more of tommy's mischief

I started off so well this month, and then the craziness of two craft show and traveling the weekend before Christmas hit and one the many things that didn't get done was blogging!  Anyway, I couldn't leave you thinking that Tommy was still stuck in our copier, so here are the rest of his hiding places :)

so far this week...

Tommy discovered the copier the other night.

Last night I let the kids eat my gingerbread house...

This is what it looked like before...

 

and after.  They were bouncing off the walls after dinner!

To make up for his earlier mischief, Tommy helped my sew some aprons last night...

Here are some of the ones I am working on for my last craft show on Saturday. 

The holiday craft show season has been fun, but I am ready for a break for awhile!  Maybe I will actually get some of that sewing on my personal "to make" list done!

catch up

Here is where the kids have found Tommy 3 of the past 4 mornings (I totally forgot, and left him sitting on the shelf Sunday night, oops!)

There has been a little bit of running around and a lot of mess making around here the last few days.  I am sewing aprons for my last craft show this Saturday, as well as trying to squeeze in some Christmas sewing.  I keep meaning to take pictures to post, but it just has not happened.  I am also trying to decide what to do about the fact that Blogger is not allowing me to upload my pictures without exporting them from iPhoto and making them smaller... my non-technically-savvy-self is dreading the idea of trying to move my blog, Why can't Blogger just work the way it is supposed to?

I am off to hide my elf!  Maybe one of these days I will actually have something interesting to post!

tommy and emmy

Why is it that Tommy is still smiling, even when he's all tied up and held at gun/sword point?

It's been awhile since I shared a picture of this  cutie.  She's 4 months now.  She is the happiest little girl ever, always quick with a smile :)

advent

Looks like Tommy found our new keyboard... too bad it wasn't plugged in :)

In addition to the fun of hiding our elf, Tommy, we have a few more things that we are doing to celebrate this advent season.  Every night after dinner we light our advent wreath and read a chapter in Jotham's Journey.  This, I think, is the most important part because it is what reminds us why we are celebrating this season.  We are celebrating the best gift ever given in the history of gift giving- Jesus, our Messiah. 

The boys used the boxes from our Playmobil advent calendar to make their own Lego version...

It is the nativity scene.  Each box contains another item to add to the scene.   I love this!

And, lastly, I couldn't resist this cute little advent count down.  I picked it up while we were in Maryland at the little Swedish shop down the road from my mom's house.  The hedgehogs at the bottom are my favorite part :)

elf spotting

I had hoped to post about what our family is doing for Advent this year (besides hiding this silly elf) but it just didn't happen today, hopefully tomorrow!

Our kitchen has been in a state of flux since Emmaline was born.  Our cozy, eat-in kitchen was getting a bit too cozy with 8 people now to fit around our little 4-6 person table, and since our dining room table typically looks like this:

eating in the dining room (schoolroom/craft room/office) really isn't an option.  So, for the last 4 months I've been moving furniture, measuring, and perusing the Ikea catalog in search of some inspiration for how to make our kitchen work a little better for us.  I picked up this dresser at Ikea while we were in Maryland and I think we found a way to better use this space. (this is what our kitchen looked like before.)

I also finally bought some curtains for the kitchen windows.

And the other big kitchen purchase was this 4 slice toaster.  Really we should have gotten one of these a long time ago!  Preparing breakfast goes so much faster with this!

Totally unrelated, here is where we found Tommy this morning :)

happy 10th birthday, Micah!

Micah is 10 today!  My little boy is growing up!  He's saving $ to buy a kindle (he LOVES to read!) so there were not a ton of presents this year, but he did get a pocket knife (and a couple things from his siblings too).

In other news, we got our Christmas tree last night and I guess Tommy (our elf finally got a name) couldn't wait to start decorating and got tangled up in the lights!

elfish mischief

Our elf (who is yet to be named) has been getting into some mischief around here this weekend.  First, he heard we were going to decorate ginger bread houses on Saturday and he got into the candy and tried to make his own ginger bread house!

And this morning the kids found him hanging from the ceiling fan!

What will he do next?

elf #1

I just finished one of four elves (three of which will be making their way to new homes this Christmas season and which should have already been shipped, oops).

I am heading back to my machine now, hoping to get the other 3 done by tomorrow.  I used this pattern, in case you were interested.

friday photos

The kids wanted in on the holiday craft shows, so they spent this morning making bracelets to sell at tomorrow's bazaar.

Even Addie made herself a bracelet :)

We also got a new garage door today, yay!

I forgot to take a before picture, but our old one was literally rotting away!

isn't it pretty?

And finally, I just finished a pile of kids aprons.  I did some major de-stashing for these.  It felt good to use all the fabric I've been hoarding, waiting for the perfect project.  Hopefully they will all go to good homes at tomorrows craft show!

Emmy

Emmaline loves to look at herself in the mirror on bottom of the mobile on her swing.  She often laughs and talks to the baby up there.  It's pretty darn cute :) 

i need a mental health day

I am feeling a little overwhelmed these days.  There is so much to do and we are accomplishing so little!  I am tired (without any real excuse since Emmaline has been sleeping through the night (10 hrs) for weeks now) and short tempered.  I can't seem to organize my thoughts let alone my house.  When we do school it has been going better this year than ever before, the problem is finding time (and a clean space on the table) to actually do school!

If I could just bring myself to allow some sort of routine and spend a little time planning each week I know things would be much better, but everything in me fights against routine!  The problem is, when you have 8 people living, schooling and running a business in a small space you have.to.have. some structure! 

So, I think it is time to stop all the activity, organize our space, and make a loose plan for our days.  I also need to carve out a few minutes everyday to write down my thought and ideas.  Wish me luck!

P.S.  I couldn't get my act together enough to work out while the kids were in PE at the Y today, but I did spend a few minutes drawing up my June pattern for the calendar and as soon as I get things in order here I will start stitching it up :)

better late than never! (May embroidery pattern)

I am WAY behind on this calendar project!  While at a craft show last week my friend asked how my calendar was coming along and said she planned to make one herself once I finished the patterns.  It was a gentle reminder that I need to get busy and finish this up!  So, here is May.  No promises on when I will get June up here.  I have a sketch already done, I just need to draw up the actual pattern and get it stitched up.  In case you've forgotten what all the others look like here are the links: January, February, March, and April.

May Calendar Pattern
Don't forget, if you stitch up your own version of my pattern I would LOVE to see it! Please share pictures in my Flickr group!

new camera straps in the shop

I just added a handful of new straps to the shop.  It's not too early to start your holiday shopping, and don't forget, everything in the shop ships for free now!