new places

I haven't been using this for a long while have I? After we moved I started a flickr site to share pictures as I found the blog too time consuming when I have so many other things I should be doing. I just looked at this blog again after almost a year and noticed that there are still some people who check it. Well...surprise, surprise there's a new post! My sister Alisa and I have started a blog together, just recently, to record our crafting and homemakering (is that a word?) adventures.

My flickr is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clothedinpurple/

and our blog: http://makingmorewithless.blogspot.com/

We'll see you there!

Birthday Party

On the Tuesday between Anneke and Lukas' birthday's we had a party for all three kids. Lots of fun to have all their friends over, even if a little crowded. I made a "pizza" cake that was so easy and fun.

(click on the picture to get a good look at the cake - pretty authentic isn't it?)

That's it for birthday's for a while - I think we've had enough cake to last a few months!

What a change it will be for us to celebrate a birthday in December!

Happy Birthday Tessa!

Yesterday our little girl turned two! Our beautiful, sweet and stubborn girl. She understood that she got cake and opened presents but for the most part the day went by as normal. So, she got her presents in the morning and later Michelle, Aidan and Ben came by one more time for cake.




The pictures of her blowing out her "canles" are still on the camara. I'll put them on later...maybe :)

Happy Birthday Lukas!

This past Sunday was Lukas 4th birthday. Our little boy is not so little anymore but still so cute (I'm allowed to say that right?). Uncle Jeff and Aunt Michelle and boys came for cake again and Mommy's Opa and Oma came for coffee after second service. A special day for a special boy.

Happy Birthday Anneke!

Today Anneke turned 5! I can't believe it's been 5 years already but at the same time I've been thinking of her as 5 for a long time already. Hopefully this coming year goes alright for her with our big move and going to Kindergarten in the fall.

We had a nice day starting with opening her presents, then having cake with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Michelle and family, going to the pool this afternoon, and lastly, pancakes for supper.

Here are a few pictures...

And just because there are lots of pictures of Anneke already, here's another one with a shirt that I made for her.

We're moving!

Yes...Conrad got a job in Edmonton! Wow. It hasn't really sunk in and I'm not sure when it will - maybe when we start packing? It's all very exciting and the next few months will be busy, but it will be very hard to leave here. When we moved here almost 6 years ago it was just the two of us and now we're a family of 5! We have some great friends and a wonderful church community that we have to leave behind. One wonderful thing though, belonging to a federation of churches, we know we'll be immersed in a familiar church community in our new place.

Next week Saturday all the birthday fun begins. Anneke and Lukas really understand what's going on and are counting down the days on the calender. Should be fun!

Waiting and pictures

So Conrad had his two interviews last week and now we wait...and wait some more. Hopefully we'll know soon what the Lord has in store for us.

Lot's of pictures to share today!

Here is the bag/purse I made for a friend. It was a lot of fun to make - very rewarding. I even put a zipper pocket in it!

I cut Anneke's hair last week and it looks so much nicer. She never keeps anything in it all day (usually because she wants to bike and her helmet isn't comfy with it in) and ends up looking like a "rag-a-muffin" as my Mom would say. So short it is again and now if the ponytail comes out it doesn't look so bad. And see the missing tooth! She's only 4 yet - isn't she too young for this?

Here are the kids having some sort of tea party on Sunday afternoon. It's not that often you see all three playing the same thing together. Tessa's getting older though and she's starting to get what playing together is.

And something very exciting...I finished the top of Anneke's quilt! Yea! I still have a long way to go in layering and quilting it (I'm a bit nervous about the quilting part) but it's very exciting to have it this far and I love it!

Recognize the corner fabric Jennifer?

April already

Time just flies doesn't it? Well, I did have a wonderful week with Charlene here and Conrad and I really enjoyed our time away. Conrad was at a conference for most of the Friday and part of Saturday but I enjoyed myself immensly :). I found a Jo Ann fabric store only a minute from the hotel and a quilt store a couple minutes futher. I'll just say I have a great time all by myself for hours in fabric stores. Here is some of what I bought:

The middle is fabric to make an outfit for Anneke (apples and stripes) and skirts for the both girls (butterfly and ladybugs with stripes). The left side are some remnants I picked up and the bottom two on the right are a couple fat quarters I just liked. With the other four on the right I hope to make a diaper bag. So much fun - just not sure when I'll do it all... I bought a bit more fabric but I sent it in the mail to a couple people so I won't post it until I know they received it :)

Here are a few pictures from my birthday that week. I was spoiled and had a nice day! The cake was made by a friend. I had just commented at her daughters birthday a few weeks earlier that it would be so much fun to be a kid again - look what I got for that!

All my flowers...

Conrad was gone again this past weekend for an interview that he had today. He'll be home in the morning and then on Friday morning he goes again for another interview and should be home Saturday night. Then it's waiting time again to see if anything comes of them. I will be very greatful when this process is over and we know what will be happening in the next few months.

We're still alive

I just got an anonymous comment that it's been a month since I posted anything... I don't know how many people actually look at this but if you do, you'll be glad to know we are all alive and well!

This past month has been busy with normal, everyday things as well as a trip to Calgary for an interview, waiting to hear back and then finding out Conrad didn't get that job. That was a bit of a disappointment but it was very short lived because the same afternoon and the next morning we heard from two other universities in Alberta. Conrad will be going away twice for interviews the beginning of April. Hopefully by the middle of April we will know wether we're moving this summer or staying here for another year.

This month was full of birthday's in our families. Two brothers, one sister, one brother-in-law, two nephews and mine, still to come this week. So "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" everyone. It is our prayer that we all continue to grow in faith and knowledge so that we may serve our Lord in all circumstances.

This coming week will be an exciting and fun filled week. Charlene is coming to visit for a few days with Helena and then on Thursday I'm going with Conrad to Cornell for a few days. A wonderful friend is taking the kids for us! I'm really looking forward to it.

And now a few pictures to make looking at my blog a little more exciting...

Anneke and Lukas playing "Animal upon Animal" - a fun game for kids and adults


Anneke washing dishes for the first time by herself. It took her a long time but she did a good job and enjoyed it. How long do you think that'll last?


Tessa on the toy shelf pretending it's a bed. I remember doing this when I was a kid!


A few crafts I made this past week. The first is a headband I made for my cousin and the others are "crayon rolls", one with markers and the other pencil crayons. They are fun little projects to make

My travelling husband...

...and look what happens when he's away! With lots of quiet evenings lately, I have all the blocks of Anneke's quilt finished. It all needs to be pieced together yet but on this picture it almost looks like it is :). I'm very, very happy with it so far.

This month Conrad's going all over the place. Last week he was gone for 5 days, over the weekend, for a conference. That was the longest he's ever been away and it was really strange on Sunday. Now tomorrow he goes to meet his Supervisor and will be gone until Saturday night and then next week he's gone from Thursday to Saturday for an interview. I must say, I'm grateful it's not always like this!

Everyday life

Well, it's the last day of January already and we've had a fairly uneventful year so far. Anneke, Conrad and I came down with the flu at the beginning of this week but we seem to be over it now and the other two didn't get it (yet).

We've heard from a couple Universities and Conrad has had two phone interviews and will be going to Calgary for a follow-up one at the end of February. We haven't yet heard back from the second interview if he get's a follow up one for it. He's also sent off two more applications. So, we continue to wait (most of the time patiently) to see what God has in store for us. Conrad does have his post-doc for one more year but we are both really looking forward to the time when he has a long(er) term job.

The rest of the month has filled up with regular day to day activities. Here are a few pictures:

The other day I was making apple cake and the kids were all eating the peels. The cake is a recipe from my Mom and I remember eating all the peels while she made it then!

Lukas. What a wonderful kid! He has a very different character than the girls. He will often be on the sidelines watching, not saying much but can also get very angry when Anneke doesn't let him talk. He's very spontaneous with his expressions and movements and often makes us laugh. Yes, he doesn't listen very well and cries and gets angry quickly too but we keep working on that. He also has a tremendous amount of concentration, at times, for a three and a half year old. Here he is, colouring. He spent most of a day going back to this picture, colouring very hard and making sure no white spots (as the kids call it) were showing. If you look at the pictures you can see him switching hands because his hands would get sore from pushing so hard.

Tonight we have the Pot girls here for a sleepover. They assumed they would be sleeping together with Anneke and Lukas so we went for it and thought we'd try it. It's 9:00 now and I still hear them. We'll see if it works...

Quilting

I did make a couple more bags from the same pattern as mine. I made them a little smaller and on the one I made a "Friendship Star" block for the pocket and the other I added the stripe a couple inches from the top.
This one was for my Oma...

This one I made for my Mother-in-law


I also finished my table runner! This project is the one that my sister and I surprised eachother with when we went to BC. We both had two of the same fabrics but made whatever we wanted. I hand quilted this one and really like the way it turned out.


And now I've started on a project I've been planning to do for a long time. A quilt for Anneke. I've been collecting purple fabrics for a few years and after finally getting all the 2" squares cut I'm starting to piece it together. I am making a pattern called "Road to St. Louis". So far I have all 768 squares into 4 patches. It's coming along much quicker than I had thought. Here are Anneke and Lukas watching and saying, "This is my favorite fabric of all of them!" But then when the next ones come through another one becomes the favorite.

A whole chain of purple...


Today I spent the day doing a machine quilting coarse. It was really nice and I learned a lot. We made this square doing some straight stitching and the rest free motion. I found the hardest trying to follow the feather pattern in the middle. I think machine quilting just needs lots of doing and the better you get. It's pretty hard to see on the pictures but maybe you can get an idea.