Whatever is Lovely

Friday Gratitude

2011-03-11T18:33:00.000-06:00

Just a few things that I am so thankful for this Friday. As Spring approaches, it seems to be easier to find things. Find myself smiling more and more as the weather warms.

Lilac Buds!!

Daffodil Sprouts

My sparkles are back! The river sparkles like this when the light is
just right in the afternoon. Sometimes it even reflects on the dining room wall.

My reading nook on the screened porch is finally warm enough to enjoy again,
and enjoying it I am!

We have gone for several family walks this week. The girls are actually old enough and strong enough to walk a longer distance with us at a nice pace so it actually feels like exercise. We played at the park for about an hour this afternoon and Zion was so excited to be able to do so many more things than he could in the fall. Hubby and I discussed last night whether it is better to watch the news daily and everything that is happening (what I tend to do) and get kind of stressed out and fearful, or to live in a bubble and not know or think about all the crazy stuff going on. I think I need to be informed, but at the park this afternoon, decided that it is definitely essential to my sanity to completely enjoy the moments of beauty even if surrounded by ugly, nasty and crazy.

Friday

2011-02-25T20:58:00.000-06:00

A few moments of lovely from yesterday and today:

Daddy was in Texas since Saturday and we got to pick him up from the airport and take him out to lunch and to Mitchell Park Domes.

Lunch at Red Lobster

I need a big bowl of rocks and moss. Pretty sure...

In the Desert Dome with my amazing kiddos who impressed the heck out of the employee that we were chatting with. They Rock!

Mexican Redbud in the Desert Dome. Just starting to bloom.

Thanks to the super nice lady who snapped a family pic for us.

Powder Puff tree and yes, this is the flower!

Abi in her new dress from Aunt Mandy. I think she looks like she stepped out of a Dick and Jane book.

90% of my Zion pictures look like this...

Birthing Kits all ready to send to Haiti through Craft Hope

A new spring wall hanging in the works.

I'm Back!!

2011-02-22T21:41:00.000-06:00

I had decided, last year, that something had to give and the blog was not a necessity. Thus why I haven't updated in a year again. Very recently, I have wanted to get back at it. I have been reading an amazing book, A Thousand Gifts, by Ann VosKamp. The entire book is about the power of gratitude and I have been keeping a gratitude journal and just feel like it is time to get back to blogging about lovely things again. That is one reason why there is finally another post here...

My second motivation for starting back up is to introduce myself to the lovely ladies that I will be traveling to Uganda with in April! (UGANDA IN APRIL!!!). I am going with Linny and Emma Saunders and a group of ladies to Kampala, Uganda in April to basically love on some orphans and share Jesus in that way and I can not wait! So to all of you who came to my poor, neglected little blog who will be joining us on this amazing trip... Hello!! I am Kelly and I can't wait to get to know all of you! I am going to try to post more, but feel free to look around and see what we have been up to in the past. The last year has included more being a wife, being a mom, homeschooling and creating. That is just who I am :) A couple of pics...

Our family at Curt's Brother's wedding in June.

Our Christmas picture from this past year... Abi in pink, Emma in purple and our boy is Zion :)

Hi... I am still alive and kicking!

2010-02-06T20:01:00.007-06:00

I know it has been over a year! Please don't hate me. Life has been super full and active. We have all adjusted very well to having Zion in our family and can't remember what it was like before him. I am hoping to get back at posting lovely things. For now, will some photos of the last year appease you???

Abigail's 6th birthday (Jan. 2009). Zion had been home 2 weeks at this point.

Daddy proving he can hold all 3 kids.

Zion's personality starts to shine through...

Mother's Day 2009

Door County June 2009

Girls' Only Camping Trip Sept. 2009

Partners in crime...

Fall 2009

At one of Daddy's team's cross country meets

One of the last nice days of fall.

This face... oh my!

First time playing in the snow!

Christmas Picture 2009

More to come I promise!

Home

2008-12-23T10:59:00.004-06:00

We are finally home and getting settled in. We ended up renting a car and driving from New York to Chicago and a friend picked us up in Chicago for the rest of the journey home. We arrived home at 4:30 am on Monday. Yesterday was long and hard, but we all had a good night sleep last night and are taking it easy today. The girls LOVE their brother and are being very helpful. I will post more later, but wanted to let everyone know we are home and safe. Thank you all for your prayers. We felt them!

Still Stuck

2008-12-20T23:35:00.001-06:00

Standby flight for tonight didn't work. Did get a hotel, but there are no other forms of transportation available either. Hopefully tomorrow brings better news.

Getting Home

2008-12-19T20:58:00.004-06:00

All day today we watched their flight numbers, hopeful whenever we saw they were still on. Dismayed when watching national news and seeing video of Detroit with ice and snow. Got the text from the previous post, and prayed. This afternoon Curt sent a message saying they were on standby for an 8:30 flight tonight, and confirmed for an 8:30 flight Saturday. We prayed they could make the earlier flight. Curt called and spoke with the girls on speaker phone to let them know. We had not told them about the chance of the delay so as not to worry them too much without need. They took it well, though with some more behavior issues this evening, most likely not just from the change in plans, but from not having an entirely consistent life the last 10 days, and from being snowed in for most of that! Emma changed her journal for today from "Mom and Dad coming home with Zion" to "NOT" to "MAYBEE!" after the phone call. Abi is "monkey mad" at the weather, Emma just wants to slam a door maybe to make her feel better.

We all went out to dinner tonight - both sets of Grandparents, the girls, and me (Mandy!) Curt called while we were eating and said they had found a hotel and would be staying the night and next day for the 8:30 flight Saturday. They should arrive in Chicago around 10:30, where Curt's brother will pick them up and deliver them to us. Please pray that no more weather disrupts their travels, and that their spirits will be lifted. Pray that Emma and Abi remain the angels they have been in the face of missing mom and dad. Thank you for your support of this wonderful family - they can feel your prayers and most certainly covet more for the future - in their immediate travel needs, and in their transition to a family of five.

Stuck

2008-12-19T13:26:00.002-06:00

Curt's Text reads:
...flights cancelled everywhere. Mean people. Please pray.

We received about a foot of snow last night here in Southern Wisconsin, and it is moving through, messing up travel in Chicago and Detroit, meaning that while Curt, Kelly and Zion are safely in the country, they can't really go anywhere right now. Will update more when I hear what the next plan is.

Coming Home Soon...

2008-12-17T23:28:00.001-06:00

It has been a wonderful adventure, but we can't wait to be home now. Yesterday we went shopping at local shops. That was fun. We also went to the leprosy and TB hospital and Kelly bought a lot of hand made items (1,590 birr worth). The money goes to support the hospital. Amazingly it was very difficult to find my traditional soccer jerseys I get on trips. We had to drive to a special shop to get them. Pray for our flights and that Zion Degamo does well. He is very happy today and smiling a lot. He is a super fun baby and he feels like ours, which we were worried about. But why worry when God is in control? Silly us. OK, see you all soon. Miss you all tons.

Love,
Curtiss...

To the Embassy and Beyond

2008-12-16T09:28:00.001-06:00

We had our visa appointment today and we are all official now! It was very intimidating (the place) but the process itself was quite easy. We had Degamo in our room over night last night. He took a bottle for us and slept well and we were quite encouraged. He did very well during the Visa hearing today and even slept in his sling. After the visa hearing, we went to a Golf Club for lunch and relaxing, he was not loving the fact that we have thrown off his whole schedule. When we returned to the Hotel this afternoon, he spent most of an hour screaming and then finally took a nap. He woke up from his nap and took a bottle, but was still fussy. We think he may be teething and his tummy is having a hard time adjusting to different formula. We are just relaxing in our rooms for the rest of the night and taking turns listening to him fuss and holding him (it is Curt's turn right now). Hopefully he returns to his happy self soon. All of the nannies are always telling us how happy he is, so I feel like we ruined him already! Keep praying for us, all are tired, but happy and excited to be heading home in just over 48 hours. Tomorrow (Wednesday) they are having a going away party for the kids (I am bringing lots of kleenex) and in the afternoon, we are going shopping. We fly out at 11 pm (here) on Thursday.

We will be in contact as soon as we are back in the states, which is suppossed to be 10 am in New york on Friday.

love you all
Kelly

Sunday

2008-12-14T20:56:00.000-06:00

Last night we spent at the traditional restaurant. The food was good, a little spicy, but good. The dancing and music was amazing. We have some video we will have to show you all. Today we did not get to see Degamo because they wanted to give the nannies a break on Sunday. We went to an Ethiopian church that Dr. Fikru goes to this morning. It was very similar in style and order of service to Living Word, but we didn't understand a word, yet our spirits still connected with the service and the people. We were the only white people there. After church we went to a resort southwest of Addis. Kelly took a lot of pictures and I rode in the "yak yak" (kayak) around the lake all afternoon. It was a very beautiful place and we got to see some of the more rural areas on the drive there and took some pictures. The food at the resort was also very good. I ate Nile perch that was huge and amazing. We are looking forward to tomorrow when we can play with Degamo again and he get to come back to the hotel and spend the night with us.

Love you and miss you all. If you are caring for the girls give them extra hugs and tell them how much we miss them.

see you all soon.
Curt

Saturday Update

2008-12-13T14:21:00.000-06:00

Spent more time with Degamo today. The babies were out on the balcony when we got there, they were all naked and getting rubbed down with vaseline and sunning themselves. They were so happy and we said we are going to have to get a sun lamp cuz there is not nice warm sun in Wisconsin right now. He smiled when he saw us this morning and let Curt hold him for quite a while. We went to the National Museum this afternoon, very interesting. Tonight is a traditional meal and show. We are really feeling the time change today. Keep praying for us.

Meeting the Baby

2008-12-12T08:11:00.001-06:00

Newest update from Curt & Kelly:
We met Degamo this morning. He is so sweet and wonderful and perfect (of course). We got to snuggle and play for about 2 hours this morning and then went back this afternoon for another hour or so. The nannies love him so much and made it abundantly clear that he is a favorite. Everyone is very friendly and accomodating. We will hang out with him tomorrow morning and then we are doing some touring in the afternoon. It is sunny and mid 80's but not humid. Feels so good. The other family that is here adopting as well is very nice and we have enjoyed getting to know them. So far so good on food, I had spaghetti for lunch (real daring, I know, but it was some of the best spaghetti ever). We are done for the day, and are going to crash in our room. Love you all and miss you. We are waiting for the phone to be delivered, so we will try to call once it is here.

Curt, Kelly and Degamo.

Travel Update

2008-12-11T08:27:00.005-06:00

Sister Mandy here! The ice/snow Tuesday did not delay any travel plans - original flight from Chicago to Minneapolis was cancelled, so they flew to Detroit and waited 4 hours. I texted Curt all day while they were waiting (I was bored too...)

When the girls and I got back from piano lessons today, I had an email from Kelly:
We are here, alive and well and tired. It is just after 11 pm, so hopefully we will sleep. We get to meet Degamo around 10 am tomorrow. All of our luggage arrived fine and we did not miss any flights. Love you all. Miss you tons.

I will update more when I hear anything.

It is Official!

2008-11-27T11:49:00.004-06:00

This quilt will be traveling to Ethiopia Dec. 10th-19th... we will be with it and and we will be wrapping our little Zion Degamo up in it and bringing him home to stay! Our case passed the Ethiopian courts yesterday and he is officially ours. :) We will post details of our trip and pictures of him when we get home. We appreciate and covet your prayers through out this adventure. Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall Adventure

2008-10-16T08:39:00.004-06:00

Adoption updates first: We received a Court Date yesterday of November 26th. That is a lot later than we had hoped and may mean that we do not get to travel until January. Super dissapointed, but not much we can do about it. Keep praying for us! We have been super blessed with gifts for Zion Degamo, also, our finances seem to be falling into place so that is good.

This past Monday was suppossed to be one of the last warm days for a while, so we took off and went to a local lake. So wonderful. The kids (including Curt) played in the sand, we ate a picnic lunch, went for a hike that included many discoveries, and did some fishing. The fish were biting so much that before the bobber had landed completely, it went under. We caught around 8 bluegills in a 45 minute period. Enjoy some shots from the day.

Bucket of Snails (catch and release of course):

Daddy, I am coming up your mountain!

Daddy is soooo King of the Mountain~!
Click on the pictures to make them bigger, you have to see Curt's face!

More pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gratzmom/

Referral!!!

2008-08-26T19:34:00.003-06:00

We received the referral of a 3 month old baby boy today! He is beautiful and we are so excited. We cannot post photos or much personal info until he is officially ours, but I had to share my news here. We will not have a court date until the Ethiopian courts reopen after their rainy season, so as of right now it looks like late October/Early November before court and then 3 or so weeks after we pass court, we will travel to Addis to get our little guy. If all goes well, we will be home before the end of the year. Keep our family in your prayers please. There are other families in our program who leave tomorrow to pick up their children, so we are praying for them too.

Remember me?

2008-08-11T20:44:00.003-06:00

Yes, I am still alive.

No, we don't have a referral yet.

We are surviving and trying our best to find happy distractions.

I will post here occasionally, but after the adoption is all over and done with, I will probably shut this blog down... working on priorities. Would much rather be sewing than blogging, sorry. Not that I don't love you all.

My sister, who loves me, bought me an early birthday present of a Flickr Pro account (that so does not mean I am any sort of "pro.") So check me out there. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gratzmom/

Love to you all!
Kelly

Think about something else...

2008-07-05T09:26:00.005-06:00

What isn't lovely= The adoption waiting game... We are currently #4 on the list I believe. One of the families in this area received their referral (the call from the agency that basically says, hey, we have a child that we think matches your family) a week or so ago and I was really hoping that meant we would be coming up soon too. There were 2 more referrals this week, but not us. We are getting closer, but the wait is tough. I keep telling myself how good we have it, because our wait is most likely only going to be 3-5 months (we are almost at 3 months right now since our dossier was approved). China is currently a 2-3 YEAR wait from application to bringing a child home. Haiti is around 2 years, so I will not complain. We will most likely have our little one home before the end of the year and we didn't start the process until Feb. of 2007. Every time the phone rings during the week, my heart stops a little. I am very excited and the anticipation can get intense at times. So I am trying to think about different things.

What IS lovely: 4th of July with family and friends (and no pictures because my batteries died as the parade started and I didn't have time to put new ones in for the rest of the day). Our house is right on the parade route, so we have decided to have an annual open house sort of party. The front lawn is open for parade watchers and then we do a potluck style lunch after the parade and hang out in the back yard by the river. Canoe rides included for free. Everyone usually goes home late afternoon for some rest before fireworks. Then we head to Curt's office parking lot to watch the fireworks. I am sure I have said it before, but I LOVE our small town.

Flowers:

Black Poppy (from my lovely sister) Bee Balm ( I like to call it the Bad Hair Day Plant)
More Black Poppy

Queen Anne's Lace (a weed to some people, but not me)

My Crazy Family :

If you click on the pictures to make them bigger, you will see that Curt is breaking a water balloon over poor, little Abi's head. Too which she responded "that's cheating Dad!"

Perfect weather and time to do what I love. So far today I was able to laze around in bed reading a good book, fertilize all of my plants, watch the fishing and water balloon fights that Curt and the kids were enjoying, take pics of my beloved flowers, and type this post. It is only 10:30. We still have blackberry picking, some baking, HGTV watching, and grilling out at Curt's parents. All in all a great day. Hope for some sewing tomorrow and we will call it a perfect weekend.

Hmmmm, what should I blog about?

2008-06-19T16:55:00.004-06:00

First there was the wedding for my Dear Friend/Sorta Daughter, Natalie. I was in charge of decorations and flowers but ended up sort of being the wedding coordinator. It was crazy and chaotic and the tornado whistles were going off as I ran in the house to take a shower 45 minutes before they were supposed to walk down the aisle, but it all turned out wonderfully and I am so happy for Natalie and Pierre.

My funny wedding story... The bride really wanted fish on the tables for the reception and in the vases on the alter (sorry, no pics of that, too busy to take pics, grr.). We agreed that Betas are expensive, so we would just do 4 Betas and the rest would be cheap goldfish. I picked up the fish at the pet shop and asked the guy if it is ok to put the Betas in a bucket and the goldfish in another bucket until the day of the wedding. He said sure. Well, he must have misunderstood me because I brought the fish home and put all the goldfish in one bucket and all 4 Betas in another bucket and then went outside for a few minutes. When I came back in, the water in the bucket with the Betas was splashing all over and they were shredding each other's fins. I screamed and grabbed cups from the cupboard quick. As I was scooping the fish out, I said to them "if you can't play nice together, then you can't be in the same bucket, " and told them they were grounded. I think I need some serious help. I am disciplining the fish now. They all lived and now I have a funny story to share and a word of warning to other ignorant Beta owners out there.

Last weekend we had a very large, very successful rummage sale and all the work and mess that goes with that. This week, I am trying to get back so some sort of routine and get my house back in order. I think we are almost there. My husband promised to help me do the floors tonight and I have to dust upstairs yet and then my house is somewhat clean. I neeeeed to weeeeed the gardens, but that will be done a little at a time over the next week or so. Now on to the pictures...

I dropped off a van load of stuff left over from the rummage sale at St. Vincent DePaul's and came away with 2 vintage pillowcases to make bags out of and a brand new pair of red, Mary Jane style Keds (for $3.25) and some clothes for the girls and some videos. :)

The garden is growing nicely and the girls have been feasting on fresh peas. We don't even bother to cook them, just eat 'em straight off the vine.

First Galardia bloom of the season. Again :)

Trying to enjoy summer as much as I can. I made the "to do before the baby comes home" list and it isn't pretty. We are currently #7 on the waiting list (as far as I know), so we should hear something in the next month or 2 and then will hopefully travel before the end of the year if things go well! Yay! I guess that is all my rambling for now.

Gardens

2008-05-28T12:50:00.005-06:00

Like I said yesterday, we went to Rotary Gardens on Emma's birthday to take some pictures. Emma loves to use my camera and I thought maybe I could get some decent pictures of the children, not to mention, this is one of my favorite places on earth to go. I did get SOME decent pictures of the girls, but most of them were either of them running away, doing flips or being goofy. I love that my camera does a decent job of capturing action because their facial expressions are always best when they are moving quickly. At least the flowers were cooperating.

7 Years Old

2008-05-27T19:32:00.005-06:00

Emma turned 7 on May 22nd. I can't believe it, but it is true. I know every mom says that they can't believe how fast their kids are growing up, and that is true, but it just seems to me like 7 is no longer a little girl. 6 still seemed little, but 7, not at all. We have decided that the kids can have a "friend" party every other year, so this year was just a family deal for her. That was very difficult for my social butterfly to handle (no worries about socialization for this homeschooler...she creates her own social opportunities everywhere we go). On her actual birthday, Curt took the day off of work and we headed to the Madison Children's Museum and lunch at Pizzaria Uno's on State Street. We had to be home by 1 for daddy to head off to his last track meet. The girls and I rested for a bit and then we went to the Beauty Shop for Emma to get her first "big girl" haircut at the beauty shop (I have always cut their hair up to this point). Then we went to Rotary Gardens in Janesville to take pictures. Aunt Mando was able to meet us there. I will do a separate post just of garden pics another day. We ran and played and had too much fun and then headed to McDonald's for supper (her choice, certainly not mine). Then it was home for full facials with make up and everything and manicures. We finished the night by curling up on the couch and watching Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman on DVD (perfect!). On Saturday we had the fam over for Emma's party. She chose a Luau theme this year. I made her a dress and we had some basic decorations and of course the cake. Super fun birthday for a super fun girl. She said it was all perfect, even though she was scheming right up to the end on how to get some friends here too.

In her birthday outfit.

Big Girl Hair Cut!

This one shows her personality perfectly. All dressed up fancy, but ready to build something too.

Looking 17, not 7.

My mom bought Emma a model rocket kit for her present (at Emma's request). Daddy spent several hours with them on Monday assembling and firing the rockets. Good thing we have a before picture, because 1 rocket is pretty much burned up and the other one is evidently orbiting the earth and never returned.

Our "Luau" cake, designed by Emma, decorated by mom and Mando.

New Bag

2008-05-21T10:03:00.004-06:00

I have been volunteering to do some pattern testing for Kathy at Pink Chalk Studio, now also of Pink by Post. The latest (and my favorite so far) is this great bag that she calls the Mail Sack. I tested it in March and she released the pattern officially last week. This is my original version, made from her original pattern with no alterations or corrections. There were some small alterations made in the final version of the pattern and I am planning on making the final version in more neutral colors ( I have been dressing to match the bag). It is the perfect bottomless bag. I took it to a track meet last week and had an umbrella, sunscreen, sunglasses, a water bottle, a fleece pullover and all my usual notebooks, wallet, pens... in it. I found the bag easy to make and learned some new techniques with it. Kathy does a great job of writing instructions in a way that seems conversational instead of formal and technical. She is also amazingly generous and kind, so go visit her sites.
The outside view. It is made out out hoarded Amy Butler and Heather Bailey fabrics with matching linen.
The inside has a zipper pocket and 2 other pockets for sunglasses, etc.

It is meant to be worn across the body sling style. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of me wearing it that way. You can see it in the reflection.

vacation

2008-05-15T09:01:00.005-06:00

The first weekend in May, Curt had a computer geek conference to attend in St. Paul, MN. He was going to be gone for 4 days and the business was paying for a room and none of his partners were going with, so the girls and I decided to go along. I knew we were not going to be able to see Curt much or spend much time with him, but we would be able to do some fun stuff and it would be better than staying home by myself with the Hoodlums (as I like to call them). It worked out that My Mandy was able to come with also and spend part of the weekend with us and part of the weekend with her husband's brother and his family. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza (way out of our league) which is happily situated on the Mississippi River and very near many great sites. We were within walking distance of the Minnesota Children's Museum and the Minnesota Science Museum and only a short drive from Grand Avenue (shopping!) and Como Zoo. Our 4 days were quite full and fun. If you ask the girls, the best part was the hotel pool and watching Chronicles of Narnia in bed on hotel cable. If you ask Mandy and I, the worst part was no TLC, HGTV or Bravo on the hotel cable! When Mandy posts pictures, I will link to her Flickr, because she was the main photographer of the weekend, but here are a few of my shots.

Face painting the Children's Museum. Notice my really cool bag in the mirror reflection. I will post about that later today or tomorrow.
My little scientist. Her only hope for the Science Museum was that she would be able to wear a lab coat and goggles like a real scientist. Wish granted. We got to scrape cheek cells and look at them under a microscope.

Como Park Zoo/Amusement ParkOur Hotel from across the river (the dark grey building). We had an amazing view of St. Paul and the river from our 12th floor window.

Getting Closer

2008-04-23T15:35:00.004-06:00

We have officially finished our Dossier and went yesterday to have our fingerprints done (they have a security checkpoint at the USCIS office that we had to go to, like at an airport!) So now we are at the sit and wait part of the adoption process. We had to go to Milwaukee to get the fingerprints done, so we left the girls with a friend and spent a nice day together. After fingerprints, we headed to the Mitchell Park Domes and then went for some lunch. Here are a couple of shots from the domes.

I want my back yard to look like this... Ok?

I have been super busy in the garden and doing some Spring cleaning (or trying), so the posting will be even less than usual. I am trying to get a photo of the crazy robins in my yard, they aren't afraid of me and get super close. I will post that and a story to go with it when I get a chance. I hope you all are having a wonderful Spring. I finally feel semi-confident that Spring is actually here.

Lovely Quilts

2008-04-10T10:32:00.005-06:00

I went to a quilt show with my aunt on Monday night and thought I would share some of my favorites. I walk around these things in kind of a haze with a silly grin on my face taking lots of close up pictures of quilts that I either find stunning or inspire me for future quilty projects. As posting pictures on Blogger can be sort of a pain in the rump, I am only posting a handful of my favorites. You can click to make them bigger. The picture quality is clearly not my best ever, but the lighting was lacking and carrying a tripod around to make the camera steady enough really is not so convenient. Also, if you have ever been to a quilt show, you know how pushy those quilt ladies can get, and if you haven't then believe me, you take your picture and get the heck out of the way!

This entire quilt was done with fabric selvages (the edge pieces that you usually cut off and often contain the name of the fabric manufacturer, fabric line and designer). They are all about 1" wide strips. Crazy!
For Mandy. She based the design off a picture she had taken. Lots of layers of fabric on top of each other to get the shading on the trunk. For the leaves she used actual leaves as templates and traced them onto fabric.

I love old quilts. This quilt is a new one made from some old parts. The mother of the lady who made it found a stack of Dresden plates unfinished at a flea market for $.75. They ripped them apart and made them into fans. Added some more pieces and added the black background blocks. She added the appliqued vines and her mother embroidered in the solid black blocks. I love the wavy border and think the black just really makes the whole thing. I have a few Dresden plates that I might attempt a smaller version of something like this with.

The flash really washed this out, but I loved the fabrics in this also. There were repeated fabrics, but it had very "eye spy" quality to it. I have not been brave enough to do anything with these angles yet, but this inspired me.
The quilt on the rack is approx. 100 years old. The quilt hanging is a reproduction of the same quilt. Amazing hand quilting and wonderful job recreating the original quilt.

Personalities Shine Through

2008-04-09T15:13:00.003-06:00

The girls practiced their spelling words on the refrigerator with magnet letters yesterday. Abi went first and I had suggested that we arrange the magnet letters on the floor in alphabetical order. She responded "Oh no, color order is much better," and proceeded to arrange them in color order. She happily spelled each word I gave her and used her "scope" to find each letter as seen below.
Emma did her list second and as you can see she prefers no order what so ever to most things in life. Also, spelling is always much better done with a ballet slipper on your hand, your hair in your face and a ballet leotard on your body (better than the naked we were dealing with this morning). I was in the living room reading with Abi while she was working on her list and I could hear her talking while she was spelling so I came to check on her. As she needed a letter she would call out "N, can you please come to the front. N to the front please. You are needed next." Or something rather similar. For each letter. I love her creative mind (most days).
This is just a small sampling of their personalities showing through. If I am asked why we home school, I almost always answer that it is mainly because we do not want them to lose their love of learning. I am trying, as much as possible to honor their personalities and learning styles and help them to grow up accepting who they are. Some days that is easier than others.

Facial Expressions

2008-04-02T16:26:00.004-06:00

One of the first trips to the park this Spring and I actually brought my camera. I was using the drive mode to take multiple pictures back to back thinking I would just get some cute shots. Instead I found myself laughing at the facial expressions that my kids and husband were making while playing intensely. These are my favorites.

April!

2008-04-02T16:03:00.003-06:00

I am not a big fan of April Fool's Day. I do not like to be surprised or tricked, so the day really holds no big draw for me. However, I am married to someone who LOVES that kind of stuff and have 2 little girls who think surprises are great fun. So yesterday we did some minor surprises and just silly things. We did breakfast at lunch which was pancakes. I snuck some raisins in them and we made a big deal about there being bugs in the pancakes. Then I told everyone we were having desert for supper. I found this recipe on the Family Fun website. They are basically meat loaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting. As you can see by the second picture, they looked totally real. Curt knew something was up, but wasn't sure what. Good fun all around.

This past weekend, I went to a quilt retreat with 12 other ladies. This was part of my Christmas present from my mom. We had a great time and got a lot done but not a lot of sleep. Still feeling it. I spent a big chunk of time machine quilting a quilt that my sister had put together using an IKEA shower curtains and an old sheet... good recycling hey? (You can click the pictures to make them bigger if you want).
This is the aftermath of my quilting weekend. Now I am so far behind on cleaning and the yard is finally thawing enough to do some outside work. It feels overwhelming, but I am trying to just take it all in little chunks. At least this pile is a pretty mess.
Overall, just thankful that it is April and maybe, just maybe the weather will improve and with it my mood.

Ahhh, Spring!

2008-03-28T06:50:00.004-06:00

I thought I would appease Sarah and post some "Spring" Loveliness. Now, you all need to realize that Lovely is a very relative term and that in my world sarcasm IS lovely, so take it as you will. Maybe I should call this post "Shades of Loveliness."

We did our Easter celebration with my parents and sister and brother-in-law a week early as Mandy and Peter were suppossed to be gone on Easter. We were able to have the Egg Hunt outside even though snow pants and mittens and boots were required. It was a balmy almost 40 degrees.
I found a Star Wars Easter Egg kit. What better way to celebrate Jesus?
On Easter morning, as we were all scrambling to get ready (OK, I was scrambling to get ready), I asked Curt to take some pictures of the girls in their easter dresses. This is one of 5 pictures that all looked goofy. Ummm, thanks...
Mommy, then took over the camera.

I made my mommy, Curt's mommy and Mandy tote bags for Easter this year. This is Curt's mom's bag. The girls did drawings and chose fabric and I appliqued the pictures on the linen bag. This is a bird house and bird sitting on an egg on a nest.
A Spring Sunrise on my street. Taken this morning. With 3+ inches of fresh snow!
Happy Spring!
When I went grocery shopping on Monday night, there was a cart full of sad looking Easter Lilies marked down to $1.99 each. I HAD to rescue one. It is looking much better now and even gave me 3 blooms so far. It smells so good. My husband didn't even laugh at me for having to "rescue" a plant, but my mom did.

Lisa, could you please to send Spring here as you all seem to have moved on directly to Summer?

Our Week

2008-03-14T10:28:00.004-06:00

Our adoption home study is officially approved! The girls and I went to Madison on Tuesday and got the certified birth certificates and marriage certificate. Then we explored down town Madison while we were there. We were able to walk from the government building to the Capital and looked around inside a bit. The girls were quite impressed. Then we went to the Madison Children's Museum. We could have stayed there all day. What a neat place. There was a sensory area on the first floor that I wanted to move in to. Lots of role playing/pretending type stuff and the girls are quite into that right now. I had to beg them to leave when it was time so we could eat lunch. After the museum we walked down State Street and got some lunch and then back to our vehicle which was parked near the lake. The whole thing was quite an adventure for all of us. Then we drove to the adoption agency offices and picked up our official home study packets. So exciting. The next step is sending our USCIS paperwork on Monday and then our Dossier paperwork sometime in the next couple of weeks. Then comes the waiting... It is starting to feel so real. I can't believe that a year ago we were putting adoption on the back burner to buy this house and I had all but convinced myself that it would never happen and now here we are. God is truely amazing. I did manage to take some pics of our field trip on Tuesday so you could join in the fun.

Emma in full construction worker gear. Note the pencil behind the ear, just like Grandpa.
This is called the Dream Machine, sort of a cross between a boat and a plane or sorts. They had bunches of fabric fish laying around and life vests. Much fun.

This was a water feature in the sensory area. They wanted the kids to touch and play in it. I want one in my house. Water flowing over rocks is so great.
Emma playing drums in the Making Music area. She is beggin for some bongo drums now.
Mosiac Floor! I want this too, I told you I wanted to move in.
Giant blue gill that you could crawl inside. The inside was painted to look like what is really inside a fish.
A long table full of pea gravel and construction vehicles. Endless fun.

Randomness

2008-03-07T17:33:00.003-06:00

My children are not giants, this is how tall the snowbank is in front of our house.
New springy garland on the staircase. Thanks for the help Aunt Mando!

We attended our first ever doggy birthday party last weekend. The girls had so much fun. Brooklyn (our pup) was nervous, but was good and very tired out by the end.

Sunset behind our house. We first looked at this house 1 year ago last week and the night that we looked at it the sun was setting just like this. I was hooked. It has been a great year here and I feel quite blessed to be here and have a view like this out my kitchen window.
I was searching for signs of spring earlier this week even though the temp has only been above freezing once in the last month. This is the Golden Oregano in my herb Garden. It is tough evidently.
My lilac bush seems to know that Spring is coming... hopefully the weather will follow.

I tried posting earlier this week, but Blogger was not in the mood. This post is rather random and not even in chronological order, but here it is anyway. Happy almost spring!

Good Bye February...

2008-02-29T16:38:00.005-06:00

When the sprouts first came up they were kind of purple. I was a little concerned as I really wanted some green, but they are greening up nicely now.
This is today. The grass is getting quite tall and the girls were quite concerned as to how we would trim it without a lawn mower that small. I assured them that it would be ok for us to trim the grass with scissors.

I will not miss this month when it is gone. I will gladly welcome March tomorrow morning with a smile. There is even RAIN in the forecast for Sunday, and here I thought that precipitation only came in the form of snow or ice pellets. I know spring will come, the wait is just so hard sometimes. Our pretty green grass on the window ledges really does cheer things up. We are working on some spring crafts also. The absence this week was due to the preparations for the home visit with our Adoption Social Worker that took place on Wednesday. One more big hurdle conquered (and a very clean and organized house to boot). We should have our Home Study approved by the end of next week. Next step is sending paperwork to the USCIS for their approval, then another chunk of paperwork to gather and then it all goes to Ethiopia. We are making progress and that feels good.

Playing in the Dirt

2008-02-22T20:47:00.005-06:00

Trying to make it feel more like spring, we planted Rye Grass Seeds (couldn't find wheat grass seeds, but this should work). These little pots are on the dining room window ledge which is quite sunny. I will post an update next week when they start to sprout.
I didn't want to be left out of the fun, so I took some of my little glass jars on the kitchen window ledge and filled them with dirt and seeds too.
We have been working more and more on independence, and they are coming along quite well. I know it is a good thing, but seeing them doing things for themselves makes me wonder what happened to my babies.

We can always count on Emma for a laugh. She dug a hole and shoved her head in it... "just like my cousin Buck." (Buck is my sister Mandy's dog... Emma and Abi's ONLY "cousin").

Color 4

2008-02-13T21:07:00.004-06:00

So here is the big adoption story change in a nutshell. We got a call from our adoption agency last Wednesday during the blizzard telling us that Haiti is not an option for our family as the draft of the new law states that at least one parent has to be 35 years old in order to adopt from Haiti. So basically overnight we had to chose a new country. This has been very hard emotionally, because we really felt led to adopt from Haiti. So complete change of direction was a lot to take. We have decided on Ethiopia. We had our first meeting with our Social Worker last Thursday and that went very well. We are slowly making our way through the mountain of paperwork. It is more emotionally draining than I ever thought it would be as they ask a lot of very person and in depth questions. Keep on praying for us please. We appreciate all the added prayer we can get.

On to color for the day. Not an outside picture you will notice, but will also notice the sun streaming in the window. That was the happiest part of the day.

A game of Chinese Checkers counts as math right?

Frosted Window Panes

2008-02-11T13:50:00.000-06:00

What 40 below zero does to our windows.

Our bedroom window before a nap:
And after a nap:
I was able to travel to Madison yesterday with my Mother-in-Law to visit the Garden Expo. We at least got to pretend it was spring for about an hour. Then we drove home in the many degrees below zero weather on the highway that was half drifted shut. I am just going to stare at this picture and pretend myself there.

Colors 3

2008-02-06T17:15:00.000-06:00

Can't wait to be able to sit here this spring.

Poor Brooklyn. The snow is up to her belly.

Ummm, the color of the day would be WHITE. Like 17 inches of it that is currently blowing and drifting everywhere. These are the couple of pics I was brave enough to reach my camera out the door and snap. Just thankful we are all home and safe. Such crazy weather.

Please be praying about the adoption stuff. Plans are changing and we are not completely sure what that means yet. Scared and confused and snowed in. Not a good combination. I am quilting, which always helps.

Colors 2

2008-02-05T15:04:00.000-06:00

My favorite winter color.

Vinca vines and sedum.

Off to scrape the ice off the drive way before 10 more inches of snow!

Colors 1

2008-02-04T12:30:00.001-06:00

This one is kind of cheating because it is not outside. We had a ladies night at church last week and we each were giving a carnation to take home. I was messing around with my macro setting and flash and this is what I got. It is bright and colorful and made me smile.

One of Mandy's pots setting upside down on the porch railing waiting for spring and flowers. One of my favorite colors of green.

Blue, enamal wear bowl on the back porch, again, waiting for spring and flowers.

I know, I was complaining about the grey, but I LOVE this pail. I use it to haul weeds and the girls use it to get water from the river. I feel like it is just peeking out of the snow to say hi.

I got soaked taking this picture. The old trike is sitting right under where the water is melting off the roof. It makes gorgeous icicles. Love the red against the white.

I may regret the photos I chose today come next week, because they are of found objects around our yard that are colorful and in the upcoming days I may not be able to find any other color. The purpose of doing this is to get me looking beyond the snow and slush and such and find color and texture and beauty in what is getting to be a very loooooong winter. I was smiling when I came back in from taking these pictures, so for today, the project has served its purpose. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Finding Color

2008-02-04T08:53:00.000-06:00

Do you know that the world has turned Sepia? It's true! I look out the window and all I see is shades of white, brown, grey, and black. No color makes Kelly VERY SAD! I know some people call it Seasonal Affect Disorder. For me, it has much more to do with my LOVE of color (that would be why there are no white walls in my entire house). I have not been in a full out depression, but definitely lethargic and sad. Yesterday's sermon really encouraged me. Pastor Rob has been doing a series on Our Potential for Greatness and yesterday preached on Why we are here and using your gifts/talents/abilities, but he came at it from a very different perspective, or at least I heard it differently than the usual gifts/talents/abilities sermons. It made me think, as a good sermon aught to, and when my family was driving home from Madison, I found myself searching the landscape out the window for ANY color that was God made or at the very least, part of the landscape (not cars). Surprisingly, I found a bunch of color, subtle colors, but color and realized I was only allowing myself to see the brown and black and grey and white (like my eyes were set on Sepia or something). So I have set a challenge for myself for at least the rest of February, to search for color and try to capture it photographically. I am going to be posting as much as I can, whether the light is good for pics or not (I haven't been taking pictures lately because of crappy light. Not taking pictures does nothing to help the saddness). I will post my first pic later today when I discover some color. I hope you all are finding ways to make this never ending winter more enjoyable too.

Little House...

2008-01-21T14:07:00.000-06:00

The girls and I are reading Little House in the Big Woods together. Like most little girls, this series of books was a favorite of mine as a child. I have been eagerly awaiting the chance to share them with my girls. Today we read the part where Ma makes candy out of molasses poured over snow. Emma is interested in anything candy related, so of course she wanted to make some. Last week we captured snow and made snowcones out of them by pouring grape juice over fresh snow. They thought this was the greatest thing ever. As we are due to get another 5 or so inches of snow today, we had containers out already to capture fresh snow, so we decided to use some of it to try our hand at snow candy. I used real maple syrup instead of molasses (because I had some and because I am relatively sure the girls wouldn't like molasses). I Googled snow candy and found all sorts of good instructions. Our first attempt didn't work. It just melted the snow, so I heated the syrup a little more and then is worked great. It was so yummy and stuck to our teeth. I am sure the dentist will be pleased at Abi's appointment tomorrow.

Because my public (or Sarah) demands an Update

2008-01-17T14:05:00.000-06:00

The girls received a real sewing machine for Christmas from my mom. My aunt gave them a bunch of fabric all pre-cut into 5 inch squares and little sewing kits. At this point, Abi is only able to control the foot pedal, but it is a start. She layed out the fabric squares the way she wanted them and we worked together to make her first little quilt for her stuffed kitty. I just used fleece for the back so that we didn't have to use batting, but it still feels like a quilt. We just did a quick turn and then topstitched the edges. Used the zig-zag stitch down the middle of the seams to quilt it all together and in less than an hour she had made her first quilt. She and Emma have each made another one since, as well as 2 little pillows.

Last Saturday was her Princess Party. She loved the outfit that mom and I made for her. We had a princess party for Emma when she turned 4 and have similar pictures of her and Curt dancing. I treasure the pictures so much and understand that all too soon they will pictures of them dancing at their weddings with their daddy.
This is my feeble attempt at a princess castle. There may have been cursing involved. I started out the day thinking how much fun it would be to plan children's parties and decorate cakes as a side job. By the time I was done with this, all of those plans had completely fled out the window. All the Princesses had a wonderful time. They are popping balloons that had jewelry inside in the picture below. We were all quite tired when the party was done, but I think everyone lived happily ever after. The End.

Happy Birthday Abi

2008-01-07T16:42:00.000-06:00

My baby turned 5 today. That statement carries way more emotional weight for me than it probably should. First of all, since when does 5 years go so fast???? I mean seriously. Do you remember high school? 4 years felt like FOREVER! But I am pretty sure I had her like last week and now she is 5. Second, she is the last baby that I will ever carry IN my body and this morning, I was really struggling with that. The grieving of never being able to carry another baby in my body has for the most part passed, but I find myself remembering what it felt like on their birthdays. Today that brought some sadness. On the upside (which is what this blog is about after all), we are hopefully sending in the application to our adoption agency this week to start that ball rolling, so even though I will never carry a baby IN my body, I am most certainly not done carrying babies! On to the birthday fun...

We try to make birthdays a pretty big deal around here. Not present wise, but just make the birthday person feel special. We always have cake and presents and such with the Grandparents and Aunt Mando, Uncle Peter, Uncle Brian and his girlfriend. That was yesterday. We did heart shaped cupcakes and Abi helped decorate. She loves to help in the kitchen. Notice the towel over her shoulder, mommy does that too, so she insists on having a towel. She is having a Princess party with her little friends next weekend. Stand by for irresistible Princess cuteness next week.
Here she is, attempting to blow out her candles. She had a tough time, so mommy had to help.

This is today. Her actual birthday. She at least still looks like my baby. We are working on the thumb sucking. The quilt is her "nigh-nigh." She has had it since she was born and it is falling apart. But it keeps the bad dreams away or so she says.
Forgive the poor quality of pictures. Another gloomy day. But birthdays are still special, no matter the weather. Happy Birthday Abigail Faith! We are off to McDonald's (her restaurant of choice) to celebrate.

Snow Fun

2007-12-28T16:13:00.001-06:00

First snowman of Winter. Oh, wait! It is a snowLADY. My bad. We have had something like 25 inches of snow since December 1st, but this was the first good and packy stuff. The contrast was really bad on this picture, so I played with photoshop a little. Still a lot to learn, so forgiveness please.

This is the snowcastle that the Queen Momma so nicely built.

Abi decorating the snow castle.

Snowpaint is way fun. If you have never tried it before, it is a must. We emptied some spray bottles of their cleaning solutions (not that there has been any cleaning around her recently anyway) and added some water and food coloring. Squirt away!

Snow angels are also great!

Dreaming of...

2007-12-28T15:51:00.001-06:00

Pear Blossoms

Picnics

Walking around Barefoot

Green grass, green leaves and water flowing in the river

Lilacs

Black Eyed Susans

The Dreaming makes the months go faster.

Ice Storm Warning- The Day After

2007-12-12T11:39:00.000-06:00

Decorations on a budget

2007-12-10T16:46:00.000-06:00

When we first got out our Christmas decorations this year, I had a slight panic. You see, our new house is quite a bit bigger than our cute little cottage was. I knew exactly where my decorations went at the old house. I always put white lights on the picket fences in the corners of the yard. The tree had a standard home. I did silver balls in the dining room. It helps that there were really only 3 rooms I could decorate. Much less overwhelming. All of a sudden I have a much bigger house to decorate, but the same amount of decorations. I wasn't sure how I was going to make the house look festive, using only what we had. Many, many material things have been put into perspective this year, and now I can add Christmas decorations to the list. When you are saving for an adoption, suddenly, how many and what kind of decorations you have just really doesn't matter. The slight meltdown/panic came on because I really like to decorate. I like to surround myself with pretty things. But, I am also immensely cheap. Like I said, it was only a slight panic. Once I put my mind to it, I have been able to decorate quite nicely without spending money on anything but the tree (which we do every year). I am so thankful for a healthy dose of creativity that sometimes drives me crazy, but many times is exactly what I need. I am also quite thankful for Flickr and all the great ideas that can be found there. You will have to forgive the quality of these pictures. The lack of sunlight is not helping with the photo taking attempts. I am unable to get a decent photo of the silver snowflake garland in the dining room and school room doors, but you will just have to trust me that it looks great.

I sewed fabric that I had in my stash into star shapes with some batting in the middle. Cut the edges with pinking shears. Used a large eyed needle to thread some shear ribbon through and hung 1 on each spindle on the stair case. We also hung the stockings with ribbon from the stair case. Emma did the tying, she said it was good practice.

The tree found a good home next to the window seat and in front of one of the glass doors, so it reflects nicely.

The wreaths are my favorite! I have really wanted star shaped wreaths after seeing them in a pottery barn catalog a couple of years ago. Being CHEAP, I wouldn't buy them, so I had been searching for a star shaped wreath form and have been unable to find any. As I was trying to figure out what to do outside the house, I realized that the star shaped wreaths that I have been longing for would look even better on this house than they would have at the other. So I set my mind to figuring out how to make them. We always get extra pine boughs when we go get our tree so I had plenty of that to work with. I just needed a base to wire the boughs to. I spent some time looking for sticks that would work and came up empty. Then I saw the stash of utility flags that the children had hidden behind the couch. When we moved in we had the utility guys come and mark all the line so that in my mad gardening frenzies, I wouldn't kill myself or blow up the neighborhood. After I had taken pictures of where the flags were, I told the girls they could have them. They used them all summer for such things as marking where they had planted their dandelion seeds and pretending to land on the moon. So now I reclaimed them and used the sturdy wires that the flags are attached to to make star shaped wreath forms. I wired the greens on, snuck some lights in there and ta-da!
We had intended to put lights on 1 of the trees down by the river so that they could reflect off the river and make me exceedingly happy and also had intended to put more greens around, but alas, the every other day snow/ice pattern that we have been in has prevented further decorating. I guess there is always next year. I keep telling myself that snow is a free decoration and who need icicle lights when there are real icicles?

Baking and Making

2007-12-06T13:46:00.000-06:00

Since Thanksgiving there has been a great deal of sewing, crafting, decorating and baking going on around here. I am hoping to post a little more often to share some of the goodness, but I have to be careful as I wouldn't want to reveal any gifts. For today, I will share some baking loveliness. The 2 days immediately following Thanksgiving we get together at my mom's house and do some hard core baking and cookie decorating. I love this tradition because it always involves some degree of craziness on the part of my sister and me. You see, we are a tad bit anal, mixed with a little crazy, and have more creativity and ideas than either one of use will ever be able to use in a life time. So cookie decorating becomes an art. Not like Martha Stewart though. Oh no, we are much too silly for that. Oh, and inevitably someone gets cookie dough thrown at him or her. And we laugh so hard that we cry. Such fun.

This is Mandy's crazy cookie spiral. Last year we realized that it was very fun to photograph the cookies. (that is what the cookie pics at the top are from.) We both probably have over 100 pictures of cookies between the last 2 years. Like I said, crazy.
My girls really got into the decorating this year. This guy is Emma's.

Ever the entrepreneurs, my children set up shop in Grandma's living room and sold the cookies for 5 cents a piece. Who was buying? Me, Mandy, Curt, Grandma, Grandpa, and even one of my Aunts came out and bought some. The little buggers made over $2 selling cookies over the 2 days. I think I should be worried.

Happy Day after Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T09:16:00.002-06:00

We woke up to the first snow of the season on Thanksgiving morning, so we had some snow fun before heading to Curt's parents to gorge ourselves.
We have enough of a hill in the backyard to make a small sledding run. Daddy or mommy have to pull them down the hill to guarantee that no one sleds into the river at the bottom. Daddy likes to make them spin out just before the river as seen below. Maybe a little too close for my comfort.

No shopping for us today, just LOTS of cookie baking and decorating and sugar consumption at my mommy's house. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and a wonderful long weekend.

Bonus photo: My new bathroom curtains. I know the photo is a little dark, but I think they are super cute. I have been making the little yo-yos on and off for 2 years or so and will never make anything big like a quilt out of the, so I decided this would be a good use for them.

What we are up to around here

2007-11-12T21:26:00.000-06:00

Short absense again. Sorry. It is kind of the story of my life, I can only be consistant for short bursts of time and then I fall off the wagon (which I guess means I am not so consistant after all). We have been trying to enjoy the remaining nice weather of fall. This has included a leaf raking party at friend's house (with 12 kiddos involved, so much fun).

2 weekends ago, Curt and I went to an adoption information meeting in Madison. I went into it with the expections that this would be just more info to add to my already confused and crowded mind and that we probably wouldn't come away with any answers. I guess sometimes it pays to set your expectations low, because sometimes when you least expect it, God will simply blow you away. We arrived at the open house style meeting an hour later than I wanted to ( I am a time person, I like to be on time). But this just happened to be 10 minutes before the next set of informational meetings was beginning. We had been going back and forth between whether to adopt Internationally or adopt through the foster system domestically. Well, we had to choose an information session to attend. It was good because it kind of forced us into a corner and made a choose. From the beginning, we had wanted to adopt Internationally, but in the recent past we had been questioning that decision. We picked the International information session. We were the only people in that session which meant that we had the Social Worker completely to ourselves. She asked a lot of questions and shared a lot of info. We shared with her that our heart is really to adopt Internationally but the $ is scary ($20,000 to $40,000 depending on the country) and that we were having a hard time choosing a country. So she asked what country, if any, we were leaning towards. We talked to her about Haiti. About the connections we have there. About the missionaries we have supported there and the prayers that we have prayed for that country and their orphanages. We just talked. She looked me in the eyes and said "I never tell my families what country to choose, they have to make that decision themselves, but I just know that your country is Haiti." Sometimes in life, you need an audible voice. She became that for us. So Haiti it is! What a relief to finally know what direction we want to go. We will be starting the long and expensive process in January. Yeah!!!! After the meeting we went out to lunch and then just walked by the lake a bit. I will always remember that day and these photos are so special to me because they somehow capture a bit of what it feels like to finally know a direction.

On a lighter note. There has been crafting going on (always, you just don't always get to see it). I put together a Fall Craft Day for the local homeschoolers. I loved it. I had put together 10 different projects that were just set up around stations for the kids to do at their own pace. I love how creative kids can be. I had made simple examples of each project but really wanted them to feel free to do their own thing, and they did. I made a simple boat out of a paper plate and a popsicle stick and some paper. They made SHIPS with the same materials. I made simple napkin ring holders out of beads and wire. They made bookmarks and rings and bracelets. I made a simple Thanksgiving card. They made 3D cards. I did a simple stitching card with an acorn and backstitching. They did cross hatching and added beads. Amazing.
Oh, and I volunteered to test out a pattern for Kathy at Pink Chalk Studio. So now I have a lovely new scarf too. Yeah!

November

2007-11-01T19:32:00.000-06:00

I like November. October, I can live without, but November I like. What about you? Do you favor certain months over others? My list goes like this...

#1 Favorite month- September- It is the month with my birthday. Things start to cool off a bit and we usually go camping.

#2- May- You know, all those spring flowers that come after the April showers. I absolutely love tulips and poppies and lilacs and peonies and and.... you get the idea.

#3- November- Halloween is finally, freaking over and then there is Thanksgiving what with all the good food and the thankfulness. Also, it seems to be one of the few Holidays that is mostly lacking in controversy (I don't deal well with controversy). I also like the cool, crisp weather that requires that we cover our bodies, but not bundle up an extreme amount.

My least favorite months:

#1 February- There is a reason that it is the shortest month of the year, but it still always feels the longest.

#2 October- I DETEST Halloween!

#3 Probably July (sorry Mando) only because it is sooooo stinking HOT most of the time.

The rest of the months are just kind of there with some high points and some low points in each, but today, I just felt like saying "Yeah, it's November!" You gotta take every small reason to celebrate that you get.

Tuesday... again.

2007-10-23T19:26:00.000-06:00

There must be something about Tuesday. I woke up feeling restless and just didn't want to stay home, so we rushed through the necessary for my guilty mommy conscience school work and then took off to go to Target, get some lunch and play at the park. We met Aunt Mando at the park and enjoyed lunch with her. It was one of those close to perfect fall days that reenergize me so greatly. We came home and rested and then went to the park down the street because we hadn't had enough park time yet. Abi rode her bike almost all the way there by herself (well, with training wheels) for the first time. The light was so wonderful and we had so much fun playing. Please indulge me, I took over a hundred photos today, I want to share my favorites. The river is MY river, in our back yard. It sparkles like that all the time and I like to think it is just for me. The leaf pile photos are from Sunday and were taken by my hubby, but I discovered them when I dumped today's photos onto the computer and they made me smile. Enjoy~

Friday Love List

2007-10-19T15:39:00.000-06:00

(Emma took the leaf photo. She has a good eye, just needs to learn to hold still)

As per Lori's challenge, here is my Friday Love List:

What I love:

*My secret stash of chocolate in the cupboard that I get to sneak while the kids rest.

*Finding time to just sit and sew.

*A day with perfect light and time to run around and take interesting pictures.

*When my children have that "ah-ha" moment and actually get what I am teaching them.

*Organization and the brief moments when things are beautifully organized, before anyone touches them and destroys it all.

*Reading other people's beautifully written blogs and wishing someday I could write like that.

*A new magazine in the mail, waiting to be read.

*A family date to Culver's tonight.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tuesday

2007-10-16T20:53:00.000-06:00

I generally like Tuesdays. They don't hold the same expectations as Monday, in fact I don't really have any expectations for Tuesday. It is usually the day that I get a lot accomplished either home school wise, or house work wise. Well, my cold is kind of kicking me in the butt today, but we did get some stuff accomplished. My daddy (whom I am so thankful for) is helping me build shelves under the stairs in the great closet that is off the school room. We emptied everything out of it this morning. It was filled with all the board games and such and it had all pretty much avalanched (which my spell check says is not a word, but I beg to differ)upon itself. The girls were so helpful, which lately is a reason in itself to be thankful. I really enjoy decluttering more than I should, so I took great joy in this task. This afternoon I was able to bless a friend who needed a last minute babysitter for her 3 BOYS. The 2 older boys and my girls are great friends, so this was pretty exciting for them. Her youngest is my best, good buddy. He is so much fun. He will be 2 in February and is starting to talk a lot. So we all walked to the park that is just up the street and played and played. The big kids ran off their energy and pretended to be Super Heros and the little one and I just had fun together. It felt really good. So Yeah! Again no photos, blame blogger. :(

New Week

2007-10-15T19:26:00.000-06:00

It is Monday, which I personally am usually not very thankful for. I always have expectations to start Monday all refreshed and with all of my ducks in a row, and that rarely happens. I am seriously sleep deprived and fighting a cold and so are the kiddos, so today was less than stellar. We did however have a very lovely weekend. So, I will write about/think about that and hope for a better Tuesday.

Saturday: I got to SLEEP IN, which is loveliness in and of itself. I went to the farmer's market in a nearby town with my sister and then we went to the fabric store and Target. It doesn't get much more lovely. Saturday afternoon/evening we had a family picnic at my in-laws' home. It was very nice. We ate way too much and then sat around the campfire talking and eating smores. So a wonderful day overall. :)

How about you? Are Mondays a bright spot or not? How was your weekend?

And blogger is not allowing Photos this evening, so sorry :(

Thankfulness... week at a glance format

2007-10-12T12:43:00.000-06:00

Hmmm, life seems to have interfered with the blogging this week. So as to not make you think that I gave up on being thankful, I give you the week at a glance version of things I am thankful for.

Monday- I received an email from a lady I met the conference last weekend. She wanted to buy a purse like the one I made that I posted last week. I was so excited. I have wanted to sell some of the things I make for a while, but am kind of scared to, so this is a good start.

Tuesday-Curt coaches cross country. Every year, right before the conference meet, I make cookies for each of the team members (there are 36 runners this year). Tuesday night I cut and baked all the cookies while Curt and the girls did a little fishing and a lot of cuddling.

Wednesday- The weather was very cold, but we took off and went to a local apple orchard anyway. Much fun... pony rides, a play ground, a maze, warm apple donuts, fresh picked raspberries and a lovely fall day. I got all the cookies decorated too. MMMM frosting.

Thursday- I made extra cookies and frosting so that the girls could decorate some too. They loved it. Christmas cookies decorating will be a blast this year Mando. It was my mommy's birthday so the girls and I took her some cookies and some balloons and some pizza and had lunch with her at her office. I also got to go to the Conference CC meet by myself! No kiddos in tow. They are pretty sick of cross country by this point in the season. Curt's teams did as expected. One of his girls ended up the individual girls champ and has a good chance of making it on to the State meet. So that was exciting. I am so glad he has the opportunity to coach. He really enjoys it and his team has sooooo much fun together. They are like a big family.

Friday- Well, today has been more difficult. I am still feeling the sleep deprivation from last weekend and I am tired and cranky quite honestly and I have a little girl who has been melting down every time she doesn't get her way (and considering her way is things like, "let's go to Disney world...right now" and "I will only be nice if I can have the book my sister has" and "I don't want to sit on my bottom to eat, I would rather crouch on my heals and eat while bouncing" she hasn't gotten her way much today). She is also "BORED." But I am so thankful to be their mommy and Curt's wife, and that is enough. One of the biggest things that I took home with me from the Mommy conference last weekend is that I am the mom/wife that God chose for this family, several of the speakers said this and they really went out of their way to stress this point. I have struggled a lot with self loathing (if you haven't, I am surprised), but by the end of the conference, I really was feeling so much better after being told over and over again how important mom and wife is. I hope that someone says something to make you feel important today. And if no one else does, I will, because you are important. You wouldn't be on this earth if that weren't true! Thank you all for reading. Have a lovely weekend.

Monday

2007-10-08T20:25:00.000-06:00

I am back from my weekend away and feeling wonderfully refreshed. Where did I go you ask? Well, I will tell you. I went to a Hearts At Home conference in Minnesota with a good friend. Another mom that we both know, and who I can now count among my friends rode with us and we all stayed with her sister, whom I also gained as a friend. The 4 of us had a wonderful time at the conference, stayed up way too late talking and laughing, ate wonderful food and just had an all around good time. I heard about this conference this summer. We were at the pool for swimming lessons, and I had been feeling pretty stressed. I was venting to another mommy friend, who told me I needed to do something for myself. Well, a little while later, a lady from our church came in and handed me this booklet and said she wasn't interested in this, but maybe I would be. It was for this conference. An answer to prayer and I almost immediately begged my husband to let me go. I told my friend about it and she was super interested too. So off we went and left the kiddos with the husbands and joined 2200 other mommies for a wonderfully refreshing weekend away. I will post more about what I learned tomorrow, but I just wanted to say I am back and more thankful than ever. Among the things I am thankful for today... Fall weather FINALLY arriving, giggles (the girls had a 20 minute long tickle fest today that was way too cute), making sugar cookies for the Cross Country team (I use my Great Grandma's recipe and it always reminds me of her and makes me smile), a sense of peace.

thankful for bread

2007-10-05T11:01:00.000-06:00

I baked bread this morning and my house smells soooooo good right now. As with the last 2 posts, I realized while I was baking, that I did it because I wanted to not because I had to! I guess I am realizing that I am quite thankful for the little things that I get to do, that I love and bring joy to me and my family. Not everyone has that luxury and I don't want to take that lightly.

I am gone for the weekend at a mommy conference. I hope to come back refreshed and I also expect to hear what you all are thankful for.

Have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy the simple things.

(sorry no pics today... please don't hate me)

Thankful for my sewing machine

2007-10-04T14:27:00.000-06:00

My sewing machine has been in the shop for 3 weeks and I got it back Tuesday. I was getting a little twitchy! So last night I was able to put in a couple of hours of sewing therapy. I finished up my project today and I present you with my new fall bag, just in time for my weekend away. Just like the garden thing, I am so thankful that I can sew because I want to, not because I have to (I have been reading a lot of pioneer time books lately and have a new appreciation for modern technology).

The fabric was a gift from Kira as a thank you for helping with her wedding. I don't usually like pink, but I really like this fabric. It was suppossed to be lined with a green cotton, but that didn't work out, so I lined it with green wool felt with purple felt pockets (you can kind of see them in the second photo). Very appropriate for fall and gives it a nice stiffness. I like the dimensions of it a lot. Did I write them down though, so I can make it again? Of course not!

Finding Joy in the day to day stuff

2007-10-03T17:58:00.001-06:00

Sorry for the week of no posting. Emma had another Seizure and an overnight doctors appointment/eeg last week and I honestly am not handling all of this too well. I think I am just coming to grips with the fact that this isn't like a cold and is not going to go away. She is going to have to deal with this for the rest of her life and thus we are too. We came home from the appointment with medication, and so far no more seizures and I am thanking God for each seizure free day. I have been really having a hard time emotionally, but somehow, I have been more aware of the little things in each day that make me smile/laugh/feel better, if only for a moment. I realized that I don't have to be happy all the time in order to give God glory. He never said that I couldn't have emotion. That I can't be sad or angry. He did say to do all things without complaining. So I am trying my best to do just that. Have honest emotions, not complain, and find whatever I can to be thankful for and smile as often as possible. So with that I am going to attempt to post daily something that I am thankful for (except for this weekend when I am out of town). It will most likely be a very little and trivial thing, but those are the things that I have been appreciating and recognizing most as of late. I would love it if you would post what you are thankful for each day in the comments as well.

This is the last pot of homemade tomato sauce of the year. I am so thankful that my garden is a luxury and not a necessity. That I get to make tomato sauce because I want to, not because I have to. And I am also thankful that God gave me the ability to cook (and also the ability to eat, but I might be less thankful for that as it does seem to cause a bit of weight problem...).

Translation for those of you who don't reading developmental/emergent writing...

Tinkle, Tinkle Little Bat
Why did you tinkle upside down like that?

Hey, at least she is writing!

Back in Time

2007-09-19T14:40:00.000-06:00

On Monday a group of the Home schoolers from our area visited a one room school house, where Francis Willard originally taught. My calendar tells me that September 28th is Francis Willard day. If you want to be more educated about who she was, there is a lovely search box at the top of your internet browser that will be more than happy to point you to that information. And now you are more enlightened. You're welcome. Anyway, back to the story. We were encouraged to dress the kiddos in 1850's costumes to add to the fun. So I set about sewing long skirts and bonnets, like the good mom that I am. We all had so much fun. The sweet little old lady, who was playing teacher that day, gave them a good mix of a history lesson and a taste of what school would have actually been like way back when. My girls, being the drama queens that they are, jumped into character and you would think that they had actually travelled back in time. Emma sat perfectly still with her hands in her lap for around 2 hours, which is unheard of around here. The children had to go around the room in the beginning, stand up and say their first and last names. When they got to Abi, she stood up and said "Abi" very confidently. When the teacher asked her "Abi, what?" expecting her last name, Abi said, "gail." Obviously... Abi Gail, duh. Too cute. We had a mix of ages in our group, it felt very authentic. We have since been enjoying "Little House" stories and mommy's collection of old school books ( I have strange hobbies, I know). I am more than pleased that they are taking an interest in this era of time that I have long been fascinated with. I have always said that History was my worst subject, and I still hold that to be true- in that I have never been great at memorizing names, dates and places. I really didn't/don't care. However, when it comes to the social parts of history, I am fascinated. So, as long as I can teach them history in that context, we will all be good to go. My favorite part of this whole experience was the little motto that the teacher helped the children to memorize. It was supposedly the motto that Miss Willard had sitting on her desk. It goes like this...

I am only one,

But I am one.

I cannot do everything,

But I can so somethings.

What I can do, I ought to do.

With the help of God.

Phonics

2007-09-14T10:46:00.000-06:00

Abi is learning a letter sound a day in our phonics program. Emma learned them all last year and is reading pretty well. Abi followed along with us last year, but wasn't officially doing school yet, so she is reviewing them all this year. Today we were playing a game where they took turns making words out of the sounds we have learned so far. It is suppossed to give them confidence because they are able to make words already even though they have only learned 12 sounds. So they were making words like cat, hit, pin, pan, red and then Abi grabs the e, h, and c and I am ready to tell her that she cannot make a word out of those letters and she yells out...

Fabulous!

Perspective

2007-09-12T09:37:00.000-06:00

I have been really struggling with depression for about a month now. I should back up and say I have struggled with depression on and off for quite awhile, probably most severely after I had both of the girls (PPD), but only recently have I been able to put words to what I am struggling with. No, I have not gone to the doctor for it. This is for several reasons, which I won't get into here, but basically Curt and I have agreed that right now I don't need to and that if we ever feel that I need to, I will. I need his help in that decision as I don't always see clearly, myself (or see myself clearly... either way). This last bout, I believe has probably been brought on by the stress of Emma's seizures (she had another last week, but we think we may have a little more insight now into what is causing them, please keep praying), combined with the stress of starting homeschool. I loved doing homeschool last year. We had so much fun. So far this year, I have been flipping out about it. I feel a lot of pressure to do a good job, which is justified, but I go overboard and expect myself to be a "perfect" homeschooling mom. I am realizing how much of a perfectionist I am. I guess I have always known I was, but usually pushed it aside, because if I were really a perfectionist, then my house would be clean and my life would be organized. They aren't! I almost posted pictures, but I like the Internet to only see the good :). Instead I constantly beat myself up for not doing things good enough. I am always trying to find better ways to do things. Self-improvement is ok to a point, but not when it becomes obsessive. I have been slowly making my way through a book about maternal depression and yesterday, while sitting on the porch swing reading, several statements really struck me. One passage really hit hard... she talks about how there is no one small thing that will lick depression, but lots of small actions added up "create synergy" and help the depressed person to have a more optimistic outlook. "In a way, you could say, an optimist is willing to think small." I have been willing to think small in the past... I would think and observe all the little things that were/are wrong with me, my house, my husband, my kids, our church, the people around me... The list always grows. After reading that passage, I kind of felt like a switch had been flipped. I need to find the good. Isn't that why I have this blog (that I have been ignoring because I don't think anything is lovely)? So we are starting fresh today. I will probably have to start fresh lots of times. But today is good. It is sunny and in the 60s. My favorite weather. The back ache I went to bed with is gone. The children are being good (or at least I am not hyper-focused on the bad). I have a new refrigerator and dryer! I want to choose to see all those things instead of the little messes, and imperfections everywhere. I will keep trying. I am going to make a goal to post more often. At least 3 times a week. Hold me accountable ok? And now for the required picture, because pictures and taking them make me happy. I hope you all are clinging to what makes you happy too.

My Lovely (am I allowed to call him that?) Husband

2007-08-30T13:44:00.000-06:00

I have been meaning to write this post for several weeks, but it has been crazy busy, so here it is... better late than never. The sentiment remains. I have had weddings/marriage on the mind lately due to helping a friend with her wedding, another friend randomly getting married (congrats Lisa), and yet another friend secretely getting married (don't worry, I haven't told). Also, Curt and I celebrated 11 years of marriage earlier this month (if you are doing the math, we were 18 and 19 respectively when we got married... yes it was a big deal). So, as this blog is a place to talk about the lovely things in my life, I need to share one of my biggest blessings. I am so thankful that what started out as 2 silly teenagers being madly in love has turned into an amazing partnership and friendship and strong marriage. Curt does such a good job "putting up with me." He always gets mad when I say it that way, but it is true. I am a handful. He tries his best to encourage me when I am down and has worked so hard to understand the bouts of depression. He is an amazing daddy and I believe that those 2 little girls are going to grow up very confident in who they are and that they are loved because of it. Curt's business, Computer Know How, celebrated 10 years in business this year also. I am so proud of what they have accomplished. I could go on and on, but really I just enjoy being around him still after all this time, and am glad he is mine. Love you Curtiss!

This would be Matrix style dishwasher unloading. Did I mention he is an otter?

Photos to make you smile

2007-08-09T15:48:00.000-06:00

We found this tomato in our garden. He has a nose and hair! God has a strange sense of humor.

Not a lot of lovely things to say right now. It has been a hard week. Emma had another seizure and I had to take Abi to the doctor today (nothing serious, but still). We have had some loveliness that we have taken pictures of and I cling to the little things that make me smile.

Blooming Butterflies!

2007-07-30T17:47:00.000-06:00

Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison has a butterfly event every year and we have taken the girls to it since Emma was 2 and Abi was a baby. So today was the day to go this year. We have had butterflies and moths on the mind lately as Aunt Mandy has found 2 different caterpillars for us in the last week. A dear friend had given Emma a wonderful butterfly barn for her birthday, and we weren't sure that the 2 caterpillars could cohabitate, but they are handling things quite nicely. The first caterpillar received he name "Junior" and made a cocoon overnight right after we got it. We did some research and found that it is an American Dagger Moth caterpillar. They like to eat maple leaves. The second caterpillar, Mandy and I found at her house, on the milkweed. The allusive monarch caterpillar! So exciting to everyone. (If you are not excited, just pretend). She is named "Laura." It ate a ton of milkweed the first day. Pooped A LOT (Abi's observation). Then yesterday, it "glued its butt" to the screen on the butterfly barn. This morning when we checked, it was still just a caterpillar glued to the screen and by the time we got home from seeing the butterflies at the gardens, it had formed its chrysalis. The girls were pretty pumped and we just hope we will be home to see it hatch out. God's creations are amazing!

The one on the left is a mini Monarch and the right is a Julia. The gardens had pamphlets this year that the kids could carry around so they could identify the butterflies they saw. We also saw a Queen butterfly and a Zebra butterfly. Abi was especially pleased to be able to lable each of them.

Abi as a leaf that is about to be eaten and Emma as a chrysalis.

My friend the dragonfly.

Zinnias as big as my hand and RED. OH MY!!!

This would be my children testing their limits. The sign directly behind Abi says "please do not touch the pebbles in the pool." Emma, whose reading skills are rapidly improving, read the sign and quickly said "it doesn't say anything about touching the water." That is true, Emma.

Emma is learning how to use the camera. This is her photo of her shadow. :)

The chrysalis we found when we got home.

Poppies

2007-07-18T12:42:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite flowers is the Poppy.

This is the window ledge above my sink. It is lined with small bottles/vases of various sizes in red and green and blue. The girls like to keep them filled with flowers for me. Today, Emma had picked this poppy for me and it must have stirred something in her.

Emma asked Renae ( the young lady who is living with us for the summer) to come out on the porch so she could tell her a secret. A short time later, Renae came back in for paper and pencil and then went back out. When they finally came back inside, Emma read me the poem that she had made up and had Renae write down for her. It made me so happy. She read it in this great, poet type voice and just seemed way too grown up for a 6 year old. I can't believe the creativity they possess sometimes. When I woke up this morning (at 6 o'clock) I was struggling to get out of bed and I could hear God gently tell me that this day held surprises. I hauled myself out of bed and went for a long walk which was wonderful in itself. Little did I know how much more there would be. After Emma read me her poem, I held her and told her that God was right, this day did hold good surprises.

The Poppy Poem

By: Emma Gratz

Poppy, poppy, your petals are so soft.

Your petals are so loose.

Your smell is so graceful.

Your pollen, the bees will surely drink.

Serendipity...

2007-07-12T13:36:00.000-06:00

Noun meaning:
an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.

I don't know that I have an aptitude for it, but lately there have been some desirable discoveries that I have come upon quite by accident. My pastor's wife refers to serendipity as "delightful surprises." I think that fits.

When I came in from working in the garden the other day, I was greeted by this lovely spread on the kitchen island. Made me smile.

I looked up from weeding my garden to see this lily floating down the river. I had to run for my camera so that I could share it. Later several more flowers floated by. Not sure how they got there, but I sure enjoyed them.

Yesterday was one of those "practically-perfect-in-every-way" days. I really wanted to get some stuff done around the house, but nothing was getting accomplished. All morning, I kept thinking how nice it would be to take off and just go to our favorite State Park. At 10:30 my hubby called and asked it if would be ok if he took a 1/2 vacation day to go to "the beach" (as the girls call it). Ummm, yeah I think it is ok. So we did. He tied up some lose ends at work and I packed a picnic lunch and off we went. It was 75 and partly sunny with a little breeze. As it was a Wednesday, there were hardly any people there. I curled up on a blanket and read and watched and took some pictures, but mainly just rested. Curt and the girls swam and swam and swam. Then we got some ice cream and went for a short hike. All in all wonderful. We don't do just random things like that nearly enough, but I will take what I can get.

A delightful surprise for a Wednesday.

The Truth...

2007-06-29T11:24:00.000-06:00

So we are running a secret Tattoo shop here. Emma is the Tattoo Artist. Now you know.

Where the "monies" go.

The cost of the tattoo is $5 and 1 cent. Fortunately for me, we haven't studied the value of coins yet. I got 4 tattoos and all I paid was 26 cents~! Curt is a sucker and gave her $5.

Emma's tattoo.

My tattoo... it is an alligator that says "sneaky."

Abi's cake tattoo.

These are for the boys. Although Dad was allowed to get a Penguin. Which he claims is the Linux penguin (computer geek).

Her sign

The shop is Opin (I love phonetic spelling).

Why is this hard for me?

2007-06-27T15:51:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted as much as I would like, mainly because it has always been very hard for me to talk about myself. That is why you will mostly see photos here... because I am visual, and because then I don't have to say so much. Everytime I get ready to post, or think of something to post, I don't, because I am afraid that people don't want to hear about me or my life. But that is what a blog is about after all and I need to remember why I am here... lovely things... So I shall keep trying. If you don't like it, don't read it ;) (Or, if you are like me, just look at the pictures.)
That said, here are some lovely things I have been saving up and feeling too shy to share.

Balloon Festival in a local town.

Home made strawberry jam. YUMMMMMM!

What my hubby wanted for Father's Day. They floated around like this for over an hour.

The first zinnia bud of the year. I LOVE zinnias.

The Lilies in my "secret garden." ( I will post more secret garden pictures another day. Still working on that area.)

Fresh Strawberries

2007-06-06T08:04:00.000-06:00

We went to the local U-Pick strawberry farm yesterday with the girls. So much fun. We filled 2 buckets of wonderful, fresh, oh so juicy and sweet strawberries. The girls were so expressive and excited about the whole thing and did not lose patience at all. Just a good, happy experience all around and sometimes you NEED that more than anything else. Yesterday was one of those days.

Abi- the "after" shot... sorry, there isn't a before

A New Bag!

2007-05-31T11:22:00.000-06:00

When I started this blog, I had fully intended it to be a sort of craft blog, because in general, making things is one of the mostest lovliest things in my life (extra "est" for emphasis). I was actually inspired to start blogging after discovering wonderful craft blogs such as HelloMyNameisHeather, Anna Maria Horner, SouleMama, Happy Things and Tree Fall Design, just to name a few. So today, I actually bring you.... SOMETHING I MADE! Husband and I are going to the State Track meet this weekend and I neeeeeded a new bag to take a long. I am trying to learn to sew purses and bags without patterns, so this is an attempt at a no pattern bag. Turned out pretty good.

The girls also caught their first fish from the river in our backyard this weekend. You can tell by their faces that they thought it was lovely.

Oops, Sorry!

2007-05-26T07:48:00.000-06:00

Last post published on May 2nd? OOOOOPPPPSSS! The month of May is my favorite month in terms of new things growing and weather and such, but it is SO BUSY! My husbands helps coach track, so there are 2 track meets almost every week. I try to go to some of them and really enjoy them, but they are seriously time consuming. There is also an immense amount of gardening that I feel compelled to do. Again, something I love, but it takes up a bunch of time and energy. There are 2 little girls that want to be outside much more often and still need a lot of supervision to do that. There was a wedding shower (which I made the above quilt top for...in 3 days... yes, I am crazy), Mother's day, my brother-in-law's birthday and Emma's birthday. There was getting ready for a dear friend to live with us for the summer. All in all, just a lot of reasons to not be at the computer writing posts. But, I have been thinking on lovely things, which was the whole reason for starting this blog, so even without writing the actual posts, the blog is serving its purpose (except that you all aren't getting to share in the loveliness... sorry). In fact, I have been taking lots of pictures that I meant to share with the lovely Internet. So I shall now.

These are the crazy Mourning Doves on our porch. The babies hatched and were quite fun to watch. The girls named them Franklin and Dora (Abi names everything Dora). We named the mom Betsy and the Dad Anakin (yes, we have a Darth Vader Mourning Dove flying around somewhere).

Emma's birthday skirt made by mom. We tried some nicely posed pictures, but alas, the dancing ones were so much better.

Abi's birthday dance.

Emma's birthday cake, lovingly made by Aunt Mando and Mommy. We are having a swimming party at the Y today.

And just for giggles. My children call this the Octopus Forest. Evidently when the ferns start to unfurl, they look a little like an octopus, so we have had lots of screaming about "ahhhh, the octopus forest!!!!"

I know I promised to keep things lovely on this blog, but I also promised to be real. My dear Emma had another seizure on April 28th. She has had 1 other seizure (that we have witnessed, there may have been more that no one saw), back in September. At that time, after testing, they didn't find anything. We go back to the doctor for more testing this week. Please pray for answers. None of us want to live in fear, but when there is so much unknown, that is what ends up happening.

You May

2007-05-02T14:23:00.000-06:00

Reasons to LOVE May...

Trips to the gardens.

Things sprouting everywhere. (These have grown twice the size in 2 days!)

Pear blossoms

That circle is going to be a sunflower house! How exciting is that?

You can almost smell them, can't you?

We read this poem this morning when we were making our May calendars.

In May

In May I may go out,

may jump

and run

about--

may laugh and play

in merry May,

I may,

in May--

I may!

Helen H. Moore

It really captures how I am feeling about this new month. I need to give myself permission to do those things sometimes. If you have the same problem, consider this permission granted!

Absent

2007-04-26T13:40:00.000-06:00

I have been absent. Partly because this blogging thing is not routine yet (I am a journaling/diary/recording my life failure most of the time) and partly because it has been a tough week to find lovely things and because the guldarn sun won't shine so pictures are awfully hard to take. So there are my excuses.

We had a very unfortunate death in my extended family this week and it has me in quite a funk. I would appreciate any prayers you all offer up. It is my normal get a little depressed week anyway, so that hasn't helped. I have tried very hard to focus on lovely things in spite of it all. Here are a few that have kept me going.

*The mama robin who is building in the almost blooming pear tree outside my kitchen window. (I have an almost blooming pear tree outside my kitchen window, that is pretty lovely in itself).

*Buying seeds to plant my garden next week!!!!!

* The weather men promise 70 degrees and sunny this weekend.

* I was actually able to find some sewing time yesterday. I will post pictures when the sun decides to shine.

*Just being so incredibly thankful to be able to be home and be authentic. Sometimes the gratitude is overwhelming.

*HOPE

I pray that you all are finding things to make you smile inside and out today.

Bird Watching

2007-04-16T12:38:00.000-06:00

The front view of the new house. I love it!

I noticed some bird nests this morning on the top of the corner posts of the big front porch.

There is a finch family on one post and a mourning dove family on the other. The papa mourning dove is stupid evidently and flew to the wrong nest where he was quite quickly and effectively attacked by both mama and papa finch. He finally realized that he was wrong and flew to the other post where mama mourning dove appeared to be in the middle of laying her eggs. He immediately started pecking at her and seemed to just be annoying her. The girls were watching part of all of these antics with me. At lunch, I was telling Curt about the silly birds and I got to the part where the papa mourning dove was pecking at the mama (annoying her) and Emma speaks up and says..."I don't think he was pecking her, I think he was helping make the hole where the eggs come out of her a little bigger." While she is saying this she is picking up one "cheek" and pointing down there. I laughed so hard I cried and Emma says, "What? I am pretty sure that is what he was doing."

The Complete Story of the New House

2007-04-13T20:29:00.000-06:00

Sooooo.... Once upon a time...

The last weekend in February, the weather men were predicting a major blizzard and that we were going to be pretty much snowed in for a couple of days. It was Saturday morning and it wasn't snowing yet, so I decided to take the dog for a walk before it started to snow and I couldn't go anywhere for a few days. I was only starting to get around really well after recovering from my surgery, so I had a relatively short route planned out in my head (cuz I am anal like that and can't just walk, have to have a plan). I started walking towards one of the parks in town and got to the end of the park and the sidewalk wasn't shoveled, so I had to change my plan and turn around and go the other way. I conferred with the dog and we decided to walk through the 1 block long downtown and look in the some of the store windows instead of the original plan. So I am walking along, minding my own business when out of the corner of my eye I spied a For Sale by Owner sign. So I looked to my right and said (out loud... to the dog), "I have always really liked that house." I noticed that there was one of those boxes with the information sheets in it and I decide to look, just to see how much they were asking, fully assuming the house would be out of our price range. {I must make a side note here to tell you that we were not in the market to buy a house. We were planning on building in 3-5 years on land that Curt's parents were selling us super cheap. I had house plans picked out and everything. Now back to the story.} Well the house was not really that far above what I assumed would be our price range. So the rest of the way home, I didn't so much look in the windows at the cute shops, but rather thought/prayed about the house and whether or not I should tell my husband about it. When I got home, I kind of mentioned it to him, real casual like (not letting on how my heart was racing about it). I looked it up online right away and she had the price listed $6000 less than on the flyer that I had looked at. They also had interior pictures. OY!!! Then I had to kind of share my excitement with Curt. I didn't sleep for the next couple nights. I finally asked Curt if we could at least go look at it so that I could get it out of my head. He humored me and made an appointment to go look at it that Monday night. We fully expected one of us to hate it and then we could move on with our lives. We didn't hate it. We both loved it. Earlier in the day before we went to look at it, I had made a list of things that the house had to have for me to even consider it. It has all of them. I also realized that the floor plan is remarkable similar to the plan I had picked out, only this house is 100+ years old and has all of the old house character that I could never afford in a new house. We had wanted to live in the country, but had said that if we were to stay in town, we would want it to be on this street because all of the houses on the west side of the street have large yards that slope down to an old branch of the river that used to be used for a mill and power. There are less than 20 houses on this street and this is the only one that has ever been for sale since we have lived here. So we spent the rest of the week talking and praying and talking and obsessing and stressing and... On Saturday we took my dad, Curt's dad, my mom and my sister to see the house. We were expecting the dads to be the voices of reason and find some reason why we shouldn't buy this house. They didn't. When we left, they all pretty much said "this is your house." The next day, Curt's parents had us out to lunch and surprised us by offering to buy our house from us so that we didn't need to list it. Wow! They gave us exactly the $ we needed to get out of the house. Amazing. That afternoon Curt called the owner and made a verbal offer and after several phone calls back and forth we came to a verbal agreement. We signed an official offer on that Monday. I was very nervous about the financial part of it, because our previous house was CHEAP!!! I prayed for some financial assurance and for the 1st time in 4 years we received a refund on our taxes. We have payed in LARGE amounts for the last 4 years as my husband owns a business with 3 other guys, so this was amazing to me. The amount we got back was more than a 1 month house payment. So in 1 month's time total, everything came to be. And now, Curt's parents have sold our old house also. Curt went to breakfast with a business client this morning and their waitress was the woman who is buying our old house (gotta love small towns). She was telling him how she has gone over there everyday this week and just enjoyed the house. This makes me so happy to know that the person buying it will love it also. So that is my story in a really large nutshell. The coming posts will be very photo heavy I promise. The photo at the top of the post is a picture take of the back of the house and I am down hill by the river, so really it looks bigger than it actually is, but it is a quite large old house (almost twice as big as our old house... I have only lost Abi 2 times in it I swear). I don't actually have a picture of the front of the house. I will need to go stand out in the street and do that tomorrow.

Old and New

2007-04-11T11:04:00.000-06:00

We are all moved in and slowly getting settled. I have the tendancy to get overwhelmed quite easily, so I have worked really hard to focus these past few weeks and just get a little done at a time. Our main living spaces are mostly box free and I even tackled the garage yesterday. I will be posting photos of various parts of our wonderful new house over the next couple of weeks in a "Corners of my house" fashion (inspired by SouleMama). Monday night, Curt and I went back to the old house to clean and shampoo carpets. I got there first and walked around and took some pictures of favorite things. I try not to be sentimental about "stuff" but I guess I am, because I cried. I really love that house, but we were starting to outgrow it and I really believe that God wants us in this house. This is pretty much my dream house.

(Part of the murals painted on the walls in the girls' old bedroom.)

The little yellow cottage is the first house that we owned instead of rented. My parents helped us with the down payment and we were able to qualify for some special loans through the state to help renovate parts. I was able to have a brand new kitchen that I designed. Nothing fancy, but I really liked it. My Dad did the majority of the fixing on the house and he and I grew closer than we ever were when I was a child and there was a lot of healing in that for me. As I was shampooing carpets, I had a lot of time to think about all of the things that our family experienced living in that house. Emma was 9 months old when we moved there, she is now close to 6. Abi was born 1 year after we moved in and is now 4. Those years contain a lot of growing up and firsts. I also lost 2 babies and had a hysterectomy while living there. My love of gardening and quilting and all things creative hit full blast while living in that house. Really, as I think about it, I have done so much growing and maturing in so many ways in the 5 years that we lived in that house. I really started to discover who I am. So many lovely memories, and yet it is a little bittersweet. My inlaws bought the house from us so that we wouldn't have to go through the hassel of listing it and getting it ready to show, etc. This has been such a blessing and was completely their idea. Well, amazingly they have sold the house already! They close the deal on Monday. I will do a whole post possibly tomorrow about how this house came to be, the whole thing is amazing.

I leave you today with our Spring Wonderland (???). I was so bummed about it snowing in April, and the girls snapped me right out of it. They were so excited to get to play in the snow one more time. We had a ton of fun out there and the view of the river in the snow is awesome (in the true sense of the word, not the 80's version of it).

Keeping me Sane

2007-03-26T09:30:00.000-06:00

Lovely things keeping me sane in the process of moving...
1. PRAYER... Lots of it!
2. SPRING... 2 times we have moved in the winter, I much prefer this. I have windows open and sun and warm and things sprouting (although I am quite sad to leave my gardens... good thing the house we are buying is only 6 blocks from where we currently live and I will be able to come back and split some of my plants).
3. Supportive friends and family. Thank you all for your help and hugs and encouragement.
4. As usual, my funny children. I paused in packing to look out the window and see this...

I am not sure what the arm floaties are protecting them from, but at least they are safe and brought a smile to this mom's face. :)

Busy, busy, busy

2007-03-24T18:38:00.000-06:00

We are officially buying the house. We will close on it on Friday the 30th, so needless to say, not a lot of posting because there has been a lot of painting and packing and moving related stuff going on. It is stress, but good stress and I am so excited about this house. I will post photos and full details after we are all moved in. :)

Entomologist/Safari Leader/Paleontologist/Artist

2007-03-15T15:44:00.000-06:00

Emma Painting

Abi Painting

For almost 2 years now, Emma (age five and three quarters) has said that she wants to be an Entomologist when she grows up. At first I think she was just enjoying saying a large word (she has always liked big words), but then she enjoyed the reaction she got from adults when she would say Entomologist. Her new thing has been that she wants to be an Entomologist/Safari Leader and she says the slash, which is too funny. Last week she added another slash and says she wants to be an Entomologist/Safari Leader/Paleontologist and now today we added /Artist. This will be further known as E/SL/P/A. The "slashes" are very important. Of course little sister wants to be the same thing. It is much colder outside today than it was earlier this week, but they needed some fresh air, so I sent them outside. They dug out the easel and wanted to paint because "if we are going to be a E/SL/P/A then we need lots of practice." They are pictured above painting such creations as meteors hitting the dinosaurs. So cute and so creative.

Many Blessings...

2007-03-14T13:25:00.000-06:00

We have an accepted offer on a new to us house (it is actually 100 years old and full of character and hard wood floors). My range of emotions about this is all over, but mostly I am excited. The way this has all come about is nothing short of amazing and just shows how God can work. I needed that reminder. I think we all do sometimes. We have the home inspection scheduled for Friday and will hopefully close on the 30th. When all is set in stone, I will post photos and the detailed story of how all this came about. I only saw the for sale sign 3 weeks ago, and here we are! Crazy, but a good crazy.

Other blessings:
*Springy weather!
*Super supportive and encouraging family and friends. Love you all!
*Decluttering in preparation to move.
*Far away friends coming to town on Friday (Lisa and Kira).
*My funny children- they are so precocious and cute and when I relax and enjoy them, they are the best thing ever! The other day the girls were playing outside and they came in all upset because they had been looking for the dead bird that was in the yard last summer and couldn't find it. So I very lovingly explained to them that daddy had buried the bird in the compost pile and that it would decompose and help our garden. Abi started sobbing and said "that makes me so sad. I was planning on starting a dead bird body collection." (She is 4!!! PRECOCIOUS) I explained to her that that would be a pretty stinky collection but to no avail. She climbed in my bed and declared she was never coming out again. I turned on Bob the Builder for her and all was well again. And the grown ups around her have enjoyed laughing at the story greatly. They are so great.

Turtles

2007-03-09T15:44:00.000-06:00

This week in home school land, we are talking about Dr. Suess and reading lots and lots of Suess books as last Friday was his birthday and I like to be all themey like that. Today we read Yertle the Turtle. If you are not in the know, this is a story about a turtle king named Yertle, who gets a little big for his turtle britches and decides he would like to see more of the world than his little stone throne allows. So he orders is turtle subjects to stack themselves and he climbs on top of the stack to enjoy the view. This is all well and good until a little turtle on the bottom named Mack decides to complain. This gets him nowhere so he BURPS (I kid you not, that is what the book says, and I cannot tell you how happy Emma was to read that word) and the whole stack tumbles. Yertle lands in the mud and Mack gets to be king and "all the turtles are free as all creatures should be." We enjoyed the book together and then made our own stackable turtles out of paper plates and construction paper heads and feet all stapled together cute like. Pure joy working on them together and taking turns with each little job. My favorite part of the whole process was when the girls decided that all the turtles needed names. These include such creative beauties as Wee-Woo (not to be confused with Woo-Wee), Universal, American, Swirls and Stripes and Zig-Zag. But my all time favorites have to be Darth Vader, C3PO, and R2D2 because as Emma says "ya gotta have a little Star Wars in there." True indeed.

Abi stacking turtles.

Emma stacking turtles.

Our stack of 20 turtles. After this great accomplishment, we yelled "burp" and knocked them down, laughed a lot, and then did it all again. Such fun.

Our little family of turtles. I want to show a close up of each, but you will have to settle for the group.

This cute little guy is named Darth Vader. :)

Spring fever

2007-03-08T14:30:00.000-06:00

My husband surprised me with these yesterday. They are from Daffodil Days. Pretty flowers and a good cause and a little breath of spring.

Why lovely things?

2007-03-08T07:26:00.000-06:00

The past 2 years have been extremely testing and hard and yet a time of amazing growth in my life. In August of 2005 I had an ectopic pregnancy which had to be surgically removed. I knew I was pregnant and we had been trying for over a year and a half. It was devastating to say the least. The worst part of it was that I felt like I was not allowed to grieve. I felt that because I had not really "known" the child, I couldn't grieve for it. There were so many people (friends included) who had recently had much worse miscarriages (if there is such a thing), so mine was not worth grieving. We already had 2 wonderful children, so I felt I needed to just focus on them. Needless to say this wasn't a very healthy state of mind. I carried on this way until about October when the pressure that I put on myself to be "perfect" finally crushed me. Our Pastor's wife is a licensed counselor and a dear friend and I finally went to her and we talked for several hours and I drained most of a box of kleenex. I was the start of a great deal of healing on many levels and in many areas. We continued to try to get pregnant as the desire for more children was still very present. With only 1 functioning tube, our chances seemed less, but "with God all things are possible," or so I told myself constantly. A year ago this month, I woke up one Saturday morning thinking I was have an appendicitis and went to the ER. I kind of knew before we even got there that it wasn't an appendicitis, and the doctor quickly confirmed that with a pregnancy test. Another ectopic, in the other tube. In my doctor's words, "the baby making factory is closed." As soon as I was awake and in my room after surgery, my first thoughts were: at least I never have to take another negative pregnancy test and I never have to try nursing again only to fail miserably. I also knew right away that at least part of the reason for this was that we were meant to adopt. It took me at least 6 months this time to grieve. I really let myself feel everything and it wasn't pretty, but much healthier than the first time around. Fast forward to January 2007 when I had a total hysteroctomy. I still had a lot of pain from the scar tissue from my 2 surgeries and other problems related to the female parts, so after much thought and prayer, I had the surgery. I am almost fully recovered physically. To add to an already trying time in our lives, we found out that we will no longer be working with the high school youth group in our church. We have helped with the teens for the last 6 years and have been in charge for the last 3. It was getting very stressful and we were having a difficult time keeping/getting reliable helpers who felt the same passion for teenagers that we do. We had talked to our Pastor and the Elder board about it several times and had decided to take a 2 month hiatus in January and February so I could have surgery and we could research international adoption and just to breath and try to figure some things out in life. Well, long story short, the board decided it would be best for this to be the time to transition to a different leader for the group and that we would no longer be working with the youth group. It was handled very well, after some initial miscommunications and shock, but it has been very hard and a grieving process not that much different from losing a child (that might sound drastic, but it is true). We recenty sat down with our Pastor and his wife, and they brought up the idea that our church needs a young couples' ministry and would we like to lead it? So, another new thing to ponder and pray about. In the midst of all of this, we have been trying to focus on international adoption: figuring out which country (currently between Haiti and South Korea) and which agency and finances, etc. Then 2 weeks ago, I was out for a walk and saw a for sale by owner sign on a house that I have always loved. I stopped long enough to look at the pamphlet hoping it would be way out of our price range and I wouldn't have to even think about it, but it wasn't. So now we are thinking about buying this house (it is my dream house, so much character and absolutely beautiful and much more space than we currently have) on top of everything else. It just feels like we are entering a new chapter of our life in so many ways and that is so scary and yet a good thing. I said all of that to answer the question of why lovely things? Because if I don't find the good in every day and the reasons to celebrate, I just might lose it. And there is so much that is good and beautiful and lovely and all those things. Philippians 4:8 has long been the verse I have clung to for sanity and it just seems like the right thing to blog about. So this is (hopefully) the only post you will find with anything remotely negative in it. I want this blog to be the place that I focus on the lovely and not the inevitable ugly things in life. My Pastor often says "you are what you think, and what you think you are" and he is right. This is my place to think about the lovely and maybe in doing so, I will become more lovely. I know I will feel more lovely at the very least. Welcome to my blog.