Making Aprons

We were recently considering how we could encourage our pastor's wife and his daughters (currently they have six) to continue to be ladies given to hospitality. We hoped to bless them for being so giving to our church family and for being a great family of hospitality. They had invited our family over for dinner this past Friday and also had recently hosted Colin and Nancy Campbell in their home during our church's conference with them. We decided that aprons would be an appropriate choice for their gift.

We were inspired by the ladies at Marie Madeline Studio(http://www.mariemadelinestudio.com/ ) who make aprons and other feminine treats. We made five aprons that range in size. We presented their aprons to them on Friday night after dinner.

We designed the pattern and used the little ladies in our family to help design the right sizes. Each apron cost less than $3. We used on sale "fat quarters" to make the top and bottom, ribbon for the ties and remants for the neck, ruffles and trim. The aprons do not cover as much as a grown lady might want, especially if she likes to wipe her hands on the sides of her apron skirts, because these skirts are not very wide. The was one way that we cut corners on cost and were able to utilize the remnant pieces that were on sale.

We made certain there would be no raw edges, so we used french seams, lining, bias tape and ribbon to cover all the edges. This took extra time, but it will increase the longevity of the life of the aprons.

Kendal, Kelsey and I were able to do the majority of the work in about seven hours. We made a great team! I should mention that it was Martin Luther King Jr. day and Bob had the rest of the family at Grandma Butler's while we worked! That helped tremendously!

Here are the Shedd girls with their aprons on. Baby Juliana is not included. :)
The Butler girls and all the Shedd girls together.

In this photo, Joy is modeling the apron I made for our six year old friend's birthday. I bought material for this special apron. So there was plenty of fabric to line the top and bottom. The skirt is gathered. All the seams are inside. It helps to make it feel and look professionally made. It has been a great learning experience for us to design and sew so many aprons. Kendal has made two other lovely aprons, for a friend, and they are even different from these.

This is Ashleigh in her new apron. She really loved it!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Mary and a Weekend with the Campbells!

On Sunday our sweet little Mary turned three!!! It's so hard to believe that our tiny baby that was due in March, arrived six weeks early, and weighed only five pounds, is THREE! Praise the Lord!

We clustered all three little girls' birthdays on one day last year. Anna and Mary's birthdays are only six days apart. This year Anna and Mary are sharing a birthday celebration on Anna's birthday: this Saturday. But on this Sunday morning we put three candles on Mary's pancake and sang to her before church.

Our weekend was very special for another reason: we spent it with Colin and Nancy Campbell, the founders of the Above Rubies ministry. Their magazine has blessed us for nearly a decade and their encouragement has played a major part in our decision to entrust our family size to God.

The conference was fairly small and we were blessed with an intimate final session with Colin and Nancy at our pastor's home. It was surreal to literally rub shoulders with Nancy Campbell in the Shedd family dining room. I asked her every question that I could think of during the weekend. She spoke boldly about God's design for women on Saturday in three sessions, while Colin spoke to the men. On Sunday Colin preached and we all shared lunch and a fun afternoon together. Our fireside chat at the Shedd's home lasted for hours. No one wanted to leave. We could've gladly adopted this dear couple as honorary grandparents. They were thankful for all of us and we were thankful for them. We were all praising God for his kindness in letting us be together. We couldn't resist having our picture taken with the Campbells. I hope we will always be as excited about living for God and raising godly seed as we are today!

Noah's First Official Haircut

Whether to cut baby hair or not is always a huge debate. In our family, however, if it's a boy, there's no option. Our children have such thick and long hair that they would look ridiculous is we did not cut their hair several times before their first birthday. Noah already has more hair than all of his buddies and they are months older than him. So, we started with a little trim over the ears here and there, but after Christmas we couldn't procrastinate any longer. After the haircut we discovered that he doesn't have brown hair, but blonde! Who knew?

He wiggled quite a bit so it's not the best cut ever. Fortunately, there will be many more chances to correct the mistakes since his hair grows so quickly. So we let him wear some hats now and then. ha! ha! He doesn't care. He's too busy with all his new tricks: sitting up from crawling position and pulling up to stand! It's always so funny to find a baby sitting in his crib for the first time, or to hear him giggling over the monitor because instead of napping he is standing up! So sweet! I never tire of the precious milestones. And the children are clapping and cheering him all the way!

Happy 5th Birthday, Joy!

Today, Joy is five!!! She started the day by coloring her own birthday placemat at the breakfast table. She's enjoying a nice day at home with fun gifts that were purchased with money from her Grandma Butler, Granddad Bill and Grandma Brenda. Her Play-Doh Ice Cream and Dessert Shop was a big hit! Even with the older children. They've been making desserts for most of the day.

Yummy! Too bad they aren't real! One of her little gifts is a princess hat. She looks so lovely in it! Daniel offered to be the horse for the "princess". What a gentleman.

Joy was especially excited about her new tea set. It has four place settings so she can invite her best friends for tea.

She was so responsible when she carefully washed each piece of her tea set so they can put real food and drink in and on them.

Noah was thrilled when we let him stand up to the coffee table and see what everyone was doing.

Later she'll get to pick out her own favorite healthy treat at the store, in lieu of a cake, since we have so many colds in the house right now. And her daddy is bringing home a easy reader Bible-brand new and just for her. She's been using the ones that belonged to her older brothers and sisters and the covers are falling off of them both. Kendal learned to read by taking a Bible like that to bed with her at naptime when she was four or five. Maybe it will be just as easy for Joy.

Joy is such fun and a true blessing to our family! She has become an enthusiastic helper with dishes, schoolwork and laundry this year. We're going to make an extra effort this year to help her learn to read, memorize more scripture, play the guitar and be more obedient the first time.

Guitars!

In an earlier post we mentioned that our children wanted a guitar for Christmas. They have been sharing one half-sized guitar that we purchased with DVD lessons, from Grandma Butler for one of their shared gifts.

Kendal, Kelsey, Anna, Daniel, Isaac and I have been diligently strumming away. A couple of days after Christmas we bought a guitar worship book. Then, Bob allowed Kelsey to use the money she'd earned by cooking for our family to purchase her own, full-size guitar! He spotted her a few months of pay so that she could take advantage of a holiday sale. Her guitar is beautiful and made of cedar. It sounds wonderful! Now that we have two guitars, there is a constant strumming in our home.

We've learned enough chords to play "Amazing Grace", loads of children's tunes and many, many more. Kendal even borrowed a capo for changing the key. She's determined to master the instrument before the month is over!


Now, everyone is asking for a guitar for their birthdays. Thankfully Kelsey is sharing her guitar with those of us who are a little too big for the half-size one. We may turn out to be a musical family afterall!






Kendal's practicing on Kelsey's guitar and the laundry is waiting on the couch behind her. :)
Anna is so diligent. She's learned "Amazing Grace".

The Day after Christmas at Grandma Butler's house

We gathered with Bob's mother, his aunt, cousins, niece, sisters in law, and brother for a delicious meal and an evening of fun on December 26th. We enjoyed seeing everyone. Holidays are a wonderful excuse for visiting!

Kendal and JiJi at the dinner table. They enjoyed chatting through the whole meal.
Daniel, Joy and Anna. Bob and his cousin DJ are in the background at the second dinner table. Bob's brother, Otis, Noah and Isaac at dinner. Otis prepared a tasty beef filet.

Otis' wife, Lisa, and Grandma Butler.

Otis and most of our family playing the Bible version of Apples to Apples, a card game.

Otis with Noah.

JiJi, DJ, Aunt Joan and Betty Lynn.

Lisa and Marcella at dinner. We always enjoy getting together!

This was our children's favorite decorated house. It's on Grandma Butler's street.