In The Backyard...

I'm not sure if it's all the Hardy Boy books, "The Dangerous Book for Boys", the video we watched called "The 1940's' House" where an English family lived for three months like they would have in England during WWII including building a bomb shelter in their backyard- but- Jacob is enthralled with digging a huge pit in our back yard.

At first he said he was making a bomb shelter, but now he is a bit more ambitious. He has plans to dig a network of tunnels all over the property...

Hope has joined him in this adventure.

He digs every day after school and on the weekends. Pretty soon our yard will look like we have the wost case of gophers ever seen. Hopefully he'll tire before then.

The dog keeps watch.

A Project Seventeen Years In The Making

When Brian and I were planning our wedding way back when, I began saving fabrics for a quilt I wanted to make someday. Every time I sewed something for the wedding, our home, our new babies, etc. I would make sure to save the scraps so that eventually I would have enough fabric to make a "memory quilt".

So many fabrics- so many memories. Toddlers running around in little regency dresses, young ladies in lovely gowns. A little boy in jammies.

All those fabrics to iron before they are cut.

An ever growing pile- and this is just for the first seventeen years!

Around the House...

It snowed yesterday for a few hours and there was enough snow to make a snowman (or a snow chair).

I asked Abby to take some pictures outside for me. She tried to take some of Jacob and Hope, but they mostly ran away from her!

View from the front yard.

Jacob and Hope have been playing with Lincoln logs in the family room the past few days. Notice the cowboy/soldier guarding the barn from the roof. And another cowboy apparently shooting something from beside the house. Wonder why all the animals appear to be dead. Hmmm.

In school news, Jacob and Hope's new math program came today- from "Math-U-See". Hannah has been using their Pre-Algebra course and has liked it so I thought I'd see how Jacob did with it. We have always used "Making Math Meaningful" but once we hit Algebra (after that series had ended), we floundered. We checked out another video Algebra program and were not impressed. We liked "Math-U-See" for Hannah, so we'll see how it works for the younger grades.

If nothing else, the manipulatives are colorful and fun to play with!

The Reason Why I Have SO Much Silverware Today...

Jan asks:

Do you remember the first Parks' Reunion in Washington State? My Jim teased your Mom so much for sorting through the silverware at that hall where we had our skits.

Jan, I have NO idea what you are referring to.

*Mom is not stealing silverware from camp kitchens. She is "trading" spoons with non-matching spares she CARRIED AROUND IN HER PURSE JUST FOR THIS PURPOSE*

Remembering

Twenty years ago today Mom went to her heavenly home. Those of us who loved her most look forward to seeing her again someday.

We are also remembering other loved ones who have passed away in the month of March- longing to see them again, too.

Easter Sunrise Service

Our church's Easter Sunrise Service was held at a park located a mile down the road from us. It snowed last night and early morning temperatures were cold (twenty degrees or so). It was beautiful and it inspired us to try to come back some other early mornings when the weather is a bit warmer.

Only about 30 people were there at that service (an indoor church service was held later), and yes, they were all dressed like we were (above, in the snowsuits). We didn't think that our Easter Sunday clothing would be the same as our Christmas Day outdoor gear.

Fun at the Park

A Happy Birthday

Phone calls from people I love who live far away...

Lots of balloons and streamers filled the house...from a boy who woke up at 5am to decorate before I woke up (and a girl who blew up quite a few more after SHE woke up!).

A beautiful cake made by two wonderful daughters...

Flowers from a fabulous husband...

The best birthday I've ever had!

Inspired by the owner of "The Nesting Place" and since I don't have many spare brain cells to use with this flu hanging on the way it has... I decided a simple project was in order for the day.

Here is my kitchen cabinet which I love. I have always wanted to paint the back or do something to spice it up a bit. The "Nester" this week showed how she zipped up the back of her cabinet with decorative paper from Michaels. Since I'm not going anywhere right now in this state of health, I thought wrapping paper might work.

It was either this bridal wrapping paper or Raggedy Ann and Andy paper. I think I made the right choice.

Ta da! And the best part is that I can take it down and try something else when I get tired of it.

We put up a few Springtime decorations as well.

On the first day of this flu adventure, when just Brian and Hope were sick, I made rice pudding, a treat Hannah and Abby used to like when they were little.

I told Jacob (who had never eaten rice pudding) that it was good when you are sick.

He took a bite of the pudding and asked, "How sick will I need to be before this tastes good?"

Here It Comes...

Blogging will resume when the flu has made its way through each and every one of us...

Valentine's Day

I made this decoration for the mantle on Valentine's Day - on each heart is part of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (love is patient, love is kind...)

The girls and I made cheesecake for Daddy and he enjoyed it even though he started coming down with something flu-like last night. The rest of us enjoyed it as well. :)

After a hot bath, sleeping all night with lots of blankets, LOTS of vitamin C, and some vitamin Advil, he is feeling a lot better today. Here's hoping the rest of us don't get sick!

This morning - early- way before the sun was due to come up, I heard a little voice saying, "I had a bad dream. Can I sleep with you?"

Too tired to say "no", before I knew it, Hope was in bed with us. Ready, apparently, for an in-depth theological conversation.

She had questions about a book she had read that said dinosaurs were not alive at the same time as people. "Is that true?" she asked.

That lead to a talk about evolution and how many people in the media and in public schools automatically assume "millions (or billions) of years ago". - Note to self: see the movie "Expelled- No Intelligence Allowed" by Ben Stein.

This led into questions about Jesus' crucifixtion and how God could raise Him from the dead. All before the sun came up.

I was reminded about a time when Hannah was little and she asked "Can bad people go to heaven?" in the ladies restroom in a mall. She was rarely satisfied when a basic yes or no, so I guess the great questions of life happen anytime, anyplace.

Even when you should be sleeping.

Snowy Day (and Night)

Family

Because I Can't Always Wear Homemade Clothes From 1950's Patterns - or- This Momma Needs to Get With It

Most of my clothes have seen better days. It is time to start looking for some new things to smarten up my "look", if it can be called that. I have been away from anything remotely fashionable in so long, I've forgotten how. So many things in the stores today remind me of the 70's that it makes me nervous just to consider trying them on. Let's be honest- "flared pant legs" is just another term for bell bottoms. Just a bit smaller. And I can't go there. (Not that others can't look nice in them...)

A few months ago I subscribed to an email service called Missus Smarty Pants (missussmartypants.com) that sends weekly fashion advice based on your body shape. While this was interesting, the clothes featured were often expensive and usually not "me".

So, when I heard about the website MyShape.com, I was excited. My Shape has you enter in certain body measurements, your clothing preferences and coloring (spring, winter, fall, or summer) and then gives you a selection of clothes that supposedly fit you to a "t". That, plus coupons and other deals, I felt it was worth it to try and see if their system worked. The best part of it is that shipping and return shipping is free- yeah!

I'll start with the positives. The clothes come wrapped in a lovely net bag that makes a wonderful plaything for your children. You get to keep this even if you return the clothes.

I wasn't sure about ordering this shirt, but Abby insisted. She was right- this shirt fits very well and is something different, but not too different.

I really like the buttons- they have a vintage feel to them.

The washable leather jacket is too big through the sides, but I may keep it because I like the color. And because Hannah likes it. And because she will probably inherit it someday, like she does so many of my things...

This sweater is too large and will be sent back.

Surprisingly, I liked this and can use it for exercising in. I would never have thought to buy something like this. This was the other item Abby insisted upon.

O.K., now for the negatives. This skirt was supposed to fit and it's about 5 inches too big in the waist. I looked like one of the "after" photos in a Jenny Craig ad, showing how much weight I'd lost.

Since Abby and I have almost the same waist measurement, I ordered this skirt for her- and it fell off her when she put it on! It was huge on me as well.

So, it's safe to say that MyShape's recommendations for the skirts were waayyyy off . Another negative is that the first thing I ordered from them two days before this order was placed was for a shirt- and they sent the wrong one. And by that time, the rest of that style was sold out.

While I think the My Shape concept is super and with the discount coupons added to their sale items one could find some nifty deals, my overall success rate with them has been lower than with other catalog companies.

I think I'll have the best success going into the stores at the mall (which I greatly dislike) and trying things on the old fashioned way. I may pop in on the My Shape site and see what they recommend- and then keep those suggestions in mind when I shop elsewhere.

My Boy