He Lives!

This Easter we were challenged with an inquiring 3 year old that wanted to know "why those men put Jesus on the Cross". I knew the day would come when all of our talk of Jesus at home would ignite his curiosity.  I mean can you imagine a 3 year old wondering who this person is that we talk about all of the time but never see?

Isn't that a great question?

It has really given us an opportunity to talk to Matthew about a Savior that loves us and lives in us.  I was glad that Easter was more than an egg hunt this year.

What a gift we have as parents to get to teach our kids about a God that loves us unconditionally and sacrificed his life to make us whole.

So why did those people put Jesus on the cross?

We really had to come up with creative ways to simplify our answer.  Instead of shying away from talking about death, we embraced it and told him that Jesus died. But the good news is that three days later he rose and walked out of the tomb.  We actually called it a hole and a cave because he didn't understand tomb.

We started out by saying that those men did not know Jesus. They were very unkind.  They did not know that Jesus loves them very much.  Jesus loves us even when we disobey. We kept our explanation very short and simple. After all, he is only three.

Then we asked him where Jesus lives.  He placed both hands over his heart and smiled.

And we smiled too.

It will be exciting to expand on this story as he gets older...to talk about how Jesus overcame the cross and now is alive in us. To tell him Easter is about new life...overcoming death.  And that my friends, is so exciting! A man died on the cross for us, rose from death...conquered death...and is alive today...because he loves us!

How exciting that we have an opportunity to know that person every single day and I get to teach my kids about him...about how wonderful he is...about how he loves us and lives in us.

We all had so much fun hunting eggs this year. Samuel got to join in on the fun.

Matthew got the most.

Patrick did a good job of hiding them all over the place...on the fence, in the trees, on the truck, on the water table.

...even in a pot.

Matthew did a good job of hunting all of the eggs before he started eating chocolate.

I can not say the same for Samuel.

We did manage to get a few good pictures of the boys though before their mouths and hands were completely covered in chocolate.

We had a wonderful Easter. Lots of candy. Two happy boys...who could ask for more?

Dear boys,

As you grow older I am looking forward to more opportunities to teach you about our Lord Jesus. He is alive and lives in us. We have a Savior that wants an intimate relationship with us. He is interested in all that is going on in our lives. He will never leave us or forsake us.

Love,
Mommy

I made a quilt!

I knew, rather hoped some day I would be able to say these words.  I mean after all, quilt making is in my blood.  My Grandma whom I share a birthday with was a quilt maker.  My dear Aunt Rita can quilt and so did my mother.

So shortly after Christmas I got the hair to try my hand at quilting.  Did I have the skill needed to do them proud...all of these fine quilt makers I have to look up to?  Really the more practical question for me is did I have the follow through? I am notorious for starting projects and never finishing them.  But with a very clear deadline to motivate me, I got started.

I decided my first quilt would be for my niece Kyndal.  She turned 4 in February and I thought it was as good time as any to make her one.  I got my first quilt at age 5 and still have it.  My Grandma made it for me and I have cherished it ever since.  It has gotten a lot of use over the years but is still as good as ever.  I would have preferred the quilt be made by Grandma but she is unable to quilt these days.  So who better to make it than the granddaughter that shares her birthday.

So I set out to find some fabric.  It was the beginning of January and I had 6 weeks to get this done. I thought I would make a charm square quilt because that was what my first quilt was and what her father's (my brother) first quilt was.  Knowing also that her favorite color is pink, this is what I decided on.


Moda Papillon.

This is a fat eigth fabric bundle.  All of the pieces coordinate and have roses and butterflies on them.  They are stunning. You can also get this bundle in charm squares but that was not available to me so I had to cut the squares out myself.

Here's a few examples of the fabric.  The butterflies make me think "little girl" and the roses of course remind me of Grandma.

After all of the squares were cut I laid them out on our dining room table.  I hand picked each block so that two of the same were not next to each other.  

Then I started to piece the blocks together in rows and then sewed the rows together as well.  Matching up the corners proved to be more difficult than one would imagine so there was a lot of ripping and restitching in the process.  

After completing the rows, I chose to add two borders.  A small 2 inch cream fabric to set the squares off and a wide 6 inch stripe to border the cream.  Then I laid it out on the just mopped kitchen floor and sandwiched the layers together.  First was the backing.  It is really cute but I don't have a picture of it.  Then the batting and last was the top of the quilt.  

You can see here that I had a little person that was happy to help me smooth out all of the wrinkles.  He helped create a few too.  

After pinning the quilt together with a ton of safety pins all that was left to do was quilt and bind...easier said than done...I might add. I wrestled with how to quilt this quilt from the beginning. I had never heard of my Grandma machine quilting a quilt.  She was traditional to the core.  But several people I know had done some machine quilting and made it sound so easy and quick.  So I jumped on board the machine quilting band wagon and got started.  But just as I put down the presser foot and was about to press on the pedal, something stopped me.  

I couldn't do it. 

I knew if Grandma had been making this for Kyndal she would have hand quilted it.  And with that lingering in the back of my mind I took the quilt out of the machine and sat down with a very large hoop and started to hand quilt.  Hand sewing ended up being faster than I was willing to move the hoop along so I ended up free hand quilting shortly after starting.  I used a blue fabric pen to trace a line 1/4 inch away from the seam of each square.  I also did big stitch quilting.  In this method a thicker thread is used and the stitches are much larger and very visible.  But are also very cute! Hand quilting proved to be very rewarding and I found myself looking forward to the moments I could steal away from the boys to work on the quilt.  

I guess quilting really is in my blood.

Here I am working on the border of the quilt.  I chose to stencil a butterfly all the way around the outside of the quilt.  It was a tedious process but so rewarding. 

 I drew all of the butterflies on first.

After all of the quilting and binding was finished, I ran the quilt through the rinse cycle on the washing machine and all of the blue ink dissolved away. 

And here it is finished.  

I did it! 

I am really pleased with how it turned out and and I am so proud of myself.  Can I say that? 

This last picture was taken right before we left for the party in Austin.  I did not finish the quilt until 3:00 in the morning...the day of the party...but the most important point is that I finished.  

Thanks Natalie for all of your advice and encouragement throughout this process.  Your friendship and guidance means more than you know! I learned so much from you.

I look forward to making more quilts for other nieces and nephews, and also my boys in the future. It will be so much fun getting to plan and decide on fabric for them too!

a good nap

Ahhhh the days of naps.  If we could only jump into a time machine and go back to those days when naps were encouraged...necessary...mandatory.  If our kids could only realize how good they have it...getting into a warm, cozy, comfy bed at mid-day to sleep the cares of the day away.  To wake refreshed and energized. Then to be offered yummy snacks and tv time.

If only...

The other day our sweet Samuel woke from his afternoon nap.  You know you can tell when your kids have had a really good nap.  They will wake with pillow marks and crazy hair and a smashed face.  It is so cute.

"a good nap"

Here's to future nap time.  Maybe it will return for us adults someday.  

Happy Heart Wreaths

Here's hoping you all survived Valentine's Day 2013.

I thought I would post a tutorial on how to make the heart wreaths that I hung on the back of my dining room chairs.  They are pretty simple but have several steps...so grab a comfy chair, this will take a couple of minutes.

Here's what you will need.

You'll start by cutting your white card stock into the size circle that you want.

 I chose an 8 inch circle.

After cutting out the 8 inch circle line up your circle cutter and cut out a 4 inch circle.  You can use the grid on your cutting mat to line up the cutter so that your 4 inch circle is centered.

Voila!  

You will need 2 rings for each wreath that you make.

Next, summon your super helpful and happy toddler, if you have one, to come help.  (Mine was actually chompin' at the bit to help his mama craft.)

Ahhhh...here he is.  See, very happy.

Staple the ribbon that I have not instructed you to cut yet to the center of your ring.  Your happy toddler will be glad to do this. The ribbon should be whatever length you need to tie a bow from wherever you are hanging it.  Mine was about 18-24 inches long. You will need two pieces for each wreath. 

Then have that same happy toddler squeeze some glue out and glue the two rings together.  The ribbon will be sandwiched in between the rings.

This is what your finished ring should look like.  I actually stapled the ribbon at this point too.  It made the card stock sturdier and the staples will get covered by the hearts.  

Ok.  Now moving onto the hearts.  I consider this the fun part.  If your happy toddler is napping you can pop in a good movie or cd and sit for awhile.  If you are making as many wreaths as I did this step will take awhile. I do not recommend that your toddler help you with this step...sharp knives and all.

Start by cutting all of your pretty papers into 2 inch strips.  Be mindful of the pattern.  Those zig zags will actually be horizontal once you punch your hearts. 

Now take your handy dandy heart punch...I got mine at Michael's...and start punching.

....keep punching

....still punching

...until

you have a big pile like this.  Actually this isn't all that big.  I eventually got a big bowl out and started to fill it up.  

Be sure to buy enough paper.  Don't make two additional trips to Hobby Lobby like I did. You can always return what you don't use.  

Once all of your hearts are punched you will curl them.

Did you know that you can curl paper?  This was a new revelation for me.  All you have to do is grab a knife with a flat edge.  Start at the middle of the heart and work out.  Curl on the pattern side of the paper.  Scrape the paper just as you would scrape ribbon with scissors when you are wrapping a present.  

Aren't they pretty!

All that is left now is to glue, glue, glue.

 I started in the center where the ribbon is.  

You can lay your hearts in any direction.  What ever makes sense to you and of course what ever looks the best.

And finally...when you are finished, this is what you will have.

Happy Heart Wreath

Stand back and gaze at your handiwork.  

Then smile because you made something so cute!

Time well spent!

And kudos to me for actually making something that I pinned!

Happy Heart Day!

This year instead of going out on fancy dates, my friend Natalie suggested that we get a group of people together for Valentine's Day.  And since I do everything that Natalie suggests...ha ha ha....I rolled with her idea and threw a Valentine's Day party.

What fun it is to throw a party!

I decided we would put all of the adults in the dining room and make it more formal and let all the kids eat in the kitchen and make as much noise (and mess) as they wanted.

This is what I came up with.

Menu:

Pink Lemonade

Caesar Salad

Lasagna

Garlic Bread

Texas Sheet Cake

A beautiful table complete with white table cloth, real silver and even candles. 

Sweet little jars of pink, red, and white m&m's.  I found these jars at Michael's in their wedding favor section.

I made two big Texas sheet cakes and used a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut them out.  They were so cute waiting for us to eat on the table.  

And I made these really simple happy heart wreaths out of heart shaped paper I cut with a paper punch.  I hung one on each chair.

I wish I could say I took more pictures.  Like of the huge lasagna and the biggest caesar salad I have ever seen.  Or of the friends (21 total) that filled our house and the fun we all had.  But I did not. Once everyone arrived I was busy hostessing and making sure everyone had what they needed.  

But what I will say is that it was one of the best Valentine's Days I have ever had.  My husband admitted the same.  Valentine's Day can often be a death sentence for guys. I have known many guys, including my own husband, who are scared to death when it gets close to this day.  "What will I get my wife.  Will she be happy?  Will I be in the dog house if I mess up?"  I know Patrick has been in this situation before. I am sure more than once.  Oh the pressures we put on our guys!

But this year was different.  It was amazing the difference in my day when I was not focused on myself. I did not have time to sit around wondering if Patrick was going to "perform" like the world has so defined what a good Valentine's Day is.  

It also comes to this...

I am loved by the creator of the world even if I don't get                 . 

You can fill in the blank with whatever applies to you...flowers, chocolates, cards, candy...

We are loved by the creator of the world.  When we take the focus off of ourselves and focus on Him our eyes can be opened to see things differently.  Instead of "needing" to be loved by Patrick, I can see that I am already unconditionally loved by our Lord Jesus.  How great is that!  

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in him.  

1 John 4:16

I hope everyone had a Happy Heart Day this year!  

Love,

The Pendley's