simple inspiration

Christmas delight and trouble

Delight and surprise at Christmas card and gift from Grandma and Grandpa.

Then the trouble started: this is for dad.  Remember the journal entries....

 

The oldest grandchild was gloating at her #1 status... #2 loves teasing Grandpa about it.

Genealogy (our legacy)

I have always love this particular piece of furniture.  Mom bought it when she owned the quilting shop and it was a great place for the smaller notions.  She gave it to her mother a little while back.  This is what it holds now.

 
Thousands of temple cards. The names of ancestors and family.

My grandmother married my grandfather in 1943.  She started doing genealogy in 1948 a year prior to her baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1949.  She started with notebooks.

There are piles and piles of notebooks, with dates, names, facts and interesting tidbits.  Not all the information was complete as she researched her ancestors, but the notebooks continued to be filled and missing pieces were added as they were found.

Then she typed the information on family group sheets and organized the names she had gathered.  Filling books and books...

The information has since been gathered into a computerized file (thanks Mom and Dad).

My Guelitos (grandparents) asked me one day to come and take a photograph of their "legacy", their work.

It's impossible to photograph the magnitude of 20,000+ names.  How does one show the love and dedication? Perhaps it's in the light that shines in their eyes, of knowing they have done all they can and continuing to do more.

Perhaps it's in the worn hands that gingerly show those names that fill one's past and bring hope to the future.

 

It's our legacy.

nativity

 

I work well with deadlines, whether real or self-imposed (which of course then makes them real).

I started this nativity angel three years ago. I stitched the main scene while Christmas came and went (not to mention a few other projects with immediate deadlines).  The next year when I started to finish it, I couldn't find the pattern (thus I have no idea who the designer is) so I shaped the angel body as best as I could remember and stuffed it.  Finally this year  when I saw that Piece N Quilt (a local/online quilt shop) was hosting an online event I made this my deadline.  It's nice to finally have this project finished.

I look forward to the beginning of the year when I will have a little bit more time to work on a few more quilting projects.

A few closeup shots:

 

If you want to participate you can check out Piece N Quilt's blog (found here).  The owner Natalia is also a machine quilter and from what I've seen online she does beautiful work. 

a dance

 

They would have probably preferred to play tennis than go to a dance.

Raising children

This is the final Christmas card photo. It's the first photo I took in our "session" and it got worse from this point. At least you can see everyone's face and no one is throwing a fist or being kicked.

I was thinking about raising children yesterday at church. It's always a wrestling match trying to get the babies to take a nap in my arms or trying to keep a sibling argument from becoming too loud. Then when it was all over, I found myself dragging big "I" by his feet down the hall. He was quite content and I was losing my patience.  Thankfully my hero (dad to everyone else) arrived and threw him over his shoulder and out we went into the snow.

I wondered, in all the chaos, who is raising whom? 

I teach the children little bits here and there. They are learning to always wear clean underwear, brush their teeth (although I think a few are not as thorough as they should be), and help with the dishes.

The reality is the lessons I learn from them far outweigh what I am teaching. 

The refining I have experienced and continue to experience on a daily basis makes me a different person.  I will never be the kind of mother these beautiful children deserve, but I am learning everyday to be a little better and in the end, hopefully they will see the progress rather than the trouble spots we seem to have.

My children are raising me and the journey is wonderful.

before the big snow

It was still cold, but the children had great fun playing out in the street with large paper airplanes.

 

 

Darling K designed and made this jacket at sewing lessons the last few weeks.  I love the fun details she added. So grateful for Margaret who is teaching my girls something so valuable.

He had just crashed is plane into me. Love the pained expression.

 

It's so lovely to live in a more "rural" area. We love our home and our neighbors and the street where we live.

garland

This jar of felted wool balls...

 

became this fun festive garland for the children's tree.

 

Our tree is top heavy due to the little body you can see reaching up high in the next photo.

sisters

Sisters, sisters
There were never such devoted sisters,
Never had to have a chaperone, no sir,
I'm there to keep my eye on her
Caring, sharing
Every little thing that we are wearing
When a certain gentleman arrived from rome
She wore the dress, and I stayed home
All kinds of weather, we stick together
The same in the rain and sun
Two different faces, but in tight places
We think and we act as one
Those who've seen us
Know that not a thing could come between us
Many men have tried to split us up, but no one can
Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister
And lord help the sister, who comes between me and my man
Lyrics by Irving Berlin

  They used to sing this song all the time when they were little, sometimes we get all 4 girls singing.  I'm so grateful they are such good friends.  They laugh and play together. They share secrets and defend one another.

 

I asked them to keep the backdrop straight for an impromptu photo shoot of my beautiful sister and her family.  It was never quite straight as they kept giggling.

new stockings

I finally found my favorite stocking pattern. I can't remember where it came from, probably one of mom's books as it's a photocopied paper.

 

It's knitted, the other stockings I made are crocheted. I think I prefer the look and feel of the knitting than the crochet.  I also like the stitch variation and patterns that I can create.  More stockings to come.

choc

Baby man likes to get into your face (nose to nose) and ask for "Chocie" (chocolate milk).  Sweet Manth likes to exploit the closeness and asks for kisses in return.  She will point to the different parts of her face and he gives her kisses. It's lovely until about the 15th kiss when baby man loses it. You might also notice how big man is causing his own bit of mischief within the photo series.