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.