so soft and so sweet...

eislee is officially four months old now, and she is changing so much. those of you that saw her over the holiday know what i mean :) it's unbelievable how much a baby changes in just four months, and in another four months she will be crawling all over the place! (probably in another two months!) whew! slow down baby mama can't keep up!

happy turkey day

:) hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving, thank you for being a part of my life and caring so much about my family :)

the current project

i have almost finished cutting all the pieces which means it's just about time for my favorite part, assembly!

above is a close-up of the fabrics i'm using...

and another thing i'm working on... learning embroidery.... i'm excited there were a few simple stitches i've been wanting to learn, it will be nice to be able to stitch names on the quilts i make and little designs.

look who's sewing...

and isn't he great at it? :) i got the idea from layla's teacher, she takes the kids one at a time and teaches them to sew... when i saw her do this last time i was volunteering i thought,"i could do that!" so i got a embroidery hoop and some muslin... then we started sewing! i just remind them to always pull the needle away from their face and i put some little guildlines on it for them to follow with their needles.

hmmm... i'm thinking christmas

are these the cutest little playhouses you've ever seen or what?! i saw them in parenting magazine and took a look at their website thislittlepiggyshouse.com and they are so cute! a little spendy though for cardboard so we'll see but i like the idea... after all i think we are all aware how much fun a cardboard box is and this is sturdy cardboard made into a playhouse that you can paint... not to mention made in the usa and recyclable!

sunshine on a rainy day

the woodle

yes, the woodle is eislee's nickname... it's kinda funny how it came about... matt used to call her wiselee woo... then woo for short... then for a short time we called her woo noodle... which combined makes, you guessed it, woodle (wooo-dle not wood-le). what a wonderful baby she is :) we have so much fun! she rolls from front to back whenever she's put down on the floor :) and she's babbling and giggling all the time, it's wonderful. still teething but none have come threw yet. LOVES her brother and sister so so much. so glad she's part of our family!

the machinist

matt got another lathe, so yes... now he has TWO lathes and TWO milling machines... such a lucky and happy man! the new lathe is pretty small, so instead of keeping it in the shop he actually keeps it down in the cellar... which is really great because i can actually talk to him through the vent in the kitchen! and it's easy to pop down for a minute and see what he's working on. oh and in case anyone is wondering... in that bottom picture he is holding a bunch of aluminum shavings from one of his projects.

another bag

so, naturally maiko wanted a special bag too. i made his bigger, like library book size so when we go to the library and leave with our always huge stack of books we will now have something to carry them in. he was so excited that we had to go down to the library and use it as soon as it was finished! hopefully soon i will make myself a diaperbag and i'm going to try to take pictures of the process so i can easily share the instructions. i can share the instructions for these bags too if anyone is interested...

maiko, the story teller...

eislee loves her brothers stories... they don't always make a lot of sense but obviously that dosen't matter much to her. she loves the way he uses his hands and magnifies his voice, and the silly faces he makes. he will start out sitting there quietly telling a story and using his hands softly...

then he will jump up and raise his voice and move his hands around wildly (this is where she gets very excited and usually lets out some adorable shriek of joy)...

maiko will go back and forth like that, mellow, then exciting, and eislee will make a series of faces like this...

ending with total joy and love for her brother :) ahh! it's a beautiful day in this house! i've got my sunshine right here :)

the reason it's soo hard to get up in the morning

can you imagine trying to get out of bed when you have this soft, sweet face snuggled up to you... it's on the verge of impossible. the worst part is i finally get the will power to pull myself away from her and go take a shower (matt immediately takes my place and snuggles) i come back to her needing to nurse, so i crawl back in bed and nurse her and she falls asleep again.... THEN (the hardest part) i have to pull away and get out of bed all over again! i tell you... the trials... they never end! that's why i have to set my alarm for 5 am every morning because with all this struggling to get out of bed, showering, and in bed nursing again, not to mention getting the kids breakfast and all of us dressed and ready... it takes a long time. the part i find really discouraging is that i get up around 5 every morning and by 12 i have never accomplished much more than feeding my family, getting dressed, and running the kids to and from school... and by noon i'm usually pretty exhausted! i do love the morning snuggles though, the last few nights all three kids have ended up in bed with us (luckily matt upgraded us to a king size mattress last christmas) eislee snuggled up against me with my arm wrapped around her so no siblings accidentally squish her in the night... layla in the middle, usually sharing matt's pillow because i refuse to share (i'm a total pillow hog, plus if she's on matt's side she won't pull my hair)... then there's poor maiko who is usually the last to come crawl into bed when there is hardly any room left, he sleeps in the middle with his head at the foot of the bed... so yes i often wake up going "what's that? oh, it's maiko's foot".... gotta love it... and i do... i really, really do :)

please daddy... just one more game?

layla is hooked on chutes and ladders right now... and matt was such a good daddy playing it with her over... and over... and over...

a bag

i've been feeling this need to create lately... maybe it has to do with spending so much time inside by the fire, just makes me want to sew. there are so many projects i've been wanting to do and putting off, so i decided to start working and going threw a bit at a time... i have a bunch of fabric to use too. i made this school bag for layla to take her show in tell in (a project i've been wanting to do ever since school started). she loves to use it to carry her little treasures everywhere with her and i'm just happy to be making something. it was a pretty easy project if anyone wants to know how i made it just leave me a message saying so and i will post the directions.

and they love her still...

it's amazing to me how much they love her, how they never seem to get frustrated with her... ever! they are such wonderful helpers, most of the time i don't even have to say anything... if eislee is crying someone just goes to soothe her. the other morning i was doing the dishes and the kids were in the living room watching a video and eislee was on a blanket on the floor with some toys... when she would start crying layla would just hop off the couch and go over and shake a rattle for her and talk to her. and the other night when i was making dinner... she got upset and maiko went over and told her a very animated story and i wish you could have seen the smiles and heard the giggles coming out of her.... i think it was the first time i heard her laugh :) brings a smile just remembering... i hope you get to hear a baby laugh today, it warms the soul like hot tea warms the tummy.

hello world!

little miss eislee is growing at lightening speed! as you can see when laid on her tummy she can hold up her head. she is still a wonderful baby, so pleasant and easy going.... her sleep schedule has changed a bit she wakes up a lot during the night now and is pretty difficult to get to sleep (when you lay her down she wakes up). also, she is teething... matt was the first to notice how much she was trying to chew on everything and theres the drooling... seems pretty young but all of the kids got their teeth really early so i'm not surprised. she has also made a jump to 3-6 month clothes! another thing that isn't surprising since she is 3 months old now but it still kinda blows me away that she is that big :)

not your mama's diapers..

well, i guess they are like your mama's diapers since most of our moms used cloth, but they are definitely better! cloth diapers have come along way and i actually prefer them to disposables... not only do you save a lot of money, you don't have to worry about running to the store when you run out you just run the washing machine! and they are so soft and cute! for my first purchase i got a fuzzi bunz pocket diaper (that's the cute blue one) and a bum genius all-in-one (which means everything is sewn together, you throw the whole thing in the washing machine) and a sleep-eze all-in-one and two wonder wraps diaper covers and some indian unbleached and chinese bleached cloth diapers. i was surprised to find that i like using the cloth and covers over the all-in-ones and i really like the fuzzi bunz pocket diapers. they are super soft and can hold so much. they also have special fabric that pulls the wetness away from the skin so they are great for overnight and long trips in the car and errands. also, most of the diapers i got are one size meaning the size adjusts so they will fit her through potty training! well, as you can tell i'm very excited about this! it feels so good not having to throw diapers away anymore! i just ordered some more covers and fuzzi bunz too, they should be here any day :) so i'm sure you will be noticing in eislee's pictures her cute colorful diapers :)

pressing apples

i decided to share with you our process of making fresh apple juice mmmm...

layla washes the apples and sometimes tests them to make sure they're delicious like they should be...

then she passes them to grammy who gives them a scrub with the towel and passes them to maiko...

and maiko tosses them in the apple grinder...

where they get ground into tiny pieces....

and fall into the bin below...

when the bin gets full of ground apple it is moved under the press....

here grammy is turning the crank and squishing down the apples...

which makes lots of wonderful juice...

then you can just warm it up on the stove with a cinnamon stick and enjoy!

watching birds

never really thought i would be much of a birdwatcher.... but i tell you what... it's hard not to when you live in a place like this :) we have so many birds coming through, enjoying sanctuary in the marsh... so many birds. maybe someday i will get a telephoto lens and share those with you too :) but for now i really just wanted to share this picture of layla watching the birds, even though maiko is waaay more into it than she is :)

moooooo!

there are ten cows in the field this autumn! at the start of the year there were the five old girls... four of which were pregnant and had calves this summer... then mark and lisa bought a bull... so, now there are ten... one of the new babies is a steer also. they have been driving matt crazy lately :) they found a weak spot in the fence, leading right into our back yard, and so for the last couple days they have been breaking into our yard at night and matt has to go heard them back in and fix the fence each morning... not fun, but soon matt is going to put in a brand new fence extending our back yard... so, that will be very nice!