Saturday, June 26, 2010

sewing project

Lillian's birthday present:


Marian's Doily Dress

It was made with items from Granny: her doily and her bed sheet (cut from the corners as to use the best part of the fabric). The pattern and design is from Junko Okawa (her book Carefree Clothes for Girls).

Friday, June 25, 2010

winding down

It's been busy lately. not too busy; more a fun kind of busy. Our church had VBS last week and i was part of the planning committee. Both Ry and I put some time in that week, helping out with this and that. Aleida and Owen were not old enough to participate but they both spent some time in the nursery while we helped. The first day I was actually doing nursery care, so the kids and I were together. When Ry helped out on Thursday, Owen didn't want to go to nursery by himself (it's 2.5 hrs, so it's quite a while!), thus I brought Owen to work with me while Aleida went in the nursery. She unfortunately did not do very well. She cried most of the time. Poor girl, and poor nursery helpers. And so both kids stayed home when I went to help on Friday.

We went to the cabin Fathers Day weekend with the entire PS gang. It was a really nice and relaxing time. It was fun to all be at the cabin together! That was the first time we'd all been up at the same time. And, I'd like to add that we all slept comfortably.

Also, during these events, the Geese (and significant others) were in town! and also Heather and Ina Bartlett. Yes! It was a fun time of visiting and socializing and listening to music.

Lillian is 6! We celebrated with her and family and friends last night. The Flyers were at the party and they put on a fantastic concert (as always). It was a fun time together.

Now things are slowing down. Our house hasn't yet seen the effects of this, though. It's in need of a good clean but we're in need of some 'nothing' time. So I guess that comes first.

Aleida, as you can see from the previous post's pictures, is pulling herself up to stand by (or kneel) at the coffee table. She takes great satisfaction from this and she is getting better at balancing once she's up. She even likes to try it one-handed. She's going to have another tooth poke through soon (on the top). She's eating 3 big solid food meals a day, and 3 big drinks a day. She still gets up at night - especially right now. I blame that on her aching gums. But besides that, she does like a drink somewhere between 1 and 4.

Owen is clearly an almost-4-year-old. His sentences are more complex. He is using more words all the time. I find myself often surprised by the words he is using. He's really into saying: "That's how it goes sometimes." Also, when cleaning up his toys yesterday, he told me: "It doesn't feel very good when I do this but it's good to get it done." He initiated cleaning the toilet the other day. And, at a gas station, he wanted to clean their toilet. I managed to talk him out of performing that task. He is currently really into playing games on the computer. Actually, let me correct that. He asks to play games but the games he wants to play are too difficult. So what he's really asking is for Ry or me to play that game and he'll watch. Much to Owen's disappointment, this doesn't happen very often. He is still as into Cars (disney pixar movie) as ever, and he plays with his cars daily. I think we need to be more intentional about reminding him of his other toys. He got out his puzzles the other day, and yesterday while I was sewing, he was making me sandwiches out of his play food.

Sewing - I want to make this more a part of my life! But now that Aleida moves quickly, I'll have to be careful (as my sewing-setup is not kid friendly). At any rate, the last two sewing projects I have done I found myself enjoying the actual process of sewing, and this is resulting in me being more careful than I usually am. This is good! It means I am happier with the end product (and the end product is nicer). So I'll have to work at making my sewing machine more accessible. I may have to sacrifice some of the order that we have in the dining room.