Sewing with Malachi

McKenzie was wanting to sew one day and I was getting ready to go running. I told her to find something to keep Malachi occupied. She gave him some fabric and a box of pins. He sat there forever pinning his fabric! He later told me that he had made me a dress.


He was embarassed when I started taking his picture!

Malachi

Wednesday night bloopers!

Tonight when Marc and the oldest two were rushing out the door, Marc was looking for something sweet to take with him. I had nothing to offer. It is so funny, when I met him he never ate sweets. I have rubbed off on him and now he wants something sweet most every night! I told him I would make something while he was gone to his men's meeting at church. I have a chocolate cake recipe that I have made lots of times. It has never failed to turn out. I am not sure what happened tonight, but both layers completely fell apart!


I enjoy my time with the two middle girls on Wednesday nights. The two little boys go to bed at 7:00, so it gives me some time to focus on them. They aren't the "big kids" and they aren't the "babies". They sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Marc and I try to take one of them with us when we go out.


Madeline is the most positive person I have ever been around. She told me the cake was still delicious and with the frosting "you can't even tell!" She will make a great wife one day! :>)

McKenzie keeps her goats milk in glass, quart jars. We have a couple of blue jars. I think they are so pretty!

Off to bed...

Summer Project #1

Two posts in one day... :>) Can you tell it is summer?

Every summer I have such high hopes of getting lots done when we are out of school. We are as finished with school as we are going to be this year. It was a tough school year with a new baby and the accidents last fall. We have some things that we will be working on all summer, but it is no where near the normal work load! So, I decided today to tackle my first "summer project".

A couple of years ago I dug this little wooden table out of my parent's shed. It had been stripped and stuck in there. The heat had taken it's toll. I brought it home thinking I might do something with it, but it immediately went into our shed! We recently bought new living room furniture. It has been a process! We painted last fall, then finally (after picking it out over a year ago!) bought the couch, chair and ottoman. We are waiting to save for the tables. Because of rearranging things we had a wall that needed just a little something (and some light.) I thought about the little table wondering if it was even usable!

I cleaned it up, bought a quart of paint from Lowes and voila...

I thought it turned out pretty cute. I had hoped for it to be a little darker, but it will do. The little lamp sitting on it I found at Kirklands for $10. It has a Bible verse on it.

So, one project down and tons to go!!!

Myles eight months

I always try to take a picture on his "birthday" with a sign. This month he kept smashing the sign!

Mommy's bed is the best! :>)

First "real tub" bath. He busted out crying!

Pure joy...

This cracked me up! Mariah literally drags him everywhere!

The quality of this picture was terrible, but I thought his expression was hilarious.

First trip to the zoo.

I can sleep anywhere!

Go check out Madeline's blog. She did a new post today and would love some comments! :>)

http://writingsofgrace.blogspot.com/

Character Building...

Thank God every morning when you get up, that you have something to do that day which must be done whether you like it or not. Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you a hundred virtues the idle never knew.

-Charles Kingsley

We learned that quote a couple of years ago during school.
I remember when Matthew was very young, a mother that had several older boys gave me some advice. She said to never stand in the way and try to "protect" Matthew when his dad was making him work hard. Sometimes as a mama that can be hard when it looks like they are working them too hard. Now that Matthew is 14 years old I can see why she told me that. It is so important for a young boy to learn how to be a protector and provider one day for his family. Our society has really feminized boys. Store ads make the boys look almost pretty. Human nature is to be lazy and take the easy way out. Marc recently read a book with Matthew called "Created to Work" that we ordered from Vision Forum. I am very thankful that he is training our boys to grow up to be strong, Godly Men!


We never lack for outside work around here. There is always something that needs to be fixed, hauled, dug or cut! I tried to dig a hole the other day to plant a new hydrangea bush. The ground was so hard, I couldn't budge it. I went in the house and asked Matthew to dig it for me. I explained that it needed to be a pretty big hole. He came back in just minutes later and told me it was done. I said, there is no way you dug it deep enough. He said, "I did mom. I am a LOT stronger than you." Yep, he is! :>)

Wishing that I would quit taking his picture!

I told him to show me his muscles and I snapped a picture. He said, "You better not put that on your blog!" :>)
"The soul of a lazy man desires and has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich." Proverbs 13:4

Sewing 101 and funnies with Mariah

Last summer McKenzie and I took a sewing class together. I made Madeline a pair of pants and came home and made a matching pair for Mariah. The day I was trying to finish hers up is the day she was kicked by our horse and spent three days in the hospital. They got lost in the shuffle and were never worn. I pulled them out this week for them to wear. Madeline was proud of hers, Mariah said, "I feel like a dork."

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Each of my children bring something different to our family. Mariah brings laughter... and lots of it! We were buzzing around getting ready for piano lessons one morning. Apparently I had already asked her if she had brushed her teeth. I was fixing her hair and I asked her again. She said, "Mama! you already asked me that!" I told her I had six children, it was hard to remember who I had asked and who I hadn't. She said, "Thank goodness! I was afraid you were getting old!"

Another conversation this week:

Mariah: "Mama, would you bury me by the barn when I die?"

Me: " I hope I don't have to bury you. I hope your children will be the ones to do that."

Mariah: "Well, would you tell them to bury me by our barn?"

Me: "I will be dead by then."

Mariah: "Great... I don't want to be buried in a "gasket"!"

Life is good...:>)

Busy Days

Last Sunday morning we woke up to a broken refrigerator. I hate when anything breaks, but I really hate when the refrigerator is broken! Thankfully we have a freezer in our laundry room and an extra refrigerator in our well house. It was such a pain for almost a whole week to walk back and forth when we needed something. We thought it was the compressor. It ended up only being a relay switch. Our refrigerator is not even five years old yet! Things are made so poorly. Here is McKenzie with a basket full of food bringing it back inside after it was fixed. One positive thing is that we cloroxed the entire inside of it!


I thought this was so funny. It was not a posed picture, they just happened to be lined up. Matthew was reading a scouting magazine, so Malachi went and picked up "Taste of Home" to read too!

McKenzie has been busy sewing. She made this little spring skirt. She gets her talent from her grandmother. It some how skipped me!

Mariah was working on her school work. When I went in there, she had gotten Myles up and layed him by her. He was watching her and kicking his legs.Madeline was cleaning the kitchen and had her book propped in the recipe book holder. She ALWAYS has her nose in a book! :>)

I stopped laying Malachi down for a nap a month or so ago. He requires less sleep than any of my others did. It was getting to where he would still be wandering around upstairs when I would be ready to go to bed. We put him down at 7:00 and he gets up around 6:00-6:30. Normally he does great, but we had a really busy weekend this week. He was watching a movie and fell asleep in his little chair. When this happens the girls all panic because they are afraid he won't go to bed that night! :>) So many "mamas" in this house. Oh- which reminds me of a couple of funny things I have overheard in the last couple of days.

I was on my hands and knees wiping up the laundry room floor and Malachi kept asking me for some milk. I heard Mariah whisper to him, "Don't beg. It works better if you only ask once."

Madeline was cleaning the kitchen and Mariah and Malachi were finishing up their lunch. Apparently they were competing to see who could eat the most. Madeline spoke up and said, "Let your body have wisdom. It is NOT a competition!" It is so funny to listen to their conversations! Never a dull moment around here!

Until next time...