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

I needed an easy to put together meal last night, so I went to the local grocery store. I had a desire for steak and potatoes.. The meat clerk suggested tritip, as it was the last day of the sale, and that sounded lovely.

Calling home, I had my oldest son turn on the oven to start heating. I quickly went searched for a couple recipes online when this one came up in the top 3.

Let me tell you, that sauce is good! I salted & peppered the meat and put it right in the oven. For sides, I added a spoonful of steak seasoning when I started the rice, and made asparagus: chopped bacon and cooked that while chopping half an onion. Cooked those together until onion was soft and bearing brown, then popped the washed (moist, I didn’t dry it so it would steam) asparagus in the pan until bright green. Yum!

I was looking for a Santa Hat pattern, but most are knit flat or use weird chunky yarns. I based this off the Lion Brand pattern. My hat fits a toddler or young child
This is knit in the round:
CO 46 sts of white yarn (mine is a chunky weight fluffy yarn)
Knit even for 6 rnds
Knit main color, increasing by 10 sts evenly (I used 2 strands of Red Heart Shimmer yarn) – knit even until colored area is 4”
(decrease 8 sts, knit 4 rnds even) repeat until 8 sts remain. Knit 1 Rnd even; k2tog around; cut yarn and close top. Sew in loose ends.
For a baby, I’ll aim for 40 st brim, 45-50 st top; for an adult probably 55-60 st brim & 65-70 st top.

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!

Our dear friends stopped by for the weekend on the way back from their camping trip. We had a blast visiting and swimming.

We’ve been taking lunch at the park once in a while. The Bakfiets makes this a quick feat. I’ve added the second bench in the box and had the littles ride there with the bags behind – giving then extra leg room.

Bike rides and swings and slides, oh my!

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!

My oldest boy is 13. I see him now and in a flood of time. Now is so temporary, so having this glimpse of his silhouette is like holding water. My musician has so much untapped talent.

I had picked two horses per background fabric and started with the black on greenish-blue. With all my mistakes from following the pattern, I didn’t have the material to complete that square. I did get those finicky legs together, though.

The other horse for that background is the white one… Not one for Nana’s quilt.. (Ben’s step-mom is Nana to her grandkids) ..I thought it would make a pretty unicorn, but forgot the horn in my fatigue and desire to Just Have One Done!! So, the un-horned horse:

Good morning and good night!

This poor dandelion is trying its best, but it is soaked to the stem! No fluff blowing wishes for this one.

Ben’s mom came to visit last week.
And I managed to not get a single picture on my phone!
(that’s bad because I blog from my phone)

We all had a nice visit (I think she did, too). She arrived Saturday evening, and it was a busy week! There were orthodontist appointments, music classes, and I went to recertify for NRP (neonatal resuscitation program).

There was a lot of fabric craft, too. Barb and I talked about making Easter dresses. We bought fabric. But, I was so busy that I didn’t get the bodices cut out (that was my part of the cutting!). She decided to take them and make them as a gift for the girls.

The girls picked doll clothes patterns and have been sewing as well. Grandma and MissA made pajama pants for her doll, Chloe (the doll I finally sewed up from the pattern I’d made by tracing a doll a few years ago). MissB made a dress without a pattern for her doll, Bea the Rockstar. She picked the fabric for pants, and also made an apron that’s too small, but looks really cute.