An Afternoon Delight

This afternoon found us traveling to Joanne Fabrics in Mankato to get my monthly fix of fabric!

I am going to try a very daring thing with my new love for making drawstring skirts...I found this beautiful off-white satin type fabric and lengths of two different beautiful overlay lace. What if I was able to use this to make two very unique drawstring skirts for young girls? Can you envision it? Now, I might come across an unforeseen snag in my design plan. If you see it now don't spoil it by telling me. Part of the fun of creating are those "oops, I should have thought of that before" moments. But until then I am dreaming...



Debbie Mumm fabric was on sale. She really is one of my favorites. These will be four different receiving baby blankets. I decided to use white Soft and Comfy for the backing on all four. When I start on these in a few weeks I will be sure to share how I make them. They are SO easy and pretty inexpensive to make if you get all the fabric on sale.

Funky Flowers

This



this



and this



became this... (cute Anya is my model)



I love how this drawstring skirt turned out! I am making a baby size as well. I hope to get them on my Etsy shop soon. Believe it or not this fabric is from WalMart. Real cute!

They Grow Up So Fast!

Today, My sweet 14 year old experienced a few firsts

Her first pair of high heal shoes.



Her first corsage and gown.



Her first ball dance with...her dad! I'm not ready for her first non dad date for many.many,many,MANY years yet.

Drawstring Skirt Craze

My newest craze it making drawstring skirts. I am so very pleased with how they are turning out. Here are my first three fabrics. I made one baby/toddler size and one young girl size out of each fabric. The real neat thing about drawstring skirts is that the size is not restricted by elastic. The young girl size fits all my girls except Lily,even Elena and Joyce. Of course, the length is above the knees on the bigger girls but still very cute for summer. I should make an older girls longer length version,too. That is a good idea to think about. I put these on my Etsy shop to see what interest there is. So far not much but the fun is in the creating Etsy is my justification sew more than I really need to!




Lily's chubby legs modeling the baby/toddler size. I love those little legs!



Lily once again my baby model. It was quite hard to keep that little one on the chair.



Now Ekie is a vision of beauty isn't she. She was very exited to be my model for this young girl size.



I hope to try my hand at making directions to post on my blog so anyone who is interested can make a skirt,too. It might take a few weeks. Keep checking back!

Over in the Meadow is Here!

Like my new blog title? We do not live by a meadow but I really wish I did. I just like the poem Over in the Meadow by Olive A Wadsworth. For some silly reason this poem reminds me of how I would like to be as a mom. It is inspiring to me. I can not quite explain it but I will try. As I read the poem (it is on my right side bar) it makes me want to love my kids more, to just sit down and enjoy them more. These moms in the poem are not running around like crazy getting all kinds of 'important' mom tasks done. They are being moms but still delighting in their little children. Now, I can not decided if I would want to be the mother bluebird or the mother cricket...Right about now you must be thinking how much you missed my odd train of thought these past few months aren't you!?

On to details about my new and improved blog...

I have taken a few months off to think over my blogging. I decided that although I have enjoyed sharing all of the ups and downs (well,not so much the downs. They were kind of embarrassing) here on my blog, I have been wanting to have a slightly different blogging focus for some time. I just did not quite know how to go about it. So after a few months of pondering things here I go...

You will find a little less journaling about my feelings and emotions ( mostly the negative ones ) which if you have followed this blog a little you will know change very rapidly! No need to take everyone on my crazy emotional roller coaster rides. Ha...I am pretty sure it is a ride my family would like to opted out of every once in a while as well. Maybe a little less detailed family reporting. I would like to use my blogging to focus on the beauty of our family life. I can be a glass-half-empty kinda person and miss the beauty and blessings in the little every day things. Those are the things I want to blog about,the little things. That being said this blog might start to look fluffy and anemic lacking 'real life'. Oh, real life is happening over here and it will continue to be loud,crazy,and sometimes very overwhelming for this old blogging mom. If you start to think otherwise give me an email and I will give you the read-between-the-lines lowdown!

I also love projects. The second part of my new and improved blog will be taking whoever is interested on more of my project adventures. I would like to include tutorials on as many of my projects as time allows me to. Is it too bold of a statement to say that since we are made in the image of God and God is The Creator that the desire for us moms to create beauty for our families and those around us in whatever form it may be can actually be a good use of some of our time? I am sure all of us moms have things that we are good at that we can use to bless our families...sewing,gardening,crafting,math,cooking,science,writing,the list is really endless. It might be boring to some but I will be sharing my many projects on many different subjects. I love trying new things. Not all of them will turn out the way I had envisioned but that is ok. Some projects will be for my family and some for my Etsy shop but either way it will be fun to show-and-tell!


Welcome back!

Happy Birthday Josh!!!

Happy 8th Birthday Josh!!!!

Happy Birthday Odell!!!!

Happy 8th Birthday Odell!!!


I LOVE this picture! Isn't Odell just beautiful?!

Has it Been a Year Already?

It's pretty crazy to think it has already been a year since Joyce, Odell, and Naomi arrived from Africa. Silly...my very first thought when I saw the girls was how can I ever tell who is Naomi and who is Odell. I had looked at their pictures for close to a year and thought I surely would be able to recognise them each in a crowded room like all mom's would their children. But in fact for the first ten minutes or so I was calling them each by the wrong name and the sweet lady who escorted them home to us softly let me know. I felt pretty much like the worst parent in the world.

OK...in all truth the above was my second set of thoughts when I first saw them....my very very first thought was that I needed to run away as fast as I could! "See you later Jeff! I'm out of here!" Not because of the girls but because I was SO very afraid of what life with 14 children would be like. It seemed way more than I could ever handle. I was just SO afraid.

The year has gone fast and has been pretty challenging at times. The girls are GREAT and have been from the first. It has been a very amazing year.

Would I recommend what we did to others (especially other larger families ) who might be feeling God's nudge to walk similar ground? YES,I would in a heart beat if God is leading you. Can I say it would be easy? NO.NO.NO.NO.NO. It is more hard than easy a HIGH percentage of the time.At first it is hard on the marriage,time,finances,character,siblings,etc...But I will say I would rather walk a moment on this path God has set out for me than a life time of another path on my own.

The girls on their journey home to us.

A Day in the Snow

So SO very cute!!!!

Happy Birthday Lily!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Lily!!!!!