Bean Bag Kick

We're on a bean bag kick around here. We use them the most for spelling quizzes. For every word spelled correctly Agent H gets to throw one at the world map and you know that counts for geography because then he calls out which continent he hit. Double whammy!

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Here's a batch that I sewed up. They are made of recycled denim and flannel. I stitched the letters

T-R-U-C-K (one on each bag) in red on the denim side. I hope to add to the alphabet.

So with all this bean bag love around here I was inspired to try some rice bag minis.

I stitched some up to post to my Etsy shop. They are so hard to keep your hands off of. They are palm size and just fun to handle. Agent H was all over them at once and bummed to find that they were for the shop. I made up some in his favorite fabric right away. I love being able to create things that my family loves to eat, use, or play with.

A Reusable snack bag

I received these reusable lunch bags for Christmas. I love using them! They are beautiful and functional. Always a good combination. We have used them for EH's lunches, snacks for the kids, and honestly I could very easily see them traveling from the food world into the home organization world that I love so dearly.

From Plum Creek Mercantile

Some day I plan to increase our stock by sewing some and once I can make them look good I'll send some to EH's sis who introduced them to me in the first place. Thank you!

I knew it was too quiet

"Oh, hi momma."

"What's this? Well I was just curious how this color of mineral make-up would look on me . . . and the bathroom."

"See my hand here, I'm not really sure it's my color."

"Aaw, thanks for the bath mom, I don't usually get one until bedtime. You're the greatest!"

A Mom Just Like You

I'm convinced that the best way to get yourself to read a book is to borrow it from a friend.

I mean you don't want to inconvenience a friend who was nice enough to lend you a book (kindly overlooking your recent comment about surmounting library late fees), so it goes right to the top of the stack (and I mean Stack).

I didn't even really waaant to read it, but she's a dear friend and if she recommended it, it's worth a try. Once started, I was hooked.

The book: A Mom Just Like You by Vickie Farris and Jayme Farris Metzger

It's a soothing book for a stretched homeschool mom. She is one who has seen the fruits of her labor in her grown children and is still "in the business" (ten children will do that).

That brings me to another point. Don't read this book if you don't want to be at least slightly swayed by the positive elements of having a large family. I've been pondering this issue and this book really brought home the heart of the issue for me. Hmmm, I think this is a touchy issue. If you're interested check out these podcasts by familylife.com.

Once you get beyond the above issue, there is plenty of practical advise for the homeschooling mom. Now I just wish I had my own copy.

A winter cap

LE Babe gets lots of attention from strangers with this cap. Everyone seems to love it, including LE. Today, he insisted he wear it around the house (with his winter boots of course because they make such a wonderful clomping noise). It even tagged along to nap time, it was still on when he woke up.

Thank you mom for making him this happy cap.

Grumpy Day Frogs

These little froggy fellas look like they are longing for the pond to thaw. Now if only we had a pond.

My mom and I went to a local quilt shop and learned how to make chenille. These frogs were the results of our labors. I consigned an herbalist friend to make me some scented packets to fit inside my frogs. So now these frogs are good for the grumps and bad days. Snuggle up with one of them and let them work their happy wonder. Now that I think of it, I should send one of these to naptime with a certain four year old, maybe it would help with the wake-up crabbies.

Happy Love

Oh happy Love!

Valentine's smoothies from The Sneaky Chef (cherries, strawberries, juice & honey . . . mmmmmm good!)

Little boxes of candy conversation hearts.

A little Michael O'Brien on the iTunes

Some felt love for my Love (littleacorn)

Hanging, twirling paper hearts

Calzones for dinner.

Since the sickies kept us from attending our co-op Valentine's party here's what we did for last years party (I never did get it posted as I had intended). Mucho thanks to one of the coordinator of this year's party who collected valentines in specially decorated bags for my boys. They were overjoyed!!

The few valentines that we did get

passed out his year were of the

smoochy lips and mustache variety,

so much stinking fun!

Papa!

It's LE Babe's new favorite word!

Super-hero

Did someone say they need a super-hero?

Legos in the workboxes

Lego and Family Fun have these great little sets of building instructions (they are free downloads). I've added them to Agent H's workboxes a few times with great results.

Agent E's Day & Party

Birthday tradition says that we go to EH's work and have lunch at SoHo. This year, predicted slippery roads turned our birthday lunch into a birthday dinner. At Chuck E Cheese no less.

It looks like he may be getting a head start on raising our car insurance premiums.

We gave him a sleeping bag for his birthday. The picture kinda says it all. I think he's been sleeping in it ever since.

I thought I had pictures of his cake in my iPhoto but I don't so I'll do some checking with the mister and update this post with them soon.

A new post to Etsy!

Yes my profile shot is desperately outdated, and yes the children are about a year older than those photos over there on the right. BUT, if you scroll down past all that, past the text, there is something new there. Do you see it? Aren't they so February? Who sees the piles of snow out the window or feels the chilly temps outside? I see bright red hair clips with fresh white hearts stitched on them. They are newly posted to my Etsy shop, along with about 10 other items.

Note: I have since updated our photos, yeah! And, if you want to see the red clips you'll have to go to the shop. :)