Lasso The Moon

Mischief

 

What kind of trouble are you getting into this week?

Fat Quarterly - Kids Issue

Fancy Nancy and Emily have some news to share with you.

Their new doll quilt, made and designed by Emma and me,  is one of the patterns in the latest issue (9) of "Fat Quarterly", the on-line quilting magazine!

The issue is full of projects to sew for kids and with kids.  Our pattern starts on page 41, and there are tons more to inspire you to make something special with your own little sewists.

Get the e-zine here.

 

Sidewalk Chalk

 

Last week I spent a few hours with my kids AND my sister's two kids.  Watching 5 little kids alone isn't impossible.  It isn't even really difficult.  I think the word I'm looking for is "challenging".  It takes effort and alertness and it's exhausting!

On this day we spent a lot of the time outside.  The weather was cool for this time of year.  And by that I mean there was a little cloud cover. Okay there was one cloud.  But it was big.  The night before they had left the sidewalk chalk out, and it got soaked by the rain.  Wet sidewalk chalk is the best.

It is creamy and soft, and the colors are more vibrant than when it's dry.  They all thought it was magical.  Well, the 3 that were allowed to use the chalk thought it was magical.  The other two looked on from a couple of strollers.

My favorite thing about wet sidewalk chalk, is that it uses up some of the colors a little faster than usual. I love using up art supplies.  And we have a LOT of chalk to use up.

The kids spent close to an hour painting with their wet chalk, and at the end, the driveway was gorgeous.  We went for a long walk, and my mom came for the other two just before both babies freaked out for nap time.

Success!

A winner, and a surprise.

Today is the day!

I plugged the number of comments into a random number generator to pick the winner of our book giveaway, and here's what I got:

That means Melissa O is the winner of her very own copy of "Kisses from Katie."

Here's her comment:

_________

#10 Melissa O. said:

This is an amazing story, I would love to read it. I expect I will cry.

Posted by: Melissa O.

__________

Melissa, congratulations.  I'll send you an email so I can get the details of where to send it.

But wait, there's more!  While I was on Amazon ordering the book for this giveaway, I found out that they just came out with a paperback version, too. 

So I bought three.  And I'm giving those away, too!

So, the winners of the three paperback copies of "Kisses from Katie" are:

Surprise!

_________

#3 Sarah Newton said:

This is really amazing! I am going to see if I can get the book from the library! :)

Posted by: Sarah Newton

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#8 J Sage Cheng said:

I would LOVE to join you on this reading journey, Anna! How fun will it be to read alongside each other when we live on opposite sides of the continent?! We'll be back in the States this summer, so we could even get together and talk at the end. Fun! (Of course, this is all pending that I win!)

Posted by: J. Sage Cheng

_________

#2 Amanda said:

Hmm. If I can find the time to read it I may join you in your discussion! I bet I can make it happen :)

Posted by: Amanda

_________

The paperback was JUST published, and it was not shipped with the other copy, so I'll send those out when they come in.

The rest of you, get one from the library or wherever you need to, and lets get back together at the end of the month (or the start of June) to talk about how it went, and whether you are going to let it change your life in some way.  I'll post some discussion questions when we get a little closer.  Happy reading!

Planted.

**don't forget to enter to win a copy of "kisses from katie!" the drawing is this friday. click here to leave a comment and enter.**

I cannot say enough how much I am in love with this paint color!! Do I sound obsessive?  I kept saying it over and over as I was painting.  But doesn't it just look like it belongs there in the yard? Love it.  Find it here.

I set up a grid and tied a string at every 12 inches, because I think the square foot gardening technique is going to work best in this space.  I might have planted a few too many pepper plants.  I have three bell peppers, one salsa pepper, and a couple more banana peppers.  Ole!

This is the extent of my herb garden. I have more, but they have to be planted in pots. Mom says the basil (left) is going to take over, but I saw that as a challenge to use it faster than it can grow.  Also seen here is dill, curry, and sweet potato vine--which I know is not edible.  It's actually semi-poisonous.  But I'm really good at growing it and it's pretty.

Beets.  Anyone know how to pickle?

Radishes.  I don't think anyone in my family even likes radishes, but they are easy and fun to grow.  You can harvest in 25 days from seed.  Which is why they were a favorite of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.

I know you are probably thinking, What the heck is that? That is an experiment.  I read somewhere that the stumps of celery would grow if planted, so there they are!  I'm skeptical, but if you look closely, there is a tiny bit of new growth right near the center.

And the onions.  I planted these a little late, but I'm already happy I did.  Because our first harvest of the year is onion chives!

Yum. 

We also planted zucchini, yellow squash, cantaloupe, tomatoes, rainbow chard, carrots, and pickles. 

Yes, pickles.  We don't like raw cukes. Ew.

Can't wait to see how my garden grows.  I just love walking out and checking on my newborn seedlings.

 

 

Mother's Day 2012

**don't forget to enter to win a copy of "kisses from katie!" the drawing is this friday. click here to leave a comment and enter.**

To say that I had a beautiful Mother's Day is a bit of an understatement.  We went to my Grandma's house (Grandma V and Pop) and had a feast of barbecue and banana pudding.  We ate outside on the back porch in the most perfect weather.  It was cool and breezy, and the view (they live on a golf course in Dallas) was incredible.

These hydrangea bushes were babied and grown by Grandma V herself.  She said she got them out of the "dead" pile at Lowe's and coaxed them back to life.  I've never seen hydrangeas like this.  So impressive.

We met some new friends.

And took wayyy too many pictures of the baby.  But how could we help it?  She matched the landscape!

How wonderful is this peely bench!  Grandma said she was planning to repaint it, but I hope I convinced her not to!!

My own pretty Momma, with Dad and all 5 of their grandchildren.

 

But first...

I have lots of Mother's Day photos to show you, but they have to wait until tomorrow.

I have a few updated pictures of my garden, but those have to wait, too.

I have been taken hostage by a story, and I want you to be, too.

Have you heard of Katie Davis?  I don't want to give away too much, but let's say she is 23 years old and she is changing the world.

Take a minute to watch this video, and if you are hooked, come back--because there's more.

She has written a book, and as soon as I'm finished reading her whole blog, I'm going in for the book.

And I want you to read it with me!  I want to start it next week, and discuss it as a group at the end of the month, here on the Lasso blog.  If you are interested in joining me, let me know in the comments. 

Also, for those of you who leave a comment, I'm going to have a drawing on Friday for a copy of the book.  On Friday at noon, I will draw a name from the comments and that happy person will win a free copy of Katie's book!  From me, because I want you to read it with me that bad.

If you'd like to go ahead and order your copy, you can get it here or here or even here!  If you win the drawing, you can always give one of the copies to a friend and make our book circle even bigger.

So go ahead, leave a comment (with your email address listed) and then share this post with a friend so she can join us, too!

Some House Rules, New and Old, for Mother's Day

I've shared some of these in the past.

Some of them are new.

Some of them were declared for the first time yesterday.

Parenting is full of amendments.

These are the rules:

Do not eat gum you found on the sidewalk.
If you drop your gum in a movie theater, do not pick it up and put it in your mouth.
Do not put your feet in your baby brother's mouth.
Do not put your toes in your baby sister's mouth.
I don't care if she likes it.
Do not lick the tile on the back porch table.
Do not lick the window screen.
Do not lick the car windows.
Do not wash your toys in the potty.
Do not slurp water from the bathtub stopper.
Do not dance with pencils.
Do not dance with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Do not jump on the top bunk.
Do not stuff finger puppets into your mouth to see how many you can fit.
Especially on a full stomach.
Especially if your stomach is full of ice cream.

These are just some of the actual rules, stated out loud at some point in our household.
Happy Mother's Day

The Rest of the Seal Grey Paint

It didn't take us long to start up another project.

Donnie has built me the most gorgeous raised vegetable bed.

The entire thing is 8'x10', but it has nice, wide pathways, big enough to fit a lawn mower.  Or a tea party.

The entire thing is situated on a hill, but he managed to make the beds perfectly level.  That's how he does things.

He let everyone chip in. That's also how he does things.

Next step, paint it with the left over paint from the shutters, fill with healthy, living dirt, and pick out our crops!

Each side bed is 2'x6', and the one along the back is 1.5'x8'.  Perfect for a square-foot-garden style venture.  I have a habit of killing plants--especially vegetables--but this is just so pretty I want to come out and look at it all day long.  I hope I still feel like this when the sun starts raging with it's Texas summer attitude.  But, Donnie built this garden for me as an anniversary gift, so I'm pretty sure that means he's willing to take up the slack on the watering duties when the heat gets severe. 

What a great guy!

Oops...how did that get in there?

Follow you? Anywhere.

Strength in Numbers

This weekend my little brother Jeremy graduated from Bible College.  That's him in the picture below...the one we are clearly trying to edge out of the picture.  How nice.

My brother Josh and his wife surprised him (and the rest of us) by flying in from their home in Colorado to be there.  Even though we didn't know it, they were at the airport when my mom called him to say that her younger sister had passed away unexpectedly.  Have you ever noticed how that happens? Someone dies near a special occasion and you suddenly don't know how to feel.  I was so proud and excited for Jeremy, but also sad and grieving the tragic loss of life. 

I mentioned this to a couple people at the graduation, and they all had similar stories of simultaneous joy and heartache.  I don't think this timing is any coincidence.  We naturally gather together for celebrations, and need the strength of numbers when mourning.  God knew my mom would need all of her babies around to love on her this weekend, even though Josh didn't fully understand why he was making the trip.

I am in awe of our Heavenly Father, who knows us so well.  Who uses our loved ones to prop us up when we can't stand alone.  We gathered around the breakfast table Sunday morning, once again the family of my childhood, enjoying the company of siblings, celebrating accomplishment, remembering a loved one, and eating waffles. 

God knows what we need when we need it.