What's been going through the sewing machine.

I keep forgetting to send you over to my other blog in case you're interested in the Great Stash Busting Project of 2011. I think these are all the ones I've forgotten to link to.

Easter shirts.



Ainsley skirts.



And the Pants Post.

Blogging away.

or Away Blogging.

I have a guest post up at The Mahogany Way! Mahogany Way is my friend Darcel's blog and well worth checking out!

Blast from the Past

Searching through my old posts today for one a friend was looking for and I came across this one.

And that's the main reason why I blog. I'd forgotten about that day. It makes me smile how very similar our days still are two years later.

Oh, and this one - a freckle-less Ainsley!

Ainsley being a hero.

I found the post my friend was looking for - a comparison of the sizes of the planets, but the link isn't working. I googled for it, but all links lead back to the Techdo page which is defunct. Major bummer.

I did find the World Sunlight Map page again. Just as cool this time around.

Always a day behind.

And today won't be any different. I'll tell you about today's fun tomorrow, when my eyes aren't glassing over from exhaustion.

Yesterday my sister and I went to a small market in the area. The girls bought mini-cheesecakes from a sweets vendor which they thought was tons of fun (mini-cheesecakes are fancy and Hannah's still trying to teach Ains the importance of that) and Gray had several mini-meltdowns. Being away from home isn't as carefree for him as it was for his sisters at the same age.

Then, when the cousins got home, we went to a World Market. Such a fun store. Hannah and I found some ideas for lighting in the kid's flower garden this summer.

Wouldn't those be pretty? Everyone kind of gravitated to the international chocolates aisle and milled there for awhile. I got some early Easter supplies and a sweet little mini-globe that I would like to have floating around our house.

When we got home, the kids went directly to the trampoline in the back yard without passing Go or collecting $200 (not that they would have had much of a chance of that had they tried). This is where they get rid of so much of their energy. I tried to get some pictures, but they were getting rid of a lot of energy.







The girls are so good with Gray in there. All he wants to do is run in circles as fast as he can, and if he can do that while they're bouncing around him, it's all the more fun.

Let me show you one of my favorite views since I've been here. From my sister's patio, you can see an orange tree in the yard behind hers...

and a lemon tree a few doors down.

We don't have local citrus in Idaho.

The last few weeks have been...

Meal inventions.


Dancing.

Singing.

Sending off the last of the Christmas presents. (I blush.)

Doing crafts sent as Christmas presents by friends.

Oh, yeah. Tattoos.

Discovering 'clicker training' for dogs. Consider saying that it doesn't work on tiny dogs just to head off the inevitable chihuahua talk. But I don't. My honesty is rewarded by thirty minutes of chihuahua talk.

Painting.

(Please note how many pictures she's wearing that fairy dress in.)

Dollhouse play. Constantly.

Throwing puzzle pieces. Putting puzzles together. Hiding puzzles.

Making marshmallow crackles for sore throats.

On a completely unrelated note, lots and lots and LOTS of reading.

X-Men Evolution. Scooby-doo. Musketeers. Smurfs. TV does not affect my kid's imaginations, no sirree.

Crafts. Glue on the carpet. Exercises in patience.

Experimenting.

Doctor visits for Mother. Again. Hannah sharing results of said visit in a random conversation. Luckily it was with my sister. Hannah is banned from future doctor visits. Just kidding - she's the one the secretaries want to see, I don't think they'd let me come without her.

Making a Gargamel trap.

Studying.

Organizing. Discovering 'new' toys, games, and dress-up clothes in said organizing.

Chocolate chip banana bread. Heaven.

Chess for some.

Throwing chess pieces for others.

ABBA. As loud as we can get it. Same for George Strait.

Gymnastics. Cousins. Library. No craft store - Mother's practicing self-control.

Elaborate tea parties to which *everyone* is invited.

Mice mysteries - mystified. (That's the first post - it's an ongoing mystery.) Babies born - thrilled. Babies born dead - so much sadness. Babies still in utero - hope.

Hannah lost another tooth. She is beyond excited because now she can say "Sister Susie sitting on a thistle" with an authentic lisp. It's beyond adorable.

Sleep overs.

Chasing Grayson around the house to make him giggle.

Looking at fossils. I'm vindicated for making Matt move "a big box of rocks" from house to house for years.


(Vindication deserves two photos, don't you think?)

Berry picking.And - most exciting of all - Gray up and decided he was done with diapers one day. So we're done. At home he's completely reliable during the day and is reliable at night as long as I wake up when he tries to wake me up to get his diaper off and get him on his little potty. When we're out, he's completely reliable as long as I watch for his 'need to pee' signals and put him on the toilet anytime we're in there for anyone else. So that's fun.

When my illness catches up to me, blogging falls by the wayside and what you see above is pretty much what I concentrate on, so I disappear for awhile. Thanks for sticking around until I get my head above water again.

Making friends.

Today we had an outing where my girls met two little boys just their age. While I talked to their mother, all of the children were shy ...

then friendly ...

then playful ...

and, finally, the best of friends.

For my social butterfly eldest, it was a very, very good day.

How unschoolers learn about reproduction.*

*Please note that this is not how unschoolers learn about reproduction.

Yesterday morning, when Hannah was making pancakes, she asked for help flipping some of the smaller pancakes. This is what I saw when I looked at the grill.


That and this:

Of course, I just had to make up a few more and turn it into an object lesson.*

Two people met and fell in love.

The inevitable happened.

And they had a baby.

It's like finding the Virgin Mary on your griddle, but this one teaches you a sex-ed lesson. Or something.

*Again, this object lesson didn't happen with my kids. It is just for my blog. In fact, I never pointed out to my daughter that the first pancake looked like a fetus. I did not want tears as soon as the fetus' umbilical cord fell off or her sister ate the head. I also never pointed out to her that the second looked like sperm. We'll have that conversation another day.

More food as body parts posts here and here.

Discovering cattails.

Cross-posted.

We've lived here for three years and every year, twice a year, my children discover cattails as if it was the first time they'd seen them. One of the times is in the fall when the cattails dry and burst. The other is now, in the spring, right before the new cattails make their appearance and the old cattails are especially easy to, er, distribute.

"Let's get some exercise" says she as she heads down the road.

Once we realize she's serious, we run to catch up.

Exploring.

Discussing.

Loving.

Mother realizes that if there are to be any pictures of Grayson on this blog, she'd better take one.

We reach the 'pond'. Our nearest farmer uses this as his backup water. In a few weeks he'll burn this to the ground, clearing the way for the pond to be filled with irrigation water a few weeks after that. A few weeks after that, this seemingly barren little area will be teeming with plant and animal life.

Look what we discover.

Oh, the fun to be had with these.






Even the cats got in on the game.