A cloudy, gray day

 

 

 

 

 

Recent thoughts....

Gwyneth Paltrow was right.  It does make your heart proud when you see your children asking to eat kale and brown rice.  But of course, just to keep it real, my children ask for french fries every time we pass McDonald's.  So they have the best of both worlds. 

I want to make chevre.  I might try soon with a couple of friends.  Jason, Klaas, and I all love it to death.  Hazel thinks we are crazy.  Today at lunch, Klaas had bread with goat cheese and Hazel had bread with kale.  I had bread with both on it.  Yum. 

I had a new friend over the other day to embroider together.  This might be the start of some sort of weekly/monthly thing.  Because of course, we all have nothing better to do than work on tiny little projects that take weeks to complete. 

Casper now can stand up in his bed.  And he's ten months old.  And he has four teeth coming in on top, making a grand total of six teeth.  He also knows his name and is a grinny baby.

Klaas wears underwear, but refuses to use the toilet.  He has been promised a "shoot gun" when he stops using diapers....but we may need to break out a potty chart to make this a more real concept in his little 2.5 year old brain.

Hazel can now sight read a few small words and asks to do her math lesson every day.  She also asks to watch Mystery Busytown and Spiderman every day too though. 

I planted broccoli and chard seeds outside.  They say you can plant them before it stops freezing and they will be fine, but I have my doubts since nothing has come up in two weeks.

You should read this post about mama bodies and this one about teaching our children to love our lives/families.  They are both by my friend Miranda.  She's awesome.  And not just because she basically wrote out what I thought before I had a chance to do it.  But also because she's fun and she likes her job as a mama.

Hazel helping me clear out a planting bed in front of our house.  Sleds are useful in the springtime.

 

 
They really like their new bunk beds.  I need to still paint it and do some decorating, but then I'll show you what Jason made.

This was Jason's beard before he cut it off.  Now it's all gone and everyone asks when it will be making its return.

 We're cool.  We wear sunglasses to church.

Me and the girly.  She had such a good time watching her friends' ballet and Irish Step recital.  Of course this was followed by much pleading to take dance next year.  We will soon have a little ballerina in our midst.  Yesterday while showing off her dance moves in the living room though, she told me "I don't have to take any dance classes next year.  I already know all the steps, see!"

My amoeba embroidery.  

I also made this chocoflan cake last weekend.  It was so good.  And it's a mini science experiment since you pour the flan over the cake batter in the pan and as it bakes, the flan settles to the bottom.  Amazing!

You should also start reading my friend's husband's stories.  They're good.

You may carry on with your day now.

 

 

Yesterday was Jason's birthday.  We were lucky to have Maria from The Sound of Music join us for dinner, dessert, and presents.  I think this is the first time she has worn that costume in a year.  Not sure why she chose last night to break it out.

The kids got Jason new work gloves.  When he came home, Hazel ran up to say, "Happy Birthday Daddy!  We got you a present!"  Klaas, so excited, chimed in, "They're GLOVES!"  Not too great with secrets yet.

Klaas also reminded us to sing "Happy Birthday" to Jason.  "Wait, wait!"  We had started to eat our custard (the requested dessert) without singing first.  "We have to sing 'Happy Birthday'!!"  

We also got Jason new workboots.  It was a good evening, with ribs, rosemary garlic potatoes, and asparagus.  Cream cheese custard for dessert.

*I blame the iPhone, but I hardly ever break out our camera any more.  But I need to.  It's my goal to take more "real" pictures.  And to blog again.

Stripey Chair

I inherited a little chair from a friend of mine who lives in Boise.  I've never been to Boise, but we are friends nonetheless.  We "met" online several years ago through a mutual friend.  Anywho, last time she was up visiting, she asked if I wanted to take this little chair off her hands.

I said yes, of course.  Fast forward about 4 months, and I actually did something about making it look a little nicer.

The original fabric was a bear and balloon print, circa 1985.  I wanted to use what I had around, so I grabbed this red and white striped material and some dark purple linen for the sides and back.  I didn't have enough to do the same fabric all over, but I kind of like the patch-work look of it.

This is the first time I have "recovered" any furniture, unless you count throwing a sheet over an old couch.  So things are not as tight and neat as I would have liked.  Still happy with the results though.

Basically, I just unscrewed the arms and then removed the staples holding the cover onto the chair.  Ripped out all the seams, traced the pattern pieces onto my new fabric, sewed it up following the original sewing lines, added a little more batting to the seat and back, painted the arms and base white (they were a not-so-great odd wood-color before), reattached everything, and presto!

You can tell I was determined to get this done since I spray-painted the wood pieces when it was about 45 degrees outside.  It was at least not snowing.  You have to take what you get in terms of weather when you live in Idaho.

And like all things you do for your children, they were less than impressed.  I showed the kids the newly redone chair I asked, "Do you like it?  Do you want to sit in it and read?"  They responded with a "meh" and went about their business.  That's ok.  I still like it.  And they do sit on it to read or stand on it to look out the window to check the weather.  

What we want for our kids and family (a short and imcomplete list)

to love Christ and to show that love daily
to be independent
to be creative
to bond with our family first and then branch out to other people
to be good thinkers, to be analytical
to not worry about what others think
to be modest, in dress and in attitude
to eat well, cook well
to grow and store food on our own
to own land someday
to live in the country (ish) and be in nature as much as possible
to live simply, in as small a home as is realistic for our family size
to love the classics, in clothes, books, food, theology
to learn and practice skills not commonly used anymore: carpentry, sewing, masonry, gardening, home preservation, knitting, etc....
to love, really love, the simple things in life
to have a passion for school, homeschooling, and do that in a creative way
to not be worried or stressed about things that might happen, but to trust that the Lord is in control of every aspect of our lives and has a good and perfect plan for all of us
to do our best in everything, to try harder, to never give up
for our daughter and sons to know and love what it is to be female and male and to celebrate the differences that the Lord has given each gender
to love each other
to like wearing moccasins

H: What are you playing Klaas?
K: (In the process of shoving a baseball in Hazel's fringed boot) Boot!
H: Oh. (Impressed.) That's a really hard game.
K: Yes. It's a berry hard game.

K: Mommy! Mommy! Stop dancing! I have something to tell you!
Me: What?
K: I am playing boot!

After reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Hazel said to be that if I was fat, I would be a caterpillar.