My Longest Year

my budding photographer

Do you ever have those moments that your heart is just beaming with joy watching or thinking about your kids?  I am constantly thinking to myself as I watch them - God must have special plans for you.  Which, if you know me, is instantly terrifying.  To be charged with caring for His special kiddos. 

You may remember we bought Evyn a camera.  And every once in a while I'll hear her snapping away.  It's delightful to watch her.  The other day I walked into the room and caught her trying to capture Gregor - as a true photographer would - at his eye level.

Once she heard the click! of my own camera, she whipped around and promptly took a shot of me:

Later that evening, while the girls were sleeping, we downloaded her pictures...some of them going all the way back to our Christmas vacation.   James and I grinned from ear to ear with every picture - we could just imagine what her little four year-old brain and eye were mulling over as she snapped each shot.

 

Seriously, between the self-portraits and pictures of her sister and pictures of her prized possessions....and over forty pictures detailing this piece she made last year (yes, over forty - she could totally be a blogger!)...

...all I could think was man, is this chick cool or what?  I am so enamored by and full of love for my girls. 

Oh, and that photo she snapped of me?  Priceless.

***
And by the way, in case you care at all-- If you're looking for a fun little camera for your kiddo, this one is easy for toddlers to hold and is hardy.  BUT, I am sorely disappointed in the quality for how much it costs - and it is pretty difficult to actually take the picture that your little tot is aiming for, because it doesn't actually snap the picture until one or two seconds after they've pressed the shutter.  Really, really frustrating.  I can't even take pictures with this thing.  So skip it and wait for a better version to come out.

when blogs collide

I've received lots of emails from some of you starting with, "I hope you don't think I'm stalking you but..." and then you go on to tell me a story, ask a question about a paint color, my camera, where I live in case we can ever get together for coffee, etc, etc.  Please know I so do not think you're a stalker.  What would you think of me if you knew that I've actually spoken with or met at least three fellow bloggers who would have been complete strangers were it not for their blog?!  I called Andrea with camera woes, Miss Charlotte with publishing questions, and met up with Karen after both of us randomly moved from opposite sides of the country to the same area. 

In fact, just a few weeks ago I thought to myself, "I wonder if I'll ever meet someone in this rinky dink town and discover I've been following their blog or some crazy thing like that?"  And then "some crazy thing like that" happened.

She explains the story a little better, but Readers Digest version: I've been in Sunday School with this girl for, like, months. (and I promise I'm intelligent, people, but sometimes I succumb to my inner high school valley girl).

Meet Sweet Rachel.  That's what she makes me call her. 

Okay, just kidding.  But she would be mortified if you thought that.  She's that sweet.  Way, way sweeter than me. 

She's a great photographer and she's teaching me some of what she's learned with her DSLR and Photoshop in the past year (can you believe she's only been at it a year?).  Since there are no photography classes here, I can use all the help I can get.  And now I've got lens envy (see me using her expensive equipment here).  I have so much to learn.  And I want to be there already.  You know, awesome.  Why must it take so long to become awesome?

***

And thank you all so much for your concern for Luke and his family.  I'm sad that so many of you carry  the burden of grief as well - it's not a club anyone wants to belong to.

peace for luke

Last Monday I grinned as I watched little Luke toddle up the path to preschool, his oxygen tank in tow.  I sighed some relief that he'd pulled through another hospital stay.  Evyn and I had prayed for him, prayed for his health, prayed for his family, sure that they were weary with every trip to the hospital.  And here he was, grinning, happy to join his class again.  I smiled to myself and went on my way.

I wasn't surprised when I received an email from his mom that he was in the hospital with trouble breathing again. We often received emails like this.  And he always got better in time. But this time each email update was worse than the last until.

Until Friday morning when I woke up to the news that Luke was gone.  His three year old little body had taken as much as it could. 

There was the predictable scurry of phone calls among preschool moms. And I did my best to remind people that what this family needed right this second was probably being taken care of by church and family.  I knew having been through my sister's death that people hurry to make meals, call with concern, send flowers...but you really need them - you really start grieving - weeks later.  When the flowers die, and the cards stop coming.  And people move on with their lives, while you're left with a gaping hole in yours.  So we're all standing ready, knowing we can't fix this or make it any better.  Hopeful that we can be of some comfort down the road, when the hurt sinks in and Luke's mom needs a shoulder to cry on. 

Please say a prayer for them.  For their strength and peace and "patience with the living," as I like to call it.  And for wisdom for those around them.

****

A few weeks ago Evyn started asking about her Aunt Lora.  How she died ("Did she fall out of the car?"), why the doctors couldn't fix her, etc.  I explained to her as simply as I could that two cars had collided.  Lora was broken.  The doctors tried their hardest, but she couldn't be fixed here on earth.  And now she lives in Heaven, perfect and healthy with Jesus - in a place prepared just for her.  Evyn was satisfied with that answer.  We went through the explanation all over again when we told her Luke wouldn't be coming back to school.  She was frustrated that she wouldn't see him again, but was okay with him being in Heaven with Aunt Lora.

After a long weekend of worry and sadness for Luke's family, this afternoon I am picturing  him cuddled peacefully in Jesus' arms.  No longer broken.  Perfect and happy, in a place our Father prepared. Just for him.

John 14:2-3 (King James Version)

 ²In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

 ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

flour + salt + water = jewelry

Evyn loves art.  Her friend K loves art.  I love doing art projects.  Sounds like a regular art day is in order!

We had our first one last week.  We made our own clay beads, then painted and strung them to make bracelets. 

The girls loved making the clay dough:
1 cup salt
1 cup warm water
2 cups flour

We rolled them into balls and poked large holes with a skewer.  It's important that the holes be a little exaggerated because the beads plump in the microwave (microwave on high about 2-3 minutes total, turning the beads over halfway through).

Once the paint dried, I took the beads outside and sprayed them with a gloss sealer to make them a little shinier.  Whew that stuff is toxic!

The girls watched a princess move and read There's a Mouse In the House to each other while the everything finished drying.

Then, we strung the beads on a bit of Magic Stretch (we used 1mm but I would use something just a bit smaller) and called it a day!

We're already planning the next Art Day.  With so many bloggy, crafty moms out there I have too many ideas to choose from!

Check these places out for some artsy sensory fun stuff:

Playful Learning

Let's Explore

birthday linens & festive bunting tutorial

Several of you have asked how I made Evyn's and Ashlyn's birthday linens, and I did promise a tut.  So here you go!  Dig into your stash or run to the fabric store to start putting your fabrics together.  Don't make the same mistake I did; keep it simple - buy only three fabrics (one large scale, and two small) and as you're whipping this all up, be haphazard.  It makes the project easier and the finished piece more charming.

This post will cover the party bunting (or "flags") and the table linens.  Bunting first - those are the most fun, anyway.  One finished bunting is 9 feet long.  I like to have three in my set.

Materials:

• Fat quarters of at least three coordinating fabrics (or leftovers from the table linens - see "Dressing the Table," below)
• Three yards bias tape, homemade or store bought
• Pinking shears or pinking rotary cutter

To Make:

1.  Fold each fat quarter of fabric in half (wrong sides together) to measure 22 x 9".   Starch and press.

2.  Cut five pairs of 6" x 9"-ish triangles out of the folded fabric using pinking shears (see the handy diagram that someone else put together for me).
 
You will have leftover scraps on the ends.  Repeat cutting with other two fabrics for a total of 15 (or so) triangle pairs.  The starch should keep each pair together.  Remember: don't worry about precise measuring and cutting of each triangle.  Cut recklessly.

3. Leave each pair of flags adhered together and topstitch the two longest sides with a long stitch, using a 1/2" or so inseam. Sew hastily and admire the whimsy of your uneven stitching.  Don't turn them inside out; that takes too long and the topstitching gives them character.

4.  Pin the finished flags between bias tape, spacing them half an inch to an inch apart and leaving about six inches of bias tape on either end for hanging.

5.  Topstitch the bias tape closed, catching the flags as you go.

To Dress the Tables:
Rather than tell you how to sew (or fabric glue) a straight line on four sides, I'll just share the basic dimensions of the pieces I use when dressing tables for a party.

I like to have linens for at least two tables - one long and one square.  In total I use two twin flat sheets (white tablecloths) and three different fabrics (1 table sash and 2 square toppers). 

• I use two inexpensive twin white flat sheets (available at Walmart for about $3) for the basic tablecloth.  I leave one alone and cut the other into a large square (finished dimensions are about 60" square).
• The longest table gets a fabric sash (table runner) - 18 x 90" is standard, but you can make it shorter.  I buy a little over two yards of a particular fabric, cut it in half the long way and use one piece for the sash and the other piece for the party flags.
• The square table gets two square table toppers layered diagonally over each other - 45" square each.  I buy two yards of each fabric and use the leftovers for the party bunting.
• Launder the linens immediately after the party and store them in a "birthday fabrics" tub for the next year.  If you find that you wind up using different sized tables at future venues, just improvise with what you've got, turning the square pieces on the diagonal on long or round tables.

these are the days

...and I'm loving them, loving them.

...and meet gregor's competition

They compete for attention, for toys, for FOOD!  Gregor is basically a toddler at times...or, well, maybe Ashlyn is a Shih Tzu.

 

meet gregor

Adorable, isn't he?  He's a two year old male shih tzu.  That we rescued.  For a ba-million dollars (whew! who knew rescue was so expensive?).

We used to be the proud owners of Morgan - a boston terrier that we adored.  But Army life made it increasingly difficult to find good housing after every move, and eventually we asked our parents to take him.  They graciously accepted...and he's been theirs ever since.

Now we're out of the Army, Ashlyn is older and I'm well past my meltdown.  So we felt ready for a pet. 

I was raised in a family that adopted pets from the pound or those destined for the pound.  We always took in the runts, the defective, the ugliest.  Dad worried those were the pets who would never see a life past the pound.  My mom was horribly allergic to animals, but she loved them and knew how important they were to the rest of us, so she took shots.  Still does.  Anyway, Morgan came from a pet shop. It went against my instincts to not buy from a pound or rescue group.  And I swore I would never do that again.  So we have kept our eyes open for a small adult dog.

Enter Gregor.  An intelligent but stubborn little guy who was not housebroken.  We run a pretty disciplined household, so that didn't take long.  The foster family thought he didn't know his name because he never responded to it.  We realized quickly that he knew his name just fine.  He just likes to respond on his own terms.  Basically, he's one of us.