I did it!  I finished the quilt that I started when Hazel was six months old.  And I love it.  So happy I finished it.  It's about a twin size and now all ready to be cozied under when it starts getting cold.

 

These two were playing "nap" yesterday...right after their actual nap.

 

Some pictures from around the house today.  It's all nice and clean...because I had someone come help me for two hours.  I love how sunny and bright it is in the morning.

 

I made a couple of storage baskets for the kids' toys.  I'm going to make a few more when I have the chance. Super easy and now I can stash their stuff easily.

 

 

It's 8:31 and the kids are in bed.  There was much screaming and crying involved.  Jason had to run to the store, so I was doing the bath/bedtime thing solo.  Casper was cranky and wanted to nurse himself to sleep.  Klaas was mad that I had washed his "cuddle" (my scarf that is his security blanket) and that it was warm coming out of the dryer.  Hazel and I read my Elizabeth book that I found at a used bookstore when I was about 10 years old.  She found it fascinating and was excited to point out that the book was "about Elizabeths!  Like you, Elizabeth Schuiling!"  Finally (after a talk and a correction), Klaas calmed down and puttered while Hazel and I read.  Then he and I read one of his animal books.  Then it was into bed and then I grabbed Casper for a little bedtime cuddle.  He conked out and is now asleep.   

I can say I only lost my patience once, but almost lost it at several moments during that time. 

And now it's time for me to do...something, anything!  I have a kitchen that needs to be cleaned, a living room to be tidied, two half-finished sweaters that need to be knitted, a bookcase in the yard that needs to be painted, three articles of clothing that need to be mended/altered, two quilts I'd like to finish sitting in my trunk o' fabric, and let's not even discuss my simple (yet for me ambitious) plan to start exercising regularly, etc...

And of course I didn't do everything I wanted to do today with the kids: lots of reading and organized, thoughtful crafts where my children sit patiently like 12 year olds and follow instructions exactly.  We're getting there, but I do have a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and a 2 month old.  

I really feel like I am in the thick of it now, sometimes in a bad way, but usually in a good way.  I love the ages that the kids are at (well, every age is a good age).  I love the fact that we're going to do more schoolwork with Hazel this year and that while she does a one day a week enrichment class, I'll have a few hours just to hang out with Klaas and Casper. 

I guess what I've been thinking about a lot lately is balance.  I usually feel when I'm cleaning I should be reading to or playing with the kids.  When I'm doing a craft with them, I feel like I should be cleaning.  When I try to implement a schedule, trying to keep everyone on track with eating breakfast, cleaning up, playing, reading, doing some lessons, things seem to go haywire.  But maybe that's just how things will be right now and I need to accept that.

I also have noticed that I had a lot more patience when....wait for it....I was praying for it every day right after Casper was born.  Lately my prayer life hasn't been there as much as it should be and I can tell that I am struggling a bit because of it.  Lord, make me remember that without you all of this is futile and it won't happen the way I want it to.  But I can't raise our children and keep our home all on my own strength.  I can feel when I try to hold things together myself, they just fall apart.  But when I trust in you Lord, all things are possible.

So those are my thoughts of the evening.  Now to do the dishes!  So I can enjoy making breakfast in the morning.

Lots of pictures of what we've been up to the past couple of weeks.

We made a terrarium.

I finally hung some pictures up above our bed.  Including this fun print Amaanda got for me.

 

 We watered our plants.

 

 Anne, Judah, and my mom came for a couple of days to visit.

 

While it was warm out (it's cold and rainy a lot now), we ate lots of watermelon.

We played dress-up.  And decided we needed more manly options for Klaas.  And then I found a neat coonskin cap that we're saving (though he's already seen it and played with it for a bit) for a birthday present.

 

I finished the new baby's blanket.  I used this pattern from the Purl Bee site.  Love it.  Super fast since you use large yarn and large needles.  And the finished border is awesome. 

 

We ran around the house like crazies.

 

We ate doughnuts.

Project Day

This little guy is sick.

So we watched Mary Poppins while it rained yesterday and Hazel finished working on her sewing project.

I finished it for her by putting a border and back on it and stuffing it while she napped.

She was excited to have it done and slept with it last night.  For the back and border I used some Heather Ross material.  We both like the horses.  I am so proud of her first sewing project!  She did a great job.

I also finished some linen pants for Klaas and the green knit dress Hazel is wearing in these pictures.  I have probably 15 unfinished projects in my stash that I'm trying to work through before the baby is born.  I'm 33 weeks.  Eek!  Not quite sure how we got to this point so quickly.

Only about two months until we meet our newest little guy!

Natural Shtuff

I'm sure that you all know that Jason and I like "natural" products: wooden toys for the kids, beeswax candles, organic food (when affordable and in season).  I'm just a northwest hippie (wink) into breastfeeding, natural childbirth (as much as my wimpiness will allow), homeschooling, and cooking from scratch.  I will admit to a fondness for fast-food hamburgers, though I've noticed that as I have gotten older, my stomach doesn't like a Sourdough Jack as much as it used to.  Compared to some, I know we are newbies when it comes to "natural living" and we haven't yet gotten into the world of making our own kombucha and kefir, though we do make yogurt on occasion.  This isn't to say we won't get there eventually, but I just haven't started doing those things yet. 

Over the past few years, we've been using more natural products, especially with our kids.  After reading some not great things about some baby wash/shampoos and diapers, we changed what we bought for them.  And Jason has been encouraging me to start using natural cleaning products (something I've pinned lots of ideas for, but haven't really used yet) and natural beauty products.

A year or so ago we started making our own deodorant.  I'm sure that many of you will think this is crazy (at least maybe to those who aren't from our community).  But I assure you, it's not as strange as it might sound and especially when it comes to women's deodorant, it definitely does not have all the yucky additives that can be harmful (aluminum, triclosan, etc...).  Jason was happy with our recipe, but I wasn't super cheerful about the consistency.  I need to give it another spin.  So right now I use Tom's of Maine brand and am fairly happy with the results, but making and using our own is of course the cheaper alternative.

And about two months ago, I gave up using any face wash products and instead use just honey.  I could have gone whole hog and just started washing with water, as do several of my friends and husband, but I couldn't quite get over the comfort of using something to clean my face.  And I can say that it is wonderful!  Even though I am approaching the big 3-0, I still break out quite often.  And I've noticed over the past months that my breakouts have gotten fewer and farther between and when I do get a pimple, they go away much more quickly than before.  Honey has antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, which makes it a good fit for someone who breaks out occasionally.  There are a million websites out there with more info, but here is one of them.  We also use a Vitamin E oil with almond and coconut oils in it as our moisturizer.  I love it.  And it smells yummy.
 
Another facial treatment that I've been liking lately is a turmeric/garbanzo bean flour mask.  It does make you smell a little like curry while you're wearing it, but it makes your skin very soft and works to take away dark spots and blemishes.  You also look slightly crazy while wearing it.  To make you combine:

• 2 heaping spoonfuls of garbanzo bean flour
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 spoonful of almond oil (less than a tablespoon)
• a bit of milk, to make it the proper consistency (thick enough to stay on your face and for the flour and turmeric to dissolve)

The next thing we are going to do, once we run out of our current products is start using this homemade shampoo recipe.  My good friend and I like to joke about how we have such funny conversations about "granola mom" topics.  She started using this shampoo recently and says that it's wonderful.  She and a lot of other people out there also recommend using coconut oil as a natural conditioner.  So that will be our next step and I'm excited to give it a whirl!

On a side note, this video is me and Abby some days. 



And I'm starting to research body soaps/bar soaps and more natural alternatives to what we use now.

I have also made dish soap using this recipe, but was not impressed with the consistency or the soap's ability to suds up.  I need to do more research and try another option.

So that's our little update on our home and beauty products.  We'll let you know how the shampoo turns out and if I find a great dish soap recipe.

Small crafting

The trim on a new curtain for our front door. 

March 15th

Today, I'm having a hard time managing my mental "to do" list.  But so far we have:

1. made apple pancakes
2. gotten dressed/showered
3. drank market spice tea while looking for a good online story about St. Patrick's Day (no luck)
4. printed out shamrock coloring pages
5. caught up on dishes/let Hazel watch an old Winnie the Pooh cartoon while I did said dishes and Klaas "napped"
   
6. catching up on laundry that was neglected during our move a week and a half ago
7. thought more about curtain-making 
8. played legos with Klaas
9. read part of Charlotte's Web and an Olivia book with Hazel
10. sword/spoon fought with the kids
11. surfed for knit dress patterns to make Hazel a St. Patrick's Day dress out of some orange polka dot jersey I found at the thrift store (yes, orange.  I am honoring my grandmother who was very stubborn and clear that one should wear orange on St. Patrick's Day since one is Protestant, not Catholic)
12. remembered that I also want to make Klaas an Irish flag shirt
13. thought about the menu for our feast on Saturday and maybe making a fun appetizer and the fact I need to find a recipe for Guinness frosting for our Guinness brownies
    
14. started thinking that we're having someone else over for dinner Friday and I need to clean more today and unpack more boxes
15. listened to the kids play hide and seek in their closet
16. thought that maybe we should all watch Darby O'Gill and the Little People this week
17. let the kids paint some pictures
18. disciplined for throwing things/saying no/having attitude
19. It's only 12:37pm.

(It should be noted that a lot of these activities were being worked on at the same time as other ones.)

 

 

The new place

We've had a busy past couple of weeks.  We've moved to our new place, up at the top of a hill, near a water tower, which is very exciting to Hazel.  We really love it and we've only been here a week so far.  Our new place is a little larger and has wonderful light.  And our own backyard with more space to garden this summer. 

Nothing is set up right now, but once I get things together I'll post some pictures of the interior.  But here are a few snapshots from the past week.  And today was a wonderful day: 65 degrees!  In March!  In Idaho!  So we spent most of the day outside and the kids are still sacked out at 5:30 in the afternoon.

So more to come in the next week hopefully...

Last week we did some little alphabet sheets I found via Pinterest (the best thing ever). And we're continuing in her Rod and Staff workbooks, which she loves, and the reading book, which is (as I predicted) a little hard for her. So she and I have slowed down a bit with that and are spending a couple days on each lesson. But Jason and I are so proud of her since she is recognizing letters right and left when we go out and starting to remember her numbers too...

This is what a typical morning looks like around here: Hazel wearing some funny outfit she came up with (I can't wait until that dress actually fits her - it's from my sister-in-law and I love it!) and Klaas was getting frustrated that he couldn't get his feet into the klompen slippers without assistance.
And this is Hazel and me reading last night on the couch. It made me happy because she just climbed up on my lap like that to look at her AWANA book while I was drinking tea and relaxing. And it makes me laugh because this is her attempt at a "real smile" when Jason asked her to look happy. (We're keeping it real with the random diaper, apron, and shirt that are on the couch. This is just what our place looks like on a Sunday night: slightly crazy.)
A project I finally finished. We bought this stepstool when Hazel was a baby and I finally painted it this summer. I can't find a before picture, but it was very beat up and pink. Jason helped me sand away some nasty who-knows-what it was (wait, Jason probably does know) stuff that was on the steps about, oh....3 months ago. I got around to painting it a couple of weeks ago. (I'm keeping it real yet again by showing you the random Lego pieces and my shoes that are on the floor.)

Another little project we did was this. Jason saw something similar on Pinterest (there it is again, the best website ever) and found an old shutter at work somewhere. So I painted it "way too green" in Jason's opinion and we hung it up to hold pictures, cards, and whatever else we want to stick up there.
I also repainted our kitchen table, something I've been talking about doing for about 1 1/2 years. It's now white and I love it. But it's covered in stuff like always, so it's not very photogenic right now. I will try to style a very chic photo shoot later this week.

And just so he's not neglected by not being super-involved with this post, here's Klaas yesterday, lying down in the slide. I guess he wanted to watch the clouds.