A sad Friday.............Connecticut school shooting

On days like today, of which our nation has had far too many, I cherish the knowledge that my children are at home with me.

 

Even on the tough days, I am SO thrilled to teach them at home.

 

It is a privilege I do not wish to take for granted.

 

First day of school 2012

 

 

Learning to knit on Christmas morning 2011

 

 

Levi working on a family tree

 

 

Evan's first Cub Scout Pack Meeting

 

 

Ava as Kirsten (American Girl)

 

 

Mad scientist Levi

 

 

Bibleman Evan with his sword of Truth

 

 

Seeding a Chia Turtle (that never grew)

 

 

I sure do love those kiddos.

 

And I'm grateful to get to tuck them in bed one more time tonight.

 

I can only imagine how the heart's of those families ache who had to say goodbye to their children today.  I pray God overwhelms their grief with his unending love.

 

 

 

2012 Annual Ladies Christmas Dinner...............

I LOVE Christmas!  Last Friday night our church hosted our annual Ladies Christmas Dinner again, and it was beautiful!  It is always so much fun to prepare for and I usually begin thinking about next year's table immediately after our dinner.  I already have ideas.  :)

My table this year was a "Farmhouse" theme.  I mostly used items I already had at home, but bought/made just a few things.

I originally borrowed a dark green table cloth from a friend, as we used round tables for the first time this year and I don't own a round table cloth.  But, then I decided you don't HAVE to use a round table cloth just because your table is round.  I used these two black and white buffalo check curtains I made about 5 years ago for a house we lived in that had tall windows.  I have been using them for table cloths since we moved and really like the bold, country statement they make.

I bought 3 glass candlesticks and 3 small hurricane vases at the Dollar Tree to make the candlesticks you see in the photo.  Actually, Matt made them for me and I just tied ribbon around them.  :P  The photos make the ribbon look yellow, but it is really a nice, dark champagne color.

Yes, those are REAL chicken eggs in that wire basket!  I think I got a few looks from a few people about decorating with eggs, but hey, I thought they were great!  Quite a few other women did tell me they thought they were a nice touch, also.  The blue eggs are from our Aracauna hens, and I used that as my inspiration color for my table.  I wanted a nice accent of that blue, but just that.  An accent.  I repeated it in the candles and the ribbon that I tied around the candy boxes.

My  granny gave me the oil lamp.  The milk bottles were found years ago at a yard sale.  I just filled them with salt.  The sparkly twig garland was bought from Hobby Lobby 3 years ago and I love it so much I have used it each year since!  I was NOT happy about the price ($20 each and that was HALF PRICE!), but I am getting alot of mileage out of it.

 

That's me on the right.  I only knew 3 people at my table.  The other 5 were guests of a friend from church.  It's always nice to meet new people!

 

I'll show some of the other tables another time.  They were all so pretty and it's fun to see some women's personalities really shine through the way they decorate!

 

Fun Fridays: American Girl thrift store makeover

I REALLY wish I had a before picture of this doll!  Her hair was a mess!  I found her at a thrift store (last year, actually) for $2.92!!!!  I REPEAT, $2.92!!!!!  Score!!!

She is a pre-Mattel Kirsten.  That means (for all you "normal" people who don't understand AG lingo) that she was made when American Girl was still owned by Pleasant Company and not Mattel.

Anway, that's not really significant unless you care about such things.  What IS important is that we gave her a little makeover for a friend of Ava's.

We washed that ratty hair and even her cloth body, although it was not real dirty.  Her limbs needed a good scrubbing with baking soda and a rag.

After she was dry, I snipped off about an inch of hair just so I could get a comb through it.  Then, tediously, I sectioned small pieces of hair and used a large curling iron to straighten and smooth it.  It took a little while and I had to trim more to make it even, but the results were amazing!

We added some color back to her lips and cheeks just using a peachy pink water soluble marker.  Color some onto the cheek area and immediately use your finger to rub it in.  Very nice!

We made her a Popover Dress free from Oliver + S.  So fast and easy!  I added the rick rack and pocket just to add a little something extra.  The crocs were bought from a sewing booth at the homeschool fair we attend every year.  They can be found at her online store The Sewing Basket.

A lovely doll for $3 buckaroos!  *Like*

Fun Fridays: Clothing refashion for American Girl dolls...........

So, last week I got a sewing bug and just had this great need to start and finish something quickly.  I don't usually need instant gratification, so when it comes, I tend to give in.

I hope to do a tutorial soon, but for now I have an after picture of what I made. 

Addy is modeling a sweater refashioned from an outgrown sweater of Ava's.  I used the bottom of one sleeve and part of the waistband for the doll's neckline.  Ava added some brown twill tape through some of the holes in the sweater as an accent.  Super easy!

The skirt is just the bottom ruffled tier of a skirt of Ava's.  Just one seam to make a circle, and an elastic casing for a waistband. 

The leggings are cut from one pant leg of an old pair of leggings Ava outgrew.  Again, super fast and easy!  I got the idea from this tutorial on making tights for your dolls.

The headband is just twill tape we already had in the perfect shade of purple to match the outfit!

The shoes are AG from some outfit and matched perfectly.  The ice skates are just because Ava said Addy was planning to go skating later.  :)

An entire new outfit for FREE that would cost a disgusting $32 from AG.  *Like*

Fun Fridays: Paper dolls for American Girl dolls...............

Happy Black Friday!  I love Thanksgiving and enjoyed yesterday with our family!  All the food, mmmmmmmmm..............., and just hanging out and watching the kids play.  Love it.

One time, about 8 years ago, I ventured out in the wee hours of the morning on Black Friday.  I was after a My First Leapad for our oldest, who was almost 2.  I think Walmart had it for $20?  I really can't remember that well.  I was tired.  It was COLD.  And the store was CROW.DED!  Never again.  I think I saved $10.  Totally not worth it.  Ever since, I sleep in and spend the day doing fun stuff at home.  Sometimes sewing, sometimes crafting, maybe a movie, putting up Christmas decorations.

Today I showered early (Yay!) and thought of something fun to do for my now 10 year old girly girl.  A few weeks ago I found these Thanksgiving printables at Daydream Doll Boutique and thought those were really fun.  Then, I remembered I had these adorable paper dolls I bought from Sarah Jane Studios last year!  How fun to make paper dolls for the dolls!

I already had these on my computer, but Sarah Jane has some freebies on her site you can use RIGHT NOW!  Also, take a look at her store because she has a lot of really great stuff on there!  Including more paper dolls you can purchase and a Nutcracker Theater, a Peter and the Wolf Theater, and a Nativity Theater.  SO CUTE!

Anyway, after you download some paper dolls, stick some card stock in your printer.  When you get ready to print, set your page scaling to either 50% or "Multiple pages per sheet".  I did the latter.  If it only prints on one half of the page (which is what you are aiming for), you can turn it around and print another page on the other half.  This is what I did because my paper doll files were one page per file.

Hand them to your daughter and tell her to have fun!

Since they are small, I recommended to her not to cut out between the legs and to leave white space around things with tiny detail.  I also used an exacto knife to cut out face holes in hoods and jackets for her.  You can also use tiny pieces of double sided tape or folded tape to stick the paper dolls to your dollie's hands.

The dolls are having a great time!

Ava really wants to make a small Nativity Theater for her dolls, so I'll try to post when we get to that.  We are actually going on a small road trip tomorrow to a Homestead Fair, so this might make a good activity for her to work on in the van.

Whatever you are doing this Black Friday, I hope you are having fun!

For the love of buttons!

EEK! I was reading Anna's blog and came across this ADORABLE photo!

I will now be on the lookout for an orphan gumball machine who is longing to dispense something again!  What a fun display!

That is all.  :D

On buying chicks from a feed store............

Uh...........did anyone out there think this would be HARD???

No?

Good.  Because I didn't either.  Get ready for a bit of a rant.  :P

So, we have been planning to order chicks through a hatchery.  Some for meat, some for eggs.  I poured over my favorite catalog and carefully underlined important information about each breed I was interested in.  Then, I circled the breeds I wanted to order with a red marker.  You know, so I wouldn't forget.

Low and behold, now we are ready to submit our order, and the hatchery is out of meat chickens.  As in, totally out.  Not backordered.  Argh!  Then, I notice several of the laying breeds we had chosen were backordered by at least three weeks, some for two months!

Bummer.

After looking at some other hatcheries online, I realized this is a common problem right now.  In February.  Who knew hatcheries started selling out of chicks so early?  I didn't.  This was our first time to order from one.

I thought I was ordering early!!!

So, we thought we might just get some from Tractor Supply.  We called every day for several days hoping to hear they had received their shipment of eggs.  Finally, they did.  I dropped everything (I left rising bread in the oven for this!) and loaded up the kids and headed to the store.

No meat chickens like they were expecting.  Bummer.

Lots of Rhode Island Reds.  We already have several of those and wanted some different breeds.

Lots of Gold Sex Links.  Hmmm.  I wasn't particularly fond of getting "mutt" breeds.  We have some mutts and they're not real pretty.  I want old breeds.  Heritage breeds.  Breeds that can reproduce for us, if we want. 

Then, there was a bin full of fluffy little yellow chicks with two reddish stripes down their backs.  What were they?  Nobody knew.  The sign just said, "Pullets".  I even took my hatchery catalog into the store with me, and Ava and I couldn't find these chicks anywhere in it.  I asked several employees.  They didn't know.  They told me their "chicken guy" was out to lunch and would be back in a bit.

Then, a customer reminded me of another feed store just down the road that she thought had chicks.

They did!  However, bless his heart, this nice old man couldn't tell me much about them either.  I thought they looked like a bunch of Buff Orpingtons (because we have two) and a couple Barred Rocks (of which we also have two).  He told me, "No, no.  There's a bunch of 'em mixed up in there.  There's Dominickers, Buffs, Rhode Islands, and Brown Leghorns." 

Um.........okay............

When he got back there to look, he changed his mind.  "Well, we must have sold all the Leghorns.  But the rest of 'em are there."

Hmm..........I wasn't sure he knew what he was talking about.  We have RIR chicks and they don't look anything like what he had in that bin.  So, then I asked him if he knew if his Dominiques were male or female.  He said there was no way to tell.

*Sigh*

Ava and decided we thought they were both males, based on what we remembered about the head spots on our Barred Rock chicks we' ve been raising.

We passed on those and tried our best to choose four Buff pullets.

Then, we went back to Tractor Supply and found said "chicken guy".  Turns out this guy doesn't know what breed ANY of the chicks were.  Huh?  They have signs on two of the tubs that say what breeds they are!  It was the third tub that didn't tell me what breed was inside.  He was clueless.  So was I.  And frustrated.  These people didn't know what they were selling.  How helpful is that?  I even asked him if he happened to have the packing slip that came with them that afternoon.  Perhaps that would have an itemization of what breeds were sent.  I could tell he was losing patience with me.

Mixed in with the RIR were supposed to be some New Hamshire Reds.  He couldn't tell which were which, so Ava and I decided to try two of the lightest chicks.  We also got three of the "mystery" breed and one little rogue fella roaming around with the Gold Sex Links.  This chick appears to either be an Ameracauna or Brown Leghorn.  We're not sure.  We're not even sure if it's pullet.  This "chicken guy" held it upside down by the feet and declared it was a rooster because it struggled.  Um.....okay.  We kept talking for a minute and he did it again.  This time, the poor little chick just hung there.  "Yep." he said, "I think that one's a male."

Uh, huh.

Anyway....................we brought home 4 Buffs, 1 Ameracauna/Brown Leghorn, 2 New Hampshires (I hope), and 3 "mystery" pullets.  10 new chicks, in all.  Hopefully 10 pullets.

By the time I got back home, I was mentally exhausted by the frustration I felt.  Then I remembered my bread.  It fell.  I baked it anyway.  It's meh.

All of that was just to remind myself next winter to order my chicks from a hatchery before February.  I don't want to go through that again!  I'd like to just order what I want and get it.  On the other hand, if you really don't care what kind of chickens you get, go to a feed store and they will likely save you money on shipping.  And you will not have to buy 25 of them for shipping safety.

Oh, by the way, the "mystery" chicks have been found out.  You may already know.  Do you?  If you do, you're smarter than me!  We believe they are Golden Comets.

I really didn't want mixed breed chickens because I want heritage breeds.  However, they do appear to be excellent layers, which is also important to us.  I'll let you know how I feel about them in 5-7 months.

Ok, rant over.  I feel better.  :)