Little Stitches

This is as crafty as I get - that is practical uses for fabric.  

As I recognized that I was in a glum mood and didn't really want to do much, I figured it would be a nice time to sit in a sunny part of the kitchen and stitch.  As most projects turn out, the kids were not far behind.  Thanks to the inspiration of reading Little House on the Prairie, I realized it was certainly appropriate that they learn how to sew as well.  Yes, I gave a sharp small object to each of my kids in a small space and taught them a basic loop stitch to attatch elastic to ribbon for head bands.  I was amazed by the dexterity and determination of their little hands.  They also felt extremely invested because they were making their own accessories.  Certainly at times it was tedious to be moving from one tutorial about tying off to the next, but as most projects go, they lost interest after awhile and I was left to my stitching while they fed themselves applesauce.  

I felt grateful sitting amidst these small industrious people on a sunny afternoon stitching away.  I was glad for their skill.  I was happy they wanted to be near.  I was impressed by how quickly they learned.  I triumphed with them when they finally threaded that tiny little needle with that disappearing thread.  I loved the moments of quiet silence as the thread rushed through multiple fabrics and little tongues kept busy keeping the concentration on the needle.  If the silence was broken it was for a reposed moment of question relevant to the past and present.  

The kids always love knowing more stories of my childhood and remembering how and why I first learned to stitch (creating doll clothes from remnant fabrics of my mothers and then making patchwork quilts) and remembering the lessons of keeping our hands busy so our minds could do their work.  Growing up we always had a something going on in hand if we were watching something on the television.  I remember hot summer afternoons in the cool basement watching old movies to the rythm of  everyone cutting green beans or shelling peas.  Or the numerous General Conference with all sorts of needle work being preformed.  The soothing feeling of letting your hands move about as they want to create something beautiful is the very feeling I pulled out my much neglected bins of ribbons and thread that day.

Most remarkable to me was seeing how much they accomplished!  Danny was the mot precise stitcher and actually finished two headbands for me before needing some refreshment.  After consuming sufficient amounts of applesauce he found the pipe cleaners and some beads and sat without prompting threading a bracelet for me.  Viv made it through a headband and a half before succumbing to the distracting applesauce and the frustration of not keeping up with Faith.  Faith did two ribbon headbands and then began learning a straight stitch to be able to do gathers (we called it the dolphin stitch since the needle goes under the fabric then comes back up from the same side like a dolphin hopping in and out of the water), which was more technical on a lace fabric she had chosen, and she succeeded.  When all the desired stitching was done they snacked and fingered the beautiful ribbons until Daddy came home for dinner while I made a couple of ribbon shamrock tie tacks for the boys.

There are so many fond memories connected to working with my hands in my childhood that I felt absolutely blessed, despite my grumpiness, to be sharing that simple pleasure with my kids.

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While admiring my work with the kids bedspreads, they all congregated naturally, including the cats.

During a laundry folding break, Danny found a comfy spot to relax.

I recognize in gratitude that my kids like to be close to me.  Some days it feels as though they are crawling on me constantly, but I will not shoo them off.  I repeat to myself - right now is the time that I have that they want to be with me, cherish it.  I have not figured that their contentment for being with me or with each other was any too rare until reflecting on our photos and a few conversations that drove the point home.

After having a friend watch the kids together for the morning she commented "Your kids love being together!  They play so nicely together."  I paused to reflect.  Her comment illuminated the comparison that not all siblings do.  I agreed, they do generally play really well together, and like it.

During a discussion about homes and family life I mentioned that I liked having a smaller home since no matter where we are in the home, we all end up being together so no use having empty rooms.  The gal I was conversing with said "Oh, you would never have found our family together in the same room!  We liked having our space through my whole life."  I reflected for a moment that it was unusual that we hovered around each other, and happily so.  

After touring a Montessori school and noticing how few kids, even with the freedom of the space were engaging other students I thought how my kiddos would fit in that environment.  I felt honestly that they would gravitate to one another.  I reasoned whether that would be an asset to them or not and in all my estimation I could only see it as a benefit.  Siblings who are friends are one of life's great treasures.

If I am every seated at the computer, within moments someone will crawl into my lap, followed by the others.  This is probably the reason that I do not get much work done online or browse the internet much...too many wigglers.

Spontaneous coloring together comfortably, so peaceful that the cats join in.

 Truthfully, I don't know how this all came about. I do hope that it has been cultivated as a family characteristic.  I pray that it will continue.  I praise my children for being the unique individuals that they are and how well the love each other.  This is the environment that Josh and I have worked to instill by making our home a place of warmth.  Welcome it is to see that it is easily practiced on a daily basis by the people who really are proof in the pudding.

Basement Betterment

In two weeks time our basement has gone through another transformation.  

I finally got back to painting more stripes on the technicolor dream wall - which was initially the kids project yet with attention spans we never get more than two stripes up in a day - Danny, Faith and Viv did all the green stripes and I added in the dark blue and yellow.  Thanks to the many color samples we got to pick the perfect color we have quite the array.

 And in the back corner - a real room!  We walled in the room for a gal to stay with us, kinda  a roommate/ nanny situation   We figured we would eventually put the room in for Danny as the kids got older, but why not now, especially if someone will babysit for free twice a week and pay $100 a month toward improving the space each month.

Best for me, I got a really nice little corner in which to sew and observe the kids at the same time.  I am excited for summer time when we will want to be in the cool basement and I will get loads of projects done - for now I just need to finish the curtains, and some mending, and the headbands for the girls, and some binding of quilts.....not much ;)

For perspective- Here are the transformations since June that brought us to this point -

There is a law irrevocably decreed....

I had a moment of parental pondering on Firday night.  "I bet this is how God feels sometimes" was what came to mind.  "He has given us commandments and the requisite punishment, but I don't think he really wants to have to punish us.  Yet, 'there is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven upon which all blessings are predicated' and to its converse, disobedience brings consequences."

Faith did her first ever self-haircut on Friday.  I was astonished.  I never once dreamed that Faith would mame her lovely golden locks.  We had set up a precedents of results with the girls about cutting their own hair, unreasonably harsh now I recognize, mostly in retaliation to Viv's personality that needs a good scare to keep from wrong choices.  The punishment: if you choose to cut your own hair, even the littles bit, Mama has to take scissors to the rest.

In a moment of childlike frustration and problem solving - Faith cut a few stray hairs that were annoyingly getting in her eyes.  When I saw it, my heart sank.  I do dote on her long golden hair.  I spend longer with her hair and love the natural elegance it gives to Faith.  Yet, the law was set.  I tried every possible way to justify my way out of cutting anything from that golden mane.  I was, sadly, faced with a parenting follow-through choice and letting my children learn the severity of consequences no matter what, and my own personal desire to ignore my own rules.  Three faces stared at me as the internal combat raged - most disheartening was seeing the absolute honest trust the had in me that I would stick to my rules.  Did I fail it I do as I felt, or did I continue on the path I had set before us as a parent?  In the end, the learning experience was invaluable particularly after this weeks repetitive theme "Nothing is more important than doing what is right."

I headed to the cutting chair with trepidation.  I never imagined approaching Faith's hair with an intention beyond trimming.  I felt it would be harsh enough to cut a few inches from the bottom to send the message home.  I was ready for a snip when Viv suggests that Faith donate her hair to Locks of Love.  A very noble observation for a 5 year old, I warrant, but a very untimely chivalry, and at the expense of her sisters hair.  Faith began to latch onto the idea.  My parental/personal combat began raging again.  How I wanted to squash that thought right there - no way we are cutting off way more than is needed to learn this lesson.  Yet, the principle of letting the kids make their own good choices for themselves stitched my lips together.  I reluctantly looked up the needed length of hair for donation and we dutifully measured Faith's hair.  Ten inches.  Ten inches shorter than I ever wanted to cut her hair.  Despite the daunting expense, Faith determined that if she were going to have to pay the consequence for a bad choice, she may as well turn it into a benefit for someone else.  A noble choice indeed albeit heart wrenching for me.

We roped the innocent hair and sacrificed it on the block of all the good that could come of predestined fate.  I found myself chopping through one of my favorite features of my eldest daughter replaying in my head the character building moments in life that only cost a bit of image for a principle needed for life.  The classic line from Little Women cursed through my head "Jo, your one true beauty!"  Yet we all knew that Jo was so much than her silly hair and the cause for which she sold it outweighed the vanity of the situation.

After the hacking, Faith and I both had a little cry for the lost hair and then created a plan for moving forward.  Making headbands for the time being and a few years would set everything to right.  And would she ever sacrifice choosing what she knew was right again for the convenient short-cut?  Well, I can only hope.  For as the Father of us all, I would rather be required to bless than chasten.

Kids' View: Danny's Eye

We have given the kids the permission to use our old digital camera.  They reached max capacity today on the memory card so it was time to download and see what they saw.  It is fun to see what is at eye level for them.  They use angels I would never get, from 2 foot higher up.  Here are a few of Danny's best:

Classic Self portrait.  It was impressive to watch him learn how to adjust the view in the mirror on one of his first camera adventures.

Keys: a close up

Angle on this one is super fun as he is even below his sisters.

He often is demanded to capture the girls on film, they are little divas.

Actual shelf on his eye level.

Early attempts to capture his favorite subject.

Taken a few days later, got the focus worked out.

Then in for a close up on an animate object, with no blur.

I actually took this picture but the story is what captures how much Danny is processing with film.  His sisters were telling him all about the spots that were on his back.  After a few failed attempts at seeing his own back in the mirror he came to me with the camera and asked for me to take a picture of his back so he could see the digital image of what he could not otherwise see.  Smart guy.

Teachings of Jesus

Every morning at breakfast I try to take hold of the opportunity that the kids are all eating to get in a bit of Spiritual feeding for them as well.  I have a very small window of opportunity as they are a wiggly bunch and fast eaters, but I do my best.  As we have found previously, our small lessons can be drawn out (punny) a bit more with the use of colorful markers.  If you really want to get the most out of a verse, try drawing pictures of the concept easy enough for 6 and under to manage.

We are studying in 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon, in which the Savior visits the American continent and teaches them how His sacrifice has changed things and teaches these Nephite disciples many of the same things He taught to His disciples in Jerusalem.  Chapter 13 in 3rd Nephi is comparable to Matthew chapter 6 in the New Testament. 

The kids and I have talked for several days now about prayer.  Jesus begins his teachings about prayer talking about hypocrites.  That word alone took us one day to get understood and applicable to the littles, but it was certainly worth it.  I sincerely desire the teach my children correct principles so they can form their own personal relationship with God that will be meaningful throughout their lives, and prayer is really the ticket.  So it is important the Jesus taught His disciples that when you pray it ought to be for you, not for other people to see.  The next day of talking about prayer was in the following verses as Christ talks about the reasons we pray.  He notes that the Father 'knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him' which may render prayer meaningless to some if the outcome seems pre-determined.  Yet, Christ teaches that we must pray in all things that the Father can continue to bless us.    He warns against using "vain repetitions," which we learned in our little lesson as insincerity.

Today we approached what is well known in Christendom as "The Lord's Prayer."  As we began talking about prayer again this morning and review what we had learned over the days previous, it was important to note that before Christ gives this example of prayer, He says to avoid repetitions.  Deduction then teaches us that while showing us how to  pray, Jesus was not telling us what to say.  So, the kids and I went through Christ's example of prayer to understand the elements of prayer that he is demonstrating.  

I have known this model of prayer most of my life.  As a missionary I also had opportunity to teach people a pattern of prayer based this same model.  Today, however, I noted something, perhaps more poignantly in an answer to my own prayer, that I had not taught as a missionary. Colored as the 2nd element in our model "Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven."  I learned this morning, for myself, that just as important as giving thanks and asking for help, is recognizing that God already has a plan set out for my life and it is through understanding that in humility that prayer becomes most effective.  

As I was breaking it down for the kids, I was reminded of prayers I had said as a distraught teenager, pleading that I wouldn't have to be part of my family.  Obviously the Lord had had me born into that family, so that was were I was supposed to be, so praying to change that essential element in the plan was not wise.  I thought of other times in my life where I have known the plan very clearly, but didn't like it so I still prayed against it.  How sad it must have seemed to the Father, in His loving wisdom, that He had a child that was so missing the mark.  This problem is by no means solved, which is why the revelation this morning has been so meaningful - I need to seek to understand the plan if my prayers are really going to be of any use to me.  How would one sincerely ask for forgiveness or direction of I were stuck visionless of the real reason for needing direction.

I am grateful for answer to prayer found through scripture.  I am further grateful that the Lord makes sure I get the message.  I did humble myself in fasting and prayer and am recieving the answer.  The follow-up to scripture study was in listening to the voice of an apostle, Henry B. Eyring, "Where is Thy Pavillion;"

It's Curtain's for you

Saturday's project was to be building a new room in the basement.  However, our contractor helper was tied up in another job, and what resulted was just a lovely day of switching curtains around.  It is amazing the difference that a proper window treatment can make in a room.  When we initially moved in we just threw up the curtains we had for practicality.  Now we are settling in to things better I had the gumption to bump everything around to where it ought to be.  So here is how the switch-o went:

Everything is staged now to build a bedroom in this corner of the basement.  The curtains over the very drafty window I had initially put in the kids' room because they are light/heat blocking curtains, but they didn't fit the windows.

The curtains I needed for the kids room were hanging around the makeshift bathroom here in the corner of the basement.  I found the large red curtain and hung it on the important side, and with moving the food storage into that corner it created a fourth wall on the other side of the 'bathroom'.  Note that the wooden cupboards on the left have no doors on them any longer.

I had got some thermal sheers for the kids' room a while back so now I could move the appropriate size and color window treatments into the kids' room that is coming together, slowly, but coming.  Looks better with the right curtains to match the window sizes.

My favorite result of it all was our master bedroom, which now feels like a master retreat, thanks to the doors we took of the cupboards to make a head board and the sheers from he basement 'bathroom' to finally allow some privacy and daylight in the room.  Josh was skeptical when I told him about moving the bed angled in the corner to get away from the draft under the window, but just as I suspected, by creating triangular floor space rather than rectangular pathways the room looks and feels twice as large!  Always rethink a room, you may be surprised.  And of course the cats now prefer our bed for the softness and sunlight.

At Christmas I had found the fabric to create the valances for the dining and kitchen area, which Josh and I created on Christmas day.  I love the pattern and color (which can play both orange and red) and love how cozy it makes this end of the house.  I have only the window in the kitchen and the back door to finish dressing and everything will look so fine!

All this fine home improvement with only the cost of the fabric for the kitchen windows.  The rest of the window treatments I had from previous moves (way back to our first apartment in Mildred's basement) and the curtain rods were often splits of ones I had used before.  It all worked out.  As we are staying within budget it is fun to rethink our house over and over again to get the maximum benefit.