Right this minute...

three hours ago. Time flies.

Do you ever feel like you're being watched?

Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

On today's schedule - a homeschooling website recommendation.

Break open my Janice VanCleave Big Book of Play and Find Out Science Projects and do an experiment. Document and post that experiment here to hopefully win *another* Janice VanCleave book. Very exciting!

You see, my favorite homeschooling blog, yeah, that one, the one I reference all of the time has opened up a new website for all of her resources. Her crafts, website recommendations, science experiments, they're all on one page and indexed for *really* easy look-up.

You know you're going to be attached to a homeschooling website that has lists of websites for Nature Studies, Science Experiments, Virtual Fieldtrips, and Websites for Children (broken down by subject matter and age) right there for you and easy to find. So handy.

And now, the first sponsor on her blog, Janice VanCleave, is giving away three of her books - THREE! - to readers who submit an experiment from one of her books. Since it's not a 'best experiment' contest, there's very little pressure and I as a mom of three kids can do it without stressing. Again, so handy.

So, let the experimenting begin!

The famous conductor.

That's what I'm telling myself.


Truth be told, he was jabbing the stick in the air yelling "Ya! Ya!" and laughing maniacally.

His sisters told me he was fighting a monster, which only makes sense.

Heroes always get the girl.

*Filed under "If only it weren't so blurry."

Busy December days.

Pretending it's not December for one child.

Becoming Grandmother Winter for another.

Becoming "such a busy Mommy".

Realizing it's a hard knock life. For them.

Putting away Thanksgiving crafts,

and toys. (Sooo simple to make, this one. We also made a gingerbread man and Hannah's lobbying for a snowman.)

Drawing mazes for each other.

Making cinnamon-applesauce ornaments.

And repurposing felted wool sweaters into children's mittens.

Again, these were so easy. I used the sleeve cuffs as the ends of the mittens, so I didn't have to hem them.

Trying to make an advent calendar -

that's not turning out quite like I'd hoped.

Going through patterns for Christmas pajamas.

Fairy dancing. Which is not unique to December days, for sure, but they are currently Sugar Plum Fairies, so ...

The snow has come - though it's not deep enough to play in - and the wind and cold are here. We're making do in the house.

As a side-note, does anyone know where to look for used gymnastic equipment? That may save me.

Tiered Skirt Tutorial

A few months ago, I mentioned the three-tiered skirt that I made for my daughter for her birthday and was asked by several people for a tutorial. Due to illness, I haven't gotten around to it until now.

This is an easy, fast skirt to make. It can easily be tweaked, even by a beginning seamstress to have a greater or fewer number of tiers, different sizes (making matching skirts for dolls is *so* easy and will get you in good with your kids), and this patterns is not picky about what texture and style of fabric you use.

I got this pattern from my cousin, written on a refrigerator notepad, it's that easy. Here are the steps:

1. Find the desired length of the skirt. Measure from the waist to either the knees, calf, ankles ... wherever you want the skirt hem to be.

2. Divide the desired length by the number of panels you want and add one inch. For example, if you want three tiers, divide the length by 3 and add 1. This will be the height of each tier.

3. Measure your child's waist. (The skirt in this picture is an above-knee two-tiered skirt.)


4. The tier lengths should be cut as follows:
1st tier: Waist measurement plus 13 inches.
2nd tier: 1st tier times 2.
3rd tier: 2nd tier times 2.
etc, etc for any additional tiers.

5. Sew together pieces of each tier so that each tier is one long piece. You will now have three pieces of fabric (for a three-tiered skirt).

6. For the first tier, fold down the top 1 1/4 inch and fold that under 1/4 inch and sew. This gives you a 1 inch casing for elastic.

7. For the bottom tier, sew a 1/4 inch double-fold hem.

8. Now it's time to gather. Sew a gathering stitch along the entire top of your second tier. If you haven't sewn a gathering stitch before, it's very easy. Change your stitch length on your machine to the longest available length. Before you start stitching, pull both the lower and upper threads out about four or five inches - you will need these for gathering. Sew 1/4 inch from the edge of your fabric. When you get to the end, pull the threads out at least four to five inches again before you cut them.

When I make these skirts, there are several places in each tier where I've sewn the fabric together to get the desired length. For ease of gathering, I stop sewing right before the seam, pull the thread long, cut, pull the threads on the machine long and start over right after the seam (as in the picture below). This makes it so that I don't have to gather over the seam. Maybe not professional, but much easier.

9. Sew gathering stitch on remaining lower tiers.

10. Gather up gathering stitches on each tier. To do this, gently pull one thread while helping the fabric along that thread. It will get quite crowded as in the picture below.

11. Now you're going to match these tiers up. Pin the top of the second tier to the bottom of the first tier, loosening your gather as needed to make the two lengths match up and taking care to keep the gathers even. You will need a lot of pins along this edge to keep the gathers where you want them. You can see in the picture below how much you'll loosen the gather to make the two tier lengths match.

12. Sew a 1/2 inch seam, being careful to keep your gathering seam on the inside. Because my girls wear their skirts all of the time and play hard in them, I sew another seam 1/8 - 1/4 of an inch inside this seam. But that's just me.

13. Repeat steps 11 and 12 for all of your tiers.

Your skirt should now look like this:

(For those of you with eagle eyes, yeah, the hem on this one isn't done yet - this skirt is for Hannah and I always hem last on her skirts since she changes her mind frequently about the desired length.)

14. Cut a length of 1 inch wide elastic (non-roll is best) the length of the child's waist plus one inch. (20 inch waist would make a 21 inch long piece of elastic) Thread this elastic through the elastic casing on the top tier, securing it at each end.

15. Pin the long edges of your skirt together, from the top to the hem. Sew a 1/2 inch seam all the way down, stitching several times over the elastic waist to secure it.

Now your skirt's done! I go a step further and iron the side hem open. Not necessary, but nice.


Here are a few other tiered skirts -

My cousin's daughter designed and made this one while she was with us.

Ainsley's birthday skirt with matching doll skirt.

Hannah in a skirt that was a gift from a cousin. It's a good skirt to wear over pants when she's playing outside. Just try to separate my girls from their skirts.


So there you have it! I hope it was a clear tutorial. Have fun! Let me know if you make any skirts - I'd love to see pictures!

Right This Minute.

Cleaning the toy room.

While you may never do it alone,

and the help may be well-meaning,

you still end up doing most of the cleaning yourself.

Your help is too easily distracted by the great toys that are uncovered in the process.

'Tis the life of a mother of young kids.

Guest Post - Visiting a craft fair.

Editor's note: This is the second guest post I've had on my blog. The first one is here. I can't believe it's been two years! We went to a craft fair this morning and Hannah wanted to take some pictures herself 'so that I can write a blog.' Then she told me what to write for each picture. Enjoy!

My mom gave us some money when we went to a craft fair today. It was kind of fun. I got some earrings. One of them was for my sister, but they were too pretty, so I kept them. She got a doll crib that she loved.

I took this picture because I thought the white purse was pretty. I bought two purses. They were almost a dollar each. They had a tiny chocolate bar in them. I got them because I thought they were the right size for my Nettie doll but they weren't. They were the right size for her hair, though, so I made her a hairdo with two purses. I should have gotten a picture of that.


These socks were there too. I tried to get a picture of the rainbow colored ones, but the camera must have deleted it. Those were my favorite. I wanted to get them for Aunt Ria's baby, but I didn't have enough money.

The sun must have been in the candy dish for it to look so blurry. This candy was at a jewelry table. I wanted some jewelry, but the candy was free, so I got a piece of candy instead. It wasn't very good.

These are pictures of a dollhouse that was there. I really liked it a LOT but my mom said it was too expensive. (Editor's note: It was $595. Just sayin'.) I like the tiny door and the window in this picture.


This picture is too dark, but I like being able to see that old man in the window. It makes me think that I caught a glimpse of an old snowman walking by.

The wallpaper in this house was good. We only have white walls in our house. I want pink walls in my room. And a pink ceiling. And a pink floor. So this picture is to show my dad what I want in my room.


The lady had fake snow surrounding the house. You can see it in this picture. It was pretty cool.

The windows were so pretty. the brown roof is pretty too. The lady should have put snow on it.

This would be my bedroom if I lived here. Then I could come out the window and walk on the roof.


Isn't the snowman's hat funny? And his tiny eyes make me laugh. He looks like he's squinting.

The plants hanging on the porch were really pretty, but they don't make much sense. She has snow on the ground, after all. Who has plants hanging outside in the winter? All of our plants here are dead. She should have bird feeders up.



This is a movie I took. The snowman is running around on the porch yelling at the little snow kids running around. I think they're throwing snowballs at him. I'm frustrated that you can't hear my voice. I was talking quietly because people were listening to me, but now you can't hear me.


This is a picture I took when we got home. It's too fuzzy, but it's cool if you squinch your eyes up a bit. I stood some of my horses on top of each other and they look like the Crazy Bremen Town Musician Horses. I have more horses but they kept falling over, so I just got this one.

Now I'm going to read Calvin and Hobbes with my mom. My Aunt Ria let us borrow her Humblecidal Cycle Jungle Cat (Editor's Note: That'd be Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat) book. She has thirty-eleven Calvin and Hobbes books and they make me laugh SO hard.