Note Taker

My mom bought this Note Taker pattern for me from Pink Chalk Studio's online shop and when Julie gave me this amazing Japanese linen as a sort of "baby gift", I knew they were meant to go together :) This went together really quickly--one day for me and I have a newborn! The pattern was super easy to use and although I hate sewing with Peltex, this actually didn't give me any trouble at all. I did find that I didn't need near as much fabric as the pattern recommends, but that's actually a good thing. This made me want to make some more for gifts and maybe try the big size too! It's been a little tough keeping the girls' little paws off it so maybe I'll have to make them their own eventually. Maybe with a divided pocket on the left to hold colored pencils? Hmmmm.

We Miss You Already!

My mom went back home to Mongolia on Sunday, so the kiddos and I are flying solo once again. It's been SO wonderful having her here to help and keep me company. And cook dinner. And do laundry. And on and on :) Thanks for everything, Mom!

Casey is gone all day on Mondays and Wednesdays so those are my longest days--plus he has the car, so I'm sort of stuck here. I do love my sling, but taking long walks with it on eventually makes my back hurt so I can't really walk anywhere close by unless Natalie can walk by herself. Maybe I'll try that tomorrow. Yesterday our power went out, right at what Mom calls, "The Magic Hour," when all the kids tend to be cranky and extra-needy while you're trying to make dinner. Usually that's when we watch some cartoons, but that's not possible with no power and Kelby was so fussy and tired so last night we had fruit smoothies and peanut butter toast for dinner. Classy, huh? I marvel at moms like Soule Mama and Let's Explore because I don't understand how they manage all these cool kid projects with really little kids. I would like to know. Just going outside to sit on a blanket is so much work with the ages my little ones are!

An another subject, did anyone watch the new season of Dancing with the Stars last night? I was surprised, but glad that one of the judges told Susan Lucci (of Soap Opera fame) that she may want to put on some weight because she looked pretty frail out there! Seriously, her ribcage was showing through her back. I think my favorites so far are Lacey and What's-His-Name from N Sync. But I liked her on So You Think You Can Dance a couple of seasons ago too.

Even though Kelby was pretty fussy yesterday, I managed to get something made so I'll share that tomorrow. It's pretty cool. And, tonight, I'm going to try this recipe for White Chicken Chili.
I cooked a bunch of chicken on my crock pot yesterday and shredded it for the freezer to have on hand. I'll let you know how the chili turns out.

More Big Girl Stuff

So Natalie went to Awana tonight! Yay! Aunt Teddi and Uncle Mike called a few weeks ago and asked if they could start picking her up and taking her to Awana at our church on Sunday nights. I was concerned that she wouldn't want to go somewhere without me or Casey or Layla, but I asked her this morning and she seemed excited to go, so off she went. No missing me or anything! She's such a big girl and I was missing her way too much while she was gone! I'm glad we're planning on homeschooling, because you can imagine how I would handle the Kindergarten drop-off. Anyway, she came home quoting her first Bible memory verse and it is just so precious that I had to take a video of it to post here.

Also, just to prove that I have not forgotten about this color wheel quilt, I marked the quilting lines today! It really took all day because I did it in between rocking a baby, changing diapers, building tents, feeding kiddos, etc... This three little one thing sure eats into my sewing time ;) I have to get some batting for it, maybe Tuesday, so again, it's put on hold.

One more thing, totally unrelated. I got this baby sling with a baby gift card from Aunt Teddi and just have to do a little write-up about it because I think it's totally AWESOME. I have had two other slings and two front-pack carriers in the past and hated them all (with the exeption of the Baby Biorn I found at the consignment store, but even that has been tossed across the room once or twice for being such a puzzle to put on.) Anyway, this sling is not bulky like my others, so the baby doesn't drown in fabric, it fits in my diaper bag and doesn't make me sweat. It's easy to use and so comfortable and I just love it and so does Kelby. There ya go.

Pumpkin Patch

This was the scene in our front yard this morning. We stuffed pumpkins together on a blanket in the beautiful Fall weather. Of course, Fancy Nancy was there too :) Kelby was napping inside the whole time and we even had a nice visit with a neighbor. Being outside is good for the soul. I was going to sell these pumpkins, but I keep thinking of friends to gift with them, so I'm going to do that instead :)

My Baby is a Big Girl!

Natalie got her first official hair cut yesterday! I made her an appointment with Becky at her Salon and just her and I went while my mom stayed home with the other kiddos. We had such a good time together and she couldn't stop watching herself in the mirror the whole time. It was a girly thing to do, getting her hair cut, I guess, cause she loved it. I LOVE the picture of my wonderful friend Becky with Natalie. She's getting to be such a big girl! Today I had to buy her new socks from the big-girl section! Awe.


I found this pumpkin tutorial online yesterday just in time because we have had lots of cooler days here lately and today is especially rainy, I love it. Anyway, it was fast and fun to make, I think I'll make some more today, but do something else in place of the blanket stitch, because that part is actually NOT fast and fun ;)
And, finally, I just love this picture of Casey and Kelby. This was taken just yesterday. He already seems so much bigger to me, but he looks so tiny still in Casey's arms. One of my favorite pictures ever is one of him holding Natalie almost just the same way. And now she's a big girl. *sigh*

Dino

This little guy turned one the other day and I got to go to his party on Sunday. I wanted to make him something special and my mom suggested a pillow. Great idea; both my girls received pillows around this age and both loved them. To add to the "specialness", I made it out of one of his own former flannel receiving blankets that Angela handed down to me when we found out Kelby was going to be a boy. So, Angela loved it, and I hope Corban loves it too. Little things like this are so much fun to make.

On a different subject, I wanted to share a few quotes from a book my sister lent me to read. It's called The Things You'll See by Lawrence R. Lucas and it is a father's notes to his grown children on how they were raised. It's been great so far. The chapters are very short, which is good for this stage in my life with a newborn :) and full of great and godly parenting advice. The following is from the chapter on Learning by Example.

"Children are natural imitators. They learn by watching us: how we do things, what we say, how we respond in difficult or trying situations. Then they adopt our ways as their own. They're individuals of course, so they'll add their own signature, but their behavior will largely emulate ours. There will come a time, very early in their years, when you'll see this clearly for the first time. Hopefully the import of it will strike you, particularly if you see them follow you in sin." (pg. 16)

"...just as children might imitate a complaining word, they'll as readily imitate words of encouragement. They'll imitate how we own up to sin, how we mend a tear we've caused, how we serve one another. The tool of example is always in use. It's up to us to put it to good use." (pg. 17)

"Your life will either reinforce or undermine your training."

Good stuff.

This One's My Favorite

I don't have much else to blog about today. I have been making things, but one is a birthday gift for a party I'm going to tomorrow and I don't want the recipient to see it; I made four pillow case dresses to take to market this weekend, but could not manage to get a good picture of them with this wonderful gloomy weather we've been having; and I've made a couple of great shirts for myself, but I'd have to iron them to get a picture, so those will have to wait too :)

In the meantime, if you want something great to read, there's an awesome and pretty hilarious post about Victoria's Secret over at Virtue Alert.

Finished!

I finished my quilt! Yay! Hand sewing the binding took some time since I was going back and forth rocking Kelby back to sleep and sewing each night while watching TV. Such is life with a new little one! It washed up so nice and I can't wait to share it with Casey since I finally made one big enough for us both to use together :) Next is my color wheel quilt. I have the top done and I found an idea online to piece together large scraps of batting so that's what I'm going to do for that one. It's going to be gorgeous, although it's quite a bit bigger than I had imagined it would be. One a side note, Miss Ang took some amazing pictures of Kelby and some of the girls too the other day. You can see a few of them here. LOVE the one in Casey's guitar case.