Lest you all think only Lily gets new clothing sewn by mama, I have to show you a new shirt I made for Noah last week. He got two of the same style, both from my favorite patterns (Ottobre). He is wearing it today so I was reminded to make a post showing it. Since he is out in the mud, it may very well be the last time he wears it too! He manages to completely destroy a shirt every other week or so lately (I threw out THREE today after trying OxyClean and then a bleach pen). He wasn't all that happy to model it that day, but he was all smiles when he put it on this morning.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Small climber ...
Yes, she managed to climb up there all by herself while mommy was in the garage a couple minutes putting the laundry in the washer. She is quite agile to say the least, following right along in her older brothers' footsteps for getting into mischief.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Ottobre 1/09 #6
The newest Ottobre children's edition had the cutest little tunic for babies/toddlers. It was a little fussier to make than my usual super duper simple tees and leggings, but it was worth it! I did it in a very lightweight pink paisley jersey knit for summertime, and used some aqua polka dot ribknit that had been in my stash for about 6 years for the neckline binding, cuffs and leggings. I really like how it came out. It covers her arms and legs for crawling and exploring but is very lightweight for spring and summer evenings. I used my snap press for the little snaps on the front. I WISH I had some to match the aqua but just didn't have a similar enough color in my assortment so the dark pink was the best I could do.
I'm eager to make this one again in different fabrics, but I'm going to do a few other projects first. So many patterns so little time .... :)
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Review: The Well Trained Heart
Time for another book review, I think. So what have I been reading lately? It should come as no surprise that it falls into the classification of a homeschooling book, a parenting book, or both in this case. I have been reading The Well Trained Heart by Ray and Donna Reish. I saw this recommended by a few families, but honestly was a little hesitant as Christian parenting books often are not a great fit for me. Some of them come off quite preachy and harsh in terms of types of discipline suggested. However, I decided to give it a read, as the more suggestions and advice the better for us. Then I weed out what I think we can use and forget the rest.
First off, the authors come across quite sincere and humble. They talk of their own journey to find a parenting style that works, of successes and failures, of struggles. That was a refreshing change from books that state right off that "if you do my program your kids will be perfect." Blech, not likely. In any case, the Reish book was definitely a winner in that regard.
I was also impressed by the very balanced viewpoint offered. Everything was backed up biblically, as I expected from recommendations. However, it was not excessively "spare the rod and spoil the child" type of biblical, meaning absolute obedience or else and little logic. Yes, they expect obedience from their children, but go into great detail explaining the core of their philosophy, which is a "relational" approach, meaning that everything hinges on the relationship you develop with your child, a relationship that is very warm, open and caring. It is not a one-way type of relationship where the children always obey and don't question. They talk a lot about debate in terms of formal debate, and how that can be applied to logic in parenting and rules.
Also stressed is character training in here prior to academics. I feel character training is not done enough. I don't mean again spanking or whatever of young toddlers. I mean time spent with your children teaching values and how to interact and live in community and society in a way that focuses on others rather than self/selfish needs. I think a lot of children (including mine in some areas!) lack that type of explicit teaching/training. The authors focus on avoiding peer influence more than I personally think is necessary, but they give their reasoning for it and so forth. Their thoughts are well explained on why they have made those choices in their family.
The steps to take to follow their model are well outlined with examples and suggestions. They also do talk briefly about their homeschooling, but that is no the focus of the book at all.
I gleaned several things from this book, and am quite glad I took the time to read it. It is a nice counterpoint to some of the more popular methods out there now including counting to three or relying solely on time outs essentially to get your children to behave. It is an excellent resource if you are like me and want to read and consider a variety of viewpoints on both ends of the spectrum before finally settling somewhere in the middle with a mixture of ideas you have collected.
First off, the authors come across quite sincere and humble. They talk of their own journey to find a parenting style that works, of successes and failures, of struggles. That was a refreshing change from books that state right off that "if you do my program your kids will be perfect." Blech, not likely. In any case, the Reish book was definitely a winner in that regard.
I was also impressed by the very balanced viewpoint offered. Everything was backed up biblically, as I expected from recommendations. However, it was not excessively "spare the rod and spoil the child" type of biblical, meaning absolute obedience or else and little logic. Yes, they expect obedience from their children, but go into great detail explaining the core of their philosophy, which is a "relational" approach, meaning that everything hinges on the relationship you develop with your child, a relationship that is very warm, open and caring. It is not a one-way type of relationship where the children always obey and don't question. They talk a lot about debate in terms of formal debate, and how that can be applied to logic in parenting and rules.
Also stressed is character training in here prior to academics. I feel character training is not done enough. I don't mean again spanking or whatever of young toddlers. I mean time spent with your children teaching values and how to interact and live in community and society in a way that focuses on others rather than self/selfish needs. I think a lot of children (including mine in some areas!) lack that type of explicit teaching/training. The authors focus on avoiding peer influence more than I personally think is necessary, but they give their reasoning for it and so forth. Their thoughts are well explained on why they have made those choices in their family.
The steps to take to follow their model are well outlined with examples and suggestions. They also do talk briefly about their homeschooling, but that is no the focus of the book at all.
I gleaned several things from this book, and am quite glad I took the time to read it. It is a nice counterpoint to some of the more popular methods out there now including counting to three or relying solely on time outs essentially to get your children to behave. It is an excellent resource if you are like me and want to read and consider a variety of viewpoints on both ends of the spectrum before finally settling somewhere in the middle with a mixture of ideas you have collected.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
We LOVE Diamond Notes
Yep, Zach and I love Diamond Notes. Some of you are probably scratching your head at this point, right? What in the world is she talking about? Diamond Notes are part of our Sonlight curriculum, part of the language arts specifically. Diamond Notes can be seen on the Sonlight website, and probably purchased separately and can stand alone even if you don't use the rest of Sonlight. There are sample pages on the Sonlight website too so you can see what I'm talking about.
Basically it is for students to learn to write paragraphs. When I was in school I still recall we were supposed to do a topic sentence, blah, blah, blah. Well, you still need to do that, but diamond notes gives excellent visuals of a baseball diamond (hence the name Diamond Notes) to fill in first, sort of a brainstorming schematic. From there the student goes to separate sentences based on his baseball diamond. And from there he or she takes those separate sentences and forms the paragraph. The entire Diamond Notes program takes 5 weeks at 2-3 days a week. And it is miraculous for my kid who is ADHD and really has trouble organizing his thoughts coherently to write a paragraph. I really can't say enough good things about it.
So, if you are a parent trying to teach your child to do more coherent and concise paragraphs, this may be what you are looking for. Take a look! :)
Basically it is for students to learn to write paragraphs. When I was in school I still recall we were supposed to do a topic sentence, blah, blah, blah. Well, you still need to do that, but diamond notes gives excellent visuals of a baseball diamond (hence the name Diamond Notes) to fill in first, sort of a brainstorming schematic. From there the student goes to separate sentences based on his baseball diamond. And from there he or she takes those separate sentences and forms the paragraph. The entire Diamond Notes program takes 5 weeks at 2-3 days a week. And it is miraculous for my kid who is ADHD and really has trouble organizing his thoughts coherently to write a paragraph. I really can't say enough good things about it.
So, if you are a parent trying to teach your child to do more coherent and concise paragraphs, this may be what you are looking for. Take a look! :)
Friday, January 16, 2009
Lily
We haven't had a family photo in a little while on the blog, so here is Lily modeling her new mama-made pants. She is still so small that 1/2 yard gets a pair of pants for her and a little extra for the scrap bin as well.
If you read my past posts, you know most of Lily's clothing comes from a cousin and a friend of a friend. As she gets bigger of course, we get a little less because kids get harder and harder on their clothing! So consequently there is less to hand down. We see this ourselves in passing clothing from our oldest son to our middle. Anything left from that then goes to a cousin, but by then it gets pretty sparse.
In any case, because we have a donated wardrobe we have some pieces that just don't have anything that reasonably matches them. So what I'm doing is pulling out clothing for this season and the next size up and matching up outfits. Then anything hanging around left over I'm looking at my stash fabric and seeing if I have a good match there. Then I sew up a coordinating piece. This cute striped top had nothing to go with it, so I did the brown pants for her.
This past week, she got 3 new pair of pants to go with existing tops. We also have trouble with pants given to us because she wears cloth diapers and typical clothing for toddler girls barely has room for a diaper at all let alone a cloth diaper. Besides, she likes her pants roomy for all that climbing, crawling, cruising and preparing to walk!
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Happy New Year of Savings
Have you read the JANE4girls blog? If not and you are a frugal minded person, you have to give it a read. She is an amazing person who is feeding her family on $800/yr. Yes, a YEAR.
A lot of people follow her blog, and I have joined a newly formed yahoo group of frugal minded people seeking to lower our grocery expenses for 2009, inspired by her blog. Most of us have not picked nearly so low of an annual sum as her, but we are all striving to stay within budget and spend less this year than last. For those of you interested it is "FrugalChallenge" on yahoo groups.
In that spirit, I will share with you our frugal purchase today. My DH LOVES Post Trail Mix Crunch cereal. At $4.xx a box it is not very frugal at regular price. However, it is on sale B1G1 free at CVS this week, and there is a new printable $2 off 1 box coupon at the Post website. It allows you to print two. Take your two coupons in to CVS and match up with the B1G1 free sale ($4.59/box regular price) and you get two boxes of cereal for 59 cents. Woohoo for savings in the new year. Happy shopping.
A lot of people follow her blog, and I have joined a newly formed yahoo group of frugal minded people seeking to lower our grocery expenses for 2009, inspired by her blog. Most of us have not picked nearly so low of an annual sum as her, but we are all striving to stay within budget and spend less this year than last. For those of you interested it is "FrugalChallenge" on yahoo groups.
In that spirit, I will share with you our frugal purchase today. My DH LOVES Post Trail Mix Crunch cereal. At $4.xx a box it is not very frugal at regular price. However, it is on sale B1G1 free at CVS this week, and there is a new printable $2 off 1 box coupon at the Post website. It allows you to print two. Take your two coupons in to CVS and match up with the B1G1 free sale ($4.59/box regular price) and you get two boxes of cereal for 59 cents. Woohoo for savings in the new year. Happy shopping.
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