What I'm Reading. Plus a Picture.

"Thinking Parent, Thinking Child" by Myrna Shure

I rented this from the library and I've heard positive things about it. We'll see. We're going through a very difficult phase with Shiloh right now and I could use all of the help and extra insight I can get. I'm not sure if it's independence, more self-awareness or just plain stubbornness, but it's a daily challenge.

I've grown accustomed to reading Christian parenting books almost exclusively in recent years, so it's a little difficult to look at this book through those eyes. I'm just in the first bit, so I'm not giong to judge it on that point just yet, but it's just... different. At any rate, I'm not a fan of the book cover. Maybe things like that don't matter to you, but they drive me crazy. The cover image sends a pointed message -- the father is lagging behind with his hands in his pockets while the mother is enthusiastically leading the way. As our brother James would say, "My brothers, this should not be!" (Js 3) As the spiritual leader, the father should be leading the charge and setting the example, not the other way around. Again, it's just a picture. Not a big deal. But it bothers me. Then again, what doesn't...? ;o)

One of the main points of Shure's method seems to be asking children to think about how what they're doing makes them feel and how they think it makes you feel. You're encouraged to ask your children if they can think of a different way to solve problems, the goal being to help them arrive at their own solutions, thus being more willing to carry them out. I completely get the logic. Today, Shiloh was making a slew of bad choices. Very calmly, I asked her to maybe think of some other ways she could solve the problems she was having. "Can you think of a different way to get what you need right now?" I probed. She glared at me with all the hatefulness of a 5 yr-old tantrum and said "No! I like THIS way!!!" ..... Yeah. It's a work in progress. I then proceeded to yell back and after much goings-on, sent her to her room. I had this book in my hand whilst doing so. And yes, I see the irony in that. Like I said, I've only read the first bit. ;o)


"The Raw Food Lifestyle" by Ruthann Russo

Seems to be a good introduction so far. We've been on and off about this for awhile. The benefits seems so numerous and in conjunction with many of our beliefs about health and nutrition, but, admittedly, it's a very difficult lifestyle change.

We're already vegetarians and have been for five years now. We've been vegan, but added dairy back into our diet for a season and are now addicted to cheese again. :o( Shiloh is comfortable with eating many different kinds of food, has never had meat (unless on accident -- think gelatin in fruit snacks given by teachers, friends, etc) and didn't even have dairy until she was 2.5 years old. She eats very well and a wide variety of foods, is always willing to try new things, so I don't think a raw food diet would be a challenge for her at all.

Us, on the other hand...

Our goal is to eventually be at least 80% raw. At that point, a person can reap all of the benefits of going completely raw while still indulging in some cooked food on occasion. That's where I'd like to be. We began our "raw journey" in the fall and it was FABULOUS. I loved it. Avocados, bean sprouts, fresh foods, non-processed, it was amazing. Then it got cold. And so did I. It was really difficult for me to avoid comfort winter foods such as potato soup, chili and even just plain old mac n cheese. I missed it terribly and was freezing all the time. I understand that there are certain "warming" foods that you can eat to prevent this, but it just wasn't the same. It was a difficult transition, and Rick and I both eventually reverted back to our default vegetarian diet. Now that the weather is beginning to warm up and spring is close and we're planning our garden, I'm hoping to get "back on the wagon" and try again. We'll see how it goes.


This picture is just about one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

This past summer, we had to put down our dog Dallas. He had been with us since Rick and I were dating, was the BEST dog. He had an incredibly sweet nature, was just 100+ pounds of furry love. He was a Golden Retriever/German Shepherd mix and was 12. He had many health problems and had become incontinent. Shiloh was very attached to him.

She still gets very upset about him having died and will periodically cry about it in the most random of times. In the car the other day, she was having one of these times and we told her to think of where Dallas might be now. She searched around in the car and found some crayons and paper and drew this picture.

It's Dallas with his "weird crazy" hair smelling a flower. Because that would make him happy. And he's in heaven, and heaven is beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that he is completely surrounded by shining stars everywhere he looks and he's always happy.

I love her.

She said that she wanted to hang this in her room so that any time she was upset she could look at it and know that Dallas is happy and she wouldn't miss him so much.

:o)

Shirt Re-Fashion for Shiloh

i thought i'd share this "upcycle" that i did last night. i was going through my closet and realized that i NEVER wear this shirt. it's made of pretty nice material, it's a decent design, it just doesn't fit me quite right and it's a little uncomfortable. soooo, i decided to give it a new life as a dress for shiloh.



she wore it to church this morning.

i trimmed some off of the sides and separated the bust from the bottom of the shirt to get rid of any bunches. then, i sewed them back together. next, i sewed the two overlapping bust pieces together so they wouldn't gap (and wouldn't be indecent!). because the material was so stretchy, after i re-connected the top and bottom sections, the fabric still looked sort of stretched in places and bunched, so i added a belt made from some scrap brown fabric i found in my stash. i tacked it in the center back and tied it on loosely, so that it hung down a little bit, but gathered all of the extra bunches that were a little unseemly (or unseAmly -- get it? hah! yeah, okay, i'm corny.).

anyhoo, she liked it quite a bit and had no problem posing for the camera in her new dress.




it's been awhile since i've sewn, and now i've caught the bug again. i'm going to go through my closet and "give-away" piles and see what else i can refashion. :o)

Wha....?

this is sort of craziness, i think, and i am waaaaay confused.

okay, so i got a call today from my licensing worker. she had discovered that i had a blog and that there was some inappropriate information on it.

let me just say, first, that i love my licensing worker (especially now that she reads my blog! ...... i'm just kidding -- i think tricia is awesome regardless of whether or not she reads my blog!). and i'm not upset at her in any way over any of this. she and i had the same understanding before all of this came about, but apparently we were mistaken. blah.

a person whom i came across in the foster care system requested to be a friend of mine on facebook. i confirmed it. on my facebook page she saw a link to my personal blog. she went to it. apparently, she was very displeased with what she read and called my foster care agency to complain!!

i've had to remove two posts that contained obscure references to my current and past placements.

now, i WILL admit that i had, some months ago, posted a very funny picture of a baby we had in our care, without thinking much about it. i shouldn't have, i realized my mistake, and i removed it as soon as i became aware that it was still up.

then, i get a call back again later today that says not only was THAT the issue, but that this person was upset that i wrote in another post about receiving placements as well as their ages. .... yeah.

so, now i'm not supposed to even mention that i'm a foster parent? ever? am i never allowed to say that i have 4, 5, 6 kids in my home? am i never allowed to mention that shiloh had fun playing with "so and so" today? am i never allowed to suggest that i'm tired from staying up all night with a ghost baby that lives in my house? please!!

foster parenting is a MAJOR part of my life! how on earth am i supposed to "hide" it?

i mean, whatever. it's just a blog post. i'll take it down, fine. but i specifically asked this question when i was in my licensing classes b/c my husband and i are both bloggers, albeit inconsistently. we had a personal blog at the time where we shared photos with our out-of-state family and friends and wondered how that would work with foster children. the workers' answer was that we were not allowed to post pictures or use real/full names, for obvious reasons. completely understand.

which is why this is so irritating! i love being a foster parent. i go to every team meeting, every court date, transport to every visit for every one of my placements, and i'm going to get in trouble over this?! there are people out there who stick their foster kids in the barn to sleep (for real!!) and i'm going to get in trouble over this?!

i'm not the only blogger to discuss foster parenting, by the way. i have many blogs on my blogroll in many different areas of the country where they discuss specific cases, use names, and some are even so bold as to post pictures. *gasp* i'm not going to name them here b/c i don't want someone going to their page and causing a stink in their lives like this has caused in mine.

so frustrating. if they ask me to remove a picture or name, i understand. i send many pictures of our kids to friends and family via email and our blog and it may happen accidentally. i have no issue whatsoever with removing any inappropriate confidential information. but to go so far as to say that you're upset that i even mention that i'm a foster parent....?

so, anyway. in this hypothetical world, i'm a hypothetical foster parent and will be going now to make dinner for my hypothetical foster children, in addition to my one biological child, who apparently is the only one that's worth mentioning.

(p.s. -- i'm sure i'll come back and apologize tomorrow for the rant, but for today, i feel it's justified. i'm just a little miffed.)

Success!!!

I made soap!! okay, well, i didn't really make soap. i made the melt-and-pour kind, where you buy the base already made, then you melt in down, add your own fragrances and colorant, and put it into the mold of your choice. but, still! a few hours ago, there was no orange soap in my house, and now there is! i made soap! :o)

if you think you're seeing things in the soap, it's because you are. i thought it would be weird to put things in the soap as it was hardening, just to see it what it would look like. not sure why. i rummaged around in the kids' toys and found a few very small things that they would never miss (until they see them in the soap!) to put in there. i used way too much fragrance and colorant, though, so i'll need to scale that back next time.

i've got some lye, shortening, and everything else i need to make the REAL kind of soap, though, that needs to cure and set and that will burn your skin off while you're making it if you're not careful. i have a recipe that supposed to produce this really rich, creamy, soap that you can use for the shower. i'm interested to see how that goes!

second thing i made today -- quilt and pillow for shiloh. in the st louis area, it takes fifty years to get to wherever you're going, it seems. you can't just "run out to the store" and grab a thing or two, you'll be gone for half an hour, at least! the kids are always wanting to take pillows and blankets in the van, then they leave them in the van, then they don't have pillows and blankets inside to use, then they find some more, then the next time we leave, they want to take more pillows and blankets in the van... it's a vicious cycle. so, i'm making them both pillows and quilts that STAY.IN. THE.VAN.

i let them choose their fabric. i LOVE this cool flower print that shiloh chose.


(sorry about the lighting -- it looked much better through my camera!)

closer look at the fabric:

and shiloh refused to pass up an opportunity to have her picture taken, of course:


tyler's is a fighter-jet print with a black backing. i'm still learning as far as quilting goes. with shiloh's, and her friend katelyn's that i did awhile back, i did a super-easy wavy line to quilt the front, batting, and back together. i'm going to try a diamond patterned quilt with tyler's. we'll see. i haven't yet ventured into the quilt piecing and designing or anything, yet, though. i just learned how to make mitred corners (although, they're not even really mitred, just made to look that way!).

anyhoo, i'll get better. it was a fun day of making things, though! :o)

not been up to much...

...just doin' summer-y things. :o) this summer, we've gone swimming A LOT. everyone is super tan, especially shiloh, who never seems to burn! we've been camping, to a water park, to kentucky, on hikes, done tons of coloring and painting, and let's not forget the old' faithful, McDonald's playland, for those rainy days. :o)

we've enjoyed the summer off from accepting new placements, but are now back to taking in more. we've added our name back to "the list" and listed our vacancies, and we'll see what happens! i wouldn't expect any calls until the beginning of the month, though. still praying for that special child(ren) to come up for adoption, though. we've let all the social workers that we know aware that we're looking to adopt, and we're just waiting for God's timing. while we have no problems at all with international adoption, we just feel wrong every time we look into it. nevermind the financial issue -- if God's will was for us to adopt internationally, he would make a way -- it's just that every time we try to forge ahead with a "plan" to seek out adoption, we feel God gently pushing us back, telling us to wait. but waiting is so hard!! ah, well. He knows best. in the meantime, we'll just keep doing what He's called us to, and take in children as they come, helping them get back to their families. we're getting pretty good at it by now, i think! and i think shiloh is starting to understand it better, although she definitely longs for a permanent sibling. *sigh*...

anyhoo, that's that. here's some pictures taken over the last couple of weeks. our other kids, tyler and rachel, aren't in these b/c we can't post pictures of them publicly while they're still in state custody. rachel is gearing up to go home within the next few weeks, and we're still not sure how long tyler will be with us. his case keeps dragging on...

first of all, here's shiloh at an impromptu photo shoot i did with the kids at a local park. they all looked so cute one day, that i couldn't pass it up! shiloh wouldn't stop laughing, though!



shiloh and i on the back deck. i was taking some pictures of tyler's new haircut, and of course, shiloh couldn't be left out. she wanted to take a picture of us both:





okay, not sure if you'll be able to see them or not, but there are two teeny tiny frogs in there. at the beginning of the summer, we left for the weekend and came home to about three hundred tadpoles that had hatched in our pool. we kept some and watched them turn into frogs. they've got an actual mini terrarium-type thing now, but this was our makeshift one until we got to the store. they literally sprouted legs overnight! the picture is sort of sideways and it's blurry -- sorry! there's one stuck on the right side, near the top and a little green one sitting on that big rock in the middle. they're still only about a half inch long! the kids had a good time going out back and finding rocks for them. :o)





rachel and lump. just thought this was funny. i can post it b/c rachel's face isn't showing. the reason i took a picture is b/c , as spastic as lump is, he actually let her cover him up with a blanket! i took three or four pictures before he moved. he must have been really tired or something... (notice the baby is walking in shiloh's dress-up high-heels. diva in the making...)


...wonder where she gets it? :o) here's shiloh dressed up in snow white the other day. she had to dress up her dog. that dog is actually my dog that my mom got me from Build-A-Bear. when rick and i got married, we had a beagle named Penny Lane, so mom got me this, and I loved it. I soon discovered Mom's odd sense of humor, though, when I pressed its paw, expected a beagle bay, and heard a cow moo instead! she thought it was hilarious! weird.... ;o)

this is our current beagle, Ruby, in "her" spot in front of the window. she likes it b/c the afternoon sun comes in and makes that spot all nice and warm. :o)

all righty, that's it for now. the kids are chasing each other around downstairs with a giant orange bouncy ball, our licensing worker just left after a home visit, the baby just woke up, the dogs need to go out, and i need to leave to pick rick up from work! gotta get! :o)

okay, first up is shiloh's dance recital. we signed her up for a combination class of tap, ballet, and gymnastics. she liked the gymnastics, but LOVED the dance part better. every week she would look forward to it. i have to say, if you want to witness pure comedy, sit in on a 3-4 yr-old dance class. i have never laughed so hard as i have watching the antics of these girls as they try to learn such sophisticated maneuvers as an "arabesque" and "releve." hah!

(i'll also add that i forgot my camera and we used rick's phone to take all of these pictues, so the quality is not the best. sorry! we remembered the camcorder, though -- can't win 'em all... )

the first picture is shiloh with one of her dance instructors, Miss Megan. (incidentally, they were both named Miss Megan and you never knew which one she was talking about!)


you'll notice that shiloh is the only one wearing a different costume. i'll admit, it's because i'm cheap. the total cost of the costume (tutu, hair bow, leg warmers and leotard) was $60. $60!!!! no way. i made her tutu, buying the tulle and elastic waistband for $8; bought the leotard at walmart for $8; took some of the tulle i used for the tutu and wrapped it around a hair tie we already had for her hair decoration; and knit the legwarmers myself with yarn i already had at home. $16 vs $60. and i like shiloh's tutu better, anyway!! the one they would have had you buy was teeny and flimsy! anyhoo, there's my rant about how expensive dance gear is, but i suppose i had better get used to it -- i have a feeling this is going to be a regular thing!

shiloh with the other girls in her dance class. the one on the far left is josephine, who refused to wear the tutu or the legwarmers, so i didn't feel so bad that shiloh didn't completely match! one other girl took off her tutu after the tap routine, too. don't they look so cute?!

performing their ballet routine. we had sort of an awkward spot. we couldn't get directly in front of them because all of the seats were taken, so we got this spot, and shiloh was on the other end of the line! ah, well. still got some good pictures. :o)



shiloh after her ballet routine:


hah! this is so funny! i was pretty much just taking a picture of her booty, but this was her demonstrating what she had learned on the uneven bars. we had some more pictures of her doing turns and balancing routines on the balance beam, but those didn't turn out. :o( this one was so funny, too, b/c one of the things they wanted the girls to do was to do a forward roll off of the low bar. they were supposed to balance themselves up on a front support, do a forward roll, and land on their feet. shiloh can do it, but for whatever reason, did NOT want to do it that day. when they called her up to do her routine, she took about two minutes explaining to the teacher everything that she would and would NOT do, making sure the teacher understood what would be happening. it was so hilarious!

ta-da!!


all the girls after having gotten their medals. i'm crippled by the cuteness!!! shiloh had learned in gymnastics that when you're performing and you do a routine, you always end with your arms in the air. so, she kept her arms in the air for this entire part of the ceremony. :o)

"yay me!!"
and that's it for that. she looooooved it. we're planning on joining the YMCA this summer and enrolling her in a dance class there. that way, tyler can take classes, too. we definitely want to continue with dance; it was a big hit and she's pretty good at it!


next up, we shaved dallas. we did. seriously. all the way down, no hair left. as he's getting older (he's 11 now), he's getting allergies and his skin is getting nasty where he chews hot spots on himself all the time. his coat is always stinky and he was always hot. he really needed to be shaved. rick has told me this for a long time, but i've always resisted. finally, though, after camping this past weekend, i finally saw the necessity of it, and we did it. our friends larry and cheryl have some professional dog-cutting tools and brought them over yesterday. it took about an hour and half. he looks so silly and weird! every time we look at him, we can't help but say "poor dallas," although i think he sort of likes it. he's got to feel better and he hasnt' been itching as much. so, here's a few pictures:

before:


during:

after:
i know it's hard to believe that it's difficult to get a picture of dallas standing up and moving around, but it was. especially after having to stand so long so we could shave him, he was exhausted and passed out. he's still heavier than he needs to be, but i was surprised at how much of his size really was that huge coat of hair! shiloh cried when she saw him afterwards. she just kept saying "but how can i love him now? he doesn't look like my friend dallas any more!!" it was sad and pretty funny at the same time. :o)


and lastly, i got my hair cut. pretty drastically, i think. over the past weekend, i decided that i needed to scale it back to above-shoulder length. we were on vacation, so i tried this random bargain hair cutting place. it was HORRIBLE!! she cut it way too short, above my chin, shorter than i've ever had it, and it was completely blunt and one length. a first grader could have done a better job. so, i came back home and went to my regular hair dresser, who faithfully resolved the problem. she added some layers, stacked it in the back, and made it look all around better. i like it a lot, although it's a lot different from anything else i've ever had. you can't really tell much from the picture, but i added one anyway. it's just so short!! i think i'll feel better about it in a week or two.



anyhoo, that's it for now. thanks for reading!

This is what happens....

...when i try to leave the kids alone for a few minutes. and i was only trying to go to the bathroom!!!




i came out of the bathroom, and this baby came crawling down the hallway.... with white hair!!! i was only gone for a few minutes!! and she was just as happy as could be!

so, i asked shiloh, "what on earth has gone on here????" thinking that maybe rae got into something that spilled on her head, or... i really don't know what else i was thinking at that point. then, shiloh started giggling her "i-did-something-i-know-i'm-not-supposed-to-and-now-you-found-out-and-i'm-nervous-about-it" giggle. so, i asked her, "did YOU do this?" i couldn't help but laugh, so she started laughing, and said that yes, she did. "what IS it??" i asked. she told me it was formula. okay, now i was mad. formula?!?! that stuff ain't cheap!! then, she showed me where it was, and it wasn't formula. it was.....

baking soda!!!!! HAH! the other night, rae had gotten up in the night throwing up and in the process of changing her, she had thrown up in our bedroom floor. we steam-cleaned it and had sprinkled baking soda over it to make sure it didn't get too stinky and also to soak up some of the remainding water from the steam cleaner. APPARENTLY, in our middle-of-the-night-pukefest stupor, we left the baking soda sitting out within shiloh-reach and she covered rae's head in it, i mean, really rubbed it in. i couldn't shake it out, trying to use a wet washcloth to wipe it off did no good b/c it just clumped up. i had to give her a full shower and use the handheld shower head to get it all out.

i mean, why on earth would shiloh be walking down the hallway and think "that's a cute baby, but what she REALLY needs is white hair!!" and then i can't believe that rae just sat there and let her do it!!

so random. so. random.

Random Pictures and Our Latest Stray

SO, our laptop was busted recently and was unable to be revived. we were sorta bummed about that b/c that's what i've been using to post pictures, even though it was really old and really slow. THEN, a woman at rick's work said that she had a netbook that was practically brand new for sale! this particular machine retails for $400, but she's only asking $200 and she said she wouldn't expect us to pay her until after Christmas! YAY! this machine is TOTALLLY awesome! it has exactly what i need: wireless internet access, an SD photo card reader (SUPER important), the ability to stream video (i'm a netflix junkie), and it comes with a wireless mouse. there are more accessories that she has to go with it, but rick will get those next week. woo-hoo!



the main thing that i'm excited about is that i just plugged in my SD photo card from my camera and the pictures just magically appeared on my screen -- hah! the reason i haven't been posting many pictures as of late is b/c this is the process i use to do be able to do so: take out the batteries and SD card of our current camera and put them into the old camera that has a broken screen (we can't find the software for the current camera, but the software for the older camera is still on the delapidated desktop we have in the bedroom). then, transfer -- SLOWLY -- the pictures onto the desktop. THEN, go through all of the pictures and put all of the ones we want onto a thumb drive B/C the desktop doesn't have internet access. FINALLY, i take the thumbdrive and put into the old laptop and put the pictures online. so you can imagine my sheer delight to have a wireless laptop that runs at a decent speed that has an SD card reader. this makes my month. :o) the only thing is doesn't have that i need is a photo tool to crop and rotate the pictures,



next, we found another stray in our neighborhood. i seriously think word has gotten out that if you're a dog and you're lost, that you go to the Petersen house, b/c they're total suckers and will take you in. he's a purebred yellow lab, maybe two years old, that is A-W-E-S-O-M-E. we joked that instead of posting a "FOUND DOG" sign, that we were going to post a sign that says "OWNED DOG LOOKING FOR HOME: a six-year old black lab mix looking for a new home. we would like to replace him with the one we found." HAH! seriously, i wouldn't replace Lump, but if this dog doesn't have someone who wants him, he's found a home with us. Shiloh has named him "Himmer." She says that it's the "long word for 'Him.'" too funny. and he answers to it now, so i guess as long as he's here, that's his name. Lump is thrilled to have somebody to play with (Dallas is too old now), and he's just all-around great. He must belong to somebody, he's completely at home in a house with a family. I'm going to post some flyers as soon as it stops raining, surely SOMEbody is looking for him.



It's practically impossible to get a good picture of a dog, but here's some that i was able to take this morning (and get online so quickly b/c of this awesome netbook!!):

Here's some more random pictures that were on the camera this morning. First, here's Shiloh at the Farmer's Market. This is "her" bench. It's a pretty small indoor place, so i can keep an eye on her while i'm shopping. every single time we go in there, she wants to eat a green apple. so, i buy her a green apple, and she sits on this bench and eats it while i do the rest of the shopping. pretty awesome. :o)

also at the farmer's market, they had a halloween place set up. there were TONS of kids there that afternoon. here she is playing on the playground area:

and i especially like this one -- peeking through a "window" in their cornstalk maze.

and, lastly, this is totally random, but i find these all over the house all day long. she sets up her little figurines and horses and dollhouse things in different scenarios and then leaves them there, so i'll happen upon a scene like this:

or like this:

it's just cute and it makes me smile when i see it. :o)

okay, i think that's all for today. yay for new netbooks and easily accessed photos and completely awesome stray dogs!!

Girly Pictures

:o) so, renee made a blog post recently and made me realize exactly how long it's been since i posted any pictures for family to see. i'm sorry, guys! i got together several tonight, so hopefully this will make up for it somewhat!

i'll just jump right in with (i think) where we left off, at the tail end of summer. these first few are from rick's company picnic in fulton in mid-august. they had alot of things for the kids to play on and they even made veggie burgers for us! how thoughtful. :o)

i know this looks bad, but she's actually not crying. i was going to snap a picture of her bouncing in the thing when she stopped and yelled "STOP EVERYBODYYYYYYY!!!" to all of the other kids in there. *sigh*... she apologized to them afterwards, but still. diva much?

daddy teaching shiloh how to throw a basketball.

back in the bouncer-thing. happier this time, mostly b/c i think there weren't any other kids in there to bounce her around. hah! :o)

shiloh and rick:

this is shiloh's effort at taking my picture at the park one afternoon:

then it was my turn to take hers. :o) in this next one, she's making a classic 'rick' face:

then, a classic 'shiloh' face. :o) i love this picture of her!

after playing outside one afternoon, she had a really dirty face and wanted me to take her picture. i think she did it on purpose. ;o)

at the Magic House, St. Louis' Children's Museum. we went there when kathy and dan, rick's parents, came to visit. the battery ran out on my camera so i took a TON more pictures with my phone, but they're still in my phone. :o( here, she was in the "detective" section of the museum, using a magnifying glass to look for clues in a painting.


lara and shiloh, being sisters.

outside with dallas:

this is just random. i was making a shirt for shiloh one evening while rick was making dinner. i was talking to him and got distracted, sewing the arm of the shirt into the neck hole. hah!
one weekend, we went to cahokia mounds, a historic Native American burial ground.

i'm not sure why i like this picture so much. maybe b/c they're both so calm in it. ;o)

and then they weren't. ah, well. :o)

cute! shiloh running to her daddy:

and then, we couldn't leave without taking advantage of the beautiful backdrop for some pictures!



getting ready to climb the steps to the top of the mound. this was the first tier. there was another, much longer, one after that. the girls were much more enthusiastic than we were. :o)

but, we made it. barely.

the only good picture i could find of me and the girls, and shiloh was picking her nose. ah, well. at least it's a good representation of us. ;o)

you probably can't tell in the picture, but they're pointing to the arch. you could see it pretty well from on top of the mound.

afterwards, we had a picnic lunch there. (shiloh is in different clothes b/c she had an accident. blah.) anyhoo, this is just a funny picture of her and rick. it looks like shiloh's telling him off about something!

at home in the back yard, just random.

lou and shiloh before church one morning.

one saturday morning, watching cartoons downstairs in one of rick's tshirts. she sure is a cutie.

wearing her new coat:

outside on one of our first colder days, picking wildberries. this is BY FAR one of her favorite things to do outside.

lou had a difficult time at the beginning of the year, but after working with her and her teacher quite a bit those first few weeks, she's been doing so much better! we were SO proud of her when she filled up her "good behavior" chart and the teacher sent it home. we put it on the fridge to remind her that she IS a good girl. so awesome!


random cuteness: lou and shiloh watching a movie together.

shiloh and rick outside the mall. we went and let her play at the indoor play area while lou was having a visit with her bio mom nearby.

shiloh and dallas. i LOVE this picture. :o)

shiloh working on her cutting skills on a construction paper pumpkin we made. she's been doing pretty well, but she gets tired of following the lines sometimes and just cuts out whatever she wants. we're getting there, though!

at the park, daddy helping shiloh on the monkey bars.

cuteness. i love "swing" pictures!

i think rick had a pretty good time, too. ;o)

i love this picture. shiloh looks soooo happy!

my girls. they got tired of playing and wanted to go for a walk, picking leaves and wildberries.

okay, here's a new section. these are things that i've sewn recently. most of the things that i've made have been for shiloh b/c lou's mom and her dad and his family usually buy her clothes and send them. so, i haven't forgotten lou, it's just that she tends to have more clothes than shiloh does unless i buy/make some, and making them is just so much more fun than buying them!

this is a shirt i made from an old pajama tank top i used to wear in college. i made the sleeves from new fabric, but the rest is from the tank top. it has a strawberry on it that says "sweet."


these are the infamous pajamas. for those who don't know, i made these for lara for her school's "pajama day." i told her that i was making them as a shirt and capri-style pants, showed her the fabric, etc, but she got it stuck in her mind that she was going to get a nightgown. so that night, i finished them late and put them in her room so she would be surprised the next morning. she WAS surprised, just not in the way i'd hoped. she absolutely hated them b/c she was convinced that she was getting a nightgown. so, i altered them slightly and gave them to shiloh, who loves them and wears them all the time. :o)

a church dress. this was made from a scrap black/white patterned fabric that a friend had given me about a year ago and the black fabric i'd had for longer than that. i'm trying to use up my fabric stash before i go buy more, and this turned out pretty well, i think!




this was sort of random, just a long-sleeved tshirt. shiloh really liked the fabric (it's yellow with little blue and red flowers), but there wasn't enough to make it long-sleeved for the colder weather, so i cut up a tshirt that was in my "donate" pile of clothes that's ever-growing to use for the sleeves. the neckline is a little ill-fitting, so i'm going to have to go back and pull it in a little bit, but she does really like it. :o)




these are their winter coats. i made them for lou and shiloh, and they both actually like them. even lou -- YAY!! i also got about half of the material from my fabric stash. the outside is denim, which i already had, and the inside is thicker fleece, which i bought on sale at 50% off. woo-hoo! there was enough fleece left over to make them matching scarves, too. :o) shiloh's is the first one with a white patterned fleece with blue, green and yellow flowers all over and bright green buttons.


lou's is the same on the outside, with various bright colors in an alternating geometric pattern and bright pink buttons.
and the back. pretty plain. :o)

lastly, i made a dress for shiloh out of an old sweater i hadn't worn since high school. i got the idea from reading one of the craft blogs that i read, although i can't remember which one. at any rate, it was pretty easy, took just an hour or so to make, and looks super cute on shiloh!

before:
after:shiloh wearing it. she looks kind of awkward in this first picture. she wanted to hold her big stuffed nemo that she'd brought outside with her, but i told her no b/c i wouldn't be able to see her dress. so, she's just trying to get the pictures over with so she can have her nemo back. ;o)

then, i asked her to make a funny pose and this is what she came up with. goof!

i've crocheted/knitted/hand embroidered a lot of other things, too, but i don't have irresistibly cute models for those!

all righty, guys! that's it for pictures! i don't have the halloween costumes quite done yet, so i'll post again when we get that taken care of. love you guys!