A Little Quite

I have been a little blog quite this week haven't I? I have been somewhat busy but mostly just unmotivated this week. Here are a few things that have been going on...Elena,Grant, and Alan were at another FCA three-day day camp in Owattona Tuesday, Wednesday,and Thursday. Elena and Grant helped out as leaders in various areas and Alan went as a camp participant. They had a very fun time! During the FCA camp the HeavenWord Handlers performed. I forgot to send the camera with Elena to film the HeavenWord Handlers performance. I heard the kids did a good job!

I held down the fort solo for part of the week since Jeff was working into the wee hours of the morning at his second job. His work car needing to be replaced this past June and having to drive the big van an hour to work and then back home for a few weeks set us back a little bit so He thought he would get back on track by serving up a few fries at good old MickyD's. It is sure different than his regular day job but he does not mind it. He is a very hard worker and takes his job as provider very seriously. He is a good man!

This evening was one of the Waseca Braves last baseball games of the season and since Jeff was home he and a bunch of the older kids went to watch the Braves game. It is hard to believe the summer will soon be over!

Let's see...I think that is about all I can remember! How can that be? I'm itching to get a few projects in this weekend. I have a few more of those bags to make,a few fabric books still waiting to finish,but I have this great quilt top idea that I am very exited to see if I can make. Here is the original pattern. Isn't it just so cute?



Is it cheating if I do not buy the pattern but make and adaptation of it going by the picture? I think I will make it bigger than the 26" x 31" pattern size by adding more squares and bigger borders. I would like it to be a baby quilt size. I have these cute princess fat quarters that would be great to use and I would replace the yo-yo flowers with something more princess like. I will see what I have time for this weekend. It is typical of me to have more creative ideas than time to make my ideas.

I added this picture 8/1/09 Here are my princess fat quarters. They will look very cute I think.






Just in case anyone was wondering...Lily has not bared her fangs since her bath incident. BUT rumors were floating around that big brother Joel was flashing his pearly whites in a not so pearly way when he was mad at Naomi this afternoon...maybe baby Lids is a bad influence on Joel? Probably the other way around, actually. Just for the record,I would have NO trouble keeping a strait face if Joel came after me or anyone baring his teeth. Not such a good four year old behavior.

Hurray, A Project To Show!

I tried out this bag pattern today. I made the one in the upper left view A. Is that the same one you made Verna? I really did find that view very easy to make. It only took a few hours with about a zillion kid interruptions. Not bad. I think I will make a few more bags like this just for fun.I think I will add a pocket or two to the inside of the other bags I will make. I am almost thinking the straps could be longer as well. I will think about that. I thought the bucket view c would look cute in the owl corduroy fabric I showed last week.



Here are the fabrics I decided on.




Here is my finished bag. I am pleased with it!

My Little Fang Girl Is Growing Too Fast!

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Poor little Lids is getting a little too big for her sink bath but we will both enjoy it for just a little longer.



Do you notice the good looking bar of Citrus Sea Salt Soap in the background. I highly recommend it. It is my favorite, although I find each new soap I try from Natalie's Apple Vally Natural Soap shop tends to be my favorite.




Notice how Lily is washing her own bottle? Even the littlest Frye does not escape her dish duties. A nugget of parenting wisdom from a mom of fourteen...We run a tight ship over here.

Oh, Lily it's time to be all done with your bath.



Now what happens next will leave you scratching your head in disbelief at my sweet little Lids...or declare me a tall tale teller.

I lift her out of her sink bath.

She becomes so outraged at my seemingly oblivion to her screaming outburst that was intended to let me know she was not yet done taking a bath that she lunges at me with a wide opened, teeth baring (it could have actually been fangs...it all happened so fast) mouth with full intent of drawing blood. Not just once, but twice!

Yes,my sweet little Lids had a few moments of non-sweetness. Sorry, no pictures so you will just have to take my word for it.

What does this wise, experienced mom of fourteen do? This wise, experienced mom of fourteen laughed at her poor, mad, upset,fang baring little Lids which almost guarantees another fang baring instance in the near future. This next time I will be ready and try not to laugh.

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Take The Confounding Factor Challenge

Jeff challenges anyone who is interested in attempting to solve a riddle he has posted on his blog The Confounding Factor.



Um...maybe his blog was tampered with again or maybe not....I am not telling...

I'm Pretty Pleased!

My sewing bug kicked in and I am very pleased with my newest creations.

I went ahead and made the Snoopy blanket panel and Snoopy cloth book to match.

I can not take credit for the cute fuzzy appliqued Snoopy and Woodstock. The fabric panel was already embellished like that. But I added a thin fleece type batting,the blue minky backing,quilted and bound it. I think it turned out very cute!

In my opinion, minky can be a little hard to work with when it is this large. The moments of frustration were well worth it,though. A woman at the fabric store once told me that she uses minky as a binding on her baby quilts sometimes. I thought I would give that a try.




Don't they look so good together?




I had a little blue minky left so I made an American Jane receiving blanket. It was originally supposed to be a quilt but the quilt looked a little off to me, so I took it apart and re did it. I like how it looks now much better.

Did You Feel It?

Those of you up here in the land of 10,000 lakes, did you feel the heat wave that hit around 2 AM? Well,maybe it was just one of those Waseca phenomenons.

How Could I Forget!

It totally slipped my mind that today is our 16th wedding anniversary! How could that happen? Actually, I'm not the most sentimental of people as far as dates go. I consider that a slight flaw. I am much more of a task orientated person. I will make it up to Jeff. I'll plan a nice anniversary dinner for next weekend.Something good. Of course, it will consist of 14 guests at the table. Hey, 16 years of marriage,sixteen family members. Would that be something along the lines of a golden birthday?




Warmly, A Patchwork Mommy

A Great Etsy Shop Find!!!

I had the privilage of doing a little Etsy trading with Creations by Carleen. Carleen makes very beautiful bead creations!

Everything came in such pretty little envelopes.



Aren't the things she made so pretty?!




Thanks Carleen. I an very pleased!

Thank You Aimee!!!!

Aimee from the blog One of the King's Little Servants sent me a gift for entering her blog giveaway.

Thank you Aimee! I love the soap,lip butter,and sweet card!

The Whop

A few weeks ago there was a lot of ruckus in the boys bedroom. I went up to see what was going on and I saw Cyrus and Joyce dancing away. By the time I got the camera to video it they were off doing something else. Someday I will catch it on video for you all to enjoy. They were dancing The Liberian Whop. I showed the kids this video and they were SO exited. They laughed."Oh,yes!We know that!" They started singing the song,too.



Notice the dog chasing the chicken? Cyrus tells a story about when Grace was a baby she would chase the chicken around their uncle's farm. He would think it was so funny and laugh and laugh.Maybe the story it the chicken chased her. Now,I forget but I'm glad he remembers.

Where is Lily?

I'm not sure but here is Billy.

Billy?

Ok,it's really Lily.

I found this cute outfit I made for Joel when he was a baby and wanted to try it on Lily. I do not want to hurt your feeling Lily, but you kind of do look like a baby boy in this outfit.A cute baby boy,though!

A Bit of Random Chit-Chat

Big bro' teaching little sis' the art of baseball card collecting. Not really. They are just enjoying the process of taking the cards out of the zippy bag. The picture is cute,though.




Josh bought this tin of crayons from our neighbor's garage sale Saturday. He is so please with his wise purchase.He really enjoys coloring.



He likes the crayons that have this label on them the best. He says they just look neat.I agree.




Who received this catalog in the mail? Ok, we do not buy from LL Bean ( would if I could,though) but I sure enjoy flipping through their catalogs. My heart skipped a few beats when I saw this in the mail box today. What absolutely beautiful quilts! Now these are going on my quilt project list for sure. I am pretty sure I could figure out how to make quilts like these.

The Game of Ten

I know I put a bunch of (probably boring to you) videos on my blog. This one is a must see. Why? Well, because I know that there are those who read my blog and can not quite visualise or grasp what we experience around here daily by having older children from across the world here with us now as our own children. I do not live up to my calling as a mom of a large family very well, in fact, I pretty much stink at the job. I feel a bit over my head most days.

BUT I watch our Liberian girls playing their games and there is something that just overwhelms me with emotion.I am SO very grateful that although I seem to stumble in the darkness most of the time with things,I would not take a second of this and exchange it for what's behind curtain #2.

I will just say this: you are all missing out. Take that last statement with a grain of salt because sometimes I think that and sometimes I do not. BUT there might be those who feel like God is leading you down this path and it seems very scary. Well, it is very scary and very very very hard. Did I mention very hard? I kept thinking when we first set out on this adoption journey back in '06 that missing out on what God could have done but couldn't because of my fear would be a harder pill to swallow that all the difficult times I could face stepping out in faith. Those same thoughts are still true today. I have many days I forget but watching this simple video pulls me out of my selfishness and..sigh.. we are so fortunate. We, the Fryes are very blessed.



The girls are playing a game called Ten. I'm not sure quite how it goes but it has something to do with matching the other's foot actions.

Goodbye Fair!

Today was the last day of the fair. It was a busy but fun past week.

Jeff took the seven bigger kids to the fair after church this afternoon. I forgot to send the camera with so I will describe a few of the highlights.

The three bigger boys hung around the FCA booth most of the time. FCA had different contests going on that kids could win prizes for. There was a spinning contest where Grant won $34.11 for spinning the ball 34 minutes and eleven seconds.Coach John gave him the ball he used to spin with as well. Grant was very exited. Cyrus won almost $14 dollars and Joyce $6 for spinning the ball the longest in their grade category. Wow! Nolan won a basketball for the most basket shots. I wish Jeff brought the camera.

The other kids played games and walked around looking at the animals. Of course, they ate their share of food but money ran out faster than their appetites were satisfied.


We had the Lemonade stand today again. Between Saturday and today I think the kids made $65 dollars that they split up. Pretty good.

Nolan and Joyce serving Lemonade.





I set out my homemade sewing goods today again. I sold a $10.00 quilt yesterday. I was exited. Today I did not sell anything but made $7.00 in prize money for the items I submitted in the creative arts part of the fair. $17.00 is not bad for just relaxing! I used most all the money to buy the kids (and myself) a few snacks at the fair. Mini donuts are a weakness of mine.

Jeff took some shots of my homemade craft set up. What do you think? Does it look like a friendly cozy place to shop? I thought it was cute.

I like this picture.It shows just how close we are to the fair. Aren't we lucky? Yes,we are! That is the 4H building that you see at the far end of the block.

Yes, More Fun At The Fair!

This evening was my turn to take our littlest three to the fair.

Joel, Grace, and Lily had a very fun time!

Of course, I just had to take a must see video of Joel and Grace on their ride.



Joel and Grace played the duck in the pool game. You know which one I am talking about. Here they are with their prizes.



Grace was very daring and wanted to pet all the animals her size or smaller. Joel was a little bit more timid.



Lily pondering how to react when the cow was wanting to sniff her cute feet.



Stopping to pet the baby chicks is a MUST DO for the kids.






Here are the Abraham's Llamas. Aren't they cute!? We spooked the little Llama (the one with the white face) causing her to trip,fall,and knock her head on her cadge. I heard cute baby Llama was ok. I sure hope so. I was feeling pretty bad about it.

HeavenWord Handlers At The Fair

Friday and Saturday evening The HeavenWord Handlers performed at the Waseca County Fair.

The HeavenWord Handlers took the time to teach the fair crowd different ball handling tricks and passed out tracks to those in the audience who were interested.





Here is a video of this evenings performance.

Courtesy of Elena. Thanks, Elena!

There are a few new tricks that the kids added to the performance. Cyrus doing a backwards somersault while spinning the ball and Jacob D. doing some flips. All of the kids did a GREAT job!!!