Christmas Eve

I'm obviously a bit late in my posts, but in the interest in keeping up my "journal" I'll still post this.

We celebrated a birthday and a few days later a driver's permit.

This year Shekinah knew exactly what to do with gifts!

And grandpa remembered how to hold a tiny baby.

The aunt looks like a pro!

And the baby knows how to smile too! Didn't catch it on camera, but it was real.

  Christmas morning was prep time for the big family dinner,but I had to order the rainbow looms to be put away so we could get on with preparations....they are addictive.

Monkey Hat

         Well the monkey hat isn't for this monkey, but I found these pictures on my camera.

        My DIL mentioned that I should learn to crochet so I can make one of those cute monkey hats...wasn't sure what she was talking about so I did some research. This is the picture I found...my crochet skills would not be up to that until little Parker is in high school and I doubt he'd want it then.  First I considered fleece, but the fleece I had was too dark. Then I spied a hand-me-down shirt that oldest son out grew. I knew I had saved that beautiful soft fabric for something. I also had some red fleece and white t-shirt fabric, so no shopping necessary

After you find the fabric, you need to make a pattern. If you have a similar hat you can draw your own. Or you can go online to this site  or even pay $4 from here for a pattern and get a basic hat pattern.

This particular hat had 4 pieces for the body...I changed it to just 2 rectangles and a circle for the crown of the hat.   I only used a single layer of fabric for the top part of the hat.

     
   The band/ear flap part is a double layer, so you need to put right sides together, sew along bottom edge and turn right side out....sorry no pics for that.

Like I said, the crown of the hat is a circle, it gathered a bit when I sewed it to the lower part. If the wearer of the hat is handy, do a quick measure to see if you need to adjust anything.  

I need to get a picture or name of the type of seam I used to join the pieces. For experienced sewers, you layer the edges, right side to wrong side. The beauty of t-shirt fabric is that it won't fray so the edges can stay unfinished.  

You can tuck the ears into the side seams the first time you sew the seam or add them later after you see how the face is going to look.

The ears are just a rectangle with the two corners rounded...cut them from the cuff fabric and no edges to worry about...you could cut them from the t-shirt knit, but then cut 4.

I folded the crown of the hat into quarters, marking with a pin. Pin the crown in place with the white fabric on top of the grey fabric. I used an over-lock stitch if you have a real over-lock machine this would be a breeze!

I covered the seam with the red fleece and simply zig-zagged it in place.

The ear flaps/hat band get sewn in place with the layered method, stitch with a stretch stitch.

The nose is just an oval of white t-shirt fabric (double thickness) and the mouth is more fleece. They eyes are just buttons sewn on with white thread. I thought about adding red tassels to the ear flaps too...the tassel on the top is just 8-10 narrow strips of fleece, stitched together in center and then stitched on the top.

Note: If you are having trouble with too much stretching, put tissue paper under the fabric as you sew, tear it out afterward.

More Christmas

The youngest 3 gleefully waiting to open gifts.

What a change a year brings...gotta find my pictures from last Christmas.

             

'Twas the Week Before Christmas

And what should one do?  Why don't I clean out the sewing room closet since really what else would I have to do with my time...?

 As you can see, it was a necessary job! My mother and I joke that you can never have too much fabric, it works like insulation so therefore it is OK to have piles of it....but I got tired of tripping over my insulation!

I hauled out a total of 7 garbage bags, 3 went into the garbage and 4 went to my mom's house for "redistribution"  Some will go into charity quilts she was making, some will go to " a lady who cuts patches for charity quilt kits" and some will be sent overseas to CAM's sewing rooms in Eastern Europe. There the local women can sew clothes, home furnishings etc for the needy and as payment they are allowed to keep a certain percent of what they sewed.

I also finished the last 2 projects of the year ( I think) 

And my niece Amy Kaitlyn Grace made her appearance, we were told on Friday that they have diagnosed Trisomy 18 or Edward's Syndrome. She has multiple birth defects, please pray for their family, she was a much longed for little sister  ( for a certain 7 y.o. with seven brothers).  Pray for wisdom to make decisions on her medical needs and for strength to endure.

Old Ad

Sort of like the old RCA ad, but with a modern twist....

Amplification was much better in a glass kettle lid on a glass top stove.

Quote of the Day:  "Men have a train of thought, women have a whole freight yard...not saying women think more, they just have a lot more trains."  EJW

And It Didn't Cost a Penny!

Yesterday when I was making bread, Shekinah hopped up on a chair and "cooked animal crackers in a frying pan on the cold stove beside me. At the time it was a life saver, but I realized that it would have to be a rare experience.  I put on my thinking cap...the older girls had a plastic play kitchen,but it was so big and just a bit too wobbly that it wasn't real enough, they didn't play with it...we threw it out.
But we did have a good sturdy (Fisher Price) work bench from the boys, today I brought it upstairs, cleaned it off, dug out some little kettles that I had stored away because I just don't use them. I searched the drawers for some similar utensils and viola! she has  kitchen.

She even put a doll in her shopping cart and used it for a high chair.

We will see what kind of mileage we actually get out of this, but the best part is...it didn't cost a penny!

Worst Mom of the Year Award

That would be me this week! On Monday when we came home from finally delivering the school children....they had a two hour delay for snow and ice. I picked Shekinah from her car seat, hugged her against me and reached around to slide the van door closed. As I moved away from the van she started to cry and reach for her foot. I glanced down and there was the edge of her slipper caught in the van door!  I was relieved , it was a big fluffy slipper, surely....but she was crying so hard! I got into the house , took off the slipper and her little toe was bleeding! At first, I worried that her toe was broken, but she was wiggling it. I frantically tried to gather all the first aid supplies with one hand while holding her shaking crying with my other arm.  In the end, I just bandaged it and later she allowed me to wash it in warm soapy water.  She soon figured how to hop on the heel of that foot and she even wore snow boots to go out in the snow.

Speaking of snow, we had our first snow of any amount on Monday and right on schedule Tuesday morning it started pouring snow....just as the school busses were warming up and the moms were thinking of hauling sleeping children out of their warm covers. Our school managed to call a 2 hr delay before the alarms beeped and by 8:30. I hadn't really planned on a snow day, I needed to finish a wallhanging order. I told them they can get breakfast and Joe decided on eggs...dippy...of course.
The others of course wanted some too and Joe agreed to make them. Hope of course figured he needed her help and I stayed firmly planted in front of the sewing machine. The only advice I gave was "you gotta eat what you make" and "start the toast before you put the eggs in the pan."
They even accepted the chore of cleaning up after themselves and I believe they only ate a few under-cooked eggs....they did make 14 eggs for 5 kids.

Thankfully they all went to school today, but Shekinah missed them I guess and was a grouchy child...pleading fore E-I-E-I-O before we even got home from our quick run to wallie world and a stop at my SIL to drop dresses. Another trip to Hershey today another dip in the roller coaster that is her life these days...baby looks good (except for the birth defects) but decided to flip head up again and effectively changing the plan to c-section again....Keep them in your prayers...plans are for the baby to be born on Monday, then so many questions will be answered, but  until then I'm thinking my mind would be in such a whirl....

Sorry, this is just newsy, I need to keep a journal in some way.
I'll discuss my deer hunting, long distance tanker truck driver some other day.

Innovations or maybe "Just Cheap"

So when the guy with a hole in his hand needs to do plumbing and electrical work, it's duct tape (actually Duck tape) to the rescue. We wrapped the hand with traditional gauze and tape, then a hefty cover of silver duct tape.

And when little Miss Shekinah needs a bib to protect her pretty little dress from her morning "dippy eggs" I just grab a napkin and clip it with a clothes pin.

Please ignore the tear-streaked face I just told her she can't watch E-I-E-I-O  AGAIN! Out of desperation the other day I looked for and found videos with nursery rhymes...they are only SLIGHTLY annoying....the REAL annoying thing is the whiny begging that comes when I am trying to use the computer.  We will try to interest her in other more educational activities.

Conversations

So the other weekend big brother told his siblings that he has a  date...with a girl....
At first the reactions were of disbelief  as if their big brother would betray them in that way....
then there was intense curiosity, who is she?, what does she look like?...is she the one with glasses or without?

"so what did you say when you asked her"
"It's really none of your business", says big brother superciliously.
She persists, "but I need to know, so just in case a guy asks me, I know what he is talking about."

I have a feeling life will not be calming down for quite some time around here...between the new baby questions and the girlfriend observation....oh my!


Monday, I got a phone call from Ben asking "what should you do if you drilled half-way through your hand?"

"whose hand?"

"Umm, mine."

I figured if he had the presence of mind to dial my number it wasn't too bad....

It was a 3/8" drill bit...no it wasn't bleeding too bad.....yes he had feeling all around each of his fingers....yes he could move them....no there doesn't seem to be much to stitch back together....oh and we are at least an hour away.

so we did the next best thing..."tell your co-worker to take a picture with his phone and e-mail it"

Within seconds I had the picture and he was telling the truth, nothing to stitch. ( I will spare you the picture)

God was in the proceedings though, they didn't have all the supplies they needed to finish the job and he was home by 2:30 and we soaked the hand. So far, PTL it seems to be healing nicely.
We wrap it well with "duck" tape every morning, and he wears a work glove over that. It keeps the bandage in place pretty nicely....  gotta take a picture of that for the archives.

Our Thanksgiving

It started out before the sun was up...since three girls are still on the school day schedule.

We attended church, then drove to my niece's house. The cousins had fun.

                         They made turkeys with cookies and corn candy...then had a cookie catching contest

Some of them resorted to catching candy corn because they were sure their mouths were not THAT big

Around 4 PM I got a text from our oldest saying that his wife is headed for a c-section...I'm very glad I didn't know when they arrived at the hospital....sometimes ignorance is bliss!

         Shortly after 6 we got the call that Parker Chase had arrived!  A whopping 8 # 10 oz

Proud daddy!

                               All the proud aunts and uncles got to hold him the next day. We actually took turns from oldest to youngest, but it's too much hassle to arrange the pictures AGAIN!

"S" Quote

Those practice session with the colors must be sticking a little bit!...
Well first a little background, over the weekend I began smelling a 'rotten' smell in the girls' room. Remembering the purloined Popsicle, I started searching and found a sippy cup of very sour milk hiding under Shekinah's bed. Apparently it had leaked a little onto the carpet and the smell didn't disappear when I got rid of the cup.
So Monday morning I was on a warpath, that room was getting cleaned! I hauled all the blankets from her bed, and the blankets that I lay on while waiting for her royal highness to fall asleep, down the steps. Well, I got a foot tangled in one of the dangling corners and that quick I was plopping down the steps on my behind.
Long story, short, I called hubby at work and told him to check on me later, while he was talking to me I started mumbling and hung up on him.  Like any good hubby he called 911.
All told, we had 3 police officers and 2 EMT's in my living room and Shekinah was busy observing "those guys"  I didn't go to the hospital, I just bruised my tailbone and my pride. I'm still a little achy but MUCH better.
Anyway--- tonite hubby was looking at our adjustable floor lamp and said "now who was messing with those lights again! I told them (the children) to leave them alone!"  He looked at Shekinah and asked "Do you know who was messing with the lights?"
"yes, those guys."
" which guys?"
"Those blue guys in the shirts!"

Their shirts were indeed blue, but I didn't see anyone messing with those lights.

But she got the color right!

Painted My "Native" Americans

And sent them out the door! They thought I should whip up fringes and leggings last night...sorry kiddos, I don't have that much energy for something you will wear for about 3 hours.

Fourteen Things.....About Me?

I was 'tagged' on fac*book to give fourteen "little known" facts about myself. Some people were assigned as few as six; I'm not sure how I managed to be elected for fourteen. Maybe I'll tell myself  " I won".....there that makes it easier!
I really don't think there are fourteen facts about myself that people would really want to know, but here goes:

1. I spent all my life high, that is until I was 19 and got married and changed my name to something different.

2. I have been asked a number of times if I'm part Chinese.

3. I am the oldest of  three children.

4. I have no sisters.

5. We have seven children.

6. According to the IR*, I am self-employed at three jobs.

7. I am currently getting my hair combed into 'cornrows' by an eight-year-old. I may never be able to finish this post- ouch!

8. I once drove an ambulance into Philadelphia...and back out. The ambulance was fine and the patient no worse for the trip!

9. I have only been to FL once, on our honeymoon.

10. I have been to Chin* four times.

11. I've worn glasses since 8th grade.

12. I helped deliver a little boy, early one morning, in the living room of their house. My famous words? "Oh it's the head!"

13. I got my EMT certification a little over 25 years ago.

14. My hubby and I met at a scavenger hunt.

Today is National Adoption Day, I can't imagine how boring my life would be without the added blessing of our youngest four children. Not everyone should be adoptive parents, but EVERYONE has the requirement of  James 1:27 and other verses to care for those less fortunate than you. It can be praying specifically for a family, providing a listening non-judgmental ear,being part of a big brother/sister program, or MAYBE just MAYBE God is asking you to step outside of your comfort zone and into some Extreme Parenting!   How about it? Ask God, you might be surprised what He says.   That verse also mentions widows, they can be 'adopted' too, there are so many ways to be involved in helping other people that don't even involve money...but they do involve time.  That is a long topic all of its own.





A lesson learned: If you are stealing nuts, you should watch where you are going!