Life as Mrs. Emerson

January is actually one of the slowest months for our family.  A welcomed blessing after such a full December.  It usually consists of lots of reading, a few projects, and lots of wishing that spring would soon appear!  There is a light snow outside the window this morning which is just enough to make us want to stay indoors all day but not enough that we could go sledding.  The ground is also covered in a nice sheet of ice.  Here are a few of my goals for this week.   Mothering/Homemaking Goals 1.  Catch up on laundry.  I decided to strip our cloth diapers last week which put me behind on our regular laundry.  There are probably at least 5 loads to do.  Hopefully I can finish them all today. 2.  Pick a new read aloud to begin with the kids. 3.  Begin compiling a list of seeds to order for our garden this year.  Possibly begin planting a few seeds.   4.  Continue the process of ridding our home of clutter.  This week I would like to go through my books. 5.  Start work on a f

I thought it might be fun to share a weekly review post on what we have been doing.  I am really hoping to blog on a more consistent basis this year.  The week in review posts will probably be in addition to my frugal things posts.  Last week was one of those mixed weeks filled with good days and some bad days. One of the highlights of the week was a fun family trip to Costco.  The happy hubby's computer died so we decided it was past time to replace it.  Costco had a great price on a laptop so we chose to invest in a membership.  This was our first time purchasing a Costco membership and I am really excited.  We chose a Costco membership over Sam's due to the amount of organic and gluten free items that Costco carries.  (Back to healthy eating for the family.)  I think we have already saved enough money to pay for the cost of the membership but I anticipate that we will visit Costco at least every other month in the future.  Shopping at Costco was so much fun!  Usua

December Reads After completing my final exams I was in no mood to read anything that required any brain power last month.  :)  (I will be sure to make up for this deficit in January.)  My reading in December was incredibly sporadic and really only included about two or three days while we were traveling.  I get really bored on long car trips so I always pack along a few fiction books. Like a Flower in Bloom by Siri Mitchell:  After devouring Mitchell's book The Messenger I jumped at the opportunity to read another one of her books.  This book was different than I expected.  Surprisingly I thought this book was actually very funny.  I found myself laughing out loud.  I also enjoyed all of the science and botany that the author included throughout the book.  She did a great job of weaving it throughout the story.  Spoiler alert: The only thing I really didn't like about the book was how utterly predictable it was.  The book builds a little slowly and then ends exactly as

So blessed to have a sweet little girl to sew jumpers for!   I picked up this adorable Nativity Doll Fabric (see below) last year thinking I would probably use it to cover a canvas or sew a pillow cover.  It is rare to find such beautiful fabric that includes the characters from the Christmas Story.  I also just adored the boutique look of the fabric and how the figures almost resemble Matryoshka dolls.  When I pulled this fabric out of my "Christmas Fabric" box I knew that I needed to make a dress or jumper for my girl.   I added the white rick rack.  When my younger sisters were growing up I remember sewing them lots of jumpers but jumper patterns are hard to find.  I think jumpers are simply adorable especially on little girls!  I was so thankful when I found an older pattern that my sweet mom had picked up for me at a yard sale.  Simplicity 5936 was actually printed while I was still in high school.  Does that mean I can call this a "vintage"

Happy 5th Birthday Eli!  I just downloaded some pictures from Christmas and realized that I never shared the pictures from the rest of Eli's birthday party.  It was so much fun to celebrate Eli's 5th birthday! Eli spent about 10 minutes picking out the exact cake and icing that he wanted for his cake.   Our sweet Evangeline was ill for about two weeks surrounding her first birthday in October.  We did not have a party or even attempt to give her a piece of cake.  Her entire birthday was spent with lots of cuddles as we nursed her back to her happy healthy self.  We decided to allow Evangeline to have her first piece of cake when we celebrated Eli's birthday per Eli's request.  Such a sweet memory to share with her big brother!   The first bite. Final verdict?  Yummy and so much fun to play with!