Christmas Sewing Projects

I found this awesome pattern on CraftApple.  It was SO fun.  These kids "artists case" are sure to be a hit with my three.  And the reason I know is that I made them for our neighbor friends and Stephen said "wow, mom, Kate and Sarah are SO lucky."  :)  Can't wait till they open them tomorrow.

It's a little hard to see, but I monogramed Clara's initial the lower right corner.

Abbie's has her initial in the top, middle.

And Stephen, my baseball fan, was a little tricky.  I wanted his to look like a guys so I made a patch with a TC (for the MN twins) and put it in the middle.  That was a TON of work, but really fun to learn how to do.  I also used suede shoelaces for the closure rather than the grossgrain ribbon I used on the girls.  

Homemade Christmas Gifts

It's been a while.

Here's what I've been up to.

the merry old land of Oz

It's one of those 'full bowl of macaroni and cheese followed by a raid of my kids halloween bags during nap' kind of days.  My kids probably feel like Dorothy, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion (and the little dog, too!) chased by you know who. 

You guessed it.  It's chore day.  

But what about those fantastic chore charts you ask?  Yeah.  Those are great - when I consistently enforce them.  And I haven't.  Clara can drag her feet like nobody's business, and Abbie can make this sound... it's indescribable, really.  Stephen was actually pretty great at it until he realized that the girls are VERY effective at avoiding chores.  Then he jumped on the 'it's not fair' wagon and deftly mimicked his sisters actions - adding some of his own noises of agony.  

It's enough to make a mom want to sic flying monkeys on her kids.

So the perfect storm has occurred here in Oz.  Whiney kids, fairness police, deflated and inconsistent mom, and a busy morning schedule.  And here I am - silently thinking "I'll get you, my pretties!" 

As one of my friends recently confirmed - what goes on in my head is ALWAYS written on my face.  This is probably the reason that my kids are avoiding me.  I should check the mirror and see if my face is green and my nose pointy.  

The cure?  You guessed it.  Pray.  It's so simple and so effective - why do I fight it?  How can I forget it?  

You might have noticed that I added a little link on my side bar - it's a picture of a little girl with a 7x7 on it.  One of the blogs I check regularly (and have blogged about before) has written up 7 prayers of scripture that she prays for her kids 7 times a day.  I'm pretty sure 7x per day will be way out of my reach, but it's worth a shot, right?  Right?

Last weekend I went to a conference called 'Hearts at Home.'  It was an amazing time.  What an encouragement!  One of the break out sessions was called 'Living the Promised Life' - by Susie Larson (also on my sidebar).  Wow.  The challenge to live a life of promise.  

Hopefully praying over my kids - saying a blessing and a promise out loud to them daily (yes, even during these perfect storms of life) will help them embrace what God has in store for them.  

And maybe, just maybe, it might keep me from melting every time a little rain falls.  :)  

Say Uncle

Stephen and I were sharing our special Monday together today.  The girls go to preschool in the morning so we do errands and something fun.  

While at Target, Stephen was particularly interested in the bagging process while we were checking out.  

Stephen:  Mom - I think I've changed my mind.  I want to be a bagger when I grow up.

Me:  Oh.  That's a pretty complicated job.  

Stephen (surprised):  Really?  How?

Me:  Well, you have to figure out which groceries go on the bottom, which ones might get squished - so you put those on the top... you have to be careful about where the meats go in case they leak ...

Stephen (with new respect):  Wow.

Me:  You know, your uncle David used to be a bagger.

Stephen:  NO WAY.  

Me:  Yup.  At the HEB in Texas.  

Stephen:  Wow.

Then, while at lunch at his favorite stop (Arbys, people.  Arbys.) something brought Christopher to mind.

Stephen:  You know, I can find a cul-de-sac in our neighborhood.  

Me:  Really?  (I am pretty sure there aren't any on the streets we take)

Stephen:  Yup.  Christopher knows.  He found it when he got lost one day.

When driving home from Arbys, he was looking at the new toy he got.  It's a book on the pyramids in Egypt.

Stephen:  Hey mom, they've got egypt writing on this!

Me:  Cool!  Your uncle Scott likes to read languages like that.  

Stephen:  Like the egypt letters?  What do they call that?

Me:  I'm not sure.  

Stephen:  Maybe Scott knows.

Me:  Yeah.  He likes to play detective with the languages that no one talks anymore.  That way he can figure out what other people noticed about God's people.  Like maybe the Egyptians wrote something about Moses that would give us clues about how Moses was used by God.

Stephen:  Wow.

A few minutes later after a bit of silence...

Stephen:  Mom, my uncles are pretty great.  

Chore Charts

What a drag, right?  Seems like the chore chart becomes a chore for mom - and I don't need any more of those!

I was looking for something that was more work for the kids than for me.  Something that they would have to be in charge of themselves.  Teach a little responsibility, but keep it tactile enough for them to be successful.  Am I the only mom that shudders at the thought of my 3 year old with a marker checking off her chores?  Stickers?  Much more than the chart would be decorated!  

So here's what I came up with after scrolling through the internet FOREVER.  It's a compilation of ideas - and as yet untested since it went on the wall yesterday.  And - my 4 year old is testing her limits with said chores.  But she's testing everything so why should this be any different?  :)

First I thought of the jobs that they already do, but that I have to remind them of (remember, the goal is to help me get off their cases - I will add more responsibilities if this thing works.).  On my computer I made a template for the "chore card," then, I found cute icons of the chores for my non-readers, and then added a character for each kid.  Stephen has the Millenium falcon, Clara has Belle, and Abbie has Cinderella.  My goal here was two-fold - 1.  Get them a little excited about their little card, 2.  Eliminate some creative job sharing.  Mama's no fool.  

Then each chore was taped to either yellow or green cardstock.  Yellow for morning chores, Green for afternoon/evening.  Each card was laminated, then I used the free tools at Archivers to punch holes in the cards and cut them to the right size.  

I purchased these simple wood hangers with 4 knobs from Ikea for $2.  Painted each with leftover paint from around the house, and bought letters for 1/2 off at Michaels.  

On a side note, I also purchased these wood hangers for two of our bathrooms.  I put button-holes in 4 kid washcloths and hung them on each knob.  The kids use the washcloths like hand towels.  They each have one and it has really cut down on the viruses that we share!

And here it is!  A little ribbon from around the house, leather shoe-lace for Stephen, and some hot-glue to put it together.  The chore hangs on the left side until they complete it - then they move it to the right side.  In the morning they work until they get to the green cards.  

My absolute favorite chore was a little surprise to me.  As I was working at Archivers, I had a little light-bulb moment.  I made Stephen and Clara both a card called "Ask".  When they get to that card, they come find me, tell me what they've done for the morning/afternoon, and ask if there's anything else I need help with.  Oh yeah, this is definitely my favorite card.  

I'm pretty happy with how it looks and hopefully it works.  Stephen had his done by 7:30 this morning.  I doubt the enthusiasm will last, but it was worth one stress free morning!  

Catching Up

I unloaded the photo card the other day and realized how behind I am!  Here's some of the last month (or two!)

Stephen's Birthday Party

Fun at the Twins Game!

Fun at Lebanon Hills

with friends and dad.

Trying out the two-wheelers

Stephen was successful ...

the girls will try again next year!

Our State Fair is a great State Fair!

Last summer Hurrah

at Lake Harriet!

Mr. Bob

A very dear man from our church passed away early Friday morning.  His struggle with cancer was a long and difficult one.  He had lost almost complete function of his arms and legs, and gained excruciating pain.  

Their family has 5 children, the youngest is just about Stephen's age.  Mr. Bob would volunteer during the Wednesday night program in his daughters class - which is how Stephen came to know Mr. Bob.  Bob came as long as he was physically able and loved the kids.  Even when he was in his motorized wheelchair, he was there.  And Stephen grew to love Mr. Bob.

When I heard Friday morning about Bob's death, I knew that God would have to guide Brian and I in our conversation with Stephen.  This is a kid who cried when a character in "Adventures in Odyssey" died.  It was going to rock his little world.

Friday night I prayed.  I begged for guidance, and fell asleep knowing that the God who loves my kids more than I do would provide.  Around 4 am on Saturday I woke up to Abbie crying.  As I covered her up and checked on the other two, I suddenly just knew how I was going to talk to Stephen.  God is so good to me, and so sweet to my kids.  I love that.

As Brian flipped pancakes Saturday morning and we sat around the table, I pulled out 5 big rectangular pieces of paper and a box of crayons.  I wrote Stephen's name on the top of the first one (in the requested green crayon), and drew a large oval.  In the circle we wrote words that described Stephen as a person.  "Kind."  "Fun."  "Smart."  "Loves to be first."  We did this for each of the family members.  There was a slight skirmish over the purple crayon - but other than that the kids loved the exercise.  

At the end, I held up my circle.  

"Who is this circle?"  I asked.  

"Mom!"  They replied.  

"That's right!  This is called my soul.  It's who I am."  

 ~ insert conversation on which letter soul starts with, how it's spelled, what their sheets of paper say, and how Abbie possibly has the most syrup ever. ~

"Souls live in bodies.  Sometimes bodies die, and if that person loves Jesus, they get to go to heaven and get a new body!"

As I spoke, I held the picture in front of me, then moved it up into the air.

"I love Jesus!"  Stephen exclaims - with thoughts of a new super baseball player body, I'm sure. 

Now to the hard part ...

"Mr. Bob went to heaven to get his new body on Friday.  He might even be running around in heaven right now without his wheelchair!"

"Really?"  Stephen asked.

"Yup."  

"His body here is empty now.  And that's kind of sad because we won't get to see him again until we get to heaven,"  Brian said.

At this, Stephen seemed to understand the finality of Bob's death.  His face got so sad.  It truly breaks a parents heart to see their child mourn.  I opened my arms, and with big sobs Stephen poured out his heart, first to me, then to Brian.  We held him and cried with him.  

On Wednesday morning we'll go to the memorial service for Bob.  I'm sure we'll have to get there early as it will be packed.  Bob truly was an amazing man who touched many.  His service is planned to be a celebration of the gifts he received in his life and of the God he loved so much.  I'd like to ask for your prayers as we show Stephen his first memorial service and will surely have more questions to answer.  

You don't have a soul.  You are a soul.  You have a body.

                   - C.S. Lewis