Handmade Christmas :: jammies

I hope I can post about the handmade I got done this year...there isn't too much. For as little as there was handmade this year there are even fewer pictures of what was done so we'll see if I can even post about it.

One thing that I almost crossed off the list and almost gave up on were the Christmas Eve jammies. I have given the kids new jammies on Christmas Eve since #1 was a year old but the past four or so years I have made the pants each year (here is last year's post, inside that are links for other years). And each year they are a little comically large or too tight...can't seem to get them just right. But this year there was just so much on my list and a little baby and the sickies and a new fabric store that I had heard had all sorts of crazy long lines...

But I did make it to the store. The lines weren't TOO bad, I was able to run there while Mr. Wiedz came home for lunch one day.

And I decided that this year there was no need for the pants to be a surprise, after all I make them every year so they know what they're getting.

Last year my mom had to help me with waistbands because I had made my rises too short. She made contrasting waistbands and sewed them onto the top of the pants similarly to how I do the cuffs on the bottom. I decided to start that way and I'm so glad I did. Probably saved the pants!!! No seams!!! I was able to cut out and sew all six pairs in one day and add elastic the next evening.

Done! And adorable.

*I am notoriously late in getting shirts to go with the jammies each year. Actually last year I didn't even get shirts and they just wore whatever they were wearing that day to bed and the next morning. This year I got a great deal at the Children's Place's cyber Monday sale and got all the kids new shirts. They didn't match or "go with" the jammies but everyone loves their shirts and they all looked so cute.

Oh wow! Fall. It's been a tough one.

Remember how Mr. Wiedz called the beginning of my pregnancy with #6 "the fog"? That's a little bit like I feel looking back at the fall. We had a lot of changes and I think it has taken me awhile to find my stride. But I think we/I are finding our way.

And here we are on the edge of a new year.

I love new years...it's like a new school year to me. All fresh; clean paper, sharpened pencils, untested schedules and blank calendar pages. Combine that with my newly found stride and we may be ready for this new year!

So, here's to a new year...a new chance to get into the stride. A new year full of grace in the midst of the crazy.

:: 9 Months ::

Of course it's almost been a month since I took this adorable picture of my 9 month old baby girl. That also means it's almost been a month since she was 9 months old...how can it possibly be that she's getting so big! Right before her 9th month she started pulling herself up. She had gotten to a standing position on our {unused} fireplace but I came home from work one afternoon and the babysitter shared that she'd done it holding onto the couch! We were all so surprised! Of course she has since learned how to cruise along the couch and between furniture. And the all-important getting back to the ground. She even bends over now to pick things up. And she pulls up on ANYTHING now that she's figured out this trick. She's also clapping now which is ADORABLE!!! She finally outgrew the 6month clothes and like most of my babies seems content to skip the 9 month size and go directly to the 12 month.

Who knows...maybe her 10th month post will get up before she's nearly a year old.

:: Yarn Along ::

Oh, it has been so long!

But, not looking behind...forward only!

Yarning Along again with Ginny...here's what my pile is looking like.

On the needles :: I've pulled Mr. Wiedz's sweater out and am going to get motivated to work on it again...Mr. Wiedz says it's all he wants for Christmas. Since that isn't going to happen I'm not moving too quickly. All these other, faster, knits are jumping ahead in line. Unfortnuately, I've made a major first-sweater mistake and didn't buy all the yarn at once for the sweater. Of course at the time I was starting this project I only had the money for the two skeins I bought, but now that I've gone back to the yarn store for more yarn I see that the dye lots do matter (look at how much yellow there is in that new skein...that's pretty true color thanks to my Stella Lamp) and now Mr. Wiedz will have a two-tone sweater. I'm trying to get over it. We'll see if I ever let him wear it...

I'm also starting on my small list of handmades for Christmas. I'm working on the milanese loop for the babysitter using this yarn in pewter.

I pinned this idea from pinterest for crocheted bowls and balls that I'm going to do for #6 for Christmas. I found half the yarn at the local craft store and I'm ordering the other three colors so I can have a bright rainbow.

On the nightstand :: I've finally gotten my turn with The Mark of Athena now that #1 is finished. I just don't have the reading time that I used to so I'm going super slow even though it is a great book. The boys and I are reading Foundlings aloud (somewhat reluctantly on some parts) and #2 and I are very into it.

8 Months

Well, here I am again. Amazed how fast time goes. I took little miss 6's picture on the day she was 8 months old. But we were celebrating Christmas with my extended family (yep, Christmas in November) and I figured I was doing good to get the photo taken, I'd upload and post when I got home. Fast forward (seriously, that's how fast it feels like time is going) three weeks and I'm staring down another month of her life and the milestones that are crashing on us like nobody's business and I haven't even gotten the 8th month pictures out of the camera yet! 

So here you are.

She's 8 months old! While we were at my mom's for Early Christmas she got herself to a sit but hasn't been able to replicate that milestone again. That getting themselves to a sitting position is by far my favorite milestone! I love it when they are no longer frustrated by the position they are in. No teeth yet. We've tried some different food but she really isn't into it. All my other babies liked applesauce and pears and all those sweet things...not little 6. Crackers are keeping her occupied while I cook dinner and that's what's most important right now. She says "da da" which Mr. Wiedz is convinced means she's talking to him. Whatever, it's adorable. She smiles all the time and everywhere we go I am surrounded by people telling me what a great baby she is.

Well, it won't be too long until I'm back with her 9th month picture, is it really almost December?

7 Months

Oh! The baby is 7 months old already! Can you believe it?! We can't. 

She's sitting like a pro and rolling around and scooting backwards to get around the room. Adorable but a little challenging for this household of other little people who don't pick up after themselves...we are having a lot of conversations about little pieces of paper and plastic and legos.

We started eating a little rice cereal but she wasn't too into it and I'm a little lazy so it hasn't become a regular thing.

She's a little bit of a thing, my most petite baby. So sweet and tiny.

I am loving these monthly photos, it is so fun to watch her grow and change. I made a collage of the first six months on picmonkey...love the way it turned out.

6 months (a little late)

Well, this picture was taken almost a month ago which means of course that little miss #6 will be 7 months old this week. I figured it was right to post her 6th month photo before her 7th month...there you go.

#4 got to tell me a little update for #6, here's what he had to say...

• she rolls to her stomach and back to her back.
• she is cute
• she smiles a lot and is starting to laugh
• I love her

Oh, my sweet babies...how I love them!

Come back in just a few days to see our little darling at 7 months!

:: Yarn Along ::

On the needles :: Oh, I'm so close with #3's sweater! It took me all week to remember to fit it to him and make sure we were ready for the neck ribbing. And I had every intention of sitting up last night and doing that ribbing but banking/book work won the day and I didn't get more than 8 stitches done yesterday.

I've been working on wash clothes too. I'm hoping to put together a stash of knitted goodness and find a craft show to hawk them. I have a list of potential projects to sell and even have quite a bit of yarn in my stash...it could work.

On the nightstand :: I have barely been reading. I gave up on The Secret Supper too. And last week I only did school prep things, like coloring hands to skip count by 5's. Last night I did pick back up my copy of Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit, a good refresher as we gear up to start a new year.

What are you knitting? Reading? Dreaming of? Leave a comment, I'd love to check it out. And join other Yarn Alongers at Ginny's.

Project :: Headband for #6

I'm was thinking July may have to be the month I catch up...but it looks like it'll take me all summer since I don't even write up my catch-up posts as often as I intended! I looked over my list of things I wanted to write about, share here, document and remember. I'm behind. I always say {at least to myself} that I will be more consistent. Perhaps it just is what it is and I won't worry about it but with no journal and no scrapbook, this space is where I keep track of most of our goings-on...so I'll catch up.

We are in the heat of summer, which I really don't like, last year we started school by now just so we could be inside instead of out in the heat. So I'm knitting, which is evident by the fact that the only posts have been Yarn Along posts.

Now, here's a post about a project I made for #6 back in MAY...

Every little girl needs a headband right? I thought #6 did so I decided to knit one for her. Size one needles and really little yarn meant that what I thought would be a quick project during a couple basketball practices, turned out to take a long time. It turned out just like I hoped though. I love how the construction went; all garter stitch so that was easy, the loop for the bow hides the seam of the headband part and a rectangle goes through the loop to make a bow! So sweet.

(Ravelry notes here)

As it turns out I'm not so good at remembering to put bows on my girl. I'll keep trying but will probably have to gift this one on to the next baby girl...it's just too cute to not get more wear out of (and it really did take awhile!). 

Rowing :: Night of the Moonjellies

I've been trying to catch up...and I'm nearly there! I blogged about our row of Mike Mulligan here and our row of Storm in the Night here last week. They were fun rows, though not as fun as...

For our last row this year we did Night of the Moonjellies and it was perfect! It was a great way to kick off our summer break and a nice easy row without a lot of extras, the boys didn't miss them and I didn't feel too guilty about not providing them.

This is such a sweet book!

I think every activity we did centered around food for this row. We had a hamburger and milkshake dinner and #3 opened his own diner for lunch one day with hot dogs, homemade onion rings and orange soda. We invited some family that was in town for the day over to share our special lunch and had a great time, just like the boy in the story.

I wanted to go to the aquarium to see jelly fish with this row but it just never happened.

Links ::


bhoomplay.wordpress.com - jellyfish in a bottle tutorial (we didn't get to this either, sigh, so many good ideas out there)
delightful learning - inspiration
homeschool share - lapbook and printables

History is Alive :: Aztec Hot Chocolate

In our history travels we made it to the early America Kingdoms. We covered the Mayans of Central America, the Aztecs and their city of Tenochtitlan, and the Incas. There were a lot of activities I wanted to cover in this chapter, but I just couldn't do it all! #2 and I did some Mayan mathematics, using Mayan numbers. He's my math guy so he thought this was pretty cool. 

But as a group we made Aztec hot chocolate. The Aztecs often put spices in their cocoa mixture so that's what the recipe from the activity book called for. I served ours with a scoop of whipped topping to help boost the sweetness. It didn't really work, the mugs looked quite similar to the bottom picture when we were done, just with melted whipped topping...no one really enjoyed their Aztec hot chocolate. It was interesting though and fun to try something new.

:: Yarn Along ::

 

On the needles :: I have been working on #3's sweater exclusively and I'm so happy about the progress. I'm hoping to have it off the needles and be working on a couple ideas I have percolating by the weekend.

On the nightstand :: I gave up on The Throne of Fire , I just couldn't get into it and it was taking up valuable space in my mind to worry if I should keep trying or not. #1 has read the whole series so far and doesn't enjoy them as much as the Olympians series but is glad she read them. Since she couldn't tell me book 3 was to die for I just couldn't keep going. I started The Secret Supper. Still too early to give an opinion.

Joining Ginny today for Yarn Along.

Rowing :: Storm in the Night

We rowed Storm in the Night in April. To be honest, it wasn't my favorite book. I didn't love the way it flowed and it just could have been a better story. The boys were a bit wishy washy about it. They liked parts and *got* it but didn't *love* it. I did what Michelle did and read Thunder Cake to go along with it, I saw it at the library and I remembered her mentioning it and how well it went with our row. I'm with her, wish we had rowed Tundercake instead.

We made a rain gauge and tracked our rain for a couple of weeks. It rains A LOT here in Oregon so we were not disappointed though I'm glad we kept going for a couple of weeks, just when you want it to rain it doesn't for a few days.

There was a lot of these rain clouds in a jar on pinterest and of course I pinned one then tried it for our row. I just used straight food coloring but I think that I should have made colored water. I think the food coloring was too heavy to work through the cloud but they got a kick out of it and it did "work" in the end.

And what row about clouds (or snow really) would be complete without playing with shaving cream on the table. I even got them to write sight words and their names in the cream! Yay for learning!

Links ::

Delightful Learning :: inspiration, really where else would I look first!

Homeschool Share :: lapbook and further inspiration

Rowing :: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

The boys and I rowed Mike Mulligan at the end of March/beginning of April, it was the first book we did after our baby break. It was such an easy book to row, such a sweet book. And there were so many ideas to make the row a great learning experience and full of memories.

We talked a lot about squares and #3 completed a lapbook piece about squares, drawing one, the definition of a square, and cutting a square from a magazine.

Of course there was a lot of time spent on steam. I think this little science experiment was from the manual but it could have been from anywhere :). The boys thought it was really cool that steam makes my teapot whistle but also turns the pinwheel (not to mention that I allowed them close enough to the stove to do this).

And we watched videos of steam shovels and steam engine trains in action on YouTube. We watched a lot so I can't link to what we watched, I just searched steam engines and tried to find ones more than 30 seconds long that they would enjoy.

I think I got this idea from Michelle. And the kids thought it was so fun! I just made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting (a favorite combo around here) and used chocolate sandwich cookies crushed up as the dirt. I found the little digger in a matchbox set at the toy store, we won't tell Mr. Wiedz I made a stop at the store *just* to look for a digger to finish my cake :). Michelle suggested putting the cake in the freezer to make it easier to cut. Since the freezer is also a handy place to hide a surprise cake I left it there and decided I LOVE frozen cake.

We also worked on our Animal ABC's, letter E. I let the kids decide a lot of the time how to color their letter, this week it was watercolor. I was trying to match everything up, ABC Animal, All About Reading and our rows but it wasn't working. We were going to slow. I also thought I'd keep up with our letter stuff over the summer - not! I'm not sure what to do, keep #3 doing alphabet crafts or just do a breeze through with #4. Sigh...another thing to think about.

Links ::

Delightful Learning :: inspiration

YouTube :: steam engine search results

Homeschool Share :: inspiration and lapbook

History is Alive :: Battle Flags

I'm was thinking July may have to be the month I catch up...but it looks like it'll take me all summer since I don't even write up my catch-up posts as often as I intended! I looked over my list of things I wanted to write about, share here, document and remember. I'm behind. I always say {at least to myself} that I will be more consistent. Perhaps it just is what it is and I won't worry about it but with no journal and no scrapbook, this space is where I keep track of most of our goings-on...so I'll catch up.

We are in the heat of summer, which I really don't like, last year we started school by now just so we could be inside instead of out in the heat. I'm trying to get ready for the school year still, haven't bought books yet. Haven't gotten the room ready. I'm making lists but at this point I think they are just making me overwhelmed instead of helping anything. But school will start whether I've gotten everything on my list done or not, whether the pinterest (go ahead and follow me - I find some cool things) ideas stay on my board or make it into my actual school and whether I feel ready or not.

Now, here's a post about our battle flags all the way from April...

We talked about France and England at war in our history lesson. This included Joan of Arc. During the wars the soldiers fought under a battle flag so we drew our own battle flags. The activity booksuggested picking a symbol that represents you. We just drew ours on water color paper that I cut up into smaller pieces, I wanted them to be substantial and compact so they would be purposeful about what they drew.

#2 couldn't decide on one element so he decorated both sides and they both fit him *so* well! A scene from Mario Bros and a baseball diamond. I love how they both turned out and the time and effort he put into them.

#4's. I have no idea what it is anymore. He might have told me...hopefully I wrote it down somewhere so when I put them into the scrapbook I can write it down. It is cute though...just like him.

#3's I can't remember anymore either. Though it looks like his sketch has a bit more detail. Drawing isn't really his thing but he tried hard and I love it.

Mine, tee hee, a book, my kids and knitting. The things I enjoy.