Loooong week!

It's been a long week! I have been organizing my room and closet this week. I am finally almost done. It was frustrating for me to only be able to work on it for short periods of time~between schooling the kids and feeding the baby~it just seemed like I could never get in more than 30 minutes of cleaning; until today when I enlisted the help of my 7 year old (bribery) and 13 year old to help out with Peter. They are so awesome with him. Anyways, I was able to clean for a couple hours and now all I have to do is fold some laundry and clean the bathroom. YUCK!! But it feels good to sit in my bed and not see piles of clothes laying around everywhere. I had taken all the clothes out of my closet to organize it and it looked like my closet had just thrown up all over my bedroom. Ahhh I can finally relax a little!

My boy has a tooth!!

Peter has a tooth! My kiddos don't usually cut teeth until about 9-12 months, so this is early for one of mine. I kept thinking something was up, he has been super cranky and his tongue has been hanging out of his mouth constantly, which is kinda funny. Hopefully, he will keep the biting to a minimum while eating! :) And here he is in all his tongue hanging out glory!
Oh, and did I mention this little guy started crawling 2 weeks ago and is getting into everything now. Then just yesterday he pulled up onto the ottoman and was standing. Yikes!!

My sweet Charity is 10!!

I can't believe it but Charity is 10. She is such a beautiful girl, her name is very fitting for her. She has a strong testimony of her Savior and is a joy to have in our home. I feel so blessed. Here are some pics from her birthday. She had a couple friends over but the real fun will be this weekend when we go to Ocean's of Fun!

Christian #2

Everyone is always telling me how much Peter looks like Christian, which he really does. So when I was going through pictures this evening I came across this picure and had to post it.


With Peter's awnry little grin he looks just like his big bro. 2 Handsome boys!

I should totally be doing other stuff....

but I'm not. I saw this really cute idea on the roots and wings blog. Here is the link http://rootsandwingsco.blogspot.com/2009/08/dishwasher-cleandirty-magnet.html ; sorry I don't know how to post the link any other way. Someone will have to help me with that one. Anyways, I used her images and thankfully I tested the magnet on my dishwasher before I assembled it because my magnet did not stick! My dishwasher door apparently isn't metal. So here is my version:






I love it and hope it will help to encourage the kids to put up there dishes! Thanks for the fab idea!!

I promise to post the scripture bag soon, but....

I made the scripture bag last night. I think it turned out pretty cute for my 2nd try. The first one ended up being to small for her quad. So it will go to one of my little girls for Christmas. This week is a little crazy. I am watching my dear friends son until Monday, which if you are reading this Charlee, he has been an angel so far, I promise!! :) I get to give a talk in church this Sunday, you noticed I put "get to", not "have to". I am trying to trick myself into thinking it is a good thing I get to give a talk. (It's not working very well though) Oh, and it's Charity's birthday on Saturday. Let's see anything else......a get together Saturday night at my bro.'s house because he is almost done with his 14 day leave from Iraq :( He has to go back for 10 months! And I still need to prepare my lesson for young womens. Oh my goodness I better go to bed and get some zzzzz's because I am so crabby when I don't get enough sleep. Sorry if you actually ended up reading this post! I had to put a pic. I swear posts look better with them even if it has nothing to do with anything. I am not sure why we are both sticking out our tongues~ not planned.

Do you ever feel like a dog chasing it's tail??

That is exactly how I feel today. I am trying to get my house cleaned and organized. It is so much easier to teach my children when we are in an orderly house. I am wondering if it is even possible. Every time I start to feel as if I have made progress they are busy trashing another room which then makes me angry! I have been trying very hard to be more laid back about things that just aren't worth getting mad over, but I can't stand having a messy unorganized house. Any ideas out there on how to keep a home clean and organized with 6 children. I keep thinking if they were in school I could get so much more done but I shouldn't even entertain these thoughts because it is not an option for our family. I feel very strongly that we are to continue homeschooling (even if it does make me a little crazy)! :) I am not suggesting that my house should look spotless at all hours of the day I just would like a little order.

We're back

We had a great time at the lake, but it is definitely time to get back to reality. I have lots to do this week. I have to get ready for school starting. I am going through all my curriculum and making sure I have what I need. I am excited for a new school year and to teach my little Gracie who is now in Kindergarten. So I will have an 8th grader, 5th, 3rd, and Kindergartner. Noel has expressed her desire (very loudly I might say) to do school too. So I am going to try and come up with some preschool activities for her.
Hopefully, when I get everything organized and together I will have time to sew and post a few more tutorials. I definitely need to sew the scripture bag for my daughters upcoming birthday. I have until the 22nd. I do work better under pressure! :) So be looking for my upcoming tutorials. I am hoping to do a scripture bag tutorial and a twirly skirt with matching shirt tutorial. We will see how things go over the next couple weeks. Have a good week!! :)

Going to the lake...

We are headed for the lake; probably the last time this summer! It will be a fun time. We are going down with my family. Last weekend was Russell's family. I will probably need a vacation from vacation but it is always lots of fun to be together at the lake. I will hopefully be posting a new tutorial for a scripture bag when I get back. I have to have it done before the 22nd for my daughter's 10th birthday. I was supposed to do it for her eighth. I guess things got away from me. Better late than never and now that it is in writing I will be more likely to get it done!

Here's how my hubby works when I want to sew...

I had to take a pic isn't it so sweet. My hubby is the greatest.

Please excuse the cluttered mess behind him and all around him. I am organizing my house before we start schooling in a week and I haven't tackled his office yet. For some reason it becomes a dumping ground!

**Oh, if you are wondering why he just doesn't lay the baby down~that would be because the second his sweet little head touches his bed his eyes pop wide open. So sometimes it is just worth holding that sweet little chunkers!

Grab n Go pics

Here are a few pictures of the Grab n Go's. I taught this class a few weeks ago at a Super Saturday for church. My sister made the two pink and brown ones. I think they did a great job. Hopefully I will get more pics from them so I can show you their creativity!

Tutu Dance Bag Tutorial

Tutu Dance Bag Tutorial

**WARNING~TONS OF PICTURES

Supplies:

2 coordinating fabrics

fusible fleece

roll of tulle

ribbon

Cut your outside fabric, lining, and fusible fleece to 27" x 13".

Iron on fusible fleece to your outside fabric.

If you are going to embroider or applique on the bag this would be the time to do it. You need to make sure you do it about 2-3 inches from the top. You don't want it to be to low or it will be in the way of the tutu.

I appliqued the name on both ends of the bag so that it will look the same on both sides.

Fold in half right sides together.

Cut a 2" square out of each folded corner and do the same thing for the lining.

With right sides still together sew just the sides of your bag. Repeat for lining.


Now you are going to take the corner and open it out and then flatten it out to meet up to the sides.

Sew across on both sides. Repeat for the lining.
Here is a side view after it is sewn.


Here is what it will look like from the bottom.

And here is what the bag should look like sitting on its bottom.

Turn the bag inside out and it should sit on its bottom like this.

Now you will need your tulle. I like to use the tulle on a tube for this project.

You want to take the tulle and just kind of fold it like you would a fan. Make sure you fold the raw edge under.

You are going to repeat the fan folding around the whole bag and of course pin it as you go. Lots and lots of pins.

When you get to the end you want to cut about six inches away from where you are going to place your last fold. Go ahead and fold it like you have done the rest making sure you fold the raw edge under and then pin it in place.

Sew the tulle on using a 5/8" seam.

Here is what it will look like all sewn on.

The edges are a bit rough so I trimmed up my tulle because my ribbon was not very wide and I wanted to make sure where I had sewn the tulle on would be completely covered.

Now you are going to pin your ribbon on. You want to cover the edge of the tulle and your stitching line. When you get all the way around the bag fold the edge of the ribbon under and overlap it slightly where the beginning of the ribbon is and pin in place.

Sew it on.

For the bow I just took a 4 1/2" piece of ribbon folded it and stitched down the center.

Take a smaller piece of ribbon and wrap it around your the ribbon you have just sewn. Pin it onto the ribbon that is sewn around the bag. I centered mine.

SORRY ABOUT THE YUCKY IRONING BOARD!

I originally cut my handles 27" by 3"~I ended up cutting about 3" off the length of the handles because I thought they were too long. You can do the handles at a variety of lengths.

Iron the handles in half lengthwise.

Then open and iron both sides to the center.

Then you want to fold it in half and iron again.

Sew the handles on both sides about 1/4" from the edge.

Pin the handles on the bag about 3" from each side seam. *I actually just eyeballed this part.

Sew them in place.

Now you want to take the lining that you previously sewed and stuff the bag in it right sides together.

 ****UPDATE**** Sew around the top leaving an opening of 3-4" so that you can do the next step!

Turn it right side out and pin around the top edge folding under the raw edges of the opening.

Top stitch around the top of the bag making sure that you sew the opening closed. I used about 1/4" seam.

That's it you are finished!!