Live to Learn!

Pantry Organization

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 18:32:00 +0000

I've been using a variety of glass jars to organize my pantry and love how it's working out. I buy most of my spices in bulk, 4oz-1/2 pound increments, from Azure Standard. After I refill my Costco sized containers I store the extra in mason jars. Sometimes I just use a quart mason jar and skip the plastic containers. I found my onion powder was getting clumpy from moisture and had a difficult to seal lid, so I pulverized the contents of the whole container in the food processor and poured it into a clean jar. The mason jar now gives me the air tight seal I need. One product that I just started using is tomato powder. It's just dehydrated powdered tomatoes. It replaces tomato paste and tomato purée. When I want to make pizza sauce, I fill a pint jar with water and add in 2-3 TBS of the tomato powder. It thickens up within minutes. Then I add my spices and shake it up.
The garlic cloves in one of the jars is my harvest from my garden. I planted a row of garlic last October and harvested it this summer. It's been drying in my garage for about 6-8 weeks and I just cut the tops off today. I wasn't sure how to store it, but my cabinet is a dark and cool place so I decided to put them there.
The other side of the cabinet has our jars of nuts and dried berries. The kids who eat nuts appreciate having easy to open containers. I love seeing the jars all lined up!

Busy End of Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 18:16:00 +0000

Life has been a pleasant whirlwind. Kids in sports, sewing projects and just loving on my 7 kids. Sam is playing football with a rec league near us and Katie and Lily are cheering for his team. I love watching the girls cheer. Lily especially loves the moves and the chants. This time last year it would have been hard, but something clicked in her development recently and she is learning and retaining information so well. Seven seems to be one of the magical age when life falls into place.
The whole family went to the game Saturday and even Caleb had a good time. We stuck my shades on him, but we ended up leaving at half time because of the heat.
The girls had a bake sale recently to raise funds for their squad and I made a big batch of candied pecans. I had so much fun dressing the bags up for sale. The recipe was pretty simple. You take about 1/2-3/4 of a pound of pecans and mix them up in a bowl with whipped egg whites, about 1-2. Then scoop out the wet mess and dump it in another bowl of cinnamon sugar with a pinch of salt. Stir well and scoop out on a baking sheet. Level it out so there aren't any huge clumps. Bake at 250 for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Let cool and enjoy.
I've also been planning Christmas presents. I want to make 1 of the gifts that each of the girls will get. I decided to make knot style dresses for the little girls and skirt for Katie. They will all have matching purses too. I bought the fabric and notions and have already cut out Rachel's dress. Her dress will be gray and yellow with a few polka dot fabrics and a chevron print. I can't wait to see it all sewn together! Lily's fabrics are a hot pink print, zebra print and a polka dot print. Katie will have a slightly more mature chocolate brown polka dot and a sage green combination. I think I'm going to sew a sash for her skirt. I hope that by starting early that my odds of finishing are in my favor!

Look at what we saw!

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 16:55:00 +0000

The kids spotted it first. I dismissed it as a simple spider, not to be feared. John was our hero though and squashed it and its babies! Yuck!

Black Widow

First Day of our Homeschool

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 16:46:00 +0000

This week begins our 7th year of homeschooling!

Austin is 13 and entering 8th grade.

Sam is 12 and entering 7th grade.

Katie is 9 and entering 5th grade.

Lily is 7 and entering 1st grade.

Rachel is 5 and entering kindergarten.

Joshua is 3 and entering Pre-K 3.

Caleb is 7 months and getting into everything!

Lily, age 7 Toucans

Lily's toucan on the ipad that inspired her to draw today.

Rachel, 5 car

Rachel, 5 an ear of corn

Lily, 7 car

This year my priority children are the little ones. The bog kids are very much independent. They are also taking their most intense classes in a homeschool class. This will greatly free up my time to teach the younger ones to read. Lily is well on the road to reading and Rachel is coming along well too. My schedule every day, that we don't have classes, is to let the little ones play dress up, play pretend, or just romp around having fun. They color and draw off and on all morning too. The bigger kids do most of their school work scattered around the house on their own. I try and pull aside Joshua or Rachel and work with them on a review of skills like colors, shapes, or letter names and sounds. After lunch the three youngest go down for a nap and my time with Lily starts. She and I review known skills, work on sight words, do math activites, sentence writing with new words, a bit of cutting and pasting, and more drawing. She works with me for about 2 hours on task before she runs out of steam. I try and leave off before she becomes frustrated. Rachel and I spend abother 30 minutes or so working on her school work after her nap/rest time.

Lily,7

Our 2 create/craft boxes
They are stuffed to the rims with do-a-dot markers, colored pencils, scissors, pencils, markers, twistables, glue and tape.

Caleb, 7 months

Katie, 9 doing Rosetta Stone Spanish

Bedroom Additions

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 13:00:00 +0000

As part of our home renovation, roof lifting expeience, the older 3 kids got to watch their rooms be built right in front of their eyes. The boys endured the most chaos because we emptied the attic into their bedroom for the first 3 weeks, until the addition needed to move into the house. I worried that Austin might struggle with extra anxiety or stress, but he didn't surprisingly well. The kids all spent time visiting family for a summer treat and that helped reduce the number of pitter pattering feet.

Katie's room was painted a medium pink. I purchased the polka dot curtain panels which helps pull all the colors of the room together. The bunting was used as at the girls' parties as decoration and now have a permanent spot in Katie's room. She loves the short bookcase because she finally has a home for all her American Girl books and dolls. She is 9 and a half and teetering on the brink of growing up and not turning back to girlhood. She is blossoming right in front of me, both physically and emotionally. I love being her mom and we had a sweet time decorating her room.

Sam's room is at the end of the hall and is the largest of the three new rooms. He has one set of bunk beds that will soon be shared with Joshua. He has a super large closet that I hope will be used as a toy closet/room.

Austin's room is in the middle of the two other bedrooms. He loves the quiet he can retreat to and savors his personal space.

Bulletin Board Update

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 13:00:00 +0000

I stole a bulletin board from our dining room and it found a new home on my sewing room wall. I love the white washed edges and complemented it with my favorite pictures. I'm still debating what to do with the sloped ceiling wall above my desk, a swirly mud design, tin tiles, light colored wall paper, or just paint. Either way, I've spent lots of time in my sewing room, crafting sweet hair bows, tasty ribbon edged owl toys and baby washcloths. Several babies have been blessed with my endeavours.

Baby Wash Cloth Bouquet

Flannel and Terry Wash Cloths

I Claim a Verse

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 13:00:00 +0000

The month before Caleb was conceived.

Delivery Day: 183#

3 weeks postpartum. I don't care what I weighed, I was in love!

This past weekend I spent some time contemplating my weight. I know, every woman's nemesis. I feel good at my weight right now, 153. I feel healthy and active. But I know it can be better. When I exert myself I run out of energy way before I should and my clothes don't fit as smoothly as they could. I decided it was time to claim 2 Timothy 1:7. Last week, I set my phone up to read that whole book to me, in the New Living Translation, and this one verse, read before in other translations, caught my attention for the first time. It says "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline.". I love it! I love that God has already given me these gifts. I love that he knew I would need the spirit of power and self-disciple. He knew. So, I claimed that verse and set myself some goals.

5 months postpartum:155#

My main goals are to increase my stamina so that I can run for a mile or do aerobic activity without struggling for breath, eat 3 sensible meals and a 2 snacks everyday, with the last snack being no later than 8pm, and to lose weight in such a way to not adversely affect my milk supply. I already feel like my diet is really good, whole foods, little processed foods, and very little eating out. I drink tons of water a day and eat lots of fruit and veggies. Even if I make the kids banana bread or sweet rolls, I might have a small piece and let them have the rest. I want to win so bad that I find the temptations easier to handle. I know that I'm really playing a mind game with myself. My body doesn't need the chips or coke, but my mind sometimes screams at me that I deserve them or that I'd feel so much better with them. Such a lie. I usually get a sugar high and then a sugar crash after a coke and the chips leave me hungry for something more. I want my foods to make me feel energized and satisfied.
My main snacks are toasted almonds, whole milk homemade yogurt with frozen cherries, a fruit smoothie,green smoothies, romaine salad with veggies, hard boiled eggs, sliced and diced veggies with ranch, popcorn popped in coconut oil or one of my no bake bars that are high calorie but with real power packed foods. My breakfast everyday is a quart of smoothie. I start with 2 cups or so of water, one frozen banana, 1/3 cup or so of frozen cooked brown rice, 1/2 cup frozen cooked beans (like adzuki), a handful of almonds,1/3 cup rolled oats, 2-3 TBS Nesquick, and some ice. If I find almond, coconut or rice milk on sale I'll substitute that instead of water but I found that it is so much cheaper to just make my own "milk". This smoothie keeps me satisfied for hours. No cravings, no sugar drops, no feeling of deprivation. The kids like to poke fun at the ingredients but you really can't taste the beans at all!

5 1/2 months postpartum

I know that exercise is my missing component. I can find every excuse out there so I don't have to get outside, heat stroke heat excluded. It's a shame really, God gave me this fantastic neighborhood with gently rolling hills for me to run on. I'd probably get bored with miles of flat road. So, I put my big girl pants on and decided to set a goal of running 4 miles this week! I have to go out at night, after John gets home, and do my running, but the nights have been good to me so far. Since Sunday, I've run 3 miles! Yay, for my previously lazy self! I stuck to a solid mile and found that I am able to finish in anywhere from 11:45 to 12 minutes. Yes, those 15 seconds are very important to me. :) I have one more mile to run this week to complete my first goal.
The first morning after I ran, I thought I had died. My body ached and hurt so bad. By lunch time the soreness hadn't really gone away so I knew I was going to have to run again that night. So I did. The third night, I couldn't wait to get out and run. I surprised even myself! It's not long, maybe 3 songs on my iPod, but it feels good to do something that will help me. I usually spend 3-5 minutes warming up before and 2-3 minutes after stretching, before I jump in my cool shower. I'm excited to see where I'll end up this fall and and Caleb's first birthday in December. I hope my weight drops down 10-15 pounds and that I can make this a lifestyle change.

Caleb's Owl Lovey

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:40:00 +0000

While our home addition was going on I spent most of my creative energy thinking up new ideas. My sewing stuff was packed away, unreachable except in an emergency and John didn't think owl toys were an emergency. 😄 When I finally got my sewing room organized I set to work creating this sweet toy for Caleb. He loves to chew on tags, grab soft, silky fabric and I love owls so this incorporated all those elements. This prototype has room for improvement but we both love it!

Caleb: 5 Months Old

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Caleb, our 7th blessing and a loving baby, was 5 months old at the end of May. He weighed in at around 16 pounds and was able to roll over both ways. He loved to put toys, fingers, toes and blankets in his mouth. He's wasn't too interested in solid food, taking all his nourishment from his daytime nursing. He mostly slept through the night and napped for 2-3 hours a few times a day. He wore clothes inthe 6-9 month range and compared to his siblings, he's average in height and weight. Joshua still wins the biggest kid award for every age so far. He sucks his thumb and does not take a pacie. He likes his lovie blankets but isn't attached to them passionately like his siblings are.

Rachel, 5 years old cheesing

March Family Photo

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Here is a new photo of our family from this March. I can't believe how blessed we are with these 7 kiddos!

And one sweet picture of Joshua, 2 1/2.

My Sewing Room!

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 13:00:00 +0000

One aspect of our new addition was a nook that faced the front of the house. It used to be the boys' bedroom closet and the alcove. Our original plan was to leave the area open to the hallway and use it as a playroom for the little boys. That was all fine until I sat up in the space and really envisioned the walls torn down and a new wall put back up. I saw it! The area was the perfect size for a sewing room. It's small, but perfect for my needs. I have a swivel, rocking chair set up under the window for my quiet time. I found an awesome lamp to rest on a stand we had stored in the attic. The curtain material is duck cloth and was bought at Hobby Lobby. I never could find any fabric to coordinate with it, so I doubled up muslin to create a band at the bottom. Above the chair, John hung a picture shelf for kids canvases and hopefully soon I'll add some black and white prints that I've taken.

The tall shelf has an assortment of canvas covered boxes that are labeled. Those boxes store all my ribbon, cording,trims, zippers, threads, etc. I have open baskets that store my fabrics. I spent time before the addition and gave away about half my stash. I kept my favorites and left a little room to grow. :)

I have a plastic drawer organizer next to the fabric shelves that holds my stickers, glues, punches, acrylic rulers and packing supplies. The back of the door has another clear shoe organizer for all kinds of office supplies and more ribbon.

sewing area, a little unfinshed while I decide what to do with the ceiling

The old closet area of my room has a sloped ceiling so I put my sewing desk right up under the sloped part. It's perfect! When I stand there is plenty of room and the ceiling height never bothers anyone. I have several cutting mats that I store along the side wall to cover my desk when I cut out fabric. The wire cart next to my desk holds my felt, applique patterns, heat and bond lite, embroidery things, and other odds and ends. I have two plastic drawer units under my desk that hold scrapbook paper and family photos. My ironing board hangs on the back wall until I need it, then it sets up right behind my desk. It's a little tight with it set up, but I love having it so close when I'm sewing.

The quilting on the wall, were two pieces I made for my grandma several years ago. I'm so glad she had time to enjoy them before she died. They were framed with pieces of wood from her family's barn when she was a little girl. I'm so glad they hang in my sewing room now. I know she'd smile when she saw them too.

The owls. I have this love of whimsical owls. I can't help myself, I just love them. :) One day, while shopping at Hobby Lobby, Austin spied this framed print and I fell in love. It has the turquoise color of the room and the whimsical owl and word art. It fits perfectly into my vision for this room.

This space has been such a blessing to me. I've been able to sneak up there to work on a project and then leave it for later. Many new babies have been blessed by projects created in that room. :) I'll have to share my newest brainchild, an owl toy, soon.

A Boy Who Loves His Momma

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:00:00 +0000

I've enjoyed this little boy's first three years. When I was a new mom 13 years ago, I don't know if I would have said the same thing. Joshua gets to enjoy a mom who feels comfortable and secure in God's plan for her life. Age and time make a big difference too. I know that his baby stage is fleeting and I stop more to scoop him up and just hold him, or chase him down to tickle him. I'm also much more consistent with him and don't let bad behavior slide. I know how bad habits can morph into sinful behavior. Joshua also has many watchful eyes that catch him in mischief and guide him to a better choices too. :) This stinker has still found a way to draw on walls, tear up books, get into the cereal and pour his own milk, and to take himself potty.

I look forward to more years with this guy, hopefully next year's report will include his potty training story. :) Happy 3rd Birthday Joshua!

Adding On

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 13:00:00 +0000

The first day of construction

We have been blessed! This addition project was one of those projects that John and I had talked and prayed about for years, and then decided to begin in a matter of a week! We were planning on replacing our 20 year old roof this summer, after saving up what we hoped would be enough cash to pay for it. When we began looking for roofing quotes, we found out that our roof had hail damage. Sure enough our insurance decided to replace the roof and a few other odds and ends that had been damaged in a hail storm. It was one of those storms where you'll never forget it, we just didn't know it caused damage until the roof leaked. Anyway, we had all this cash saved up and now we didn't have to pay for the roof. We decided to go ahead and raise the roof over the garage, where our attic space was, and finish out the bedrooms we needed. We were so blessed to have trustworthy contractors and hard working men in our home too.
The upstairs hall way used to be pretty short, with 4 doors off of it and a stairway. We had 2 large bedrooms upstairs, a nursery under the eaves and a full bath. In this picture I'm standing in one of the bedrooms upstairs looking into the bedroom across the hall which has the door open. The door at the very end of the picture was to the unfinished attic space.

Our old upstairs hallway

Our plan was to bump up the roof on the back of the house, and add 2 bedrooms. We took the existing bedroom at the end of the hall and made it into a new, smaller bedroom, a 4' hallway and a new sewing/craft room for me. I told you those bedrooms were huge! The new addition then added 2 more bedrooms with large closets and an attic space. We have never felt so blessed! Right now we have 5 bedrooms and a nursery! I'm so grateful that no one bought our house the two times we tried to sell. We just wanted a little more space and God provided exactly what we needed! The feeling of paying cash for our 2nd addition is overwhelming too. It makes the days of living below John's salary worth it. It amazes me that when we moved into this house, that we had two small boys and thought the house felt huge! Now, after 2 additions, we have 7 kids and a heart open to God's plan for our life tucked into a house we love, in a neighborhood we adore, and 6 bedrooms that are perfect for us.

View from old bedroom into the old attic space

Old attic space

Old roof being removed

The contractors were blessed with mostly good weather during the hottest days

The scariest day! The house looked like a tornado went through it.

Right now Katie, Austin, and Sam are in their own rooms. Joshua is still in the nursery under the eaves in a toddler bed, so he doesn't roam the house at night. Caleb is in our room in a mini crib and enjoying a middle of the night nursing time every now and then. :) The two little girls are in their own room that also doubles as the playroom. The big kids are enjoying their new found freedom, but understand that we may have to rearrange people in the future. The girls have an almost nightly prayer for a baby sister, or two! If I ever have twins it is because of their prayers. :)
So, 6 weeks of construction and renovation, mess and disorganization, have led us to a new space that gives us room to spread out just a bit and open our home to guests. The hardest part was emptying the contents of our attic and part of the garage into the house for weeks on end. I love organization for its time saving benefits but also because it keeps my mind clear to think. I really struggled in the visual chaos. :) I did love the purging of the attic though. We down sized the attic space from a room that was 26'x26' and pretty full to a space that is 10'x 20' with a very sloped ceiling. We gave away and trashed so much stuff! The process was a lot like moving, in that we unpacked boxes that have sat in the attic for 10 years and finally sorted them.

Rafters going up

Side view of the house

New addition, minus the gutters

We changed the garge door facade to 2 doors.

The backyard.

I'll post some pictures of my sewing room soon!

Bunting and Frames

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 18:58:00 +0000

My sweet girls have been looking forward to their joint party for months! I collected a few ideas from Pinterest and we had a fun playground party. My favorite idea was the framed photographs. We just took a large square frame off the wall and removed the backing. It was probably 14" square. We took some pictures in our backyard before the party.

Rachel, 5 and Lily, 7

Joshua, my sweet little guy

sisters

all 3 sister!

I made the scrapbook paper bunting for Katie's party when she turned 9 and was able to reuse it for the little girls. I loved the idea of using it as a backdrop. It's colorful and was so easy to make. I cut triangles out of scrapbook paper in all the same shape, but many different papers. Then I used single fold premade bias tape and sewed each triangle into the fold. Since the paper was stiff, it was easy to tuck the triangle into the fold as I sewed down the line.

My favorite framed photo!

The way a boy frames himself. :)

My best friend and I, both new mommas

Caleb has been growing so much these days. Today he is 6 1/2 months old and a busy little man. He sits up with support and sleeps good at night. He might wake up to nurse 1-2 times now and usually onthe nights I put him to bed too early. He doesn't care for solid food yet, but I plan on making it for him. I ground brown rice and oatmeal, cooked it, cooled it and then froze it in ice cube trays. I also took some apples I canned in water last fall and pureed it into applesauce for him.

5 months old

I can't tell what color his eyes are yet. They have both brown and blue and some green even! I've never not been able to tell by this point. :) John's mom loves her littlest grandchild, can you tell? She's enjoying her crown.

I love this 5 month old stare!

Even Austin, at 13 humored me and held the frame.

Sam, just hanging out

birthday girl

a cute poster I made for the ice cream sundae party

The girls had new tutu dresses and mommy made hair bows.

Lily loved her new Bible! It's sparkly and has a closure on it.

Ruffled Aprons

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 02:17:00 +0000

I have succombed to the Pinterest obsession! My idea is to spend a bit of time drooling over the awesome ideas and then walk away to create, cook, or do something. The kids have done clever art projects (a Kandinsky inspired project), messy science projects (elephant toothpaste), and I've made the cutest ruffled aprons for my girls! It took a bit of time ruffling every strip of fabric, but my love of ruffles demanded the effort. :) In the end, the girls love them and wear them to do chores and every time I see them it makes me smile one extra time that day. I have a stack of gray and pink strips ready to make my very own ruffled apron too.

8 Weeks Old

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:18:00 +0000

Caleb's first hike was spent bundled up in his stroller. :)

4 Weeks old

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:49:00 +0000

Sweet and solemn Caleb wore his first tie this week. John and I needed to attend a business social type event and we brought along my sidekick. I was inspired by Caleb's utter cuteness and made him one of those applique tie shirts you see all over Pinterest and Etsy. It took no time at all and turned out so adorable! He was a hit! I'd love to get some onesies in the nxet size up and make him a few more. :)

3 week pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:45:00 +0000

Settling in

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:22:00 +0000

Caleb is 2 and a half weeks old and we are settling in quite well with 7 kids. He's a good baby, nursing and sleeping better than I had hoped actually. He seems to be putting on weight, evidenced by his sweet and chubby double chin. The kids are thoroughly enjoying Caleb and all his newborn adorableness. They are taking turns holding him and "checking" on him.
I'm so thankful that he is a good nurser. I love the simplicity of nursing and the closeness that it fosters between Caleb and I. I'm also so excited that Caleb, as of now, is not a spit up baby.After 6 kids who spit up profusely, it's a welcome change to have one that doesn't need a bib at every feeding. I imagine it will help his weight gain too, if he doesn't spit up half of every feeding.

I decided that we will take it easy one more week at least without homeschooling. I'm trying and doing well getting us on a good housekeeping type schedule and keeping food on the table. Before I add in the third major element of my life, I want to get the first two going smoothly. I plan on having the kids begin reading again next week and spend some time working on their fun Christmas presents. The girls got a bubble gum and sour candy kit that I hope to make with them. The kids have been watching a lot of Netflix movies these last few weeks and enjoying time visiting family.

6 days old

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:43:00 +0000

Little Caleb is 6 days old today. I'd like to freeze him at this adorable, squeezably cute stage!

It's a BOY!

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:30:00 +0000

Caleb James was born December 29 after a very short 4 hour labor! He is healthy and handsome. So far he is a superb baby, sleeping good at night and nursing like a pro. He hardly spits up and keeps his crying to a minimum. :) Caleb wins the award as the quietest sleeper I've ever had too.

Here are a few pics from the first few days.

23 days

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:14:00 +0000

        23 days from now and I should have a newborn in my arms! I am so ready, physically and emotionally for my son to be here. My body feels so stretched and uncomfortable at times and my mind wants to settle down into the calm and quiet of a babymoon. Instead we are wrapping up schoolwork and I'm busy checking paragraphs for title sentences and helping solve word problems!
       I have had more time to rest, thanks to a fantastic husband and good kids. I've been busy racking up my swagbucks points. I have earned 3 Amazon $5 gift cards already in the past 2 weeks. I have a quandary though, my Amazon prime benefits, that came free for a year through Amazon Mom, have expired. I loved being able to order smaller packages and not try and get up to the $25 needed for super saver shipping. I haven't decided if that is a good thing, by reducing purchases, or bad, by buying something I don't really need just to reach that free shipping level. It's gotten so much harder to get out to the stores that I rely heavily on online shopping. Most of what I order can be returned if necessary to a local store anyways if it doesn't fit.
       Here are a few pictures of our pursuits recently. I'm trying hard to practice with a new lens I got, a prime lens with a focal length of 1.8 or 1.6. I can't remember right now. :) I hope to have a few stunning winter photos of Caleb in a few weeks!

Lily and her fall painting.

Rachel painting with a Q-tip, an idea I found on Pinterest.

Rachel

Busy, busy, busy

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:32:00 +0000

Life has been busy, somehow it seems busier than normal. I am 32 weeks pregnant and full of baby. I can't hardly rech my feet and my belly has ballooned to new proportions. Caleb is an active baby with lots of reassuring movements. I've gotten the urge to do lots more sewing for him recently and I am super pleased with my turn out. I made a chocolate brown minky dot crib bumper for his mini crib, two crib sheets,1 slip covered waterproof pad for the changing table in the polka dot fabric and 2 sheet saver type things. The sheet savers are cute in a polka dot fabric, with an old prefold diaper sandwiched inside to absorb spitup. I sewed ribbon ties to the short ends so it can be easily tied to the crib slats. I'll have to see if two sheets and two sheet savers will be enough. I also sewed 6 smallish lovies for him, with whimsical prints on one side and orange minky dot on the other. We had a pretty normal Thanksgiving holiday. We had one extra child all week and our family of 8. Our out of town family decided to come at Christmas instead of both holidays this year. It has been a lot of work adding an extra child to our home, teaching them our ways and habits. I'm looking forward to normal for sure this week. I'm so thankful to be done with our Christmas shopping this year. It's always my goal to be done by Thanksgiving and then just stay out of the stores until January. :) We have one project of John's left to complete, hopefully in the next two weeks. John has been diligent in drawing and creating the best gifts this year and we only lack getting them printed. One of my favorite gifts is to give a handmade gift. Even better is when John draws something because his talent is so amazing! One of my handmade gifts this year is a collection of homemade bath products. I've begun making our own body butter, powdered laundry detergent, sugar scrubs, and I'm going to order some Dr Bronner's Castillo liquid soap so I can make our own foaming hand soap. I've been busy reading the back labels of our lotions, soaps, and beauty products and I've decided to make some myself. I really want to find a more natural approach to body care. It's fun for me to create something healthy, inexpensive, and crafty all at the same time. I've fallen most in love with the cocoa buttEr body butter. The smell is divine and the feel of my skin afterwards is amazing. This butter cures the itchy skin every time. Lily loves it as much as me and I love giving Joshua a baby massage after his bath. My upcoming goals are to make a lotion, vanilla extract, and glycerin soap. I'd love to make soap with lye but I'm too afraid to do it by myself!

Third trimester!

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:02:00 +0000

I am almost 30 weeks pregnant now. I can't believe how fast the end is approaching and how soon my arms will be full of a new baby. I washed the last few clothes I picked up and they are nicely folded in his dresser. The blankets are folded and in a basket. I made a few new burp cloths, using unstained prefold diapers and I picked up several bibs for $.39 each at the thrift store. I hope to stop by Carter's are get a few more of their bibs. I'm ready to snuggle a newborn, but not ready to lose my sleep. I pray constantly for Caleb to eat well, feel full after eating and to sleep as long as possible. :)
On other news, Rachel is doing great. We had an appointment with a surgeon last week and decided to remove the lump. He had an opening this past Friday, so we snagged that spot. She did great. After he removed it he said he was pretty sure it was benign, which was all I wanted to hear. Her recovery has been fantastic! Besides the bandage, you would never know she had anything done a few days ago.
Updates around the house:
1. I planted a row of garlic in one of my raised beds.
2. John pulled my cucumber plants up and tossed them in my huge compost pile.
3. I pulled lots of little green tomatoes off my tomato plants and will compost those plants this week.
4. I cleaned out my meal binder and organized it with scrapbook paper dividers. All three girls helped me with this project.
5. I updated all my other binders, bills, schedules, homeschooling, and medical. This is something I usually do around New Years but Mr Caleb will need me more around that time. :)
6. Katie finished her 2nd volume of Short Stories and Poems.
7. I typed everything into Snapfish and added photos of artwork and photos of people to round it out. By using a coupon and ebates, each book will only cost me $5.10 each!
8. I bought Caleb a new countered changing pad and a chocolate brown minky dot changing pad to cover it. My bedroom looks ready to host a new baby.
9. I really, really need to buy the padding for a crib bumper so I can cut out the mini crib bumper and sew it together!
10. I am almost done with our Christmas shopping, 75% or more of which has been done online. I may make a few new Christmas wrapping bags. I still love that idea and it works to keep the chaos and paper clutter down. It also helps me "wrap" those awkward packages. :)

Hydrangea in our front yard

Our front walk

Katie and Callie today

26 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Christine @ Live to Learn) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:32:00 +0000

John and I took the kids to a playground today and I brought along my trusty camera. I need to practice a lot more with it. I walked around taking all kinds of pictures of the kids and then Sam took a picture of John and I. I am 26 weeks pregnant now and feeling the heaviness of this time. I caught the kids cold a week ago and haven't quite gotten my energy level back up yet. Caleb is a good baby though. He moves and kicks and squirms all over the place. He has kept me up some at night, with his karate kicks though. :)
Overall, I feel good and ready to enter the 3rd trimester. I found a diaper bag I love and we assembled the new mini crib for our room. I want to make bedding for that crib and finish his quilt. The top is sewn together, I just need to decide on the backing and sew it all together. This weekend John has put on 2 coats of paint on the dresser/changing table we are going to use for him in our room. It's a creamy white with new silver pull knobs.

Joshua needed some Momma lovin'

John and I, 26 weeks pregnant with Caleb

5 of the kids

Rachel, 4 and a half