Friday, January 29, 2010

Baby Fresh


As Leif grows I have been getting lots of comments that he is looks like Torsten. What do you think? When Torsten was a baby he was a strawberry blonde. Leif sometimes looks to have a touch of strawberry too.

Did I tell you I am using cloth diapers with baby #6? Did I tell you I am crazy? Just kidding. The crazy part was a joke, I think..... In the left corner of the picture there's a glimpse of what the diapers look like. I went with the Fuzzi Bunzs brand. They're pretty cute with adjustable snaps and elastics so they can grow with your baby until they're 18 months old. The jury's still out on whether I'd choose to do them again. Definitely more work than disposables but by my calculations we will be saving lots of money. And Leif seems to have less blowouts....

Monday, January 25, 2010

Hand Me Downs!

Raise your hand if you love hand me downs! Count me in. I love hand-me-downs: clothes, cars, toys, you name it! Today, as I putter around the house, I am currently enjoying looking at the new-to-me couch that Lani gifted to our family this weekend. It's brown, leather, nicely worn in and comfortable, and SOOOOO much better than the couch it replaced! (Which by the way, that couch being replaced was a very appreciated hand me down from my Grandma that served us very well for 15 years.....) The old couch had a few broken springs and a denim slip cover on it that I made 10 years ago. (1o years?? Where does the time go?) Over the years that slip cover has become ripped, faded, and completely worn out. I've always tried to keep it covered up with throws and pillows to hide its worst spots, but it was getting to be ridiculous. And to be honest, I just didn't have it in me to sew a new slip cover right now!! Those things take me about a week. And that means a week of being home all day sewing, measuring, thinking, pinning, sewing some more, etc. And it usually means not much in the way of dinners being cooked, laundry done, and certainly no school. And with a new baby? No way. So my other option in the situation would be to buy a new couch. But anyone who knows my household knows we don't buy new furniture. (Monetarily it never seems justified- wouldn't want to use a credit card, nor dip into emergency savings for something as unimportant as a new couch. Though sometimes I wish new furniture could qualify as an emergency....!)That means the options always come down to making over something found at D.I. or some thrift store, a garage sale, or once in a very great while- stumbling across a usable dumpster discovery. (Yes, my mountain bike and Hailey and Heidi's dresser were both dumpster finds! Some day I should share the funny story of the bike found by our apartment's dumpster in Hailey) But those kinds of purchases, though very affordable, also require work. Lots of work. Paint, sanding, new knobs, sewing slipcovers, etc. So Lani, Thank You for giving us an awesome hand me down couch that was much needed and didn't require any work to make it look decent! We all love it, and I especially love knowing that it came from a sweet, dear friend.

Factual statistics of the Pearson household's Shabby Chic look:
(sometimes a little more shabby than chic...)

All beds frames in this house have been either given to us or traded for. (We trade for many, many things- including dental work and piano lessons.) The girls bunk bed was a gift from my father to my mother before they were even married. Funny gift you say? You have to know my dad.
All the dressers in this house have had previous owners. Some dressers are on their 3rd coat of paint.
Barstools and kitchen table were trade items.
Grandma C. gave us the piano.
Game cabinet, sewing table, and girls nightstand were antique fair finds. Antique fairs are still cheaper than new if you look for the deals!
Grandpa Pearson made the great benches for our kitchen table out of a neighbors torn down wooden fence. (I was helping him until I almost cut my arm off with the table saw! He decided to finish the rest with out help from me.)
And the list goes on and on.

So a big thank you to our kind community of friends and relatives, because sometimes it takes a village to furnish a house!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Liberty

My mom proclaimed it the year of Liberty and Patriotism for our extended family! She gave all the mom's and dad's copies of the 5,000 Year Leap and made Liberty wall hangings and T-shirts for everyone. We are really so blessed to have the freedoms we do. What can we do this year to keep America the "shining city upon a hill, whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere?"

"We owe these blessings, under Heaven, to the Constitution and Government ... bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit ... to our children." --President Millard Fillmore (1800-1874)

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Oh dear, this is not good. All these 40 degree temps we've been having, causing rain and mud the past few days, are making me feel as if spring is in the air. It's tricking me into thinking that any day I could see some cute little daffodils and fresh red rhubarb shoots poking out of the ground. I'm starting to daydream about soft breezes and longer days. Oooh, just thinking about spring makes my stomach do a little flip flop. But I can't get spring fever all ready-- it's only January 6th!! So c'mon Sariah. Enough with the wishful thinking. Think cold and icicles...think snow and sledding and hot chocolate....think rock solid chicken waterers....think icy windshields, dangerous sidewalks and warming the car up for 15 minutes before going any where.... because winter is certainly not close to over. In fact, I just realized it's been only 3 weeks since it officially started! Aaaaahhh!

Sleeping Beauties

My longtime friend, Emily and her two daughters were able to come spend Christmas with us. We loved it and having them around really made it a great Christmas! Sunday afternoon, Emily and Leif settled down for a long winters nap to recover from the whirlwind of festivities.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

The Matador and the Street Bum


For the fall piano recital, all the kids dressed like their song so that the audience could attempt to match the piece of music to the student. Taylor made a handsome matador and had fun twirling his cape and playing the part! Torsten performed "The Alley Cat" duet with a friend, so he sewed some patches on his old jeans for a street bum outfit. (Torsten has unending patience for hand sewing and will voluntarily sew on all his scout patches and do his brothers too- what a kid!)


I know it's a little tardy to be posting about something that happened October 30, but when I ran across these pictures tonight, it reminded me how much we enjoy our dedicated and talented piano teacher. We have an amazing piano teacher who lets our family trade handyman and yardwork for piano and organ lessons. The boys do their part and mow her lawn in the summer, rake leaves and clean out the roof gutters. When I look back at 2009, this is one of the blessings I am very grateful for!