Lohns Fu Manchu

Would you kiss this???


Cause I won't till it's GONE! (He's really quite handsome clean shaven folks, I swear!)

My knitting skills at work!

I learned how to knit just one year ago, but I am having sooo much fun with it. I'm not that great at it yet (this hat was supposed to fit ME) but I love just having something to do with my hands when I am watching TV or watching kids play outside. And I am sorry Lohn, but there just was no little girl around when I needed a model for a picture...

October Quilts

Lets cure us some sausage!

Look what we found hanging on the playground structure! Right where the kiddos play! Kids were touching it, and flies and bees were crawling all over it. Turns out, an older Chinese gentlemen was visiting his daughter, and didn't want it hanging in their 500 ft. apartment. So, what is worse, urinating on the slide or raw sausage dangling on the playground structure? hmmmm... It's a toss up. (Also I think it is worthy to note that this same gentlemen has been seen many times walking BACKWARDS on the bike path to campus, but hey, we all have our oddities...)

UPDATE: The sausage was back today, with a ball propping the sausage away from the playground structure. Isn't that thoughtful??? We won't have to sanitize the structure now. Just the ball.

Interview tomorrow!

Well folks, Lohn has another interview tomorrow. This one is with Capital One Bank. Lohn wants to get into banking and this could be a great job. Please send prayers our way. Thanks!

It's a darn good thing they are cute...

Cause if they weren't, I'm not sure they would be alive.



What a day! Ander ran in the house today and told me that "GUNNAR PEED ON THE SLIDE!" Dumbfounded, I ran outside, just to see Gunnar running away and hiding from me. I sent him in the house, got the details from a mom on the playground, and went home to get the details from Gunnar. Our conversation went like this...
Me to Gunnar: "What happened?"
Gunnar: "Ander did it too!"
Me to Ander: "Did you pee on the slide too?" (insert Angry eyes)
Ander: "NO!"
Me: "Ander, I can tell you are lying. Did you pee on the slide?"
Ander: "No..."
Me: "ANDER...." (insert raised voice)
Ander: "I just peed in the stairwell"
Me: "Blah blah blah, GO TO YOUR ROOM!" (no need to insert the whole conversation, just think wild, crazy banshee)

I cooled off for a few minutes then tell the boys they lose two days of outside time, and sent both boys outside with clorox wipes. While walking to the slide, Gunnar insists that Ander peed on the slide too. (Ander was at the stair well "cleaning up his mess.") After a minute Ander came back, saying there was nothing to clean up.
Me to Ander: "Did you pee in the stairwell?"
Ander: "No..."
Me to Ander: "Ander, did you pee on the slide?"
Ander (with side glance at my friend): "Well she didn't see me."
Me: "Ander, Heavenly Father saw you. Did you pee on the slide?"
Ander (with big sigh): "Yeeees."
Me: "Ander you lose THREE days of outside priveledges. One day for lying to me."

After this I thought awful thoughts of how I can ruin their lives for the next 15 years, and make them regret they ever pulled their pants down outside. But I have cooled off since, and I don't think I will do that. They are unbelievably cute, and sweet and adorable (evidence above, minus Ander, but he's cute too). I will just make them work their little tooshes off for the next few days. And of course, immortalize the story by blogging it for the entire world to read, also for future malicious blackmailing purposes... (insert evil laugh)

Build a bear

I love Notre Dame! They paid for all the MBA kids to get their own build a bear. Sylas LOVED putting a heart in his bear, bathing it, and putting it in his little house. He went to bed last night cuddling it.

Look at what Tamsyn made!!!

And she made it all by herself! I taught her how to knit last Sunday. Just two short lessons was all it took. She picked right up on it. After I put her to bed last night, she made this choker all by herself, without me present to help. She knitted it to the right length, made the button hole herself and sewed on the button (I have a feeling she was up later than I approve...) I am super proud of her eagerness to learn a new skill and also her persistence. She has been knitting all week long, undoing, redoing, starting all over again, and now she has it nearly perfected. WAY TO GO TAMSYN!!!

I'm a CHEAPO!

Its been kinda nice to be poor, because it has forced me to find creative ways to NOT spend money. When Tamsyn is invited to a birthday party, we just whip up a couple of these hair flowers in a couple of minutes and TA DAHHH, hardly any money spent. And The girls seem to like them. These hair clips are for a birthday she was invited to at last moment, and it saved us a trip to the store too. I love to shop the clearance racks at Meijer, and I buy baby clothes for 1 or 2 dollars and store them for baby showers. Right now I have 4 baby boy outfits and 2 baby girl dresses that I bought for less than 3 dollars each. Isn't that sooo much better than 10 to 20 dollars a gift???? I am still kicking my self for passing up the Bakugans for 1 dollar each. WHAT WAS I THINKING???

Village clean-up day

We spent one Saturday morning cleaning up the Village grounds. The kids were all great helpers. We picked up two HUGE bags of trash and they "helped" in the garden.
AREN'T THEY ADORABLE!!!

September Quilts

Wow, I have been busy! My blog has been nagging at me in the back of my mind for a while now. I'm usually better at posting than I have been lately. This picture is the number one reason why I haven't blogged for a month. My days are consumed with buying materials for the homeless shelter quilts and the Village's guest apartments quilts, organizing them, putting them together, collecting and turning in receipts (still need to do that, it's NAGGING me in the back of my mind!) Not to mention homework with the kids, dinner, endless laundry and dishes and vacuuming. Sometimes I feel like it's all just too much and I miss my ME time. (I miss it a whole bunch...) But I know I am doing the Lord's will. I knew I would organize Quilt day at Notre Dame even before we moved here and thats what He would have me do. I had no idea how to do it without frames, no idea where I would get the funding, or space to do it. But the Village has taken care of the funding and space and I learned how to do it without frames. I think those little homeless kids are pretty special in God's eyes. And I think He wants those kids to have a special blankie. So I am going to stop whining, thank God for my ABUNDANT blessings, and get back to work!

Also, I let Tamsyn and Ander pick out the fabrics since they were with me on my first fabric shopping trip. I thought the combinations of tops and bottoms were interesting, but I figured, if they like it then other kids will like it too. And I do think they turned out nice. I think I will have them pick out next months fabric too.