lauradodson::joyful life

rejoicing in the goodness of our God!

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two for one

Whew. Saturday. We made it. I love Saturday.

 

This is what Jeremiah has been doing all morning...after watching tv.  And who knew talapia liked to ride in a school bus? Not me.

 

I really like the happy smiles on these little people. I purchased the school bus, boat, camper, and this mini-bus back in the spring from ebay. Mainly for me. The boys don't care what their toys look like. Mom does. :o) And I like these. Alot. And since they were going to be scattered all over the house ... you see my logic? Good.

Raggedy bringin up the rear.  Happy Saturday.

Maize maze

Thursday a small band of homeschoolin' families headed west to Hondo to the South Texas Maize. It was just what our stressed out family needed. FUN!

 

This little cut out was waiting for us at the end of the maze. At this point, the threesome was just starting to warm-up to the idea of meandering through a field of corn...and we were finished with that part!  I take that back. Within 5 minutes, Daniel had stopped holding my hand and was beatin' a path with the big girls (Gracie and Kaylie).  The other two stayed close to Jeff and me.

There was another family that we ran into who had just adopted from Ethiopia. They'd been home 3 months. It is so cool to see how different these children from Ethiopia looked compared to ours. Almost more Asian...Indian...something. Their coloring was different as was their hair. Interesting. We're all different! Who knew?! ;o)  God is good like that.

The older crowd--all boys!--went and navigated the maze on their own. They had a good time.

 

We ate lunch. Brown-bagged it. Do you see Daniel in the left corner? And the mystery hands? Those are Jeremiah's. Those two look after each other.  They're genuinely happy--what a concept--for the other when something good, exciting, etc. happens. It is really sweet.

Notice the matching shirts?  We were asked if we were trying to be like the Geers. My Answer: Yes, because these are the Geers hand me down shirts. :o) and we're cool like that. Plus, they look really cute.

The popcorn pillow. L-R:: Bodie, Grace, Alan, Luke, Marissa, Daniel, Kaylie, William, Jeremiah

 

Rode the tractor train.

The two cutie pies in the right hand corner are not ours. :o) They're hers--click here-- (+ her adoring husband who gives her his very own terminator sunglasses which she makes fun of because she has misplaced hers somewhere and can't remember where they are at all and because he pretty much spoils her because I guess he loves her so much or something. Go figure.)

These guys are way too mature for pictures.

And the other two up in the left hand corner are way too dorky for their own good. Plus they had not seen each other in well over a year. So they were happy.

The threesome just really liked the hayride and their pumpkin.

 

The End.

grace upon grace

I sat in on a speech therapy session today.  Then, 3 hours later after all the world's problems were solved...ok, well maybe just mine, I went to Hobby Lobby--cuz I was alone--and found a few whistles, and straws, and the Lopez family buying paint... I also ran by Goodwill and found Topple, a game that the therapist said would be a good choice to play with younger children while practicing their sounds.

(BTW, I love it when that happens. When someone recommends a product, and I choose to check Goodwill first, and wah-la! it's there for like 1/10 of the cost.)

 

While I was at Goodwill, I found something else. One of our newbies really likes Raggedys. My olders are a bit embarrassed they have a younger brother who likes these soft dollys. They'll just have to deal. 

He takes care of his Raggedy just like a little child. He is very gentle. (mostly. except when he swings it o'er his head by the arm or hair...which is precisely why I took my ancient Raggedy away.)

This dolly was brand new, handmade. $2.99, I snatched it up. He loves it.  He sat her down next to him (in the same chair) for dinner, but since we were having Sah-pah-getti I asked him to put her on the couch.  He sat her down quite gingerly. 

+++

I am planning on taking a short video of our baby. Daniel. Who, I feel certain, is going to grow up in his big brother's footsteps and become a slight of hand expert.  He tries to perform a disappearing coin trick that is a total crack-up. I'll show you soon.

+++

I also tried something with Middle youngest tonight. Just some Mommy and son time cuddled up on our bed listening to music while he had some juice.  I can say that THAT is the ticket to the little boy's heart. Bingo. After he was finished with his drink, I asked him if wanted to go play outside with his brothers and Daddy or stay with Mom. His answer:

"Ay if Mom."

So we did.

Grace upon grace, flows down, flows down.

my canadian friends

are still trying to bring home their 2 littles from Uganda. There have been increasingly difficult challenges all along the way. And yes, our God is faithful. We know this first hand and yet, also know we are called into the fellowship of His sufferings as Believers.  Please keep them in your prayers as they continue to wait for more news from the High Court.  Here's the blog if you feel like checking it out.  Mercy Moi. I know they will appreciate your prayers.  Thank you so much.

quilt top x 2

Sew. I've been sewing.

CRAFTHOPE quilt top in progress::

      I wanted to make a quilt that an older child might like.  I figured that most folks would make cute little kids quilts. Most fabric in quilt shops tends to be more feminine. I found these on the Kaffe Fassett wall, but I do not know if they're all his designs or not. See how quilt savvy I am?

+++

     Then I did a little work on the quilt top that is for us. The one I botched a week ago. But I fixed it. I fixed it so well that I actually like it better. See how quilt savvy I am? ;o) I crack myself up.  I still need to add more white sashing around the edges to make it large enough to snuggle up in. My 8 inch blocks turned into 6 inch blocks when I took off the blue batik...which I sliced and diced off. I did not rip it out with a seam ripper. Lesson learned:: I need lessons in cutting fabric.

      It's blurry. I had to take it this a.m. and I guess I should have used a flash. But you get the jist.

 

Doesn't this look a little bit like stained glass?

+++

And the quilt book I ordered at the library came in. So once all these projects are completed, I am making this quilt below in a different colorway.

Photo from: The Modern Quilt Workshop

The above fallish looking quilt is why I am making the scrap batik quilt. I am going to practice the quilting technique that Bill Kerr and Weeks use on their quilts. It's not stippling. It's this meandering line back and forth, and I am doing a lousy job explaining it, but I'll show you eventually. Have patience. 

a slice of 1976 for $1.99

Before I go any further, let me say this:: I totally scored big time at Goodwill last night.  At least, I think I did.

+++Bought two little boy gifts --brand new-- for super cheap.  1) Fisher Price Dr. kit for a certain almost 4 yr. old's birthday that's coming up in November. Joshua saw it and nearly ripped it out of my hands. ;o) He had one when he was little. Jeff bought it for him when I was in the hospital having surgery a few months after Caleb was born.  In fact, I think having little brothers is really fun for him because he gets to play with all their toys. ;o) Don't tell him I said that. 2) A little Fisher Price laptop thing. It's super cute and I think all three will like playing with it. This will be a New Year's gift...which is when we give gifts in our family.

(As I type, Alan is playing with my other Raggedy Ann that Grandmother Addie made for me. I bet it is really different for the little boys not being around 20+ babies all the time. Listening to their babbling, cooing and other sweet baby noises. I wonder if this is why he likes the dolly? )

+++But the big score --in my book-- was a vintage sheet. A never taken out of the package vintage sheet. A flat twin vintage sheet which I thought was just of sweet little children playing. Upon closer inspection I saw that it was this::

 

And even though I am not a huge fan of the food of this particular restaurant, these images brought back many happy little memories of me playing with my McDonald's Restaurant playset made by Playskool or Fisher Price. ;o) I also had a Holiday Inn.

 

 

 

I adore the colors! The happy children, cute trees, sun, flowers...I will use it for a quilt somehow. Maybe the backing? I don't know, but it will be used for something cuddly.

today

was a fairly good day.  It's been awhile since I had one. It did get shaky around lunch, but ended on the upswing.

Only by the grace of my precious God...

And. have you seen the moon tonight? I can see it from here, peeking through the trees in its almost full sparkly light.   There's just a smidgen of an edge not showing, but tomorrow I bet it'll be there.  sigh. I really like the night sky.

new adventure

We went on a bit of adventure today. We spent a nice afternoon in the country introducing the boys to Nonnie and Buddy...which I failed to photograph. arg.  What's with that?!  However, I did get a couple of pics of them at Bellville. Our favorite country spot.

 

This was my Raggedy Ann dolly when I was about Alan's age. He found her and promptly gave her a hug and kiss. He scooted the little chair up to the table and gently placed her in her seat. ;o) Love it. (I think my mom made this dolly? Right?)

 

Of course, if one child gets a picture taken, all t.h.r.e.e have to have their turn. "Mommy me! Mommy me!" is what they say. After I take it, I have to show them the pic. Man, they like to see themselves on my camera!

 
And this next fellow. Goodness. That smile gets me every time. (Not that they all don't have nice smiles, but Daniel's just slays me.)

Hope your day was a nice one. I sure like a little road trip every so often. It does wonders to get out and see the world. 

Next time I must remember to take pics with N and B. doggone it.

one of the hardest things we've ever done.

I'll give you a few guesses.

Childbirth?  Nope.

Traveling internationally four times in 4 months? (I'm a homebody.) Nope.

Being verbally abused and threatened by our own gov*t on foreign soil? Nope.

 

Taking pictures of pumpkins on a splendid fallish afternoon in the glaring sun? YES!!! Oh. Not those pumpkins up yonder.  No. Those were fun. Still. Cooperative. They smiled at all the right times when asked. The straightened up, stopped squinting, and looked like a happy pumpkin family. They were great.

Taking pictures of THESE LITTLE PUMPKINS DOWN HERE, however, were one of the hardest things we've ever done.

 

Alan.

Jeremiah.

 

Daniel.

(Where are the shots of the two older, more mature sons? Didn't git took, that's where. An' I ain't sayin no more about it.)

 

The Boys.

If anyone we know was at the pumpkin patch while we were there and witnessed The Dodson Family Meltdown, we apologize.  *sigh*  I can't even begin to say how relieved I am that the above pics turned out as well as they did because, baby, I'm not going back there til next year. Period.

deep breaths

inhale.

exhale.

sigh heavily.

walk away.

my quilt top is an utter failure.

F A I L U R E.

apparently, i've not mastered the art of squaring up my blocks. i mean. really. how hard can it be? obviously too hard for me to do the.right.way.

silent scream.

but only because the boys are still napping.

if they were awake. i'd be screaming. OUTLOUD. for a really long time.

so. the whole reason i'm making this quilt is to practice a machine quilting method. however, unsquared corners and rows are really going to irritate my eyes.  the rows are REALLY off. by a lot. and what makes it worse is in stead of sticking with the all white background scheme like i should have...i used some really nice blue batik. to make the quilt larger so any seven of us could actually use it to squirrel up in and nest. i don't do wall hangings. i want a blankie. dadgumit.

so.

so. i'm going to make the mismatched dumb thing, practice my quilting, and call it done. and we'll use it. and it'll keep us cozy. but it'll look really bad in the process.