Checking In - It's OCTOBER?!

Wow! Did September fly for you, too? It was an amazing September for us and I can't even express how grateful I am for it. Let's get to it!

• Why was it such an amazing September? Answer: Abby. There has been such a remarkable difference in how she is handling change and this fall we've had a couple of minor incidents and no major meltdowns! This is the first peaceful back-to-school season we've experienced. Abby has had her fair share of behavior issues and the fact that we can finally reason with her and help to adjust to new situations without lengthly meltdowns is huge. I miss her now that she's in school for five days a week and I'm so glad to be able to say that. If you've had a child with behavioral issues, than you know that it isn't always easy to be around that child. Now, I look forward to her coming home each day and I don't have to brace myself for potential conflicts.

• With such a change in Abby has brought a change in our family. We haven't merely survived September, but have taken the time to enjoy it.

• My parents have had a lot to celebrate. Daddy has been through a huge battle and has a way to go, but he's alive and they celebrated the one year anniversary of his medical event (I don't know how to refer to the day he almost died and ended up in a wheelchair). Thank you all for your prayers, love and even financial support. We are all so blessed! 

• We took our annual trip to a local farm's pumpkin cart. They decorate the yard with lots of picture worthy spots and it's a highlight of our fall each year. 

cash wallet for budgeting

• I'm still open to custom sewing orders and finished up a few in the last little while. I am still so flattered that y'all want to hire me and I love being able to personalize items to fit your needs. I am much more careful with your projects than my own, in case you saw my recent blunder on Instagram. 

Essential Oils Cases

• We are in the midst of a federal election here in Canada. David and I took advantage of the advance polling station this year. We were both eager to vote and it was nice to walk in with no wait time at 7:00 in the evening. It seems to be a very pivotal and important election and I'm praying that the best people for our country will be in leadership.

• We celebrated Thanksgiving this past weekend. Friday we had a traditional turkey dinner at "Auntie" Trudy's. We started a new #gingrastradition for Thanksgiving with a BBQ steak dinner. We enjoyed the warm weather by taking a nice walk at the park on Sunday and we stayed warm and cozy on the cold Monday at home. 

"every woman should have flowers for Thanksgiving" - my David

• I'm hosting an art gathering for locals involved in Documented Faith and Illustrated Faith next week. This introvert is rather proud of myself for this and a bit nervous, too. It's going to be great and I've come a long way from planning a party that no one shows up for. I love a good party full of swag and good company, so I know it'll be great. Stay tuned for a blog post about that after the party.

"I'm so glad I live and world where there are Octobers" - Anne Shirley

An Art Update: Part Two

I shared about our family art time from the summer, but that is not all the art I did. Surprisingly (to me anyway) I didn't do more. The art time that I had, I cherished but I chose to spend more time on family focused time than my art. That's a decent accomplishment for me and I'm proud of it.

I spent some evenings painting and some afternoons lettering. I joined a few new groups on Instagram so that I'd have prompts to practice my lettering. I don't think I'll do it daily, but I do enjoy having some new things to try. The flowers are painted and cut out to use in my Bible, journal and letter writing. The bookmark on the right was by request from a friend. 

The one art that I was most faithful to was my Documented Faith journal. This little book has been a delight to fill. I update weekly on Instagram. (user name: mrsgingras)

I did a fair amount of Bible journaling, too. I love how I'm able "to hide His Word in my heart" through art. By the end of the summer I picked up a new Bible study guide. I find that having something structured to follow helps me with consistency. 

I tried my hand at mixed media and had a lot of fun, but need more practice. I mostly like the results.

I did a little sewing. I have a few custom orders on my plate right now, so it's back to the grind of it tonight. My new table is a dream to sew on - solid and no bounce! Happy sewist right here.

Does playing with her hair count as art? I am counting it as art and focused family time. Win win!

And finally, I shared this on Facebook and Instagram, but I wanted to share here, too. I went on an artistic field trip. This is Nettie and she is one of several volunteer sewists who make quilts for charities worldwide. Nettie and her friends work from the MCC thrift store. They sew and make 1000 quilts per year. They are resourceful, using every piece of useable fabric that's donated. Some quilts are "batted" with light blankets or heavy sheets and then are are hand tied (I helped tie 3 this morning). They use the self binding technique and are finished with a sewing machine. Cutting and quilt top sewing are done in homes and the stacking, tying and finishing is done upstairs in the store. I had such a great morning! Thanks ladies.

This summer was by far my most favourite in years. I am so thankful for the two months of family adventures, simply perfect days and yes, some challenges. It was a great time. 

An Art Update: Part One

Part of the summer fun for me was having lots of art practice time. I was our family "art director" for the summer and I look back with fondness at these times. Although...

family art is something that I have to work hard at. In the end, I'm usually glad that I put in the effort. I am not a fan of messes that I don't make myself and so I have to focus on the fact that it's a family creative initiative and it WILL be messy. If I prepare myself ahead of a time for that reality then it helps me not to mind too much. This summer we did more family art projects than ever.

Sun painting was the first art project we tried. I saved this for our camping trip so that we'd have something fun to look forward to (I'm not a great camper and this helped me to have something to look forward to). The idea is that you paint the fabric with diluted paint, then place leaves etc on it, lay it in the sun to dry. We followed this tutorial here. We didn't have much direct sunlight that day, so only a couple turned out the way we had hoped, but they were all colourful and we had fun doing it.

Tree faces is a family favourite and we've already decided that this will be an annual summer tradition. Tutorial/instructions can be found here. 

Stick painting might have been one of my favourites. (I chose family crafts that I wanted to try and it helped to keep my focus off the mess and onto the creative effort). We had some grumpy-ness during this craft and it was uncomfortably hot, but I loved the results and still have them in a vase in my kitchen.

Paper making was a two day process and the results weren't as satisfying with this method, but I think the children had fun with the process, so I can still feel like it was a success. Tutorial that we used is here.

Bubble painting was another children favourite. The picture above of them blowing the bubbles is before we got the paint to water and soap ratio quite right. The littles were less interested in the art than the bubble blowing, but I got some cute stationary out of the deal. Tutorial/idea from here.

Individual craft time can also reduce the mess. Malachi did a cute printing paint project (similar to this method) at Michael's and the mess stayed at the store - worth the $2! Abby and I had a mini art date one quiet time and we did make a large mess, but with it just being the two of us it was still manageable. Both littles appreciated the focused one-on-one art times.

Some art projects require no mess at all! Shadow play was something we all had fun with this summer.

This wasn't exactly a family craft project, but we all certainly benefit from the result! My favourite art project of the summer, was definitely my table! David, with some help from a student he mentors, built me this gorgeous kitchen table. My David's love for me is all over this table and I'm so thankful!

August Love

As I predicted, August went way too fast, but it was a great month. This summer had a lot of "perfect" days. I know that perfect isn't possible this side of heaven, but what I mean is that we had a lot of simple outings that everyone enjoyed and days that we'd love to live over and over. That's about as close to perfect as you can come. Here's a mini run down of August...

We tried to do a lot of family crafts. Stick paintings, bubble painting, Abby and I had an art afternoon and we made paper, too.

We continued to date our littles. David took Micah on a date and they had fun at the toy store. 

David and I managed a couple of dates, too. Our anniversary found us in the back of our van at our own personal drive-in and we also managed to read together under our favourite tree in the English Garden at Assiniboine Park for another date.

Sometimes ninjas and super heroes join our outings

Perfect days usually include a drive and a walk and my most perfect days found us on the beach.

We had a lot of perfect days and I will cherish the memories of this summer for a long time.

Summer Lovin' Check In

I am loving summer! I'll skip the apologies for how long it's been since my last post and just say "I'm playing!" I did want to pop and in and give an update as to what we've been up to. Let's call this one July and I'll stop in again with August, okay? Let's get to it...

We kicked off the summer with my favourite holiday, Canada Day. (And our 2nd VANinversary) We went to St. Norbert and took in some of the festivities including The Red Ember pizza truck, local musical talent and fireworks.

 Let's just say that we are all SUPER Happy to have David home for the summer! Hannah's face says it all.

We are doing our best to just have a great time together on as many mini adventures as possible. River and beach walks, lots of parks, picnics, tandem bike work-outs and even waiting at the doctors office can be an adventure if we are all together.

David and I are trying to take the time to date our littles one at a time (sometimes together and sometimes one on one). So far, we have taken Abby to her first baseball game, Micah to his first movie, Malachi to kids club at Michael's and Abby to a Zumba class. 

We had the joy and privilege of baptizing our Abigail. We've had such a journey with her and we are so pleased that she's making such a profound decision to follow Jesus and to tell others about it. If you're curious about why we do this, you can read about it here.

This could technically go into my August update because that's when it was finished, but David and a student He works with spent several hours in July on this beautiful kitchen table! I'm so pleased with how it turned out but mostly with the hard work and time that my David put into making it for me (okay, for my family). I have a list of other items I'd like him to build next. Its so exciting!

 It's hard to believe that July could be summarized so simply, because it's been a grand adventure! I'm so glad that we have a few more weeks before it's back to the daily grind. I update Instagram regularly if you'd like to keep up there. My user name is mrsgingras. Otherwise, stay tuned for an August update (sooner than I'd like).

Checking In

Happy June! I can hardly believe that summer break is just over a week away. June has slipped away so fast and it's been a great month. Let's get to it, shall we?

• June has been full of art exploration and creative time. I love every chance I get to create.

1. a sketch of the china pattern I'm treasure hunting for 2. a sketch of some Winnipeg landmarks. 3. I had a hankering to try my hand at something larger

• Sewing some little lovelies...

1. All my littles have dolls now (L-R Malachi's super doll, Micah's super doll, Hannah's mini dolly and Abby's dolly) 2. a zipper pouch birthday present with vintage fabric and the March #zipperofthemonthchallenge 3 & 4. Mother/daughter cuff bracelet sets

• It's been awhile since I've shown you an update in my Documented Faith journal. Here's weeks 15-23.

You can keep up to date with my #documentedfaith journal on Instagram (user: mrsgingras)

• A few of my Bible journaling pages...

You can keep up to date with my #Illustratedfaith Bible journaling on Instagram (user: mrsgingras)

• My Dad has been in the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital for a couple of weeks now and is making leaps and bounds in progress. I am so proud of him and how hard he's working. My mom and sister even took him out to the mall on Father's Day and he's rocking a power chair that gives him so much more freedom. Praying for his FULL healing and recovery.

• I took Abby on a Mother/daughter getaway with a girlfriend (Jenny did the arranging for the weekend and it was so nice to just go and enjoy) and her daughter. We had a dress up tea party, presents, hot tub time, craft time, girly nails time, movie time, amazing meals at the retreat centre and Abby I finished the weekend at a special dinner out. We both came home exhausted, but with good memories. We stayed at the Women Refreshed at the Well Retreat Centre. It's a gorgeous house that had me full of refreshed dreams for a God-sized dream yet to come true. Joy is such an amazing hostess and we were very well taken care of.

• June has had some amazing weather! We've been treated to hot, sunny days and cool, rainy days and I've enjoyed sneaking in some adventures with the family. Park trips and long drives and mini dance parties and summer break hasn't even begun yet. I think it's going to be a great one!

It's almost time to come up with our summer schedule/rhythm and summer idea list. One more week!!!!