At last brother has a big boy bed. Technically we have owned the bed since October but painting outside in the cold garage just was not super appealing to me so when we finally hit the 50’s with sunshine this last week (it is just a memory now…surely spring will come sometime…maybe) it was out to paint! I found the bed at an antique store buried under some other items. I had been searching high and low for the bed that I had concocted in my head and at last I had found it! It appeared to be really old or maybe it had an intensely hard life. I just know that it needed some loving! After cleaning it up and applying many a coat of paint it is finally together and in his room and his bed is officially up off the floor! We have one ecstatic little boy in this house!!!

“An invalid lady procured once the cocoon of a very beautiful butterfly with unusually magnificent wings, hoping to have the pleasure of seeing it emerge from its cocoon in her sick-chamber. She watched it eagerly as spring drew on, and finally was delighted to see the butterfly beginning to emerge. But it seemed to have great difficulty. It pushed and strained, and struggled, and seemed to make so little headway, that she concluded it must need some help, and with a pair of delicate scissors she finally clipped the tight cord that seemed to bind in the opening of the cocoon. Immediately that cocoon opened wide, and the butterfly escaped without any further struggle. She congratulated herself on the success of her experiment, but found in a moment that something was the matter with the butterfly. It was all out of the cocoon it is true, but its great wings were lifeless and colorless, and dragged after it as a useless burden. For a few days it lived a miserable sickly life, and then died, without having once lifted its powerless wings. The lady was sorely disappointed and could not understand it. But when she related the circumstance to a naturalist, he told her that it had all been her own fault. That it required just that pushing and struggling to send the life fluid into the veins of the wings, and that her mistaken kindness in shortening the struggle, had left the wings lifeless and colorless.”
“The Christian Secret of a Happy Life”
(If you are interested in reading the book, it is really and incredible book that makes you dig down deep and think, you can find used copies but make sure that you do not get a newer abridged version because you will really miss out.)
By: Hannah W. Smith
1875

I feel like this is where I stand…with scissors in hand. Will I cut the cocoon open because it is easier, faster and it is what the world accepts as timely and good? Or will I lay the scissors aside being patient and allowing the butterfly to struggle and fight that its wings might fly full of color in its own unique time?

Some friends and I had the honor of hosting a shower this weekend for a Mama to be. My friend who often says that she is not crafty came with these little happy pom poms to hang and place around the table. I had seen them before but decidedly classified them in my head as way to hard and time consuming to make, after watching her put them together though I have declassified them and decided that they are doable. They just seem to make you so happy. They are still hanging up at our house and show no sign of coming down any time soon because they just make you smile!

We have some really creative friends who come up with really FUN ideas! Just for instance last night we gathered for our small group Christmas party and as dinner winded down and we moved to the family room to be more comfortable this large stack of pictures appears as if from nowhere. We notice some shuffling of the pictures and there are many confused glances and smiles. Next thing you know we are playing the worlds largest game of Memory with almost 200 pictures. The fun part was that they were all pictures of us together. It was really sweet to play a fun and crazy game and relive some really fun times that we have had together over the past four years.
I confessed from the beginning of the game that I am really good at Memory games that are made for ages 2-5 but over that not so much. We played with two teams last night and it was really helpful as you need a lot of minds to remember a board that large. It was also a little tricky as some pictures were the same people but at a little different angle. Very FUN! Definitely give gigantic Memory a try you will have a blast!

Well, it is official! There are no longer any cribs in our house! I thought that this moment might be a sad one but I am really good with it. I kind of even think that it is exciting! I don’t think that makes me a bad Mommy, just an excited Mommy! It is amazing how quickly the kiddos are growing but it is so much fun at the same time to explore new stages! Brother is all settled in his big boy bed. We thought that this might be a hard process but he has done really well with it. I must admit that his mattress and box spring are sitting on the floor because someone (that would be me) has not finished painting his bed. I love the bed and cannot wait to finish painting it but it is so cold outside right now that I cannot brave the temps to finish the bed (I know, that is really sad). I came across the bed at an antique store and it is o-l-d and loved. It was wood but since it was so loved it needed some sprucing, thus the coat or 5 of paint. Anyways, back to the story…We found bedding for brother when he was a wee little one and snatched it up as it was a cute quilt with fishies on it. After pulling it out of the closet the task of curtains began for him. I wanted cute and fun so I ended up with fish curtains! I grabbed cheap solid curtain panels at Target. I found an outline that I liked online that matched the fish on the quilt and cut out the fabric and a bit of Heat-n-Bond added a little sewing and voila! Very FUN and fairly simple! Now if we can just get some warmer weather to finish up that bed!!!

Guess what has been going on at our house???
Hint…

Okay, how about this…

Yep! New windows! It was a bit chilly in our house and we looked kind of funny with our winter hats and scarfs on inside but, it was COLD! Our work men were fabulous! They weren’t afraid of me and my craziness which is always a plus in my book. The kiddos struggled a little bit with the chaos of it all but they survived! I guess they are a bit young to appreciate the better utility bills, no more wood rot and no more drafts but hopefully someday they will understand.

While out and about this morning I saw this…

and God brought this to mind.

Sister got invited to a last minute birthday party so I was thrilled that she requested a doll for her friend as it comes together pretty quickly. I am still not sure how I feel about the little skirt but sister said that it is a must have, so it stays! I wish that the fabric would of been more than a scrap so that I could of made the birthday girl a matching skirt as well but that would be the negative of the scrap drawer. I really enjoy picking out the fabrics that go into these little dolls…mainly I love going through my scraps and salvaging some favorite fabrics! Happy day everyone!

So this was fun!!! I have really wanted to try out a push reel mower for a few months now. There is just something about them that says simplistic to me. Plus there is nothing like mowing in silence. It is an amazing concept I must admit. Brad had said that there was really no way that he would buy one until I had tried one so when a friend recently offered me a push reel I jumped at the chance to give it a good home. Today was my first attempt at mowing with it and I must say that while it was a little bit harder than mowing with a self propelled mulching lawn mower, I loved it! Yes, you have to work harder to mow…but is that really a bad thing? It is quiet which is fabulous! It is much greener! It does not kick up as much grass for your nose to breath in. Sure it leaves clippings behind but isn’t that better for your yard anyways.
I have to admit that there was one man who did a double take as he drove by and slowed down just past our house only to turn around and drive by again to verify that I was a crazy woman mowing with a push reel lawn mower. Some of our friends drove by as well and had a good laugh over me mowing that way. I don’t know what it is but I really do love it! To me there are lots of benefits to using it and very few negatives! Give it a try…you really just might enjoy it!

School started back for Sis today. She woke with a song in her heart and she was so excited for her new class. It blessed my mommy heart so much but at the same time she is just SO old! Gee! She warmed up to her dress and was so happy to put it on, however, I never did iron it. We found out at Open House last week that her backpack would need to fit a folder and her current backpack (no matter how hard I tried) would not fit that folder so there was a bit of last minute sewing that took place around here after all. I had ordered a pattern about a month ago on Etsy just to have for when brother heads to school (you can purchase it here). I pulled it out and altered it making it a good bit taller, wider (to fit the folder of course) and added a pocket. I am really happy with the way it turned out. I did also alter a few other things in the pattern such as using heat-n-bond to add a fabric to the inside and not padding the straps but again using heat-n-bond. I would recommend this little pattern as it does come together pretty quickly and easily (trust me,I sewed it the night before school). Sis was amazed that the backpack was ready for her this morning and she was excited to head off with it to school. She had a great first day which I am most thankful for!!!