the tabernacle

I thought we would never finish this in time, but today we buckled down and determined to get it done... and here it is! I wish that we had more time for this unit. I feel like we spent so much time making and not enough talking about what it all means. I have thought about carrying this over into our next unit, but we might just revisit this again when the kids are a bit older and might understand it all a bit more. It has been a fun project and I am sure that the kids got something out of it all :)

Here are two of the four layers that cover the inner courts.

The Holy Place where the Golden Lampstand, the Table of Showbread and the Altar of Incense resided.

The Arc of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies

The Inner Courts

The Gate, the only way into the Tabernacle.

The Outer Courts with the Brazen Alter (and sacrifice) and the Bronze Laver where the priest washed themselves before meeting with God.

who was I kidding?

Despite my best intentions I did not see much of the couch yesterday... except for the two hours I spend folding and ironing these

I guess calling in sick to motherhood is a bit unrealistic... My plans to veg on the couch (maybe even take a nap) sounded so good to me, but my kids had other plans... Instead we cleaned the house (at least 3 times), baked bread ...

and made this:
If only I could be this productive when I am feeling good! :)

calling in sick

Here is a little peak at my progress on my granny square blanket. I think it is going to be a lot of fun when It is all done... whenever that may be! I love working with all these bright colors in the midst of winter, I can't wait to curl up under it and keep warm :)

We've had some form of sickness or another going through our house for the past 3.5 weeks and I am on round two of a cold... I told Phil that I am calling in sick today... I plan on spending the majority of my day laying on the couch, maybe I will fold the 5 loads of laundry on the living room floor, maybe I will crochet a few squares... or maybe I will just veg out and let the kids fend for themselves for the day! TTFN!

slow progress

We stated a new Konos Unit this week, Honor, and our first two weeks are being spent building a model of the Tabernacle. With Dr.'s visits and emergency hardware store runs it has been slow going, but here is a chronicle of our week so far...

Learning how to use the miter box...

"Take a picture of me doing it by myself!"
Painting the bases of the pillars bronze.

Gluing on the silver "caps" to the pillars.

The curtains are hung!

The Gate is decorated.

The Brazen Alter.
Tomorrow we build the Holy of Hollies!

poor boy

Max has some sort of mystery virus... he woke up fine and out of no where spiked a 105 degree fever around 10:30am. We went to the Dr. where they ruled out Strep, The Flu and Pneumonia and as quickly as it came the fever was totally gone by 1pm. Just before dinner it spiked again and this is how I found him in the midst of all the chaos of dinner and a major school project that is taking over our house...
My sweet boy... hopefully tomorrow treats him better.

hippo birdie two ewe's

I once got a birthday card where the whole birthday song was "sung" using animal names, I was probably like 8 years old when I got that card, but I still remember it :) Anyway, yesterday was my birthday. I turned 33. I like being in my 30's, so far they have been good to me.
I had a wonderful day... The kids slept until just past 7am (I don't know about your house, but this is sleeping in at our house). They showered me with cards and birthday hugs as the piled in bed with me. Phil brought me breakfast in bed before going to work and the kids and I lounged around the house for the morning. My friend Jessica came over around 11 and brought me the largest strawberry banana smoothie I have ever seen and gave me an Arbonne makeover. We did a bit of school (more on that to come) and finished off the day with pizza and ice cream cake! It does not get much better than that!

My friend Amy totally surprised me with this fabulous purse... that she made! It is another Heather Bailey pattern that she and I have been eyeing for awhile, the Marlo Bloom Handbag...
and look, it's even reversible! I can't wait to use it!!! Thanks, Aim!

a little light

The kids and I stayed home sick from church today. After we straightened up the house I decided to try and cross something off of my crafting to do list.

My friend received a lamp like this at her baby shower a few weeks ago and it turned out so cute I had to give it a try myself!
It is a perfect fit for the girls room and Regan loves her "new" lamp!

(he)arts and crafts

We are blowing off school today to have a little valentine fun. Got the idea for the potato stamp here... and don't worry, we will at least do some reading and maybe even a bit of math before the day is over, but first I am off to the kitchen to make some valentine chocolates :)

two for two

It is the second month of the year and Lulu has her second ear infection of 2009 already. We started with the $4 amoxicillin, but now we've moved up to the big leagues with Augmentin at (the negotiated price of) $40! I hope that future ear infections don't mean another 1000% increase!

something to think about

The husband and I have been talking a lot about losing our cool with the kids lately. How ineffective it is at accomplishing what we desire and instead the sour fruit that is yielded from our sowing such ill seed (or bad example). Seems God is working change in our hearts and this post pulls again, drawing my heart back to Him.

in stiches

Yesterday I crocheted my first granny square and my first flower! I am totally addicted to crocheting and I think that granny square blankets might lead to my undoing!
Both of the patterns came from Attic24, a new favorite on my blog list! The flower pattern is written in US terms, but the Summer Garden granny square pattern is written in UK terms, so be careful to read all her instructions thoroughly before beginning!

I am thinking it might be fun to combine the two somehow and have a blanket with flowers stitched onto some of the squares. I will have to play with it a bit and see what I can come up with.

I had to post one more picture of my Happy Stacker taken in better light. It is hard to tell from looking at the photo, but this is actually a very large toy. It is at least 12" tall and the bottom ring is 8.5" wide.
I've got an ungodly amount of laundry to wash, sort, fold and put away... Max is still in his PJ pants, not because there are no clean pants, but because he can't find them in all the laundry mess that is taking over my living room! Hopefully I can dig my way out before the day ends!

whew!

I finally finished the Happy Stacker! I don't even want to try and calculate how many hours it took! The pictures are a little dark, cause well, it is dark! I will try and take some more tomorrow when the sun comes up... I mean later this morning :) Well, I'm off to bed now!

a little birdie told me

I just finished decorating these for tomorrow's baby shower, now I am off to the sewing machine where I will most likely be til the wee hours!

trial run

After reading through the instructions for the Happy Stacker pattern, I decided I needed to do a trial run on one of these rings, they were much more complicated than I anticipated. So, I dug through my scraps and started sewing... here is my practice ring: It turned out better than I thought it would. I did not have any interfacing, so I made it without. I think the interfacing will help it to hold it's form a little better when stuffed. I am so glad the pattern came early this week because this is not going to be a quick Saturday afternoon project! I am heading to the fabric store tomorrow to pick out the perfect fabric, can't wait to show you all the finished product!

sew excited!

I was sew excited this morning when I went to the mail box and found this:
and these:
I can't wait to start sewing! I am loving the Anna Marie Horner fabric. I got a great deal on it on Ebay... I am having a hard time deciding what to make with it... there are sew many options... skirts for the girls, a new purse, some fun pillows for our living room... hmmm