The new house

Here is a poor quality cell phone picture of our new home. It is on a court in a quiet neighborhood just minutes from here. The kids will be able to stay in the same school, go to the same church, piano teacher and soccer club. John however still has a long drive and did not get his 3 car garage. The things we do for our kids.

A girl obsessed

Emma started to take piano lessons "officially."this fall. I say this because over the course of the last year or so Jack has been her "professor of music." How cute they were, when they sat with their heads together. Jack teaching and Emma hanging on every word. Jack even came to me every now and then to commiserate on the difficulties of teaching his sister. (how, cute is he?)

I knew from watching her practice and practice that she was learning differently than Jack. They are so different in everything they do, why I thought they would be the same now is still a mystery. I guess, I assumed in my ignorance, that teaching music would basically consist of learning the notes and then learning where they correspond on the keyboard. Sounds like a sound theory! lol. Okay, that's really bad. While Jack approaches the piano in his lessons methodically and logically. Emma is full of passion and emotion. She will put together a string of notes of her own composition and say, "listen to how sad the piano sounds." Or alternately she will say, "This song makes me want to dance."

For weeks before she had lessons she practiced and practiced. I was amazed by her drive. It seemed every-time she was bored she would turn on the keyboard and practice. I assumed she would burn herself out and then say, "I don't want to practice" once lessons began. Boy, was I wrong! She continues to practice. She is truly obsessed with learning to play. She practices so much that I find my self saying, "Please, stop practicing." Is this a good thing? It was soon called to my attention that Emma learns by ear. She only has to hear the song a number of times before she no longer needs the sheet music. She knows by sound when she has hit the wrong key and can correct herself more often than not.

This week as we walked up to greet her instructor Emma explained, "Ms. Melodie, (great name for a piano teacher) I really don't feel as though the work you gave me was hard enough. I think I need to work on harder things this week!" Her confidence is astounding. It's as though she has some predetermined knowledge of just how much she should be able to handle. I watch her struggle and get frustrated and scream and cry for days. Then just as if a switch has been thrown, BAMM! she gets it. It is truly a site to watch her confidence grow and see how proud she is of herself. Time will tell where this next adventure will take us but with Emma I am sure it will be full of ups and downs.

Seasonal Cheer

As promised here is the log-cabin type quilt I have been working on. It is a pattern designed by Christine Schnaufer, entitled Boo!-ti-ful. It is located at the QuiltBus website. Mine needs to be quilted and embellished with the spider web and dangling spider but, should be a cute addition to our holiday decor.

Raise the Roof

After months of searching we have a contract on a home! Pictures and info to follow at a later date.

Pieces of a Whole

I started on a new quilt this week. Surprise! I have tons of patterns accumulated in my filing cabinet. I have books on quilting. I have magazines on quilting. I even have patterns saved on my computer. A whole file filled with quilting patterns. Yet, when I was looking for a pattern I didn't feel like quilting any of those. I spent days surfing the net for a pattern that interested me. I was hoping to find something seasonal or "holiday-ish" (can I even use that word?) Anyway, I found a pattern that I thought would work. It was very cleverly designed using log cabin blocks. I am always amazed at the cool patterns you can create with log cabin blocks. Anyway. The pattern called for 1 1/2 in strips for the blocks. I hate working with strips that small. So, I adapted the pattern an made the strips 2 inches wide. Well my 30 x 36 in wall hanging is a wee bit bigger. The tiny little details slipped by me this time. Here is a picture of several of the blocks lined up.

I know doesn't look like much. I believe Emma's quote was, "What the heck is that supposed to be?!" Vision child! That's what you need. Quietly I continue on my merry little path. I'll let you know what it is tomorrow.

Profound

I am always amazed by the ease at which children except. Sometimes we as adults overcomplicate life in general. Things that seem to cause great controversy as adults, simply ARE to children. Such was the case yesterday on the way to school when Jack, out of the blue states, "Mom, I believe God made people like seasons. The way trees are different shapes and colors during the seasons. In the summer they are bright green and then one day you look and they are changing colors. I think people are like this. One day you look and suddenly you realize that people come in different shapes and colors just like trees. I am glad God made us all different."

Parts

Daddy was home this weekend and let me just say,

"THANK GOD!"

He has been traveling for much of the last month. It seems we see just a glimpse of him as he comes home to unpack then repack and head out the door. While this pattern will continue for the rest of 2009, we were all overjoyed with is presence this weekend.

Mark has always been really, really good at breaking things. A talent believe it or not I feel is actually inherited. He is forever saying, "It just broke." I've seen it myself. All the boy does sometimes is touch something and "it's just broke." Its never malicious or even premeditated but unfortunately it happens all to frequently.

We have had a number of things recently, die on us. The lawn mower and the hairdryer are two that pop into my mind. When they did break the first thing Mark said was, "Cool! Can I take it apart?" What the heck, it is already broken. The hairdryer was much simpler than the lawn mower so he was aloud to take it apart by himself. After the destruction, John spent time with him going over the mechanics; the fan, the switches, the wires to explain how it works. Jack and Emma wondered up and were drawn into the workings of a hairdryer. They were all fascinated.

Needless to say, they were all pumped up about taking the lawn mower apart. They repeatedly asked, "When can we take the lawn mower apart?" and I repeatedly said, "When Dad gets home you can take it apart." You would have thought Christmas was coming. The excitement that ran though this house was enough to drive me crazy!

Finally, FINALLY! Dad was home and they were able to dismantle the mower. Everyone gathered in the garage. John distributed tools to each of them, and when that tool was needed it was their turn to help. Emma ran in the house screaming, "Mom, come take pictures of us for your blog." (The girl knows me a little too well, scary. ) They spent nearly 1 1/2 hours taking apart the mower. Much of it was spent laughing and giggling. There were times when John was explaining something that you could hear a pin drop in the garage. Such was their interest for the dirty old thing.

They took apart as much as they could before bedtime. Mower parts were strewn all over the garage. Parts were trashed. Some parts were saved (why? I have no idea). And in honor of Mark, many parts were further broken. I took pictures, as per my job description, but was not allowed to help. shucks.