the rag coat.

we are reading the rag coast by lauren mills this week for school. this piece of literature is so spectacular. as a little girl, Minna is growing up a poor girl in the cold appalachian mountains. her papa has died while she is still young. 'everyone comes at once and brought us food. i couldn't figure out how so many people could squeeze into our little cabin, but somehow they managed it.' (Minna narrates) the story goes on to tell of the path this little girls takes to get to school, needing a coat to face the weather... something we so take for granted. as the quilting mothers make her coat from scraps of their own fabric, Minna's excitement is almost uncontainable. after she overcomes people making fun of her for her rag coat, she tells her story & the stories of those people in which the fabric came from. i could totally empathize with her grief of losing her father (not the lacking part), and cried through the whole book. i read the book twice yesterday to myself to try and prepare my heart to get through it, but i didn't work. i still cried.

our project for the book was to do a 'quilt square'. we could use paper or material. of course ashlynn wanted material. she has been wanting to use my sewing machine for such a long time. when i told her she would be able to use it, i thought she was going to come out of her skin with enthusiasm. so... off we went. she picked out everything! she picked the colors above (so proud they all match), red thread, and what she wanted on it. (she actually wanted her whole name, but that just was too much). she cut the fabric... with my help. our story for the these squares is this... the red, yellow & star patterned square comes from my mom. the 'A' was used in a cape from my nephew. the final square was used in another project for what? i have no clue. so she sat in my lap and guided the pieces of fabric through the machine needle. she picked the stitch we used for the 'A'. when she was done, she was so proud. i was proud of her too. to see her get so excited. chatting the whole time about how great it was to sew on my machine. it was such a sweet moment. plus... she did a really great job! just don't look too closely at the back.

art.

i was raised by a mom (an art teacher) who abled me and my siblings to love creativity! whether it is drawing, painting, designing, ect. i try to do that with the kids... ash has taken to it so much better than j. i have started volunteering in ash's class teaching the classic artists. i love how everything comes out so different from student to student. ash has fallen in love with the charcoal. painting. pencils. markers. everything. i just love it.

diva.

we all need to harness our 'diva' images. girls will be girls. we are fun. silly. a little crazy. always up for something adventurous! i decided i needed a little diva in my purse... so i made a diva pen. for some reason it reminds me of greece. i have never been, but plan to go. the blues and the greens remind me of 'mama mia'. can't you just see it. the blue waters. the greens of the hillside. the crystal clear sand beaches. ah. to just be there right now.

surprise.

we had some of our closest friends surprise us on new years eve night. they came and stayed with us for a night. it was so sad to see them go... but we did have fun watching the seals do some pretty 'interesting' things at the pier in port san luis. we had a blast going to pismo for lunch! it was a short time together, but it is always filled with laughing! we did a lot. heck look at the pictures. jeremy is apparently a pirate. ashlynn can open her mouth larger than danny. jeremy and todd look like they are in the 50's on a date drinking out of the same cute at the local diner. we had a blast together. hurray for fun friends.