My 3 boys are learning how to sew!!!!!!!

All of my kids have been begging for me to teach them how to sew.  I saw an idea for making rice bags.  I thought that would be an easy project for them and they could give them to their teachers for Christmas gifts.  The boys picked fabric from my stash, cut out the pieces they needed and we got started. 

Here is Simon sewing all by himself.  I'll have to admit, he did pretty good for his first try.  He needs to work at sewing in a STRAIGHT line, but that will come.  He LOVES sewing and wants to do more now.  He learned how to sew a straight stitch, reverse, pivot at a corner and clip the threads.  He also used the iron to press his project. 

Simon with his teacher's Christmas present.  I found a cute poem on my sewing forum that I'm a part of that we will type up to go along with the rice bag.  These can be heated or chilled for aches and pains. 

Seth was very nervous about the whole sewing machine thing.  I'll give him credit, he stuck to it and finished it.  I don't think he'll want to do to much in the future.  He absolutely REFUSED to use the iron.  He definitely is my cautious child!!!

Seth is very relieved he's finished with his project!

Samuel helps pour rice into the bags.

Since he can't reach the foot pedal, I ran that and he helped guide the fabric through.  Before we were through, he was telling me that HE could do it all by HIMSELF!  He was pushing my hands out of the way and guiding the fabric through on his own. 

Samuel is proud of the bag he made for his Grandpa for Christmas.

A picture of all 6 bags we made tonight.  With all 3 boys helping, it went VERY FAST!!

Christmas Dinner 2009

Callie poses with the Christmas tree she helped me decorate for the church dinner.  One funny story about this tree....On Sunday afternoon, the kids along with Duane & my father-in-law helped me finished up the decorating.  (Thanks guys!)  I brought a white lace tablecloth to use for the tree skirt.  We didn't have one that matched and I didn't want to buy one.  I asked Seth to arrange it underneath the tree for a tree skirt.  A little while later he calls, "Mom, does this look ok?"  To my shock, it was PERFECTLY arranged around the middle of the tree.  He had covered up the entire tree with the white lace!!!!!!!!!!  I nearly died laughing!!  I wish I had brought along my camera to take a picture of that!  :) 

I wanted to have pillar candles in logs.  My wonderful husband, with great effort, carved out 4 of these BY HAND!  I wanted several for each table, but after seeing how much work it was for him, I told him 1 for each table would be ok!  I LOVED the way they turned out though!

I decided we need new curtains for the windows to match the theme.  I bought the fabric on Saturday morning.  After lunch, I sewed & ironed for 4 solid hours to produce 8 of these for the windows.  The fabric is a deep forest green sparkly satin backed crepe.  I LOVE it!  Very nice fabric to work with.  Of course, I had to use my 'new' vintage black singer to sew them! :)  The windows have fresh cut pine branches and pine cones picked up in the woods by Dad, Callie & I.  I dried them out in my oven!  Boy, did that make my kitchen smell good!!!!

I thought putting out some luminaries would be a neat touch.  This is with the flash on....

...with the flash off....much prettier!!!

What the Family Life Center looked like with the lights out!  I LOVE candles!

The following are a TON of pictures of the crowd.  Pastor Mark had the camera....sooooo....if you don't like your picture....it's HIS fault!!! :)

I love this picture of the two of them.....they look so relaxed!!

Simon, Lauren & Seth played a violin trio.  The video is at the end of this post if you'd like to hear them!

Pastor & his wife

The teen table.  They did an awesome job serving the drinks and desserts to everyone!

This girl grabbed the camera and took her OWN picture.

Duane gets ready to sing his solo.

Yours truly, getting ready to play 'O Come all ye Faithful'.  Tina decided to hijack my camera and video me!! :)

Pastor giving his sermon.

This is what one dedicated listener did during the sermon....cracked walnuts, brazil nuts, almonds...

...oh did I mention...he used his hands...it was quite amusing to watch.  Yeah....this is my brother-in-law! :)

A beautiful trio.....'Wise Men Still Seek Him'

The cousins play 'The First Noel'

Introducing Ollie & Ginger

Callie helps stuff Ollie, the Owl

Callie with her new friend, "Ollie."

"Mommy, take a picture of Ollie on my head!"

and a friend for Ollie....Ginger

Callie with Ollie & Ginger....her new playmates.  She was over-the-top excited about these 2 new toys I made for her this morning!  Had I known they would be such a hit, I would have saved them for Christmas! :)

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

A need met in a bright blue way!

A week ago Monday, I unexpectedly had a student quit.  It was a rather unusual way to tell a teacher they no longer wanted to take lessons.  It went like this.....(names changed)

Renee came to her lesson.  I was finishing up some dishes in the kitchen.  She looked around for a pen to write in her practice time.  I let it slide that she should have already written that down during the week.  She got her violin ready and asked if I wanted to hear her orchestra songs for her concert later that week.  Keep in mind this is her school orchestra.  She had already played the songs countless times for me.  She had played them by MEMORY the previous week.  These were the only songs she ever wanted to play at her lesson.  I asked her to pick out another one of her orchestra pieces that she hadn't mastered yet.  We worked on that for awhile and then went on to her solo that I had assigned her.  By the time we were to the end of working on that piece, her mother, Laura shows up.  I am writing down what I want her to practice at home.  They start making all sort of hand gestures.  Renee is mouthing things.  I finally ask if there's something Laura needed to ask me.  She says, "no."  She said they were signing and using mental telepathy to communicate with each other!  I'm thinking to myself, WHAT!!!  I'm sensing that all is NOT RIGHT, but continue with the assignment.  Finally, I hear Laura say, "Is that your final decision?"  Hmmm...I'm understanding things a little more clearly now.  Mom sends daughter to violin lesson.  I'm guessing that how the lesson went that day would determine whether or not she would quit with absolutely NO NOTICE to me!  I guess I was too mean of a teacher on Monday...LOL!!  In all reality, I have been seriously trying HARD each week for the past 2 months (when the girl started taking from me), to correct poor posture, poor technique.  She had been playing for the past 3 years with NO chinrest on her violin, no shoulder rest and a bow hand that was angled totally backwards!  They finally got a chinrest put on the violin, but still no shoulder rest.  The bow hand has improved a tiny bit, but only with constant reminders.  It's hindering her ability to play fluently.  I just hope someone/someday will be able to get through better than I did.  I was just greatly astonished at the method mom/daughter used to quit.  Anyways....on to the point of my very long drawn out story.  Needless to say, the abrupt departure of a student decreased my income immediately.  I was hoping for a little extra money this month for a mattress for Samuel's bed.  We had put his toddler bed mattress on his twin bunkbed and that was working, but oh for a REAL twin mattress for him.  Fast forward to Friday......I worked for 5-6 hours uploading photos and designing a photo album for a special Christmas gift.  I checked e-mails periodically and noticed that on FreeCycle someone had spotted a mattress out by the curb on their morning walk.  This was WAY late in the afternoon.  I figured it surely must be gone, but decided I would go by on my way to the store to pick up a few things I needed.  I had butterflies in my stomach all the way there.  I pulled down the street of a section of town I would live in only in my dreams.  I spotted a beautiful, bright blue mattress propped up against a mail box.

My heart-beat quickened as I pulled into the driveway of a house that resembled the White House.  (ok....so maybe it wasn't quite as big and didn't have the pillars, but it was BIG and white and I definitely wouldn't want to have to clean that all by myself!!! :->)  Keep in mind, I'm driving my van.  Also, I'm feeling a bit awkward out picking up things out of people's front yards.  I look around for people.  See no one.  The mattress very clearly says FREE and is in wonderful condition!  I pop open the hatch of my van.  I pick up that mattress.  Stumble over to the van.  Give a big heave and push that mattress in.  about 2 feet are still sticking out the back.  I open the side door.  Start pulling on the mattress.  All the while, my 3 year old darling daughter cheers me on!  My 4 year son, sleeps peacefully through all of the commotion.  I keep sneaking glances about, hoping desparately that no one is watching.  It fit perfectly!!  I backed out and away we went.  God answered a need before I even was able to voice it.  He filled in my loss of income for the month with an item that would have cost far more.  I had tears in my eyes as I saw the pure joy in Samuel's eyes as he got to sleep on a REAL mattress for the first time!  (plastic covered baby/toddler mattresses just can't be as cozy as a soft plush fabric covered one) He LOVES going to bed now.  At first, I was worried about the loss of a student.  But now, I realize had I not lost the student, I would have missed out on something so much bigger....a reminder that God's knows what we need....and exactly when we need it!