I had to redo my god sons' top lol

Okay from the post under this you can see the original top I made for my godson. Well Sunday when I went to his house and tried it on him, me and his mom looked at him then at each other and busted out laughing. I know bad god mom for laughing but if you could just see the expression on his face and the way the top looked it was funny. The top was too girly. So I asked him to bring me one of his shirts and this is what he gave me:
Then being a good god mom I went home and took apart the first top and used the red top to size and shape the new top I made him and this is what I came up with for his new top:
It is nine rows of dc's, three rows of trc's then two mor rows of dc's, thenI started to decrease for the armholes which is also dc's. Then I did the arm hole trim with dc's and then nect trim is sc's. I asked quite a few people if I could consider this my design even though I kept holding it up to the red top and they said it was okay so I guess it's my design. I like this one better b/c it goes with the shorts better and it looks more manly now.

Fertile Ground

Hebrews 6:7-10 says "Ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints."
That makes me think, "What sort of ground am I ?" Am I producing things that are useful, am I working and loving the saints around me? I hope so and I am going to continue to work toward that goal. What sort of ground are YOU?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

One of my favorite sayings is "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." That hits on many areas of living that I find important.
"Use it up" reminds us that we shouldn't be wasteful. A big pet peeve of mine is parents loading kids plates up with food and then the kids eating maybe 1/4 of it. That is just training kids to be wasteful. Being wasteful costs us more money. I also like the idea of "Use it up" from the green standpoint, I don't like the idea of just adding more and more junk to landfills.
"Wear it out" makes me think about clothes. In our country clothes are so very easy to come by and fashion changes making us want to be constantly updating, I like the idea of actually wearing stuff out. We need to get out of the mentality of just buying things because they are cheap (not buying is even cheaper) and the thought that "I deserve something new". Some ideas for being able to wear clothes out. 1. Don't have to many. If you have just a limited number of shoes and clothes that you really like- it is easier to actually wear things out. 2. Get things that you really like and that follow a trend not a fad. You don't want to buy things that will be out of date already next year. 3.Remake things that you don't use as they are. With this you will need to be creative and be willing to just try. It is not really that hard.
"Make it do" There are times when I really want to replace something -yucky cookie sheets, a broom, a purse, a car etc. Then I ask myself: "Do I really need that or can I make do?" Usually (but not always) the answer is: "I can make do". You can save yourself a ton of money if you are willing to "Make it do".
"Do without" This area calls for some creative thinking. It can be a very fun hobby to do without if you get into it. Often times want you want might not be what you really need anyway, or you can use something else other than what you originally thought you needed. I recently needed a new swimsuit. I wanted one that was very covering and that I and my husband found attractive. Swimsuits of that nature were very expensive so instead of buying I used some old clothes that had been given to us and made my own instead. It worked better than buying anyway.
I enjoy challenging myself to "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" . I find it fun and my kids are learning to enjoy it too. I can be frugal and green and be a good steward with the money and earth that my great God has given to me.

My Godson is getting an outfit

Here is the outfit I made for my god son. He will wear it on our b-day coming up next thursday. Yup that's right OUR b-day. He will be 3 and I'll be a year older then what I am now lol. The top I got the pattern from Christinas' site. It's called the Little Girl's Tube Top Pattern here is the link: http://www.christinascrochethaven.com/little_girl1.htm . The only thing I did was the dc's but it's still part of her pattern so I have to give her credit for it. The shorts I got from a lady named grammy2twins and her blog called Momma Wear. The pattern is called Pretty Little Girl shorts. I just didn't add the ruffle on the legs and around the waist seeing as these are for a boy. The yarn is by TLC Essentials and it's called Surf n' Turf. Once our b-day has passed I will post pics of him in it.

Monarch Butterflies!

We tried something fun this summer, raising monarch butterflies. It was a great activity for the kids and quite easy to do. Monarchs lay their eggs on Milkweed plants and we have quite a few growing on our property. One day way counted and found over a dozen little caterpillars on them. We took one of the fat ones along with some leaves and put it in a jar with a piece of lace held on by a rubber band across the top (you could use anything with holes in it to let them get air). We made sure that we gave them plenty of milkweed leaves (and they can eat a lot! ) After a few days it started hanging from the top upside down. We hoped to watch it turn into a chrysalis put one of the caterpillars did it while we were asleep and the other one while we were at church. Oh well! After a week or so the chrysalis turned dark and we could kind of see the wings through it and then it came out! And it wasn't a Caterpillar anymore it was a wrinkled up butterfly. After a little while of stretching and drying off he was ready to fly. It is so cool how God made Butterflies!