Sewing lessons

Several years ago, I began showing my oldest daughter how to sew. I am by no means a

seamstress or anything near that, but I really enjoy making things. I especially enjoy making

dresses for my daughters.

I tend to take sewing in spurts though. I'll sew for a while and then put it down for a while. I

haven't sewed much lately. Seems school and sports have taken a great deal of our time.

Now that we've completed our school year, I'm planning to set a time each week to work on some

sewing projects.

Last week, I asked her (9 year old daughter) to make a list of 5 things she'd like to make or

complete projects that we've already started. (Yes, we have began things and never finished

them.)

She was very eager to look at her patterns and sewing book she received for Christmas

and make her list.

Today we began working on a doll shirt that we started a few months ago using this pattern:

We worked on sewing the facing to the shirt front and back. I think it looks pretty cute myself.

And she loves it and that makes it worth all the time in the world!

Update on our Summer

We've been fairly busy all summer here. We have enjoyed some veggies from our garden. I pulled a muscle in my back so I didn't get to do much of the picking, but was able to help out shelling, putting up, etc. We took a two month break from school work and started back two weeks ago. We like to start early so that we can take breaks when necessary. I'm thinking of doing year-round schooling so that we could take off a few weeks here and there. Not sure yet- just in my mind. Our Home School Curriculum: We are doing My Father's World Creation to the Greeks. This is our 3rd year with MFW. We really enjoy it. We're using Singapore math for the 2nd year. For reading, I'm using living books that we already have, some from the library and ordered a few more. It's going well so far. It's been challenging to keep my 2 1/2 and 4 year old occupied while I'm trying to work with the other 2, but I've tried to make a "schedule" of activities, reading, lessons for them. That's just so that I can be ready with things and not have to come up with something at the last minute. What's interesting is that for the past two days they've just played and didn't even ask to "do" anything. I try to read to them early in the day so that doesn't get put off. I feel that is very important for their development. Plus, my older children like to read to the younger ones, also. I've tried so hard to be extra organized this year. It requires a little more planning for me, but it's well worth the extra time. Each day I make a list of all the assignments they are required to complete and then after they complete them they check it off. They seem to like to know what they're expected to do each day. It works for me!

Busy weekend and summer project progress

Well, we're back from my brother's wedding. It was absolutely beautiful! We are tired, but glad to be home. It was busy, busy!

Now about our progress for my summer project list. We're still working on Psalm 1. My oldest has it memorized. My son can say it all with a little help from me. My 3 year old also knows it pretty well. It's amazing to me that a 3 year old can memorize so quickly. She knows the first 3 verses well and can say a little more with help from me. I'm still working on it, but can say a good bit from memory.

Last week my oldest daughter and I worked on a cute skirt. She really wants me to teach her how to sew. She's a very eager learner, but I'm trying to go slowly with her. I showed her how to cut out a pattern and press the fabric, etc. She just watched, but I want her to see what goes into putting something together. She was ready to go play after she realized it took a long time to get that part done. I showed her a little more and then she came and watched part of the sewing process. She was so excited to see her skirt finished. Hopefully, this week we're gonna make a couple of doll skirts together.

We're not doing as much reading as I wanted to this summer, but I'm reading to them most every night and they read books throughout the week. It's hard to believe there's only a few weeks left of summer for us.

What I've Been Up To

I am back from my trip with my husband and I'm glad to be home. It's always nice to go away, but it's nice to be home, too! I've enjoyed our summer so far. I've been trying to get my house in better order. It seems like there's never time with school and regular housework. So I've tried to take time this summer while we're on break from school and work on it. The children have enjoyed swimming in the little pool in the backyard and one day they enjoyed getting sprayed with the waterhose.

I've also enjoyed making a few things. I finished up two aprons- one for me and the other for a gift. I made three t-shirt dresses. They turned out cute(at least I think so!) I'd always wanted to try those, but never took the time.

I found several tutorials and combined them to make this dress.

I also found a cute tutorial on making 4th of July t-shirts. I bought some plain white t-shirts for the children about a year ago and never did anything with them. I think they were 80 cents each! When I saw this I knew this is what I wanted to do since I've been wanting to try my hand appliqueing (sp?) Check this out:

http://ourcozynest.blogspot.com

I'll post some pics later today of the shirts and the cute bows I made for my girls to wear with them. I'm having so much fun making bows!

Blueberry Pickin'

It's blueberry picking time down south! We love blueberries at our house- well, most of us anyway!

A few weeks ago the kids and I went with our homeschool group to pick blueberries. We set off with the bottled water, sunscreen and hats- all ready to conquer the heat. On the way there it started raining. I was disappointed because I really wanted some blueberries. It didn't last long, but there was a bonus to our little shower and sprinkles- it cooled the temperature down and therefore we didn't burn up while out picking- yah!

We had a great time! My 7 year old picked as many as I did. I finally had to tell them to stop because I couldn't get more than a bucket. We enjoyed eating blueberries for a few days and will enjoy them later as I put up a few bags in the freezer.

Kayla and one of her friends found this bird's nest in one of the bushes. She was so excited to find this since we studied about birds this year.

Psalm 1 progress

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord." The children and I are learning Psalm 1 this summer. This is the part that we're working on now. I'm glad I already knew some of it since I have a harder time with memorizing than my children. Next week we should be able to move on to the end of verse 2 and complete verse 3. I've been thinking a lot about "but his delight is in the law of the Lord. " Do I find my delight in the law of the Lord? Lord, please help my delight to be in the law of the Lord!

My Summer To Do List Progress

Well, we're well into the summer here and I've been working on my to-do list slowly. Tonight I've been working on the apron I'm making. I found a cute and easy pattern on-line. I'll post pictures later. On Thursday, I let the kids loose with the box of craft supplies and they (especially my crafty seven year old) went to work on making lots of stuff. She used up a lot of stuff, but had so much fun. Here's a pic of her work, plus a couple of things my son made. He wasn't quite as interested as she was. At least not for as long anyway :) The newspaper makes it hard to see, but as you can see she was very busy. They both made little men/monsters out of the styrofoam balls and toothpicks. As for the rest of my list, I'm spending lots of time working on organizing/decluttering lots of rooms. Yesterday I rearranged/added furniture to my office/schoolroom space. I'll get it straight one of these days. One day at a time! We had our VBS the first week of June. It went well and it's another thing completed for the summer. I can't believe how fast June is flying by. Lots to do before it's over.

Psalm 1

My children and I are working on memorizing Psalm 1 this summer. I think learning chunks of scripture is beneficial and so important for all of us. I hope that we can accomplish this by the end of July or earlier, if possible. What scripture are you working on with your children or yourself? If you're not, I challenge you to start today!

Nature Journals

Well, I've finally gotten these pictures to upload. We made these a few weeks ago as we began our summer nature study. I found these in the school supply section and the kids used scrapbook paper to decorate them. Do you see the nature theme? :) The pages have a blank section at the top and lines at the bottom. It's been so much fun for them to work in so far.

Summer in full swing

Well, summer's in full swing here. We are enjoying our break so far. I've once again had computer problems and am hoping they are resolved now. A friend asked me if I'd gotten anything accomplished on my summer list. Well, I've done a little bit. Problem was I didn't write down my summer to - do list. I just put it on my blog. So when the computer was down, I couldn't actually remember my list :) Yes, I plan to be more organized- I think that's one of my goals.

Well, here goes. I've been reading more to my children, spending lots of time outside, working on VBS materials, nature journals, decluttering my house, and we're going swimming today. That's a good start for the first week anyway. Hope I get more done each week, but if not there will always be tomorrow.

I'd planned to post pictures of our nature journals, but can't get the pics to download right now. I'll try later. Have a great weekend!

Summer to do list

I have lots of ideas of things I'd like for us/me to do over the summer. I thought I'd share and get my thoughts out. Let me know what your plans are! - nature journals with my older children - sewing projects with Kayla - order caterpillars for our Butterfly Treehouse - lots of picnics at the park and in our yard - swimming - work on two bags I'm making - sew two aprons - catch up on my family albums - make more bows - declutter (this is an ongoing process here :) - painting (finger, water, etc.) - staying outside as much as possible with my children - reading lots of books to children and for myself - beach trip -visit the zoo - VBS This looks like I need more than a couple of months to accomplish, but maybe I'll get most of it done. It will help me to have a list anyway in case I forget something. All of this plus my brother's wedding and my in-laws 50th wedding celebration. I've got to get rolling....