Trying to find the right blue for my bathroom, which is currently the wrong blue. And it may not even be so much the wrong blue, but I can't find the paint to cover a patch we made. I think I gave it away. Oh well. A good excuse for a makeover.

I decided to be adventurous and let the kids help. I wish it wasn't so stressful to see three of them with paint brushes, but stressful it is. I remember stopping by a friend's home last year, and her 8 or 10-year-old was carrying around a red plastic cup filled with paint and a paintbrush, doing touchups on all the walls. I don't know how she did it.

A few squares to share

A couple of still-not-so-well kids mixed with some very cool, rainy fall weather made for a great day to try some sewing with Brooklyn. She picked some material a few weeks ago and I just haven't taken the time to cut out a few measly squares. But today was the day.

Brooklyn rummaged through the scraps and found some great pieces. Then she ironed the material. I marked the squares. She cut them out. And then I stood over her at the sewing machine and grabbed the material every time it started to go crooked. And then I remembered the its her quilt and she will the learn how to sew a straight line the same way everyone else does. So I backed away. Until I saw the material going crooked. I just couldn't help myself! But I will say that it looks mighty fine.

Its been a little busy around here

Its not that I've been doing nothing blog-worthy. Quite the opposite. We're just keeping too busy for me to find the time to sit down and write about all of it. We've been doing more for school than any year before, the kids are swimming again two nights a week, and I've started teaching piano lessons three days/week. Add to that a steelhead season that has captured Doug.

I've been busy making these massively adorable bibs and others just as cute.

Catching one of these

Building a couple of teepees for a pow wow

And sewing like crazy creating these super cute outfits.


Looking forward to this weekend.

A new version of Angels, We have heard on high

I overheard the kids singing some Christmas songs from the upcoming Christmas production. It went a little like this....

"Glo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooooria....How does it go? Oh, yeah. In a shellfish stable....Glo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooooria."

"Yeah, that's it!"

May I have your attention please

After a good four month respite, Brooklyn is posting again. Check it out on her blog.

I Saw Three Ships Go Sailing By...

Today we set sail on the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. We're studying Columbus this week so the activity was to make some ships. The kids found wood that would float and then widdled some holes for the mast and decorated some sails. We originally secured the masts with hot wax. When that failed on one, we used Gorilla Glue. And when the wax broke on another ship today, we stopped by Walmart and bought some bubble gum. Worked like a charm. We had to go to Lake Chelan today so we stopped by to see if the ships could handle a long journey. They would have been fine if there were no jet boats on Lake Chelan. We lost a sail and capsized the Nina.

And then off to the playground.



The kids wanted to try again to sail the ships from one of the docks. Ty let his boat go and it got too far out. The girls were kind enough to do a rescue mission and retrieve the Santa Maria. Not that they minded too much.

A note I received today from my pastor.

I laughed so hard and so long my stomach hurt. Really. I was still laughing hours after this happened yesterday.
I heard a noise outside my office. It was Ty. He was trying to get in all the glass doors, which were locked. He was definitely in a hurry. Then he looked around, and decided just to go ahead and pee right next to the building.
What he didn't know it was right under my office window. I went into Traci's office and said - "you're not going to believe this - take a look." We opened the blinds and were chuckling when all of a sudden Ty looks up, directly at me - perfect eye contact. I wish I could describe the look on his face. SHEER PANIC! He realized he was peeing outside my office window and the pastor was watching him from the window. LOL
Our eyes locked momentarily, his facial expression would have won us the grand prize on America's Funniest Videos - and then he was off like a world class sprinter! Traci and I laughed and laughed and laughed. I bet he was so scared - wondering what I was going to do. But hey - what is there to do - he's a boy and I can relate. Sometimes if I drink too much coffee and I'm heading over the pass - I have to find a tree myself.
It's just when a boy gets older, he gets more discreet and you make sure you aren't standing in front of someone's window. Just had to share one of the most memorable pastoral moments I've had - thanks to your boy. LOL
Sometimes I wish I would have started writing a book about 20 years ago when I became pastor. So many funny things have happened. Love you, Doug and your family. Thanks for being part of WFA and thanks for letting me share this funny story. Pastor Jerry