Halloween 2015 with the Rush Family!

Yes, I know it's been a while since I posted...I've been struggling with my voice on this blog.  Once I can find it again, regular posts will resume.  I just know how much I love looking back at my blog posts so I wanted to get this one up here.

Halloween!  I have never been a fan of dressing up for Halloween.  There has been a Halloween or 2 that I did something but never elaborate and usually last minute.  However, once I had my first daughter, my sister quickly stepped in to make sure her costumes were 1. AWESOME and 2. handmade!  For the past 4 years, she has done amazing work! (scroll to end of post for line up of past Halloween costumes ALL hand sewn by my sister "Aunt G")

This year with 2 very opinionated little girls...we had to wait until we could get them to commit to what they wanted before starting.  This didn't leave my sister much time to get both done so I stepped in and took over creating CGRs.  My sewing skills are limited.  I can sew but not very good and I need support and guidance, which my sister provided me.  I don't know about you but I think it came out perfectly!  For her costume, I ordered her leotard online and painted the wonder woman emblem on the front using some puff paint.

I sewed the circle skirt using this tutorial and then painted the white stars using puff paint.  I had my sister help me with the bottom edge because she has a serger and she's better at things like that.

I used a tutorial that my friend sort of gave me through Facebook messaging for the cape and painted a wonder woman emblem on it using puff paint.

The cuffs, headband, and belt were made using some thick Ribbon type material and sewing elastic on them and painted using puff paint.  Her magic lasso was made of gold ribbon as well.  Thankfully my brother-in-law and sister took over hunting down the boots and painting them with paint that we were able to peal off so that she could still use them.

All in all it was fun to create and CGR loved watching it come to life!  I'm so glad I stepped in to make this one...not sure I will do the same next year but I'm glad I did.

My sister did Ria's Belle costume using this tutorial and this came out so perfectly!  Ria was SOO excited about it and woke me up the day after Halloween dressed in it. BTW, she did not go to bed in it.

Halloween night was hosted at my house for the first time ever too! I was slightly stressed about having it as my sister usually hosts but I think it came out perfectly!  Everyone had fun and lots of yummy food and good company!

The set up of our house!  After the girls went trick or treating, they sat and watched the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, The nightmare before Christmas, Room on a Broom, and much more on that screen.  They were up WAY past their bedtime! 

Will be fun to see what they decide for next year!  Hope you all had a Happy and Safe Halloween!

 2014 below.

Did you dress up this year? What did your kids dress up as?  tell us.

This moment- sisters!

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find and see. 

 

I've been a bit quiet on this blog lately as I just keep going back and forth on where I want to go with it.  I've been blogging in this space for almost 9 years!  I love it and don't want to stop but not sure where I want to go with it.  I think I might do a rebranding...but we'll see.  I have some ideas. 

This moment: Strawberries

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find and see. 

Masterpiece: CGR's Wonderful Wallaby

Sometimes a project just is so addictive that it is off the needles as soon as it's been cast on...or at least that's how it feels...

Project details
Ravelry Project link
Pattern: Wonderful Wallaby by Carol A. Anderson
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Carnation
Cast on: March 1st, 2015
Finished: March 13th, 2015
Notes: I was wearing my Corona pullover the other day and Carmen quickly asked if I would make her a matching one.  I of course said yes since I already had the yarn to make her this sweater!  She had helped me pick it out back in November but I got distracted by other projects and never started it.  So, March 1st came...super close to FL summer and the need for sweaters quickly fading..and I cast this on.

The pattern is pretty well written and comes in a little booklet, which I bought from Paradisefibers.net.  The size range is amazing...2T-2XL adult!  I measured the girls and since Carmen is pretty petite, I opted to make her the 4T even though she is already 4 and she will still have room to grow in it.  I followed the pattern pretty closely, however, I added length to all measurements.

I did pick up for the pouch before it said to.  Jasmin from the Knitmoregirls podcast had recommended to do this as she said it would make it easier.  It did seem easy. 

I'm so happy with how it came out and most of all Carmen is very excited about her new hoodie!  She immediately put it on and wore it out in the FL heat!  It was 83 that day!  She is definitely knit worthy!  Now I'm planning to make her sister a matching one that is purple.

I have already cast it on but have been a bit distracted with working on some other things.  Her sister just had to get involved in the picture taking though.  And I'm glad she did...because they are cute together.

Here's hoping I can finish up her sister's quickly! I'm only about an inch into the bottom ribbing...

Happy Knitting!!

What are you working on or finished lately?

This moment - sunsets

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find and see.

Seems to be the only posts I can get to this last couple weeks...but finished projects and some more posts are coming.

This moment - a house full of silly!

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find and see.

This moment - cards and water play

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find and see.

With an extra video:

Natalie 2015: Simplify and Streamline

I love the idea of having a theme to focus on each year.  I am not sure I really follow it throughout the whole year but it's always fun to start of the year with a focus.  I'm also a big fan of lists...so I'm going to combine these for this year's resolutions post.

This year my theme is going to be: Simplify and Streamline.

Not all of my goals below fit nicely into this theme but that's ok with me...

Crafting:
1. Organize my stash so that it's visually pleasing and not just stored away.
2. SPIN MORE!  This is big.  I really want to give Pilar some love this year and spin spin spin!  It's been a while since I spun and I just need to get back to it.
3. Take more classes. This coming year, I hope to take more workshops and crafting classes.  I want to learn more techniques but mostly I want to learn from those teaching.
4. Teach more classes.
5. Travel to a fiber festival!!  This is huge!  I REALLY REALLY want to make it to a festival this year.  We have plans in the works but hope it works out as well as we are planning.

Personal:
1. I'd like to simplify our home by purging all the things that are not used/played with or don't have a place in our home.  This especially goes for clothes that don't fit and trinkets that don't hold emotional attachments or have a place to live.
2. I'd like to purge my wardrobe into a smaller one that only has clothes that I love and make me feel good. Sadly, I still have "maternity" clothes that get worn here and there.  They must all GO!
3. Make it through the construction that is about to begin on our home and really decorate our living room and rest of the house with pictures and more.

Parental:
1. Focus less on bedtime routine and more on enjoying the time with my girls.  NOT saying I'm going to get rid of bedtime routine but often at night I feel like it's this race to get them to bed before it becomes a meltdown battle of over tired girls.  This stresses me out and I end up not enjoying the time we have together as much.  I really would like to focus more on enjoying the time and less on racing through the time.
2. Start having dates with each of my children.  My girls love to be together but I also feel they need some alone time with me.  I would like to start having fun outings with just one of them at a time.  We'll see how this goes.

Relationships:
1. Schedule monthly date nights with my husband.  We are good about doing date nights but we often realize we haven't had one in a while and then plan one.  I would love to do this monthly in the new year.
2. Focus more on what I'm bringing to my marriage than what I'm getting.  I feel this is such a better way to love and helps to curb the tit for tat mentality that can often cause grief.
3. Plan more time with my sisters.  We always love going to brunch together but do not do it often enough.  Downton Abbey is starting soon and we always watch that together on Sunday nights and it's nice to be with them.

And to finish off I would like to cut out the excess in our life and focus on the good and what truly matters.  Focus on our family and our home.  Give our journey to God and know that he has big plans for us and enjoy the ride that he takes us on.

Wishing your family a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Love the Barknknit family!

What are your resolutions/themes for the new year?

Birthday girl and her new Frozen bike

This past Saturday we celebrated my big girl turning 4 with family and friends.  It was of course Frozen themed and we all had a blast!!  I thought I would take more pictures but honestly I was too distracted and had a bad blogger moment and forgot to take pics for the blog.  I also don't like to post picture of other people's kids on my blog so you'll have to do with this cute picture of the birthday girl with her new bike!

This awesome Frozen bike was sent to us by Kohl's as part of their #FrozenFunAtKohls promotion!  I had not realized until they contacted me how much Frozen stuff they were carrying.  I have to admit I fell down a rabbit hole when I started looking at the items and trying to select which one I wanted.  Click here to check out all their Frozen merchandise.  There are so many things I knew my girls would love but when I saw the bike it was just too perfect. 

Carmen was so excited about her new bike. It's a great next bike for her and one that she will be able to grow with for a bit. My husband put it together easily and it was all set and ready to go on her birthday.  The cute little pouch on the front is perfect for her to put her doll of choice for the trip or to pick up little treasures on the way.  Thank you again Kohl's!

The helmet was a separate gift from her grandpa to go with her new bike.  This girl is now set for some serious bike rides!

Happy Bike riding and Birthday Celebrating!

This moment - A birthday girl and her daddy

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find and see.

Happy 4th Birthday to my big girl!

My big girl turns 4 today!  This precious blessing made us parents 4 years ago today at 6:36 in the afternoon.  So glad she chose us to be her parents!!   Her birthday party is this weekend so I'll share more about it after it happens.

This Halloween...

 

3rd Birthday girl...

2nd birthday tinkerbell girl

1st Birthday girl...

When she came home from hospital...  

We are so blessed with this smart, kind, silly, loving girl!  So thankful she chose us to be her parents.

Happy Birthday sweet Carmen!

Masterpieces: Her first sewn pillow

As many of you with small children know, they want to do everything you do normally!  I was recently handed down a sewing machine and I couldn't be more excited about it...and now so is Miss Carmen.  With my sister's help, I was able to figure out the new machine as well as teach Carmen how to sew. 

The first night we just let her sew on some scraps of yarn but she wanted to make something.  We decided that a small pillow would be a good way to start.  The first step was to shop for the fabric and she of course picked princess themed fabric.  Then I washed the fabric and my sister came over and taught her what to do.

She seemed to have a good time with sewing the pillow.  Our table is a counter height table so we had to get creative with how to set her up to sew but it worked out.  She is never left alone with the sewing machine on and I think I might get her some gloves so that she doesn't get poked by the needle.  I'm so glad she likes to craft and looking forward to teaching her how to make lots more things!

And another fun part...the stuffing!

Some day we'll tackle knitting but for now she's just happy with her pillow!  Her Aunt G also sewed one for Ria so they both have matching little pillows.

Happy Sewing!

What age did you learn to sew or knit?  Have you taught your children how?  What trick do you have to teach a 4 year old how to knit?

Embracing the Christmas season early!

As I mentioned before, my favorite holidays are Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I know most people think that Christmas season shouldn't start until the day after Thanksgiving but I don't quite follow that.  I listen to Christmas music all year long if I'm doing something like dishes or cleaning where I need a pick me up.  It's my happy place music!  And this year for the first time, I have put up our Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving and I am very happy about it.  It might just be a new tradition in our house. 

Saturday during Ria's nap, Carmen and I decorated the bigger tree!  She was so excited about the lights and checked out every ornament!  It was so much fun to tell her about each one and show her the ones she made last year for our tree.

After Ria woke up from her nap, I had wrapped two new ornaments for them to open and put on the tree. I don't have close ups but Carmen got Elsa and Ria got Anna from Frozen. Yes, if you notice my stocking is not completed yet!  It's in a project bag and about 2/3rds done.  I actually decided last night that I was going to put away the hitofude cardigan I've been working on and finish up the stocking first before I go back to knitting on the cardigan.  I also have a secret project I'm knitting for the girls that I'm very excited about and will share with you as soon as I'm done!  I'm almost 50% done with it.

My step-sister came over after we were done with the tree and helped me and Carmen with some crafts during Ria's nap!  I found two pins on pinterest that I wanted to do this year.  First was the ornament wreath seen below and pin found here.  To make this, we took all the ornaments that I bought at the dollar tree and hot glued the tops to them.  Then we strung them on a wire hanger and closed up the wire hanger and hung it up.  The burlap garland I made using this pin and hot glued the ornaments on to it.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this came out and it makes me so happy to see it!

I love how it looks from my kitchen too!  I was cooking dinner and was just so happy to see it!  I also hung up some new pictures in the corner there too!  We are repainting the living room and changing out those curtains in the new year but I couldn't wait any longer to put some stuff up.  You can also see my small nativity scene in this picture.  I still haven't found a safe place for my willow tree nativity scene but some day it will come back out.

One of the crafts I did last year was this nativity scene that my sister printed and laminated for me!  I put magnets on the back and Carmen loved playing with it last year.  This year it's been a bit hit too!  The pin for that can be found here so you can print your own.

After a busy day of crafting, cleaning, and toddler/child wrangling, I was so happy to sit with some hot cocoa, my knitting, and Love Actually with all the Christmas decorations up!  It was so nice to get some time to enjoy it at the end of a busy day!

I hope you enjoyed my Christmas decorations!  I have some more ideas but most are going to have to wait until next year.  There is one more decoration I have left to finish that is already half way completed and then I'm getting back to knitting and baking!

Happy Christmas Decorating!!!

When do you plan to put up your decorations?  Have you already?  Any new decorations you have for this year?

This moment - teach them young.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo(or several) – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find and see.

Currently: my blogging voice, family, knitting, holidays

Hi long lost bloggy friends!  I miss you all and I miss this space.  Some how over the last couple months I have lost my blogging voice and I'm not sure how to get it back.  I can't tell you how many times I've sat down to write a blog post and just get lost.  It always comes back to where do I start and what do I say.  I've been blogging at this space for over 7 years and in that time I've had one podcast, which has been put to rest, and now doing another.  I realize this space isn't the same as my podcast but for some reason I can't figure out what I want this space to be.  As I work this all out, I still want to share what's going on in my life as I always have.  So today we are going to start with a Currently post.  Hope you enjoy!

Currently:

I'm FRUSTRATED with my lack of voice on this blog.  As my life has changed, this blog has changed and I love going back and reading old post about what I was focusing on or thinking about.  I don't want to let this space go quite yet. I need to turn the frustration into planning and organizing the blog posts that are swirling around my brain.

I'm RELIEVED that my girls, hubby, and I have been managing our newish schedule well.  The change happened over 90 days ago and I don't really want to share lots of details but my hubby got a different job with different hours. This change has changed everything about our work week so it was a bit of a transition.  I was happy for my husband because the job change is so good for him but at the start I was very stressed about how it would effect our family.  We've had some difficult times of lack of sleep but overall I think everyone is doing well with the it.

I'm THANKFUL for my local family, who always steps in to help whenever we need them.  When our schedule first changed, I had to have surgery but it was not the greatest timing.  My family was very supportive of me getting the surgery as soon as possible as the doctors were suggesting and they all pulled together and helped me in every way they could.  Without them there, I'm not sure it would have gone as smoothly nor would I have healed as well.

I'm DELIGHTED that I have been able to knit quite a bit lately.  I don't feel like I've had all that much progress because of the lack of finished objects but I have actually been getting a lot done!  As I've said many times, knitting is my therapy and my mind is a better place when I have time to knit.  I have some very pretty things to share with you all soon!!
I'm EAGER to start decorating my home for CHRISTmas this weekend!  I love our home with the Christmas tree lit and my nativity scenes out.  It just makes our home feel so warm and full of holiday cheer!  We won't be in town for the week of Christmas this year but my sister is going to be staying at the house for the week with the pups!  I figured why not get my Christmas decorations up early so we can enjoy them longer and she will then get to enjoy them the week she's staying at the house.  My sister's family across the street will also get to enjoy our outdoor lights so it's worth it.   Picture is from last year.
I'm BEWILDERED how my first daughter is about to turn 4 on Dec 1st!  How is she already 4?  The time has flown by but she is just blossomed into this smart, kind, and loving child that fills this mama with pride!  I can't wait to celebrate her birthday with our family and friends on Dec 6th!  Someone got her a pretty awesome experience gift for the following day that I can't wait to experience with her!!!

I'm EXCITED about all that is coming in the next couple weeks.  My favorite holidays are Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I love spending time with family and give me a turkey dinner and this momma is happy!  I also love Christmas traditions!  This year we are road tripping up to spend the week with Special K's family and I'm so excited about it!  We haven't been up there in 2 years and I am looking forward to the girls getting time with their cousins, Grandma, Aunt, Graunt, and more! I can't wait for them to all meet Miss Maria and get to know her.  Will be an adventure as it's our first LONG road trip with them but I'm so very excited! 

 

I feel LOVED.  With our new schedule, my husband and I don't have lots of time together but the time we do have is spent focusing on family and quality time.  I'm so grateful for everything he does every day for our family.  He works so hard and loves us so much.  I can't express how much he means to me but I look forward to celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary next month and many many more in the future.

Thank you for reading!

How are you currently feeling?