The burden in my heart..

I can still remember the first time I knew I wanted to be a mom. I remember that silly young girl, not yet 19. I had been married for almost a year. It was a beautiful Saturday and we were at church. I should have been listening to the pastor, but I texted Jonathan this "I want to have a baby". After a talk on the short ride home, I threw out my birth control that day. We always seem to make major life decisions quickly. We always just dive right in. I got pregnant a few months later. What a ride it has been! My sweet pea didn't stay a baby for very long. I can't believe she will be four in just three short months. We are really starting to think about school now that she's getting older. Jonathan and I both grew up being homeschooled. We both did very well in college, though I chose to not finish my degree. We both believe very strongly in home school. Even with these opinions and beliefs, I have been struggling for awhile. I feel so burdened to stay home with my children and teach them, yet I feel so overwhelmed. I love them so much. Though somedays I find myself day dreaming of a career and of finishing my degree. I feel so ill equipped and incapable of educating them. Jonathan and I had the privilege of going to a Homeschool book fair, this past Friday. The lectures were amazing! I felt so inspired! Somehow, I find myself overwhelmed and discouraged again already. We haven't even started yet. We bought a curriculum. There was so much to choose from. We get home and not even two days later I'm second guessing our choices. I keep reminding myself she'll only be four. I need to just relax and take baby steps. She's a very gifted child and we're starting her with kindergarten curriculum. Everything that matched her age seemed that it would bore her. She already knew it. I don't want to rush her or push her too much, but I don't want to bore her to death either. I keep reminding myself we can always repeat again the next year, but I'm fairly certain she is going to flourish. In the meantime, I'm trying to stay positive. I love being a mother. If there is one thing I've learned, in my three years and 81/2 months of parenting, it's that I over worry. Everything all works out in it's own time. I am capable of teaching her. We are going to succeed at this. No one ever said being a parent would be easy.

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Yay for spring! I love spring. I think I love it even more now that we're gardening. I've never had a garden before. I fear I may have inherited my mothers black thumb. That coupled with my intense fear of all things creepy crawly just might spell a gardening disaster for me. In the mean time I'm going to enjoy it. What better way to have spent an entire Sunday with my family? The girls loved gardening. Children even girl children love getting dirty. Though both girls were a little uncertain at first. Their uncertainty faded quickly. I found myself very surprised to actually be enjoying the smell and feel of the dirt on my hands. I couldn't believe the soil actually smelled good. Little Turkey enjoyed the smell so much. She decided to taste it and keep tasting it. Gross! If she has a sudden growth spurt we can thank the miracle grow. Already some of the little plants are growing taller! We planted corn, tomatoes, peas (a little late for those), green beans, cucumber, squash, watermelon, blackberry bushes, raspberry bushes, blueberry trees, and several different herbs. We are so excited! We're doubtful the corn or watermelon will grow very well, but we shall see. Hoping and praying for a good harvest.

Oliver + S

When I first started sewing, I got into it because I wanted to quilt. The very first things I sewed were two hot pads. I still have those hot pads somewhere. They look so sad with there crooked lines. I was very proud of those hot pads though and I was in love with sewing. I had found a new hobby. Someday I dream of being proficient at free arm quilting. For now, while my girls are small and will still wear what I make them, I've been enjoying sewing clothes. About a year ago when I was looking online for inspiration, I remember seeing a children's pattern with the sweetest little paper doll on the front. At the time laughably I thought they were vintage. I didn't purchase any at the time. I felt that they weren't really a style I was interested in. It's so funny how much one's tastes can change in just a year. I've since learned more about these patterns and I'm in love! They are the sweetest patterns with the sweetest details. I've spent a shameful amount of time on the flickr group looking at all the different things people have sewn with these patterns! I must say there are some talented seamstresses out there. If you are ever looking, for children's clothing inspiration, you should take a peek. The patterns are phenomenal! The instructions are very detailed and thorough. I recently sewed together the playdate dress. I found a very helpful blog and made good use of the Oliver + S forums when I got stuck. I had never sewn a yoke before and that had me stuck for quite awhile. I did eventually figure it out at 12:00 am. I loved how it all came together and will be much quicker the next time I make one of these. I made a 6-12mo. size for little Turkey. Whenever I'm researching clothes to sew for my littles I like to know what size others picked for their littles. So helpful when deciding what size pattern to use. Little Turkey is very small for age only in the 3rd percentile. She is currently in 12 month clothing, but depending on the brand 12month clothing sometimes is big on her. I'm pleased with the fit. I think she would have also fit the 12-18 month size. I think the next time I sew one up I will make the seam larger on the yoke. I have to pull pretty hard to get it over her head.

So busy..

Turns out blogging diligently just isn't my strong point I honestly don't know how people have the time. Seems like most days I do good to take care of my girls and get part not even all of the household chores completed. Turns out I'm something of a slow poke. Getting things done quickly has never been my strong suit. I'm not giving up yet though. I'm going to try and get this blog up and running if it's the last thing I do. Tot school has been going splendidly. My three year old loves it! She begs for it on days that we don't do it. I fear she won't be interested in a summer break. We have loved rowing our BFIAR books. She is learning to read. She's known her whole alphabet since one and a half and she knows all her letter sounds. I'd been holding back, but she kept pointing at words and asking "what's that say?", so I finally decided to start teaching her. She loves it and is doing well! She just had her first violin recital this past Sunday. She started back in September and enjoys playing! Little Turkey has been growing so much and is into everything. She has a special fascination with out trash cans and the toilet! This is very new for us. Her big sister never got into anything. She certainly is giving us a run for our money! Her vocabulary has started to bloom. I think it's due, largely to the fact, that we only let her have her beloved pacifier for naps and bedtime now. Currently my favorite word that she says is flower. So precious! These sweet girls keep me busy. I have several sewing projects all cut out and ready to sew. The children have needs so I'm off. Hopefully I'll have some sewing projects to share soon.

And so it begins (first week pics)

Super excited to be starting! Dress tutorial http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/10/re-purposing-skirtshirt-into-dress.html

What could be more fun, than reading a story to your kitten?

Messy hands are part of the fun, right mom? She wasn't too sure about that!

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....

Choo choo! Even baby sis could blow the whistle. I was super excited, to have found those train whistles for 1$ in the dollar section at Target.

So this is what rainy weather feels like.

A not so little red caboose.

Waiting for the train.

Little Conductor.

Lunch with Mimi and Papa.

Post lunch snuggles.

Field trips are a lot of work.

First Week of tot school.

Who would have ever thought, planning a few fun activities for a 3 year old could be so time consuming? More than once in the past two and a half weeks I have decided that tot school was a horrible idea. Only a crazy person would spend practically every spare minute preparing for activities, that will only take up 30 minutes to 2 hours of a day. Hopefully I'll get quicker. Every time I've thought about quitting a certain three year old girl begs me to do tot school and her smile wins me over every time. Our first week was a huge success. She loved it! It's a great learning experience for both of us. For our first week, I decided to make our week's theme go along with the "Little Engine that Could". I think I can, I think I can, I think I can... I was very surprised when sweet pea at 2 years old started saying "I can't do it". It seems to be one of her favorite phrases these days. Knowing tot school was going to be fun, but new and therefore challenging, I knew just the story and Bible verse to start our week off right. I had a lot of fun setting up all her trays. She was eager to get started. She surprised me by picking a train puzzle for her first activity. I would have thought she'd pick paints or play dough. We tried to do tot school whenever baby sister was napping, but that wasn't always possible. It certainly made tot school all the more challenging, but we managed. Throughout the week she colored, she made a toilet paper train, she made a play dough train, she painted a wooden train, and she made a foam train magnet, she read stories about trains and we watched 2 short movies about trains. We tried to do tot school whenever baby sister was napping, but that wasn't always possible. It certainly made tot school all the more challenging, but we managed. We ended our week with a train ride. We all loved it and were very sad when it was over. It was her mommy and daddy's first train ride too. We've decided we love trains. We plan on riding on one again at christmas. As a side note, the dress she wore on her very first day was made by yours truly. The dress was sewn from a woman's skirt and t-shirt purchased at the thrift store. For people who enjoy repurposing a great tutorial can be found here http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/10/re-purposing-skirtshirt-into-dress.html. For some reason blogger isn't letting me post pictures. I will try and post some soon.

First Post

I've been trying to start a blog, and to be honest this is the third blog I've set up. Laughably, I thought I would have time to manage more than one. Having come to the realization, that I'm just too busy, I've decided to combine them all. One place for sharing my love of sewing, my love of raising Christian children, and hopefully my love of homeschooling. I'm relatively new to all of these things. I married my best friend when I was 18. Yes I know shocking! We were married on December 16, 2007 in our home town church. We honeymooned, in a little log cabin, in Estes Park Colorado. A little over a year later we found out there was a pea in my pod. As most first pregnancies do, it dragged and dragged and dragged. I felt I would be pregnant forever! While disappointed to not be having a natural birth, I was over the moon to be getting to cut my pregnancy short by one week. Due to breech presentation, Sweet pea was born via c-section on Monday August 24, 2009. She was perfect! The most beautiful little baby in the world. I could barely sleep for the first three days.

All I wanted to do was hold her and stare at her. She was so beautiful. I was so in love! My husband and I were on cloud 9 for about five days. Then the reality of the situation hit. This beautiful little person liked to eat, and she liked to eat often, especially at night. Our alone time was gone, the beautiful baby was for keeps. I felt as though I would never sleep again or spend time with my husband. Was this really my life, what had we been thinking? Yes it was my life and about six weeks into it, life seemed to even out. We set into a routine and by three months into this parenting venture we were pros. Had there ever been a time without her? Fast forward 17 months, March of 2011 we found out we were expecting a Thanksgiving blessing. The second pregnancy didn't drag by at all,in fact it seemed to go by too quickly. Thoughts of "how will I ever love this one as much as I love the one I already have, how will I manage two? ect. ect". Thoughts of sleepless nights and an exhaustion beyond words plagued me. I dreaded the newborn phase. I enjoyed the tender kicks more this time knowing they would be gone quickly. I felt if I was pregnant forever I would not mind, too much. I went into labour on my due date. Note worthy contractions started at 5:30 on Thanksgiving day. Little turkey arrived the next morning November 25, 2011 via vbac(vaginal birth after c-section). I was amazed and relieved to find myself in love with another little daughter. She was perfect! The most beautiful little baby in the world. We were on cloud 9! Though I had no problem sleeping when she did, I was just as much in love. My heart had grown. We brought her home and to my delight sleepless nights didn't bother me. Strange I had remembered them being so much worse. She seemed to fit right in and as all children do she's grown! I am just over three years into this parenting adventure. Every day is filled with exciting new things. We started our first week of tot school last week. I will be posting about that shortly. Thanks for stopping by and reading my first post.