Hello? Are you out there? Wondering where I am?

So I was on a roll.  I think that I started posting about three times a week.  I was enjoying the fact that I was actually posting the things I was thinking about - and then it was Christmas.  That was ok to take a break, so many bloggers were just popping in to say hello and merry and all that.  But then I got sick.  Dun dun dunnnnnn.....  When I say sick I mean in bed kinda sick.  The kind where your head is so stuffy you can't even think.  I shuffled up to the computer a few times and had some ideas but a complete sentence was not going to come out of my brain.  I was going to post on resolutions and how we should just "try harder" because that will never work.  When I got better I found this.  Not quite what I was going to say (I could never write as flowery as Ann) but God is faithful to get out His truth and He doesn't need me to do it!

I also was going to post about knitting.  I had taken a break from all that yarn wrapping but have some things to share.  Like some messed up head gear!  Oh, and I just started my third "in threes".  

I planning on posting tomorrow and participating in the Homeschool Day in the Life Series.

Hope I can!  Today we are spending the day out of the house due to toxic fumes.  Bedrooms are being redone and I'm so excited to be able to show you some "before" and "after" shots!  I *heart* before and after!  I think that is why I end up watching "Biggest Loser".  Hee hee.

See you tomorrow!

Christmas Moment

The littlest fairy watching over her graham cracker creation.

For My Little Girl

A gift that we could all make together.  Not an original one but one that we had not done before.  A special gift for a special girl.  The big brother could take his time and peal off the wrappers.

 

We could make a mess.

And we could make some crayons.

Merry Christmas little girl.

So I've seen this idea all over the internet and when Ginny at Small Things posted about making them for her little girl I knew that we had to do it this year.  Armed with a bucket of old broken pieces that I've been wanting to recycle, we got to work on making them into something more useful.  We tried to make them glittery but I don't think that the glitter really worked.

Oh, and I got to make a little bag!

For Baby

I feel like I'm cheating a little here with the yarn along this week.  This is a project I finished a few weeks ago for a friend.  It is my second In Threes pattern.  I promised you two weeks ago that I would make three of these and this was my second.  A friend of mine gave me some dark purple yarn to make the third but that will have to be after Christmas. 

This is the before:

 

And this is the after:

  I quick took a picture at the end of the baby shower when I realized I hadn't taken a snapshot of the completed project.  I also made her a bib and some pretty burp clothes.  I almost want a sweater like that for myself!

  I might have to make this one.

The book that I will be reading is Louisa May Alcott's Christmas Treasury.  It is waiting for me right now at the library.  I read it to the girls last year and I think that I will have to actually buy the book and make it a tradition.  It is full of virtue and sacrifice.  Maybe a little will rub off on us!

This Moment :: Husband

My husband singing with the kids and I for family worship. 

Yarn Along :: Thorpe

Last week I was so inspired by all the yarn along ladies!  Thank you for visiting and commenting too!  It's so neat to see that you guys are really out there.  All those posts are not not just pages on the computer but there are REAL people behind each one.  Who knew?  Hee hee.

So Wendy mentioned the Thorpe and I had to laugh.  My second daughter had just asked for a hat just like that.
 On the needles it goes!
Well, not until after a trip to the yarn store for yarn and double pointed needles.  I got the yarn that the pattern calls for and yum, it's so soft.  I think that I have officially become a yarn snob.  I walked through Michaels and felt each of the yarns and most of them felt so scratchy.  I really see knitting as an experience for me and I want it to be soothing and comforting.  Expensive yarn and bamboo needles seem to do the trick -
(I think I'm in trouble)

I don't know if it is because I'm a DPN rookie or not but putting 4 stitches on 4 needles (that seemed to be a size too small for the yarn) was tough.  As I was struggling through the first few rows I was wondering if this kind of knitting is good for me (you know, the experience).  This seemed too unruly and having to restart over and over was making the awesome yarn get all fuzzy.  I made it through and right now I'm not minding it so much. This picture is me in the middle of putting it on the circular needles (a bigger size too - I hope that doesn't make it too big!)
The pink my daughter chose is amazing.

The book is A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family by Mary Ostyn.  It's very comforting reading a book by a woman who understands my heart.  It's like reading a conversation with a friend.  She has been there - double my family.  Wow, she's really been there.  In one of the first chapters she talks about how hard it was to share a baby sling with a relative.  She felt it in her heart and stomach that this was a sign of the end of babies.  The week before I started to read the book I had the same thing happen over a plastic potty chair.  It's hard for people to understand what getting rid of the potty chair really means.   I was so blessed to then read her experience and know that I'm not crazy!
I found the book randomly on the shelf in the library.   I think that the librarians ordered it just for me.  hee hee.

Blessings :: Ben

This is my guy.

He is a little man of many faces.

He just turned 5 this weekend.
He's growing and learning all too fast now.
The changes I've seen in him the past year are simply amazing.

Learning letters and numbers.  All his Classical Conversations memory work.
This boy even sings now, with words!
He's still shy but if you ask him to talk he will hold a conversation with you - a real one.

Ben is a blessing.  After having three girls the odds of having a boy where stacked against us.  We didn't feel our family was complete but after two miscarriages we weren't sure if God had any more children for us.  By God's grace he gave us another child and the boy we hoped for for many years.  (oh, and then right after that he gave us Bethany but that is another story)

So if you did your math you already know that we have five children.  I love them all so much and my life is a mix of joy and hardship. (boy would I say that I make most of my hardship!)  In all this I want to remember the multitudes of blessings, God's love and grace that He lavishes upon me, and I want that to scream out over all the negative thoughts that can run through my head each day. I'm starting my journey with Ann:



Thanking Him for:

1. my boy
2. a warm house (we are at zero degrees right now!)
3. a giving husband
4. soft yarn to knit
5. a Savior who never sleeps nor slumbers NOR tires of ME!