baby steps

For those of you who have been through the international adoption process you know just how grueling it can be. It's an interesting mixture of precision and redundancy.

For example:

* Fill out these 8 identical pages by hand, in blue ink, no abbeviations, no mistakes.

* No you can't fill it out once and photo copy it, or type your answers in on the computer.

* If your 4 looks too much like a 9 you have to redo the entire page, don't bother trying to correct it.

*Some pages can be stapled together, others need to be clipped with a paperclip. No, clipping and stapling are not the same thing. Don't mix them up.

These are just a few of the mistakes that we've made in the last month. I think I could write a book on how to not fill out paperwork.

So it comes to stand that when you manage to submit 40 pages of correctly filled out paperwork you have a justified reason to REJOICE. And your beloved friends who are one step ahead of you in the process rejoice with you.

We have officially submitted all of our dossier paperwork for the Russian government. It arrived in Russia earlier this week. So far everything looks correct.

AND

despite a little incident with a forgotten pocket knife, we have successfully been fingerprinted by Immigration Services. 2 fingerprinting sessions down, one to go. I'm not sure I want to look at the scary list of paperwork that still needs to be submitted, or think about the redundancy of some of these forms...

Today we are rejoicing.

Won't you join us?

Sewing workshop!

I mentioned a while back about making some mittens for Pakistan. Not only did I finish the 10 pairs I'd committed to making, but I finished with a few days to spare. So what's a girl to do? Make some hats. Armed with a new batch of fleece, a handful of patterns that claimed they were "easy" to follow, and a gaggle of helpers, we set to work. My mother in law and I set up our kitchen table as a work-shop area. Alex and Annie both wanted to design hats for kids their own age, so we let them make all the decisions about fabric and embellishments and the like for their hats. Good stuff.

Garden Study- March

I thought this year it might be interesting to take photos of my garden each month to compare the blooms/growth process, and at the end of the gardening season make a little collage. Big dreams right? Well I made it through the first month. The "snow has finally melted but everything is still dead and icky looking" month.
So here are photos of my 3 main gardens. We have the Front Garden (not to be confused with the front walk garden)

the swell garden (that was at one point shaped like an ocean swell, but we've since reshaped it)

and the Rose of Sharon garden (not to be confused with the swell garden which also has a Rose of Sharon in it).

I wish I had better names for the garden, but frankly I can't get anything else to stick...
If you look really close you can see my inch tall daffodils and irises.
Not so pretty right? I know. Come back next month.

We had a few nice days last week where we got all the beds raked out, but the weather got colder again before I could compost/mulch everything, so we have last year's tired mulch all over everything, that coupled with the brown grass makes it hard to see where the garden stops and my grass starts. I know. It'll be easier to see next month...

Blog Carnival

Ever heard of these? I discovered these earlier this week. What a fun way to "audition" new blogs (like I really need more to follow, but whatever). The basic idea is that someone agrees to host one, and then whoever has a blog post related to that topic can send in their submission.
Here are some that I've been following this week:

Homeschooling Carnival

Photography Carnival

Anyone else have a carnival we should know about?

General Nerdiness

Whether you homeschool or you just have nerdy kids like I do, here are a few fun things that we've enjoyed this week.

Brainpop - a website with fantastic learning games, movies, activities. You can register, but they have a ton of great free activities. I broke the "no video games" rule with this one and let them play the animal classification and the US symbols games

Worldmusic.net - we've been studying world cultures this year, and our public library has a handful of the cd's from this site. I recommend starting with World Music for Children (my kids loved it) and branching out from there. The only one that was a little "too out there" for our tastes was Balkan Gypsies - it sounded like cat scratchings. Everything else has been delightful.
I recently discovered that you can listen to the cd's on the website, so I can pull up something random (like the Scottish Folk that I'm listening to right now) while I'm working and not have to put up with the crap that comes up on the radio...

Oh, and in our world cultures studies this week we've been learning about the Mayans, so we made some fun little weaving using a makeshift loom. This will become a scarf for Louisa's beloved Foxy. There are also plans in the works for a warm blanket for Foxy and perhaps Alex's favorite stuffed critter, Sparky.

Reality

I think as mothers we all believe we are the only mother on the planet who doesn't have her act together. I'm guilty of comparing myself to the Hollywood moms on sitcoms that have immaculate houses and lawns, and children who are silent when they're not on camera. Sometimes I have a hard time believing that all those other blogger moms live Hollywood lives and I'm the only one who doesn't.

It takes a brave woman to admit that she really doesn't have her act together.

With that said, lets be real about what life really looks like in this house.

3 kids who are home all day, who don't watch tv or play video games = a really messy house. Legos, books, art supplies, jewelry, coats, boots, and crumpled paper. In every corner of my house. Every day. And I really really hate yelling at them to clean it up as they go, so I usually let it accumulate until dinner time.
For those of you who actually know my kids, they might seem well mannered and polite. They aren't. They lie, cheat and steal with the rest of them. And yes, I have been known to explode when they don't listen to me, which usually happens at least once a day.
Our house is not stylish. I was sort of waiting to decorate it until the kids got a little older and stopped jumping on the furniture. Well I'm starting to think that'll happen when they've left for college. So my couch from the early 80's... Yea... I guess it'll just have to last a little longer.
Oh, and while we're on the topic of our house. Lets just say this one wasn't built for a family of 6.
In a perfect world we'd be able to use our 2 acre advantage to add another 2-3 rooms onto this house. I'd love to have dormatory style rooms for kids (one for girls, one for boys) with a play area / school space between the rooms. But I can't even think about making those kinds of investments until we have our adoption debt paid off...

At the risk of letting our adoption agency know what our house really looks like... this is what my house really looks like.

Spring firsts

First it was the daffodil nubs

Then yesterday we heard the spring peepers for the first time

Today we had our first picnic on the porch.

These are some of the ways we treasure those early spring moments. How 'bout you?

Celebrating Peterson style

Happy St. Patricks Day!
Homeschooling is always interesting come holiday time. While I love celebrating with the kids, I struggle with keeping holiday celebrations fresh and interesting. Our celebrations usually include holiday themed books (both fiction and nonfiction) and some sort of a craft. Sadly there's only so many ways to make a shamrock (or hearts and Christmas trees etc.) So for weeks before a holiday I pick my brain (and the internet) for something we haven't done before.
This year we've been studying world music, so it wasn't hard to find some Celtic music at our public library for the kids to listen to. We found this one, which isn't traditional gaelic, but it sure was fun.
We also decided to make salt dough "cookies" with green food coloring. After each kid made their own baggie of salt dough, they had a blast rolling it and shaping it before we fired it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. While I had originally intended them to be used as (biodegradable) garden ornaments, the kids couldn't resist tasting a little of their handy work. (Blech!)

Letter to Max

Dear Max,
Today is your birthday, you are seven years old. We were really hoping to be able to visit you in Russia this month, but now it looks like it'll be sometime late next month...
I have to wonder what it's like to celebrate your birthday in an orphanage. Does anyone say anything to you? Any birthday songs, cake or surprises? Probably not. Sorry little dude. Here at home we are celebrating your birthday with dinner at a restaurant, and birthday cake. We wish you could come to your birthday party.
I have to wonder it was like the day your mother gave birth to you. Was it a long and painful labor, or a relatively painless one like the ones I had... I wish I had been there to meet you as a tiny baby, to count your toes, and nuzzle your sweet baby neck. I'll bet you were pretty darned cute.
I wish I had been there a year later when your mother realized she couldn't take care of you, and left you in your fathers arms. She must have known there was a better life for you somewhere out there. She probably never guessed that you would end up with a new Mama in a new country on the other side of the planet. As painful as your little life has been, I know that God has a plan for your life, and I am so thrilled that I get to be a part of it. You are an amazing, resiliant little dude, and I can't wait to call you my son. (Who am I kidding, I knew you were my son before I sent you back to Russia!)

С Днем Рождения Макс, мама тебя любит

Look what I found

We do it every year, come March 1st we start scrutinizing our garden for the first signs of spring. It's always interesting to see which set of daffodils will poke their heads out first. Usually it's the ones along our front walk, but this year our first cluster popped up infront of Alex's window.

It's so lovely to see you my little green friends.

As soon as the standing water receeds from the spring thaw, we'll be out with rakes and shovels getting our yard all set up for spring. Oh and that half acre of churned up soil on the annex from the demo project. I got plans for that. Grass need not apply.

What's that sound?

It's demolition day here at the Peterson house!

A few years back we had the opportunity to purchase the abandoned lot that was next to ours. It wasn't a very pretty sight, a saggy house that had seen better days, and mulch 6 feet deep that had been illegally dumped by a local tree cutting service. But we were tired of looking at it, and we knew that no one in their right mind would be interested in it.
Being the gardeners that we are, we used up a fraction of the mulch, then had the rest leveled out and turned our attention to the house. We were originally going to have do a controlled burn with the local fire department, but after 3 years of trying to get that pushed through, they finally declined the offer. (I have to wonder if Walter's barn fire had anything to do with that decision.) Regardless, we put in a contract with a local demolition/salvage yard, and after some more waiting and red tape we are finally able to celebrate.

I think I just heard the entire community sigh with relief.

before

after

Happy demolition day!

Mittens for Pakistan

Our church is collecting items to go in Action Packs, that will eventually go to persecuted Christians in Pakistan. One of the requested items was mittens. I happen to have a huge stash of fleece scraps left over from mitten making. Coincidence? Not likely.
I've committed to making 10 pairs for my persecuted sisters and brothers. While I'm leery of doing anything that might get them in trouble (ie stitching crosses onto the front, or prayers into the linings) there's no law against prayer. My late night sewing forays are the perfect opportunity to pray over each mitten as I make it, to pray for the hands that will receive them, for the working and worshipping each hand does.
What a wonderful way to connect with my fellow believers. I'm not sure who will be more blessed by the transaction, the maker or the receiver...

Now if I could keep my children from swiping them to play with I'd be in good shape.

Demand Media Studios

I'm thrilled to announce that our blog was chosen by Demand Media Studios to be in their Distribution Network! If you've just found our blog be sure to say hi!

Theme song

Ever hear a song and it speaks to you on a deeper level? This one totally does. So much so that I like to pretend that it was written just for me. My own personal theme song.

Give it a listen

A Jory sized sewing project...

One of the things I love best about sewing is designing and creating something that is just what someone needed. Whether it be snow sleeves, mittens to fit over thick snow sleeves, or a personalized journal, I take great pride in letting my family "order" exactly what they want, whether I know how to make it or not. Since everything is custom made, I rarely work with patterns. For me, figuring out how to construct something is half the fun of the project. Sure we've had some epic failures, but there's always a learning curve.
With that in mind, last night I embarked on a new design project. My darling husband is an avid motorcyclist, and while he loves spending long days on his motorcycle he is not thrilled about the sunburn he always gets on his wrist in the gap between his jacket and his gloves. So we revisited the snow sleeve concept I made for the kids a while back. He wanted something lighter weight, that would fit snugly against his arm so that it stayed in place without having to go on over his thumb. Also it needed to be something that was easy to get on and off with one hand. In otherwords something that didn't resemble the snow sleeves in any way, shape or form. Oy. Without really knowing what i was doing, I got out some fabric and started stitching away. What we ended up with was this. Our prototype motorcycle sleeve. It is wider at the bottom than at the top (like a lamp shade) so that it fits snugly at both his wrist and on his fore arm. Then he wanted for it to close with buttons, so I put a button on the top and bottom.
While it's still a little chilly to be out cruising the town on the Harley, I'm sure the bike will be out at some point this month, and we'll find out just what I did wrong with plenty of time to fix it before his next marathon bike trip.

One last journal

With all the craziness that's swirling around my head this winter it's nice to have a project that can be put down and picked up again at a later point in time. Sewing doesn't crumble into a crying screaming fit when it is ignored (like some members of this household - we won't mention names, ahem) nor does it start to smell funky. My kind of project.

However, the problem when you have 3 children that are close in age is you can never just make one of anything. With that in mind Miss Annabel needed a little journal just for her. While I liked the idea of the cardboard insert that I put into Louisa's journal, I didn't love the binding, the darned thing just doesn't stay shut. Of course that didn't phase Louisa, but it annoyed the bejeezus out of me. So I went back to the drawing board and came up with a more flexible binding for Annie's.

I started with all the same materials, so all the measurements were the same, except when it came to the cardboard. I cut two pieces that were 4 x 5 1/2. Then I followed the same procedure I had just done for Louisa's journal - pinned the pockets in place and sewed, pinned and sewed the inside and outside panels on 3 sides, leaving the 4th side open for the cardboard inserts. I then slid the first cardboard panel in and stitched. I read somewhere that my presser foot doesn't like to be uneven, so I propped up the other side of the foot with a little bit of cardboard on top of my project and stitched down the valley between the two pieces of cardboard. Then I measured over about a half inch and put down a line of stitching to start the pocket for the second cardboard insert. Slip the cardboard into the opening and hand stitched it shut. Glue a cute flower on the front and Yahoo! A cute little journal that actually stays shut.

But in the end, Annie was less than excited about the binding that wasn't just like her sister's. Of course.

Blessed x 32

So yes. It was. My birthday was yesterday. I am now 32 years blessed.
My birthday was full of my favorite things - reading in the sunshine with my kiddos (a rare treat during these winter months) a McDonald's play date with some good friends (and a Shamrock shake - another rare treat), a quiet dinner with Jory at Red Lobster (we won't discuss how long it's been since that's happened), and a first - a singing email from some dear friends.
Not to mention these lovelies that followed Jory home from the grocery store (and their dancing companions that shall remain anonymous).

Homemade Journals day 3

Last week I shared some of the journals we've improved. My daughters kept eyeballing the journals, but I wasn't about to give them up, because frankly, they're mine! (I use one for gardening notes and the other one is a monthly account of what we are doing as a family).

So I put my thinking cap on to come up with another style of journal that I could make for each girl that would be tailored to their specific needs. Because heaven forbid I should make the same thing I already made.
So with Miss Louisa in mind, I dug through my craft stash and dug out some stuff I thought would work. I started with some purple fabric scraps, light weight but sturdy cardboard (also called chipboard), and a 3 x 5 notepad. I wanted to use the cardboard to make something that resembled a 3 ring binder, so I took the cardboard and cut it into a rectangle that measured 8 1/2 x 5 1/5. Then I measured and scored lines 4 inches from the edge, leaving a section about 1/2 inch between the scores:
Then I took two fabric scraps that measured 9 1/2 x 6 1/2 to be the inside and outside panels, and two scraps that measured 4 1/2 x 5 /2 (for the pocket I'd eventually slide part of her note pad into) and 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 (this pocket will be for pens, secret messages, or whatever she wants to keep track of), I made an educated guess as to where I would want these pockets, and sewed them in place. Then I pinned and sewed the inside panel to the outside panel (wrong sides together), leaving one seam open so I could slide the cardboard down in. Then I flipped it right side outout, stuffed the cardboard inside, and hand sewed the last seam shut. I slid the last few pages of my little notepad into the bigger pocket, and a pen into the other pocket.But it was a little boring, so I dug around in my stash until I found a felt flower and button, which I glued to the front cover.
So now Miss Louisa has a little notebook of her own to keep little thoughts and drawings in, and I don't have to worry about her stealing one of my journals.