Crafting

Crafty Friends…
…are the best!

Cally created this.
Go to her blog to see all of the other amazing things that she can do.
I almost died when there was something just for me on her blog.
Who knew blogging friends were so good at surprises?
I cannot wait to get my hands on the original.
Friends do get a good discount, right?

I must say that I am so happy to have finally found something that
really portrays just how cute my girls really are.

And, as if this wasn’t enough.
Look at what came in the mail today.
Kristen made up this sweetest piece of recreated children’s art.
She mentioned this medium on her blog in reference to my post about Bella’s art.
Kristen also has a crafty blog.
This is just so beautiful. It reminds me of something that I would find at Cally’s house.
Neener, neener. neener Cally, you will have to make your own.
I love being surprised. It doesn’t happen often.

Thanks for thinking of us girls.

You have both motivated me to decorate the girls’ room for the first time in their lives.
Now all I have to do is wait for Valerie to sew those bedspreads.
Would anyone like to offer to paint and/or make some curtains?

Really, thank you so much Cally and Kristen.

I am absolutely speechless. And you know that never happens to me.

Rules, rules, and more rules.
As you all know, I am blessed with three beautiful daughters. What you don’t know is that these girls are almost perfect in every way. I’m not trying to brag. I just speak the truth.

Look at this, even their profiles are perfect.
What a great Mother’s Day gift from the primary, huh?

People notice the goodness of my children and they are always asking me, “Why are they so good? What are your tricks? What are your rules?” I could write a book, really, but wish to share a really good trick here. Rules have to be easily maintained.



First, I have to give credit to the kids, God sent us the best.


Second, I think LG and I learned early that following through is very important in discipline. If you do lay down a rule, you must follow through with enforcing it.


Third, we give our kids room to just be. Therefore, in return, they give us room to just be.


These three “tricks” go together. First, you have to believe, truly believe with everything you are that your children are great, and that they want to be great. This ideal in your children really affects your attitudes when parenting.


Second, you have to be in charge. You can’t let your kids run the roost. They need leadership. They are just waiting to be taught the consequences of their actions. You must follow through so that they understand that there are real and consistent consequences. Lord of the Flies taught me this in 9th grade.


Third, and this is a very important key. You have to give enough room to your children, and more importantly to YOU, so that following through is actually do-able. If you have so many rules, being in charge is way too hard. And NOT fun! And nobody wants a mom or dad who is always nagging them. Look at the federal government. They are a prime example of screwing things up with too many restrictions to enforce.

I am not going to take credit for my parenting wisdom. I got my parenting style from my parents. They had seven kids. People with lots of kids usually adapt to a “survival” method of parenting. I think that this “survival” method is best. Do ONLY what is absolutely necessary.


The words of a surviving friend to her children suit this style perfectly, ” I am on the phone, come and get me ONLY if someone is bleeding or the house is on fire.”


LeGrand and I were laughing at ourselves the other day. Whenever we have a higher maintenance kid visit, we are always relieved to see them go back home. For the most part our girls are so easy and don’t require much but the food I prepare and a good hug from time to time. We just don’t “get” kids who want to be constantly in our face. They exhaust us.


Yes, we know, we’ve raised our kids to be low maintenance. We aren’t sure if it is a good thing. Not that we are going to change it. We like our kids the way that they are. They make our life easy. Someday because of our parenting style we may be able to handle some more, and make them low maintenance kids too. We pray for that.


Some of you may think that this sounds heartless. I can hear you now, “What kind of mother are you? You don’t want to interact with your kids?” You may think that we are horrible parents who don’t spend time with our kids. You are dead wrong. We still spend a lot of time with them.


Our time is quality though and it is full of great conversations, laughing, learning, fun, and love. Quantity is important and I think too many parents justify their own absence by saying “When you have quality time, you don’t need as much quantity.” But, this justification will be used by me only in reference to the energy that is passed between my children and I. When I don’t have to spend my whole day breaking up fights, telling my kids what to do, or disciplining them for what rule they broke, my time is freed up for such better interactions.


We have very little negative interaction. Most of our communication is positive. Our children are independent. They are problem solvers. They work out a lot on their own. They are confident. They are also creative.


Here is some food art that they come up with. It’s a pond with goldfish, and yes, they ate every one. Some of those freaky moms out there would be upset by something like this. There were only compliments from this mother, “Wow you guys, that is pretty cool. Let me take a picture.” “Ahh mom, why do you have to put everything on your blog?”

I was just reading this and it got me thinking about what Do NOT’s I have as a mother.


How do my do not’s affect my kids.


A friend and I were talking the other day. She has a rule that her children like to break, “Thou shalt not play in my room.” Where seems to be the favorite place for her kids to play? Her bedroom, of course.


I’ve been pondering, “What are my rules?” Do my kids like to break them?
I have come to the conclusion that I don’t have very many, therefore they don’t need to break them.


Some of the only ones that I can think of are:


No screaming unless you are being kidnapped.
No eating after you brush your teeth at night.
If I count, you better come. (and they always do to the total delight of any onlooker)

Here is what hangs on our fridge. These rules are all it takes at our house.

Sophia added the last one all by herself.
We aren’t sure when she did it. She didn’t have to tell us. She was happy to let us find her addition on our own time. (It goes back to that giving each other space thing)
And, she’s right. When you only have seven written rules, and three unwritten ones it’s easy for everyone to be happy.

“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.” ~Henry David Thoreau

It should be fun…
…but for me, it isn’t!
Really, I know, none of you will get it.
Remember, I am not your typical housewife.
I would rather pay someone to do the decorating.
I just want to love the man.
His office could be a semi-truck for all I care.
If it was, I could join him, and maybe go new places.
I hope this office will take me somewhere someday.
Somewhere other than a furniture or craft store.
And, I hope it will make him enough money to leave the next office
in the hands of a truly crafted designer.





I do admit, I did enjoy putting my photos in frames.
It may have been worth the other twenty hours of torture.
Feel free to leave your feedback.
As long as you are willing to come and make the change.
Our friends went by to see LG’s office today.
I just asked him what their favorite part was.
He said it was the bathroom.
Go figure…I knew that all that work was pointless.
He should start meeting people in the tub.
Do you think that would be in line with the ethics code?

Little People
And look and what I won from the greatest crafty blog out there!
Cally is a mad woman. She made this one REALLY hard.
I am proud to announce that I guessed her 7 Brides for 7 Brothers correctly.

And, even though, my stinkin contest prize is so, well, stinky
compared to Cally’s handcrafted little people,
I will shortly declare one of you the winner….stay tuned…I am still working on the post.

Shop Calico

My friend Cally Cruze is seriously the most amazing crafty person that I can call my real life friend.
Her creativity just never ends.
And it is always just perfectly cute and/or classy!

Go to her blog Calico..you will not be disappointed.

Cally has just committed herself to a long life at the sewing machine. (even with 5 kids under 8) I told you she was amazing.

The more you buy from Cally, the more I can laugh at her (while her life gets hectic with sewing in every spare minute), and you all know how I like to laugh.

If you don’t want to buy anything, (or plan to start stashing out some of your grocery budget before you splurge a little later) leave her a comment saying that you came over because of me…she will love that…and I am trying to prove that I am still the blogging queen! (I just want to do one thing better than her – just one, is that too much for a girl to ask?)

Leave it to Beaver
The other day, on the radio, I heard someone reference Leave it to Beaver. I thought, “That show is something I haven’t thought about for a while.”
This morning, I check my blog and realize that I have a comment from somebody new…how exciting. I love making blogging friends. I was astounded by her link to: an apron making contest. These aprons are popping up everywhere. Are we really going back to wanting to be like June Cleaver? This could be a good world, where all the women are dolled up making dinner for their perfect little families. I am just a little worried that I may not fit in?
I did buy this apron at Christmastime, does that count for anything?

Oh, and I got myself a sewing maching for Christmas too…I just am still trying to figure out how to use it…maybe an apron should be my first project, so that I could actually finish it before the trend is over?