what's going on round here

Eating
for the first time!
This just happened last week. Today I fed her some cereal twice, still just one or two teaspoonfuls.

Taming lions at the zoo
Fun Saturday trip to the zoo a few weeks ago. Kate's favorite were the giraffes.

Sleeping
I got so pooped after folding the clothes, I had to take a littlest snooze. (Well, I guess I only folded a few before I got tired, but who's counting)

Playing
A recent craft from her morning childcare -- a guitar! She had so much fun imitating Uncle Ben & Christopher. She even got out another chair on which to prop her music. Now she can't decide whether she wants to learn the violin or the guitar! *Note the guitar is made incorrectly so had to be played backwards in order to be correct! Oh well.

New blog plus giveaway

A new blog I read these days is having a giveaway -- and I get a few points for posting about it here -- so without further ado, here's the link to The Budget Mommy, who happens to be giving away some Nalgene sippy cups. Click here to enter yourself or just to check it out.

sing a long

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping?
Parma Jean? (pronounced in the French way) Parma Jean?
Ding ding dong, ding ding dong.

In my mind, "What? Farmer John? That's not how it goes. . . " Thankfully, before my over conscientious mommy mouth could kick in, I realized she was saying Parmesan. . . and that was too cute to correct. So, mum's the word.

Incidentally, almost any condiment that sits on the table & is shaken onto the food is called Parmesan at our house. Well, not the s & p. But Cinammon sugar is!

My favorite is when I DO try to correct her pronunciation, it usually goes something like this:

K: Who is in that picture?
Momma: Grandma Louise.
K: Grandma Wouise?
M: No, honey. . L, L, Louise.
K: Oh, L, L, Wouise. She repeats the correct sound & then continues on with her mispronunciation. I love it!

craftiness

I have been bitten, and bitten badly, by the craft bug. Many naptimes & nights find me sewing, reading blogs about sewing, or staring at my fabric stash WELL into the night. I even *daydream* about sewing when I have a spare moment. I find it to be incredibly cathartic and addicting. It's something I can do when the house is quiet & my stash of books has been depleted. After a series of late nights, Josh reminded me that I didn't REALLY have a reason to wear myself to the bone, after all, I wasn't working under a deadline. :-) I just smiled.

To combine my hobby with actual usefulness, I've decided to start working on Christmas presents. So, instead of having all-nighters the nights leading up to Christmas, I am just having them in September & October. I have several children projects & 1 garment in the works. I also have a real hankering to do a quilt. I just want to try it! So, I had to make up a project for one of my kids, even though they both technically have quite enough coverings for their cute sleeping little bodies. Looking at some of these Modern Quilting Blogs is enough to make me start salivating!! Of course, I imagine that my first outings won't look exactly like these, but I have to start somewhere.
Here are a few of my fav blogs:
http://tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com/
http://www.filminthefridge.com/
http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/
http://myauntjune.blogspot.com/

I have also fallen in love with tutorials! I wonder how people ever sewed before the world of fast, free information WITH PICTURES! Can't get much better than that. I've completed a few projects, but as I'm working on gifts, I can't exactly post pics of them until the recipients, um, receive them. I will note that most of the recipients are children, and since they don't check my blog regularly, I just may post pictures of them before Christmas. ha! So, I'll leave you with some pics of my fabrics. Not all of the groups of fabric are necessarily all going to be in the same project -- they just "matched" enough for me to take a picture of them together. :-)

Herein lies my biggest projects. I approach with fear & trembling.
Projects #1 & #2

Project #3

Projects #4 & #5

Project #6

Come outside & play with me!
This is a dress I finished in the late summer, right before we went on our vacation. I'm hoping it will transition okay into a Jumper. What do you think?

She rarely accomodates a mommy photo shoot, but she finally looked at the camera & flashed me one of these gems.

a note about the poem

I meant to include more notes along with the poem, but in my rush to type it up while the book was beside me, I failed. This is actually a poem from a book by Paul David Tripp, entitled A Shelter in the Time of Storm: Meditations on God and Trouble. I don't have my own copy of the book, but at a recent girls day with some of my in-laws, someone brought copies of several chapters in this book for us to read. This one really hit home. The whole first section deals with so many things I struggle with day to day as a mom. I want things to be on my time, easy, unobstructed! But life with children brings me challenges in just those areas every single day. I'm sure if I didn't have children, there would be other areas of my life pressing me in just those areas, as well. Realizing that carving MY will into stone is really self-worship is incredibly convicting and revelatory. It's even made me revamp my discipline "chats" with Kate. I don't just need to promote obedience to Mama, I need to point her to obedience and worship of her Creator (and mine)! I have yet to read all of the poems that were in my hand-out, but I'd love to pick up the book. Each chapter contains a meditation on Psalm 27, some are poetry & others are in prose. Here's a link to Amazon so you can see what the book looks like. I hate to recommend a book I've never read the entirety of, so I won't.

a poem

The Worship of Another
by Paul David Tripp

Psalm 27:6
I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord

Sacrifices,
I don't want to have to make
sacrifices.
I want my plate
full
and my schedule
empty.
I want to be with people
I like,
people who are low in
maintenance and high in
appreciation.
I want control over
my time
my energy
my money
my things.
I want my days to be
predictable
and my plans
unobstructed.
I want to experience
success
and successfully to avoid failure.
I would rather be served than
to serve.
I would rather get the gift than
to give.
I guess this all points me to
one stunning reality.
There is never a day when
my life is
idol-free.
There is never a week
when I don't give myself to the worship
of another.
It is sad to say and humbling to admit,
that the chief of these false deities
is none other than
me.
I am the sovereign
I want to serve.
I amt he king
I want others to obey.
I am the lord
I want to rule my days.
Yes, it is true,
Dear Father,
I want to be
You.
My dissatisfaction is not because
You are not
wise
faithful
loving
good,
but because I do not get
my own way.
So, once more I
bow,
once more I make my
confession,
once more I plead for
mercy
pardon
power
deliverance.
Once more I ask,
Dear Savior,
Please free me
from me
and cause this selfish heart
to find
joy
satisfaction
motivation
delight
in doing the
one thing
I was given breath
to do:
offer myself as a
sacrifice
in the service of
You.