Made of Monday...Handmade love

Today I turn 32...

I remember my dad's 32nd birthday...at least I am pretty sure I do.

My mom and I had baked my dad a cherry pie. I sat down to eat my piece and lost two teeth. I was six, almost seven.

I wonder if my kids will remember my 32nd birthday.

Last night, I was showered with gifts by my sweet children and husband. Grace had made me a book. She had colored and drawn and sticker-ed. Her daddy helped her by writing the words. She was so proud.

But there was one more gift, in a blue gift bag, "hidden" at her desk...

Just before it was time for her to nap today, she was sitting on the floor next to me as I feverishly worked on an over due project. She asked me how to spell love, then asked for an eraser and then how to spell love one more time.

Soon she handed over a teeny scrap of paper with all the letters to spell out Grace, Love and my initials. Using my best mommy voice and interpretive skills I asked if it spelled "Grace loves Mommy".

Yes and it goes with this she said as she handed over the mysterious blue bag.

Do we need to wait for Daddy, I asked.

I was told it no, that it was a special mommy - daughter gift!

She had asked my mom to make me a quilt for my. Thought I knew that was not what was in the bag, I did know it was something special. And it sure was...

A yellow pillow with Grace and her brother's hand prints stitched all over it!

I don't think she could have been more proud had she made it her self.

I love my baby girl and I love my mom and husband for helping foster her creativity and the value of something handmade for someone special.

Handmade with love...is what I am made of.

ETC - Embrace the Camera

To embrace the camera, one must have the camera and the SD card!

Duh, right!?!?

Not so much!

The kids and I went on a great Corn Maze adventure with the fun folks from church this week. As, I go to snap a photo of Grace holding up her prize pumpkin, two horrible things happen.

1) I realize that there is no SD card in my camera...

2) Her sweet little pie pumpkin falls out, leaving a trail of rotten pumpkin guts running down her arm!

So in true mom fashion, I stash the camera, switch to the phone and let her wipe the pumpkin ick on my pant leg. Such is life!

Linking up with The Anderson Crew...Just the Girls: Real Beauty Blog, who is sort of ETC'ing this week...and the lovely farm where we went corn mazing!

The Cow "bullet" Train

She was so excited to sit first cow! Can we say adrenaline junkie?

Jackson and his sweet friend, who happens to be my favorite
teenager and photographer!

Is it daring and adventurous?  Yes! Than my big girl is right there!
Note the nice girl in the background helping the kids...
her name is Corn Angel...!

She wasn't all the way out before she was asking to go again!

WOOSH!

Tuesday Treasures - Patterns

Who doesn't love a good pattern! Oh, the possibilities...totally custom. The choices!

I love a pattern! I love the way a pattern gets my creative juices flowing.

A new pattern is a reason to rummage through all my supplies and find the perfect materials, or even better  a reason to shop!

And then there is the triumph of having it come together just like in the picture! Only better because its my choice of fabrics and details!

And then there is customizing the pattern - taking it to the next level...making adjustments for fitting, moving pockets, adding pockets, making it totally my own!

Oh, I love patterns!

I hope you enjoy today's treasury! And just as a note, my birthday is next week....I would love any of these patterns...well except the ones that involve knitting or crochet...I don't do that...yet!

Made of Monday…

I can’t spell to save my life. I am one of those bad spellers who spell so poorly that spell check can’t figure out what I was trying to spell.  I am blessed to have friends who are great proof readers. I passed up being an English major because of my poor spelling (and the comma – he and I aren’t friends, either!)

I am a bad speller because I am horrible at phonics.  I remember being totally baffled at the hand clapping for syllables…I could make any word just about any number of syllables. How did I know when I had it right? I didn’t! And I was pretty sure the rest of the class was making it all up, too!

Now my daughter is learning to read phonetically…I thought I would be able to help her with her homework at least through middle school. We still have not totally ruled out homeschooling, as an option…okay, well maybe phonics rules out home schooling.

She is in pre-school and brings home this work sheet that is letter blends. There is a note from the teacher that says the parents are to help their student in sounding out the blends, sign the sheet and return it. 

We sat down to work on it and I was lost.

 I tried.

I know what sounds L makes, and I used the sounds for the vowels based on the flashcards that were sent home for reviewing the vowel sounds.  Yet, every last one Grace told me I had wrong!

She is in pres-school and I am already useless!

I am a bad speller and I am NOT made of phonics!

Free Advice Friday

No man is an island….

For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction…

Money talks…

How many ways can it be said? Everything we do has an impact on something else, someone else.

Daily there are stories about the sad state of our world, a new toy that crosses the line, a celebrity who has done something sleazy, a group supporting something outlandish.  It is always followed by pages of comments, shared hundreds or thousands of times, and then….nothing… nothing changes. The same people who complained give in and buy their kids the toy or go to the sleazy celebrity’s next new movie or donate to a “good cause” even though it supports something the donor doesn’t believe in.

How often do we not follow through? How often do we say something and then it stops right there at the end of the statement?

I know I am guilty.

We said no princesses…not that we don’t like Disney, but we want our daughter to grow up knowing more than being a princess. We want her to know she is special and worthy of being treated with respect because of who she is, and we wanted her to grow up with some sense of what being a woman is really all about. She has a few princess things – a story book or two, an Ariel doll, but I feel like that is not bad for 4 ½ years! Not that we are opposed to girly, because believe you me, she is one girly-girl!

We have a whole list of actors, actresses and singers that we don’t watch or listen to because of their politics, who they donate to, and things like that. Is it a drag? Sometimes, especially when it feels like we are the only ones not seeing a certain movie or listening to a certain album, but it feels good to take a stand.

I am always good about it? No…

Sometimes I just choose to not look into something, having a gut feeling that it probably is not in line with our politics or our values…but when it counts (it should always count, right?) I try to stick to my guns…sadly those are the times when my one movie ticket or my one abstaining from liking something on Facebook are such a small drop in the bucket that it does matter…except to me.

All this to say…there is nothing in today’s world that is not political – and by that I don’t mean strictly government politics…

No man is an island….

For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction…

Money talks…

And that is my “free” advice this Friday.

ETC - Embrace the Camera

Today we are embracing the camera....and our silly side.

I am having one of those days that is made of really goods and really bads, leaving me feeling kind of blah. Good thing I have my sweet baby (big) girl to keep things light and sunny. Sticking her tongue out in these pictures was hysterical - at least she thought so. And that is why I love her!

So embrace the camera with me...and check out the other embracers over at The Anderson Crew.
Oh and please disregard the absolute disaster of a house in the background of these photos.

Look, my tongue!

Wrangler doesn't mind looking silly! 

Marley, on the other hand, is far to dignified for all of this!

Wrong Words Wednesday

I have always been a better “writer” than a talker. I suppose that it is the drafting and revision process that I like about writing or that saves me from myself and an abundance of emotions that take over when forced to talk.

My favorite authors and singers (songwriters, really?) have a way with words. They have a way of putting something – a feeling, describing a situation – that I can identify with, usually in a way that opens my eyes to some part of the feeling or situation that I had not considered before.

So tonight when Uncle Kracker’s Follow Me came on the radio the first verse spoke to me…

You don't know how you met me 
You don't know why, you cant turn around and say good-bye 
All you know is when im with you I make you free 
And swim through your veins like a fish in the sea 

Don’t you think God might say something like that? At least that is how I feel about God…especially being raised in faith. I can pinpoint times in my life that pushed my faith to the brink or that God caught me as a was falling, or times that strengthened my faith or affirmed my faith, but not a precise moment when I first knew or began knowing God.

And God does make me free…Granted the rest of the song is a little creepy and not like God at all, but those lines say something to me, for me…and I suppose about me. Maybe that I have a lot to learn about God…and about me…