For Anders

Happy Birthday, 5 Year Old!!We finally got to Anders' birthday, and then Laars is complaining that it isn't his today.  Anyways, we were treated to a visit by Gramma S, and my aunty Lorna (from Saskatchewan).  The children loved having them around because they were fun, interested in the children's activities and successes, and brought lots of sugar!

Anders of course was interested in gifts and food.  He picked pizza for his Birthday meal, which we haven't eaten in months so it was a real hit with everybody.  Us bigger people especially liked the Portobello mushrooms with taco seasoning to make a Taco Pizza.

He received Cars stickers, and an altered shirt.

The checkered shirt I altered from a size 7/8 to fit Anders whose a size 5.  When he opened the gift he said "Oh, that shirt" and tossed it away.  But when I convinced him that it would fit him, he tried it on and is now thrilled that he has another CowBoy shirt to wear.

And he got a bandana, the green one in the top photo.  Plus we got him new jammies that he's been wanting for a long while since he out-grew the old ones.

And celebrated with ice cream sundaes, as was his choice. 

Happy Day for a Happy Boy.

Sewing for Gaelyn

Maret wanted to get creative, and I joined in for the fun.  We raided the closets for outgrown clothes.  Here was a dress for summer that's already getting short and it isn't the right season to be wearing it.  Gaelyn gave us permission to attack it.

So, we cut off the flounce.  Sewed up the bottom of the now-top.

Then, we made lined-pants out of white receiving blankets, attached the flounce from the dress to make ruffles at the bottom of the pant legs and ended up with this

It cost us $0.50 for the elastic for the waist, and the rest was all recycled.

But the Smile is Original.

Digital Sabbatical, What It's Looking Like

I am still practising taking breaks on Saturdays and Tuesdays from my computer.  It's a practise because it isn't habit, yet.

I am doing well at it, looking forward to the breaks where I don't surf, where I ignore FB, let my emails pile up, etc.

I get more book reading done and am more likely to play board or card games with the children.   I am finally getting around to doing projects with them that I've been intending on doing for quite some time but just haven't gotten around to.

You know, things like teaching them to sew.

Everette and I often sneak in a 'coffee break', even if we aren't drinking a coffee.  It might be a quick walk somewhere, a jaunt to the grocery store where we are able to get some adult conversation done without little ears listening in.

Or lots of Saturdays now we go to the Royal BC Museum, or  take in the IMAX , or the aquarium, or the Art Gallery now that we have a bunch of annual passes (thanks, Ministry of Education!)

When the weather gets drier and warmer I'm sure we'll be taking more family walks at Whiffen Spit, or down at the river or at the Potholes.  Or checking out the Galloping Goose Trail.

Like so many people, I enjoy the wealth of information and experiences made available via the internet.  But there are some things that I don't like. ...and that includes the Time Sucking feature of it.   I want to be able to find a balance.  I know it doesn't have to be an All-or-Nothing scenario.  This tool can be beneficial, and that's what I am actively pursuing.

I don't have an iPhone and a bunch of other digital and techno stuff (although I do now have an hTC but I don't use it for much more than a phone and a voice recorder), so taking a Digital Sabbatical for me is mainly just taking a good-sized chunk of time away from the computer.  And I take that time to refocus, and do stuff I often (ashamedly) neglect.

Maybe you need to practice a Digital Sabbatical too.

For some people it might work to take 2 days off in a row.  Or during certain hours each day, say from 7pm until the next morning.  Or lots of moms who have little ones at home, they are well disciplined to stay off the computer unless their littles are sleeping (& no, I don't think they are drugging them to sleep longer hours!!).

My system is working well for me.

I've been hashing over some stuff with Everette over the last few weekends (see, the Sabbatical lets me fit that in!) and am likely to be implementing some more changes in my life concerning the internet, blogging, family time and health topics, but that's all a work-in-progress.  This week I already cut about half my 'friends' on FB who I really didn't converse much with anyways(& that's usually superficial) and I feel better with that already.  Not that I spend a lot of time on FB as it is, but each thing I spend a little bit of time at seems to eat away all my days.  You know what I mean, don't you?  You are likely experiencing the same thing.

Even the good things seem to be robbing from us.  And we are letting them.  I know I am;  that's my present struggle.

Being careful of the little foxes that ruin the vineyard (Song of Solomon 2:15).

If you take a Digital Sabbatical, what does it look like for you?

Got the Girls Sewing

So, I got around to getting Danaka using the sewing machine.  She found a simple apron pattern online, free, and we followed the not-all-there instructions best we could and improvised on the rest.  But she was intimidated by the machine, and its a bit of a struggle to get her sitting back behind that noisey thing that scares her.  So the apron lays unfinished.  But at least Mom finally got around to introducing her to sewing.  Now its in her ballpark.  I'm encouraging her to get back at it, but she needs a bit more warming up to it.

But once I got in the swing of it and I've sketched out some time away from the computer ;) I was able to introduce Maret to the sewing machine, too.  (Interestingly, its been Mitchell, the fella, that has been using the sewing machine for months, not the girls)  Maret was intimidated too, but pushed thru.  She has enjoyed doing all the ironing, and although the sewing machine freaked her a bit, she not only sat down the next day to finish the apron,............

 

but this past weekend she also designed her own sun top (after a cute one she already owned) and sewed it along with embellishing it with buttons along the neckline.  (Design and sewing might be another attribute Maret has picked up from her big sister, Chelle.  Like 2 peas in a pod, those 2 girls are creative!)

A Bonus:  All the materials are recycled fabrics.  The 2 yellow aprons and this cute top used to be a tablecloth that I got via freecycle but was too small for our kitchen table, and the pockets for the aprons are from shirts that the little boys have outgrown.  The buttons are also from thrashed shirts of the boys.  

Carpenter - Seamstress

Rauchelle has just sewn herself a dress for Layne's upcoming wedding.  Here, her carpenter Dad was marking for her hem!!  Of course a carpenter would use a square to measure up from the floor.  That's logical!