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I wanted to mention this shop that I recently found on Etsy. It's called Alliecraft, and her baby bibs and onesies are absolutely precious. (She's also a favorite customer of mine, and uses my fabrics in some of her designs, so get over there and show her some love!)
Here are a few adorable examples:
I want this tote bag.
And this one was made from vintage fabric from my shop, Rope!
Just thought I'd let everyone know that I added a little something to the full month of giveaways over at the Vintage Sheet Blog. One random participant will get this little beauty:
It is a stack of 30 12x12-inch squares of vintage linens fabric. (A $20 value in the shop!) You have another couple days to enter, so get over there!
There is also an exclusive discount (15%) code, good until the end of March 17th. Here's another look at the patterns in the set:
Go enter now!!
I remember mentioning sometime last year that we were struggling with the decision of whether we were going to home school Emma in kindergarten or send her to public school. It took much thought and prayer to finally settle this. The final decision came when we considered the fact that if I am to have a ministry to the people in my community (who are the women and mothers in my neighborhood and those I see about town), then I needed a way to meet them. I needed to be relevant and have something in common with them, and in a neighborhood only 2 blocks from an elementary school, everyone sends their kids to public school.
So, in the spirit of a trial run, we requested a teacher we liked, found ways to get involved in the classroom, and sent our little one to full-day kindergarten. This was not easy. I miss my little Emma so much, and there are still days when I cry after I drop her off in the morning. But I cannot deny that she is thriving at her school. She is reading almost fluently, she is learning about routine and rules from someone other than Momma, and she is emerging as a leader among her peers. The curriculum focuses on a different unit each week, and I have been delighted to learn that she is being taught things that I never considered teaching her myself.
Like the solar system:
I truly struggled at the beginning of the year with the homework that is required weekly. I mean, this is kindergarten, right?! But now that her reading skills have improved, and she is at least aware that there will be something to complete before Friday, we've begun to have a lot of fun with it.
And her drawing skills are blowing me away. What a fun, imaginative stage! I'm a little curious to see what the other kids are turning in for these worksheets. They cannot be this awesome!
Click on the image if you need to see more closely. And yes, that is an asteroid headed straight for Earth.
We are going to keep her in school for now--at least as long as she is doing so well. But this is one mommy that cannot wait for summer vacation!
I can't pick a favorite season, because there is something amazing about each one. Even here in Texas, where the change is less distinct, each season has its own delights in store. But the part I like the most is the change. There is excitement that accompanies change, and with the seasons it's a change that you can feel, see, hear, and even smell.
We are swiftly approaching Spring here in Dallas, and there signs of it everywhere. Trees are budding, new birds are landing on the feeders in the backyard, and the squirrels are berserk with their playful energy.
But Spring is not the only new season making its presence known around here. Sometime in the next two months we will be changing, too--from a family of four to a family of five. We are expecting baby number three sometime in the second week of may. And with this change in season closing in, the air in this household is positively vibrating.
Some people adapt to change in what seems like an instant. But while I love the variety that change brings, it takes me a little longer to embrace it with my whole being. When I found out I was expecting again, I was instantly aware that my current mode of opperation was not going to work with my new family. I was doing too much, away from home too often, always rushing, and still feeling like I never accomplished anything. I knew that if we were going to transition smoothly in nine months, there were changes that had to be made today. So I began systematically quitting things. I quit Ladies' Bible Study at church, I quit Sunday school, I quit working on my etsy store, I quit blogging, I quit teaching sewing class...and this is just to name a few.
From the outside, it must have seemed like I was giving up on life completely. I was in a winter season, and all that was visible to my friends were the stark branches reminding them of what I used to be. But even in winter there is life in those branches. The temporary starkness and dark branches are what make spring possible, and the same is true in life. Beneath the surface there was life, growth, and change waiting to emerge. I hadn't quit everything...just everything that was visible from the outside.
Within my home, life was building, and we were becoming stronger than ever. I was able to focus my attention on making our home functional and peaceful. I started reading more to the kids. I got a handle on the laundry (mostly!). I helped Emma finish her weekly homework before the morning of the day it was due. I started cooking more often. These are small, almost unnoticeable issues that were working together to make me feel inadequate as the keeper of our home. But soon, I noticed that there was not just a peace surrounding our kids, there was a new peace surrounding me, too. And just like the buds forming in the pictures here, the renewed life I was feeling started pushing its way past the barren exterior.
We are not in the full bloom of spring quite yet, but it is coming. We are building on the changes we've put into place this winter, and we are budding with excitement for what is to come. Some of the changes will be permanent, but as our routine becomes more stable, we'll be able to add a few of our "quits" back into our lives. One example is this blog. I replaced my crashed laptop, and I hope to maintain a posting schedule of at least a couple times a week. I've also been able to reinstate the etsy shops. I'm gradually working through some abandoned projects, and should be able to add them to the "done" pile as well.
Before you know it, winter will just be a memory.
XO, Anna
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