Apologies…. and then pictures.
First off, let me say I apologize if I offended anyone or caused hurt feelings with my last post. Sometimes I come across more harshly then I intend. I certainly don’t think that having a large family is *the* answer for everyone. Truly, just because I can’t imagine never wanting more babies doesn’t mean I think it’s wrong of you/think less of you if you feel differently. To each his own. Really, I was just sharing how *I* felt about it and wasn’t even thinking of it in a condemning way towards anyone else. So- my apologies.
The Good Stuff- Pictures
We’ve had a busy couple of days around here.
Wednesday 9/19 we stayed home. The kids hauled out the Wedgits and built towers and spaceships. Then I sent them out to play in our fenced in back yard. We are so thrilled with our “new” backyard- the kids can finally play outside. The yard itself needs to be graded and reseeded but with the lack of rain there’s no point in doing it now. Nathan literally wallowed in the dirt… as the pictures below will attest. There was lots of digging and shoveling and hauling of dirt going on-
Love Nathan’s expression….. Not happy about having to quit digging and wallowing….
Look at those blue, blue eyes!
Mary with Wedgits….
Our Savvy…. Gorgeous chubby little cheeks!
On Thursday 9/20 we went to the MOMS (Mothers Of Many Seasons) group meeting- it was wonderful, as usual. The topic was on idolatry- maybe I’ll post some notes from the meeting later. That took up the majority of the morning- we got home, had lunch and naps and then it was time to get ready for dinner and boyscouts.
Sleepy Savvy on Thursday afternoon….
Friday, 9/21, I went to the First Presby consignment sale and got some great deals. We have one Cozy Coupe at home and Kip has been after me to get another one for the kids. They retail around $60 and usually sell at consignment sales for $25-$30 used. I went straight to the toys as soon as I walked in the door and found an off-brand Cozy Coupe for $10. Good thing I was one of the first ones in the door because another lady spotted it at the same time but I was closer to it. 
Also, I found an older version of the Gas Pump that goes with the Cozy Coupe for $5. I got Nathan this Tonka Dump Truck for playing outside in the yard for $6. I got some clothes and other random things but those were the deals I was most happy with. Then Friday night I went to Let’s Dish and made 8 meals- which I split into half for 16 meals. In an hour and a half I made 16 meals as well as 10 sides. I won’t have to do hardly any cooking for the rest of the month!
My New Toy Closet
Our coat closet has annoyed me since we moved into this house. The closet is one of those that goes underneath the stairs. So when you open the door to the closet you are opening it at the highest point and then the closet slopes down to your right, underneath the stairs. The bar for hanging coats was directly in front of you when you opened the door- effectively wasting the whole closet. There was wasted space underneath and above the coats and then it was difficult to access the rest of the closet that sloped to the right. So, I had Kip move the bar all the way to the right of the closet and way back so the bar is hanging at the exact height of the coats. This freed up the whole width of the closet for shelving. So now we have a toy closet. Almost all of our toys are in the closet and we just pick out a few new things to play with each day. They do have a few standards that stay out all the time- the doll and cradle, farm and garage stay out in the living room. Each has a basket with the accessories for it. But that’s all that stays out permanently- everything else is in the closet.
I LOVE my new toy closet because:
-The living room stays so much neater
-It’s much easier and less frustrating for the kids to pick up their toys
-The kids play with their toys longer because they’re ntot overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff out -We’re more likely to play with some of our educational toys (lacing cards and beads, peg boards, flash cards, etc) because they are easily accessible (they are in the clear bins at the bottom of the picture).
-Easy to get out games and puzzles now too
The coat bar used to hang here….
All of this was wasted space before…
Savannah’s Quilt
Becky Ellis is a friend of my Mom’s who has become a friend of mine now that I’m grown. She lives at home in New York- I took my first steps in her living room. Anyway, Becky does beautiful quilting. She sews all her quilts by hand, no machines. She made Mary and Nathan each a baby quilt- here is the one she sent for Savannah. The quilt squares are vintage squares from the 1930′s that she found somewhere- she bought them and put them together into a quilt. This is probably my favorite one yet…
