stacks

My mom keeps laughing at me because every week I say something like, "After next week, things will slow down."  I swear it's the truth.  But I can see why she doubts me.  We're wrapping up our school year and sliding into the final week of rehearsals for the Mainstage production that Maggie is involved with.  Baseball, basketball, yard work, and regular family life all pile in there to make for some pretty overflowing days.  I've been seeing my week in stacks so here are a couple of the stacks I've worked through this past week.

I'm going to be teaching a history class next school year and I've been working through the topics and activities that I want to work through.  We have our teacher meeting today...so excited!

 My mom lent me her kindle so I could get caught up on our book club reads...I missed last month when they discussed Her Mother's Hope by Francine Rivers.  Next month the selection is Her Daughter's Dream....I'm finding myself frustrated by the lack of communication amongst the characters!

These books are also making me realize how vital it is that we pass on a legacy of hope and grace to our children!  

 My boy is loving this series.  We can't check them out of the library fast enough.  Yesterday we picked up 3 more and since the CDs were check out for two of the books, he actually got the books to read! yeah for more reading! 

Blueberries to nibble on all day long.  These are the best blueberries I've had.  I made a special run out last night to pick up more!   

 I finished a pile of Mother's day bracelets for my girlfriend to give at her church's Mother's Day Dedication....new design and card!  Yeah for Mothers!!

Mckenzie's pile of shorts to be hemmed....yeah for summer temps (I think they're coming!) and short wearing weather! 

Hopefully your stacks are reminders of the many joys in your life....

look around you and see how the blessings are piling up! 

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all of you! 

 Enjoy your days!

hello monday

This week I'm linking up with Lisa Leonard to welcome a brand new week with some of my favorite things from last week:

Hello to our third bag of oranges....they've been on sale at the market and we are loving the sweet juiciness of them!  I don't think we've ever eaten this many oranges at one time.

Hello to cookies baking in the house...thanks to my sweet daughter Kenzie!  She's a baker extraordinaire!

Hello to windows open and sweet scented breezes blowing in....love those lilacs!

Hello to bringing lilacs inside too!  These are Miss Kim Lilacs and they smell heavenly!

Hello to the space shuttle Enterprise as it flew over our house....it was very exciting!

Hello to special friends coming in for a sweet spot in our weekend....it was a wonderful catch up time...not long enough, but cherished nonetheless.....and what friends they are!... cheering in the freezing cold at Jammer's little league game!

Hello to baseball season!  On Saturday we froze....on Sunday we got sunburns!  Crazy! (and hello to my first movie clip on the blog....lots of cheering as our guy got a hit!)

Hello to my slowly growing pile of granny square goodness!

Hello to a brand new week....what about you?  What are you saying hello to this week?

playing hooky

I've been queueing up granny square blankets for a while...collecting ideas and photos of what I might one day like to hook up.  I love this one and this one and isn't this one gorgeous!?  Well, after adding one more link to my pinterest board, I decided to start some field research.  So, I put all of my left over worsted weight yarns into a basket to stew on for a while....you know, just to look at the colors, see if they worked together and if I liked how they all looked mingled up amongst each other.

I knew that I didn't have the funds to support ordering a bunch of yarn, so I decided to use what I had on hand with the possibility of adding some supplemental colors and background yarn as I went along.  The basket sat on the floor of my craft studio for weeks and I'd pull out yarns from time to time to see if taking out one color made me like the pile, or if adding another color made them all harmonize even better.

I've been a bit hesitant to start this project because I have this huge afghan (see above photo) that was given to me years ago...and let's just say that I'm not in love with it.  The colors are a bit garish (the neon orange and green), they don't really match anything in my house or each other for that matter....and yet I appreciate all the hard work and time that went into it.  So you can see that this blanket has been part of my hesitation in starting a granny squared afghan.

But finally this past Sunday, after all the dishes were put away and all the guests were gone from Easter,  I got out my Klutz crochet book and re-taught myself how to crochet a granny square.  I put away thoughts of neon orange and green and I just started.   It's been so much fun!

Mckenzie and I were talking about the colors and I asked her if I should limit my colors to 5 or 7 or should I just work with all of them....she said, "Mom, don't think about it too much....just have fun!"  Don't you love that!?  So, that's what I'm doing.  I'm pulling out color combos that I like and I'm having fun.  I am planning to crochet all of them with a cream/oatmeal edge so that they'll be grounded by a similiar background.  (Kind of like this one)

I'm already learning some things I start on this project....
1. This is a long term project...I'm not in a hurry.  I'll add to my pile of squares as I have time.
2.  I'm enjoying experimenting with color and I'll keep experimenting as I go. I promise not to add any neon green or orange though.
3.  The gifted afghan has taken on new appreciation as I work on each square (and even though I'm not a fan of the colors...I'll bet she had fun while hooking away on it).

I'll keep you posted as I work through the yarn in my basket and grow my pile of granny squares...playing hooky has been so fun!

right now

Which season do you think is the busiest?  Fall, with back to school activities?  Maybe winter with Christmas and all the holiday happenings? I always think that the next season will be less busy but then I get to it and it's just as full as the one I just left.   I'm convinced that the busiest season is whichever one you're in....  No matter what season it is, it seems that the one in which you find yourself in is just as busy as the last one...but it's all good, isn't it?  These seasons are what make up a life....I'm learning to enjoy each and every minute of them.  My mom always told me not to hurry and wish your life away....she was so right!  There are blessings to find wherever you are.  

This season finds us:  

Enjoying Improv hour as Maggie performed (this was before the performance)

and Mckenzie watched on...she's such a great supportive sister!

 enjoying the wonderful weather outside 

(molly loves to sit on the deck and watch for the horses and squirrels) 

slowly getting started on a project...cutting 6 inch squares for the beginning of an hourglass quilt 

our boy is learning to mow the grass on the lawn tractor....I think his daddy was surprised that his legs were long enough to reach the brake....a key essential in mowing!

enjoying my plants - fiddleheads as they emerge from the ground all curly and green

bleeding hearts...

forget me nots

huechera...this one is called Peach Flambe....it is gorgeous!

working bit by bit on my favorite scarf ever...

it's so easy, I've actually got the pattern memorized.  

We're also into baseball season and basketball as well...but I'm having trouble uploading any more photos into blogger...oh well, that might by my cue to stop and go do some laundry.  It's always laundry season!  Enjoy your seasons and the days that make them up!  

a jumble

I've been absent for a reason...We just returned from a basketball trip to Lynchburg, VA where the Varsity teams competed in the East Coast Homeschool Basketball Championships.  The weather was great and the games were even better.  I'm all in a jumble...trying to get back to our routine.

 The girl's team took the 2A Championship and brought home a banner (along with plenty of bruises!  I don't care what anyone says....basketball is a contact sport!) Our boy's team came in 2nd place in their division.  Everyone got along and it was a week full of memories and special moments.

I always take along some projects to work on while traveling and I found this cute scarf pattern on Ravelry. The directions said to divide the yarn into two equal balls.  I had a huge ball of the sock yarn all ready to go!

  Since I didn't have a digital scale, I improvised and used my second grade balance scale.  I was pretty proud of myself!

But after all that cleverness, I barely stitched 3 rows on my scarf....I would come back after the games and crash...you'd have thought I was playing ball for as tired as I was by the end of the day.  (It's a lot of work being a good fan! )

I did manage to work on my cross stitch while we were riding down to Lynchburg.  I picked this out in January...it reminded me of summer days.

And speaking of summer, we have been enjoying some gorgeous spring days and now that I'm not sitting in the stands with a camera in my hands and a prayer on my lips, I found some time to get outside and capture some of the beauty of the season.

When we were traveling down to Lynchburg, everything was brown...but on the way home, the trees were covered in soft fuzzy green buds!  It was amazing how fast everything popped with a week of warm temps!  

I can't believe it's the middle of March and we're enjoying May like temperatures.  Everything is blooming or sprouting....hopefully the frost and cold temps won't be back.

I feel like we missed winter....like I took a long nap and when I woke up it was spring.  Sort of like Narnia, but in reverse.  Strange.  I'm not complaining though, I love this weather.  

So...there it is....a jumble of things going on...a wonderful jumble!   Enjoy your days!  

(Oh and John noticed the curtain...after he read my blog!  he he) 

it only took 10 years

I think it's been ten years that I've had the same kitchen curtain up over my sink....but I'm not exactly sure.  When we first moved into this house, my kitchen was Americana....red, white and blue with lots of flags and punched tin.  nice eh?  When I was pregnant with John Samuel we began the process of knocking out a wall and making our kitchen and dining room into one room.  I remember feeding him with the sounds of construction going on and that's how I know that it's been about 10 years.

We torn down the wallpaper and I put away the flags and the punched tin and made a curtain to go over the sink (above).  I've always liked the fabric and never felt the urge to change it, until this past week.  On Monday I had some time to kill while the girls were at basketball practice and I was alone (unbelievable!)  So, I went to Joann's and milled around for a while.  I came out with fabric and the idea to redo that curtain.  Tada!  Wild I know!

Here's a close up of the fabric.  It's a ticking stripe in browns, blue and greens.  Very classic...

I'm laughing because even though it's not a big change...(I didn't choose the rooster fabric or the Hawaiian print that I pushed around in my cart for a while as I was deciding),  I'm not sure my husband has even realized that there's a new curtain up.   Guess he needs to spend more time at the sink, right!?

Good thing this is what my sink looks like most of the time....

sweetness times two

My cousin and his wife recently had twins.  They live way up north in Minnesota and we never get to see them, but this summer they were in the DC area and we got to have lunch with them and catch up. Becky was pregnant and glowing....it was so exciting to watch them knowing that they are heading into the next best phase of their lives.   The next time we see them, their family will have doubled in size!  I sent off some goodies for the babies....

onesies with their initials  (Jack and Grace)

and burp clothes for all the fun stuff that comes with parenting

I used soft cotton flannel on all the gifts.  The initials are wonder under-ed on and then blanket stitched around the edges for durability.

The burp clothes are simply seamed flannel on top of the center panel of some white cloth diapers.  I pre-washed and doubled rinsed everything (diapers, onesies and flannel) before sewing.

When I opened the package of onesies I was surprised at how small they were...makes me realize how big my kiddos have gotten.  Although I'm long past the days of babes and burp clothes, there's something irresistible about sweet baby items.