Beanbags!

I did my first couple beanbags today! The second came out better than the first but the boys are enjoying both of them :D

I decided to do the paw print fleece first. I didn't have to stitch it inside out, and I had the thread to match. Plus it was high contrast, and Ethan liked it a lot :)

I started by cutting squares roughly 5 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches. I wanted the finished size to be about 5x5. The squares weren't even. When I go to Walmart, I'll pick up a pack of chalk to draw the cutting lines for the my next ones. Here's the second one pinned.



Next I stitched the 2 squares together. The rest of the pictures are of the first one I did. Since I forgot to take a picture of the first one pinned, I had to use the second.



Here's what I used to fill them. It says do not use for children's crafts but my mom, who has been crafting forever, said that was for legal reasons only ;) I decided on this filling because it was at Walmart where I was shopping, it wasn't very expensive ($5 for a 2# bag), and it's washable!



I left an unstitched hole big enough to fit a large funnel. That's how I filled them. I ended up using about 4 oz of the filling. I could have used a little less in the first, but it ended up perfect for the second (it was cut a tad bigger).



After I filled it, I stitched up the hole I had left. Here it is stitched and stuffed.



The other side.



And here is the finished product! The stitches aren't exactly straight, and I had trouble trimming the fabric even, but know what? I'm happy with the size, the boys are having fun with them, and I'm excited to have made a toy for them myself!!!



Here's Gabriel getting ready to throw it, again :) He kept throwing it and saying, "Ball!"



Here are all the fabrics I got to make beanbags out of. Each piece is 1/4 yard. I should be able to make 8 beanbags from each. Maybe more. The paw print and ducks are fleece. The next two animal prints are flannel. The light blue is minky.



I'll post pics of the finished product as I make more of them! Eventually... ;)

A :-) and a :-( from Ethan

The boys and I ate lunch out with my mom today. After a while, Gabriel got fussy in his high chair. Ethan said, "Mommy, let's pray." I asked what we were going to pray for. He said, "Pray, Gabriel's sad." Warmed my heart :-)

We had a rough situation with the car this morning. Ethan was in the midst of it but was so good! He stayed mostly calm through a stressful situation. When we finally left, Jesse asked me to get him a reward for handling things so well. There's a book I've been wanting to get him so I bought it as his reward. I gave it to him in the store but he wasn't nearly as excited as I thought he would be. After we got home, I reminded him about his new book - something that's usually an exciting thing. Instead he calmly explained that he didn't want his book because he would "put it behind the couch." :-( It's his current OCD manifestation. When he shoves a paper or thin book down the small space where the top of the back of the couch doesn't quite meet the wall, they may as well be in a black hole. We can't get them back out short of moving at least two pieces of furniture.

He recognized tonight that if he had the book in his hands, he would drop it into the abyss. It's like when he wouldn't hold his sippy or Puppy in the car because he knew he would throw them down.

It broke my heart... He said it so calmly, so matter-of-fact.

And so his reward, ended up being anything but... :-(

I'll put the book away for another time. One day he'll be able to enjoy it...

Carving Out Bible Time

It's such a challenge! I get up with the boys. Gabriel usually catnaps, or he naps on me. Ethan rarely naps, and when he does, he's awake till midnight. I go to sleep with the boys. It's so hard to find quiet time to read my bible! It's not that I feel like I HAVE to. I WANT to! Why wouldn't I want to read my savior's love letter to me?!

So I made a decision this week. Quiet time just ain't happening! But if I can just read the bible - Not study. Not dwell on it. Just READ - at least it will be something!

Jesse bought me a nook in January as a late Christmas/early birthday/just because gift. It's so convenient for me to be able to have so many books at my fingertips! I can read it while the boys are playing (they're much less fussy if I'm in the room). I can read it while Gabriel is laying in my lap with a bottle or sleeping. I can read it in bed (with the reading light). The first thing I put on there when I got it was a bible.

Since then, I've stopped and started. Reading here and there. I wasn't happy with what I was doing but I didn't have a plan to follow. And I just felt like it wasn't working for me.

This week I bought a daily bible for my nook (a bible that has a plan to read it through in 365 days). It includes 52 devotional articles by Charles Stanley - one for each week of the year. The bible is in its usual format, but there is a list at the beginning with where the readings are for that day - one from the OT, one from Psalms, one from Proverbs, and one from the NT. And better yet, the readings work like a webpage. Each are links that I can click on. When I finished the OT reading for the first day (in Gen), there was a link at the end of the reading that brought me to the day's reading in Psalms. And so on. It's working out great! After I finish the day's reading, I go to the beginning of the next day's and bookmark it so it's ready for the next day. Then the next day I just pull up the bible and go to the bookmark for my first reading, then follow the links from there.

I sit in the recliner in the living room and read out loud. The boys play. Interrupt me. And even occasionally listen ;) If I'm reading out loud, I'm paying more attention to what I'm reading. And if the boys catch a bit here and there, all the better!

So it's not a traditional quiet time of reading and reflection. But I am getting the Word into my heart and my mind. And I'm looking forward to reading through the whole bible! I've read most of the OT and all of the NT, but never the whole thing. I timed it today and it took me less than 15 minutes to read the day's selections out loud. If I need to, I can break it up and bookmark where I am and pick it back up later in the day.

I'm actually excited that I have a method that looks like it will work for me and my needs :D