Thursday, February 27th, 2014

A candid shot of Elena with her new Family Force 5 hat

A sneak peek at two almost finished dresses for my Etsy shop.

A day in Paris

and My Funny Valentine

A long ago memory that warms my heart

Elena (3) and Grant (2) in 1997

Two peas in a pod

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

A Blustery Wednesday

I called our utility company this morning to double check our high bill. She did indeed confirm that it was NOT a typo nor was it a meter mistake.

~Sigh~

Large families, drafty old houses, extreme cold, and chilly feet are not a good mix. It makes for a high bill. She said we will have one more rather high bill this next month and then it should lower. Gee, our house is heated by gas primarily but because of the cold we had turned on the supplemental electric wall heaters. That must have been what added that extra to the bill. I am very nervous to get the gas bill.

On a very sweet note Joel made me a Night Rhymes book. He added this original night rhyme. This is going to be a keeper!

I finished the dress that matches the skirt I made last night. The dress turned out wonderful!

I putzed around taking pictures of it with the help of my model. The pictures turned out pretty good but would have been that much better in day light.

Stay warm Thursday. It is going to be another cold day in this now Dome-less state.

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

Just Having Fun

I have been looking forward to using this fabric all week.

Isn't it so pretty? The skirt turned out very good.

I have an a-line dress cut out that I hope to make today if I have time.

Maybe I will put them in my Etsy shop as a sibling set. I have seen other shops do that.

Cute teeny tiny Golden Books. I ♥heart♥ you teeny tiny Golden Books.

I quadrupole ♥♥♥♥heart♥♥♥♥ you sweet Lily.

I do NOT ♥ heart ♥ you utility bill.

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

Always Something To Say

I always have some sort of goofy rambling blog thing to share.

Of course, today is no different.

Most of the time it is hard to pick and choose.

No fun picking and choosing.

So I usually don't.

And I know a few of you have stuck around over the years so my blog must be kind of ok...

Maybe?

This story might help explain me a bit.

The other day I tried to give one of my kids a visual picture of what it was like having my mind.

Imagine standing on one side of a gymnasium. Now imagine someone dropped thousands of balls from the ceiling and the balls are bouncing around like crazy and instead of the balls each losing their bounciness their bounce gets stronger. Your job is to get to the other side of the gym. Just simply walk across the gym floor. One side to the other. Sounds easy but those balls keep bouncing and it can be very hard to focus on anything but the bouncing balls. Sometimes it can even be hard to see your hand held out right in front of your face. The noise,the chaos,the craziness of those bouncing balls. That is me. That is my mind. I have always been that way.

Ha ha.

It sounds like I am describe just plain ol' being a mom and trying to get things done with the kids around.

It can be just like that,can't it?

Just in my case I have been this way since I can remember.

Having the large family I do has actually helped me get a little bit better at focusing.

Anyway, not a surprise my blog reflects my crazy chaotic mind!

On to the day's pictures!!

Tuna will make the crankiest cat kind(ish).

Patches and Loki

Joel's Garden of Eden in clay

A few blankets off soon to their 'baby owners'.

Ok, I had this awesome idea to try to give my hair some sort of rich brown tones.

Guess what I used?

Guess what made a HUGE HUGE mess?

Guess what I will not do again anytime soon?

Coffee grounds rubbed all over my head was NOT the way to do it.

Who knew?

My eldest did.

I should have googled it first.

I would have appeared much smarter.

Lily, that sweetie pie, tried to reassure me that my gray was now not as bright.

I kind of think I set her up to fib out of love for her dear old mom.

Not a good mom.

Pictured below:

My 'not as bright' gray.

I noticed one of the girls Barbies had on this AWESOME BEAUTIFUL dress!!!

What a gem!!

Where in the world did this dress come from?

I stripped Barbie naked.

Sorry Barbie.

Is it mean for me to keep the dress?

Can I hide it?

I think I can use one of my a-line girl dress patterns I have and add the inserts to recreate a dress that has a similar look.

Mine will not have sleeves and maybe not a collar...although I could do a collar...thinking...

I was pinned today!!!!

My very first pin.

That does not make me an Internet celeb, though.

I was humbled by a child of mine who knows about pinning.

My pinned Etsy Sock Monkey dress.

P.S: I keep forgetting to put deodorant on. What is my deal? Who does that? I was never like that before. My poor family. At least today I smelled strongly of coffee.

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

ZOINKS!!!

As of this past weekend we entered a season in life VERY FEW can claim and VERY FEW will follow...

because they are...um...not insane...

What is it?

We officially have nine...

Nine...

NINE!!!

teenagers in our home!

YIKES!!!

Here is the teen age role call: 19,18,17,17,16,15,14,13, and 13!!

DOUBLE YIKES!!

or to quote Shaggy

ZOINKS!!!

The young ones are 12,11,11,9,9, and 6. Oh, we will be SO teen raising experts by the next round.

In full discloser: For those of you who have been around for any of my numerous very few breakdown crying spells over these last few weeks, they were crying spells of...joy...just do not ask the kids their opinion. Their reality is a tad altered by teen hormones.

~~

Ok, now on to wishing our newest teen a wonderful 13th year!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH!!!!!!!!!!

Joel made two pinatas to help Josh celebrate.

Josh

I

LOVE

YOU

SO

MUCH!!!!

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

HeavenWord Handlers

As this year's HeavenWord Handlers basketball performance team season winds down the HeavenWord Handlers had the opportunity to performed tonight during halftime at both the Waseca boys B squad and varsity games against St Peter here at home.

They did great!!

There were some changes in the team members since last year.

Grant, Alan, Cyrus, and Joyce have gotten a little old to be on the team.

Joyce still performed at a few performances earlier this season.

Grant did the pole at a few of the performances earlier in the season,as well.

It did make me a little sad that they are growing up so fast.

On the other hand Nolan, Josh, Odell, Ekie, Naomi, and Anya still make up a portion of the team.

Along with my kids, there is a whole new group of very talented kids who are wonderful!!!

Joel, Grace, and one of the Dufault girls were in the performance for the first time tonight.

They all did SO good!!!!!

The HeavenWord Handler's last performance is Friday night in Waterville.

This was the only performance I made it to this year so I made sure I took a bunch of pictures!!

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

And It is a 13th Birthday!!

Odell Charisse Frye

A beloved song.

That is the meaning of Odell's name.

Odell (song)

Charisse (beloved)

Odell is a beautiful young lady.

She has a terrific fashion sense.

She has patients beyond her years.

Odell is indeed my beloved song.

Like how I snuck in this picture with Josiah and Cyrus in the background?

Do not tell them.

He he.

Some might think I just made them up by how little they are on my blog.

They are alive and well.

Just blog shy.

Aren't they growing up SO fast?!!

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

A Purdy Valentine's

Told you it was purdy.

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy