Enchanting Woodland Fairy

I had most of Miss M's Halloween costume done a while back...just never got around to taking pictures of it until now. It's based loosely on McCall's 5732, but I really only used the pattern for the vest...and even then I modified it. For the shirt I used an Ottobre raglan pattern (I'm not even sure which one), but added width so it'd be a bit fuller. I made it out of light green silk. The vest as made of darker green twill and lined with brown flannel for warmth. I patchworked together a bunch of faux suede pieces of various shades of brown for the pants and kind of made up the pattern as I went...based on the McCall's pattern style, but not using their pattern pieces and making it a separate rather than a one-piece with the top. I used elastic in the legs and a drawstring at the waist so she can keep wearing it as dress-up clothes for a while. I completely made up the pattern for the wings and they turned out amazingly like what I envisioned and far better than I thought I'd actually be able to pull off!

I took pictures of her in the fallen leaves in our backyard. Somehow, looking at them on the computer, I would have sworn the entire thing was fake...fake grass, fake leaves, printed backdrop. It all looked too perfect. But, it's not fake! It's real! Those are real fall leaves under our sycamore tree and there was a real nippy breeze blowing as I snapped some quick shots. She blends in so nicely...exactly what I was going for, but not at all expecting to actually be able to do!

I know I'm completely biased, but I think she's just the most enchanting creature I've ever laid eyes on!

Review: Seed Starting by Gary Emmett (an ebook)

As I've already confessed, I am a plant murderer . I have, however, had marginal success with container gardening. The past year or two I started seedlings with my dad, which means the kids and I dropped a few seeds in pots and my dad cared for them. Once they were established outside, I was able to keep them alive long enough to harvest a few peppers and tomatoes and have a pretty pot of flowers on my doorstep. (At least until a horrid heat-wave and drought came along and killed them all; it's hard to keep containers well-watered when it's that hot!) In spite of the 10+ inches of snow on the ground right now, it's time to think about starting seeds again and I figure if I'm ever going to develop a green thumb, I better start educating myself! That is why I jumped at the opportunity to read Gary Emmett's book Seed Starting: The First Step to Gardening . (affiliate link) Available for your Kindle or Kindle app from Amazon. Currently priced at $2...

MFW ECC: What's different this time around?

I am so excited to go through Exploring Countries and Cultures again. The last time my kids were so little -- 3rd grade and Kindergarten. And now they are in 5th and 8th grades! They have grown so much over the past five years. As I began to think about our plan for this year, I realized two things: 1) my gifted eldest child remembers just about everything we covered in ECC the first time, and 2) my younger one hasn't had many of the basics that ECC covers. So I was faced with a dilemma -- how do I adjust ECC to suit the very different needs of both children? How do I shift the focus for my 8th grader to aspects of ECC that she hadn't spent time on before (such as types of governments, imports and exports, etc.) while also taking my younger child through the more foundational information that he missed when he was just a kindergartener? ECC is designed to be parent-led, family learning, with a supplement for 7th and 8th grade. But I came to the conclusion that I need to deco...

No More Quiet Time

I have always thought it sounded trite to speak of “falling in love with Jesus.” But trite or not, isn’t that what I want for my children? To learn to “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). With that in mind, and having run across this blog post on Pinterest several months ago, I created a morning devotion basket for the kids and I to use. You see, up till now, I would typically find time to read the Bible and pray away from my children. Away from distraction, away from the demands of dust and dirty dishes, and away from the 437 questions a four-year-old asks every day. Then I realized I was doing them a major disservice by disallowing them to see me in the Word regularly. If I want them to love the Lord God, then I must show them how I love the Lord my God! Our new routine is to wake up in the morning, prepare a simple breakfast — usually cold cereal for the kids, toast and tea for me — and sit d...

CHRISTEPHI

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