Quilts, Egyptology, and Washing Hair

I am loving the fall weather and how it gets dark earlier. We've had a couple of days of pelting rain, and I've loved lighting the candles when the sun starts going down. We've even had a few dinners by candlelight. I'm thankful for the different seasons that we enjoy.

This week I finished up 5 quilts. Unfortunately, I can only show you one. The rest I will post pictures of in December. One night this past week I went through and organized my material and my sewing box. It's nice to feel organized, and it's amazing how you can forget material that you have. I cut two more quilts out using a new pattern. I hope they turn out the way I envision them turning out. Friday the kids and I took several quilts to the hospital. It's a wonderful feeling to have them be a part of this service. We rode the elevator up to the 8th floor. They loved looking out over part of Vancouver. Then we walked around the beautiful water feature. It was a very  nice morning and way to begin the day before we ran errands. I was reveling in the moment of having five of my little ones surround me as we did some shopping, as I know one day it will just be me or just Chris and I.

Here is the one quilt I can show you.

This week Aeva made herself a hat. The first one did not go very well. She felt pretty frustrated, but I told her she could do this, and it wasn't a failure since she learned what she should do differently and better the second time around. The second hat turned out great! She is going to make another one, which will be a Hello Kitty hat.

Myles really loves learning about ancient Egyptian history. He has made himself a little notebook with various gods and goddesses, mythological Egyptian stories, and the Egyptian alphabet. Here he is making his alphabet paper look old. We watched a documentary on animal mummies of Egypt this week, and he thought that was quite interesting.

 

The little girls love dancing with Chris. Elsa is full of instruction while dancing. She let's Chris know when to twirl her and when to dip her.

 

 Meg has become quite the ham in front of the camera. She likes to say "cheese" and then kind of cock her head to one side for a pose. Her knew phrase is "no way!", and she likes to do cheers with her glass at dinner. Only she doesn't say "cheers", she tries to say "kampai" which is cheers in Japanese. Hmmmm, I wonder where she learned that????

 

I put a very fluffy dress on Meg today. I think it's the first time she has worn a dress like that. I put it on her, and she immediately ran down the hall into the living room, held out the sides of the dress and danced around the room. It was so precious.

 

 I'll end with what has been in my thoughts of late.....
I was discussing an article that I had read with a dear friend on Saturday. My friend and I were commenting that often in the moment when our kids are reaching a level where they start doing things on their own (taking showers, making their own breakfast,etc.) it feels like one thing we get to take off of our plate. However, we often don't, at the time, recognize, or realize, or reflect on the fact that we won't be doing that for them anymore. We don't think to ourselves, or appreciate, when we do something for them that it may be the last time we do that specific act for them because they are growing up and becoming more independent.
The article    http://hannahhelpme.com/blog/when-did-i-last-wash-your-hair/

is about this mom and her trying to think back to the last time she washed her daughter's hair.
I cried through the article because I couldn't even tell you the last time I washed Rhaevyn or Aeva's hair. They are teenagers, so I know they've done it for many years on their own. I thought to myself, I did not appreciate the very last time I did that for them. It kind of took my breath away. I probably took for granted that it was part of my routine and then one day it wasn't. They grow up so fast....................it's something we all know and realize on some level. I don't think I really appreciated, until I read the article, what that really means.
Then something really wonderful happened. Aeva asked me if I could wash her hair for her. I am sure she had glanced at the article as she walked past the computer , but it meant the world that she asked. As she leaned over the bathtub I drank in the time I spent washing her hair, talking to her, putting conditioner on it, and rinsing it. It was positively heavenly! She has asked me a few times since then, and I cherish it each time. I hope I am passing on to my children that when they are moms (and Myles is a dad) to cherish their children and their time with their children no matter what! Even when they do things that drive you nuts. There will be a time when they don't do that one thing that is driving you nuts and you will miss it. For example: I've had several people from church comment that they've noticed that Meg loves my hair. They watch how she basically mauls my hair and they marvel at how I just let her do it; they wonder how it doesn't drive me nuts. Most of my littles have loved to touch my neck, but Meg loves my hair. It probably, most of the time, looks like someone took beaters to my hair. I know that one day she won't play with my hair like that, and I will miss feeling those tiny fingers flip, twirl, and caress my hair and muss up it up, and I'll long for the days when my hair looked disheveled. This time will pass, and I want to make sure I appreciate and cherish this time and stage with her because all too soon my littles go from
                                                   this                           to                  this.

Goodbye October

October was wrapped up with the completion of two quilts and five just needing to have the binding sewn on. I'm sure my sweet friend will be happy to have me out of her hair for a while. She was so sweet to let me come put together six quilts in two weeks, and she even gave me batting for one of them. Her machine can be finicky at times. It may sound silly, but I've learned to start each quilt with a prayer. I didn't do that on the last quilt I did over at her house and had to rip out two rows of stippling. Before I started for the second time I made sure I said a prayer. This is the one that is completed. I finished it up yesterday. I think it is my new favorite. I just love the colors, and I even went out on a limb with the binding. I picked out something with similar coloring to the dark blue in the quilt blocks, but that was not in the same family pattern.

 

 

 

 I have been wanting to make a rag quilt to use up my scraps of batting. I wanted them put to use instead of just throwing them out. There are so many different instructions out there for a rag quilt; there really doesn't seem to be any consistency. I went with my gut for the most part as I put it together. I love the colors I used, but am not overly thrilled with how it turned out. It wasn't a waste, as I have learned a lot from doing this one. I know what I will do differently for the next rag quilt.

 

 

 

 Four of us got haircuts this week. Our sweet, and favorite, hairdresser is about to take a haitus. She's having a baby and was sweet to get us in at the very last possible minute :) I think Elsa is beyond thrilled because she has been asking for months to have her hair bobbed. I couldn't believe how much hair came from Myles. It was getting quite long. Aeva went bold with an asymmetrical cut. She says she likes it short because she doesn't want to spend a lot of time, or rather she doesn't "have" time to spend on her hair.

Aeva made a cute Halloween card for her seminary teacher.

Here are my little, and not so little, goblins all dressed up for Halloween. Rhaevyn went over to a friend's house and went trick-or-treating with her. They played some games and then were treated to Baskin and Robbins ice cream. Aeva opted not to go trick-or-treating. She just wanted to hand out candy. This was Meg's first year to go trick-or-treating. We took her to three houses and then brought her home. Myles and Elsa made it almost an hour. They decided a nice warm shower and hot cocoa sounded better than being out in the deluge. We had over an inch and half of rain yesterday, and most of it seemed to come in the form of a down pour.

In true Whovian style Rhaevyn was Osgood from Dr. Who. She spent quite some time making the scarf. Chris made her the inhaler at work on the 3D printer.  I think she matched the character nicely.

Myles wanted to be the old man character that Stephen plays on Studio C, but in the end was more like a newspaper delivery boy. I didn't get him with his newpaper bag, but he looked the part nicely.



Aeva was a manga character who likes to clean. She made her cloak, but Rhaevyn embroidered the back.

 

 

 Elsa was Glinda from Wicked.

 

 Meg was a puppy. This outfit has been worn by all the kids. Rhaevyn and Aeva wore this for their first Halloween, but they were bears. When it was Myles's first Halloween I had bought the cute puppy hat, so he was a puppy (as was Elsa).
I had just finished taking Elsa's picture, and Meg was trying to hold out her pj's like Elsa held out her dress. 

 

 
  Here are the group pictures.

 Here are just two random pictures of me with two of my munchkins.

 Welcome, welcome November!

Quilts, Ben and Stacey, and a Japanese Dinner for Seven

 I've been thinking a lot lately about the quilt I received from the hospital. I had kept it hidden away in my hope chest for about 5 months. I would take it out occasionally just to run my hand over it and cry. I had remarked to my best friend several months back that I didn't really feel like it was a very pretty quilt. It wasn't specifically made for a mother who just lost her baby. She said something that I will never forget. She told me that I may feel that way, but that I was given the "right" quilt. That quilt was meant just for me. It is the quilt that started me thinking about mothers of angel babies receiving beautiful quilts specific to their loss. I look at this quilt differently now. I finally was able to get to the point where I was ready to bring it out of its hiding place, to use it, to look at it and not cry, to cherish it. Now it drapes over the couch ready for any one of us to use.  It is a pretty quilt; I know that someone made it with a lot of love, and it's a quilt that tells a story.

Last Sunday I received a very nice surprise. A sweet friend, whose dad made three quilts for my project, had him make me a very special quilt of my own for reasons beyond losing my baby. I was telling my friend that it makes me smile whenever I walk in my room because of the sweet story that it tells.

We have two squirrels who romp about our backyard and run along our back fence. We love watching them take big leaps from the fence to the tree in our neighbor's yard and then scamper up to the tip top of the branches. Myles tried to catch a picture of one of them. They provide a lot of entertainment while schoolwork is being done.


Friday evening Ben and Stacey came to visit. I knew they were coming, but I didn't tell anyone else (except for Rhaevyn). Everyone was surprised when they showed up on our door step. Meg enjoyed lots of hug time with them and even took a nap with Stacey. Ben spent some time building Legos with Myles.

Today was the Primary Program for our ward. Elsa memorized the Sixth Article of Faith. She has been singing it the past two weeks at home, but she was able to say it without having to sing it today. Myles gave a two minute talk comparing the signs Pharaoh was given and the story of the widow who made food for Elijah., and how signs don't build a testimony if you don't already have faith. It was a wonderful program topped off with the song Gethsemane.
Aeva cooked a Japanese dish for dinner tonight. She was pretty excited about it and did it all herself. It had rice, chicken, potatoes, onions, carrots, and curry. She got a thumbs up from everyone. I'm trying to talk Rhaevyn into cooking a Korean dish for us next.

Halloween is up next!