Our Christmas was full of joy and cookies this year...

And these 3 little elves...

What would we do with out them?

I hope you are all recuperating from the merry making like I am. This morning I woke up very grumpy, I went back to bed after feeding the baby and slept for 2.5 more hours. I woke up much happier.

On to the new year!

JMB

a little Christmas cheer...

I have to first start out with some gratuitous baby cuteness...
Then our crafty endeavours for the week... Toys for a certain little cousin.
Both boys made two and they stuffed the stocking nicely. I liked playing with the strips on the back. We all had fun. It was a good day.
Our dryer broke last weekend and believe it or not we made it a whole week before the new dryer came. Mid week it got a bit dicey but I dried a load of kitchen towels at Grandma's house and we made it!! I just use those towels for everything and we do have two messy boys and a drooly baby in this house.
I also finally finished my block for alexdk in Traveling Threads, her quilt is going to look wonderful.

Thanks for all the caring! Have a wonderful holiday!

JMB

Wow...

It has been a long time since I have been around here. I have been having a rough time. There is no kind way to put it. The seasonal depression stuff has hit me hard this year. I have so many things to be thankful for and I really really am... but some hours it is like a fog has enveloped me and I have to work really hard to keep it all going. I do keep going and it is pretty good, but this year it seems rather harder.

Last week all of a sudden I was surprised that I wasn't 20 any more. It hit me when I was feeling so tired and I looked around the room and I was the only grown-up there. Maybe other people are totally with it, but for just a moment I was surprised that I was the parent to these 3 beautiful kids. Does that even make sense to you? For a moment I had this, "where did the last 15 years go??" kind of surrealness. Who thought that I could be in charge of ALL THIS? Don't the people know that I am just making this up as I go along??? Then the moment passed and I was the Mom, and it was OK.

I do take great cheer and comfort from my little quilties when I am feeling blue. Here are two that I haven't shared yet (time keeps ticking away). They are two of my recent favorites. My partners were so right on with the colors and the are like sunshine to me on these grey Oregon days. The one with the sewing machine is from Ariel, I love it so much. It was from Doll Quilt Swap #7, and it was one that I wanted when she first posted her pictures. She is very talented. You can see more of what she is up to here.

The second quiltlet is actually a placemat...but it is too pretty to eat on. It was from the placemat swap #1 on flickr. That material girl made it for me. She really knew about my love of Kaffe Fassett. The little chicken just charms me.

I look at these and they make me happy, but yes it has been tough around here.

JMB

PS

On a fun note, I won Soulemama's giveaway this weekend... 8 FQ of BEAUTIFUL fabric... that is a nice way to wake up!

Moments in our garden...

December 5, 2009 3:10 pm
How do you weed your winter garden?

Pink flamingo bottoms are always an option... I'm just saying...

JMB

'nuff said..

A couple days late, but that's how I'm rollin'...

a nice sentiment all year long I think.

JMB

D.S.B.

D.S.B

that stands for Desparately Seeking Balance...

I feel off kilter.

I don't like it but it is normal for me at this time of the year to feel out of sorts. I am still thinking it is the darkening of the days. This year it is that, AND getting used to 3 kiddos, AND new routines, and being able to only do SO much.

I desire to:

-finish some of my projects

-start new ones

-make Christmas gifties

-blog 3x a week

-live in a tidy home

-be a wonderful mom to my kids

-exercise

-sleep

I end up really only having time to mother my children (mostly well). The other things don't fit in right now. Sometimes I get to make a mess in the craft room, sometimes I can do a little yoga with Blondie boy, but really it is baby time around here. Can I feel a little sad that I want to be doing other things sometimes, even though I know that babies are so fleeting?

I made my welcome sign the other day because I had to. I had to make something and I couldn't stop until it was done.

This is where I am these days. Not entirely comfortable, but OK.

JMB

Moments of rain...

November 12, 2009, 2:26 PM... early to pick up big brother, a shocking riot of color through the dripping windshield...

Little brother rocking out to "Dog Train"

Thinking about walking out in the rain to get brother...
November 12, 2009 2:48 PM... sun again. Lovely and bright. A double rainbow! Sun and rain, both necessary.

JMB

2 months ago...

Hi there little Mango!

You are two months old now. You have been teaching us lots of things about you. You love when your big brothers talk to you, I think that they are getting to close, but you enjoy seeing them right up in your little face. You are such a calm girl. You leave crying for things like a dirty diaper and hunger. Sometimes you cry a little bit when I take too long getting ready for bed. But as soon as you see me you let out a sweet little sigh, as if to say "Mommy, Finally!"

You saved your first smile for your devoted brown-haired brother, even though your Daddy and Grandma thought that they caught it first. You have been working on a giggle this past week and I especially love your lop-sided grin.

You were such a trooper when we all had the swine flu, content to just cuddle while we all waited to get better. You are a wonderful third child. You are a sweet little girl.

JMB

Moments...

November 8, 2009, 9:30 a.m
I was reading a blog the other day and the pictures and writing were so very true. It wasn't that it was a post of grand revelations. It was just a post about a family, across the world from me, but so very like my family. It was comforting and funny. I like that. It talked about using your blog to show how you really are, to relate, to share your true self. If you would like to share with all of us you can read more about it here. It is nice to have a pretty blog. To fix your pictures. Crop out the ugly piles of laundry, hide the zits with photoshop, make it look like you want to remember it. Sometimes it is nice to just be, pajamas, holey socks, toys on the floor, all of it.

We all are getting over our flirtation and then straight on romance with H1N1. It wasn't pretty here the last week plus. Our saving grace was little Mango only got a snorkely nose. I was so worried that she would have the fevers along with the rest of us, but she has been saved thus far. I am so thankful. I am also glad that it looks like the rest of us are going to recover with just a cough and runny noses to bring in to this next week. We missed Halloween, my sister came over with treats for the boys but they could only look up from the couch and manage a pitiful "Thhhank you." Big Daddy had his ears all blocked up and I lost my voice, so we were quite the pair. It just makes me thankful for how healthy we are normally.

I made 4 more pumpkins yesterday for my pumpkin quilt. It is nice to have something brainless to make when I have a spare hour. I have 5 more cut out, maybe this will be a finishable project?? We will see. Jacquie is hosting a project finishing party here. I think I might play along, I need to move some stuff out of my sewing room!

Stay healthy!

JMB

Sticker charts...

Things are in flux around here. Thinking back, they were in this magnitude of flux back when Blondie was born. The difference I think, is that, back then I was a new "stay at home" mommy. I was still trying to wrap my personal identity around that as well as being the new mommy of 2. And Big Daddy was not traveling nearly as much...
This time around, the mommy of three, the mommy of a school age child, a preschooler AND a little one, well there is a lot of "WHAT AM I DOING??" everyday. Not in "how did I get here?" but "Wow, how am I going to get from point "A" to point "B"?" Point "A" and "B" change from second to second. This blog post was going to be about the wonders of sticker charts...but how do I get from here to there?

We started charts a couple of weeks ago during Big Daddy's first trip away. The first night I will admit to being a screaming mommy. I was. It wasn't pretty. I thought "Would they behave any better if I gave them stickers for all of the (few, seriously it was a bad night) good/helpful/nice things they do?" It worked pretty well. It helped Brownie stay focused on being helpful and Blondie was able to have a better incentive for using the potty more regularly.

It worked for them, but in the weeks since I think that it works better for me. At a low moment I can go to the charts and see that they really are helpful most of the time. I can be reminded that if there aren't many stickers that I maybe have not been "present" enough with them to notice when they are working well together.

We are all works in process Must remember... we are all works in process.
I leave you with my latest quilting bee block. This goes to my friend "hanies" in this bee. She wanted us all to make a 16" block that was like a mini quilt. What a fun group of fabric to work with!

JMB

The games we play...

This is the game we play with little babies. If you haven't done it before, you should try it, it will make you laugh, even if you are "very mature".
The other game I have been playing lately is called "Collect fabric until you feel like a spoiled fabric brat"
It is true. For my birthday, when people asked what I wanted, I said "Fabric. Fat Quarters, whatever you like!"
And boy, did I receive! Thank you, thank you family! I just finished washing and putting it all away. Wow, I really need to reorganize now.
This was a lovely collection from Big Daddy and the boys...I think that I want to make another birthday quilt...but I have to finish last year's first.
The following photos are the fabrics that I bought for myself this year, it is a little game that I like to call....

"I shouldn't,

yes I should,

no, I shouldn't...

wait, they aren't going to be around forever, so I should....."

Well, I did...
And I am so happy...
JMB

what to do today??

How's this for 2 posts in one week?? Hooray for me!

Today, Mango gifted me two hours of sewing, during which she slept in her car seat. First time ever folks!! I got to sew and move and there wasn't a baby to be found ON ME! SO EXCITED!

I do realize that they are only small for a short window of time. I have been loving all of the Momma-baby cozy time, but it was nice to sew ALONE!! Plus the house was quiet! For the first time in over a week... BOTH of the older Brothers were well and AT SCHOOL!!!

I worked on my "Traveling Threads" virtual bee blocks. I really want to keep the upper one. I don't know why I like it so much. I was making a kind of lame house and then I flipped it over and it made kind of a cool boat.

CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE!! That is what is called for sometimes. For instance I was giving my kids LOTS of time-outs and basically being a crabby mommy... so I decided to make a positive chart and they could get stickers for when they were doing what they were supposed to. NOW, on a "bad" day I can go and look at the chart and if I have been doing a good job then there will be stickers there and I can remember that they were behaving better then, say earlier today...but let's not discuss it, OK?

Here was my extra block...I made it with some of the scraps from the first one... these blocks really made me excited about sewing again. I just LOVE the "good folks" fabric, but I have been too miserly with mine. Maybe I will cut it now?? I hope so!
Here is a peek at Little Blondie's "I spy Apartment House" quilt. It is getting so big. I finally put the roof on and I just need to add the side borders and then we will be in business for basting it up for quilting. Hooray!

Mango is screaming for her supper... gotta go!

JMB

35 is half way to 70...

Yesterday was my birthday. #35. Is that a big one? Aren't they all?

I did everything that I wanted yesterday...

I woke up early with Mango, then went back to sleep and let Big Daddy do his own thing with the brood.

I sewed, showered, went on a walk, and bought some delicious cream for a special afternoon cup of coffee.

I drank my coffee in the backyard, as Blondie shared his shelled peanuts with the chickens.

I read a new book, received a store's worth of fabric, and had a nice dinner with my family, sisters and mother included.

I had a second piece of cake as I watched Battlestar Galactica.

What a way to start a year!
Little Missy was so busy this morning. We really saw her changing this past week. She is 6 weeks old now. This morning she graced us with her first smile. She was beaming at her dear brother, Brownie. Yes, Big Daddy and Grandma...she smiled TODAY. (It is only the official first smile if the family documentarian sees it to confirm, and that is me folks. That is me.)
The kids were so cute this morning laying on the floor together. What a full house I have. What a full heart. 35 is going to be a busy and exciting year, who knows what it holds, but I bet it's going to be great!

JMB

PS

This was a fun challenge block for my guild this month. I didn't win the drawing for the blocks at the meeting (which I actually made it to, with Mango!) I am a sucker for pumpkins and Halloweeny/autumny things so I started a pumpkin quilt using this pattern to show off my Halloween fabrics....I have 3 finished and they are so fun. There are more cut out, I am such a good starter!

Sometimes, when I 'm lucky...

See there, tucked in so sweetly... a wee Mango, going for a ride at the sewing machine.
Before, I show my most recent acquisitions, all mommies should at least glance at this site. I found it enlightening and so very real.
There was a sale on decorator weight fabrics... $5/yd!! I am such a glutton.
I finally bought a yard of these...I had been looking, but then the local store got them in and wow they do look THAT good in real life.
Must buy pinks!!
Still can't escape the aquas!!
And to top it off some beautiful new solids. The orange I had to buy because it is called "Mango". The two drab ones are actually lovely colors of grey, a light one and a charcoal. I am excited to start something new... but then again I always LOVE the starting!!

I saw this post, I just love the colors that Lily used!! I have never tried this pattern because I thought it was "too easy"???? I have to say that, today, I am so wooed by the simplicity of it.

I have been working on a large quilt (on and off for about 3 months) it is for my little Blondie. He was so excited when I let him hang a swap quilt on his wall that I knew it was time for him to have his own bed size quilt. I finished another big chunk of the front piecing. I will share it when I have some of the bigger pieces put together. I am very happy with how it is turning out.

Well, in the famous last words of a new mother, I am off to feed the baby. Thanks for being so sweet to little Mango last week, she had such a lovely time blogging.

JMB

another little hello...

Hi there,

Mango here, taking over this blog. My mom wanted to post, but I am really needing her attention these days. I am a month old now and I am just beginning to realize that I run the show around here. I think I kind of like this.

So, just between you and me, I cry and then I get food/attention/clean dipees/ANYTHING I WANT. Then there are the "bigs" around here. They are pretty fast, it is as if they don't like it when I let a scream out. The only problem is... sometimes they don't guess right the first time, so I have to scream real real loud the next time to help them out. THEN they usually get it right.

I really like to ride around on this one "big". She takes me great places. The smaller "bigs" call her mommy, so I think that for my purposes here she will be known as Mommy. I like to sleep in that carrier thing, look around, all sorts of things, because I know where she is AND she knows where I am... it's a good thing.

I have gotten so good at going to sleep in there that sometimes I wake up in this room filled with fabric pieces and there is a relatively comforting whirring sound. My mom just seems so happy in here that I usually just go back to sleep and rest a bit until I get SUPER hungry. I am living a pretty good life.

it is kind of hard to hold up my big head and type at the same time... I am getting very very sleepy... KShfksjghkshgkjsh

Hi there...

Thought that I would drop by with some friends...

Has it really been 2 weeks since I posted?

I guess it is kind of crazy around here...

but this week is definitely going smoother than last week...but don't tell, 'cause that could TOTALLY jinx it.

See you soon!

JMB

these are the days...

these are days you'll remember

never before and never since, I promise
will the whole world be warm as this
and as you feel it, you'll know it's true
that you are blessed and lucky
it's true, that you are touched by something
that will grow and bloom in you

these are days you'll remember

when May is rushing over you with desire
to be part of the miracles you see in every hour
you'll know it's true, that you are blessed and lucky
it's true, that you are touched by something
that will grow and bloom in you

these are the days

that you might fill with laughter
until you break

these days you might feel a shaft of light
make its way across your face
and when you do
you'll know how it was meant to be
see the signs and know their meaning

you'll know how it was meant to be
hear the signs and
know they're speaking to you
to you

-10,000 maniacs "These are the Days"

Last night, we walked down our block to an open field. I sat in the grass with little Mango as the boys and Big Daddy played Frisbee. I don't think that we have ever played Frisbee down there before. Yet, it seemed as if we had always done what we were doing right then, with our family just as it is right now. There was a lightning storm that we watched move across the sky. Then a small bat darted over our heads in the breeze. It was a perfect moment. We were together, so healthy, and blessed to be out on a beautiful night.

While the boys played and ran through the field, this song played in my head. I am horrible at remembering lyrics, but this song always felt a certain way to me. Looking at the lyrics tonight, they really capture the way I feel about this moment and this time in our lives, right now.

I feel so blessed.

JMB