March Life in Pictures

~  Just a Few Moments of My Month   ~

I was working merrily along in the kitchen, getting far more accomplished than usual, when it hit me: The tots are QUIET. Have been quiet for a little while now. Any mom of tots knows that this means you must investigate right away. Case in point: 1 entire box of Strawberry Shortcake band-aids applied to 1 little tot's ankles. Mama keeps a straight and serious face, but inwardly thanks God it was just band-aids and not the Vaseline or the Desitin!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've been on a sewing spree lately. I really do love creating if I just have the time to do it. Time is rather scarce, as always, but a couple of little things I did get done are these ...

A skirt for Christi from my left-over curtain scraps.

Curtains for the nursery.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A gorgeous sunrise after a snowy night. March has been a most odd yet delightful month this year! We went from many inches of snow to vibrant green grass in less than 2 weeks time. I'm loving it!!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometimes moms do crazy things just to make their kiddoes smile .....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This little rolly-poly, handsome fellow is just pure joy in this household. I wonder how we ever made it without him!!

He just turned 5 months old this week, and is a solid 20 pounds already. My arms feel about like jello by the time I lay him in his bed at night. He loves his siblings, noisy toys, rice cereal, his softest blanket, and his Mama!

He does *not* like a quiet, boring house, applesauce, sleeping on his tummy, ladies Bible study, or any type of bottle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Such delightfulness! Poking tiny little seeds into fluffy soil and planning our first garden here on the farm. I'm sure we're over-zealous right now, but we cannot help but imagine blueberry bushes, raspberries, apple trees, grape arbors, mint tea, tulip beds, lilac bushes, a large strawberry patch, and much more. We've been tilling a large section, and also doing another section with "lasagna gardening". I'm so excited to see how it all turns out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A parting shot. This little missy has hair that will go completely curly at the first sign of heat or humidity. Her smile is healing up after a dozen or so stitches a couple of weeks ago. She was standing on a stool by the sink, helping me wash dishes when she got too far off the one corner and tumbled off. She caught the corner of her mouth and it was so deep and nasty looking. We went from Dr.s office to Urgent Care to ER to the specialist where we finally got an excellent Dr {father of 5!} to fix it up. She was such a trooper!!! I promised her a reward for her bravery, and she had only 1 choice: a fancy princess dress. So a fancy princess dress it was and she was just delighted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that, my friends, it a couple of snapshots of my month. Glad you stopped by!

Makin' it Mine

Step by step, putting my personal touches around a house that we can call our own.

Ugly, bare window, meet fresh, happy fabric.

See, I knew you two would get along well with each other!

Jean Skirts, Anyone?

Does anyone else out there have such a hard time finding cute, modest, long jean skirts for your girls? Or for yourself? I sure do. Recently a friend challenged me to try making my own. I was not too convinced that I could, But I decided to try. And finding some cute pieces to work with at Goodwill for $0.25 a piece made it more fun to try. =)

Here are my first few tries.

I think each one turns out just a little better than the one before.

Baby Bibs

Last evening I was doing a little shopping online. I had a 75% off gift code to use, and really wanted some cute bibs. With 2 toddlers in bibs 3 times per day, they do wear out. So I had picked out these super-cute ones and was all ready to score a great deal. But alas, even with my 75% off code, once you add in shipping and tax, etc, my bill still would have been $17. For 3 measly baby bibs!


Okay, call me stingy or tight, I don't know, But I just could not do it. I clicked the little red x and cancelled my un-placed order. And I laid in bed then after hubby fell asleep and thought of what I had on hand ... what could I create ... surely I can do better. lol SURELY no one else wastes precious sleep time over such trivial issues!


Anyways, this afternoon over nap time I dug out my sewing machine, a couple of old flannel receiving blankets, some batting, some buttons, and an old bib for a pattern. And I have to say, I was pretty pleased with the 4 pretty bibs I ended up with for just, well, I guess they were completely free! I didn't spend a dime.

Of Paint and Donuts and Babies

It's been a busy week. Okay, who am I kidding, it's been busy for weeks on end. With no sign of vacations and balmy beaches and lazy sun-bathing anywhere on the horizon. But this past week I tackled a few projects on purpose to help pass the time while Jason is gone. He took off for the prison crusades in South Carolina for a week, and took 2 of my kiddoes with him. They, of course, will not be in the prisons, but they are having a totally grand time at their Uncle Jerold's place. I've called to chat with them, and they can barely pry themselves away from games of King & Queen, dress up, or running barefoot outside to spare their mother a few moments. I'm not sure if I should feel awful that they don't even miss me, or proud that they are so well-adjusted that they can handle time away from me without a problem.


Anyways, the first project on my list this week was to overhaul the boys' room. Jason had built them a new bunk bed which got finished last week {didn't he do an AMAZING job??}, and I needed to paint it. I figured, hey, their whole room could really use a face-lift, so I tackled the whole thing. Had a few minor glitches along the way, but over all I am tickled with how it turned out. This is how it looked before ... nasty blue carpet, completely ripped wallpaper border, and baby-blue walls that I was long wearied of. And the old bunk bed ... which is now in the girls' room.

And after ... with the new bunk bed. And new curtains that I sewed.

Another thing I really wanted to do this week was to get to "spoil" my three remaining offspring with extra-fun mom-time, doing things that I often do not have time to do with all 5, a hubby to cook for, and the busy school schedule. And did we ever have fun!! Lunch at the Panda Express at the mall { their Orange Chicken & Fried Rice could be my daily diet and I would not complain!}, half-price day at the second-hand shop, sleep-overs & slumber parties, special movie nights with some fun new movies from the library, playing games, making mini-donuts from little tube-biscuits for supper, days at Grandma's house, and lots of story-reading. Micah told me the other day that this has been the best week of his life, and he wishes it would last forever. So I guess I have been at least somewhat successful.

But the highlight of my week was just last night when I was able to have the privilege to be labor coach for a friend of mine. What a beautiful labor & delivery, with a gorgeous baby boy born a little past 1 this morning. No matter how many babies I have delivered {or coached the delivery}, I never lose the marvel of birth and the miracle of new life ... there is nothing else like it and I LOVE it.  


So yeah, it's been a great week, and it has gone really fast, but all of a sudden I am wishing for my man. It's been long enough now. Tomorrow night can't come fast enough. I am at an amazing place in life right now ... littles needing me at every hand ... school to teach ... my man to stand beside and bless ... Amazingly full and it takes all I've got, but it's amazingly satisfying. I'm trying to enjoy each day, each moment, because truly these moments do slip through my fingers like sand. 

Scrub-Top Make-Over

I love blogs that show make-overs. Old dishes displayed as gorgeous wall art. Ugly end tables with a new paint job that look breathtaking. Or even tin cans sprayed with black-board slate and used for something beautiful. Often I wish I had an eye for things like that, 'cause I sure do love the end results!

A few weeks ago my mom & sisters & I were shopping at a second hand store. A few XXXL scrub tops caught my eye, mostly because they were in a cute Strawberry Shortcake pattern which my girls adore right now. I could not quite picture how I would make them over ... but they landed in my cart anyhow. *grin*

Tonight at 9:30 the inspiration hit to dig them out and see what I could do with them.

I cut the bottom half off for a skirt.

Then cut out some bodice pieces & sleeves.

Everything was already hemmed, and I used the original necklines too. Super easy!

Within an hour (and a nursing-baby interruption) these two were finished!! I'd like to add red ribbon ties yet at the waist, and Christi's may need a ruffle at the bottom for some length. But overall I was so pleased and surprised how easy & fun these were. I am gonna have some very smiley girls in the morning. {until I tell them they can't wear them to church! *smile*}