My Creative Space

My creative space still covers the dining room table... I got all the applique's stitched on the quilt! I'm ready to start cutting flannel squares, I need a couple more yards, so that's on hold until I can get to the fabric store.

On the knitting front, I have another batch of hexagons ready to block. In the face of 21 almost-complete hexagons, I decided that perhaps it is time to start connecting them. I'm not sure I could handle having all 42 pieces waiting to be attached at the same time. It took 4 tries to figure out how I will attach them.

Oh, what's this?
It's pink.
It's going to be a baby dress. (for someone else's baby... I have no tiny ones in my forseeable future!)
For more creative spaces, visit kootoyoo; thanks for hosting, Kirsty!

Word Filled Wednesday

This is my first time doing a WFW... I'm still not familiar with a lot of scripture. Hopefully I'll get better with practice!

Click here for more Word Filled Wednesday.

A Parenting Success!

We had the most amazing experience this evening.
Here's a little back-story for you: Every evening, Boy1 (6yo) and I (or his Dad) pray before bed. We say the "Now I lay me down to sleep..." prayer, and then we take turns thanking God for things that we are grateful for. We have been doing this ever since he was old enough to speak (or sign) words for things in his life.
Over the course of this summer, we have been working to make sure that God is truly at the center of our family. This means that we study the Bible together (I didn't even know all of the Ten Commandments), pray before every meal and snack and read and discuss the lessons from this book. When I have to correct the boys' behavior, I try to do so with patience and "faithful instruction." I have also been stressing to Boy1 that he can talk to God anytime, and that he should especially feel like talking to God when something is bothering him.

I have to say that I have suspected for a couple of weeks that it is working. It's definitely working a lot better than losing my cool and yelling. [Ducks head] Boy1 is much more accepting of the faithful instruction than he was of the ranting. I still have to take a breath once in a while and remember not to lose my cool. (My personal Bible study is turning toward "patience" lately...)

This evening we had what I consider to be a huge breakthrough.

See, Hubby has been working a lot lately, leaving early and getting home late. He hates it, but sometimes his job requires crazy hours. Boy1 was really tired tonight and whenever he gets tired like this on a night when his Daddy isn't home by bedtime, he tends to get a little weepy. So, we called Hubby on his cell and then settled in to read a book and say our prayers. After we said our thank you's we had a brief exchange:

Boy1: Wait, Mommy. You can't go yet.

Mommy: Why, *Monkey? Did you lose one of your sleepy friends [stuffed animals]?

Boy1: (with tears in eyes) Can you say the other prayer?

Mommy: Which other prayer? We said both of them.

Boy1: The one where you tell God I'm sad?

Mommy: You mean you want me to pray for God to comfort you because you miss Daddy?

Boy1: Yes. So He will make my tears stop?

*I sometimes call Boy1 "Monkey" because he has always been my little snuggler... my "Snuggle-Monkey" if you will. I also sometimes call him "LilMan," because he has always been like a little Man.

And there you have it. For the first time ever, Boy1 asked for help in turning to his Heavenly Father for comfort. I honestly didn't think that part of what I've been saying and demonstrating was sinking in with him. Apparently it was. That's quite a bit of validation, and confirmation to me that we are definitely on the right track with our family.
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In other news, I started back to work for another school year. I'm almost excited to get back to my job, back to answering my Call. I will be happy to get back... right after I get over the overwhelming guilt over leaving my children. And the disappointment over not being able to spend every waking moment with them. And the stress over trying to balance my work responsibilities with my home responsibilities...
...but as soon as I get over all that, I will be 100% back in the game and ready to answer God's Call with joy and love in my heart. I just have to get over myself first. Geez. Why is that so hard?
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Boy2 went back to day care today. He had a great day(!) so at least that is one thing a can let go of a bit. He had no tears, and seemed to enjoy getting back to the business of playing with his friends.

My Creative Space

This is my first time participating in "Creative Space!"

This week, my creative space has taken over the dining room table. Half of the table (the half we don't use for meals) is covered in this:
Cabins and trees and bears, oh my! These are the applique's I made for my littlest one's quilt. This project has me VERY NERVOUS. It's my first try at sewing a quilt. My sewing skills are not the greatest, since I'm almost completely self taught. Cross your fingers for me!

And as usual, my creative space is full of sticks & string. Here's a baby blanket I'm working on:
...and a few dishcloths for our trailer.

For more Creative Goodness, click here.

Weedless Wednesday is Back!

Despite my initial concerns, much has been growing in the garden! I picked all of this early this week: 5 (small) ears of corn, two handfuls of green beans and more leaf lettuce than I know what to do with.
I've also been picking lots of okra, which, as it turns out, should actually be picked while it's relatively small. (Hubby says okra is NOT supposed to be crunchy. I don't eat the stuff, so... live & learn!) I also picked three roma tomatoes, but they were consumed before I could snap a photo.

Also, despite my concerns, one of the broccoli plants just started bearing its fruit:
Oh, and the pepper plants my dad gave us have been really busy!

Unfortunately, not everything has been growing so well. The pumpkins, zucchini, watermelons and gourds I planted in the middle of the lawn on the hill have not been doing much. All but the watermelons won their battle with the grass, and we've had several flowers, but no fruit so far. I think maybe they are not being pollinated & therefor are not producing? I'm not sure, but I am a bit disappointed.
Oh well... it was an experiment, after all. I really had no idea if they would even sprout up there.

The garden has finally begun to fill in. I do have some problems with weeds, and although I continue to try to control most of them, some areas are beyond control. I really need a good herbicide to get rid of them, but I'm not sure I'm willing to go there right now.
The okra is much taller and fuller than I expected.
And the corn is doing pretty well.

Inside, the oregano is struggling and the strawberries are brown.
But the basil is taking off! I hope to be able to make some pesto in another couple of weeks!
Happy gardening!

Here is our menu for this week, the last official week of our summer vacation.

~Dinners~
Monday: *Brinner! (Eggs with sausage & toast)
Tuesday: Crazy Crust Pizza, salad (mostly from our garden)
Wednesday: BBQ Beef Pockets, corn on the cob (from our garden), salad
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Roast chicken (in the crock pot), carrots & green beans, mashed potatoes
Saturday: Homemade chicken soup, grilled cheese sandwiches
Sunday: Leftovers

*Brinner: BReakfast + diNNER+ BRINNER! (We love to eat breakfast for dinner, but Hubby does not, so we usually have this on Mondays when he's playing tennis after work.)

~Breakfasts~
Yogurt with granola, pancakes, fruit

~Lunches~
PB&J wraps, leftovers, crackers, fruit, whatever else I can dig up

We went grocery shopping this morning instead of yesterday. I just couldn't get the planning & clipping done before today.

I spent a lovely bit of time yesterday with this:
I ended up with quite a haul of coupons!
I LOVE to clip coupons. I clipped about $11.00 worth from the paper and printed another $4.00 from various websites yesterday. I know it's fully legit, but I always feel like I'm cheating the system a bit... and saving money at the same time!

For more Menu's, visit the Happy Housewife.

Creating

It occurred to me that lately all my posts have been about the boys, our family & what we've been doing together. I can't remember the last time I wrote a post that focused completely on what I've been doing... about what I've been creating.

Because one of the most remarkable things about staying at home with the boys this summer has been all the creating I've been able to do. I've still had to wedge my creative time in between changing diapers, cooking meals, doing chores and doing the occasional piece of paperwork, but I've still been able to fit it in, much more so than during last school year.

(I think it also helps that Riley is old enough to go & play by himself or with Ty, and no longer believes it is my duty as his mother to carry him around on my hip every moment of the day.... not that I minded having him attached to me like a little baby monkey, but let's face it: some things are easier to accomplish without the extra load!)

So, I have been creating. This week, Ty & I created some yummy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies:

And I hauled out the sewing machine last weekend after a MAJOR trip to the fabric store. I'm not quite ready to share the products of this endeavor yet, but soon. Very soon. I'm hoping to channel my Granny this week & get it all finished up.

And I have definitely been busily creating with my knitting needles. I have three WIP's (Works in Progress for you non-knitters). The first is a baby blanket for my little niece (who should arrive sometime in early December.) I worked on it after my tennis lesson, while watching Ty have his tennis lesson, on Saturday.

I'm also continuing to work on the hexagon blanket for Riley. I'm planning to give it to him for Christmas. I've completed and blocked ten hexagons, and have ten more ready to be blocked. This puts me at the half-way point. I'm thinking it's time to start stitching them together. It's in this bag, which is currently hanging on my bedroom door because I knitted while watching SNL last night.

The third project I've got going is a set of dishcloths for the new trailer. I know I could go out & buy some for cheap, and with much less trouble, but here's the thing: 1) I've got all this Sugar N Cream sitting in the stash & I need to use it for something; 2) I'm enjoying some new stitches. I'm working all of these in stitch patterns from my Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns, and it's nice because it's no big deal if I mess something up; and 3) I really like using knit dishcloths. They hold up really well, are super-absorbent, and the textures are great for scrubbing stubborn stuff off our counters & dishes.
So there you have it. Lots of creating going on around these parts. And hopefully some FO's (Finished Objects) soon!