Corny Family

Ainsley had a Family Tree project due a couple of weeks ago.  She brought home a manilla poster paper and had to create a family tree.  The only rules were that it had to be a kind of tree and that you had to write at the bottom, "We are a _____ tree because we like/are_______.  And all the members of the family needed to be named on the poster.  You could use what ever you wanted to decorate or make the tree.

Ainsley originally wanted to be an apple tree but there were lots of apple trees so I tried to convince her that we should be a popcorn tree because #1, that would be a beautiful tree - look like spring blossoms and #2 our family LOVES popcorn, we probably eat it 6 days a week.  So she went with it.  We drew out our brown tree shape and began trying to glue on the popcorn.  It didn't work at all.  Popcorn doesn't have enough flat surfaces to adhere properly.  I could have used hot glue but it still seemed like even with that it was going to be a long and complicated project with a lot of burned fingers.  I was disappointed because we had already come up with our sentence - "We are a popcorn tree because we are corny."

Ainsley then said she wanted to draw a squirrel on at the base of the tree because she liked the hole in the tree and knew squirrels would live there.  Well that squirrel idea - gave me an idea.  We could be an acorn tree!!  We could still be corny and we could use fabric - my favorite.  So I cut out the pieces and Ainsley glued them on the tree with Elmer's glue - less messy and less burns.  The tree came out very cute.

Then Ainsley decided she wanted each person in the family to be a squirrel instead of us gluing on pictures or putting our names on branches of the tree.  So Chase drew our first squirrel and the I copied his design to draw the rest.  Ainsley colored them in.  It was a fun family project and I think the end result was fabulous.

Enjoying the Weather

This week has been nothing but rain.  Sunday - Thursday RAIN.  Calling for more rain this afternoon.  At least there is a little sun this morning.  I can't say I have totally minded the rain.  It did give us a 5 day break from baseball.  I love baseball but it can just be all consuming and I don't do well with dinner scarfed down every night before 5pm so we can be out the door to a game or practice by 5:15.  (The kids only get home from school at 4.)  The break was nice and now I have the energy to continue on.Last week we had some beautiful days.  We sat outside on the patio and enjoyed Italian Ice and our new favorite -"Totally Fruit" by Musselmans.  We like the peach.  It's peach flavored applesauce with no added sugar.  I've had unsweetened applesauce and you are usually wishing that it had sugar and are usually wondering why you are eating it.  This is very sweet and all natural and I use it as a replacement for dessert choosing it over ice cream or cake sometimes.

Getting all wet.

We pulled out the sprinkler and let the girls try out their new bathing suits.  This was Piper's first time doing the sprinkler and she had a lot of fun figuring it out.  Figuring how far she wanted to go....how wet she wanted to be and how to control it.

It was a beautiful night and I am looking forward to many more of them to come.

Recent Completions

I finished a few projects last month.  It's been quite a while since I've sewn anything.  I don't know where the time goes.  I did finish an awesome quilt top (if I do say so myself) back in February.  It was for my nephew who was born last July.  I sent it off to be quilted by a long arm machine.  When I get it back I'll bind it and then get a picture.  Maybe Cash will get it by his first birthday.

In April I finally got some sewing time.  This is a rag quilt that I tried to embellish by sewing on flower looking shapes and adding a button to the middle.  The flowers are also ragged.  This is one I plan on giving away.  I really do like it but if I were to do it again there are definitely things I would do differently.  I learned a lot from this quilt and I think I could really improve on the next one.   But there are quite a few patterns on the list ahead of making another one of these so we'll see - someday.

Here's one I did for the silent auction at the Spring Festival at the kids school.  The fabric only cost me about $7.50.  I wonder what it will sell for?  I don't even know if people at school would be interested in something like this.  Although it makes a great baby shower gift.  I guess we'll see if it's worth making another one next year. ***The down side of this one was that one of the black fabrics bled in the wash.  I think it was the argyle one because the above quilt didn't run and that used the same black flowered fabric.  I never wash my fabric first and I don't usually have a problem with it but this time I did.  It's not terribly noticeable so I hope the new owner doesn't notice.  I am making a quilt for MacGregor's teachers that is navy and white.  I decided to wash all the blue fabric first.  I'm learning.

  This is the one I made for the church auction.  It was supposed to be an all camp auction (YW camp, Boy Scouts and Cubs).  But the youth really didn't get behind it so the leadership canceled.  That left scouts up the creek without a paddle.  Primary and Scout leaders had signed up to bring/make quite a few things already so we decided to have a silent auction table (not as fun) at the Ward Memorial Picnic this month to raise money for Cub Scout Day Camp.

This quilt cost me nothing to make - only my time.  I used old jeans and an old denim dress.  (I got tons of squares from that dress) and scraps from my stash.  I love the look and the price of a scrap quilt and I do promise not to buy this one back like I did with the one I made 2 years ago.

Here are some close ups of the fabrics used this time.  Do any of you recognize fabric from quilts I've done for you??

What to do with her??

I honestly don't know what to do with this child.  If she is not being watched she will find a way to mess things up, create a disaster.  I have 3 other children - I'm busy.  I don't have time to watch her every second.... but then this is what I have to face.

I was on the phone with the Bishop taking care of some rather important stuff regarding Primary.  I was in the basement.  Ainsley comes running downstairs and says "Mommy, mommy come right now and see what Piper has done!"  I run upstairs, still trying to concentrate on what the Bishop is saying and find this girl with my make-up bag sitting on the living room carpet.  Very upsetting - the carpet had lipstick and mascara ground in - my makeup was in pretty bad shape and the child's face looked like this...

The sad thing is that she really thought she was beautiful. Just look at this smile.  She was so pleased.  She thought that she had done what mommy does - put on makeup to be beautiful.  She had done it all without a mirror though and when I showed her what she looked like her face fell and the disappointment I saw in her face was heartbreaking.  Ainsley on the other hand was very confused as well - she said, "Mommy - she's not even pretty!!"  She said this with a face that was so perplexed - Ainsley knew that when you put on makeup you should be beautiful and somehow Piper had put in on and it hadn't worked.  She ended her statement though with this... "Well maybe her lips are pretty, but that's all!"

Here's another of her "out of sight projects!"

And this is just one of many many creations she has made on the walls of our home.  We really need to repaint the entire house but part of me wants to wait until she is really out of this phase before we go to all that work.  This is in the dining room.
And I know you all have seen these photos before but they go so well with this post that I am posting them again.

What do I do with this baby??

Little Artists

I know I haven't posted in forever!!  Been a bit pre-occupied with so much other on goings.  So this will be brief - just a few pictures of some of the little artists in this family.  More to come on the littlest artist.  Some of her artwork seems to end up in the most inopportune places.

She insisted on wearing this hat inside.

She is so serious when she is "creating".

I don't have nearly enough pictures of him lately and he's going to be out of the house before I know it.  Isn't he handsome?

He is such a big helper.  

Although he can get so frustrated, like when she insists on coloring over what he just drew.  :(  Notice the hand covering a certain portion of the paper.

Pretty Baby.

Christmas Time Family Pics

Christmas was so big and so busy with Daniel coming home and family coming to visit that I never managed to post much about it.  I think it was just too overwhelming and I didn't know how to go about it.  But I decided I would just post a few pictures of  the family.

Here are Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Nathan just before they left on Jan 5th.  They decided to take an adventure and they took the train to the airport in Philadelphia.  It sure was an easy trip for me as well.  The girls and I had a 10 minute trip to the Lancaster Train Station and a 10 minute trip back home.  AWESOME!!

Uncle Nathan with the boys before they left for their first day back to school from Christmas break.  No one at school knew that their Dad had made it home yet.  They had exciting news to tell.

The girls with Biscuit.

Ainsley sure loves that dog!!

I didn't send out Christmas cards this year.  I was really sad not to but I had to simplify because I was doing Christmas alone - no husband, no parents to help.  I had to do all the baking, shopping, wrapping, parties ....  all by myself.  So I cut out Christmas cards.  I had the best of intentions to get a family picture when Dan returned and send them out in January.  I even bought coordinating outfits for the kids.  Well this was our attempt at family pictures.  NOT GOOD.

Attempt #1 - Piper - NOT happy!!

Attempt #2 - Much better - but Ainsley's behind my hair and MacGregor is falling over.
Attempt #3  Piper won't let me hold her upright.  She is fighting me and leaning out.  MacGregor again with the leaning.

Attempt #4 - OK, Yep, All Done - Can't take it anymore!  Let's Go!

I think there was actually one more that I didn't look good in so I didn't post that one.  Too Bad.  Hope you'll all get a Christmas card next year!

A Lesson in Faith

Last Sunday Lancaster County had an F1 tornado hit near Ephrata.  I guess it was on the news and my aunt who lives in Maine sent me this email:

On Mar 30, 2009, at 8:52 AM, Eileen Gale wrote:

Hi guys -
Heard on the national news of a tornado yesterday - hope you're all ok and your homes faired alright through it............Eileen

This was my response and I thought that I wanted to keep this story for future generations so I am posting it here.

Aunt Eileen

Our house did fine although we stayed at our church building for an extra 15 minutes.  We were getting ready to leave about 4:45 (our congregation is meeting 1:30-4:30 PM right now) and we noticed the black sky.  The clouds were low and you could see dangling fingers and swirly rotation within.  We went back into the building after we had loaded the kids in the car.  No sooner than we got back into the building - the Thunder cracked BIG TIME.  We watched the black clouds and listened to the thunder for about 10 minutes then the rain came - buckets and buckets with pea sized hail.  The hail only lasted about 5 minutes - we ran to the car in the rain, but not pouring buckets, and drove home.  There was a lot of water on the road but the rain got less and less as we got closer to home.   My brother in law said they got diverted because Newport Rd in Lititz was closed due to downed power lines.  They live just off Oak Street.

So scary but no major damage.  Thank Heavens.  The cutest story - as we drove home MacGregor asked if we could say a prayer.  We asked him to say it.  Shortly there after Ainsley said - Can God make the bad weather stop?  Then MacGregor piped up saying - "We just said a prayer Ainsley, so I'm sure He's already working on it."  Now that's FAITH!

Hope you are well.

Brittney

Still in the Sink

Piper may be 2, closer to 2 and half really, and yes - she still fits in the sink.  We often bathe our babies in the sink when they are newborns - even in the little bathroom sinks.  One morning I  was in a big hurry so I put Ainsley in my shower and decided I'd try to put Piper in the sink and get the bathing thing done all at once.  It was a pretty tight squeeze and the faucet made little red marks on her back when she moved around and rubbed against it but we got it done and she actually enjoyed it much more than she does a shower.  She's just a little pip squeak.

*sorry about the blurry pics - this girl can't stay still. 

COLD CABIN

Once again, I am a month behind.  Back on the last day of February we took the kids to the cabin.  I have never been there in the middle of winter - Never in the 9 years our family has owned the property.  I am a big chicken.  I HATE driving in winter weather and I am usually afraid that it will snow up there and we'll be driving in the bad weather either on the way there or the way home.  And the ice...  As a mother there's really nothing I fear more in the winter than a child falling through the ice on the pond.  I have been hesitant to take my children up there in the winter for fear of someone falling in.  AND - anyone with children knows how awful the "clothes on - clothes off" scenario is.

Times have changed and now they wear the one piece snow pant/bib set.  The 3 older ones can get their own pants, boots, hats, gloves and coats on and off.  That's a huge help.  Plus they don't get all wet through 3 layers like we did when we played in the snow.  We would wear long johns, jeans and sweats to keep warm and dry - but you never stayed dry and there were always so many wet things.

We had THE PERFECT DAY.  It was sunny and about 26 degrees.  But it didn't even feel cold if you were in the sun.  In fact during the afternoon many of us took off our winter coats and just wore sweatshirts.  Dan used an auger to check the thickness of the ice and at about 10 inches he stopped.  You could still see down that it was probably another 6 inches thick.  That calmed my nerves - as long as they didn't get to close to either end of the pond where the water is moving.  
We left in the morning around 9 am.  We arrived at the cabin after a couple of quick stops around noon.  We left the cabin around 7 pm and got home a little before 10.  A super long day packed with lots and lots of fun.  We really couldn't have had a better day.  MacGregor brought along his friend Nick E.
Lucky for us we found a net, several hockey sticks and several pucks in the basement of the cabin.  And believe me - you didn't need official ice skates.  We all had trouble staying on our feet just in our boots.  Apparently it had rained a lot the day before melting a ton of snow in the area then over night it refroze - so it was like we had our own smooth ice rink.  The entire pond was frozen except for a small area on either end.  The kids had fun walking all the way to the dock and to "Bone Island" from the picnic grove.  There were some big cracks in the middle of the pond and tracks from what looked like a car, tractor or 4 wheeler.  Obviously some other people had been on the ice as well.
Even the girls wanted to play hockey.  It was a lot of fun but MacGregor had hurt his sternum at a gymnastics party the night before.  He had a much harder time playing hockey and sledding with the rough movements.

The Whole Hockey Crew!

(I really was there too but I took all the pictures and didn't end up in even one)

Ainsley and Piper perched on a rock.

We saw lots and and lots of deer tracks and even more deer poop (which we opted not to take a picture of) but no actual deer.
This was the perfect sledding hill.  The snow here had not melted because it was in the shade but it was slick and crusty from the rain.  We sledded all the way down and sometimes if you had a good push you went onto the ice and out near the middle of the pond.
Ainsley in "triple tree".  We use this tree for photo ops every year!

Lost in contemplation!

Dan fixing the rock wall.  We do little repairs every time we're up there.  It's always shifting and moving.
Here is a batch of ice crystals in my gloved hand.  We would find these under rocks in the dirt.  I guess the water would drip down under the rocks and get caught in dirt crevices and then freeze into these beautiful forms.  MacGregor wanted to bring them home but I told him they would never survive the trip.

Here's a view from the forest floor.  It thought it was so beautiful as I was looking up while stretched out on a bed of leaves.

Here is the semi frozen creek.  My kids love to play here in the summer splashing and romping along the rocks, building swimming holes.  I thought these ice formations were really cool.

This is the water running out of the above ice formation.

This is the dam that is at the end of the pond near the house.  It also had some very large very beautiful ice formation.

And here's one of my favorites.  Right before we left as the sun was setting I snapped this.  It's the area right in front of the dam.  The area where the kids were NOT allowed to get near.  I love this place - I really do.  And I think I actually look forward to going again next winter, as long as I can be guaranteed a perfect day.