It's Confirmed

Riding "Big Baa" he did NOT want to get down

My child is odd.

This weekend we were out an about as we went to Woodbury's Big Trucks (with only a couple melt downs), the Afton Apple Orchard (PACKED!!), Afton's art fair, and hung out at home. 

When we do these little side day trips, I bring snacks with for J, because I've realized he's a lot like me.  If he's hungry, he gets crabby.  and quick...  So to help avoid meltdowns, and to keep the Holy Trinity items at bay as long as possible.  If you are unaware as to the HT in our house it is:  B (J's workd for his blanket), Baa (his stuffed sheep) and Nuk (if you dont know this, I can't help you).  Everywhere we go, they go.  Church, store, Target, Grandma's, a walk, they go.  They can stop tears in no time.  But, as it gets closer to Nuk's depature date (which is not set, but eventually), we try to keep the 3 items at a bare minimum.

Anyways, as a result, I keep food around as much as possible.  Cuz if does get angry/cranky, then he is DEFINETLY acting like his daddy, not his momma!  :)

A go to item tends to be the food pouches (of either applesauce, or a fruit/veggie combo) or our version of trail mix.  Our version just tends to be whatever we have in the house.  Goldfish, cheerio's, life cereal, pb or cheese crackers, but there are 2 items that are ALWAYS in there. 

Nope, not chocolate.
Not nuts.

Raisins and yogurt covered raisins. 

Seriously, this kid LOVES raisins.  He asks for them, and will pick out all the raisins before he eats anything else out of the trail mix.  Who does that??  Usually that's what is left from trail mix, along wtih the peanuts.  Cashews - gone.  Peanuts - hangin out with the raisins. 

I was reading a babycenter blog about handing out candy for Halloween, and people trying to think of other things.  A few comments were about how useless it was to do boxes of raisins, because they just get tossed, and no one likes them. 

Well, send them our way.  Apparently, J did not get that memo, and prefers raisins to chocolate.  (Just add some dark chocolate too, for me!)

Pickin some apples



No idea what that face is about

Hangin out in the bucket

Giving "Baa" a kiss

Big boy hanging out under the snow plow

He does love pumpkin cookies though.  A lot.  :)


My First Quilt Tutorial

I have gotten into sewing over the years, and although my fabric stash comes no where near my aunt Debbie's, it's getting up there.  I buy stuff with no real purpose in mind, if it's on sale, or just too cute to pass up.  I also have a few bought for stuff I know i want to do. 

I was in a purse/bag kick for awhile, and although I love me a new purse, I was getting tired of doing them.  And after tackling an Amy Butler pattern for diaper bag, on my own (aka, no help from Jen) I realized I could do more than just bags.

Jen made Jacob a gorgous quilt for my baby shower.  This girl put time into it.  And it was her first quilt.  That girl has talent.  I realized that I will need to up my game when they decide to have a baby, and so I should start working on that now. 

I made a quilt for my soon to be born niece.  The first on the Posey side.  I actually did it without a pattern, although I'm sure that is obvious.  It is like a playskool, my first ______, except quilt version.
It was fun picking out the fabric, all girly and baby.  I actually had made Bailey a purse for her birthday a few years back, and had some leftover fabric from that, which i was able to incorporate into her baby girl's quilt.  Like Momma like baby right?

I had the baby word fabric from Jen, which was from Jacob's quilt, so Baby Girl Posey gets something from her momma and her cousin.  The other fabrics, purple dot, owl, pink side, was actually from Target and was for receiving blankets.  The backing was the minky pink from JoAnn's that is just so soft.

I started by cutting all the fabric, by far the most time intensive part I think.  The width was the the length of the receiving blankets, and then i did 3.5 inches for the width of each strip.  I cut 15 strips, 4 of the purple dot, 4 of the pink, 3 of the purse fabric, 2 brown baby, and 2 owl.

Start cutting away

 After pinning the pieces, I started sewing.  1/4 inch seam, matching right sides together.  I wanted the quilt to be wider than receiving blankets, so I stitched together all except the 4 pink pieces, in the following order:
Purple, Purse, Baby, Owl, Purple, Purse, Purple, Owl, Baby, Purse, Purple
You can view pics farther down to see a visual.

Starting the block sewing

 First 3 strips done!

 Here is the finished strip sewing, also a visual for those who want to see the pattern.

 Next, I attached the pink strips to the outside where I wanted them.  They meet in the middle since I was using the length of the recieving blanket for this.  Even though a seam in the middle, it works out well, and adds texture.

I then stitched the oustide pink strips to the quilt, again matching right sides together and 1/4" seam

 Next, came the batting.  I went a bit overboard on the batting, because this was My First Quilt, and it didn't seem "fluffy" enough to me, so I did two layers.  You only need one....

I cut to the size of the quilt and pinned it down to the wrong side of the quilt.

 At this time, I also cut the oh so soft pink minky fabric for the backing.  I pinned this to the other side of the batting, so it looked like a quilt (almost) at this point. 

After pinning the batting and the backing to the front of the quilt, I stitched a 1/2" seam around the entire quilt.  Don't worry about the edges, that's what the binding is for!
Sorry for the blurry edged picture...

 After, I added the premade binding (in white).  It took two packages, bought from JoAnn's. I pinned, and then stitched as close to the inside quilt edge of the binding in matching thread.

All DONE!!

 Here is a view with the backside also.

 I opted to not stitch across the quilt.  I had debated on it, but due to timing, it just wasn't going to work with the shower coming up.

Can't wait to meet Baby Girl, who is due to arrive next week!!



Morning Photo Session

We recently did a photo session with Ilisa of Ailts Photography.  She has done lots of sessions for us since I was pregnant, but I love how these ones captured the "true" Jacob.  She came over for a couple of hours one Saturday morning and followed us as we did our normal thing.

One of my favs, signing Johnny Appleseed for prayer time at breakfast

 

So serious, still watching Ilisa

I love his face when he's snffing flowers

It is rare when we pass flowers with out Jacob sniffing them

Look at me climbing the stairs!

Love the colors

"where's Jacob??"

Cuddles

Jacob's FAVORITE pic, he had to bring to daycare with him one day, carried it around and everything

He really does ride the tractor and 4wheeler on a daily basis

Trying to do family pics

Hard work pushing the tractor up the hill

Sunshines & Smiles - Summer Catch Up

Getting comfy on the waok

Taking nieces to get mani/pedi's for their birthdays

Washing the tractor (daddy was so proud!)

Playdate for both J and mommy... :)

Chillin on the way to the state fair with Momma's glasses and the tractor trader

New store that opened in Afton LOVE IT!

First day of Early Preschool (best photo i could get...)

Mumford and Sons Concert with Jess & Jen

Small Group - Large Impact

I had dinner with a friend last night.  One who has encouraged me, challenged me to be better, forced me out of my box.  I love friends like that.  Ones who see the person you can be, and push you (in a gentle manner) to be that person, to help you see who they see.  (if that makes sense.)

She is a large factor as to why I started my own bible study group.  I have been wanting to join one again for awhile, but just wasnt finding quite what I was looking for.  I wrestled with starting my own group. Could I truly lead a group of women, when I feel like I am still learning God's grace and love on a daily basis?  I didnt trust that I could.  Finally, I did it.  And as much as I would love to say it instantly took off it didnt. 

My group was listed for about a month, before I had anyone contact me.  That is like torture.  I questioned myself.  I questioned if this was the path God was leading me on, or if I was just "hearing" what I wanted to.  I felt rejected.  I had put myself out there, on the line, and nothing.

But, I should know by now, God does things on his time, not mine.  (I'm sure it's not a lesson I have mastered yet either).  And one by one, I started getting emails from girls from church I had never met.  Women who wanted fellowship.  Mother's who wanted to raise their children in Christ's love.  During this time, I had also met one of our new neighbors who has a son 4 months older than Jacob.  I had joked (kinda, was half serious) with Mike that I was going to start stalking her, and make her be my friend.  I don't know a lot of moms in my area, especially with young boys.  

She had invited us to her son's bday party, and of course Jacob approved since there were John Deere's and cake involved, and I was even more committed to my stalking project when their family prayed before the birthday meal.  (In full disclosure, I have told my neighbor about my stalking plans, and luckily she still talks to me :))

I decided to go out on a limb and invite her to join my group.  It was another one of those moments I wrestled, and sweated buckets over.  I mean seriously, I didnt want to come across as the crazy neighbor (which I'm sure I did) and I could count on one hand the amount of times I've talked to her. 

So, there started my group.  Two girls I have never met, and another one I practically hog tied and drug to my house.  It has been the best thing for my faith, sanity, and motherhood this year.  We now have 5 of us, and meet every week. 

I realized I don't need all the answers.  And they are not looking for all the answers.  Just to be able to have friends you can share the day to day mundane child rearing, mother guilt, wife tasks, etc, and have people who understand is phenomenal.  I love Monday nights.  I feel so light hearted, and inspired by these women. 

It makes me a better mom, wife, me, and Christ follower.  I have new ideas on prayer with Jacob, on how to show him Christ's love, and knowing I dont need to be perfect.  I'm so excited to see where God leads us, and how we will grow and challenge each other. 

In case you are wondering we finished Out of the Spin Cycle this past week.  I would HIGHLY recommend it to mother's looking for a humorous, as well as thought provoking book.  The chapters are short, so it's easy to read even if you are in the trenches of motherhood.  If you do read it, let me know, I would LOVE to see what your thoughts are one it!