I ain't no Vera Wang

...but I do now own a sewing machine.

Last weekend I finally purchased a sewing machine. I'd been wanting to buy one for a while but I always found that there was something else I wanted a little bit more. I really wanted to finish the Christmas stockings that I started right after Lillian was born. So I spent a chunk of a nice last Saturday afternoon putting together the stockings that I cut out and embroidered back in 2009.

Being behind the sewing machine brought back some fond memories for me. I remember sitting in my parents kitchen sewing Barbie Doll clothes on my mom's Bernina. I smile at the memory of going downstairs to the box of material scraps that my mom kept. From there I learnt the basics of patterns and sewing.

This set the stage for my Home Ec sewing adventures in Junior High. Grade seven was the customary pair of pants. (Red plastic as I recall. All the rage. I do believe they also had a pocket. Bonus points for difficulty.) Grade eight involved a sweatshirt. No real recollections of what that was. But grade nine. Oh, grade nine I remember. We got to choose our own project. And I chose a Raggedy Anne doll. I'm not sure what part of it appealed to me but whatever it was I was fully engaged in making this The. Best. Raggedy Anne Doll. I spent hours sewing that hair and embroidering the face. While others sewed housecoats (which may or may not have had seams down the back :)), I was busy making a doll which I ended up calling Zamboni. No idea why. (I am proud to say said doll now sits in my daughters room.)

The funny thing is that I don't actually enjoy the process of sewing. In fact, I told my mom halfway into the sewing of the first stocking that I remembered not liking this. But the end. Now that's a part to enjoy. There is something rewarding about seeing your idea come to fruition. To have sat in our cramped living room with a newborn last Christmas imagining what stockings for our family of four would look like. And then seeing them complete.

Welcome to my life Husquvarna. (Yes, that's right. My sewing machine is made by the same company that is A-mazing at chain saws. How could my sewing not have real, raw power?) I imagine we will have a story or two to tell down the road.

This is the life

A few weeks back we (and by "we" I mean Trevor) made a fire pit in our backyard. Last night we had a weiner roast when Trevor came home from work. It was a perfect fall night. Elijah loves "helping" with the fire and I imagine that he is a lot like his daddy was at that age.

One thing I didn't account for in the building of a fire pit was the dramatic increase in the consumption of marshmallows in our house. Good thing they're cheap.

My Favourite Deputy

Elijah is going to his cousin's birthday party this afternoon. It's a cowboy theme. He's been wearing his cowboy boots all morning.

Summer fun

Sharing

It starts with a pleading look to Grandma and ends with her "sharing" Grandma's apple.

Off to the ER we go... again...

This sweet little boy had another brush with the ER this week. He was playing outside and he must have tripped because he started wailing. He doesn't really cry when he gets hurt so that was the first sign that it was bad. The second sign was the blood covering his face. There is nothing like that time between seeing the blood and finding out where it's coming from. Turns out he split his tongue open down the middle. The blood was really coming out so we packed up our Camry and headed to the hospital. It eventually stopped bleeding so they didn't have to do any stitching.

He was quickly back to his happy self and there have only been a few moments of discomfort as he tries to eat or drink from his sippy cup. And he's not even three yet...

Good times

Elijah has discovered Buzz Lightyear from "Toy Story". He loves Buzz. He runs around the house saying "To infinity and beyond" (actually, it comes out more like "oo i ini ee a ee on") So we left on our road trip to Minneapolis prepared that we would need to pull out the portable DVD player that we bought so he could watch his new favorite movie. We didn't even need to take it out as a good portion of the trip down was him playing with his monkey and teddy bear (which have been turned into Buzz and Woody respectively).

We had a wonderful couple of days with our friends. Their children were gracious and kind to Elijah and Lillian. They got on the floor and played with Lillian and headed downstairs with Elijah more times than we could count so that he could play with all their toys. (He told me yesterday that the favorite part of the trip for him was the downstairs.) It is sometimes sad to have good friends living so far away but it is good for the soul to be able to see each other for several days and watch our children become a part of each others lives.