Category: Celebrations

A daffodil in That Crafty Cara's (Cara Brooke's) garden

Hailstorms, Mishaps, and a Birthday Cake Colosseum

Leave a comment

Hello, dear friends! This last week has been a mix of progress, moments of “Whoops!”, and unexpected weather!

Caring

  • We dusted off the old tradition of holding Family Home Evening this week! Since Michael’s birthday was this week, this last Monday’s FHE was all about him—sharing favorite memories of him, letting him pick the activity and treat, and just having fun the way he wanted to have fun. He chose to have a fire in the backyard and eat s’mores and we spent one of the last normal-weather days of fake spring jumping around the backyard and stuffing ourselves with marshmallows. It was a low-key evening that was very much enjoyed by all.
  • Michael’s birthday: We did all the things and my guy has been celebrated! We had steak, baked potatoes, Caesar salad, and rustic Italian bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dinner. Renaissance also made a really great Roman Colosseum birthday cake for him. We played Yahtzee and it was just a nice, calm evening at home, just the way he likes ‘em.
Roman Colosseum birthday cake decorated by Renaissance Brooke

Creativity

  • The King David’s Crown quilt post went live on Tuesday and you guys went nuts for it! Thank you so much for the comments, emails, and pinning of the post, it got a lot of traffic. That was a fun couple of days where I felt like I was able to put something really beautiful out into the world and people appreciated it. Thank you for the love! Now, to finish quilting the actual quilt so I can use said beautiful thing.
  • Cherry Twilight Socks: I am in the middle of shaping the gusset on the first sock. I wish I could show these to you right now because they look so good! It would be a dead giveaway whose Christmas present they were for if I were to show you, so vague word pictures are all you’re gonna get until after Christmas. Crafters’ lives are weird that way.
  • Midnight Lark Socks: I’m not sure how I feel about these, but they’re coming along. I’m about 2/3 done with the leg of the first sock.
  • I put in a little more time on the Star Climber quilt. I always forget how many little pieces go into a scrap quilt! The cutting for this has been more than I expected, but I sure do love the fabrics that will be used in this project. Scrap quilts are such a great trip down Memory Lane, I love making them so much!
An in-progress Woven Star quilt block being made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for her Star Climber scrap quilt.

Lowlights

  • My allergies are pretty bad this year and it’s just hard to get through my days with any energy. I feel like such a grump. My eyes itch really bad and I’ve rubbed them so hard I’ve broken a blood vessel in one. Feeling extra pretty right now. And, of course, the ward choir had a performance scheduled for today so I dragged myself into church to conduct it and then left as soon as I could afterwards.
  • All of these low energy days are giving way to a lot of introspection, which generally doesn’t make one feel great about themselves. I’m extra aware of my flaws at the moment and trying to improve. Which is the best I can offer!

Highlights

  • That moment during FHE around the firepit when it’s just gotten dark and everyone just relaxes.
  • Had a cute conversation with a fellow band parent about the Great British Baking Show and the joys that are gingham and Anglophilia.
  • The kids had no school on Friday, so Rachel decided to make brunch that day and she made the most amazing creamy chipotle breakfast burrito sauce I’ve ever tasted.
  • The delight on Michael’s face when he walked into the kitchen and realized that Ren was creating a Roman Colosseum cake for him.
  • Michael really got into directing us as we sang “Happy Birthday” to him.
  • The ward choir performance today went really well. We sang one of the newly-released hymns, #1007 “As Bread is Broken,” which Ren’s flute teacher had written a flute part for and I arranged a few of the verses to be slightly more interesting for the choir. A visitor to our service today came up and asked if she could take a copy of it home with her so her ward choir could sing it, too. High praise!

Final Thoughts

We’re just muddling through the allergies and wet weather as best we can, with more time together, some extra stitching, and good food. What else can you do? Hopefully your fake spring survival tactics are working for you as well, and I’ll talk to you again soon!

A daffodil in That Crafty Cara's (Cara Brooke's) garden
Handknit socks made with red, green, and white self-striping yarn.

Stripey Christmas Socks

2 Comments

Hurray! A beautiful finish that will now go live in a trunk for eight months. *groan* I’m really looking forward to debuting these on November 1st while decorating for Christmas while wearing my Hermey the Elf shirt. *happy smile*

.

Details:

Pattern: #216 Beginner’s Lightweight Socks, by Diane Soucy of Knitting Pure & Simple After all this time? Always.

.

Yarn: West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply Self Striping/Patterning, colorway #886 Holly Berry, Cascade Yarns Heritage, colorway #5607 Red, Lang Reinforcing Thread, colorway #60.

Needles: US 2 (2.75 mm)

.

Modifications: I saw a sock knit up with this colorway and did not like it, so I added the solid red heels and toes. Now that they’re done I realize that I probably would have liked it if I had also knit the ribbing in solid red as well. (I also would have preferred if I had done a 2×2 ribbing on BOTH socks, and not just one…whoops. Doesn’t the 2×2 ribbing look SO GOOD?!?! I’ve been a 1×1 forever, but I will be changing my ways from here on out.)

It’s a late finish, but I didn’t want to rush ’em. This is such a great colorway and I enjoyed knitting these so much! I’m very tempted to commit to the idea of new Christmas socks each year, but even I can recognize the insanity of such a pledge, so these may remain my only handknit Christmas socks (for a while…it’s loads of fun to knit Christmas socks!).

Read more posts about the Stripey Christmas Socks:

View this project’s Ravelry page

Two Weeks of Creativity in One Post: A Birthday, a Quilt, and some Music

3 Comments

The past two weeks have been full of color, celebration, and music! Here’s a quick recap of what I’ve been up to:

Birthday Magic

We celebrated Rachel’s seventeenth birthday last week with doughnuts and a tea party! We had to postpone the family birthday dinner due to last-minute glitches with the tea party scheduling, but that will happen pretty soon. She had a fun time with her friends and I tried to make things nice for her last “childhood” birthday. I can’t believe these kids are getting so old!

.

Nearing the Finish Line

.

The King David’s Crown quilt is nearly complete. The “finished” photos of it were due this last week, so those have been taken and submitted, but there’s still some last bits of quilting to do on it and the binding and labelling, which I’m going to do slowly because I’m really burnt-out on crafting at the moment. (Blame the Februaries…blah.)

.

So Much Music-ky Goodness

The past two Sundays had a lot of music in ’em. Ren and I performed a beautiful arrangement of “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” two Sundays ago, and last Sunday the choir sang a really pretty arrangement of “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need.” Music takes a lot of work to happen, but it’s work that matters! I love the enthusiastic musicians in our ward who are always up for the next thing. Work continues on the Easter program and I also need to spend some quality with the latest batch of newly-released hymns so I can write up a game plan to get them introduced to our congregation.

Also Some Sugary Goodness

Renaissance was asked to help out at the Relief Society activity this week and showed the ladies how to decorate cupcakes in three different ways. She did so good! Yay for fun church activities!

.

Up Next…

I’ve got some “finished project” posts coming soon…there’s a pair of socks that took a tub-tub this morning and currently drying on their blockers. I’ll try to get that post written up ASAP to share with you! Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

A Woven Star quilt block made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for her Star Climber Scrap Quilt.

Starry Stitches & Snowfall Wishes: A February Fresh Start

4 Comments

Happy Monday! Happy February! I don’t know if you can wish anyone a happy Monday or a happy February, but here I am, trying to inject some semblance of cheer into the grayest part of the year! I found an image on the internet last week that I absolutely loved from Pippi Post, and I have been quoting it to myself over and over again ever since:

Credit: Pippi Post

.

There’s a lot of stuff going on right now that is upsetting for people, it’s February and we haven’t seen the sun in months, and almost everyone I know is recovering from some bout of illness. We’re all tired and we’re all overwhelmed, so prioritizing joy is a good idea right now. I’ve been trying to avoid being a grump and it really is weird how you can just choose to be optimistic if you really put your mind to it.

Something that brings me joy is figuring out my week ahead, so here we are with a Crafting a Plan post! Enjoy!

Cooking

This week’s meal plan:

  • Monday: Tuscan Meatball Soup with gnocchi
  • Tuesday: Grilled Cheese & Lunchmeat sandwiches, Salad with creamy cider vinaigrette
  • Wednesday: Breakfast Soft Tacos
  • Thursday: Costco Lasagna, Caesar salad
  • Friday: Chicken-Tomatillo Soup with Chipotle Chiles
  • Saturday: TBD
  • Sunday: TBD

Clothing

I am so caught up with laundry! It is exhilarating! I actually have time to work on rotating our wardrobes at the moment, so there’s a big upheaval with the warm and cold weather clothing. I read a fantastic book about decluttering over Christmas Break and am applying the principles to my wardrobe as I work through the rotating.

Cleaning

I’m trying to do some decluttering and it’s going pretty good. The book I read is called Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff, by Dana K. White, and it’s got a completely sane approach to dealing with decluttering that does not involve dumping out an entire anything and spending hours at a time on the process à la Marie Kondo. I’ve gone through the front entrance of the house, the dining room, and I’m slowly working on the craft room. All the background thought that goes into the process makes the upkeep of the cleaned area much easier, so those areas of my house are looking really good, even weeks later. Very good book, highly recommended.

Caring

  • Haircuts for Michael & Nathaniel
  • I need to make a vet appointment for Quesnel. She’s not looking like she’s feeling very well.
  • I need to keep an eye on spring sports registration for Nathaniel.

.

Creativity

  • King David’s Crown is assembled and awaiting basting. I decided that I wanted to quilt it nicely, so I’ve ordered some quilting stencils and the company has taken forever to ship them to me. They should arrive on Thursday, despite having ordered them last weekend. Hmph.
  • I started working on my scrappy Star Climber quilt last week and I am loving it! What a great pattern for using up scraps! Love, love, love. I’m planning on this one taking all year to complete so that I don’t have to rush it. I really enjoy working with the Woven Star foundation papers* and I think I’ve picked out a great color palette for this quilt that will use up a lot of scraps from particularly overflowing scrap bins. My schedule for this quilt calls for me to complete eight blocks in February, and I’ve finished four thus far. Another two are in-progress right now and I’m hoping to have them done by the end of this week.
  • It’s quite possible that I could finish the Christmas Stripey socks this week. I’ve made it to the toe decreases, so there’s not a lot of work left on them.

.

Celebrating

  • Emily just celebrated her 21st birthday. I think you’re officially old when your kids start turning 21.
  • Next up is Rachel’s birthday. How in the world is she almost seventeen years old?!?! Nathaniel mentioned that her next birthday will allow her to vote. That was not on my radar. These kids just went and grew up on me when I wasn’t looking.
  • Michael and I aren’t up for a big night out on Valentine’s Day so we’re planning a family Mario Kart tournament for that evening. Depending on how into it the kids are, there could be some cute things happening. If the cute things don’t happen, whatever; we’ll still have fun and eat tasty treats.
  • Michael’s birthday is on the horizon, but I’m not quite into planning mode for that yet.
  • Same with Nathaniel.
  • Easter IS on my mind because I’m trying to get the Easter Program together for church. I’ve got my rough draft written up and submitted for approval, so we’ll see how much the bishopric likes it. I’d also like to do some planning in regards to Easter dinner; the kind of planning that will repeat itself every year and make my life easier.

Community

  • Ren and I will be performing the special musical number in church this week because I couldn’t find anyone else to do it. We are becoming very good at throwing pieces together at the last minute! So we’ll need to figure out some rehearsal time during the week.
  • Track down some flute music for Ren for the Easter Program.
  • Compose an ending/reprise for my arrangement of “As Bread is Broken” for the choir.
  • Pick up raffle tickets I had printed for band boosters.
  • Check in on the t-shirts we’re having printed for the band’s Disney trip

Top priorities this week:

  • Vet appointment for Quesnel
  • Rachel’s birthday
  • Valentine’s Day
  • Getting the quilting going on the King David’s Crown quilt

I wish you a happy first week of February! We’re getting some snow right now and I’m really hoping it translates into a legit snow day tomorrow so we can just bum around and drink cocoa all day. I’m reeeeeally hoping for that. May you get your snow wishes granted as well, if that’s your jam.

Michael’s Christmas Socks 2024

Leave a comment

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to each of you, dear readers! December 2024 was a whirlwind of activity, mostly revolving around the constant of music in our family, so I wasn’t able to do a whole lot in the craft room throughout the month, but I DID finish up a pair of handknit socks for my sweet hubby to open on Christmas Day!

Details:

Pattern: #216 Beginner’s Lightweight Socks, by Diane Soucy of Knitting Pure & Simple (As always! It’s a great sock pattern!)

Yarn: Paton’s Kroy Socks in colorway #55102 “Blue Striped Ragg”, 2 skeins with very little leftover. I also tried using a reinforcement thread in the heels and toes for the first time, and ran out of it halfway through the second toe. Note to self: He has big feet and needs two spools in the future. I used Lang Reinforcement Thread #23, purchased from Simply Socks Yarn Company.

Needles: US 2 (2.75 mm)

Modifications: The yarn skeins don’t stop and end in the same place, stripe-wise, so I did my best to match up the stripes, but had to split my second skein to start in the same place as the first skein, which meant I had to join in the last bit of yarn near the toe so it stripes a little weird in the second sock. Fortunately, no one will see it because it’ll be hidden by his shoes when he’s wearing them.

This is the first time I’ve pulled off making a pair of socks for Michael for Christmas two years in a row! Woot, woot! And I barely pulled it off—I finished these during the afternoon on Christmas Eve and got them wrapped and under the tree with only minutes to spare before Michael walked in the door from work.

I love the idea of a tradition of making Michael a pair of socks each Christmas. Back when I started knitting, I eagerly looked forward to the Yarn Harlot’s frantic pre-Christmas circus posts where she’d get through insane lists and spreadsheets of handknits to complete during the holidays, and I loved reading through the posts that featured her handknits in the hands of smiling recipients, Christmas tree lights twinkling in the background. I enjoy going to other people’s circuses from time to time, and her Christmas circus was such a delight to behold in all its urgency and anticipation that would then yield beautiful photos of a happy family and beautifully-knitted gifts and lovely words of love, joy and gratitude. (I miss the old days of blogging, they were really wonderful. Instagram is, really…was, great and all, but I miss the writing that we used to treat each other to back in the day.)

I envisioned the same future for myself, which has basically come true (except for the handknits part), and here we are today with us going through a Christmas circus every year that can only be managed with spreadsheets and to-do lists. It’s mostly all music-related for us Brookes, but I still endeavor to throw some handmades into the mix. These socks were created in all sorts of stolen moments in between putting together the band fundraiser, the Ward Christmas Sacrament Program, and our family’s own holiday celebrations and traditions. I like a little crazy.

Each stitch in these socks is a little bit of crazy, a little bit of peace stolen amidst chaos, a little bit of tradition. A little bit of the holiday experience over and over again. I love having these reminders throughout the year of another Christmas that has come and gone. Each Sunday, when Michael is putting on his church shoes and I see which handknit socks he’s chosen to wear that week, I’m inundated with memories from whichever Christmas and year that particular pair was created. It’s a lot of a memories, over and over again. We’ve been blessed to have so many Christmases together. I hope, twenty years from now, that I’m still making socks for him each year, and that I’m darning the older socks and reliving the glory days of Christmases past—days of our children in footed pajamas, mornings when they were teenagers in flannel pants and messy buns, to eventual days of their own children in footed pajamas and maple syrup-stickied fingers. I learned to knit when I was just starting out as a wife and mother, and I hope I’m still knitting and making memories that include handknit gifts with happy faces and twinkling lights for many, many years to come.

Click here to view this project’s Ravelry page

Goodbye Halloween, Hello Christmas!

Leave a comment

It’s November, and right on schedule, it’s raining like crazy today. It’s pretty rain at this point—the brightness of the colorful leaves creates an impressionistic feel to the landscape, so at least we have that.

Top priorities this past week:

  • Halloween celebrating & traditions
  • Band Fundraiser Table Runners
  • Scheduling special musical performances for November
  • Finding a pianist for the Christmas program
  • Make some headway on the secret Christmas knitting
  • Rest when I’m tired or hurting

Celebrating

Halloween was fun this year. Not a lot of fuss, but Renaissance and I did manage to create our traditional chili in pumpkin bread bowls, which I wasn’t too sure was going to happen. She invited her friends over for another Halloween feast before Trick or Treating started, despite that they’re all adults now that don’t do Trick or Treating, and they hung out afterwards playing video games together and taking breaks to hunt down Rachel and Nathaniel in the neighborhood to jump scare them with light sabers. As one does…

I was a little sad going into Halloween this year because Ren and her friends have grown up and I was worried about Rachel and Nathaniel not having a group to go Trick or Treating with, but they put the word out that we live in a great neighborhood for Trick or Treating and some of their friends decided to come on over to do that here. It was nice. I love the chaos of having a gaggle of teenagers in my house on Halloween night. Absolutely love it—peak motherhood aspirations there.

So Halloween is over, and with that comes Christmas. I absolutely turned on Christmas music this morning as I worked in the craft room!

And spare me your “Christmas shouldn’t start before Thanksgiving” sentiments: I’m Canadian; I grew up with Thanksgiving taking place in early October, so my internal Christmas countdown was programmed in childhood to start once Halloween was over and I’m not going to reset it ever because more time in Christmas Town is AWESOME. I take the requisite days off from Christmas prep to do a proper job on American Thanksgiving, and we are very grateful people who are capable of exuding a thankful attitude even while decorating for Christmas. I know, it may be shocking that such people exist, but we do! Everything is OK, gratitude will continue to exist in our home despite the appearance of red and green before Thanksgiving. If you’re a person who doesn’t do Christmas until after American Thanksgiving, cool. You do you. But do not come in here demanding that the only correct way to celebrate the holidays is how you do it. Because that is blatantly incorrect.

And further more, how do you think Christmas music happens? Do you think musicians wait until after American Thanksgiving to start practicing that stuff? Of course they don’t! Big preparations take time, and there is not a lot of time between American Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sorry/not sorry to pop your bubble on this concept, but many musicians start practicing their Christmas music in October, even September. I started planning and purchasing Christmas sheet music in August. That’s how Christmas music happens—that far in advance. Just be thankful (hey, there’s that gratitude word!) that there are people who want to shower others with so much Christmas cheer that they’ll voluntarily give up their time very early on in order to prepare for Christmas, rather than pointing fingers and snidely alluding that the Early Christmas Cheer people are materialistic gimme pigs. We’re actually spending more time in service to others by getting the Christmas Town Express going early, and that’s…decidedly unmaterialistic, right?

/soapbox (I’m so tired of this argument that, really, shouldn’t even exist.)

Creating

I have found time to start working on the Band Fundraiser table runners this week. I’ve got most of the fabric cut up and I’ve ironed what I have on-hand and have done the first round of sewing on one (1) table runner. I hope the future organizers of this event don’t get tired of the table runners and get rid of them in a few years. They’re turning out quite nice and could potentially last for years if they’re treated well.

I made a little bit of progress on the secret Christmas knitting, too.

Community

I am hitting some major walls with church music. I shall remain optimistic through this weekend and if things don’t sort themselves out I’m going to have to alter my plans. Once again, but for a different crowd this time, how do you think Christmas music happens? A big part of that is people being willing to be a part of church choir. If you’ve ever wondered about joining your church’s choir, stop wondering and just do it. We’re desperate for you. DESPERATE.

Healing

I’m almost there, I can feel it. I yo-yo back and forth between overdoing it and needing to take time to rest from the overdoing, which is always a good sign that points towards a “nearing full recovery” kind of thing. I’m glad I wrote about it this time around so I can look back and see the glacial pace and know that it’s completely normal. Six weeks of inactivity is a really long time. You don’t think it is when people throw that timeline around, but laying around for that long is mind-numbingly boring. I guess I should be thankful that I’m feeling like bursting my prison right as Christmas Season begins. What a glorious reward!

Highlights

  • Halloween was noisy and fun. I love hosting all these kids at our house.
  • I made a beautiful pumpkin soup this week that was so delicious.
  • The best idea came to me at church: At the end of each month, sit down with your spouse and schedule all your weekly date nights for the entire next month. So simple, but it’s literally never occurred to me. When I approached Michael with the idea, he improved it by saying we could align our four dates each month with the four goal-setting areas of the Church’s youth program in order to expand our horizons a little more. So, a date night dedicated to 1) Spiritual, 2) Intellectual, 3) Physical, and 4) Social pursuits each month. In months with five Fridays we’ll have a family date, which are the most expensive dates of them all, but you know, kids deserve some fun times out with their parents, too.

Lowlights

  • Renaissance got her car stuck in the mud when she went out with friends to a haunted house this last week. Thankfully, Michael came to her rescue. Where would we be without good dads?

Feral Choir Concert Toddler

2 Comments

Seeing how I posted my goals for the week on Wednesday, the chance that I’d make significant progress on them was small. It’s just been such a busy week, and with needing to still rest when I start feeling tired I just don’t have a lot of time for the extra things. It’s a frustrating place to find oneself, but nothing terrible will happen as a result. I would just like to be able to do all the things, is that too much to ask?! 😉

Top priorities this past week:

  • Processing the garden harvest
  • Ward Choir logistics
  • Band Booster everythings
  • Walks
  • Secret Christmas knitting

Caring

Rachel had her first choir concert of the year on Tuesday and it was really lovely. I love seeing how much kids can do after only a handful of weeks into the school year. Even the freshman choir sounded great!

.

Unfortunately, the family that sat behind us at the concert had a free-range toddler who pulled out some of my hair, and when I turned towards whatever the heck had yanked hair out of my scalp the offender wetly sneezed directly onto my eyeballs.

Zero stars. Would not recommend. It got even worse later on when the toddler tripped and smashed its face into the back of my seat and screamed their anguish into my ear. I was very glad when the concert finally ended and I got to go home.

.

Nathaniel had his last cross country meet today and he did SO GOOD. He placed TENTH in his race with a time of 20:00.0. He wanted a 19-minute-anything time so badly, but alas…ha ha ha. Considering that he ran his first race of the season with a time of 23:03.0, I think he can safely be pleased with his progress over the season.

.

Garden

I think all we managed to work on after all the work at the beginning of the week was to get the last pumpkin roasted and pureed. I did go to the store and purchase ingredients to make Green Tomato Mincemeat, but the excursion made my incisions hurt, so I decided to rest a bit before continuing with my plans. Unfortunately, I started feeling crummy that evening, and I woke up Friday morning feeling awful and ended up sleeping most of the day away. I think I was fighting off whatever the Choir Toddler sneezed into my face. I needed to do a bunch of other stuff today, so I still haven’t gotten to the mincemeat.

Community

.

The church Halloween party was last night and Rachel and Renaissance helped out with the face painting. Renaissance also took over getting our van ready for trunk or treating once it became obvious that I would not be attending the party due to feeling so yucky, and she did a delightful job!

.

Ward Choir logistics were dealt with this week and we’ll have sheet music to sing from tomorrow as long as I remember to make copies in the morning. I also ordered all of the Christmas sheet music and expect it to arrive next week, and I could cry over how much it all cost, but if I can get everyone I want to help out with the Christmas program it will be amazing. I am very excited about the possibilities.

I did not get to Band Booster stuff, but it’s high on my list of priorities for next week. The fabric for the table runners should arrive Tuesday afternoon, so I guess I’ll start sewing up table runners on Wednesday or Thursday. (Boring! But needed.)

Health

I went on zero walks this week. Between getting over the cold from last week and dealing with the Choir Toddler flash illness this week I just haven’t had the energy to do much more than some halfhearted office-y work from the couch. I’m doing my best, folks.

Healing from my surgeries is feeling good. One of my incisions is healing a little slower than it should so I have to do some extra care for that three times a day, but it looks like it’s working and the wound is finally closing up. Grocery shopping really tired me out on Wednesday, so I’m still working towards having more energy. It’ll come back.

Creativity

.

I worked on my not-secret knitting for a little while before Rachel’s choir concert. Emily and I went on a little yarn crawl together in July and I saw a skein of self-striping yarn in perfect Christmas colors and I had to have it. I’m making some adorable Christmas socks for myself from it and adding in solid red heels and toes because it’s perfect. I’m almost done with knitting up the heel flap of the first sock. I love that you can take the downtime of daily life (like waiting for a concert to begin) and use it to get further along on a project, rather than wasting that time looking at a phone. More crafting in public is needed! Join the cause!

I didn’t work on anything else due to the aforementioned ickiness that prevailed all week. I’m falling so far behind! Fingers crossed for a healthy new week!

Highlights

  • When Nathaniel came running over the crest of the hill before the finish line in his race, way before I expected to see him.
  • The huge smile on Rachel’s face when we handed her the bouquet of flowers after her choir concert.
  • How cute the van looked after Renaissance finished decorating it for the Halloween party.
  • Emily brought me Panda Express for lunch one day as she came home from running errands because she thought I’d like it.

Lowlights

  • The Feral Choir Concert Toddler :::squinty side-eye:::
  • Two illnesses in one week

Despite all the illnesses, I AM getting stronger and feeling better each week, so that’s good. Michael and I both are really excited for how much better I could potentially feel in my daily life once I get all healed up. Ugh, the amount of pain and lost days I’ve had to deal with for the past ten years is gobsmacking. And it could just be over now. Maybe. That’s incredibly exciting. We shall see…

I’ll leave you with a photo that Nathaniel texted me while he was out on a run this week. I may not be getting out a lot to enjoy this beautiful autumn weather, but my kids send me pretty pictures of it, for which I’m grateful. There’s always happy little glimmers to make one smile…

</graduation> <summer>

Leave a comment

While I am very pleased that I didn’t throw Renaissance’s graduation party until two weeks after graduation, I also feel like our summer vacation didn’t really get to start until now after the party is finished because we were so busy with putting the party together. I spent this past week trying to summon up the will to do anything and then just gave up because I figured it was my body’s way of taking a break after many, many months of non-stop activity. All good things, of course, but it’s been a lot and recovery is an important part of the wellness cycle. I’m hoping I slowed down enough and rested enough that I’ll be good to go for the rest of the summer.

I have missed my little weekly posts to begin and end each week, and I’m hoping I can get back into a routine that includes writing them. The past six weeks were really busy! Here’s the plan for the next week, as we really sink into our true summer schedule:

Cooking

This week’s meal plan:

  • Monday: Chicken Shawarma (Emily), Cherry Tomato Salad w/ Burrata & Pesto
  • Tuesday: Grilled Chicken, Cantaloupe Soup, Grape Salad, Breadsticks
  • Wednesday: Cheeseburgers (Because Rachel has been asking for them repeatedly), Shaved Summer Squash & Peas,
  • Thursday: Hot Dogs, 4th of July Jell-O, etc.
  • Friday: Ribs, Potato Salad, Corn on the Cob
  • Saturday: French Bread Pizza, Caesar Salad
  • Sunday: Panzanella

Clothing

Laundry is pretty caught up on the daily stuff; I still need to fold and figure out some of the other season stuff and do a wardrobe rotation to make sure all the cold weather clothing has been put away and all the summer clothing is out and in use.

I’m altering a flower girl dress for a friend’s daughter and it’s going pretty good thus far. I’ve basted all my alterations into the dress and the girl came over today to make sure everything was fitting correctly before I put in legit stitches, and it looks really good! I just took the very top of the side seam in a little too far and it’s going to rub her underarm too much, so I’ll let the alteration a wee bit there. Time to get going with permanent stitching!

Cleaning

  • Finish cleaning up the graduation party, which will require:
  • Decluttering and cleaning the pantry so I can find space to put the new chafing dishes and drink dispensers that I purchased for the grad party.
  • Let’s be honest here, those two things would be absolutely amazing to accomplish in just one week, so I’m going to keep it at two items on this list.

Caring

  • Driving lessons for Emily & Rachel, scheduled and everything
  • Spelling lessons for Rachel & Nathaniel, because that’s what we do in the summer
  • I’m teaching the lesson tomorrow for Family Home Evening and I’ll be walking the kids through the “Getting Things Done” filing system. I’ve come up with a great way to help them keep track of their incoming mail and schedule their stuff and keep track of their chores. I’ll write a post in a few months if it actually works well.
  • I need to find out more about the Fife & Drum Corps that I want Renaissance and Nathaniel to join.

Creativity

  • Much of my creativity time will be taken up by the flower girl dress alterations. I’m glad I’m doing it, but it also reminds of why I generally say no to these requests—I don’t have a lot of creative time and I’d like to use it for myself. No regrets on this particular commission, but it’s a good reminder.
  • I will be teaching all three girls the basics of garment sewing this summer with the end goal of Rachel being capable of stitching her own homecoming dress. I’m excited about this prospect because…
  • I am going to be learning a new skill over the next couple of months that should take my dressmaking abilities to new heights: Tambour Beading. Tools arrive today and I’ve made a promise to myself I won’t start playing with them until I’m done with the flower girl dress, so hopefully I can speed through the alterations this week so that I actually get to start learning how to do this beading technique ASAP. I am SO EXCITED!
  • I need to check in on the various quilt blocks I sent out into the world for Ren’s Signature Graduation Quilt. There were a handful of last-minute cancellations on attending her party as well, so I might reach out and see if they want quilt blocks to sign.
  • I need a Crafting-in-the-Van project because summer music lessons will be starting up this week or next. Obvious options include: Smitten Quilt, Beehive Embroidery, Roses Hexagon EPP Quilt, and the Star Spangled Diamonds Quilt (I think this is too big for van crafting, though). My heart wants a new project, preferably embroidery and/or historical costuming-related. I am really not in a quilty mood right now, or knitting, either.

Gardening

It is looking so beautiful. I am so glad for every hour I’ve spent out there to get it ready this year because the view is absolutely worth it. I take a thirty minute break every morning after I wake up the kids to sit in the backyard and watch the birds flit about and feel the sun on my face. I love summer mornings.

  • Keep harvesting the peas, which are coming fast right now. The peas I planted on President’s Day weekend are massively producing, and also starting to fade a bit. The peas I planted near St. Patrick’s Day are ramping up production and will take us through a few more weeks I think. It was a good experiment with those dates. The peas I planted in April haven’t amounted to much at all. I’m not sure if I’ll get any pods off of them.
  • The lettuces and spinach are producing marvelously right now, but we also have so much cut lettuce left over from Ren’s graduation party that we’re not using the garden lettuces at all. Hopefully we can plough through all the leafy greens before everything goes bad or bolts.
  • Everything else is in the growing/maturing stages: Zucchini, Summer Squash, Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Eggplant, Tomatillos, Hot Peppers, Sweet Peppers, Bush Beans, and lots of herbs.
  • There’s also some corn coming up, along with some pumpkins. I’m really excited for these two crops. Corn is always fun to grow, and I bought a purple variety this year. Hopefully it’s tasty. And pumpkins are just delightful.

Celebrating

  • Still cleaning up graduation stuff, but it’s coming along
  • Happy Canada Day today! I don’t do anything for it anymore because I have a lot to do for the Fourth of July, but I still like to wish people a happy Canada Day when it rolls around.
  • Fourth of July Jell-O preparations will commence tomorrow. I need to make sure we actually have everything we need, but that’s also something that can be remedied the day of if need be.
  • Pioneer Day is coming up and I’m not sure if we’re doing anything for it. Church is having a potluck or something and I think I saw something about a pie-making contest, which I’ll need to mention to the girls because they will absolutely commit.
  • Renaissance’s eighteenth birthday is coming up in a little over a month. No idea what we’re doing, should probably get on that.

Community

  • Ward Choir is on my mind as we get it started up. I like to have them perform once a month, so we’ll be hitting the rehearsals hard. I’d also like to start figuring out the Christmas program ASAP so I can get music ordered and have everything ready to go in September/October, depending on the difficulty of the pieces.
  • Hymns have not been chosen for July because sacrament meeting topics weren’t chosen when I was looking yesterday. A reminder text was sent.
  • Need to do July contacting with ministering sisters. My two companions are both moving out of state this week, so I’m also waiting to hear who my new companions will be. I’ve asked for it to be my own daughters, so we’ll see, I guess.
  • I have a couple of books about decorating and entertaining that I like to read from time to time, and I just read the summer chapter from The Collected Cottage and I’m all revved up to do some summer entertaining, but I don’t know what to do. That beautiful chapter just makes me want to have friends over and enjoy the beautiful weather while we can, but it’s a leap to invite new people over and everyone is so busy with travel and houseguests during the summer. I guess I just need a mentality of “Just keep asking until someone says yes?”
  • I’m sure there’s Band Booster stuff I should have my eye on, but I gave myself the last week off and am uninformed at the moment. I’ll have to reacquaint myself and start touching base with the other band moms.

Top priorities this week:

  • Finish cleaning up the graduation party, which will require:
  • Decluttering and cleaning the pantry so I can find space to put the new chafing dishes and drink dispensers that I purchased for the grad party.
  • Flower girl dress alterations.
  • Fourth of July preparations. Mmmmm, Jell-O.
  • Ward Choir prep.

It’s the time of year for enjoying the weather, and thankfully, I’m solar-powered so the sunshine helps me get loads of stuff done. Happy North American Country Day that you celebrate, if that pertains to you, and I’ll talk to you again soon!

Renaissance’s High School Graduation

1 Comment

We made it! She’s a full-fledged high school graduate!

.

.

.

.

.

.

I’m just so proud of her. She’s always been a hard worker and these past two years have seen her working harder than ever, which has been awesome to witness. She’s ready for the real world with a plan and a work ethic that will bring her success. I just love these milestone moments; these chapter endings. She’s done with being a child, which is bittersweet; but she’s got a whole blank canvas of adulthood ahead of her, which is so exciting. I am so glad to be a mother and to have done the work of mothering this sweet girl. She’s been such a joy to raise and I can’t wait to see what she does in the next chapter of her life.

It Begins: Graduation Week

Leave a comment

Big week ahead!  I’m starting to feel really worn out by everything, but I’m trying to ignore the feeling and just enjoy everything that’s going on.  Next week will be much less busy and I’ll make sure to take some time to rest and recover, but until then I just gotta keep going!

Cooking

This week’s meal plan:  Don’t judge me, it’s going to be an extremely busy week where I’ll only have about thirty minutes to throw dinners together.

  • Monday: Costco Chicken Alfredo & Mac ‘n Cheese, Green Goddess Salad, French Bread
  • Tuesday: Waffles, Eggs, Bacon
  • Wednesday: Pizza
  • Thursday: Hot Dogs
  • Friday: Salad Bar
  • Saturday: Citrus & Honey Chicken Breasts, Cilantro Rice, Broccoli, Strawberry & Spinach salad
  • Sunday: Chicken Tostada Salad, Fajita Veggies

Clothing

  • Everyone needs dresses hemmed for some reason
  • I cannot find Michael’s khakis, which he needs for graduation.  Where could they have possibly gone?  Super annoying.  I’ve looked in all the places they should be and in places they could be and nope.
  • Continually monitor the wrinkly-ness of Renaissance’s graduation robe after each thing she needs to wear it to this week and re-iron as needed.

Cleaning

I didn’t even get to the toaster last week, so…don’t hold your breath on any of the other things!

Caring

All eyes are on graduation this week, so everything that isn’t that has been rescheduled for dealing with next week. Oh! Michael and Nathaniel needs haircuts before graduation. They look like shaggy dogs right now.

Creativity

  • The graduation signature quilt blocks are halfway assembled and they may stay that way through the graduation party.  What’s done so far is enough for them to be serviceable at the party, so I’m going to spend my time on more pressing things and circle back to finishing these blocks when I have time, which may not be until after the party.
  • I need to start sewing up the bunting for the grad party decorations.  I just think it will add the nicest touch.
  • Other grad party decoration preparations will probably wait until next week when I have more time.

Gardening

  • I need to kill some slugs.  As predicted, they’re gobbling up the petunias.  If I could just remember to buy slug killer at the store, I could easily move this problem to a much more positive outcome.
  • Still need to get the Three Sisters planted, but we’ve got an atmospheric river pouring on us right now and the weather’s not set to clear up until graduation ceremony day and I will be beyond busy during that time.  Maybe I can get to this on the weekend?  Same to the front porch plantings and figuring out what the heck I want to do with the front yard plantings.

Celebrating

There’s so much going on this week—Baccalaureate ceremony, a choir concert, and graduation!  There’s still a lot that needs to be done for some of these things, but we should be OK.

Community

  • I can push most of this stuff to next week and I am actively trying to do so.  I did reach out to my ministering companions to try to set something up for next week and one of them has gotten back to me, so that’s a start.
  • With the release of the thirteen new hymns I have some work to do on the music front at church and I got a bit of a start on it yesterday with good outcomes.  Someone recommended that I join the “Music Callings Resources” Facebook group for good ideas, but so far it’s only seemed to be a big bunch of squabbling complainers who are personally offended that the Church didn’t pick their favorite song for release, and if it’s not that kind of person, it’s the super annoying “I know more about music than you do” people who enjoy flaunting their musical knowledge and elevated opinions.  I’m hoping it’s just a little agitated over there because of the announcement, but I’ll leave the group if, after my 30 day snooze wears off, it’s still a lot of the same a month from now.  What an absolute downer of an experience.

Top priorities this week:

  • Graduation and all of its associated events
  • Keep everyday life afloat in the midst of all the graduation stuff

Graduation is really here! I remember my mom friends being all “it’s going to go by so fast!” at the beginning of the school year, and while I think we kept so, so busy this year with all the fun that a senior year brings, it is weird that graduation is actually here. I think I’m still recovering from the epic prom dresses, so graduation feels like it popped up out of nowhere! I was telling Michael this morning that I’m so glad there’s all these graduation warm-up events before actual graduation because, based on how much I’m tearing up at these pre-graduation events, I don’t think I’d make it through the actual graduation ceremony with any sort of composure if I was just thrown into it without any of this other stuff happening first. Emily’s graduation was a big deal, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t really involved with her activities and peer group because we were still kind of new to the area, COVID was still impacting things a bit, and she wasn’t involved in as many things as Renaissance is. Graduation feels so much bigger when you actually know the kids who are graduating and have a lot of memories with them. My cup runneth over…see you on the other side of this week!