Mat asks Lizzy on a Date

Mat got on one knee tonight and asked Lizzy on a date.  I wish you could have seen her face.  She was all nervous, totally excited, and anxiously wearing a gigantic smile while waiting to hear what he would ask her while sitting in front of her on one knee.  When he said, "Lizzy, will you go on a date with me" she giggled, and said, "only if I can wear my new church dress."  He said, "do I have to dress up?" and she giggled more "Daddy, you don't have to wear a dress." 

I will have that sweet little interaction etched into my mind forever.  Now, wherever will they go on a date since we don't have Chick-fil-a around?  I'm sure they'll figure out something fun, but CFA sure does make it easy.

My first Quilting Project

My friend, rhymeswithsmile.blogspot.com, is one crafty lady.  She spent her Wednesdays this summer teaching me how to quilt, and I have thoroughly enjoyed learning this craft.

My first project, as you may remember from a previous blog post, was to learn how to make squares.  My goal was to make giant reading pillows for my little homeschoolers.  I started making this for my little lady:

 And here is a picture of the kids helping me stuff the pillow.  It took 3 large bags of stuffing.

 Here is the front:

 and here is the back:

I did not quilt her pillow.  I just wanted to complete it to show myself that it didn't have to take too long to finish a project.  I think it turned out pretty fabulous, and my little lady was ecstatic.

After I finished the cupcake pillow, I started on one for my son.  He chose the fabric (ocean themed), and I helped him find coordinating fabric.  He also found a pattern that he liked on Pinterest, and I decided to go for it.  It was much more complicated than my first project, but I wanted a challenge.

As you can see from the pic, I even quilted his pillow.  I had lots of help from Rhymes with Smile on this.  I am so impressed at how the blue bubble fabric lined up as did the orange material.  It was purely on accident, and I'm sure I could never do that again if I tried!

My children have both enjoyed my new found craft, and they were both interested in learning how to sew too.  I decided to teach them both how to sew, and they made library bags:

My little lady even sewed pockets in hers.

I also practiced sewing a skirt from scratch with no pattern.  It's not beautiful, but it's certainly a start.  I learned a lot about sewing with stretchy  material, and I learned how to use my sewing machine (better and quicker than before).

And I know you're wondering what my children have been doing while I have been sewing.  Well, they have been watching lots of movies and playing with this lovely lady:

Rhymes with Smile even had them doing water aerobics & synchronized swimming.

First week of school for 2013-2014

We started school on Monday.  Little Missy was so excited to start K, while Little Mister was a bit reluctant.  I was reluctant to start as well, but I realize that we needed to gradually start getting back into the swing of things now...considering we started summer in May.

And while we are back to school, we are still gradually creeping back into full swing.  We finished our craft class at Michael's.  Here we are in our art class this week:

This was two separate days.  I'll have to take a pic and show off their finished work.  They went crafting around the world in 7 weeks (3 days each week for only $2).  They had 2 really amazing teachers, and we learned how to work with all different types of materials from oil pastels, yarn, paper, acrylic paint, and Madge padge (however you spell that).  We made masks, beautiful watercolors, a thermometer, the Aurora Borealis, and much much more.  The kids loved the class, and I was very impressed with the quality of the class for only $2.

I have only a few pics of the kids working on their school work b/c I was either teaching them or cleaning the disaster of a school room.  I'm quite pleased with all we accomplished, and I'm very happy that my school room is back in order.  Here are my kiddos working:

I think my favorite part of the week has been jumping all into our new Bible curriculum where we are walking through the Old Testament with stick figures through Grapevine Ministries.  I LOVE it, and the kids beg to get started and keep going!

We had special treats for our first week of school.  We had ice cream:

 And here we are at the end of the week enjoying a picnic at the shore of the Farmington River.

 Remember how I said Little Missy was so excited about school while Little Mister wasn't so much.  They both did a great job this week, and Little Missy earned a toy from the treasure box for an exceptional 5 days of school.  Little Mister hopes to earn his reward on Monday as he had a little difficulty getting distracted on day 5.  Here is Missy playing with her new bubble gun - which is pretty awesome and only cost $2 at Michael's.

So here's to a wonderful first week of school.  It wasn't without it's difficulties, but it was much better and more low key than I had anticipated.  I'm also very excited to be ahead of the game so we can take days off here and there as things come up.  That's part of the joy of homeschooling after all!

Forever Long Bucket List of Activities in Connecticut

After discovering this website, I am so thankful that I will have a lifetime to complete many of the things on this list.  If you live in or near Connecticut or if you are going to visit the area (I'm just saying that CT seems to be low on the vacation totem pole, but it is a fantastic place to visit), check out this website, and start planning some awesome activities!

www.connecticut.mommypoppins.com

And if you decide to do any of these fun things, please call our family as we would love to join you!