New Year's Project: "Snuggly Quilt" Times Four

     I had noticed how much my girls like to snuggle with warm, cozy, soft blankets. My older girls were getting special blankets they had requested for Christmas, so I decided to make my four younger girls blankets, too. I had some coupons to Joann's Fabric Store, so off I went one morning with Julia in tow. I returned later that evening with Leanne, Chloe, and Daisy to let them pick out the flannel backing for their tie quilt. When I arrived home, this is what my coffee table looked like when I had washed all the blanket material. I was good to go!

     I was finally able to start working on the quilts Christmas night. My goal was to have all four quilts done by New Year's Eve as a gift to my younger girls. Each quilt took about 8 hours of time and cost about $15-18 each. I did get them all done by noon of New Years Day and was pleased with the results.
      Judge for yourselves....

     As I was putting these quilts together, some prayer impressions came to mind. I began to pray for my girls and it was amazing what distinct impressions came to mind as I prayed for each of them. 

Leanne's quilt

      As I was making them comforters: Lord, I pray that they would know the comfort of your Holy Spirit throughout their lives. I pray that in those rough seasons they would cling to you and feel and know your comfort. I also pray that they would be skilled and sensitive in the much-needed grace of giving comfort to others.

Chloe's quilt

   As I was sewing the quilt blocks together: Jesus, I pray that you would hem them in before and behind. That your presence would be felt in their life and that you would protect them and care for them. Keep them on the straight path that leads to life.

Daisy's quilt

    As I was stitching the pieces of fabric together with yarn: God, I pray that your word would be the seams that hold them together throughout the tough times of their life so that they hold together strong for your glory. I pray that they would know your word, memorize your word, love your word, and DO your word. 

Julia's quilt

     As I pondered the idea that this blanket was a covering: Father, I pray that your blood would cover their sins and that they would know of your great salvation. I also pray that they would be covered spiritually by always being part of a bible-believing church. Give them godly friends, husbands, pastors, and a network of caring believers to anchor them to your purposes for their lives.

Happy children = Project Completed!

     It is one of my New Year's goals to repeat these prayers over my children as I lay them down to sleep each night. These quilts have been a great project for giving them a practical, personalized item as well as a daily prayer motivator for me. My next project is to make summer quilts with and for my older girls. This should be a prayerful, mother/daughter bonding project as well. I'm looking forward to it. I'll keep you posted!

Holiday Hosting Hurrah!

     I've been hosting back to back holiday parties of 20 or more in my home since Thanksgiving. With Tim's birthday in mid-December and both of our families living close by with an occasional friend or two who needs a "host home," my house has been quite full this past month. I love it - every single minute of it. My house gets organized and clean, I get plenty of exercise (almost 22,000 steps one day!), and I get to share my home with friends and family. What a privilege and a blessing of the highest order. 

     But it's a lot of hard work with six kids, and a very active toddler at that, and a husband who works long, tiring days. Even so, I really enjoy the holidays and wanted to share some snapshots of this past weekend's events. My family's Christmas get together was this past Saturday. The following evening, we took our yearly trek to Stats to marvel at all the holiday glitz and glory (I've been going there since I was a kid!) followed by a chocolate fondue party at our home. We had a festive and scrumptious time!

singing with Grandma Karen

treats for the kids

A fun game of "If, then" with Brent and Phelecia

A picture with our kids and Grammy J (Tim's mom) at Stats

I just can't stay serious for too long!

Fondue fun!

Hard to resist!

Bananas, pineapple, apples, and oranges - marvelous dipped in chocolate!

Priceless smiles! Why I do all I do. So worth all the effort....

A Very Smart Activity

     This last weekend was full of busyness. Leanne and Chloe had friends over for a better part of Saturday while I baked most of the day. I drove to Old Town in the late afternoon to pick up Elena and Camille who were helping their aunt out at a Christmas tea her dance studio was hosting.We then went to Stats for a while. Tim and I went out later for a date and some Christmas shopping. The following day at church most of us went to both services and served in the second service. We were at church from 9 am to 1 pm. Then, we came home and scurried about getting our house and food ready for Tim's family birthday party/Christmas get together. I made  labor-intensive enchiladas with beans, rice, and taco sald (Tim's request). The food was delicious, however, if I don't say so myself.
     The next day I simply collapsed. After spending time reading to my little girls to reconnect with them, I dozed off for just a short nap near the girls. This way I could keep an eye on them and not fall too deeply asleep; Julia and I had a speech therapy appointment in about an hour.

    

   I was trying to get to bed a little early that night. No go. Christmas shopping and just "stuff" kept me up later than I had hoped. I dragged around for another day or so. And now a new weekend is upon me. This weekend guarantees to be super busy, too. Lots of friends and family, though. All good, all fun, so worth all the effort. Monday morning will probably find me dozing on the couch again.....

Leanne's Business Project

     Leanne, my 4th grader, was studying a unit about business in her class. A very open-ended project assignment came home about a month ago instructing her to demonstrate her knowledge about business - any aspect of it with a report, collage, skit, oral presentation, etc. Leanne typically needs lots of ideas. She's very bright and observant in many ways, but not given to creativity and "out of the box" thinking. So, being very busy, I put off reminding her about the assignment. I finally got around to making a couple of suggestions, she chose something, then we tossed some more ideas back and forth. Finally, we came up with this idea and the project followed.

(That white spot is my camera's glare! Never mind that!)

     It was a fun project!