Hexagon Baby Clothes Quilt – Idea

I got tired of googling and googling for a tutorial on making a hexagon quilt out of baby clothes, so I’m making it up as I go. I’ll take some pictures if I can ever get the little hexagons away from my 2 year old.

I started by finding a bunch of fusible fleece interfacing sheets that I’d procured for one project or another and forgotten to ever start. Hubby drew me a 2.5 inch sided hexagon on a piece of card and away I went. I traced the hexagon onto the fleece and cut out a bunch of ‘em. Then I ironed them onto the wrong side of the baby clothes I’d cut up. I saved the sleeves, too and could manage one hexagon out of each baby sleeve (long sleeved). Out of one pajama outfit, I got six hexagons.

After ironing on the interfacing, I cut out the hexagon (larger than the interfacing), folded over each edge and sewed the fabric down around the hexagon, tucking in each corner as I got to it.

So far I haven’t actually stitched any of the hexagons together but they’re making for some great toys, apparently. I’ll take pictures soon.

Here is a picture of some of the outfits I have saved up already of the boys’ baby clothes. There is A TON of fabric there.

Lightroom

My trial expired and I am waiting now on hubby to copy his paystub so we can get it for $100 instead of $300 – THEN I have to wait for Adobe to mail me a box. Instead of just emailing me a darn serial number. Yes, I am impatient.

MckMama used that photo in her Easter post. I was honored to receive the email asking if she could. I mean. Wow, certainly! I get to be a small part of such a big post?! Yes. So I pointed her to the hi-res download.

I had the best evening/worst day/distracted day today. I’ve been following Stellan’s progress via Twitter and darnitalltoheck I am constantly hitting refresh and GLUED to the computer now. The boys wanted me and yet I was computermesmerized. Shame on me. I made it up to them in the evening by laying on the trampoline with James and finding things in the clouds. When he found “cookies” in the clouds, we headed inside and whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and ended the evening with warm cookies and cold milk. Delish!

Of course, you know I will have to re-post this day in pictures over at my other blog. Eventually. I might wait til I get my hands on a serial number for Lightroom.

gardening

holy cow. I think I got it all wrong. This will be a learning garden. Some people plant “victory gardens;” mine will be a “learning garden.”

SO. I planted the Sunflowers where they’d shade the vegetables (without thinking about it) and the chives too close to the bean (apparently chives and beans don’t play nice with each other) and the Roma tomatoes will all ripen at the same time then the plants will die. (darn, no tomatoes all summer long!) I mean… I am *so* going to be doing things differently next year. Plus… nothing is labeled or in rows or organized. I had a really hard time not emptying the entire contents of the packets of seeds into the ground. It’s like they’re all babies… why not give them ALL a chance to grow? That’s gonna lead to some overcrowding issues though it seems impossible now since the plants are all only a centimeter or two tall. I guess I should make some garden posts and learn about this as we go. This is our first attempt at a vegetable garden, afterall.

If it seems like my posts are hurried, it’s because they are. I have very little time to put my thoughts together these days. Even as I type this, there are two diapers needing to be changed.

Resources that I am looking into…

I guess I could make this a page… I plan on updating it, even though I have all my bookmarks on delicious.com … If you know of any more, please leave me a comment with the link! Thanks!

Reviews

• Homeschool Reviews (I still have to browse through this page!)

Curricula

• Ambleside Online (free)
• Homeschool Classifieds (used)
• Sonlight Curriculum: Newcomer P3/4
• Living Books Curriculum: Foundation Year
• Simply Charlotte Mason

Books

• plethora of books on christianbook.com
• Get Ready, Get Set, Go for the Code (handwriting)
• Handwriting Without Tears
• Rod and Staff Books (various)

Homeschooling Blogs I’m following (there are more, I will update this eventually)

• Blue Yonder – 3 boys, Austin, TX

Homeschooling.

Wow.

I never knew there were so many resources out there! I was totally thinking we would have to spend thousands of dollars on books until I found paperbookswap.com! Now, I’m building our homeschooling library by trading books that have been sitting around in our garage for practically pennies. I’m glad I’m doing all the research now instead of when I want to start! I’ve got a contact who is a couple of years ahead of me via paperbackswap who is being very helpful with her recommendations and resources.

Right now, I’m focusing on collecting the books that keep popping up on all the homeschool preK and K curriculum lists. I have an idea — that since homeschool doesn’t have to stick to a school year — that I start preK when James turns four. This July. Not that I haven’t already started. I mean, sheesh! Isn’t that what the first few years of their precious little lives are all about? learning?

So, yeah, we’re totally jumping on this boat. At least for next year.

Got Coupons?

So a friend of mine, I will say what I was thinking for better or worse, “has gone off the deep end” with the whole coupon thing. I was at first intrigued, so I thought I would give it a shot. I didn’t even make it out the door. The thing is … I DON’T GO to any of those stores. WHY would I start? I mean, they (the stores) are all out to get my $ in the first place, so why play their games? Most of the coupon deals I’ve found require a crapload of those SuperSavers and Redplum inserts, so you’ve got to get the Sunday paper and start saving those things, first of all. That’s $1.50/week that we don’t spend! Then you’ve got to combine those coupons with other coupons that you print off. We’re out of ink! There’s $$$ for printer cartridges! Then you’ve got to actually get your butt to the store! (With a preschooler, a toddler, and a 3 month old, you have GOT to be joking!) There’s gas $ (and a headache, every time)! Then… and this is the thing that gets me… the store has actually be in stock on the things you went for in the first place, THEN the register has to ring them up the right way/accept the coupons/print the rewards crap, and most of the stuff, WE NEVER BUY IN THE FIRST PLACE. Starting from scratch, there are no ECB’s or RR’s already built up. There’s planning, lists, deadlines. Talk about stress. My life is stressful enough without adding all this so-called deal tracking/planning coupon cutting/collecting/printing. Thanks but no thanks. It’s not for me. Not right now.

Frustrated

I’m having a very difficult time finding the time to sit still and collect my thoughts, probably because I have an annoying 3.5 year old fighting with his brother (hitting, pushing, biting) every waking second of the day. I love him, but, man, 3.5 year olds can really be little turds. I’d like to skip ahead until the youngest is 4. Not feeling great about this whole parenting thing right now.

Wow

I know it’s not, like, top-of-the-line, but it is certainly a big step up from my old [dying] 300D.

Not my kid. I don’t make girls.

TMI – I started my period on March first. That’s not what I had in mind when I prayed for things to “get back to normal” but at least we know we’re fertile again. Twice we didn’t know that. Twice we had another baby. Twice I was on the Pill even. I’m still on the Pill, but I don’t trust it. But it feels like the “responsible” thing to do so we don’t end up with a herd of punks. Boy punks. Cute boy punks.

The pill brings out my evil twin at times. I can feel it in my veins the most. It’s scary. If we could afford the snip for either of us, we would probably go through with it. Alas, having $11,500 in deductibles means it probably ain’t gonna happen in any given year. Unless it is a terrible year. IUD’s aren’t covered for me, either, and that’s almost as expensive as the snips. So, we’re preventing more proactively than we have in the past.

I did really well last week in memorizing Proverbs 17:22 — don’t quote me on it but it goes something like this — A merry heart does good like a medicine but a broken spirit dries up the bones. It’s been funny telling the oldest boy that his bones are gonna dry up when he’s throwing a tantrum. Totally caught him off guard. We also go looking for our happy hearts. Where did we leave it this time? Is it in the van? Should we all go out to the van and help you look for your happy heart? Maybe it’s in your bed? Under your pillow? Why don’t you put your head on your pillow and see if you can hear it? I cringed, though, when Oldest told me that my happy heart was in my tummy so I needed to eat to feed it and find it. I don’t want to start with the whole emotional eating bit. I never ate emotionally until recently, but I’m also blaming that on the pill. Nursing doesn’t help any either with the HUNGER. Maybe the pill makes me hungry too?

This week’s memory verse for me (us) is Proverbs 15:13 … lemme look it up … this is a big one for me because I’ve often gotten the order mixed up, thinking that in smiling, I would become happy. Nope, it’s the other way around:

A happy heart makes the face cheerful,
but heartache crushes the spirit.
(New International Version)

And don’t you know what a crushed spirit leads to? Dry bones! This goes in hand with figuring out if someone even has a happy heart to start with. I’ve often asked Oldest if the characters in his books are happy or sad or tired or angry or confused or dizzy or fill-in-the-blank-emotion. It was only natural to ask him how he knew if Mommy had a happy heart or not. He knew instantly that you tell by a smile. I asked him to show me his happy heart once after he got into trouble and sat in time-out and he had the cutest smile ever. I love that boy. SO, a happy heart makes the face cheerful. This is my attempt to smile more. See? It’s in the Bible! I hardly ever – used to – smile. It’s becoming easier.

Oh! I have some pictures to share. I’m thinking about building a portfolio and starting a business in the next few years. Not a serious business. Just for some spending cash. I’m thinking my “focus area” would be casual events. That seems to be what I do best. Children is too specific as I often shoot my church. Heh. Shoot my church.

This is L. She turned four. Check out that cake! It was chocolate cake. Delicious!

Isn’t she just darling?

All the thoughts in my head

I can’t believe we’re only 10 weeks postpartum and I’m already getting my cycle back. I have really enjoyed the break from that part of womanly life. October 2004, May 2006, and now this week. That’s right. I had 2 babies with no cycle. Middle man was born February 2007 and Little man was born December 2008.

Hold on. My Big Boy is yelling at me to wipe his butt. Ah, the joys of motherhood.

My struggle lately has been to “have a happy heart.” I’m really trying to keep my thoughts on the truth and produce the fruits of the Spirit in my daily life but if my heart isn’t happy, everything is going to go downhill. Quickly. This is my memory verse for this week:

Proverbs 17:22 (New American Standard Bible)

A joyful heart is good medicine,
But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

But I have to say that I just love the Contemporary English Version for the boys to memorize:

Proverbs 17:22 (Contemporary English Version)

If you are cheerful,
you feel good;
if you are sad,
you hurt all over.

It’s just so true.

I’m also reading through Screamfree Parenting again. I think that is one book I will just keep out to read over and over and over and over again. There are so many ah-ha moments for me and so many things I catch each additional time I read it that it’s just worth it for me to continually have that going through my brain on a daily basis.

But my real goal is to be a better wife to my hubby. Truly and honestly. I’ve thought about it and decided that I am just not the same person he fell in love with thirteen years ago. I don’t laugh as much. I don’t smile often. I rarely cause him to ROTFL anymore. I used to – I used to laugh and smile and cause those ROTFLs all the time. I want to be that “sweet little thing” he fell in love with – today. And by all means, I want to be the Queen but if I don’t make him the King, how will I ever get to be the Queen?

Time to go. The Big Boy is asking for some reading time.