packing my bags

Not surprisingly this baby is refusing to come out on her own accord (I have yet to go into labor on my own with any of my pregnancies) so I am packing my bags and preparing to head to the hospital bright and early tomorrow morning in order to be induced!  I am so ready to hold this little girl in my arms!  Hopefully I will be back here soon with pictures and details for you all!

mosquito protection

The mosquitoes here are... well, I'm not really sure how to accurately describe them. They must be some sort of mutant breed, larger than any I've seen other places (even in Africa) and more vicious than a school of hungry piranhas.  No one wants to leave the house- even to take the trash out or run to the car to go somewhere paved and mosquito-less.  So, yesterday Regan left the bag of library books in the car and after trying, unsuccessfully, to get her brothers to go get it for her she resolved to go get it herself... but not without proper protection :)

i'm still here

Wow, it is Wednesday already?  My dad brought my mom (and the RV) down over the weekend to stay for a few weeks (yay!) and somehow I completely forgot about anything blog related!  We've been keeping busy with this and that and today are headed out to the mall to hopefully walk my way into labor, wish me luck!

Here are a few random pictures of what we've been up to.

I started reading this book over the weekend and am loving it!  I am half way through and can't wait to pass it on to my hubby and put my kids to work :)

My mom brought all sorts of craft project with her- of course I did not take any pictures of the kids actually doing this project, but they had fun painting bandannas with glow in the dark paint yesterday.

My parents also brought the cradle down with them so now the baby has a place to sleep.

Yesterday we cleaned out and organized this storage cabinet in the garage.

I also started putting some of my thousands of pictures into album pages yesterday.  I think that I am about 5 years behind on this project (yikes) so I've got my work cut out for me!  Hopefully I can at least get the pictures I've already printed into albums before the year ends!

the party continues...

One of Tallulah's birthday presents was a trip to the bounce house (I scored a great deal on Groupon last week, yay!) So yesterday we continued her birthday celebration with a morning at the bounce house.

While the kids jumped, I cut out flash cards and wrote a letter to Regan at camp.

I love watching how Micah looks out for his baby sister, playing with her in the toddler area and even taking her on some of the big bouncers.

She wasn't so sure of this slide :)

Micah was demonstrating his ability to use the force on these balls.

Somehow in all this I did not get any pictures of Max (well, except for his leg in the corner there)... I think he hides from the camera. 

I am headed back to the midwife today.  I get to have another ultrasound and hope she tells me that I've made some progress since my last appointment!

last minute sewing

So, on Sunday I decided it was time to clean up my sewing mess and stop sewing until after the baby comes.  I cleaned off my desk, put away fabric and patterns, iron and ironing board, cutting mat, scissors etc....

Then I woke up Monday morning and decided I needed a robe for the hospital and did not really want to go out and buy one. So, I found a pattern for a robe in one of my books and re-purposed some fabric from a curtain that divided a room in our old house and got sewing.

Turns out it it really hard to photograph a robe...

And it does not fit around my belly (the edges just meet :)

But it will have to do.  It was really simple to make- only took 2 hrs to sew and the directions were clear and easy to follow.  Now I can have the baby :)

6!

Tallulah is 6 today!  Where has the time gone?  She was our first Virginia baby- we had not even been here a year when she was born- I can't believe that was 6 years ago!

We celebrated this morning with some good friends who came to play (and watch my crew while I ran to the midwife, thanks Kim!). The very first thing they did when the came in the door was give Lu her present...

They stayed for lunch and we had pink lemonade cupcakes and raspberry sherbet.   What better way to celebrate your birthday then with all your best friends? :)

We did cupcakes and sherbet again after dinner with Daddy.

And thankfully I remembered to take pictures this time.

We broke our morning gift opening tradition since Daddy goes to bible study early on Tuesday mornings and she opened her presents after dinner instead.

There were more LaLa Loopsies, Pet Shops and a promise of a trip to the Bounce House.  

The only thing missing from the celebration was her biggest sister, who always has great handmade gifts for the birthday girl or boy.  Regan was sad to be missing the celebration, but I am SURE she is having a fabulous time at camp :)

saying goodbye

Last night we said goodbye to our neighbors.  They are moving to Louisiana and leave today.

The kids will really miss their friends!

And this morning we said goodbye to Regan, but just for the week :)  She's at camp this week in VA Beach and has given me explicit instructions NOT to have the baby while she is away.  I made no promises :)

Adelaide is on day two of a complete melt down.  Yesterday I had thought she was just over tired, but today I am thinking it may be a bit more.  Isn't it crazy how our littlest ones seem to sense upheaval coming even when they don't fully understand it? 

I am off to go snuggle with my baby girl for a few minutes and then head to the kitchen to bake a birthday cake- Tallulah will be 6 tomorrow!

mollie doll

There was a pattern in the latest Mollie Makes magazine for a Mollie Doll.  Tallulah has been asking me to make her one since she first saw the pattern a few weeks ago.  So yesterday when she asked me to craft with her I suggested she pick out fabric and I would make her a Mollie Doll.  She sat by my side pretty much the whole time while I made it and seems pretty pleased with the results.  Mollie is riding Tallulah's stick horse as I type :)

homeschool line-up

Test results are in and letter of intent mailed... this school year is officially over!

Now it is time to start thinking about September (actually our first day of CC is August 30th!).  This year may prove to be my most challenging homeschooling year yet.  I am trying not to think about it too much and just enjoy this time before we dive back in, but this year I will have 4 kids to school, 2 kids in the essentials program at CC (which will require quite a bit of extra time from me, especially as I learned from our test results that language mechanics is something we really need to spend more time on), a toddler and an infant.  I am pretty sure that this is going to take quite a toll on my crafting :(

Anyway, all this in mind, I am trying to keep things as simple as possible.  Here is my current line up for the fall:

Classical Conversations: Everyone

History- Story of the World 1: Everyone
We will listen to the audio book and do maps, coloring pages from the activity books, and go over the review questions.

Math:
Regan: Finish up Saxon 5/4 and move on to 6/5
Micah: Saxon 5/4
Max: Finish Saxon 2, move on to Saxon 3
Tallulah: Finish Saxon 1, move on to Saxon 2

Reading:
Regan and Micah: independent reading
Max: continue to have him read aloud and review All About Spelling level 2
Tallulah: continue to have her read aloud, finish All About Spelling 1 and move on to 2

Grammar and Writing:
Regan and Micah: CC Essentials program
Max and Tallulah: Continue with First Language Lessons, Start writing with Ease

Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears: Everyone

Last year we did the homeschool PE class at the  YMCA, but I am not sure if we will do it this year or not- I think we will try and find some balance with these things before we add in any extras.

So, what does your homeschool year look like?

box of sunshine

A good friend recently lost her battle with cancer.  She left behind a husband and two daughters.  When I saw this "box of sunshine" on Pinterest last week I immediately thought of those sweet girls and how a "box of sunshine" could bring a bright moment in this hard time.  I showed the pin to Regan and she too thought of her friends, so over the weekend we collected various bits of sunshiny yellow to place in a box and leave on their door step.

I found the box at TJMaxx and covered the purple lid with yellow paper (yay for Mod Podge)

We filled it with all things yellow (and a couple orange), cut out some paper suns and stuck a little card in letting them know that we were thinking of them and praying for there family.

Here is another peak at the contents...

I tried to make a list of everything we put in there- if you are interested:

2 flower pens
gummies
peanut m&m's
yellow nail polish
balloons
pineapple soda
a paper lantern
lemon jello
straws
lemon koolaid
2 handmade headbands
a yellow, flower shaped ice tray
little debbie banana cream pies

*I splurged on the pens ($3 each), gourmet gummies ($3), and the box($5) but the rest of the the items were $1-$2 each.  A pretty inexpensive and fun way to brighten someones day, I think.

Yesterday (on our way home from dropping Micah at camp) Max dropped the package on their front steps, rang the doorbell, and ran!  Hopefully it brought a bit of sunshine to them on a cloudy day!

camp time

We dropped Micah off at camp this morning.  This is his second year going, but I don't think it was any easier leaving him there this year than last!  He will only be there for 4 nights, but it always seems much longer than that!

I always take picture in the cabin, but I never seem to remember to take any pictures of the rest of the camp.  This year I snapped a few as we were leaving.

This will be Regan's cabin next week- cabin 8. 

I am glad that my kids first sleep away camp experiences have been close enough to home for me to drop them off and at least make their beds before leaving them for a week!  They always have a great time and come home anticipating going back next summer :)

my tiny dancer

Mom, couldn't this be a picture of me?

i have a new purse!

I have been in need of a new purse for awhile now.  Knowing I wanted to make my own I've been looking for the perfect pattern, the perfect fabric etc. and so of course it was not happening... That is, until last week when on a whim I ordered 1/2 yard of this yellow chevron fabric from Fabric.com and decided I needed to give up on finding the perfect pattern and just design my own.  I had some notes in my sketchbook from awhile back for a purse idea, so I pulled them out and started drafting a pattern.  I did a test run yesterday with some stash fabric and was happy to find my pattern only needed a few minor adjustments, so last night I pulled out my chevron fabric and some denim from my stash and started cutting.  My original plan was to put a zipper in it, but I did not have the right size here. I headed to bed last night thinking I'd run out this morning for a zipper, but instead I woke up with this vision in my head of a tab closure with a fabric covered button, so I got up and headed straight to my sewing table.  Don't you love it when you wake up so inspired that you can't do anything else but start working?  Anyway, I love the way it turned out- a perfect summer bag.  It is fully lined and has 4 large interior pockets and two exterior pockets.

camping

The hubby took the boys camping for a night over the weekend.  It was their first time and despite the heat, they had a blast!  Here are a few picture from the trip (taken with the phone).

late night sewing

With less than 4 weeks until my due date most of my nights are pretty restless, so in order to avoid endless hours of tossing and turning I have been staying up later and sewing.  It is nice to have uninterrupted sewing time and I find it brings a certain amount of balance to my crazy emotional/irritable self.  This weekend I finished up my diaper bag.

The pattern calls for a ruffle on the front, but the fabric I chose did not lend itself well to that, so I left it off.  (Except for the red dots lining the handle, all the fabric came from Ikea- the grey I got about a year ago and the hedge hog fabric I got while we were in MD in May.)

This was actually really fun to make (although time consuming- there is LOTS of cutting involved as it has outer fabric, lining fabric, heavy weight fusible interfacing and a fusible fleece layer)  I could definitely make more of these- only I don't really need another diaper bag!

I also finished up this bunting.  The pennants are a bit smaller than the last one I made and I added pom-poms this time, which I love.  I should put this in my shop, but I am not sure I can part with it. Most of these are fabrics I have been hoarding for quiet some time, just waiting for the perfect project.

What have you been sewing/creating these days (or nights)?