before we go...

The kids and I are leaving in the morning to go visit my family for a week. I was hoping to be asleep by now, but my well laid plans for the day were maliciously ruined by water running in a small stream across our garage (which is also our laundry room and the kids play room). It seems our 11 year old water heater picked today to go bad... I am just thankful that it happened while we were here and also for my traveling plumber (aka: daddy) who is coming many miles to install a new one for us!
The picture above is a tag I made for a birthday party that we are going to... I have had a thing for tags for awhile now, and I got the idea for this one on Heather Bailey's blog a few weeks ago. I have a plethora (don't you love that word?) of those wooden letters and knowing how much I like to use tree's in my creating, it was perfect! The picture kind of flattens it, but I love how the butterflies are "flying" off the tag.
I better get back to packing. Looking forward to seeing many of you in the next week!

almost done

I've completed all of our medieval costumes except for Lulu's. I think she will be a princess with a purple gown and a cape to match Regan's... if I can get it done before we leave on Saturday.

King Arthur

Queen Guinevere

Sir Lancelot

The court of Camelot

our castle

Everyone got in on the action this afternoon...even Tallulah, who has not been feeling well (which is why she is still in her PJ's).

Despite my best efforts, I could not secure any more appliance boxes, my neighbor just happened to be throwing out this one last week, so ours is a modest castle...

but it is still our castle, and the excitement and energy that went in to making it is what makes it special!

can't help myself!

*check the comments for the recipe Amy posted for us!*
This jar was full when Amy left my house just before 9pm on Thursday...

It is possible that Phil ate a piece or two, but not likely that he put a significant dent in this jar of peanut brittle... (delicious, melt in your mouth, homemade peanut brittle) I did that all on my own. This was by far, the BEST peanut brittle I have ever had. Thanks, Amy, for making more peanut brittle just for me and for helping me to put on those 5 "sweater weather pounds" so deliciously!

where do you put your children when they misbehave?

Okay, so really they are just playing in an appliance box that we are hopping to make into a castle... The other end of the box is open, I promise :)

sleeping over=up too late

Regan is having her first sleepover at a friends house.She has had sleep overs with her cousin before, but that isn't the same...

Well, we all know that sleepovers mean little sleep for children, but I guess it this case, it means little sleep for mommy too. Regan and her friends are probably fast asleep by now, but I have been working all night to make a birthday present for tomorrow's birthday party.

rainy day field trip

A friend had told me about a local Renaissance Faire that was happening this weekend. It was supposed to be small, but kid friendly, and since we have been studying Kings and Queens and Medieval times I figured it would be a perfect field trip for me and the kids. It turned out to be a bit of a bust. It was supposed to start at noon, but when we got there at 3pm, people were still setting up and the event that was scheduled for 3 was not happening. We did get to see a blacksmith working and Max and Lulu got wooden swords (I had made two already, but told them they would have to share because they were hard to cut out and I did not want to make more).

Here are a few pictures from the Faire... the kids in front of the castle
These were too high for the kids, so Regan jumped up and hung from the stocks

My budding photographer (Regan) took this one of me.

Tallulah making friends with one of the merchants children (who was dressed in period clothing, too cute!)

the kids have been asking all week...

"When can we (really me) work on our costumes more?" I finally carved out some time today (in between laundry, three R's, pumpkin muffins and cleaning the house) to work on Regan's gown.

She picked out the silver fabric. I was nervous about sewing with it, as it is very thin and fragile, but it turned out to be not so difficult. It was time consuming thought since I lined it with the shimmery pink fabric for strength.It kinda looks more like an angel costume than a queen, but hopefully her cape will help pull it all together. That is a project for another day as I still need to puree the pumpkin for the muffins (and then make the muffins), cook dinner and get the house clean for bible study! Hope you are having a wonderful Thursday!

art day!

Tuesday is our art day. The kids spent most of the morning working on their tapestries for our castle. I was not sure how they would do with this project, especially Max, but they did great and loved it. Regan and Micah even took theirs in the car to keep working on them when we had to run a quick errand! We used burlap, yarn and plastic needles. They each picked an image and I drew it on the burlap for them to "trace" with the yarn.

Regan stitched a castle, I will have to take pictures of the finished product to post.
Max did a sword

I could not get Micah to pose with his shield, so here it is with my crown that I did as an example piece.

Today I had planned for us to work more on our costumes, but got side tracked on a project from Max's Cubbie book, for Awana. It is supposed to be a timeline of his life. I put his in book format. He took it with him to Awana tonight and all the kids enjoyed looking at the pictures of Max, the teacher even gave him a special Cubbie sticker to put in it!

i'm so cute!

I finally got started on my scrap challenge project. It's fun to see how things change from the picture in your head to the actual project... it is taking on a life of it's own. I find myself taking bigger risks than I normally would, using more complex color combinations, because that is what I have been given. I have no idea how it will turn out, but I am excited to push the limits on what I would normally do, and see how it all plays out. You can check out some of the projects already completed in this Flickr group.

old friends and new friends

Yesterday we got the chance to spend the afternoon with some friends from Maryland that we have not seem since we moved 3 years ago. They are vacationing in Williamsburg with their parents and cousins. It is funny, since living here, I have been to Williamsburg on a number of occasions, but we figured out that yesterday was the first time Phil has been here since we moved to the area! Anyway, it was a beautiful day and we had a great time hanging out with old friends and even making some new friend, Regan and our friends cousins daughter (that is a mouthful!) hit it off immediately, claiming to be BFF's just a few short minutes after meeting! Here are a few pictures from our afternoon in Billy-burg.

the royal family

This was an easy project, just an hour or two to whip up 4 crowns, with jewels and all. I got the pattern from Amanda Soule's book, The Creative Family. She suggests using 100% wool felt. Unfortunately, I did not have any on hand, so I just used regular felt and they turned out fine. Next I am going to turn Max's shimmery gold cape into knights armor.

Tallulah had just woken up from her nap (a bit prematurely I think) and wanted nothing to do with wearing her crown. I convinced her to let baby wear it in the first photo, then in pic. # 2 she'd had enough and launched it across the room, this is her in-action.Here is Regan trying to sneak the crown on her head without her noticing... yeah right!

missing

Sorry I have been missing for a bit. We have been busy learning about kings and queens and I am just plain tired! I laid down for a nap today and an idea for the scrap challenge just popped into my head! Ran to Michael's on our way to PE for an embroidery hoop and I am ready to get sewing!

Tomorrow we start working on our Medieval costumes and hopefully I will find some time to start my project.

I have been inspired by Soule Mama and her new chair... the idea of staying in one spot and having life just go on around me for a bit sounds wonderful!

Hope you are having a wonderful Thursday!

look what came in the mail today!

I am so excited! JCasa Handmade is holding a scrap challenge and I signed up last month to participate. I sent my scrap off a couple of weeks ago and have been eagerly waiting to see what I would receive in return. It arrived today, and I cant wait to get started! (And to see what the other 99 participants are going to do!) Not sure what my plan in yet... I have been tossing a couple of ideas around, but it going to have to wait until I have some time to myself to play a bit!

highlights from the week

sewing on the trim for our...cowboy vests!

A five year check up (10 months late!)

Field trip to Safety Town to learn about pedestrian and bike safety.

A backyard camp-out.

Our cowboy cookout.

proof...

that my house is (mostly) clean, at least once a week...

and that I have the worlds greatest husband! :)

progress?

So, I am wondering how to keep my house from looking like this

at the end of every day?

It seems I have 4 of the messiest kids on earth living in my house. No matter how I try to instill orderliness, they seem incapable of maintaining it! Finally, after an hour of hounding them to clean up, it looked like this when they went bed last night...

Only to be repeated again today! Is there any hope?