Happy New Year

It seems hard to believe that we are spending our last day in 2012!  So much has happened, and so much is yet to come...We are off to Dragonfly Farm for some festivities in the snow, but to all of you from all of us Have the Happiest of New Years and we'll see you in 2013!

btw: amazing photo above taken by Erin of A Love Supreme Photography and Bluebirdbaby.
Everything about this woman is amazing! 

The Weekend

This past weekend was a fun one around our house, busy as it may be sometimes:

 We got our holiday tree.  Something I truly love about this season, it's in the stand, getting used to the environment, but we had to throw some sweet beads in to get it started.

 This may be my favoritest tree ever!  I love this curve half way up its trunk.  Of course no matter what we do it looks crooked somehow, but I love it.

An early birthday present for this sweet boy of mine.  He turns 11 tomorrow!  But since the gift was the Star Wars Lego advent calender it only felt right to give it to him on the 1st.  Nothing beats seeing his smile in the morning when he opens up a new tiny Lego to build.  This is the second year with one of these and it's been great so far.

Extra gymnastics practice as we near meet season.
There was also a very girly sleepover involving make-overs and many giggles throughout the night.
There was a first basketball game of the season won!
A viewing of Elf with the kiddos...this movie makes me laugh out loud every time I watch it!
I snuck in some knitting, Greg had a gig and here we are Monday morning ready for another week.

How was your weekend?

This Moment

Once again joining Soulemama for {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

The Finger Puppets Started It

That's right, the finger puppets started it all.  Last week the boy and I started discussing what to make for friends and loved ones this holiday season.  There are several little cousins now and we thought that a set of finger puppets would be a perfect gift; I quickly hit pinterest for some tutorials and of course was not let down.

All by himself that sweet boy whipped up these 3 finger puppets along w/ a little pouch to store them in complete with an embroidered heart.  I found the owl here and the frog and elephant here.  He used the basic owl body on all three to make things simpler, as well as googly eyes...seriously can you stand the cuteness.
So next he informs me that we need more wool felt, apparently the stock is low.  Well being that I am trying to use materials that are already overflowing the craffice I dug up the bin of felted wool sweaters and before long and idea was born:

All these sleeves, perfect base for a hand puppet!

 

As often happens around here, when one person starts making, it's not long before others join in!  So these two spent a good portion of the afternoon yesterday making puppets,  I'm thinking a pattern and tutorial is in order, cuz these cuties are oh so easy and fun!  So far there is a monkey, frog and unicorn.  A giraffe is almost finished and I'm sure there will be more today.  I have no doubt that these gifts will be loved by all who receive them.

What are you working on for holiday crafts?

And Here We Are

It's been a month since I've visited this site!  Amazing how life can just keep you so busy from wake until sleep.  I've thought about posting often, but then something else would come up and another day would go by.  Then I started worrying that I needed an explanation here in these words...a valid reason why I haven't been here...However, a dear friend pointed out recently that I don't need an excuse, I'm a mom who is busy, as are we all.  So there it is; the truth that I'm sure most can relate to.  Trying to find balance in life with this blog world when it is not your "job". 

We have been plotting right along through this wonderful autumn season we have been blessed with:
A first snow that has come and gone.
12 years celebrated for our sweet girl (who as you may have noticed isn't wanting to be in pictures on the blog right now).
Enjoying a little nature corner again in our home, something we haven't done in the last couple of years.
School is harder this year with a bit of a heavier middle school load, but both kids are doing well.
Soccer season came and went.
The hubs is busy coaching basketball for the 6th year.
We've had a slight gymnastics injury and a girl looking forward to getting back to practice soon.
A bit of house painting.
Some boardgames.
The usual busy life of a family.  I'll be back hopefully soon with more of what we've been up to.  Wish me luck as I try to learn to balance all of this.

My Handyman

This week without Miss Molly has thrown our rhythm into an upheaval (not that we'd nailed a solid autumn rhythm yet).  The boy and I have enjoyed our time together, he has been such a help around the house.  tidying up, walking dogs and well...fixing the washing machine!

Yup!  Sorry the photos aren't better but I was quite busy passing this sweet guy tools and holding the flashlight.  We've had a few home owner struggles lately;  Our oil tank has sprung a leak, and while it is temporarily patched it needs to be replaced pronto.  When you live in a house built on a ledge in the late 1800s with a dirt floor crawl space this is no easy task.  So as you can imagine we were feeling a bit discouraged when our washing machine appeared to die over the weekend.  As much as I'd love to replace this old machine with a fancy new front loader, it's just not in the cards right now.
I was doing a bit of Internet research to see what the problem could be and took a huge guess (gotta love google).
We went down to our little local appliance shop and purchased a motor coupling for $20, took the machine apart, crazy I know!  turns out your can take the whole outside "jacket" right off the thing with a screwdriver and a bit of muscle.  Talk about homeschooling at it's finest.  We found a how-to on YouTube and with a bit of team work, laughter and a lot of "ewwwww" I've got laundry running right now.  How fun to see the innards of this thing and to see that we could ourselves fix the problem.  My boy was amazing, He watched the tutorial and got quickly to work, I'm not kidding when I say I was the tool passer-flashlight holder in the team, he was so proud of himself, and his mama is proud of him too!

Far Off Adventures and More Sewing

Yesterday found us leaving our sweet girl at the airport to fly to Georgia with her grandpa.  She's been very excited to take this solo trip for a while now and as much as I miss her already I know she is having a blast and enjoying every bit of her time there.  We got a call saying they had arrived safely and were waiting for her grandmother last night; and today as the boy and I enjoy some one on one time in front of the fire on this chilly fall day in New England I'm guessing she is lounging poolside and feeling pretty "terrifical" as she would say.
Have fun my sweet girl...please stop growing so fast.

As for the KCWC  I managed to get these pants finished for the boy, though he needs about three more pair to combat his current growth rate.

I've been saving this fine brown corduroy for a while, the original plan was to make myself a skirt, and there may still be enough left.  The pattern is my go-to for pants for him right now.  Heather Ross' pajama pants from Weekend Sewing.  He likes the ease of pull on pants and I like the ease of making them.  I added front pockets and a side pocket all lined with fabric from his kindle case and some bright green thread just cuz. I also threw in a loop for carrying tools, swords and the like.  He is loving them and and so far they have passed the climbing test with flying colors!
Another successful day of the challenge! 
Unfortunately the housekeeping that is being ignored for this challenge is calling my name right now.

The Challenge

I'm joining my dear friend over at Dragonfly Farm for a challenge within a challenge.  You see, it is once again kids clothing week challenge and my friend suggested we use fabric only from our stash!  Hah!  What a brilliant idea.  She's already made a sweet little vest for her boy from a thrifted wool skirt (too cute, maybe I'll get permission to post a pic).
So my first project is the summer blouse from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.

She asked for 3/4 sleeves which was an easy fix, however being a tween isn't easy on sewing patterns it appears.  She doesn't quite fit into child's sizes much any more and sometimes the adult patterns are too big.  As was the case with this one, I sewed a bit of elastic in the back and she seems happy with the results.  Honestly I wasn't thrilled with the pattern and will make a few alterations next time to the placket, but in the end she looks great and is happy with the results.
what do you think?

This Moment

Joining Soulemama for a Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Morning sewing...

I managed to get my self out of bed a bit earlier this morning so that I could get a few projects out of the way.  It seems that with all the chaos lately I haven't found time to get things finished, or started even.  So I started off with this sweet little earbud case from dog under the desk.

Can you stand the cuteness!  This sweet little ditty whipped up in no time and Molly is thrilled to take it to Georgia next week.  The Georgia trip is what started it really.  I am planning to make her the two zip hipster to take on the plane (perfect size for kindle, iPod and a book I figure), but when I found this free tutorial I couldn't resist giving it a try (much easier than the bag). 
Well this project was so quick I decided I'd let the girl continue sleeping a wee bit longer and let the boy keep playing with blocks while I finally got around to making him a kindle case.

I've been promising him this simplicity for a while now and it took no time at all.  I am thinking about putting together a tutorial in case other folks are looking for something similar.  He is thrilled with the result and Molly has put her order in of course.  That's the morning sewing I got in...how exciting is that?   There is much to be done around the house and I'll get to that...but for now, while the kids are busy with math I'm going to squeeze myself between the two of them on the couch and finish a tank top from Alabama Studio Sewing + Design that I started a while ago.  How was your morning?  Any sewing or stitching of another kind?
  I keep wondering as the weather turns chillier when a real knitting bug will strike, but for now it's still the sewing bug for me.

The Weekend

This past weekend was full of rain, exactly what this household needed I think.
With the coming of October so soon we changed over the calender, filling in all the busy schedules around here.
We did a lot of much needed house cleaning, both big and small (see above).  There are some big changes going on around here in the future months, rooms are changes and things are feeling a bit chaotic.  So it was nice to try and get a bit more organized through it all.
Greg and I hemmed and hawed over a curriculum that I was interested in using, in the end we decided to stick with what we have as trying to rearrange the other to suit our needs would be too much work for this mama.
We all geeked out to some Star Trek Voyager, what fun this family has been having traveling through space with the crew of a star ship.
Greg of course played some music, lots of fun things coming up for The DHBC in the near future and that hubs of mine is super excited...if not a wee bit distracted.
There was  chicken tikka masala in the crock pot.
There was chess with dad, I do think if Corey continues to go to his weekly chess club meetings that it's only a matter of time before the hubs loses to this boy.
Of course there was crafting, when is there not really?  Viking shields, new beds for the doll house, some books are being worked on.
We didn't get outside much in this rain, but there was plenty of snuggling and I think everyone is starting off this week feeling well rested and accomplished.

How was your weekend?

Space The Final Frontier

Many years  back I bought some pattern blocks from swift river toys in anticipation of helping the kids with math.  There are great resources on-line for using them w/ learning fractions, symmetry, even music.  They have been helpful for both kids over the years and I believe they are well worth spending money on...however, I would like to share here with you what they have always and continue to be used for most of all:

This is a fleet of space aged star ships in the midst of a galactic battle of one sort or another.    I can't tell you how many things these simple little blocks have been used for over the years. Dinosaurs, viking boats, people, houses, cars...the list goes on.  The intricacy of his shapes, each one seeming to have a specific purpose, sides that move to change direction.  It's clear that we haven't outgrown these and quite frankly I am in no rush...

How bout you?  What do your kiddos use over and over again for so many games?

This Moment

Joining Soulemama for {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Have a lovely weekend.