For Mandie

Our beautiful baby niece is finally leaving us to her adoptive parents. It's tragic yet beautiful. It was the plan all along but she takes a piece of all our hearts with her. I don't think any of us will miss that part of our hearts the way we will miss her.

For each of my foster nieces (and nephews, although we have yet to have any) I like to have something to give them. I made a teddy for our last princess, and for this one, a blanket:

When I prayed for her at dinner tonight, and for my sister and her family, Matthew turned and ask me why we had to give her away. I explained to him the situation. How is was a very special thing that she was going from one loving family to a permanent home. He seemed to understand. Ewan, however, was perplexed:

You mean, we will have to do that with Declan too?

Hard for little ones to make sense of it all. However, we have all been so blessed to have her in our lives. God has used us for her and her for us.

We will be praying for my sister and brother in law and all my nieces and nephews as they part with their baby sister this coming week.  God's love has filled them all to do this amazing work and he will heal their wounds and make them strong again.

Valentines For All

Love: Ewan

Love: Matthew

Love: Levi

Every year I am a bit too ambitious with our plans for homemade Valentines. I find really lovely ideas but when it comes to making them, I usually end up doing most of the work. This year wasnt too different, although I did have more help than previous years.

Since we don't see so many of you, here is your digital picture of a Valentine for you all. 

Happy Valentines Day!

Counting Down

Growing up, December first was exciting because we got to start opening our daily chocolates from our advent calendars. Counting down the days until Christmas morning.

I decided to continue the tradition, as so many do, with our boys. However, it hasn't gone as smoothly as I remember. One of the kids would go to open their chocolate only to find the treat missing. I guess their moving it down from its shelf proved too rough and the chocolate would slip down to the bottom. So we would have to rip open the cardboard to find the culprit and in so doing cause others to fall out.

This year I decided to try something new. 

These are my home made calendars. Each boy has a different colour and each pocket contains its treat. Yummier than the store bought cardboard calendars (though I am sure the kids really don't care).

I folded origami pockets, and stamped each one with the date. Some are all mixed up. It lets the older boys hunt for the number and the younger ones are in order so I can quickly grab their treat and hand it to them.

This is also not going as smoothly as I would have liked. Mostly because Declan is a climber. He brings a chair up to the calendars when I am out of the room and steals envelopes off of whichever is closest. Thankfully I have extra treats to replace the stolen ones.

Another tradition that we started several years ago is opening a book a day. They are all Christmas books and they are put away all year long so they aren't boring. 

                 

Each child takes a turn opening a book until Christmas eve. They love it.

That's how we count down to Christmas. How about you?

Projects

Its always a feat to try and do anything creative when at home with little ones. However, I find it one of the greatest rewards when I actually finish a project. It gives me a sense and creative accomplishment.

I've never been terribly gifted in the area of fine arts but I still enjoy trying. I've also found I have a passion for needle work (knitting, sewing and embroidery) which can still be classified under art in some way, shape or form.

Currently I have 4 projects on the go. Three days ago I would have has to add another to that list. Its finally finished, however.

Cohens baby blanket!

How sad is it that it is only NOW just finished? I've been working on this for over a year. It took so long because it was a little bit boring. Knit, purl, knit, purl... The duck was fun. I had never made a picture before. That's what made this project new and exciting.

My sister also showed my a picture that I found inspiring and decided to give it a try. She found this woman who turns regular things you wouldnt think about into art. One of these ideas were leaves. She would take them and paint on them, making them a new kind of beautiful. 

Here is the first one I did (and the only one I have finished):

This one is my Oak leaf that is not finished yet but you can get the general idea. I have to add embellishments with black pen inside some of the coloured layers. 

 As it is the first time I have every really painted with acrylics, I am very happy with the project. I plan on doing a number of leaves I can find in my backyard and them string them together in a garland. Something happy to look at during the long winter coming upon up.

I hope you are all finding time to be creative. Its amazing what it does for your mood.

Christmas Projects

This year I finally made the ornament I'd been eying for a while. It seemed daunting but it was just a matter of learning a few new things and guessing at a few other things.


I am really quite proud of these little guys.

My Latest Project

I knit to felt a hat!!!

I love it. I am so proud of myself... Is that ok?

A class a week for three weeks and this is the end result. Most of it was done at home and just a bit of help in the class with any new stitches. The felting was done yesterday and we got to decorate the hats however we wanted to. I debated buttons ( I love buttons) or a beautiful flower that I could have made (very tempting) but then I saw these beautiful hand dyed, hand felted circles and loved them. When I lay them on my hat, however, they seemed too flat. I played with them and then sewed them on this way and I love how they look.

I have a picture of me wearing the hat but I am so incredibly overweight and the picture looked so terrible that I am too proud to show it. I know that pride is bad!

Christmas Creations

My mom and I made our ornaments together this year. Little bed time mice.


I made Monograms for all my nieces and nephews this year. 11 all together and they were lots of work but I loved every single one of them. Butterflies and birds for the girls, trains and cars for the boys.

Photo Development

Since Matthew was born we have printed up to his baptism. That would mean he was three weeks old. The only printed photos we have of our SONS is of Matthew up to three weeks.

Anyone else have this problem?

I just kept telling myself that we had all of the photos on the computer and if we needed any printed we could easily do it. But that still didnt sit well with me. What if my computer crashed? All of our precious pictures could be completely gone. (I know there is such thing as backing things up but just go with me on this). When computers have pictures on them, very rarely does anyone else get to enjoy them. And eventually said children will want to take their pictures to show others.

Today I caught up (sort of). I got all the pictures organized and sent them to be developed. I had two different systems. Levi's pictures were all uploaded and sent online. Matty's were all put onto a memory card and brought to the store. I have 150 pictures of Levi so the price wasn't too bad. I wasnt completely sure how many I had of Matthew since I didnt see a number on my computer. I went in faith that it couldnt be that bad.

Boy was I surprised. I had over 400 pictures of Matty to be printed. Up went the price and down went the money in my back account. about 600 pictures... and this is just of the boys.

I am glad I did it. It is about time that I had these pictures in albums with some memories I wanted to record. I just dont think my heart can handle the surprise if I wait so long the next time. Any one know of a way to better organize photos so you remember which ones need to be developed and which ones dont?

If youre ever wondering what I might be up to in the next few weeks, I'll likely be sorting my pictures and trying to assemble albums in some sort of way.

Intro To Painting

Matthew was a very big fan of this new way of being creative. His first picture was a big page full of blue but his later pictures had a few shapes.

Now I just have to ensure that none of this gets put on any interesting canvases like his brothers face or our other couch.

New Canvases

And what tool did he use? A permanent marker. Oy!

Works of Art

I call it: Our Floor with Green Crayon

This one: Blue Coffee Table with Crayon Wrapper Residue

Apparently Matthew has learned to love art.

Now we must learn where to find appropriate canvasses!

Art

Being creative is something that I just do sometimes. I am not all together talented at it. All Im saying is that sometimes I just feel like I need to so something artistic. My abilities dont matter. Actually, usually my abilities are what get me to stop because I feel like I just never do a good enough job.

Anyways, recently I have been thinking about the importance of art and creativity and wondering how I can encourage Matty to do more of it. I have watch so many people I know encourage their little ones to create beautiful art work and I have nothing to show for my son.

I decided it was time I started getting Matty interested in it... at least introduce the idea to him. I went and bought him some sidewalk chalk. Matty is an outside boy. We go outside for the whole morning some days (most days actually) and he plays with his balls and marbles the whole time. Now he can even be artistic.
Isnt that so cute? He took some chalk, drew some lines and then threw the chalk. It broke in two and he was all done.

Initially I was discouraged. "Oh no, he isnt interested. Did I start too late?" Then I smartened up and realized he is only 20 months.
Can you see the little scribbles near the bottom of the flower part of my oh so beautiful tulip? More of Matty's art.

I also bought him some more crayons. Big and chunky ones. He struggles to push them down hard enough but he still manages little scribbles. I have also printed out a few colouring sheets frm online and he scribbled on one of those too.

Matty is an active boy. He never stops. I am glad that I started encouraging him to do art because it is another thing we can do in the day. I must admit though, he might stick to it for 5 minutes and then is DONE! If he ends up enjoying it, the time will lengthen.

I love seeing his creativity and imagination. I only see it in his playing now but one day it will become beautiful art work that will be displayed all over the house. I am so excited! I remember seeing both Caelah and Elijah coming home with some beautidul art work they had done and rushing to show it to me. They were so proud of it, and I think they had every right to be. Their little minds created something beautiful and they want everyone to see their masterpieces. I look forward to Matty feeling the same way.

Christmas, Christmas, I Cant Wait For Christmas!

Christmas time is always the time that my creative juices get flowing. I must admit I always have great excitment for these projects but very rarely do they get done.

Lately I have been very into the decorating ideas that I have seen and I look forward to collecting some things this year to use for next Christmas (socks for all 24 days before Christmas used as an advent calendar, hung from a line with a gift in each one). Until then I continue to look at nice creative projects people have made. Some of which I have considered doing myself... we shall see.

My Handmade Projects

(please forgive the very bad layout of this post. I can't seem to get the program to put the pictures closer together without changing where all the writing is.)

I have days where nothing will satisfy me except to create something. Unfortunately, it isn't quenched by creating a delicious meal. It's usually got to be an artistic creation using my fingers and hands. Here are some of the projects I have done up to now or am working on at this very moment.

My very first project was one with a needle and thread. They're Christmas tree ornaments. These were given as gifts to many people last year. I tried selling them at a craft fair too. Unfortunately, they didn't sell.

Next is my mobile. It is not meant for children since it is highly dangerous with the sharp wire. They are made from old cards, tin foil and glue.











Next, I started knitting baby blankets. This one is using two different wools and the basket weave. It is my most recent finished project and will be a Matty blanket.










Here are my favourites. They will be gifts for my nieces and nephews this Christmas. They are stuffed animals made from socks or gloves. My favourite of all of them is the blue and white dog.










A friend of mine, Elaine, taught me how to make a special border on a project. So I wouldn't forget, I practiced it with cotton yarn and have begun making another baby blanket for someone who is expecting a baby girl in November.









And last but most exciting for me, a baby sweater. I have never knit anything other than straight lines. I've made baby blankets, big blankets, scarves... but, something with pieces I have not yet done. So, this is the beginning of my baby sweater. It is meant to fit a 1 year old. I hope I am successful.







I also enjoy creating scrap pages and doing origami but I didn't bother taking picture of any of those projects. I CAN'T draw or paint or invent truly beautiful display pieces but I do enjoy the projects that I have come up with (or copied) for gifts. I always feel so satisfied when a project is finished successfully. I hope to have a picture of the sweater when it is finished. I'll be sure to post it.