Making Do

The boys have no money for Avengers Lego sets, so they used the minifigures they already had and tweaked them with Sharpie Markers!

The Renaissance Faire!

Here I am in my $22 dress and the flower crown that I chose at our state's Renaissance Faire!  To get an idea of what or faire is like, enjoy this video I made last year:

Living and Learning for September

Here's my very first Living and Learning vlog on YouTube! In this video I cover what's in my knitting basket, some fashion inspiration, what I'm reading and watching, and what I hope to bake this month. 

In My Knitting Basket:  Shale Blanket in Cascade 220 in the Shire colorway

Inspiration:  Maxi Dress in Dark Green

On My Bedside Table:  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and

Guernsey Under Occupation: The Second World War Diaries of Violet Carey

Watching:  Vera and Hoopla

 

In the Kitchen:  Sour Cream Apple Pie, Apple Crisp, Applesauce

(also, I just checked the prices for Fall Fest and it is $12 per person, not $6 or $7 like I thought!)

Matilda

I cannot tell you how happy it makes me that our twelve-year-old just saved up to buy a new dolly and then brought her to her brothers' basketball clinics to play with while she waits.  The doll is the lovely Matilda from A Girl for All Time.

Morning Glories in Two Shades

Outside / Inside

Redecorating Luna's Apartment

 

Luna decided that she wanted to spruce things up in her new apartment (we bought her a fancy tank with a filer instead of her fishbowl), so we taped some pretty wrapping paper to the back.  Voila! Instant wallpaper!

BOWLING!

We took the Trio to a local bowling alley tonight!  It was a very exciting outing (even though the picture makes it seem like it wasn't!) and everyone had a great time and can't wait to go back!

Our Picture Book Collection

recently spent some time culling our children's book collection. This video highlights the picture books that we own and shows how I organize them.

Decorating Cupcakes

Our daughter took a cupcake decorating class at our local community center and has wanted to try her hand at decorating cupcakes at home.  We had some lunchtime guests coming, so today was the perfect opportunity to try.  We bought a 1A piping tip, disposable icing bags, and pink paper roses from Michaels and whipped up some carrot cake cupcakes and cream cheese icing.  After watching a youtube tutorial on using the 1A piping tip, she was ready to go.  I was really impressed by how well the cupcakes turned out.  They were delicious and beautiful!

Rainy Day Scenes

A Root Beer Bottle Vase

 I must confess that I bought this root beer for it's vase potential.  Luckily, my husband is fond of root beer floats!

Clay Crosses

The Trio made these great coppery clay crosses at Vacation Church School.  I really love how they came out and cannot wait to hang them up.  I'm planning to put them in the playroom...  I really think that the wall color (Rainy Day by Valspar) will make the crosses really pop!

Home

A Quiet Weekend

Packing Lunches for School

A Friday Afternoon Beach Stroll

The Most Cuddly of Bears

One of the children in our parish has been in the hospital for a benign brain tumor, and has endured five surgeries and one stroke since August 20th. Glory to God, she seems to be on the mend now! A parishioner gave me $50 to buy a teddy bear for her and I found this adorable one made by Steiff on Amazon. Isn't he the sweetest? I hope that Maleah likes him!

Meet Our New Fish

This is Luna. She likes rose gold and the simple life.

Meet Archibald the Rainbow Prince. He likes disco music and exploring ancient ruins.

World War II Planes

 

The boys have been diligently working on a project building WWII aircraft out of popsicle sticks together. They've used a ton of popsicle sticks and the hot glue gun.  I ended up buying a new hot glue gun with high/low heat settings after they got burned for the umpteenth time.  The new one works just as well, but the cooler temp has meant no more burns, which is a relief.  The windshields are made exclusively of hot glue spread in sheets, dried, and glued on. 

 I bought a little set of paint yesterday while I was getting groceries and that was a huge hit.  They mixed the colors that they wanted and have spent hours getting everything just right.  Now they're researching  the correct emblems for their planes.  This has been entirely child driven, which makes me very happy!

Putting the Shopping on Hold

Monday has been my menu planning and grocery shopping day of late.  I was really happy that I had the ingredients to make this homemade pizza in the fridge today, though.  It made it easy to wait until the afternoon to go to the grocery store!  My sausage, pepper, and onion pizza was perfect with a side of Vera on the tablet!

Our Girl

This girl. She totally rocked her first week as a seventh grader in public school. Here she is with her little friend who she occasionally takes care of as a Mother's Helper.

Paperwork Orgnanization

I purchased a new seagrass filing cabinet with wheels and some hanging files this week after being inundated with paperwork recently. I love that it is an attractive alternative to metal or plastic filing cabinets and that it is able to move easily from room to room. How do you organize paperwork?

My Autumn Wardrobe in Watercolor

Settling In

We're on day three of the new school year.  Things are starting to feel a little more comfortable.  We have a very strict morning routine because our girl needs to be at her new school by 7:30.  Though we would all prefer to sleep in longer, this early departure means that breakfast and prayers and dressing are done quickly and the boys and I get to our lessons by about 8am and are therefore done with our work much sooner!  I even had a little bit of time after lunch to make a galette, which made me feel like a real person again.  I love doing creative little things each day!

The First Day of School!

 

 It was a good day that was made better by ice cream cones after all the lessons were done!

Middle School, Here She Comes!

Our daughter will be attending middle school this year.  It's hard to believe that we have a seventh grader in our house!  She's such a darling!

Something for the School Table

These are my Tomorrow-is-the-Frst-Day-of-School flowers.

Reading

 

I suppose I shall have to be married some day," said Peter, "but it will be an awful bother having her around all the time.  I'd like to marry a lady who had trances, and only woke up once or twice a year."

"Just to say you were the light of her life and then go to sleep again.  Yes.  That wouldn't be bad." said Bobbie.

"When I get married," said Phyllis, "I shall want him to want me to be awake all the time, so that I can hear him say how nice I am."

"I think it would be nice," said Bobbie, "to marry some one very poor, and then you'd do all the work and he'd love you most frightfully, and see the blue wood smoke curling up among the trees from the domestic hearth as he came home from work every night."

The Railway Children

Edith Nesbit