Ok, it's not perfect and the picture is bad. It's very, very late at night, the only chance I get to play with my sewing machine is after all the kiddos are in bed. I've been dying to try out this idea I saw online where you can turn old pairs of jeans into a jean skirt. Long jean skirts are VERY hard to find - especially at a reasonable price. And more than once, I've bought some online, wait a month for them to get here, and then find they fit horrible or don't look like the way they were advertised. The idea of turning my old, holey, super-comfy jeans into a skirt sounded too good to be true.
I made a few mistakes, it's not perfect but it's wearable and BOY am I a happy camper sitting here in my "new" jean skirt. (please forgive my head being conveniently missing in this photo, you dont want to see what I look like at this hour of night anyway ahaha!)
OH and just so you know, I used THIS WEBSITE here to make the skirt. Instead of using a separate piece of cloth in the back panel, I used part of another holey pair of jeans (one of the times it pays to be a pack-rat).
Now, sit back, grab a cup of coffee, tea, whatever and relax because I have a feast of pictures to share with you!
As you all know, we spent Thanksgiving at church. Everyone brought in dishes and missionaries came from all over to celebrate and be thankful for all the blessings God has given us. And boy are the blessings overflowing!!
I managed to get a picture of the kiddos all sitting together right when we got to church that morning... before they started running around and getting their clothes all out of whack.
Everyone is sitting down getting ready to eat.
Elizabeth too!
Then after we filled all our tummies, the Pastor called everyone to sit down and we listened to children sing songs. They did such a great job!!
Click on the video here to listen!!
After the children sang, we did some singing ourselves and then listened to a Message given by one of the Missionaries joining us. A great message about being thankful in ALL that we do and how important it is to ALWAYS thank God, in good times and bad.
After our tummies were properly filled, and our songs of praise were raised, then the silliness began. The auditorium had been cleared the day before and some game tables set up, with lots of room for the children to run around.
One of the missionaries brought his balloons and made a bunch of hats and swords for the children to play with.
The men stayed closer to the food for 2nd, 3rd and 4th servings, while the girls gathered around the piano to sing songs.
OH! But the pictures dont end just yet!
The next day we got up early to meet up again and take a trip into the Stuttgart center to the Christmas Markets!! YAY!
Boothes and boothes of homemade goodies, chocolates, sweets, candles, and decorations!
The boys even met a street performer haha!
At the end of the market, they had an ice skating rink and rides for the kids. We didnt get to ride any, unfortunately... except for this one we saw on the way down... we ran out of time before we had to meet up again and leave. It was a good exhausting day! We had a lot of fun, enjoyed some fun company and got a little Christmas shopping done!
This weekend was our annual big clean of the church. Everyone met at church on Saturday, grabbed a scrub brush and got the place sparkling clean to get ready for our big Thanksgiving feast. As always, we had a good time (who says cleaning cant be fun?), worked hard and the Pastor treated us to KFC for lunch. :)
While we were there, one of the little girls let Elizabeth hold her precious Annabelle dolly. Elizabeth fell in LOVE!! She has dolls at home but they're all cloth. She never paid them much attention so I thought she was still too young to be interested in dollies. BOY! was I wrong!! She just wanted the 'real' dolls, that's all. So of course, I broke my rule that we dont buy anything for ourselves this close to Christmas and we took a trip to the store and got Elli her very first "real" dolly. She loves her so much.... even holds her properly!
And here she is with her "beebee" waking up from a nappy. :)
The boys have off from school this week. I'm only making them read each day and then they have the rest of the day to themselves. Tomorrow, we're going to work on making their own ornament to put on the Christmas tree. It's going to be our new tradition, they're going to make a new ornament each year. Something for them to look forward too: looking for ornaments in the box from years past, and making new ones.
Thursday is Thanksgiving, I'm sure you're well aware. We are going to spend the day at church with everyone, and missionaries from all over Europe, stuffing our bellies full. The children (including the boys) are going to be giving a "concert" for everyone. I will do my best to remember the camera! HAHA! The boys have been practicing hard. I told them, I want to HEAR them singing and not "mouthing" the words. So keep a look out for updates, I'll post our Thanksgiving pictures here.
PS I volunteered to make a turkey, so pray that I dont mess it up in our itty bitty German oven. Better yet, pray that it fits! LOL
Well... Happy day before Veterans day, really... or in other words, Happy Birthday Marines! :)
We have tomorrow off from school (because Dennis has off) so today we did an "easy" day in tribute to all the Veterans that have fought for our freedom. The boys each made a Lapbook. They learned what a Veteran is, what the difference military services and their mottos are, they listed some people that they know who are Vets, and even some facts about the flag and how it should and should not be treated. We had a fun day putting this project together. Then, we went online to OurMilitary.mil and sent both of the boys sent a message to the troops to let them know we care.
I cant believe it's already November! So far, the fall here, this year, has been a lot more mild than it was last year. I remember freezing this time last year. It's still been pretty cool though. Pretty soon the Christmas markets will be opening up and I cant wait! At least this year, I should be able to go now that I can move around more than I was able to last year. hehe
It's late here and I should be getting to bed. I just wanted to take a minute and catch you all up on what we've been doing lately.
Mostly, just doing school. You can hear a resounding "Boring!" from the boys when that is mentioned. LOL This week, the boys are going bowling with the cub scouts on Thursday. They are having their annual Bowl-a-thon so they will be able to have some fun with some friends and try and knock down some pins somewhere in between.
School is going well, a few bumps in the road now and then but for the most part the boys are doing great and I'm really proud of them!
Studies: Bible: we're finishing up learning about Joseph (Old Testament) and about to start a study on Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims for the obvious reasons Language/Reading: Sean's been working on creative writing and writing letters (keep your eye out for emails from him now and then) and Ryan is doing great with his reading. He's very proud of what he's accomplished, I can tell. He's trying to read EVERYTHING now lol. (shh! I even caught him and Sean reading a book up in their room.... on their own!! gasp!) Math: Sean is learning the dreaded fractions but they don't phase him at all. He's got it pretty much down! Ryan has been learning to count money and measure with a ruler - doing wonderful! Science/History: This is what the boys call the "fun" part of the day. We are still learning about bugs. It's quite in depth and a lot of fun. History, we've just started learning about the first settlers in America, including the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving.
Well that's the quick run-down. I should probably head to bed, Elizabeth will be waking me up soon anyway, I'm sure.
