Buried...

I am feeling so buried these days, buried under tons of fabric that is. With just less than 2 weeks until we leave for 1812, I am trying very hard to get a few more things made for my family and for some friends of ours. Last Monday I was able to find some much needed wool to make Sari and I's capes. I spent last week working on short gowns for Sari and I, regency dresses, short stays, haversacks for the kiddos, and last night, finally, I made my first cape. I have a few little loose ends to finish on each of those projects from last week. On top of all the sewing, we had the usual activities of life, violin lessons, soccer, a pampered chef party, more soccer, clarinet and baritone lessons, and then early Saturday morning, Angel food and then Sari had driving lessons later in the day, while we were all working on more sewing. We have had the tents up in the backyard all last week, so Dwayne was planning to take them down after we went to lunch with some great friends, but no...Dwayne was very sick on Sunday. He spent the entire day in bed, while the kiddos and I just hung around the house and did what....oh yeah, more sewing. I will be sighing a deep sigh of relief when this is all done, but really it will never be done, I will always want to make some thing new, but I will be glad when it is back to a slower pace and just not trying to finish before we leave. I hope to be posting some pictures of the new pieces of clothing and the tents, including the rope bed Dwayne made for us. We slept out in it last week and it is really pretty comfortable.

PS. If I have acted distant or ignored anyone lately, please let me know. When I get this buried in my projects, I tend to forget there are other people in the world. I hate that I do that, I really need to work on that. But at least I should be back to the land of the living starting around Oct. 13th. Even though we are going to another re-enacting event the first weekend of Nov. I will not be sewing so much for that one, I hope...lol.

Koh-Koh-Mah 2008

We had a great time on Saturday. We day tripped to the Koh-Koh-Mah event, which is a re-enactment of the French and Indian War. We will definitely be camping there for the whole weekend next year. We have friends who camp there every year, so we did some scouting for a bigger space for all of us for next year. The kiddos have so much fun just walking around on their own, check out the cool things to do and then also just sitting around camp and chatting. Here are few pictures that were taken, I should have had my camera out tons more than I did.

Here the kids are walking in the children's parade.

Here I am just chillin'.

Here the kiddos are just hanging out at camp.

Sari in her new stays...much more comfortable for her than last years.

The whole family.

Happy Birthday...

to Dwayne! Today is my hubby's 37th birthday. The kiddos and I could not wait, so we gave him his presents early this morning. Some new green (the new color of choice these days) t-shirts, a few old school hip hop cds and a wood lathe. A pretty good birthday, of course I am leaving him tonight with a bunch of kiddos while I go work at the church, but hey, every birthday can't be perfect...right?

I love my kids...

and I love their excitement! Dora was so thrilled to start back to violin lessons last night. She told me that she was more excited about violin than she was soccer and she is really loving soccer. Her teacher is just so good with her and gives her the right amount of praise and encouragement to keep her love for the violin alive. She was telling us yesterday that there will be a recital in December and a music contest in March. She was so encouraging to Dora that she almost can't wait until December for a reason besides Christmas. I can't wait to see how well she does. Tobi went with me to all of Dora's stuff last night and on the way home I reminded her that tomorrow, which is today, is her ballet class, to which she is very excited about that. I like that fact that we do not allow the kids too many activities, so that they can truly enjoy the activities they are in. Sari usually ends up with the most activities, but most of them are school related. The kids all keep me on my toes with all they have going on, but I love it, I love watching them enjoy what they are doing.

A day off...

I have the day off today, which I must say is awesome, I love it. My supervisors had to work on Saturday, so they got today off, which means I get today off because there would be no one to tell me what to do. Of course in a house filled with kids, there really are no days off. The house needs to be straightened up, dishes need to be done, laundry needs washed and tonight Dora has tons of activities. But...I will be home all day and I will be able to do it. I love my work, but I will enjoy these unexpected days very much when they come along.

The kids are getting very excited about Saturday. We will be heading to one of our re-enactments and they can't wait. I have just finished up some clothes for Sari last night, and I still need to finish up some other clothes, but we will pretty much be ready for our day trip....yea...we can't wait!

We made it.

The whole family survived my first full week of work. Yea!!! I really have lots of sewing that I need to be working on during any free time I might have. Next Saturday is our first re-enacting event of the season. We will just go for the day to Koh-Koh-Mah, this is an re-enactment of the French and Indian War. We are hoping to stay the whole weekend next year. Then in too short of time for someone who has lots of sewing to do, we will head off to Mississinewa 1812 for the whole weekend. Dwayne might go early on Wednesday, Oct. 8th, while the kiddos and I will head down Thursday evening, Oct. 9th. Too short of time. I still have so many clothes I wanted to get made, but there is just never enough time. Sari still has a dress to finish sewing and the other kiddos need to sew up some haversacks, which is just a period correct bag. Dwayne has found us another re-enactment that we might try to go to, it is down in Vincennes, IN on the first weekend of November. I am hoping to fill our calendar next year with a few more events, just for fun. It ends up being a free weekend of camping, plus each event teaches the kiddos a little more history. I really hope the more we get into this, the more the kiddos will want to research history to understand the the times we are portraying. Well, it is 6am on Saturday and it is a good time to start some of that piled up sewing.

Popcorn...lots of popcorn!

I spent my morning at work yesterday learning to make popcorn. After about 40 batches of popcorn, I am pretty sure that I know how to make it now. It was fun to do, kept me really busy, not that bad to clean up after, but the smell...ohhhh...the smell. I felt like I could smell the popcorn oil all day and evening. I took Dora to soccer after work last night and by the time I got home, I had to take shower to see if I could get rid of the smell. I am sure I am the only one who could smell it, but it was strong. We also put together lots of boxes of chocolate. That is very fun. The kids are settling very well with mommy working. Dwayne is a huge help. He had to go pick Sari up from school yesterday, because she was still not feeling well. She had a fever all day on Tuesday. Next week will begin a serious rush for us on Mondays. Dora starts her violin lessons back up, so it will be violin from 5pm to 5:30pm, then off to soccer from 5:45 to 7pm. Busy Mondays...lol. I am so glad Dora is getting into some extra actvities. Sari just has clairnet lessons for now, but academic season will be starting soon and Tobi is enjoying some dance classes on Tuesdays. Brighton only has trumpet lessons for now, but maybe something else will catch his eye soon.

Where does time go?

It has been a busy few days. There have been school open houses, church activities, work and just life. Today is my first breather day. Dora started soccer last night, and starting next week she will have violin and soccer on Mondays. I am just trying to get some organization done, so that we can keep all our activities straight and our life some what on track. This is a new phase of life for me. I am enjoying it, but it is going to take some getting use to.

First Day of Work

I survived my first day of work. I rode my bike to work. I got there by 8:30am and started in wiping down some candy molds, then I worked with another lady to package candy. That takes a lot of time. Next, came making turtle candies, yeah, my hands were covered in chocolate. No, I did not lick my fingers. I do believe I will really enjoy my job. There is a lot of work to be done, not much down time. I will definitely keep busy all day. My kiddos were hard at work on the dishes when I got home, which was great! I need to get a little more organized and have something in mind, or started for dinner on the days I work. I am sure we will get into a nice little groove with this whole work thing.

By the way...I have no temptation at all to eat any of the candy, it did not even appeal to me yesterday. As much as I like candy, I like it when I am in the mood for it, working on it all day yesterday did not tempt me at all...guess I am just a little weird like that...lol.