FullOfStitches.com blog.A good laugh leaves me in stitches!

Monday, I started coming down with what I thought was just another headcold. It turns out that it’s a doozy. Yesterday (Th), everything hurt. I napped at least 3 times by lunch.

The children have been helpful and understanding through this. I’m thankful the older two can do basic food prep, though, as I was not up to being in the kitchen.

I was, though, blog reading. I came across ikatbag which has some tutorials and was taken by a cute skirt shown as an example in a pocket tutorial. So, combining the round-top pocket, instead of the triangle she has on the cute skirt, and the instructions for adding a hem band, I came up with this:

I had bought the floral fabric, maybe as a remnant (?), a couple years ago. But it is SO busy! I couldn’t find a coordinating fabric that might tame it.. Until yesterday.

On Wed, the girls inherited a dresser that now is their craft cabinet and they were to sort through the scraps and put them away. Moving almost everything in the sewing area, I came across the brown and set it aside. Then when I felt up to sitting up long enough to sew, it was just waiting for me!

MissA loves it! MissB took it and upset MissA last night. So, it looks like I’m going to have to come up with another shortly.

Reading Brigitte Jordan’s Birth in Four Cultures is beginning to open my eyes. Yes, it’s a suggested reading book for my schooling (midwifery), yet she delves more and deeper into how natural learning occurs than many other books I’ve read. I’m in chapter seven now, where she describes the native midwife teaching her to perform prenatal massage by placing her (midwife’s) hands over hers (student) on the mother’s belly. The midwife’s knowledge is more in her physical body than in her spoken words.

The chapter also references another work: about Liberian tailors and how they apprentice. The apprentice starts off more play than work, allowed to work with the least expensive items – fetching and cleaning, learning what is in the shop, then moves up to sewing the less expensive garments (like previously cut pieces to be sewn together, and I’m guessing his button skills will be well practiced by now) well before he is ever allowed to cut fabric.

So do we when teaching our children.

They play with the bubbles as we clean the dishes. They sweep up little piles with the dustpan and brush while we’re sweeping the larger floor. They play with dough while I’m making bread. These activities teach them responsibility, importance, and hospitality.

Christ is known to talk in parables, but how did He teach His disciples to be mighty men of God? (Men who when with Him were recorded mainly as squabbling over who would be the greatest!) These men witnessed His humility – taking the time early each day to pray and align His desires with His Father’s, associating with and healing those that most of His people felt were undeserving..

How frustrating can it be to be the only (thinking/able/rational/fill-in-the-blank) person in the vicinity? Homeschooling, no, Parenting can be a huge lesson (for us!) in humility, patience. They need to play, yes, but they also need direction. If there is a child, there is learning, but what would be the cost of constant play? To move a family from poverty takes a parent willing to read to the children. To motivate a child takes interaction. To continue to live learning takes mastery of the basics and advancing challenges.

My challenge this weekend: prepare for the schoolyear. What “schedule” will we have? What materials are still in want? Prepare!

MissB’s up late after a nosebleed.. So, she gets to be the first to try out the play-dough. I read a great blurb over at Sew Liberated that inspired me to make some again -finally! The recipe she links to is like my Mom’s recipe that she used to make us play-dough. I said to Ben that I was cooking up scents from my youth, and he said the smell seemed oddly familiar. I’ll have to ask his Mom if she ever made his play-dough!

Ben went a little overboard and bought 4 pounds of cabbage. But, he loves sauerkraut, so I used a widemouthed mason jar for the extra.

Sauerkraut is so easy to make!

For one mason jar worth of sauerkraut:
One medium head of cabbage
Sea salt or pickling salt
Knife or shredder
Bowl
Jar with lid
Cloths: towel or bag, one to set it on, one to cover the jar

-I like to put the cabbage through my shredder, but slicing it with a knife works just as well. If you don’t have a weight, save an outer leaf to keep on top of the kraut.

-Next, I add salt to the cabbage. The ratio 1 1/2Tbsp per 3 pound, let this sit while cleaning up to start the juices extruding.

-Last, in a clean mason jar (or crock, depends on how much you’re making), add a small amount at a time, press down each addition. This minimizes the air bubbles that can push the liquids up and out of the jar as it ferments.

Leave about an inch or so at the top.

Place the weight or leaf on top, pressing so the juices rise over it.
The lid is set on loosely so the gases can escape. I’ve got kids, so I screw it on about 1/4 turn.

-Set it on a cloth on the counter in a moderate temperature area (I put it on the fridge in the winter for warmth, but in the corner of my counter in summer). Cover with a cloth and check every couple days to make sure the liquid isn’t escaping.

You can leave it for a week to 10 days (sooner in the summer, longer in winter).

Sometimes, a yeast grows on top of the leaf that I use to protect the kraut -that’s why the leaf! Smell the kraut if you’re unsure. If it doesn’t smell worse than fresh sauerkraut then it should be fine. Pull the leaf out, wipe any yeast off the jar side and enjoy.

Crafting overtook the game table set up in the corner of the living room. Then fabric filled some of the laundry baskets and were piled onto the coffee table. I considered building cabinets along the wall. I prayed for a cabinet to organize this chaos.

Last Friday, I was visiting a friend whose children have nearly all been potty-trained. She asked if I knew anyone who is expecting and needs a changing table. I drew a blank. Is anyone I know in the area expecting right now? She showed me the unit and my corner of piled baskets of fabric came to mind.. If she didn’t find anyone in need, may I have it? Apparently, she’d had it on offer for a couple weeks without takers and was more than happy to give it to me!

My cutting mat fits on the lower side of the table, where the changing pad belongs. This disturbs Ben a little.. Now, the bottom drawer has scraps and fabric the children have requested, the middle drawer has my projects, and I’m working on organizing the top drawer.

LX fits in the cabinet, so I’ll move in there more slowly. Otherwise, he dumps out what I put in there, or claims it as his own.

Ben let the children know his friend is allergic to ginger as we were getting ready to head to the BBQ. MissA quipped, “Who’s Ginger?”

I try to be honest, straightforward and get them thinking, so I explain that “ginger” is the British term for redheads. After all, *who* else is?

MissA squeaked out a worried, “So, he’s allergic to me?”

Apparently, this is the only picture of both toys together! About midnight (or was it 1AM?) I remembered that the children were invited to a joint birthday party today. And I didn’t have a gift yet. So, I grabbed the Wee Wonderfuls book and started crafting. I had already decided to make the giraffe and so it was traced, and I cut it out of the leftovers from a dress I had prepped to sew yesterday. The giraffe is for the 2yo boy. His big sister is 4 and I flipped through and picked the Tag-Along doll. I traced the pattern -searched for fabric!- and found a nice medium brown. I cut her legs from pink with polka dots and her dress is blue. I couldn’t find my corduroy, but I finally found it today and she has pretty black cord hair.

I think she came out cute. I had scheduled to be home at 11:30 to get them started sewn, but didn’t leave the coffee shop (where I study) till after noon! I could have used that extra half hour to finish the dress! And maybe make the giraffe a giraffe. Without the tail and horns, oh, and ears, he looks more like a tailless dinosaur, so we nicknamed him the giraffasaurus.

We played sidewalk chalk, pop the balloon, and musical chairs . There was a piñata and bouncy house.

Loads of fun!

Life is good.

My MIL made there cute dresses and pants for the girls. Each has it own unique trim and hem treatment. She sent the scraps and I made a doll dress. MissB made a couple things, too. A collar pattern became a crown, a bodice pattern was used to make a bib. (I’ll try to get pics later)

We’ve gone on a couple picnics.

They took me to the range on Mother’s Day. <3

The girls made cupcakes (or tasty hockey pucks). yum!

Ben helped the children make s’mores. (that’s blueberry stains all over him. Ben also got to clean the carpet!)

We flew the kite. And lots more! Have a great weekend!

LX has taken over the balance bike full time:

When little ones start out learning balance, moving to a pedal bike is a quick to master skill. MissC has her bike and, at 4 years old, can ride it herself.

Ben wasn’t feeling well this morning. I wanted to let him rest and have some peace and quiet. So, after piano lessons, I drove up to San Francisco. And it only cost $430.50 to get my car back! Plus the parking fine.

There’s a bike shop up there I’d been meaning to visit for a long while, My Dutch Bike.

A bicycle built for four:

Simple, right? Drive to the city, find a garage or meter, slice a vein for the fee, go to the shop.

Another bike that can carry three:

The shop was nice. I had the children look at magazines while I tried out the Bakfiets . Try one. Seriously. It took me a couple minutes to be comfortable with the length and steering, then it seemed so natural!

Then LX and MissC got to ride along. Hooboy, did he howl! He’s not used to being ahead of me, so it may have been more like a roller coaster to him. Once he stopped screaming, he started calling out , “Oh, no!” each time we neared someone or as I cornered. Back at the shop, he scrambled out as soon as his seatbelt was off. MissC, on the other hand, didn’t want to leave!

The children raced on Kinder Feets.

Then we walked back to where we parked. And kept going to check if we’d parked on the next street… And crossed one more for good measure when we came across a traffic cop.

So, yellow on a meter means delivery only. Don’t park by yellow meters in San Fran.

The officer suggested we head over and take the 14 bus to the impound. Only, I was flanked by five children, so the bus had left moments before by the time we found the right stop.

We kept walking. I had checked my phone when talking to the officer and the impound was 1.7 miles away. The children have covered that distance before, but I kept updating my phone to see if I could hop on a bus.

I gave MissA the camera, TJ pushed the stroller with sleeping LX, and the younger girls held my hands.

The gal at the impound was sweet, complementing the well-behaved children. My tired children.