Lasso The Moon

Making Snowflakes with Ethan

Ethan has been asking to make snowflakes every single day since he learned how. 

Now you can learn how, too.

We all need something we love to make.

 

Christmas

Whatever stress accompanied us as we approached this day, there is nothing I would rather do than watch the wonder of Christmas on the faces of my children.   The glitter, lights, and decorations seem to dim as we read the story of our Savior's birth.  We imagine the surprise of the shepherds, the determination of the wise men, and the hope of the Christ-child's young parents on this miraculous day. 

However you celebrate Christmas, I hope you get to do so with those you love.  Merry Christmas.

Big Day

First day of first grade.

 

Tough day for Momma.

Linked to:

 

Questions

Mom?

Can we talk privately?

If there was already one person on the Earth, why didn't God make Eve a baby?

If we all came from Adam and Eve, why do we say that Abraham is everyone's father?

If God is in Heaven, how did He make me?

Isn't it more like you made me?

If we go to Heaven after we die, and we wake up in Heaven, doesn't it seem like our lives are just a dream?

Mom, how do you know that our life isn't a dream?

--------------------

Six-and-a-half.  Nothing prepares you for it.

Saturday Morning with Ethan (4)

Ethan:Poor daddy has a sunburn.  He's so cute.
Me: You are such a sweet, loving boy.
Ethan: I love everybody.  But not bad people.
Me: Jesus wants us to love bad people, too.
Ethan: LOVE bad people?!
Me: That's right.  Jesus loves bad people.
Ethan: Did he even love those bad people who put him on the cross and made him die?
Me: He did.  Because really all of us are bad, and that's the reason Jesus died on the cross.  Because he wanted us to be able to go to heaven if we trust in him.
Ethan: Daddy, did you trust in Jesus?
*Daddy nods and smiles.  He's leaving this one to me.*
Ethan: Was it sad when he died on the cross?
Me: Yes.  Very sad.  His mommy was there when he died.  Don't you think she was sad, too?
Ethan: Yeah. Is Mary his mommy? 
Me: Yep.
Ethan: Mommy, look how fast I can get out of this bed.  But not as fast as Jesus.  He can do it faster than anyone.
Me: Oh, really?
Ethan: Yeah, and Mary can fly.  She's a fairy.

 

An Excellent Year

Although Emma's last day of school was a couple weeks ago, I thought I'd share the gift we made together for her teacher.  We could not have had a better experience this year, and Ms. P was one of the biggest reasons for that.

So I decided to make a bag for her with a bit of Emma's artwork on the front.

Emma made a picture for her and wrote a long note around the edge letting Ms. P know how much she liked her. I took the words, "You are the best techr evr" from this. 

The drawing is as close as I could get to the original, too.  I appliqued the colored parts and used my free-motion embroidery foot to do the outlining and lettering.

A pretty lining and handy pocket inside.

A bit of branding on the back.

I was lucky enough to be there when Emma presented the bag and the drawing to Ms P.  She loved it and said she would make it her official school bag.  Of course Emma was beaming at this. (So was I!)  Honestly, there is no way we could have thanked her enough for successfully teaching 22 6-year-olds for an entire school year.  This was just a small token.

Emma on her last day.

linked to:

homework, bcd, somewhatsimple, momnivores, F&J, MWA, HoH, picketfence, Joyfulstamper,

Ethan Joins the Sewing Class

In his own way, at least.  This is a vintage child's machine that doesn't actually work.  But that didn't stop him!  The needle is real, and that's all he needed.

The End Of Sewing I

These are from the last day of sewing class, late this summer.  We finished our final projects a little early in the class, so I let the girls make finger puppets of their own design.  I had not prepared anything, so I just free-handed a finger shape, and sent them to work.  Sometimes the greatest projects are the ones you didn't plan.  They were so great!  And it was fun figuring out the different designs with them as they worked.

Sara's butterfly is getting spotted wings.

Abby's monkey is all laid out and ready to sew.

I told Grace that she probably couldn't get her jaguar to look vicious.

I was wrong!

These are the final "Collections."  This one is Grace's.  I love how she stayed in the same color family for the entire class.

Anna's.  The puppet is a venomous snake of some kind!

 

Kelsie's.  She kept finishing the steps way too quickly, so I had to come up with more detail for each project.  And notice the bow on the panda puppet!  That was all her.

Sara's.  I let them design the embroidery on the sewing bags, and she was the only one to not stitch her initial.  That's a bug she found in her yard, complete with hairy legs. Love it!

Abby didn't have her bag the day we took pictures, but hers were amazing, too.  Since we finished the class, we took a couple weeks off, and then started another round.  This time I only have 3 students, but we are doing almost completely machine-stitched projects.  Hopefully I'll remember to take some shots of those soon!

 

 

What we've been up to

This summer schedule is a killer!  I tend to do a lot of single parenting in the summer, since Donnie (a youth pastor) is busy with the youth group.  In the summer, our youth activity schedule is ramped up to a rolling boil. 

So, that said, we've been busy...even too busy to stop and think about how busy we are.  But here are a few things we've been up to:

(Abby)

I mentioned a while back that I was doing a little sewing class with some girls I know.  This summer the class has grown from 2 to 5 and we are having a blast.  Emma is even joining in on some of the projects...and all of the chatting.

 

(Grace)

 

I joined a virtual quilting bee.   This is a group of twelve ladies who each take one month this year to be the "queen bee".  When it is her month, the Queen decides what pattern we'll do, and and each of us make her one or two blocks in the pattern.  Sometime within the month, she'll receive all of the blocks, and have enough for a finished quilt!  Such a cool idea.

Every bee has a theme of some kind, and this bee's theme is vintage sheets!  We are using our own supply for the blocks.  July's block was a string-pieced block.

 

I joined a vintage sheet fat quarter swap, too.  We cut sheets into fat quarters, shipped them to the hostess's house, and she sent me back just as many, but in all different prints.  These are the 80 that I sent in.  I've gotten my box back already, but haven't taken any photos yet.

 

Had a yard sale while Donnie was out of town one week.  It was wildly successful, but super HOT!  Here are the kids taking a slushy break. (Only the 1st and 3rd are mine!)

There's much more going on around here, but I'll save some of it for next time.  Be sure to stay cool and hydrated! 

--Anna

Two Wheels