Another Makeover

With a quieter week at home, I've been able to get another "jumper" finished for Rachel:

Here's what it began life as: a woman's nightdress. I decided to monopolize on the buttonholes already made and turn that into the front of the jumper. In retrospect, it may have looked better in the back, but the pattern called for buttons in the front.

I was also able to cut the skirt of the nightdress in such a way as to keep the nice little lace trimming at the bottom (which you can't see in the above picture).

In any case, Rachel is pleased, and has decided she likes this one better than the last one. (I really liked the pink one, oh well).

Ready for Summer

Yes, my closet and I are ready for summer, for those days when school is out and I just might have a little more time to work on some sewing projects. Thanks to help from my sisters, mom, and even Michael, I've collected a good number of wool sweaters in recent weeks, and I now have them ALL felted!

These shrunken sweaters are destined to become purses, bags, and double-point needle cases. I'm looking forward to posting the results (if the chance to sew drops in my lap).

Girls for Tea

Sunday we had friends over and Rachel got to have a tea party! Girls and tea parties just seem to go together, and I've been waiting since Rachel was born for her to be able to enjoy tea parties with her friends.
The girls had lots of fun, and, apparently, LOTS of sugar was added to each teacup. (Reminder to self: ration sugar next time):
After the tea party, everyone went upstairs to dress up!
A lovely afternoon was had by all.

Forest Treasures

Yesterday, being one of the very few dry days we've had recently, I decided it was high time we took a walk back down to the woods. I also wanted to check the progress of Mama Goose.

Here's what we saw when we reached the pond:
I think the green was due to bits falling off the trees, it didn't look like algae.

Once again, it was easier to see Mama Goose at home in the photo. But, it looks like she may actually be sitting on her eggs. Last time she seemed to be getting up too much. Papa Goose was busy floating in the clearer part of the pond, diving for food.

Farther down we came again to the little nest we found on our last walk. I was so anxious to look inside.
Finding that blue egg was the highlight of my walk! I was so excited. Capturing this shot is a little hard. The nest is above eye level, so I have to hold the camera up high and hope for a good one (all the while not coming into contact with the nest). I hope next time we go we'll find more eggs, or Mama Robin sitting on them!

And then we found lots and lots of Jack in the Pulpits, which fascinated all of us. We had to bring a few home for Daddy and discuss the idea of renaming them Daddy in the Pulpit.

And now today we are off to a highschool graduation for several homeschooling friends. It will be held back at the church where we were for Brian and Jaci's wedding last Saturday.

After The Weekend

Isn't this nest just beautiful?! The children found it in our yard this week and we aren't sure just where it came from. Perhaps the stormy weather we had over the weekend blew it out of its hiding place. Rachel noticed that the robin who built this helped herself to my dried out herbs, giving the nest a very artistic finish:

I had sort of imagined us all collapsing on Monday after our busy weekend. But, the mulch arrived on Monday and we all spent the day helping to get it situated in the flower beds. The children LOVED playing in the big pile!
And here is the result of our (mostly Michael's) hard work. I have yet to go and smooth out the mulch. We finally resorted to just dumping it in piles. The garden is full of plants that came from my parents garden or a friend's garden. We were very blessed not to have to buy any perennials.

I did buy some begonias and dusty miller to plant in the front:

And I had a hankering to make something with strawberries and rhubarb this week so I came up with a strawberry-rhubarb coffee cake. Very delicious!

And today is our first very sunny day in quite some time. I think I need to get out and spread the mulch. For some reason I just feel like crawling in bed with a good book. :)

The Weekend #4

The final event of our weekend was celebrating Mother's Day with our family.
After the graduation everyone headed back for a brunch-type lunch at our house.
We decided to get Mom some more perrennials for her garden this year:
After some homemade salsa with chips, hummus and pita, we sat down to blueberry muffins, fruit salad, spinach-strawberry salad, asparagus-tomato salad, and Quiche Lorraine and Spinach-Feta Quiche:
The quiches were delicious!

Lots of conversation around the table:
And strawberry shortcake for dessert:

And then we headed back to church for the close of our whirlwind weekend! I was amazed that we survived in tact, and also very, very grateful to God for providing strength to make it through. This was the busiest week and weekend of the year, and certainly the most activity I had participated in for a very long time.

The Weekend #3

Sunday morning after church we headed downtown for Emily's Graduation! She graduated with a Bachelor degree in Exercise Science (pre-Physical Therapy). Note the white rope on her gown -- this means she graduated with honors. Yeah Em! We are so proud of you!

Here are the three sisters together: Christina, Emily, Heather
And the lovely graduate:
Mom and Dad:
And the whole family (at least the ones able to attend. Michael stayed home with the munchkins.):
And now Em has this week off to enjoy life and next week she heads to her first job at a local Hospital. She plans to take a year off of studies and then apply for graduate school.