The season is closed!

Our official re-enacting season is finished for this year. We ended on a cold but beautiful weekend. Friday night was just freezing! The girls slept in our big tent with our big heater, Dwayne and I slept in Sari's tent, and Brighton slept in his diamond fly. My feet froze all night, Dwayne woke up at one point and stated that we needed more wool blankets, that one blanket was not enough. I told him that he was suppose to have FOUR blankets, so then I had to find all the blankets he had kicked off. Brighton woke up Saturday morning with frost on his socks...that just happened to be on his feet! The sun came out on Saturday and warmed us all up. Saturday night we talked Brighton into sleeping in the big tent and Dwayne and I used our 2 small propane heaters to warm up our smaller tent. Sunday was another beautiful day and we were able to pack up in record time. This is a very low maintenance weekend, the event provides dinner for us on Saturday night, so I did not even have much cooking to do. Our new friends this year brought us some yummy snacks and we really just enjoyed winding down from a great season.

3 Events down...1 to go...

It has been a good time. We have had some wonderful events so far and we are looking for to the last one coming up on November 5th. I did not get as much made as I wanted to. Working, keeping up with the kiddos and the house, and then just attending and preparing for each event has taken a toll on my time. The little girl's had just enough clothing to make it through the weekends, Brighton is seriously in need of new clothes, but I was able to purchase a used wool coat off of a friend that will get Brighton through this year.

I took the hem out of Dora and Tobi's blue dresses this year,
so Tobi wore that quite a bit.

Brighton looked awesome in the used coat that I bought off of Dennis,
or as we call him...Uncle Dennis.

I added some hook and eyes to Sari's Regency gowns and I think that will make them look much better on her. There has always been a gap on the back with just tying them. Plus, Dwayne looks awesome in his new purple homespun shirt.

My girls are begging for something here, but they look cute with me anyways.

First week of school...first week of work...

I have finished my first full week of work and by 3:30pm tomorrow my kiddos will be home from their first full week of school. I think we have all done well with this week. First off, my kiddos have done the dishes and straightened up the living room without being asked every day this week. I think that is awesome!!! Plus, I think, notice I said think...not know, that every one has been doing their homework every day. This is such a good start! I am enjoying my 8am to 1pm work day. I know it has been about 5 years since I have done any medical coding, but it is coming back to me so quickly and I am really enjoying it. Today the weather was slightly cooler making me want to actually cook again, so I made us some cubed steak, asparagus and french fries. Dwayne took all the kiddos outside to help him set up all our canvas tents so they could air out before our first re-enactment. We will all probably sleep out in the tents this weekend. I am so excited. It also makes me realize that I really need to sew. Tobi's bodice is pretty much done. So, Saturday I will probably show Dora how to finish the eye holes for the lacing on it while I make a bodice for her.

Dwayne and I were discussing how nice it is to know that we will have 4 weekend camping trips set aside this fall for our family. We camp with another family or 2 and that makes it so much fun. It is funny how when you tell people that you can't do something because you are camping, they don't always take it serious, but when you tell people that you are re-enacting, then that is different. Which is true, re-enactments are only available at certain times. I am just thankful that we are into the re-enactments, because we can always depend on these 4 weekends for our family when all the rest of our lives are stay so busy.

My Sewing Project

I am working on a new bodice for Tobi, this is just being pieced together. I have one half sewn together and the other half is ready to be sewn together. I still need to cut out a new bodice for Dora. Right now I have been taking stitches out of material that I have bought at rummage sales. I love picking up curtains and table cloths at rummage sales that I can use to make clothing from, I have to find 100% natural material, cottons, linens and silks. I am always searching for any material I can find,
and I keep it stored up for when I need it for the next project.

My Garden!

Just a few things out of my garden this year!
Dwayne has built me this most awesome fenced in garden with
a cute little gate. I am learning a few things this year,
like next year I will not plant pumpkins, because they have
taken over my garden. Plus, I really need to get in and keep it weeded. I am really enjoying my tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and the occasional green bean. I should have enough today to make a small batch of salsa, with even my own home grown cilantro.
I am so grateful to Dwayne for building me the garden,
so that no rabbits could invade it.

Marching Band!

Band Season!
I have 3 kiddos in band this year and they are doing great!
I love being involved with the band and helping out. I have many years ahead of me in band. I am not a musically talented person, but I love watching my family perform. We are still waiting to see what Tobi is going to do, but I am thinking she may go into guard, which would be a new world for me. This year Sari is the Drum Major, which has to be a proud moment for Dwayne, because he was a Drum Major as well. Brighton is playing Baritone and is doing well with it. Dora is doing well in her first year of marching band playing Trumpet. She is the shortest one out there, but she keeps up well with everyone.

A Great Weekend!

I have begun on my sewing projects. After taking lunch to my band kiddos, I started working on new re-enacting clothes for Tobi, I got a new bodice and skirt cut out for her. I also did some cleaning on my sewing desk to make it easier to work on projects that are up coming. Brighton definitely needs a new wool coat and a new work shirt. After dinner with Brighton and Dora, Dwayne and I went over to our friend's house to hang out and I took along my sewing basket. It is so easy to sit and chat while I take out stitches, so I took out stitches on two items for Tobi since she as grown so much this year. It was so nice to sit out on our friend's back porch, enjoy conversation, and the wonderful view at their house. We hung out for a couple of hours, traded humorous stories, and shared our views on different subjects concerning God. I love talking about God, I love thinking outside the normal box that people try so hard to put God in, being with people who want to serve and grow in Christ, and who just need to relax on a beautiful night that God has given us to enjoy.

Sunday morning brought church and it is my Sunday to run our visual part of church. I went in early to finish up some of my slide presentations. I love working in the audio visual department of our church. This is just awesome to me! This past week, I also did the visual and the audio for Vacation Bible School, which was a stretch for me, since I don't normally do the audio side. I love learning the new stuff. At church today, we actually had a power outage half way through the first service, but it happened during the offering and the open worship time. So, although Satan could have been messing with our worship service and try to mess with us, God redeemed it during the perfect time that it did not mess too much up for the church service. We were able to quickly bring everything back up to what was needed to push the service out online. In case anyone is ever looking for a church service online, check out www.farmlandfriends.org on Sundays. I work the visual slide shows every first and third Sundays of the month. I really love working this area. I would work it more often, but I need to give other people a chance to serve as well. Today was also important to me, since Dwayne was talking about his trip to Kenya. It was a wonderul service about traveling to different countries for missions. I know my kiddos all want to travel to different countries to serve God and I am excited for that. Even though I have not felt the call to go to another country on a mission trip yet, today I really wanted to go to another country to adopt a child. Some day I see our family adopting children from other cultures and loving them, but not sure when it will come to true. I am grateful for the good weekend. Dwayne got more work done on his woodworking workshop out in the garage, I got some work done on my sewing and listening to Mars Hill church sermons, the kiddos worked on band stuff and got to relax, and to finish the weekend off we will be heading over to my grandparent Wright's house to celebrate their 75th Birthdays. I can't wait to see what we get done this next week!

Time To Sew...

Kids grow, we all know this, but this year I am really noticing it. I make all of our re-enacting clothes and Tobi is showing me that it looks like it is time for some new clothes.

Things are just looking short on her this year. I might be able to get away with some short skirts and chemises, but I am thinking at least one outfit that is longer is going to be wise at this point. Just wait until Dora gets home from band and tries on her clothes, that will be another new outfit probably. And what are the chances that any of Brighton's clothes fit from last year?? Not very good...lol. Yep, I really have some sewing to do and I am excited about it!

My Christmas gift

I really had planned to slow down on my reading and to get busy with other things in my house, but then my wonderful hubby got me a Kindle for Christmas. I didn't even know I wanted one and now I am trying to remember how I lived without one...lol. To have a book always at my fingertips, never having to wait til I go to town to buy one, to be able to increase the text size so that I can read while I am doing other things, this thing is just amazing! My hubby really does spoil me.