February is Fading

 I finished up this quilt and am hoping to get at least one more done this week (two if I'm lucky).
 

 

This week was  all about Myles.
He had his Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts. He made cupcakes and then helped to decorate them. Rhaevyn made the icing for him. Then he and I worked on this Chinese dragon puppet. The theme was "jungle", so I printed out a map of China showing where the jungle in that country is. His friend, Peter, wanted to take the puppet home. His mom is from China. Myles decided to make another one the next day since he let Peter take the one from the banquet.

Friday was his date with Chris. They went out for Chinese food, visited the fish store, and then donned heavy jackets and galoshes to walk down along the Columbia River in the rain.

Rhaevyn is doing well in orchestra. She has moved to the first chair section and is loving it.

I just love watching the kids out on the trampoline, especially with Meg out there. They are always so good to take her out with them to jump and lay down to watch the clouds or airplanes in the sky.

Myles picked me a blossom from one of our plum trees and had me wear it in my hair.

Aeva and Rhaevyn had some friends from church over on Friday night. They were all having such a good time that they didn't want to leave to go home, which we were fine with. I think they finally left at almost midnight because the driver realized he isn't supposed to be driving that late. I love the youth in our ward. They are all so nice. A great group of friends for the girls.

March is almost upon us, and we are all looking forward to the busyness and events that awaits us.

Quilts and Baby Magic

We had quite the fun and productive week. I was able to get to all three of my projects! That certainly was a good feeling.

I started and finished my quilt top for the second quilting class I have this Tuesday. I even got the binding ready too.

My second project: skirts for Elsa and Meg. A friend was  getting rid of some material, and Elsa really like the purple grape fabric. There was enough to make the two of them matching skirts.

Lastly, it was time to start working on the quilt Elsa wanted to make. She did a really good job sewing squares together for a pinwheel quilt. She was cracking me up while I was watching her sew just because she kept reassuring me that "Okay, okay, I've got it, Mom.". Unfortunately, when we put the fabric out in the pinwheel pattern I had left over squares, and it wouldn't quite be big enough. So, I talked her into this pattern. She has graciously, but hesitantly, agreed to it.

Meg, earlier this week, decided to come in and rearrange the clean plates in the dishwasher. Then she took the utensil basket and put the forks, spoons, and knives away as I sat watching her. I giggled inside while telling her what a good job she did. Love my little helper.

Poor Meg was wiped out the other day and fell asleep sitting up. We finally saw that she had fallen asleep, and that her head kept bobbing against the couch, so we made her more comfortable. 



We decided to get her a little potty two weeks ago. She likes to try and go before she has a bath or shower, but we thought if she was really interested it might be better if she had one she could sit on without help from us. She didn't seem too interested, which was fine. However,  last night she sat on her potty and went all by herself. Except for going to church today, she had a dry diaper and kept using her potty. Kind of exciting!


While I was sewing the quilt top on Monday, Miss Elsa was so cute to load the dishwasher for me and start it. She did it twice that day. I loved our conversation as I sat sewing and she did the dishes.

I got a bee in my bonnet for room rearranging yesterday. We ended up taking Rhaevyn and Aeva's bunk bed apart. Aeva said she was ready to move back to the trundle anyway. I think both rooms have been brightened up a bit with both bunk beds gone. We are looking into making a trundle for Myles' room. For right now he just pulls the mattress out at night and pushes it in when he wakes up.
I even found a use for the bunk bed ladder!

 
Monday we had fun learning about the history of President's day, and PE this week involved learning the Charleston. The kids had a lot of fun learning that (plus a good workout), and Miss Elsa has it down pretty good. Elsa wants to learn square dancing next.

Myles was out helping Chris cut pipe for the rear suspension on the VW bug. He measured, cut, and tacked (welded) it in place. Chris took him to a fencing group on Saturday. He really enjoyed that and can't wait to go back. Rhaevyn was super excited for him.

Friday we got to watch this cute little fellow for two hours. His mom is one of the sisters that I visit teach, and she does all of our haircuts. It was like Christmas morning here! There is absolutely something magical about little babies. Everyone wanted a turn to hold him. Rheavyn rocked him to sleep, and then she handed him off to Aeva who snuggled with him until he woke up. He got a bit upset. I think he just hadn't finished his nap. Poor Elsa and Meg were upset that he was so upset. Once he calmed down he was able to fall back asleep. I thought maybe Miss Meg wouldn't like that I was holding him instead of her, but she just wanted me to put him at her level so she could keep kissing the top of his head. I think we all needed a little baby magic and got our fix.

I can hardly believe we are almost to March, which will be an exciting month because Rhaevyn has her first violin student :)

Valentine's Day

The girls finished off a second weekend of baking bread. One lady gave them a $10 tip! What a blessing. Today at the Regional Conference her husband was raving about the bread; how he couldn't stop eating it. Rhaevyn was relieved. She always worries that her bread isn't going to be good. She says each loaf has a mind of its own. We got the girls registered for EFY. The week they wanted had already closed, but they were willing to go the third session. Interestingly, a friend that Aeva made last summer at EFY will be there the same session. She is happy about that.

I had fun last night making valentines hearts for each of the children with some little poem or saying. I had got them all a little something  that suited them and put it next to their beds. I used to do this for them, but had slacked off the last few years. One of children had brought that up; how much they loved it when I'd make Valentine's Day about them too. So, that was really fun to do this year again. I was so surprised at the gift that Chris made for me. Now I know why making two wands took two days..................he was working on my present as well. Pictures don't do it justice. It is just simply beautiful, and it is priceless since he made it himself.

 

 Rhaevyn, Myles, and Elsa made  me Valentines. I think I'm the luckiest mom in the world!

The girls keep working away on their artwork. I am just so amazed by their talent since I can really only draw stick figures.

Aeva is entering this in the library bookmark contest.

We had a bit more sunshine before the rain rolled in. The kids have enjoyed being out in the sunshine and fresh air rollerblading, taking walks, blowing bubbles, hula hooping, and drawing with chalk.

We've seen this woodpecker the past  few weeks. He lands in the tree (in the neighbor's yard) right out our back sliding door. We finally got a picture of him and learned that he is a Sapsucker. He sure is pretty. As I was taking the picture of him a hummingbird came whizzing towards my face. It scared me half to death because it moved so fast towards me, and I could hear the wings beating noisily. I didn't quite realize right away that it was a hummingbird. Boy was it sure pretty.............a bright green.

Here is our mischievous little Meg starting to get tired and snuggling up with Daddy.

I have a couple of projects planned for myself this next week, and I'm hoping that I'll get to work on them. So much to do and so little time; well time that I really like to spend with the kids rather than put my hands to work on the "projects". And it's off to another wonderful week!

French Bread and Fencing

Our kitchen was humming on Saturday. Rhaevyn made 14 loaves of french bread. She likes to bake alone, but this was to be a team effort for fund raising for EFY. We had to find a way for Aeva to help. Aeva did the calling, delivering, and collecting of funds. Making phone calls is not her favorite thing. It was good practice, and she did an excellent job of it. They sold 12 loaves for $5 each and even made a few tips. I think they have orders for 10 loaves this next Saturday.

Rhaevyn also made this scarf for our Bishop's wife. She hadn't had time to make it, so she handed the pattern and yarn over to Rhaevyn. She made $40 from that job. I think it turned out so cute. The Bishop's wife is going to be putting the eyes on.

Today's science project seemed more like a magic trick. We were learning about the flash-point in a fire and what that means when a room or building is on fire. Myles had fun blowing out the candle and having it magically relight. Elsa was in awe!

Meg threw away her pacifiers yesterday morning. I was surprised they lasted about a month and a half. She had chewed holes in both of them. She didn't even bat an eye when she threw them in the garbage. No tears! She had her first night without them last night. So far so good :)

The weather has been in the 60's the past few days. It feels like spring. We took the long and scenic route home from church yesterday and had all the windows rolled down. Today the kids and I got the shovels, rakes, and broom out to clear the back patio so that Myles and Elsa could roller blade. Then Myles and Rhaevyn had some fun fencing together.

Myles and Rheavyn got their hair cut. Rhaevyn originally just wanted what she had cut evened out, but then she decided to do layers. This is the shortest her hair has been since before Myles was born. It looks so super cute on her with her curls. I couldn't believe how much hair came off of Myles. He was really in need of a cut.

Both Myles and Elsa have been out helping Chris on his VW bug. Elsa was so excited the other day to vacuum it out, as the inside is bare. Then she got to just sit in it while it was running and thought that was the bee's knees.

Myles made a new wand. He worked all day Friday and part of Saturday on it. Chris said he's getting really good with the lathe. Chris made one too. Myles made his for Rhaevyn, but gave her the choice between the one he made and the one Chris made. She chose the one that Chris made.

 

And our little rose tree is starting to get new little buds on it, which is so nice! It's hard to believe we are coming up on one year this month.
Time to go for a family walk at Lewisville before the sun sets.

Last of January

We had a couple of days of blue skies and temps in the 50's.
The littles got out for a bit on the trampoline and the older girls went for a walk together. Well, actually I guess the trampoline was more than a bit since they were out until the sun went down.

Meg and Myles were enjoying looking at the sky together.

I've been trying something new for a while with my pancakes and waffles. I've been whipping the egg whites and adding them last. I've always done this for my wheat pancakes, but I've tried it with my white ones as well. I happened to be watching a show called "I'll have what Phil's having" and some little restaurant in LA does it too, and I guess their pancakes are a big hit. I just tried it with french toast last week.
We've been watching the Waltons. That was probably my most favorite show as a little kid. I own two seasons of it, but found the other seasons at the library. We've been enjoying watching that together, and it's brought up a lot of questions for the kids. We've had some great conversations around various episodes.

A week ago for Family Home Evening we decided to do something a little different. The girls started us off with playing some music from LOTR (Fellowship of the Ring), and then we sat with scripts and read a scene from the movie. We were all laughing so hard at the voices we were doing for our characters. Ya, we were nerding out! Myles was doing an excellent voice for Smeagol (Gollum) and even had a good choking sound down.

Meg has been sitting at the table to eat the past few days. I think she is really liking it. Looks like it may be time to say goodbye to her highchair seat.

Whenever Meg gets really quiet I usually find her in this hiding spot with my Ipod watching PBS kids.

 

 
 One day I even found that she had completely covered herself up and was under her blanket watching Thomas the Train.

Elsa wants a turn to help make a quilt for my project. We went and picked out this phat quarter bundle. I think it is going too look really pretty.

 

 My next collection/donation of quilts is coming up in March. A friend was just made RS president in her ward, and they are having two activities making quilts for the project. I feel very blessed and humbled; I was thinking this time around it was going to be pretty sparse.


We have been doing some fun science experiments and art projects. Here are two that we did...........

A science experiment involving Ivory soap:

W made our own Valentine window clings:
 

 

 Aeva's scary Valentine heart.

 

 I had a hectic Wednesday two weeks ago. Chris had to work late, but he thought he'd be home in time to take Rhaevyn to violin as usual. Unfortunately, the time got a bit mixed up. I had to run her over to her lesson while Aeva finished up eating dinner with the rest of the gang and got them cleaned up and ready to go. I zoomed back home to get them. I barely stopped long enough for them to hop in the car and put their seat-belts on. Then it was back to Rhaevyn, which I was 10 minutes late for. I then dropped Rhaevyn and Aeva off at a fireside for the youth, which they were barely on time for and dashed off to get Myles to cub scouts; another 10 minutes late. All the while the four big glasses of water I had were catching up with me. Chris made it home in time to pick everyone up from their various activities. Although it had all worked out, Chris had felt so bad that he brought me roses the next day. The kids thought that was so awesome and sweet!

 

At Rhaevy's last orthodontic appointment they had cute little tea cookies. Rhaevyn and I were reminiscing about when they were little and I used to take them to a bakery. One time the ladies at the bakery gave them a bag of tea cookies. While I was out running errands on Friday I stopped at that little bakery and got a bag for everyone to share. It was a nice surprise for the girls.

Rhaevyn and Aeva are planning to go to EFY again this year. Thankfully they were able to each get another scholarship and are now trying to earn money to pay for the rest. They are spending a couple of Saturdays making French bread to sell. They already have 12 orders in for this Saturday. My kitchen is going to be busy!

I think this catches me up, and now we are in to February :)