Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Geek Tree


David isn't really into decorating the Christmas tree.  On the night we put up this little beauty he actually did homework while the girls decorated.

And then Sunday night he came home with a box of computer parts (an unremarkable occurrence around here).  Here is the evidence of his latent Christmas spirit..... The Geek Tree.






Points to anyone who know what this stuff is!

~C

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree.....


Here is the fam, in front of the star of the moment


Our Tree!



We ran out to near-by Palmer's Tree Farm here in Keizer and had a great time picking out our tree.  It is a great place with lots of beautiful, trimmed trees in several varieties.  Hot chocolate, fun bailer and even these great tree haulers (the thing Abby is sitting on).  I had never seen one before and it was very helpful.

Adriel started the cutting....


But David did most of it.  How to properly cut down a tree is part of his teen man/ boy skill training.  He was quite fast and did a great job.


Sitting on the cones watching David work....



The tree cart made it so easy, Miriam pulled the tree up to the bailer!  Good job Mim.

~Christina 

*Disclaimer - If you are looking for lovely well lit pictures check out Adriel's photography blog.  This blog has been taken over by Christina.   You will find many pictures here, most of them fuzzy and none well lit.  If at this point you are wondering how a photographer's wife could take such pictures...... we will just say that opposites attract.

skipping right over......








 the enormous amount of potatoes I made for Thanksgiving......


This blog is moving right on to Christmas....




While far from perfect I am pretty happy with how these etched glasses came out for my super hero loving nephew.  I am making several gifts this year but some of the other recipients may read this blog.... so this is all you get.

~ Christina 

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

And it Begins.......

The hit count at My Sailor Girls is going up and the Winter styles are photographed and listed......  Christmas is just around the corner!







Don't put off your order too long!  My turn around time is about 2 weeks so the order cut off is December 1st this year.  By the time I get all the orders done around the 15th the kids will be on break from school and I don't like to ignore them :)  There are a few Ready to Ship items for those who wait until December to order...... but even those should go out by the 15th just to be on the safe side.

I am in love with these little inverted pleats!  I used a great vintage 60's pattern and it is so sweet.


I found just enough of this calico to make the little girl dress and sadly there wasn't enough for a doll dress, but it is terribly sweet.


For this version I used coordinating stripes and floral with cording in the princess seams of the bodice.  The bodice is fully lined and it has a zipper closure.


The deep red of the pleats are just peaking out from a field of cherries in this set.  Again, it has a fully lined bodice and back zipper closure.

The funnest part for me was drafting the doll dress pattern.  I based it on the pattern shapes of the girl size dress but Kit here is built like a linebacker and adjustments must be made for her wide shoulders and barrel shaped body.  It turned out well though and Miriam assures me that Kit likes the style :)

~ Christina 



Thursday, September 27, 2012

Nerd Day

Spirit Week continues with "Nerd Day"
The shirt says "Resistance is Futile if < 1 ohm"
Geeky on so many levels!



We sure hope no one suspects random wires taped to a colander are anything more than decoration.


The elephant had to get into the action with his own head gear of course.
Happy Nerd Day to you all!

~Christina 


Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Dr. Who?

This is Spirit Week at McNary High School and Tuesday was Super Hero day.
David decided to be Dr. Who so I whipped up a bow tie and he borrowed Adriel's suit coat.  Even David's trusty elephant got into the act with his own little bow tie.






Don't forget your sonic screw driver!

~Christina 

Monday, September 17, 2012

Keeping it Real

We have lived here for 5 years now.  When we first saw the house I realized that it needed cleaning but Mama raised me right and I can scrub a tub, so I thought nothing of it really.......

I really dislike the kind of enclosed fiber glass shower we have and I, unfortunately, did not understand how difficult it can be to combat hard water and soap scum in combination.  I have tried so many products on this shower.  No amount of scrubbing (and there was a lot!) or scraping could really get this shower clean.

I'm just keep'n  it real people, this is the before picture.


Then I found a recommendation online for my new BFF


Bar Keepers Friend I got at Lowe's for about $3.  It comes in a powder, a thick liquid for cleaning stove tops and this thinner liquid.  Next time I think I will get the thicker liquid because I think it will stay up on the walls better........ but check out the after!

 I let it set on the walls and floor of the shower for over an hour and I won't down play how much scrubbing was involved - it was a lot of hard work, but this time it made a difference!  All that hard work was worth it to have a clean tub.  The best part is knowing that it will never get that much build up again because I finally found something to break up the lime and soap scum.  There was no hard chemical smell either.  This stuff is a permeant part of my cleaning caddy now :)

~ Christina 

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Almost done

Adriel has been working on this painting project for weeks now.  Here is a couple of pictures from last weekend.  He has done such an amazing job!  The final touches are going on and then we will post the final pictures of our beautiful new house.



~ Christina 

Friday, September 14, 2012

30 years ago.....

 I straightened Miriam's hair yesterday and realized that all she needs to look remarkably like my big sis at that age, is some bangs that start in the middle of her head!


 She loved her little side braid and wanted me to take pictures.  This one is all about the hair and clothes.  That's how she expresses herself.

~ Christina 

First day of school

I'm a little late in posting..... But here are the girls on their first day last week.


































Saturday, September 08, 2012

Kids and Responsibility....

A fresh, shiny new school year has begun!  You think that it's a great idea to have your teen/tween kids be responsible for getting themselves up on school days.  After-all, that's what good parents do - teach responsibility.......  Until 6 am on Saturday when you realize that your son, who is gone for the weekend, still has that alarm set.  


If you think hitting snooze and pulling the thing out of the wall solved your problems..... you would be wrong.  It's not long before you realize that your over-achieving first born put back-up batteries in the thing!  

Just about the time you think you might be able to get back to sleep it's time for the tween's buzzer of responsibility.  That, my friends, is how I find myself blogging prior to 7 am on this beautiful day......  This whole "responsibility" thing might be over rated.

~ Christina

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Thursday, August 09, 2012

Girl Day!

This year, instead of a party for Abby's birthday, we had a girl day out.



Abby was rather nervous aobut geting her ears pierced, but determined to be brave.



That wasn't so bad!  She picked out these sweet colorful flowers - just like her.


Then it was off to see Mr. Poppers Pinguins (It was cute despite staring Jim Carry) and ice cream at Cold Stone.  Thanks for the treat Grammy Debbie!


Abigail wanted to make her own birthday cake this year and she did a great job.  She did it all, from baking to making the fondant to decorating.  Nice job!  Being a pastry chef like Aunt Laura sounds like a wonderful idea :)




Happy Birthday to my sweet 11 yo girl.