Latest Hats

Tried this slouch hat using Buffalo wool (Cowichan wool)

Finally finished UFO (UnFinishedObject)..green cotton slouch hat.

evwood@shaw.ca EstherWoodWork for more information.

My Love Bugs

Charlotte has been taking swim lessons for a month now. She's doing so well. She's gone from a "strangle hold" on the teachers neck to jumping in by herself with only a float belt. It's going to make this summer so much more fun with her being comfortable in the water.
I found this bathing suit at a consignment sale for $2!! She was so excited because she had requested a bathing suit with a skirt so she could "look like a princess" when she swims.

Bathing suits are also great fashion statements while pulling your brother around in a tiny wagon made for blocks.

I taught Charlotte how to make necklaces from flowers. I was amazed at how fast she caught on.

Don't you love her PJ's that are 3 sizes too big? A very generous friend gave us 2 big boxes of hand-me-downs and Charlotte loved these so much that she couldn't wait until they were big enough to fit her. She wore them all day on Sunday.

Evan is loving saying "I'm a BIG boy... I'm a REAL big boy!" And he also loves helping me. He put away all the silverware from the dishwasher the other day.

He also wanted to spread his own butter on his bread. It started off pretty well.....

"Ummm.... Evan, I think you have enough now..."

"Whoa! Okay, buddy, that's good." (I quickly took most of that off when he wasn't looking... don't tell him)

Black Locust Trees

We have 3 black locust trees behind our back fence. They're all within 10 feet of each other in a triangle so it really looks like one big mass of black locust. We have a bench right under the branches and I sat on the bench the other afternoon and enjoyed the sweet smell of the flowers.

The bees have been loving the flowers too.

The flowers remind me of snapdragons.

I think that bench is calling me again.

Dinosaurs in Colors!

A lovely dinosaur panel! Found it at Kelvin's of Bernina. It was bright & colorful. Had to have it.

It was small & sweet. So had to make it bigger. Framed it with a 2" black & white dragonfly fabrics. Then decided to use 3 different colored polkadot fabrics - aqua blue, red & green. Cut them up in 4.5" squares and made them into 2 rows. Finished it off with a 5" yellow fabric.

Backing fabric is a very dark (almost black) blue with white flowers and went back to the black & white dragonfly for its binding.

B.R.I.G.H.T & colorful!!

Measurement : 44.5" W X 55.5" L

Made our of 100% American cotton

Price : RM220

Status : SOLD!

Parenting with less stress {Our Style}

"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of the warrior, so are the children of one's youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate."
Psalm 127:3-5

The verse above is one I very firmly believe. Children are indeed an incredibly great blessing, a wonderful gift from our Father above. Parenting is a very special job that God has given us and it is my great desire to do it well. I know I don't do it at all perfectly, I make mistakes all the time! But thank-fully God is patient with me, and he doesn't require perfect parents before He gives us the gift of children!

I have decided to write a series on parenting. I started thinking about it a lot when I have visited with my sister-in-laws and some other new mothers. They would ask questions and it was fun to share with them how we have done different things. We haven't always followed the "normal" route (The one advised by a pediatrician) and I realized how encouraging it can be for others who are contemplating going a route less traveled to hear that it did work for somebody else as well. This series will be basically a journal of what we have done, it will be a "works for me" post. Obviously that doesn't mean that the way we have done it is the only "right" way, and I hope that never does anybody feel like I am putting down their parenting style. I am just hoping to share what has worked for us in hopes of encouraging others that want to try it that way too.

Some of the topics I plan to share on are:

• Pregnancy and preparation
• Natural Childbirth (and for one child-a home birth)
• Breastfeeding
• Natural health care
• Feeding baby and also children
• Co-sleeping
• Schedules
• Child Training and discipline
• Homeschooling
• and much, much more!

When I was trying to come up with a title for this series I thought about calling it "Relaxed Parenting", as one of the things that has been very important to me in parenting is to not be high-strung and stressed about this job. We do need to take our job seriously but at the same time I don't think we need to be stressed out about it. God gave them to us as a blessing, something we can enjoy. I decided not to call it Relaxed Parenting because I think the wrong idea of never taking care of your children could be thought of and I didn't want that. Another term I have heard lately, and I do think it applies to our style, and that is slow parenting. It is when you avoid the often normal rushed lifestyle of many and just let the kids be kids. Don't have them enrolled in tons of educational programs (sports, dance, science club, music, etc.) but rather let them enjoy playing outdoors after chores and schoolwork are done. Have fun exercising and such as a family, not each family member heading their own direction.

In each post of the series I plan on sharing our story on the subject and then I will make a list of the specific things that work for me, like this:

• Understanding my children are a gift from God Works for me!
• Not following our current culture in parenting works for me.
• Enjoying our children instead of being stressed works for me.

I would love to have you join me for this series and I also look forward to hearing your stories, what has worked for you in parenting! I will try to post this series every Wednesday but I am sure there will be days that I will miss every so often. :-)

Children At the Beach

It was a lovely panel of children and their innocence, at the beach. I most certainly couldn't resist it!

The panel I bought came with 10 such lovely pictures. I chose only 6 to work with. Each block measured about 7" X 10". Decided to frame the blocks with a 1.5" sea blue marbled fabric, and knew I wanted a buttermilk color next.

Went back to the same blue and because I wanted some red somewhere . . . found this cream-reddish flower and went with it. Wasn't too sure about it, crossed my fingers tho'.

Now, the backing fabric I like - white & cream lines. Perfect I thought. Back to the blue for binding.

Hmmmm, it's pretty long. What do u think? Lovely! or just OK? Adore the pictures tho :-)

Measurement : 42" W X 64" L

Made out of 100% American cotton

Price : RM250

Status : Available

Wordless Wednesday-Spring Cleaning

My cleaning supplies

Gratitude

"Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving,

Let us shout joyfully to Him wiht psalms.

For the Lord is a great God

and a great King above all gods,

In whose hand are the depths of the earth,

The peaks of the mountians are His also,

The sea is His, for it was He who made it,

and His hands formed the dry land."

Psalm 95:2-5

We had a good week and I am again feeling very thankful to our great and wonderful God!

#561 Schoolwork going very well and the kids really enjoying it.

#562 Time to get things done here at home.

#563 Aaron learning how to sew!

#564 Sunshiny days!

#565 Daffodils, Johny-jump-ups, Vincas, Phlox and other spring flowers blooming!

#566 Trailers full of good goats manure for our garden. (Thanks Dad and Luke for bringing them!)

#567 Boys that think it is fun to help shovel it.

#568 Chives, mint and shallots coming up.

#569 Fun times with company over.

#570 Getting to play tennis with friends.

#571 A fun family bike ride.

#572 Laughing with my husband.

#573 Cherry and plum blossoms.

#574 Political family discussions.

#575 Peace that comes from God.

#576 Rest.

Family Photos

While Mum was here in WA I took the oportunity to hand her my camera to take a few photos of us as a family. Not something that we get too often, usualy it is me behind the camera.
This photo is our first photo taken of us as a family of four.

This one is the whole family dressed up ready to go to a 70s Fancy Dress Birthday Family. We are a hippie family .... kind of...I couldn't convince Adrian to wear a long wig and head band!!

I have yet to print out a copy of the photos to scrap!!

Garden Update- One week Later

I went seedling hunting this morning and I was so excited with how my "babies" were growing. I thought I'd share their progress with you. When we were preparing the beds last week, I found this strawberry plant in one of the beds. I didn't plant it and I'm not sure where it came from. I haven't had a strawberry plant in the garden for 2 years. I protected it and now it has a home in the middle of my pea patch. I'm excited to see how it does.

Here are some of the peas. They're growing well.

Broccoli (I would also take pictures of the kohlrabi, cabbage and cauliflower but all of the seedlings look the same)

Swiss Chard

Romaine lettuce with red onion slips in the background.

Brussels Sprouts! Yay! Thanks to my sister for sharing her seeds with me.

Broccoli Raab. (Thanks again, Katie)

Beets

Spinach

And Carrots! Already! I'm so excited to have carrot seedlings starting to come up after only a week. I've worked really hard this time to make sure to keep the beds moist. It's been so dry that some days I had to water the beds twice a day to keep them from drying out. It paid off though :)

Watching seedlings sprout never gets old.

Pure Religion

"If anyone thinks himself to be religious,

and yet doe not bridle his tongue but decieves his own heart,

this man's religion is worthless.

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this:

to visit orphans and widows in their distress,

and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

James 1:26-27

This spoke to me because something that I am always needing to work on is watching my tongue. I tend to like to talk which gives a lot of opportunity to say the wrong thing. I am glad for this reminder to keep my tongue in check and think before I talk!

I am also so glad for the reminder of what real religion is. Helping the helpless. I want to do that more.

What verses have spoken to you this week?

Notebooks!

It was a Sunday and me & my girls decided to have some fun with fabrics. So we chose those above and . . . .

. . . . made them into these - notebooks!

Its really that simple - no stitching required! Just some fabrics, PVA glue & double-sided tape. And fabrics of course.

Done in 10 minutes. My 11 year old did one for herself (hers is the one with puppies & kittens).

A great gift idea! Could put the fabrics & kit together, if anyone is interested?