Joel loves food.... so much so that I'm not sure he even chews when he shoves his cheeks full like a squirrel.

He got goldfish,

oreos,

cheese puffs,

chocolate,

3 bags of chocolate covered pretzels,

and even a pineapple.

Of course, there were more "normal" gifts as well of toys and clothes and bubbles too.  But his excitement as he shouted "MORE SNACKS, WOO HOO!" each time he pulled out a gift bag was pretty hilarious.

It was so exciting to celebrate our big boy and embrace this age of fun.  

Happy birthday Joel! Welcome to 3!

We love you SOOOO much!! 

Happy Birthday Evelyn!

Happy birthday to our littlest one!  One year old today.  It feels like just a blink ago that I was anxiously awaiting post due date for her to just enter the world.  What a difference a year makes!

Sweet girl had a "one in a melon" themed birthday this past Saturday over brunch with close family.  We are so incredibly thankful for so many in our life who love our little people so well. 

Our brunch menu included "Jo Jo's biscuits" (Magnolia cookbook) with jam, cheese, fried bacon, sausage, watermelon (of course), and deviled eggs (also from the Magnolia cookbook.) All followed up with some delicious chocolate cupcakes with buttercream and chocolate chips.  

Evelyn's birthday dress was made by me using the "Isobel" dress pattern by Violette Field Threads, along with the "Ruby" diaper cover pattern.  

Her invitations came from "Funny Bunny Creative" on Etsy.  

Baby girl was spoiled rotten by all of her family.  She got some adorable new clothes and toys, and the funniest were the amount of baby food pouches and baby snacks she received.  She sucks these pouches down in literally like 30 seconds, and our family has clearly taken note at how much she likes them.  

She also really enjoyed her cake!  She wasn't quite sure what to do with it, but once we cut into it so she could see what was inside she began to eat it up..... It's either that, or she's just a spoiled princess and wanted someone to cut her food for her.  Honestly, I'm fine with either of those scenarios! 

At one year old our little lady, has 2 teeth, weighs 18 pounds, 2 ounces.  She's 28.5 (ish) inches long and she's holding strong in size 12 month clothes still along with size 3 diapers for now.  She still hasn't taken independent steps, but furniture walks well, and wonders the house with a walker on occasion.  

She can wave "bye bye." and blow kisses.  And she's built a lengthy vocabulary of baby babble and gibberish.  But she also says "Momma", "Da Da" and "uh-oh." Oh, and did I mention that she's too busy for pictures?

She is such a joy!  We feel so incredibly thankful that we get to call her our daughter.  She truly is "one in a melon."