Blessings

Happy Holidays friends. I hope you are all safe and happy. We had an awesome Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at my sister, Loral's, house. The food was delicious, the children well behaved, lots of laughs and the house was decorated so beautifully. She has been saving up vintagey christmas items from garage sales and thrift stores. I forgot to get pictures but they were very sweet. oooh...there was also plenty of delicious spiked eggnog! Thanks Lo!!!

I purchased a strobe lighting setup with gift money from my mom. Below are photos I took of the kids. The girls are wearing silk regency era gowns I made. We rag rolled their hair to get those gorgeous spirals. I still have a long way to go in learning the studio lighting. You can see the black fabric on the monitor but the background is black in prints.

Future Red Wing

We've been having a blast watching Jedi play MiniMite hockey. He's been working hard and we're very proud of him. He's gone from not being able to skate at all to being able to hit the puck. WTG Jedi! (He's the one w/ the black helmet in the red/blue #2)

Getting to know Molly

"C'mon Mom, I can see her!"

"I love you, Molly."

"I love you too, Farmgirl...do you mind if I rest my head on your shoulder?"

"Just a little longer, pleeeaaaase."

"I'll be back in a couple of days, girl. I promise."

We've got a lot of work ahead of us. While Molly is very sweet, she isn't used to a noisy barn with falling snow. She's a bit on edge with all the new equipment in there too. We worked the whole lesson on desensitizing her to barrels, blocks, poles, etc. Farmgirl kept her seat even though Molly spooked pretty bad. Luckily, she didn't bolt...just jumped and planted her feet. My heart sure skipped a beat though.

We're hosting Thanksgiving at our home this year. So, tomorrow it's cleaning, shopping and prepping. Keeping it simple but plentiful. Sending well wishes to all this Thursday.

Call me crazy

but we couldn't resist surprising Farmgirl with her early Christmas present... a 15.3 hand Bay QH. She's very pretty and super sweet. She's very calm and has a beautiful extended trot. We're still working on horse names...Apple, Fern, Molly, Blossom....are in the running. I liked Petal but Farmgirl vetoed that one. Feel free to leave name ideas in the comments for Farmgirl to consider.

Boutique Angels Charity Auctions

The Boutique Charity Angels have chosen to donate proceeds from auctions to Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund. Click here to see all the wonderful listings. I have the above set listed...99 cents starting, no reserve and FREE shipping!

Click, click, click

October riding from Spring Bean on Vimeo.

Been busy with kids activities, birthdays, halloween, etc. Tomorrow The Boutique Angels are hosting their 4th quarter charity auction. I'll post specifics and links tomorrow.

Double Digits

Our sweet girl has reached a major milestone...10 years old. That's double digits people. We are so very blessed to have Farmgirl as our daughter. This is not just a mother's pride talking...she is funny, smart, kind hearted, generous and very sweet. Here she was at 10 months, my big blue eyed happy baby. The joy of my heart.

Fancy Farmgirl

Rag Rolled Farmgirl...we had to double the length of the strips and add about 10 more to fit all her hair!

She loved it. I have a hard time getting her to wear her hair down. She ALWAYS wants it in two braids. Now, she's always going to want it in curls. Baby woke up the day after her curly hair day crushed that her curls were crushed...she wanted me to "fix dem" right away.

Our favorite little orchard was open this weekend and they had Honey Crisps! Oh sweet juicy honey crisp apples, how I await your harvest every year. I bought a whole peck! I'm doling them out sparingly. I doubt they'll have any left come next weekend.

I also splurged and purchased the peeler, spiral slicer. The kids were entranced.

Of course, we couldn't leave the orchard without our pumpkins. I have one rule at the pumpkin patch... I will buy whatever you can carry out. Jedi couldn't quite get this one off the ground...but he sure did try!

Baby found herself the perfect "punkin."

I can always count on Farmgirl to get a hefty one. She even helped Jedi so he wouldn't have to get a puny pumpkin.

The meany mom that I am, I even make them haul it back to the shed to be weighed. Here, Farmgirl was saying, "But, it's uphill. Why are you laughing?"

I'm laughing because I love autumn, seeing my children laugh, hefty pumpkins and in anticipation of a whole peck of Honey Crisp delight. I'm also laughing because I don't have to haul the cart this year! ;-)

Curly Top

I often read Bowznstuff blog by Cree. She gives some great tutorials on hair styles that she tries on her adorable little one. Baby and I decided to try the rag rolling...WOW! It's fantastic. Just take a look-see at my curly top.

Baby's before hair shot. Yes, I know, she has the pointy end of a rat tail comb in her mouth while on a bed. The horror and absolute recklessness!

Rolls in...took about an hour to get them all in. She fell asleep about 20 minutes in which made it difficult.

But look at these spirals! I'm doing up Farmgirls hair tonight. I'll post pics of hers tomorrow. I think I'm going to make the girls matching Regency dresses in blue silk and ecru lace for Christmas, do their hair in rolls and weave ribbon in it. I have a tan/blue wool plaid I can use to make Jedi a kilt to match. I need to get right on that. wink wink.

Apron Sale

50% off aprons at my Etsy store!
(t-shirt dresses are next at a SUPER low price)

Bibs

Hop on over to my Etsy store to get an awesome deal on these adorable bibs!

Life or Death

I can't decide! Farmgirl and I debated it after discovering these two on our windshield while driving to riding lessons. Luckily, I had my trusty camera. What do you think? love? hate?

Doesn't "love" usually happen in a hive or something? Talk about not practicing safe sex... procreating on a moving vehicle (I had to pull over while driving to take this shot) doesn't seem too safe to me.

Fig-tastic!

I whipped up samples for my first class, a bib and burp cloth. I think they turned out pretty good. We're gearing the first few classes towards novice sewers so I needed to keep it simple, yet pretty. We're also trying to keep classes affordable so I needed something that didn't require the class to purchase a pattern. No pattern means I needed to figure all the measurements for the strips, etc. I used fabrics from the Fig and Plum line by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda. I took pictures throughout the process. If I get positive feedback from the class I'll post a tutorial.

In other news...we are thrilled to have Todd, my bil, back home. We give thanks that his job transfer went smoothly and he's here to stay...Yay! We'll have to start up our every other week dinner and games night again. :-) Of course, Loral and I will have to kick our husbands' butts. But at least we'll all be together.

Hall Pass

Wow, nearly a month later. Sheesh, I won't be getting any consistency awards ;-)

Exciting news around here. Loral and I will be teaching some sewing classes at a newly opened fabric store in town. We are thrilled about the store because the only other option for fabric is WalMart. I will be teaching a patchwork bib, t-shirt dress and decoupage denim class.

We're getting back into full swing of home school. We're using the Konos Obedience box. I really like the program. We are just supplementing phonics,spelling and math. Farmgirl is using Modern Curriculum Press for math and Spectrum(G4) for spelling and phonics. Jedi and I are working through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Engelmann, Haddox and Bruner. Jedi was elated when he read his first word - me. Baby is just along for the ride. I give her a mini reading from Jedi's book.

Off to finish school.

Yahoo!

A big HELLO blogland. I've been meaning to catch up on all my favorite blogs...sigh...but Ken works from home now and is on "my" computer with my Favorites.

I've been keeping myself busy with the kids. We're having a busy summer and I don't see it easing up anytime soon. I squeezed in a few hours to make Farmgirl this western shirt (Suitability #3230)for riding lessons. It was a cinch to sew up and turned out quite nice. This is the practice one with boring fabric. I'm going to make it up in some nice euro funky colors for her too. I have some gorgeous Oilily with huge red cabbage roses on teal. That horse is Keeto... he was like a huge puppy. I swear he would've climbed into Farmgirl's lap and snuggled her if he could!

Butch and Jedi had their last soccer game today. It was a fun season but I can't say I'm not glad I won't have to drive that extra day. Here they are with their bobble head trophies.

Jedi ended the season with a goal. Here he is so proud!

The next two weekends I'll be busy with craftshows, my last two of the season. I'll be stocking my etsy store soon with a bunch of aprons after that. I'll be offering a discount to my blog friends too!

A little apron love...

if you're a vintage apron lover then check out Bellapamella. Very cute!

job change

I didn't realize being a driver for 3 children could be so tiring. We're already gone 3 nights a week and we're only in soccor and riding currently. We'll be adding hockey and dance in a few weeks. That's with Farmgirl and Jedi in 2 events each and Baby in 1. I think next season we'll be limiting it to one activity each.

We received our Konos Obedience unit book yesterday. Konos looks like it's going to be really fun for the kids. We've been doing a little school throughout the summer so hopefully it won't be too hard to get back into full swing.

Why you shouldn't (ver.6)

get a dog the same color as your carpet...they get stepped on A LOT! It's great camo for him when he's doing something naughty though.

mmm...mmmmm...mmmm....delicious!

My lifelong friend, Jennifer (she's the blond), recently took a trip to China and Japan. Lucky duck. I'm a lucky duck in that I benefited from her trip in the form of delicious fabric. Isn't she the bestest?!? Just look at my loot...

A ton of fat quarters and some Kawaii buttons...

Yards of adorable fabric plus 4 yards of the cherry print destined to be a skirt and handbag for me! It's a gorgeous twill.

and this adorable Hello Kitty crochet purse kit. Baby loves it and keeps saying, "you gonna make it for me, right??? huh, right? RIGHT?"

I purchased these Japanese pattern books about a month ago in the hopes of making Baby some new outfits. Now that I have the perfect fabric I'm going to get planning and stitching. I'll keep you posted on what I make.

Now, I'm off to get ready for the Boyer clan to arrive. Krista, one of my bff's, is bringing her 5 for the weekend. Just a lazy weekend to chat, laugh and have a few margaritas.

so little time...so many things

Hi blogworld. Sorry to be gone so long. Summer is flying by and I can hardly catch my breath. Here's a review of the last two weeks in pictures...

Jumps attempted...

cookies eaten...

craft show items sewn...

Cousin Camp '08 accomplished and children returned to families...

cantering accomplished...

beaches combed w/ Grandma...

Soccer balls chased...

and recovered...

trail rides taken...

Plus colts, puppies and kittens to be adored!

Hoping things will slow down a bit by fall so I can pick up blogging regularly. I have much fabric to share (some awesome stuff direct from Japan via one very considerate lifelong friend...Thanks Jen!)