records/baby baby baby/bunnies&bows/duggar wisdom

happy weekend, friends!
it's been a pretty good week in our household.
yummy things made, good conversations had, goofy times with the kiddos.
wednesday night we sat down after the kids were in bed and sorted through two HUGE boxes of records from freecycle.
(if you haven't heard about it, people post things they don't want anymore and you get them for free, people also post wants and if you can help them out you do)
holy moly.
there is so much greatness. i couldn't begin to list all of the greats. today we listened to: Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, The Monkees, Michael Jackson (thriller), classical arrangements, showtunes, kids disney albums... and so much more.
We had put our enormous record player in the garage to have more space in the living room and hadn't brought up the smaller cuter one yet. I'm pretty sure it was Joel's great grandma's that she had in the nursing home.
So we brought it up, got it working, sorted the awesome records from the who-in-the-world-is-this-and-why-would-you-listen-to-them ones, and started listening.


poor Emory is finally get some teeth in and is sick at the same time.
she was gagging and couldn't breathe last night so neither of us got much sleep. this was her don't mess with me face:

i'll spare you the details, but let me just say that cloth diapers and a sick baby are not cool. totally should keep some disposables on hand for times like these. yuck.

one of the vendors/planners/super cool gals from the craft fair last week was Amy Rose of Bunnies and Bows.
she is SOOOOOOO talented. i'm pretty artsy, and i always loved to doodle, but never ever will my doodles look like this:


her prints are really reasonable too! I am loving these three for Emory's room and i'd love to hang them on wire/string across/over her changing table that will soon just be a dresser.
i've got all the things i need to turn her room into a little girl room instead of a nursery and i'm really looking forward to starting on it...eventually i will get to! I've decided to make her a quilt for her bed instead of trying to buy one any i'm super excited.
but back to the point, these are the three prints, in the order i would hang them, because i'm a dork:O)



So perfect, right? especially with the super cute vintage tea set that my little sister Nicole snagged for Emory.
I need to mention that all of the profit from her art work is helping Amy Rose make her way to Japan on a mission trip. Please check out her work!

I finished the Duggar's book and there were tons of things i loved about it and will take away to use myself. I just have to share this one gem. If you've ever watched the show you have probably noticed that all of the kids are really well behaved. They aren't perfect little prim children who sit quietly all day long, but they are very obedient. In the chapter about correcting and training 'little ones' MIchelle said this about the importance of teaching her children to obey:
"I tell them, As i teach you to obey my voice, I'm also teaching you to learn to obey God's voice. Someday you will learn to hear his still, small voice in your heart and you will know to obey Him. You'll know what's the right thing to do."
how important to correlate obeying our earthly parents and obeying our heavenly Father, listening to the prodding of the Holy Spirit?!
love it. one other thing about instilling contentment:
"One of the lessons we teach our children is to be content with the food and clothing they have, using the possessions they have and keeping their focus on the purpose for which God made them."

isn't that a daily struggle for us as adults?! how great to have that understood and taken care of at a young age, although i'm sure they will need reminders and they grow up too.

and now, i will drink a rootbeer, eat too many muffins and watch Pride and Prejudice by myself, while waiting for my husband to get back from playing a show.

cheers!

yesterday & today

Yesterday.

cousin cash came for a visit.
(emory hasn't used a paci since 4 months, but since Cash has one, she found hers too)


cut leland's hair.


got ready to go to granny & gramp's house.


Today.

rhubarb/strawberry crumble x2
and blackberry mini crumble x2


good reads.



don't judge me, i love the Duggars. you should too.


what's your day looking like?

odds and ends...

this won't be very cohesive- sorry!

this past weekend we had the Not Your Grandma's Craft Fair and it went quite well! I think everyone enjoyed it very much.
Leland and Jax tried on some of the photo props and were their silly selves.



Friday night i stayed up to finish the quilt for Miss Caroline that i have just been procrastinating on and it turned out so sweet i want to keep it! I'm still not enough of a detail person for it to be perfect, but i love the color/pattern combination.(all material that i had)


Sunday i got to catch up with some friends at a purse party. My lovely mother-in-law came with and though we weren't there to buy she treated me to my first ever grown up purse. I haven't bought a purse since i was about 16 or 17 and worked at a hair studio and had a discount on their accessories. (i have bought a few Old Navy clearance totes over the years of course)
So! it was quite exciting and i love it. i'm expecting it to last forever....



as i was taking pictures i noticed THIS!


seams coming apart on the bottom already!!!
grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. hopefully it won't fall apart. i still love it, but this is why i don't spend oodles of money on handbags... or anything.

Took a (supposed to be) quick trip to the store with the kids yesterday afternoon while Joel cut the grass. We were running in for a few things. Fresh veggies and fruit, some more rhubarb because i need to make a crisp/crumble.
it. was. torture.

(i'm going to go on about nothing for a few minutes so feel free to tune out, but tune back in for the cute pics at the end of my rant)

currently the middle seats are out of our van (which we just got back after having it in the shop for over 3 weeks) so we have to buckle the kids all the way in the back. which is slightly annoying, but not that big of a deal.
we get to the store (after stopping at the bank) and i parked right by the carts so that i could put the kids in quickly and just head in, locked and loaded. Leland requested the car cart so i decided to be a good sport and agree. so we walked in and went to get it.... it was stuck behind about 10 carts in every direction. normal carts, handicap carts, tiny carts... so we start moving the carts, strategically, because there are other people trying to get carts, people trying to walk by, and only so much room. finally get it out and put the kids in, go to put the seat belt on.... it won't reach. there is a good 6 inch gap that will not be closed. this is the one with the low side and Emory was already about to jump out. so we look for the other one, hoping it has seatbelts. It's even further locked by carts. so we start the game again, finally reach it and get in. seat belt works (kind of), ready to go and Leland says, 'BUT MOM! there are no steering wheels!! ' seriously?! so janky that the steering wheels were torn off. grrrrrrrrr. i told him to pretend. (i then whiped the entire thing down with anti-bacterial wipes because it was pretty nasty) so we shop quickly and get in line. as soon as the cart is where it's so tight that i can't get down to reach the kids Emory wiggles out of her seat belt and stands up... so of course Leland grabs her as tight as he can and she starts shrieking as loud as SHE can. and i can't reach either of them. fun stuff. finally get to where i can reach her, pull her out and hold her while i pay.
take the kids back out to the nasty sticky heat, unload them into the van (the seats in the very back are significantly more annoying at this point) unload the groceries, put the gargantuan cart away, turn the key--- MOOOOOOOOOM! Leland realizes he left his Buzz Lightyear flashlight in the cart and we must get it. i hope out and look in the little car.... it's not there. which means it is in the OTHER car cart. the first one. so i unload the kids, lock the van, and walk the kids back into the store, images of chasing down another family doing their shopping in order to claim the flashlight in their cart, dancing in my head.
luckily, it was still in the carts area. not so luckily it was locked in (AGAIN!) by a billion (yes, billion!) carts. we pull and tug and re-organize so that Leland can squeeze in and look for the flashlight. Victory! it was there (i wasn't holding my breath) and we made our way back out to the van. *sigh*
why must there be shopping trips like this?
when we got back to the house i took a few pictures of the kids in the yard to remind myself that they are super cute and it's not their fault that sometimes motherhood is exhausting. it worked.

I'm a WINNER!!!!!

okay, folks.
in all honesty, i pretty much *never* win anything.
i have entered quite a few blog giveaways (even some with only 20 entries and 3 possible winners) and never won.
in the real world i'm not so lucky either.
My sister on the other hand has probably won something every year of her life. She connected with her husband by winning his guitar at a concert from a raffle she didn't even realize she entered when she came in. seriously.

HOWEVER!!!
i am in shock....... I WON a giveaway!!! and not just any give away, one from the fabulously inspiring Vanessa at V and Co..
check out this beautiful quilt:

i won the unused fabric from this project... take a look!

i. am. so. excited.

Thank you Vanessa! You have made my day, week, and at least month, with this treat:OD

did something nice and unexpected happen to you this week?
are you lucky with contest and give-aways?

elise


(i forgot to mention that there were well over 1,000 entries and 6 different prizes... is that a great giveaway or what?!)

Not Your Grandma's Craft Fair-- no disrespect!! :O)

(just a little different than your typical craft fair)

okay friends, if you don't have plans this weekend (and maybe even if you do) you need to come out to this awesome event that is my little sister's brainchild:

Not Your Grandma's Craft Fair

you will not be sorry!! if you check out the blog you will get to see some of the amazing vendors that will be there.
***AND*** if you get there early you may be one of the lucky 20 to get a swag bag filled with free treats from some of the vendors!

i will be there as the drink vender, and though that's not super exciting, i'm thrilled to see how awesome the day is and hope to see all of you there!!

There will be food, live music and funny complimentary photography as well-- don't miss it!

Saturday, May 22nd 2010
Gallery 101
101 East Main
Collinsville, IL

9am-3pm

check it out on facebook too

where did it go?

the weekend, i mean.
what happened? it was so quick i don't believe its Monday.
The weather was pretty dreary and icky, which helped it along. There didn't seem to be any change in the sunlight/time of day, so the days just blur together in their wet misery.
Friday night we got to have pizza with my parents which is always nice. We have good conversations and don't get to hang out with them as much as we'd like.
Saturday my sister had a craft show, my brother in law had a concert and my husband had a recording session so i had the 3 childrens. It was great fun, i don't get to have my nephew Cash very often so we kissed on him a lot. Cousins are wonderful.

i was going a bit crazy by saturday night and wanted to get out of the house so we met Joel's parents for a trivia night/silent action. They had paid for a full table and had two seats so we lucked out:O)
I felt like we should contribute something so i bid on a gift certificate for a massage. i ended up winning it for $11. Was it in the budget? no. did it help someone AND help preserve my mental health at the same time? YES. trust me, that will be a good day for my family:O)
and yes, my limit was $12.

Anywho.
Sunday I went to Copper Creek (where Joel's job will soon be starting) with the babes.
Joel is still filling in during a sabbatical at Community Crossings, a very friendly church on 159. They have been great to our family but i just could not bring myself to wake the kids up at 7 so we could leave with Joel.
Good thing i made that decision; Leland slept right up to 10am, which is when we walked over for church at Copper Creek.
It was very interesting getting 2 kids in church clothes, a tray of cherry clafouti and diaper bag across the muddy land... in 4 in heels. we made it and had a great morning. Jim did a lovely job with worship and Dr. Jones always brings the Truth. He is just a really funny, endearing man as well.
I was really surprised to see two of our wonderful friends from church camp who just got married. Apparently they just moved to Maryville and live about 2 minutes from us. It was so exciting!!!

We went back to Bruce and Janet's for lunch and while there i saw that the book "Why I Stayed" by Gayle Haggard was sitting on the arm of a chair. I picked it up and started reading it.... and finished it before we left.
I don't know if you remember the story from the news, but Ted Haggard, her husband, is the Colorado evangelical preacher who was in the middle of a homosexual/drug scandal in 2006.
I think it is fair to say if something of that nature happened to one of us, dear friends, that it would be life altering.
It's always difficult to discern who is telling the whole truth in these kinds of situations and "tell alls".
I really feel that this book was different than most though. Gayle, i believe, is honestly trying to use this situation to glorify God. In reading this book I have come to respect her decisions and strength.
The message is that *everyone* has the capability to sin. To sin in very depraved ways. Sometimes people we love have been damaged/abused in their youth and are more apt to have problems in areas that seem unforgivable to us.
The power of Christ in us, is to forgive as he has forgave us. To work for healing and love in a situation that seems hopeless.



Some of you are my "real life" friends and have seen my tattoo. You may or may not know it's meaning.
the top of my wrist says 'dignity' and the underside says 'depravity'. It is taken from a book titled Contemporary Christianity.
John Stott is speaking about the paradox of humanity, of humanity's spirituality.
Humans are the only thing that has the capability for such amazing, awe inspiring dignity and yet the capability of such heartbreaking and destructive depravity. Each choice that we make is in the direction of the dignity our Father created us for or leads us further down the path of depravity. We often wonder how people do such terribly depraved things... child neglect, homicide, genocide... they didn't chose dignity. We all have both extremes in our reach. I think this realization makes it easier to forgive others, knowing that with a few wrong decisions, we could be in the same place.
my tattoo serves as a reminder that as i reach my hand out, i will be making a move in one direction or the other.
I desire to fulfill the amazing dignity that the Lord has for us all.


Anyway, i hope you see how those two things (book/tattoo) relate, because i've run out of time. babies are waking, timers are going off and my belly is rumbling. check out the book if you have time!

<3
elise

back from the black hole of despair

thanks to this little face


lots of hysterical Lelandisms,
a bit of perspective,
some refocusing,
prayer,
good friends
and
even more provision from the Lord (in pretty funny ways)
i'm back.

Thank you LORD!
and thank you all again for your prayer and support whenever i ask for it, and even when i don't.
<3

ick.

for all my positivity and depth in my last post i just want to cry right now.
blech. everything will be fine but tonight i hit a wall of sadness, tiredness and depression.
praying through it and taking every thought captive.
things will be brighter in the morning.

do hard things:

seems to be my motto for the year.
and i'm not complaining! its actually really refreshing:O)
this book has been on my reading list for a while--


i'm really excited about it.
last week i rode 12 miles (round trip), with my darlings in the bike trailer to Target because we were out of formula.
it really wasn't that bad until the way back, with groceries adding weight, very strong wind and crying kids. when i got home i realized i had burnt beyond belief. But it felt good to do what needed to be done. My burn has subsided and no one is worse for the wear.

i also started cloth diapering over the weekend.
not the super trendy, buy 20 $30 diapers kind of cloth diapering, the spend $30 for a lot of used fitteds and 3 covers off craig's list kind of cloth diapering. So far so good. It's definitely a challenge and harder than disposables. but again, its what needed to be done. i made a fitted diaper for Emory that is really cute and it is of course the one that she poops on all the time:
i made it with material i had on hand so it cost all of 97 cents for the elastic. not too shabby!


i'm also waiting to get my hands on this:


i actually started reading it when i was in highschool and my momma had it laying around the house. i just started reading and couldn't put it down, thinking 'this makes so much sense! this is how i want to teach my kids!'
then i guess i kind of forgot about it!
Recently someone suggested Classical Conversations to me as curriculum option and it reminded me of how much i loved the concept of classical education so i'm re-reading everything.
it won't be easy but i know it will be worth it :O)

A few weeks ago i asked you all to pray for a meeting that Joel had. Thanks so much for doing that for me!
Joel got a job as Interim Worship Minister at a church very close to our house, actually the church that he grew up in. (I can literally open my front door and see it)
He is so excited and we are both bathing the whole thing in prayer daily as he gets closer to his start date (June).
It's a challenging position in the first place but the church is in transition/rebuild mode so it will take much care and deliberate action to make it work well.
I'm so proud of him. He's not really a letter writer and when i read the letter he wrote stating his interest i was FLOORED! It was great and i could tell that he had really prayed and thought about if this is where God wants him.
It will be nice for him to have a place where he is plugged into ministry again.

The position is part time and won't solve all of our financial burdens but came at an AMAZING time. I don't have kids over the summer so we are missing that income and while we don't know how long the interim position will last (God willing it could turn into fulltime) it should at least get us through the summer months. God continues to provide when we seek His kingdom first. that doesn't mean every bill gets paid on time or that we have money for date night, but it does mean food gets on the table one way or another and the electricity stays on:O)

i'm very thankful for this season in our lives and the way it has taught us what is important.
its easy to say that you are living with in your means, that you are a good steward and then spend a good chunk of your money on nonsense or things that our world tells us are important. Those things have no eternal value and often just help us get caught up in keeping up with the johnson's.
when there is no option to spend frivolously, when you start thinking of things like paper towels, catsup and shaving cream as a want and not a need it starts to take a deeper hold on you.
I pray that when things get "better" financially we will still remember what God has taught us during this time. That we would use that surplus for benevolence and ministry instead of newer better cars and gadgets that are outdated as soon as you leave the store. That our kids would be fine with not having every little thing they fancy, that they would work hard for the things they desire, and that those things would be God honoring.


one of my all time favorite verses:

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you., so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

i had a lovely Mother's day weekend. made presents and cards for both of our mothers, which were well received.
i have a sage plant so i gave my mother some fresh leaves and a written short history of the herb and the culinary/medicinal uses of sage.
i made a 'fancy summer scarf' for Janet, repurposed from a silk bisou bisou shirt that i hadn't worn in about 5 years but couldn't let go of because it was so soft.
plus we have some lovely delicate pale purple iris and tiny deep purple iris that my sister in law took from Grandma Durbin's house on the family farm that are coming up again this year so i cut a few blooms for them both. I think it was nice for Janet to have something of her mother's on mother's day.


and in really crazy news, Emory is 11 months old. WHAT?!?!?!





long post, but that's what you get when i've been silent for a week.
<3
elise

big sky, deep breaths

just some of my favorites of playing in the desert:

wedding pics

wedding:












camera died half way through:O(
very happy for greg & becca and glad that we were able to make it out for the wedding!
everything was lovely and the food was very yummy too.
due to the fact that the babes didn't adjust to the time change and woke up between 5 and 6 every morning, they crashed and i had to leave before the dancing started which was a bum deal. but it was fun, non the less!