Little Prayer Book

I worked on this little book of prayers today. Madison loves it! I wanted an easy reference for her. She asks me constantly about prayers and such, which I don't mind, but find it might be easier for her if she doesn't get my distracted response. It has all the basics she has been wanting to learn. It also contains blank pages in the back, so we can add to her book as her knowledge grows.







On the first page we did the morning prayer, prayer before meals, and the evening prayer.




Page two contains the Sign of the Cross
and the Apostles' Creed.
Page tree contains a "How to" say the rosary.
I used a lot of references she already knew to help explain the steps.

Page four and five continue with the other prayers in the rosary like Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, and O My Jesus. The mysteries are also stated.

These pages contain the conclusion to the Rosary prayers and the 10 commandments.

These pages in brown are her "confession" pages. With instructions for preparing for and receiving the sacrament of reconciliation. I included a list to help her examine her conscience. Of course it is very simple and geared for a 7 year old. Questions include: Have I shown obedience? Do I participate in Mass and keep Sunday holy? Have I prayed? Have I been happy for others when they have things they want or need?

These last two pages contain blank space for her to write her own notes or prayers. And of course we left several blank pages at the end of the book to add more later. For now, this covers all the basics she has been questioning about or they have been going over in CCD.

Bedtime prayer framed...

For Dustin's anything goes challenge.
I colored one of Dustin's images with water color pencils, blending with a brush and blending medium. I used embossing powders to make the clouds, halo, and wings sparkle a little. Added a few red bows, white/clear gems, and blue papers so that this finished project will look cute next to the eldest child's bed (whos room is now done in red, white, and blue). To the right of Dustin's image, I printed a copy of her bedtime prayer. Put it in a frame and tada! She loves it!!

Harris Family Coat of Arms

My dear husband and I were looking into making our own family coat of arms. We thought it would be a lot of fun to have one for future family reunions and events. Something to pass on through the generations. I finally got curious and decided to look up the Harris family name and the original coat of arms.
I found this image...


The chevron design represents the roof of a house and the importance of home and family. It is also supposed to represent protection and faithful service. Which I also feels appropriate for our family because of military service.
The gold is supposed to represent generosity. The blue, strength and loyalty.
The hedgehog, according to some, represents a provident provider. I feel that this suits our family well. We try to live joyfully within our means and be content with what we have. Dear husband finds it his main goal to avoid excessive debt and diligently saves and prepares for our future. Hopefully our efforts will prove to provide for ourselves and our families throughout the generations. We also hope to follow the holy families example and live modestly to serve and bless others.
The family motto, which is seen at the image to the right, is "Everywhere to remember one's own country." I am not entirely sure what this motto means. I can see it represent our family, as we move around a lot. No mater where we go, we will always be part of our country. On a more spiritual level, I can see it represent that we can go everywhere on this earth, but none of it will mater when we get to our heavenly home.

Learning to make an infant gown...

My favorite thing to put my infants in are the large gowns with the elastic bottoms and mittens built into the sleeves. I figured since I have about 8 months before our new infant arrives, I might as well see if I can come up with a pattern for the gowns. My hope is to have a stock of them for when baby arrives. For the first one I used an old soft T-shirt of mine that came from a Steubenville South retreat. I messed up the built in mittens. When I pictured it in my head it seemed right, but once I put everything together I realized that I will have to the mitten half way around instead of all the way around... all the way around only extends the sleeve (DUH? LOL). Anyway... I didn't focus on seam work or anything, just wanted to get something thrown together to see if I could do it. I only spent a few minutes working on this, which gives me hope. Should I spend some more time on it... I could make it perfect! This is a great start though. I think #4 will be very happy in these!

Legwarmers for the girls

Been crocheting legwarmers for the girls... These are in pretty fall colors. I have been using a K hook and for Liberty(2 years) I chain about 30 and for Madison(6 years) I chain about 36. I make them about 12 inches long or so. I alternated regular chain stitches and half double crochet stitch.

Fall Photos

I took the kids on a fall photo shoot recently. I wanted to capture the great colors as well as their personalities. It turned out to be a lot of fun and the kids look really cute.

Cloth Diapers

So, I know I haven't been attending to my blog much lately, but I did not forget about it. Since I have been keeping you waiting so long I figured I'd throw in a little tutorial. I decided on Diapers because they take me about 10 min to make and every momma could use more diapers! LOL
Here we go:

I do not have an actual pattern, so I would recommend tracing a regular diaper onto a paper bag or other sturdy paper. This way you can make your own sizes too.

The steps:

1. Cut 4 Identical shapes for the diaper.
2. Cut out a Soaker (a dish cloth is about perfect size for this)
3. Sew the Soaker onto 1 of the 4 diaper shapes (make sure it is in the very center, also, I like to use a zig-zag stitch all the way around the soaker to keep it in place)
4. Stack all 4 diaper shapes together (pretty side down, pretty side up, pretty side down, pretty side up with soaker)
5. Pin them all together and stitch elastic (if desired) around the back and leg holes. (leave the front of the diaper unstitched and unpined.)
6. Turn the Diaper inside out.
7. Stitch the front closed and sew on velcro.

Life here and now...

Liberty's Photo Shoot
Madison guarding the goal at practice

Me and the girls getting ready for midnight showing of eclipse.

My little superhero

Part of our Eclipse gear

So quick update since I haven't been doing much on here... You'll see me a lot more in the winter.

So the summer here is fantastic. Sun is always up, you feel like time is unlimited, and there are always friends to be with. Summer is also full of camping, hiking, laying on the beach, sports, friends, fishing for seagulls, races, and so much more...

I also just finished a block of classes with a B+ in both classes. A block consists of 2 classes for 9 weeks. I just jumped into my second block this week...

We plan on taking a trip to Anchorage in a few days. When we get back Madison will be going to girl scout camp. School starts soon for her...

I photographed Liberty lately. She is growing so fast...

Christian is speaking more. He is much easier to understand now...

XOXO~

It is time for soccer!

So before Madison's first soccer practice, I took the kids to town for some shopping and Ice cream. Nothing beats ice cream on a summer day in Alaska. That sounds funny, but think about this... It is nearly 80 degrees out and we have NO AC!!! Plus, I just think it is so darn cute to see them covered in ice cream.



So after our trip to town, we headed to her first soccer practice! She had so much fun and I think it is going to be a great season. She looked so cute in her gear too!