Happy St. Patrick's Day

My mom's birthday is today, so St. Patrick's Day is an important holiday in our family.  Lots of Shamrocks and green!  ☺ The kids and I made ribbon shamrocks and I gave my mom a St. Patrick's Day sock monkey.

My mom's sock monkey with her twin brother.
(They were made from a pair of knee socks)

All the St. Patrick's Day sock monkeys (minus my mom's)

Green Eggs and Ham

William has been wanting me to make "Green Eggs and Ham" so today I did ☺

Injury Trends

Dan & I have sort of joked that our kids seem to have a "favorite" injury....

Sarah has had 2 broken arms
Emily has had stitches/staples twice
William has burnt himself 3 times

But Andy didn't seem to have one until now....

For the 2nd day in a row, he's fallen and hurt his mouth.  Today, he went into the bathroom and as he was coming out, he tripped and he cried the "I'm really hurt" cry.  I rushed in there expecting broken bones or open wounds needing stitches.  He was holding his chin/mouth.  I scooped him up and brought him out to the couch and then peeked in his mouth.  All I could see was blood.  It didn't seem to be his teeth as it was further inside his mouth, but with all the blood, I couldn't tell.  I sent Emily for a wet washcloth.  Once we applied pressure, I could see two teeth marks in the middle of his tongue.  Poor kid!

Book Review: "Humble Heart: a book of virtues" by Amy Meyer Allen

When I saw "Humble Heart: a book of virtues" I thought it sounded like a good book to read to my kids because I think everyone can use help with practicing virtues in their life.  

When it arrived, I was pleasantly surprised at how big it was!  I was expecting a board book in the 6" size range.  "Humble Heart", however is 8x8" with 190 pages!  It has a padded hard cover and very bright, simple, and colorful illustrations. 

 I really liked the characters with their flaws that made them easy to relate to and that it defined each character trait/virtue to make sure the kids knew what they were talking about.  I also liked the fact that the book had a "reality check" question at the end of each of the 9 chapters and a Bible verse to help the child apply the virtue to their life.  

 My oldest read "Humble Heart: a book of virtues" as soon as I pulled it out of the package!  Then my next oldest read it when she was done!  I read it for everyone before bed.  I asked each of them to tell me what they liked or didn't like about the book.

Sarah (8½ yrs): I like the little stories because they teach you things that you need to know. They teach you lessons.

Emily (7 yrs): It was easy to read and understand. My favorite chapter was "Mercy".

Will (5 yrs): I liked the lion story because he was being brave like I have to be.  (Will struggles with anxiety)

Andy (3½ yrs): I like the lion story. I like his sword.

"Humble Heart: a book of Virtues" by Amy Meyer Allen would be an excellent book for families with young children up to at least age 10.  It is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Christianbooks, and Parable ranging in price from $9.99 to $13.19.

Humble Heart

Amy Meyer Allen

Binding:

Hardcover, Padded

ISBN:

978-1-4143-8069-8

List Price:

$14.99

Release Date:

March 2013

Page Count:

192

Trim Size:

8 x 8

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale for my honest review through their BlogNetwork program.  I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Recycled Pocket Purse

Dan's work pants frequently need repairing....especially the right knee (from kneeling to open boxes).  I mend them until it isn't "worth it" to mend them more and then he gets new pants and I save the old pants for mending the new pants. The last time I got out the "old" pants to mend the "new" pants, I saw the pockets and had an "Eureka" moment!  This is what came out of it....

And this is how I did it....

Nice big cargo pockets!

I ended up making a 2nd purse out of the back pockets

The strap would be as long as the pants were long

Knee that has been patched many times over

Pocket cut out

I made my strap pieces 3" so that they would end up 2" wide (1/2" seams)

Cutting the strap pieces apart

I made the piece for the bottom and sides 1 1/2"
longer than the measurement around the 3 sides of the purse

I didn't have enough "fabric" to make the 2nd strap 3" each
because of the hole in the knee

I had to pick off the belt loops to get pieces big enough

This is what I ended up with for the 2nd strap....I had to pick open the seam and trim it off

What was left of the pair of pants!

My pieces ready to sew

I rolled a narrow hem at the top edge and sewed it down

Sandwich the 2 side pieces to one pocket (right sides facing the pocket)

Fold over 1/2" on ends of strap before sewing edge
On the strap I didn't have enough room, I just folded it in half
so I didn't need the 2nd seam - this is a better idea anyway!

Leave a little ease for the corners

Sew ☺

How cool is that?

Pin the inside and top stitch close to the edge to hold it



The strap that I cut in half needed 2 seams!

Pin outside layer out of the way (See note at end)

Pin on 2nd pocket

Make sure the right side is correct!

Since I was sewing the outside of the bottom/side to the 2nd pocket
the pocket needed to be facing down

Turned inside out, I pinned the raw edge under

Turned right side out again

Sew along the edge

I used a long stitch length and a heavy duty needle

I used my zipper foot

NOTE: When I make more, I will sew the inside of the purse to the 2nd pocket so that when you sew the edge down, it will be the outside of the pocket and you can control what it looks like.  The way I did it originally, the outside didn't always look so nice!