Angela and I tried to go to the Archiver's crop last night, but it was full, so we scrapbooked together at her house instead and it was wonderful. Casey fed the kiddos and put them to bed (such a sweet guy I have) and it's always nice for me to skip the bedtime duties once in a while. I got these two pages done while we chatted and watched Sense and Sensibilty on her laptop. (Even more fun since I just finished reading the book!) It was a great time and much-needed. 
I've always loved watercolors. I used to do this more when I lived in Georgia before having kids and haven't touched it since. But I recently realized this is something the girls and I can all do together, now that Layla's old enough not to spill the water :) So, this is what we did all morning. The girls loved it--and so did I. The top painting is one of Natalie's. I love the hearts.
This one's Layla's. Pretty soon all her colors were green ;)
And this one's mine. Whimsical, I think. :)
I determined on Sunday to do very little if any sewing this week for the sole purpose of purging my house. Somehow adding a fifth person to our family put us over the edge as far as stuff and space goes, so I now have 5 big bags to give away and let's just say it's a good thing the trash truck is coming today :) Today I'm washing and packing up a ton of stuff to sell to the consignment store tomorrow. Whew! It feels good. Anyway, I did sew these little shorts for Kelby. I had cut them out last week sometime and so it really only took a few minutes. I'm going to buy a white shirt and applique a little tractor on there to match, I think. 
I'm also knitting him a hat, because I was in a knitting mood while watching American Idol the other night and Hobby Lobby was out of the yarn I need to make a certain gift for a certain someone :) It's sitting on top of a laptop case I made last week out of this GREAT pear fabric my mom bought me a few months ago. I made it because I decided to take my laptop with me when Kelby and I go to Reno to visit my friend Jenn in a few weeks. Yay!
This is a book my parents bought Natalie for her birthday. We read it together a few days ago while the little ones were napping and then I showed her the real Matryoshka dolls my dad got us when he went to Russia. The book has names for all of them and now Natalie thinks these are the coolest things EVER. We can only get them down when Layla isn't around, though, since she's not so gentle. Great book, thanks Granny and Papa!
We had quite the birthday weekend for Natalie. Today is her actual birthday, but we had her party at Casa Bonita on Saturday. If you live around here, you know that this place is a Denver icon and even though the food is terrible and overpriced, you have to go at least once. It was great and the kids had a blast, but Casey and I wouldn't mind if another full decade goes by before we go there again :)
Those twirly skirts put me in the mood to make some more things for the kids for Spring. The weather has been helping, since it's been uncharacteristically warm here lately. Anyway, Casey's Aunt Blenda gave me some cute cotton fabric recently and so I tried out the Ruffled Skirts pattern in one of my Quilts & More magazines (the tutorial can also be found here.) I made both the girls one, but it can be hard to get pictures of them sometimes, so this one of Layla will have to do. Her little love handles look a little squeezed, huh? Maybe I should use a bigger piece of elastic next time :)
I also cut out some shorts for Kelby out of a super-cute construction print I saw last week at JoAnn and just couldn't resist. I'm going to applique one of the little tractors onto a T-shirt to go with them. Awww. I'll post pics when they're done, of course.
I was praying last night, as I have been for a few weeks now, that I would find some ways to make our days here at home more meaningful, that I would never pass up any opportunities to point my kids to Christ and that I would find ways to teach them generosity and selflessness (things I need to improve at myself.) Today the Lord gave me some very specific answers. First, I stumbled onto a blog that is making efforts to give blankets to babies in Appalachian Kentucky, where poverty is especially common and teen pregnancy is rampant. Please take some time to watch at least part of this special with Diane Sawyer and you'll see that these people don't have basic necessities, blankets included. It just so happens I've been wondering what to do with these three ribbon-tag blankets that didn't sell at farmer's market last summer. I was going to save them to give as gifts whenever I needed them, but decided this morning to go ahead and send them to these babies in need. When I laid them out to take the picture, Natalie asked me who these blankies were for and I got to tell her about the special babies we get to mail these to that will really love them because they may not have blankets at all. What a sweet conversation it was!
Second, one of my favorite blogs, Preschoolers and Peace has been answering questions from different moms and I so related to the woman she responded to today, who was having a hard time keeping her one and three-year-old occupied throughout the day without feeling like she was just killing time, waiting for the day to be over. This wonderful mom of eight answered with a great list of things she wishes she had done with her kids when they were little, before her days were consumed with homeschooling and such. This inspired us to get outside today and have a picnic lunch on the grass by our clubhouse and just let the kids be close to nature for awhile. It was wonderful. Later I'm going to get busy with a sticker chart for Scripture memorization. Another answer to prayer!
I've been inspired lately to make some springy clothes for my kiddos. Yesterday I popped out these twirly skirts for the girls, using this tutorial. I used a cotton sheet that I got at a thrift store last year and the pink fabrics were from a yard sale so these really cost me hardly anything. They are SO cute, the pictures, as usual, don't really do them justice. They love them and want some more :)
This is Layla sitting on the potty. I love this picture, because she's so darn cute, but I do NOT like potty training. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you'll remember what an ongoing nightmare it was with Natalie, so I am not in a hurry to start with Layla. She wanted to sit the other day, though, so I let her. *sigh* That book she's reading is called Falling for Rapunzel and it is super cute and funny and has great pictures.
Have you seen these things?? I got these for Kelby at Target yesterday. You can put fresh or frozen fruit in the mesh part and let 'em go to town on it. GREAT for teething...and for keeping him quiet while we're trying to eat dinner :)
