quilting, crocheting and knitting oh my!

Yes, I am still in the process of quilting my Mom's quilt. I am definitely a slow poke when it comes to quilting. However, I can confidently say I am 3/4 of the way done! I am free motion quilting in each of the blocks. You can see the quilting clearly in the hot pink block. I must say once I got the hang of it, I fell in love with free motion quilting. I think I will only be using my walking foot for applying the binding. I find even straight line quilting is easier free motion. I havn't touched the quilt in over a week because I have just been too busy, I miss it. Hopefully I can sit down with it this weekend. I am using this and these which makes the process SO much easier and more enjoyable!



I also recently taught myself to crochet. While I do enjoy it, I still think I prefer the process of knitting. However, you can't beat the speed of crochet projects. I think I did the majority of this hat in just a few hours, and I am a slow crocheter.



I finally bit the bullet and decided I was going to knit a sweater for myself! For some reason this has always intimidated me! This will be the Central Park Hoodie when I am done. I picked a Cardigan because I do live in South Louisiana and having a sweater you can easily take off is a good idea. I am using Knitpicks yarn so that the sweater was actually affordable. Would have loved to do it in Malabrigo, but I can't be spending over $100 on yarn for one sweater! I find knitpicks yarn is a great and, more importantly, affordable option. This is Swish Worsted Weight 100% Merino yarn. The color is discontinued unfortunately. It is only 3.99 for a 110 yard ball, you can't beat that especially considering I needed 11 balls for this sweater! I have all of the parts finished and just need to seam them together and pick up stitches to knit the hood. It should be finished in time for cool enough weather to actually wear it! I am so excited because it looks like it is actually going to fit me! I was a good girl and swatched : ) Thank goodness, because I had to go up 2 needle sizes from what was recommended. Apparently I am a very tight knitter lol



Jessica took all of these pictures for me when she was here the other day taking Sophia's pictures. thank you Jess ; ) It is so nice having my own personal photographer lol

My baby girl.....

I love this one!

Here are a few of the results from Sophia's photo shoot with Jessica last Friday! I have over 60 photos and they are all fabulous! I will probably be sharing them here and there for awhile lol She is such a happy child! I love her so much it hurts sometimes. Even when she is slapping me in the face because I won't let her dig in my eyes. She IS a rough one lol Her new thing is eating ice from my mouth like a baby bird. I should catch it on video, it is so cute.







I am feeling much better this week. Nothing has really changed, things are still crazy, and I feel like I am spinning with everything that needs to get done but probably won't. But my outlook is so much more positive. It must be the progesterone. I am so glad to be feeling somewhat normal again, I hate that doom and gloom everything is horrible and will never get better feeling when I know darn well I have a wonderful life and my bad is not even close to being bad, it's just life. An extremely blessed life at that!


Oh, those eyes!


Oldest and youngest....she is squinting because she is anticipating the flash on the camera going off lol she is so funny!




Some cute out takes with the cats, Zoey and Bob wanted to be in all the photos lol


HEY! Watch it!


I'm gonna get you!

My Week in Review or (The Ramblings of a Semi-Crazy Woman)

We do school at the dining room table, see the huge stack of school books lol You can also see Samuel's *artwork* on the table's legs lol Chad made these benches recently, the children had pretty much destroyed all of the chairs that went with the table. Hoping these benches hold up a little better : D

Samuel and Ava , early one morning, working on a 50cent art project I got them at Joanns.


This week has been hard, I am not quite sure why. We are into our 3rd week of home schooling. It always takes a little while to get used to the new routine. I just feel like school is the only thing I can get accomplished some days. I think I was expecting everything to be a lot easier this year because Parker and Sydney are now in school. And it is easier, I don't even want to think about how hard it would be if I had to teach them as well. It is just that I didn't expect to struggle and I am. Also, I feel like my new holistic approach to my health stopped working. I think I have figured it out though. One of the things my doctor did was to put me on natural progesterone cream. Well, I have to use it for 3 weeks and then take a week off. This was my week off. I am still nursing Sophia quite often, so havn't started my period yet. Usually you would stop the progesterone during your period, but I just have to make up my own schedule until they start back up. I started the progesterone again today, really hoping I start feeling normal again. I think I will ask my dr. if I can take the progesterone the entire month. My Mom does, she said she felt terrible when she would stop it as well. Of course, she is post menopausal, I don't think I can do the same.

Also, one of my closest friend is going through a very hard time right now. I don't feel free to talk about it for many reasons, but it is a heartbreaking situation and it is on my heart and mind most of the day. I know there is so much good in this world, but there are also people (especially children) who are suffering greatly. I am finding it very hard not to dwell on this lately. While it makes me appreciate how blessed and lucky my family is, it hurts me to know there is so much pain out there. I hate to say it, but I tend to think there is much more bad than good in our world, and I feel guilty for having such a wonderful life and still struggling sometimes.

Sorry this is so depressing, but I have spent most of my life trying to be fake happy through the bad times. While I don't think it is good to wallow in self pity, I think it is worse to deny the truth of what I am going through. Trying to find the balance and what is healthy is hard. Also, realizing the things that should be hard and make you sad. Suffering children should make me sad. An unusually dirty and messy house is temporary and shouldn't really bother me at all. Like Autum said in this post, that is just the evidence of a busy and happy life : )

Anyway, even though is wasn't my best week, there were many positive things. My friend Jessica came yesterday and took 1 year pictures of Sophia. I can't wait to see them, Sophia was in a great mood, so there should be some good ones. We decided to do this on a whim, Jessica was downtown and called and asked if today was a good day. It really wasn't a good day, I had TONS of laundry and dishes and dirty floors that I should have been cleaning. But you know what, I am glad I said yes. Jessica is a positive person and can always bring me out of a funk. After she took Sophia's pictures, we went to our local yarn shop so I could help her pick out some yarn for this hat. She knows how to knit, but hasn't done it in a while. Well, instead of running in there and just getting what we needed, we actually sat down and visited with the owner and other ladies who were knitting and I helped her start her project. Oh, I also bought some yarn for a scarf, like I don't have enough projects lol It was so nice and relaxing, we both said we need to do that more often. Yes, my house is still a wreck this morning, but I still don't regret my decision, the housework will get done....eventually.

We also got our schoolwork done early on Thursday so that we could go eat lunch at Cracker Barrel and go to the park with my Mom. I had to leave from the park to go and pick Sydney and Parker up from school so I missed the pictures of them feeding the ducks : (





The big swings were in the full sun, so we all played on the baby swings. This is Samantha, the recipient of the most recent elephant. It took 3 of us to get her out of that swing LOL





I also forgot to blog about Sydney's first Homecoming. I didn't get pictures of her by herself. So, here is a cropped picture of her. She went with two of her friends, no boy girl dates at 14. I got her dress at Ross, for only $15!!! Her shoes cost more than the dress lol Parker went too, but I didn't get any pictures of him : ( I had gone to Sydney's friend's house to do their makeup and didn't get back home in time to take pictures of Parker, he had already left. They go to a fairly small Christian private school, so there was no dancing : ( I really wish they would let them dance, I don't see the big deal. I mean we don't have to let them bump and grind, but there is clean dance music out there and dancing is so much fun! I think they had more fun at the bowling alley after the "banquet" than at the actual event. Oh well, I guess it is better than the anything goes that is typical of the dances at public schools. I just wish there could be some sort of inbetween.



After having just proofread through this entire post, I realize it really wasn't a bad week after all. My house IS a mess, but it is because I spent the time with my family and friends. And the difficult moments were more than balanced out with the good ones! That is what I really love about blogging, it gives me a proper perspective on things. It doesn't take away the sad things that are still going on, but I can't let them affect everything. Or maybe my progesterone just kicked in LOLOL Who knows?!

A Week Late

We celebrated Sophia's one year birthday a little over a week late, but later is better than never, right? At one, they don't know any different lol We just had a very laid back party with our family and my Mom and Dad (Maw Maw and Paw Paw) With this cool weather, gumbo was on the menu. Down here in South Louisiana, we get excited when the temps dip into the 60's because that is officially cool enough for gumbo! LOL We have even been known to put the thermostat down to 65 and eat it in the summer time ; ) However, traditionally it is a cool weather treat. And the weather has been beyond awesome!!! Our air conditioner hasn't kicked on in over a week. We just leave the kitchen windows cracked and it keeps the entire house nice and cool. It even dipped into the high 40's a couple of mornings, which is very cool for this time of year. It actually feels like fall! Please God, let it stay like this! I remember the year that I gave birth to a 10lb Isabella, it was suffocatingly hot until the first cold front came through on October 13, the day I had her!



two equally lovely views from my hammock : ) I can't sit down anywhere without at least two little ones pretty much on top of me lol

I have really been trying to record the special and ordinary things that happen during our life. I have been so inspired by this blog. I want to be able to look back 10 years from now and be able to see what we were doing. Even the boring everyday stuff, especially the boring everyday stuff, because those are the things that we tend to forget. I want to remember it all, and the older I get, the more I tend to forget. I hope to have this blog to look back on one day to help me remember how wonderful my life really was. Having just experienced my oldest child officially turning 18 has really made me realize how fast childhood flies by!



the view from my kitchen sink


I just love a man that can cook!





Me chasing Sophia, she found the remote and doesn't want me to take it away from her. Her goal in life is to play with a cell phone or the remote control lol




Here you can see Bob is indeed missing his entire tail lol





I don't think Bob wants to play.... he looks very unimpressed lol



Parker, my second oldest, is always running from the camera. I managed to sneak a quick picture anyway.

My Mom with Sophia



Isabella made both cakes, thank you Isabella! I am so happy to have a daughter that enjoys decorating cakes, way too stressful for me. And she does such a beautiful job of it!

Here we all are singing Happy Birthday to Sophia. You can hear Chad's heavy Cajun accent and our extremely tone deaf family, I apologize in advance. Gosh, we are some loud people! I just got the video, forgot to take pictures.

Fall is in the Air

The last week has been so nice weatherwise down here in South Louisiana. The lows have been in the 50's and 60's and the highs havn't risen past the high 80's. After the sweltering high 90's of the summer, it has been a welcome relief. The weather man says it will stay like this for the next two weeks!!!! The children have actually wanted to go outside and play on the swings. Sophia enjoys the outdoors as well. Now if the dang mosquitoes would go away! sigh Oh well, I guess you can't have it all.....



The little ones playing in the grass. Sophia was fascinated with the feel of the grass, poor baby really hasn't been out all summer, except for in the pool. It was just too hot for a young baby. The pool is already covered for the winter. For some reason, my kids don't swim after July! It makes no sense seeing that August is the hottest month of the year. Of course, if I try to get into the pool to float around and relax, they ALL suddenly want to swim : / Funny, how that works lol



The neglected swing set is finally seeing some action! Ava finally learned how to swing all by herself and can be constantly heard yelling, "Mommy look at me, I can do it myself! Back and Forth, Back and Forth..." She repeats this sentence over and over and over and gets louder and louder if I am not looking directly at her lol



Samuel prefers to climb on it like a monkey.



Sophia LOVES to swing! She has her own baby swing, but likes to sit on the big kids swing with an older brother or sister helping. Here, Savannah helps out.



We have a new kitten in the family. His name is Bob : ) You can't see it in this picture, but Bob has no tail. It looks as if he was born this way. He is a stray that we found hanging around the girls' dance studio a couple of weeks ago. Of course, he zeroed in on me, knowing that I couldn't leave a baby animal to get squashed on the busy road nearby. He is SO cute and sweet. Chad isn't thrilled, but he is dealing with it.

And here is Zoey, Sam's special kitty lol She grew to be such a beautiful cat and still loves Sam most of all : )



This is my favorite time of year, Spring is a close second, but there is just something in the air in Autumn. I think it is partly because the holidays are coming, I adore Thanksgiving and Christmas. To me, Fall feels like the beginning of the year, more so than January. I guess it is because school starts maybe? I feel like everything is fresh and new, which is really what Spring should feel like, but I am odd! LOL

The Elephant

I have made this little Wee Wonderfuls elephant a total of 5 times now and will probably make it at least 5 more. Everyone loves it and requests one, so it is my go to gift for children's birthdays. This one was made for my girlfriend Jessica's 10 year old daughter, Samantha. Samantha shares a birthday with Sophia and was actually present at Sophia's birth. She is such a sweet girl and she LOVES chickens! LOL She recently lost all of her pet chickens to a raccoon, unfortunately : ( When I saw this Alexander Henry fabric, I knew I had to use it to make her elephant. The fabulous aqua buttons are vintage, I just love that color!



Poor Samuel, begs me to make him one everytime he sees me whipping up one for someone else. He just asked me a few minutes ago when I was going to make his. I guess I need to do that today. And I might as well cut out one for Ava, because you can put money on it, she will want one the minute she sees Sam's lol I rarely make patterns twice, but I really enjoy this one. I think I am going to purchase her new book, so many cute gifts, so little time!

My Baby is One!

I cannot believe it has been a year since my 8th child made her late but speedy appearance! It literally only seems like yesterday, I still think of her as an infant even though she walks everywhere now. She is a rough little booger, I guess that comes with being the youngest in such a large family lol I am a little sad because she is my last, but am trying to enjoy every minute of her dwindling babyhood. I consider them babies until at least 3 LOL She will probably be considered a baby until my dying breath, because she is really my baby.....unless, of course, God has a little prank to play on me later on. : O Which would really be fine, but if my plans work out, she will be the caboose.

These pictures were taken the other morning by Savannah. They really aren't very good, but I just love them. She is such a happy baby and loves to dance with her morning cartoons.



She loves to do anything Samuel and Ava do, they are still at the point that they love having their little sister follow around after them. I am sure that won't be lasting too much longer now that she can easily get into their stuff.



Chad's Mom and Dad dropped by to give Sophia her gift, we will be celebrating this coming weekend because the older kids had too much going on this weekend.



The school year is in full swing now, and I am scrambling to keep up! The girls have ballet 3 nights a week, there is church and sewing for Savannah on Wednesdays, Ava has speech therapy on Tuesdays and everyone has somewhere they want to go on the weekends! I am still homeschooling 3 of the children and Sydney and Parker are in a private high school which necessitates that I pick them up everyday. Thank God their school is only 5 minutes away. I feel like I live in that 15 passenger van sometimes. The house is a wreck and I often choose to sew or knit during those few free moments over cleaning up, which doesn't help to get the house out of wreckage mode! Oh well, as stressful and busy as things are right now, I am really very happy. I know one day I will have all of the free time I want and I will wish for these busy busy days with my children. I am really trying to enjoy my life where it is this very moment. I know from experience that I will look back and only remember the good times, I am trying to learn to truly enjoy the good times while they are happening.