Ellie Joy

Being a model

Being a mommy

(I have no idea what happened to Daniel's neck - we must have misplaced it for this photo)

Being stinkin' gorgeous

About the dress: from Weekend Sewing, the Flower Girl dress. Very easy, in spite of how difficult I tried to make it by messing up a few times. I didn't really understand the sizing, and even though I made the largest size, this will fit her for about 15 minutes. Fortunately, it's easy enough to alter to whatever size you want, meaning Abi and Anna should be getting some, too.

Stitch markers

If you knit, at some point or another, you're going to need stitch markers. Now, you can buy the fairly uninspired plastic rings, and they do the job fine. You can use things around the house like safety pins, colored string, or (if you're like me) a broken earring that's still too pretty to get rid of.

But if you find yourself in need of a little "knitting jewelry", you'll get some of these:

Aren't they cute? You can get all sorts like these on etsy or make them yourself.

These are the ones I made for Mum:

All of mine were made with some beads from Grandmom and beads from the girls' stash. They didn't seem to mind...

Eleanor Reads

Sorry about the big truck going by, but it's cute anyway...

The Twirly Skirt

Anna needed a twirly skirt.

Made from this tutorial. (highly recommended, in spite of the math)

It passed the twirly test...

...which is a relief.

Summer hair

We all had some seriously long hair. With the hot weather upon us and a decreased desire to fight with tangles, we decided it was time for a change.

This was Anna's before it was cut - Abigail's was a similar length, but I forgot to get a photo before I lopped it off...

Anna's "after" shot

Abi's "after" shot

Now, to be fair, these pictures were taken a couple weeks ago - the girls decided early on they wanted "summer hair". I was slower off the mark. I like my long hair. I like my braid. But I wasn't liking the time it takes to dry. And I think, frankly, I wanted a change. So.....

Before

After

What do you think? I'm rather pleased with it. All in, about 13 inches came off. It's all contained in a nice long ponytail, ready to be donated to Locks of Love. And the best of it is that it didn't cost a cent - my sweet mother-in-law did the cutting. Bless her, she was very nervous about it, but she faced her fear and did a fine job - and she didn't even take revenge for moving her boy so far away. What a treasure!

Whoa - has anyone else ever handed their mother-in-law a pair of scissors and invited them to chop away? I'll have to give her an extra hug today.

They are getting big...

...it's going too fast

Be Diligent

Toby and I have been feeling lately like we need to be more diligent in using Scripture in the raising and training of our children. After all, the standards we are trying to hold them to are God's standards rather than our own, and we feel they need to know what His Word says about things like love, obedience and service. So, we recently came up with a select list of verses we want to help the children to memorize to aid in growing in certain areas.

I think all kids struggle in some degree or another with the concept of diligence. You know, doing a job until it's done, and done well. Not giving up half-way through. We see this lack most clearly around this house in the areas of schoolwork and chores (of course).

The other day was a doozy. Hours of me reminding my children, "Finish up that worksheet, now." "You haven't finished picking up your room." "You can play after you finish your work." "Would you please quit messing around and get it done??" (Goodness, I do sound like an ogre!) Finally I snapped. I may not have said it, but I know I was thinking, "You know, school is sounding like a great idea. Someone else can deal with whining, uncooperative kids and I can relax a little. They would probably behave much better for a teacher than they do for me. I wonder when the next school bus drives by..." Meanwhile, I'm reminding my girls for probably the thirtieth time that morning of Galatians 6:9 (our verse for this week) : Do not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

As the words are coming out of my mouth, I hear the small, yet persistent voice of the Spirit speaking the same words to my heart. "This is your job right now. Don't give up. It's hard right now, but if you keep going, working in My strength rather than your own, you will reap a harvest of righteousness in these babes of yours. So don't grow weary in doing this good. I'll help you."

And with that, a deep breath, a prayer of thanks and the last school bus flying by, we got back to work. And the faith of a faithless young mama is bolstered for another day.

My new thing

Smoothies are my new thing. Green smoothies, to be exact.

The thing is, I'm a lazy eater. If I'm hungry (which is most of the time), I'll grab whatever is easiest (and tastiest) and move right along. Trouble is, what is easy isn't always what's healthy. Unless Cadbury's Fruit and Nut is healthy...

So, I heard about the Green Smoothie Challenge here. Now, I'm not actually following the challenge properly, I've been managing to incorporate a smoothie into my day pretty much every day for the last 2 weeks. I think I'd probably notice more benefit if I did the cutting out sugar and drinking more water and smoothie (I'm consuming about 8 fl oz at the moment).

If memory serves, this little concoction was 2 handfuls of spinach, 1.5 cups water, .5 cup orange juice, 1 cup frozen mango/melon/peach blend, 1 cup blueberries, 2 kiwi and 1 tbsp honey.

I gotta tell ya, though, it's good. It's not hard, doesn't take long and I've been making enough for at least one glass for myself and some for the kids. Shockingly, they've liked most concoctions. I haven't made a big deal about them having any - my thinking is if they like it, more goodness for them and if they don't, more snack for me. So it's all good.

I don't yet own a blender (though Amazon should be rectifying the situation in a few days), so I use my food processor. Top tip if you don't have the blender action: puree your greens (usually spinach or kale) first, then add some water to "liquidize" it, then add your fruit. Makes for a smoother beverage.

Another good site for smoothie info is here. Happy blending, friends!

Oh, help

So. I must knit this. For myself. Now (almost). Gorgeous, no?

So. Here is the conundrum: do I use this fabulously expensive yarn in the Baltic (think seaside, star-filled sky),

the Tart, which almost literally made me drool,
or the Jade, my favorite stone and color, and is just too lovely for words?

I cannot make this decision on my own; it's just too much for me. Help me, dear one, if you can!

Kids need to play

Not that anyone needed to tell them that