On reading and read-alouds

[Apparently I'm on the twice-a-week blogging schedule of late. Probably because I have a little beauty in my arms most of the time. Is anyone even still reading here?]

Ella has become quite the reader. It is so fun for me to watch her. A few days ago I heard her sigh contentedly on the couch and say, "I just love to read. I love books. I wish I could just live at the library because there are so many books there. I could just wake up and there would be all those books! And then I could open the doors and let all the kids in and we could all read!" I so get that. If our library had comfy couches with blankets and pillows and a well-stocked fridge, that might actually be a dream vacation for me.

Today, I took Ella and Adelia out on a "girls date." Our primary goal was to get some spring clothes for Ella, but we had a couple of other stops to make, too. One of those stops was the library, and Ella wanted to go to the library first. We dropped some books off and then I told her we had about half-hour to get some new books. She was thrilled.

When we got back into the van and headed off to our next errand, it was rather... silent. When I glanced in the rear-view mirror I realized that she'd taken a stack of books with her and her head was bent over a book. I missed her usual chatter, but understand her love of reading, so I asked, "Why don't you read those out loud to mommy?" She said, "No. I'd like to just read them to myself." Great. Nice bonding time that was. (Next time I'll know to tag the library trip on the end so that I may actually get to talk to my her as we drive around.)  ~smile~

We've also been doing several read-alouds lately, and let me just say right off the bat that I did not at all care for Stuart Little. ~shudder~

But here are a couple of our favorites: The Courage of Sarah Noble and The Family Pilgrim's Progress. 

But those don't even hold a candle to our current read-aloud:


Could you just cry for joy at the happy memories that book brings you? Or is it just me?  OhmygoodnessIlovethisbook. The kids, of course, love it, too. Ella adores anything Laura, Mary and baby Carrie are doing. And Jack is a bit hit. Isaac is really into the parts with Indians or Pa going hunting with his gun. Isaias gets distracted after about 2 minutes but jabbers on about Indians any time they come up in the story.

The other day after we finished up a chapter, Isaac asked, "Is this a real story?" (Most of the books we read are true stories, or "based on a true story".)

I turned to the outside cover and asked Ella if she could tell who the author was. She read aloud: "Laura Ingalls..." She stopped suddenly before getting to the "Wilder" part. Then she exclaimed, "Laura Ingalls is the same Laura we're reading about! That's her name, too. Laura Ingalls. And Pa Ingalls. That's their name. It's the same!" She was so excited. I said yes, it's the story of Laura as a child and her family's adventures, and when Laura grew up she wrote it all down. Ella looked up at me, beaming, and she literally had tears in her eyes upon making that connection. Really. She was that excited to know that Laura was real and that all of this had really happened; that this family had really existed. (Isaac was hoping they were still alive.  Cutie.)

That's what we're up to in the read-aloud department.  

What books have you been reading at your house? 

So that they won't be lost to me

Elisabeth Elliot, referring to her daughter, Valerie, as a child:

She thought much about God and heaven (which was to her not only the Father's house but her daddy's as well). I sometimes wrote down her prayers after I had kissed her goodnight. I did this not because I feared they would otherwise be lost (the great angel with the golden censer will see that they are not lost) but because I knew that they would be lost to me. I would forget. [Italics mine]

I love this quote. I have often felt this way as a mama: I don't want to forget any of this. I want to hold on to this moment, tuck that one away in my memory, remember my childrens' words, the way they say those words, their expressions, their drawings, their interests at each age.

I want to remember someday that when Isaac was four he play-acted Knights and Cowboys or "Football Player". I want to remember that he says "bemagined" instead of imagined. (And still adds that "be" at the beginning of several words.) And the way Isaias, at three, speaks so sweetly to Addie, or the way he sprawls out across his bed as he sleeps. Or how Ella, six, pulls up her socks like they're knee-highs, even when they're not, and wants to wear tennis shoes with her dresses and tights. Or how she tucks herself alongside of me in my bed when she wakes up in the morning. And the way Addie, at 2 months, smiles brightly and coos, especially when she first wakes up. And how she hangs on tightly to my necklace when she's cuddled up in my arms.

It's why we do a yearly Birthday Letter for each child, and it's why every so often in my journal there are little notations. So that I will remember.

And every once in awhile I remember to transcribe the prayers of my children. Here's one from today:

[Prayer by Isaac, age 4]

Dear God,

Make Talia to have her baby and make us love you, Jesus and make us to go to heaven and thank you that your Son died on the cross and make daddy to work hard today. I love you, God.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen

Sewing of late

Have I mentioned that I really enjoy sewing? And fabrics? I really like the creative process of putting it all together. I'm learning so many new things just by trial and error.

I finished a changing pad for Adelia last night. Mind you, I didn't start it last night (more like an entire month ago!)

I used Sandi Henderson's Ginger Blossom fabric, which is the first fabric I ordered online because I liked it that much.

The changing pad turned out a whole lot different than I'd originally wanted it to look like, but I'm happy with it. I had wanted a ruffle around the outside, but after pulling those threads through a tiny strip of fabric to gather the ruffle for an entire 45 minutes, only to feel the threads snap, I was quite done with that idea. Especially since I was only 1/3 of the way through the gathering.

And since I actually wanted to finish this project before Addie is out of diapers, I moved to Plan B, which gave me the opportunity to use my bias tape maker for the first time.

But then it still wasn't quite right. The ruffle added a little something extra, but now with no ruffle I decided to add a flower on the top, inspired by this idea, here, of the talented Erin at house on hill road. (Did you follow that link? How cute is that? She has another one, here.)

Anyway, I attempted to freehand a flower from the main fabric, and my first attempt was shaping up to look something like this:


But that wasn't quite right, either. (The flower petals were so thin that the fabric beneath showed through too much and was just too busy. The flower kind of got lost.)

So I ended up with this:





But I'm sure we can all agree that it doesn't look quite as cute without this particular added feature:


Also, I realized this morning when I was looking through some pictures on my computer that I never posted the quilt I made for Adelia. (This is the first quilt I've done since the doll quilt I made over a year ago.)

I was inspired by Sew, Mama, Sew's quilting month (back in February) to try my hand at a bit more quilting. So I began with some of these:


And it turned into this:




This was the first time I binded a quilt and did mitered corners. I consulted Heather Bailey's Quilt-Binding Directions for that step. For the hand-stitching that was required for the back of the quilt (which happened to be the part I was dreading but it actually ended up being my favorite part!), this video really helped.

Next up, this one:

Sunday

::church

::donuts with friends after church

::a board game with Mark

::a nap

::a visit with my parents who stopped in

::time to sew

::roast in the crock pot for dinner

::plans to watch some of Little House on the Prairie with the kids, with popcorn

And the rest of the evening remains stretched out before us.

Is there anything so delightful as a day of rest?

I am so thankful for the Sabbath!

On Netflix and why we don't do that anymore

We just cancelled our subscription to Netflix.

Here's why:

We had a documentary in our queue and Mark said, "You should see if that one is at the library. They may have it since it's a documentary."

So I checked. And they did have it.

And then we checked every other movie in our queue. And the library also had every one of those.

Who knew?

Clearly not us. But now we know: the library carries several movies.

And now we can, for free, watch movies we were previously paying money for.

And since we're at the library frequently, and Mark passes it every day on the way to and from work, it is nearly as convenient as Netflix. And it's FREE. (Which is clearly my favorite part.)

I heart the library.

We have way too many...

gift bags (oh.my.word. i think we had over one hundred gift bags. what can i say? we have large extended families, thus many birthdays, and apparently i've saved every gift bag we've ever gotten. and bought some along the way. i tossed a bunch of them but we still have three drawers full.)

candles and candle holder-y type things. (now down to one drawer.)

vases (seriously, readers. i had so many vases it was ridiculous. i scaled way back to about 12. which is still probably way more than we would ever use at one time.)

frames

photos (i'm still not sure what to do with all the photos. do i keep all photos? take the time to organize them all? put them in albums? will i ever even do that? (michelle, will you please oh please lend me donna?))

clothes (all six of us)

books (but i can't say we'll be getting rid of many (any?) of those. but if we don't, we're going to need some serious shelving.)

toys that can't easily be categorized. (ie- the legos and lincoln log type toys don't bother me. those are all together in a bin. but then there's all that other STUFF. ~sigh~

papers (ugh. the papers.)

what about you? what do you have too much of at your house?

Update

I really have nothing to write about. But I feel like such a slacker blogger that I thought I'd better pop in for an update. (And I'm very sure that once I get going I can ramble on and on about all sorts of things.)

-I'm in the kitchen today, doing some of that decluttering/spring cleaning. So far I would have to say this is the most overwhelming room to date. All those drawers and cupboards! Yikes! I've been a little lazy with it because frankly, I'm not sure where to even begin. So far I tackled The Corner Where We (okay, I. I . It's me. It's all me.) Dump Everything and the windowsill above the sink. Which I realize hardly seems like anything at all but I assure you, those areas were in need of some serious attention. Oh, and I also removed a bunch of stuff that was taped to the front of my cupboards/kitchen walls. Apparently I tape a lot of things up on the cupboards/walls/mirrors. Notes, cards, photos, verses, TO DO lists, etc. Which is all very good but it does look cluttery. So most of that is now gone.

-So far I've finished three rooms and a closet: the living room, our bedroom (a two-day job), the bathroom, and the hallway closet.

-I threw away the most stuff from the bathroom. (I kept telling myself things like: "Sure, that lotion smells good. But really. It's been sitting there smelling good inside of that bottle on the shelf for a few years, now." So a lot of stuff got tossed.

-I gave away the most stuff from the bedroom. Clothes in bags ready to go to the Goodwill.

-Can I just say? I love having a clean and decluttered house! Maintaining those rooms when they begin clean is so... nice (for lack of a better word). I am SO turning over a new leaf.

-I'm dreading the basement. The playroom and storage room, especially. UGH. That storage room has boxes of stuff in it we've held onto for years.

-We've decided not to save anything for a garage sale (more work and time), and give it all away instead. Which is smart, really. Because if we did decide to go the garage sale route, I could foresee us setting everything aside and then, well, not having one for a long time. (Mark doesn't have Saturdays off, and the appeal of having a garage sale, me with all the kids, is completely lost on me.)

Enough about that... and onto other (random) information:

-Adelia is sleeping through the night! She's a gem, that girl. And then she wakes up at 6-something for her bottle, drinks that and then sleeps until around 10 or 11. Ella was like that, too. (Except with Ella, when she was sleeping in until 10 or 11, I was sleeping right along with her. Not so these days. :)) Past 11am, though, any sleeping she does she likes to do in my arms. And she does like to sleep past 11.

-Isaias is no longer napping. So that makes three kids with quiet times, and let's just say that whole "quiet" part of the quiet times needs a lot of work.

-Spring is here! The garden is ready for planting, (and--when are we going to do that, honey?) Our tulips are blooming along our front walk, we have bouquets of early Spring flowers on our mantel and table. And the kids want to be outside everyday. I love it.


I am so sorry for the Most Boring Post Ever. I'm done. Really, I am.