The Dress

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A quiet night at home one night led to me playing on pinterest and finding a tutorial for a maternity dress out of a t-shirt.

I was so excited because for about fix or six months I’ve been holding on a t-shirt that I love but couldn’t wear anymore.  Not because I was pregnant.  My belt (that I wore before I was pregnant) tore several holes in the shirt.   They were big enough and so many in number that I couldn’t really fix them by sewing them.  But, I held on to the shirt because I loved the cut and style…and I got it for like $2 at Target.  Here’s what it looks like now:

So, I spent more than intended by purchasing the linen.  And I didn’t realize until I put it together that the linen is heavy on a lightweight shirt.

But, I loved the result!  And I love the dress!  It is very comfortable and it was very easy to make.  If I hadn’t messed up on it and had to pull out some very stubborn stitches it would have taken an hour.

I’ll make another one, if I have time, the right fabric, and the right t-shirt (which I’m searching through my closet for right now).

My latest sewing endeavors this week include making vests for three boys and turning black Goodwill pants into knickers.  We have a colonial days festival coming up and I have five very eager children who want to dress up for it.  The girls are pretty much ready (except for their drapes which should take about two minutes to do).  The boys…well, I haven’t even got the pattern cut out for the vests yet.  Help!

But, here’s one more look at the dress and includes a good shot of my 19 week baby belly!

Don’t forget to get your vote on as to whether Seven is a boy or girl!  Go to my main page and see the poll on the top left.  We are praying we’ll find out this week!

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Ceili Rain and Bryant Random Sayings and Such

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A sweet mom brought pudding for the Cubbies to snack on at church.  Ceili Rain is half a cubbie so she gets to go in and do all they do only she doesn’t get a vest or patches.  Anyway, I asked her if she had thanked the mom and she said she hadn’t so she went to do it.  And she did, and the mom was talking to someone else and they were trying to make sure they got her name right.  The mom asked her, “Ceili Rain, is that your name?”  Ceili Rain shook her head yes and then slowly shook it no.  The mom asked, “Well, what’s your name?”  “I a princess,” is how she responded.

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Ceili Rain got up one morning this week and said, “Where’s my baby?  Oh dere it is.”  And pointed to my belly.  I asked her if the baby was a girl or boy.  “A girl.  No, no, no.  I jus’ kiddin’.  Da baby is goin’ to be a pwincess!”  I just pray she’ll be okay if the baby turns out to be a prince.

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If we (she) lose something of Ceili Rain’s and you ask her where it is.  She’ll say, “I don’t know.  Maybe the lion ate it.”  We’re not sure where the lion is hiding but we’ve never met him.  He does, however, release them eventually because we typically find them.

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If she feels like something is itchy like a nose or a fly, then a ladybug is to blame.   For instance, she got something in her eye and was scratching it and she said, “Mommy, a ladybug is in my eye.”

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Everything belongs to Ceili Rain…my baby, my Bryant, my daddy, my mommy, etc.  She’s happy to share us but we’re all hers.  And I’m okay with that!

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We’ve heard that last week while Mom and Dad were away that Ceili Rain was either talking or singing which is typical here too.  She loves to sing “Hold my heart…mama…dada”  and is learning “Jesus loves me”   The “Hold my heart” is probably because we all enjoy listening to Jamie Grace.  When we hear her song on the radio, she’ll yell out, “Jamie Grace!  Mama!  Jamie Grace!”  She’s going to be super bummed that we can’t take her with Zoe and I to their concert.

We’ll just turn up this video really loud and pretend we’re at a concert.

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I want to remember some of Bryant’s words at 14 months so I’m writing them down here.  Ignore my mommy brain trying to dump.

-Roll Tide:  “oooo tide.”
-Amen:  he thinks that’s how we should begin and end prayers and he’ll even fold his hands!
-Mama and Daddy and he knows it now!
-ball: one of his favorite words
-go:  when racing down the hall
-ready, set, go which comes out “uh, uh, goooo!”  when he really wants to race or he’s throwing the ball down the hall
-Ace:  and if Ace slips out to take the trash Bryant will stand at the door and call him.  Word has it he called for Ace a lot last week while mommy and daddy were away.
-Zoe:  o-e
-Josiah:  Diah
-Ceili Rain:  a-a (Cei Rai)
-Raffe:  ra-e (Ceili Rain’s giraffe
-Paci:  Papi
-Papa: for Papa
-Grandmere:mandmere
-hi
-bye
-uh oh
-more:  mo
-doggy: goggy

And a few more I can’t remember right now.

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Home

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We are home.  We are whole and we are slowly getting back in to the routine of things.  It’s both nice and sad that all the kids survived without us for a whole week.  I missed them so much and got the largest hug from Ceili Rain when we returned.  As soon as we know more about what is going on, I can share…sorry to be so vague.  I will share as soon as we can.

More later but now on to schoolwork again!

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Prayers Appreciated

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I hate when people do this on their blog but sometimes it’s just required!  There are possibly some big changes coming for the bunch (besides the birth of a baby).  This week will be a big determining factor so prayers for wisdom and safety for all are much appreciated.  I’ll write more when we know more but suffice it to say that it’s big things from a big God for our crew and we’ll have to leave it at that right now.

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Beautiful

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At our church, if the father of the house is a Christian, he is encouraged to be the one to baptize his children and those under his house.  The premise being that the husband should be the head of the home especially in spiritual matters.  Mark and I had never really thought much about him baptizing our children until we started attending this church.  After looking through the Bible, we realized that God’s word does not say, “Thou shalt be ordained within the ministry of the church to baptize others.”  And realized what a blessing this would be to us and to our children if he baptized them.

So, Ace was the first one to be baptized by his father.  And it all happened last Sunday.  And, believe it or not, I did not cry buckets of tears.  Mainly, I was too worried that my camera would die before I could get pictures and video.

But it didn’t!  And I did get pictures and video! 

And I’m so thrilled (are you tired of seeing And’s at the beginning of my sentences?)!

We had a lot of firsts that day…church at the lake under a pavilion in the semi cool weather.  Ace getting baptized.  Our kids and us having a wonderful time of fellowship and amazing food afterwards (no joke…at the end of this pregnancy they’re going to have to roll me around if our church keeps fixing amazing food).

 This would be a wonderful picture if blogger would cooperate and put my pictures up as they were saved!
Pastor B went discussed the reason he wanted to be baptized before Mark prayed over him and immersed him.
All total, there were eight baptisms.  It was such a blessing to see the professions of faith and acts of obedience carried by fathers!
And the reason this post is so utterly lacking in wonderful pictures of our day at the lake is because the battery was threatening mutiny on the camera.  Needless to say there was a lot of play in the sand and the water (despite the cool weather and my threat that they would have to ride home in undies if they got wet…and they did) and boat rides.
But, before the camera died I got this:
I love it!  Totally not told to do so but Josiah helped his sister down to the beach area through the wooded area.  I was so proud of his gentlemanly ways!
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At the Drive-In

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Labor Day weekend our local (okay, it’s only local because it’s the closest one and it’s about 45 minutes away), drive-in shows a ton of movies.  Last year, we were able to see two kids movies for very cheap.  This year, they only played one.  And I tried to express my dislike in that.  However, we were able to get home before midnight so it worked out good!  We surprised them with the trip and they were all thrilled.

I, however, was less than thrilled as they played on the playground and I got attacked by fire ants.  That was none too fun.

Anyway, they all enjoyed the pre-show playground and the during show snacks.  And then we high tailed it out of there before the other movies started.

This was Bryant’s second drive in movie.  The first he was but a mere babe and totally didn’t care one way or the other as long as he got fed and relaxed.

We were blessed with decent weather too!  It was a slight bit warm before the sun went down but cooled off considerably afterwards.  Even though it’s a drive-in, it was still too warm to sit in cars so the chairs and blankets came out!

This is some intense stuff people!
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Pillow Diving…again

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It’s been awhile since I posted a pillow diving photo time, so we’re all due.  Aren’t you all excited?  Mark, of course, is responsible for these awesome action shots!

That’d be Zoe…flipping out.

I totally flipped this correctly but Firefox and Blogger do not like to work together.
Ginger almost got in on it.  This was where Bryant learned “Let’s go.”  But it comes out “et go!”
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Lovely Day

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We took advantage of the change to not so humid weather and went bike riding in the not too far distant past.

He totally doesn’t need training wheels and asked for a bike without them for Christmas…to which we replied we could give him one right away.  He got a bit nervous about that but I think he’ll do fine.
Miss Independent!
Don’t worry, all were safe!  Daddy never let go and, for the most part, neither did the babies.
Lining up for a race and Bryant decided to race on foot!
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Giveaway: Marie Madeline skirt or $50 gift certificate

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Giveaway: Marie Madeline skirt or $50 gift certificate
If you have not seen Marie Madeline’s skirts, fabric, and patterns, you are totally missing out! I’ve oogled and ahhhed over their skirts for quite some time. And right now, a lot of their patterns are 50% off. I personally, love the Street Fair skirts. Totally adorable. Anyway, go check them out and check out Life in Shoe who is giving away a skirt or a $50 gift certificate!

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A Good Day…

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I’ve not kept it a secret that Liam is a challenging kid to work with.  He’s set in his ways and knows what he wants to do.  And he gets very upset when what he wants to do doesn’t comply with what I want to do.  I say he’s passionate…about everything.  And, well, it’s hard most days.  We work really hard at focusing our heads and hearts on God.  Sometimes we work overtime with Liam.  He’s an amazing kid and is going to do some amazing things.

But, it happened today.  It all started with Liam waking up, getting dressed, grabbing his clean clothes and putting them up.  It continued with Liam starting school with a joyful heart and only needing a few reminders throughout the day to have a joyful heart.  It was so odd that I called Mark at work to see if something happened last night while I was out to have him change his attitude.  He said nothing.

And he’s not sick!  Woohoo!

And I praised…and praised…and praised.  We talked a lot about how his attitude was effecting everyone else today.  We talked about how we please God and others with joyful hearts, etc.  So, as we were talking, I asked him if we could keep this Liam.

He replied, “You have to!”

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I continued to talk to him and then he just popped up, “I love you mama!”

And that’s more than my hormonal heart can handle and I just cried. 

I love this little boy dearly and I’m fully aware that tomorrow we may wake up and have to work harder than ever to keep joyful hearts and practice immediate obedience.  But today, today I saw that God is working in his (and my) heart.  We both are seeking Him and wanting to please Him.  Today, God showed me that He is here and that He is in control.  I’d love to take credit for his good day.  But I can’t.  Only through God’s love did we have a day like today!

Now on to rest for whatever challenges await us tomorrow!

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