Hairdos, Belly Dancing, and Other Pictures

Since we no longer have a house helper, (yes, I hear you all crying your hearts out for me) the little girls have been having to entertain themselves more and more while I do school. I came in the other day to see the girls, for once, not in trouble. Ellie was combing Lydia's hair, and for once, they let me take a picture of them.

Before you all run screaming for the hills, it's NOT me belly dancing...it's Ellie's Belly Dancing. She really likes to try to take her clothes off to get ready for bed. She hasn't figured out how to get her arms out, though.

I took all the kids to the store with me the other night, as a treat for...well, for surviving, we went out for noodles at their favorite noodle shop. They love to eat it at the restaurant. I call it a restaurant, but the more accurate description would be carless garage.

And here, FINALLY, is a picture of Elijah's missing tooth. If you notice, the other tooth has already grown in...that's not because I waited so long to take the picture, the tooth was there before the old tooth fell out.

Lastly, I've not updated on my projects in a while. I have slowly...very slowly, been working on a quilt for Ellie. I have high hopes of finishing it before we need to take the big comforters off the beds...if that ever happens. It's a scrap quilt and is a little wild! Sorry it's so hard to see on the white background. Maybe when it's finished it will be easier to see.

Idle Hands

A while back I read a local magazine article about the DIY craze here. Alongside the article was an interview with a group of older ladies who told the reporter that this was not a new thing. One lady said that when she and her friends were young they decided that when they all sat outside with there friends to talk at night, they would always be working on a project too. They decided they never wanted to have idle hands. I found this really interesting and thought about all that I could get done if, instead of just sitting and watching tv at night, I also kept my hands busy on some kind of project. That was in October. Since then, I have knitted 2 baby sweaters, a sweater for Ellie (who wouldn't wear, so it got passed to Lydia), a sweater for Bella, sewn 14 dresses and 3 skirts, and patched up several shirts that would probably have been put in the trash. Now, I will admit that not of those things were done while watching tv...I don't watch that much tv. But with projects going, I found that while I waited for something, I could knit a couple of rows. I have found that I don't to watch every word that Bella reads while she does her reading and can sit beside her and knit while I listen and still be perfectly free to help her at any point.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of some projects that I've recently completed.

Striped sweater for Bella

Skirt for me

Simple dresses for the girls

Dress for Bella

None of these were fancy, but they'll be perfect for letting the girls play in and tear up all summer long.