needle and thREAD

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I welcome you to needle and thREAD. What have you been sewing lately? Or are you embroidering? Pulling a needle with thread through lovely fabric to make life more beautiful somehow? Would you share with us just a single photo (or more) and a description of what you're up to? Would you talk sewing and books with us? I'd love that so much.

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I read good and perfect gift this week. Actually, I read the whole thing on Friday. I couldn't put it down. It's Amy Julia Becker's story of discovery. When her first child, Penny, is born, Amy Julia and her husband learn she has Down Syndrome. The young mother takes us with her as she looks hard and long at what this unexpected diagnosis means.

I was struck by how a deep faith--even when one asks honest and tough theological questions--colors everything. How faith opened for her the very real growth that came with learning about herself as she learned along with Penny. I have seen close up how mothers react upon learning and living with the unexpected when a child is born. This book affirmed for me that walking in faith makes all the difference.

On the sewing front, I'm working on twirly skirts. Carmen sent me some Cape Ann charm squares. I'm making skirts for my Sarah and Karoline and her Tess. I'm so glad to have been surprised by Cape Ann! When I first saw it online, I wasn't really moved to stash some. I think I was put off by the toile. I'm not so much into toile. But this toile? This toile is lovely. I love absolutely every print of this line and I'm so happy to be sewing with it.

It was great fun to read about your sewing and reading last week. What are you up to this week?

My Map Book

We read My Map Book by Sara Fanelli on the recommendation Mariah Bruehl of Playful Learning. (By the way, Playful Learning is still an awesome book).

My Map Book  is a brightly illustrated book of maps--of some unusual places. There are maps of tummies and of the day and of the neighborhood. It's a charming, whimsical book that captivated my little girls. 

Nicholas was so bothered by pictures of maps that were distorted. He kind of lost it when the toothbrush was bigger than the school. Nothing was to scale enough to suit Nick. So, I showed him how to draw to scale on centimeter graph paper. And then I sent him up to his room to draw a to-scale map of his own bedroom. Patrick went along to help.

The girls stayed at the table with me and drew maps of their hearts. I wish I had a picture of those finished maps. Alas, I don't. But the girls really enjoyed the project and they'd like to make slightly smaller pictures and collect them into their own map books.

You can read more about the heart-mapping project at the home of Playful Learning. There are some darling pictures of heart maps there, too.

And that's all for today!

For a detailed explanation of our Storybook Year and a long list of ways to talk about books, click here.

Photos provided graciously by Evelyn Hockstein for The New York Times

Family Recipes: Homemade Manicotti

I texted Kristin a few days before her birthday to ask her what her favorite meal is. It's a tradition in our family that you have your favorite meal on your birthday and your name day. She said any kind of pasta would suit her fine. Kristin is a vegetarian, but that's not a problem. I was a vegetarian for a long time and I have lots of well-loved recipes that don't rely on meat.  I also have six men living in this house and they don't think it's dinner unless there's meat. Every Friday, no matter what the meal, Stephen always tells me it would be better if we added hamburger.

Kristin is already an accomplished cook, but I want to share family recipes with her, becuase our family does a lot of gathering in the kitchen and she fits right in there. So I pulled out Aunt Lisette's Manicotti recipe, knowing I could make a meat sauce for the boys and top Kristin's with Marinara. I handed the well-loved, very worn recipe card to Kristin. 

"Well," she said dubiously, "as long as you can read it." 

I could read it (mostly because I already knew what it said). But I saw her point. And I just happened to have a solution.

Kristin's birthday present from us was a copy of Homemade Recipes, a scrapbook style binder for recording family favorites. It's a beautiful book that I know I've mentioned previously. Actually, I have one for myself. And one for each of my girls. We gave one to Mary Beth's buddy, Bailey. And there's one here I promised to Hilary. There might be a few more. You know, in case another sweet girl comes along who wants to cook with us. 

I had started a pot of meat sauce earlier in the day. When Kristin arrived, we mixed filling and made batter for homemade noodles. After letting the batter sit for about half an hour, Kristin cooked the crepe style noodles and Katie filled. I copied the recipe onto a new page. I kept Aunt Lisette's card. Can't really bear to part with it. 

For you, though, the fresh recipe page.

And a few pictures of the what is really the most amazing pasta, ever. Michael asked if I was going to try it with rice flour. Nope. I just can't bring myself to be bummed. There's no substitute. I can't eat this version, but I'm not going to let the recipe die altogether. I can cook it for everyone else. And now Kristin can, too.

Hello iPhone; I think we're going to be great friends.

I got an iPhone yesterday afternoon. After doing extensive research (on Facebook, of course), I asked for a 4S. Honestly, the whole pesonal assistant idea held little appeal to me. I asked Siri if she'd do my laundry and she promptly listed 10 laundromats in the area. Clearly, her usefulness to me is limited.

No, I wanted a 4S because of the camera. Oh, what a camera!

And the whole reason I want a camera was for this wonderful app. Well, maybe that's not the whole reason. I sort of can't wait to share pictures with you here.

Sigh.

So happy.

First iPhone picture ever:

...from the van as we got on White's Ferry to cross the Potomac to get to soccer in Maryland. Using my cell phone! My cell phone! Can you believe it?!? 

In the Moment Monday Morning

I find myself:

::noticing God's glory

Years ago, I went to Girls Nation. After my week playing "Senator from Virginia" was over, the girl who played "Senator from New Mexico" stayed with me at my house. Mike (yes, that Mike--he was in the picture even way back when) and I drove her all over Virginia, showing her the sights. I remember how she marveled over and over again at how green it all was. I'd always lived on the east coast and never known anything but lush green. After that week, I never took it for granted again. I noticed the green. This week, the world is truly greening up.

::listening to 

Sarah and Katie playing "babies in the next room. We called it "playing house" when I was growing up. My kids have always called it "playing babies." I like their name for it infinitely better.

::clothing myself in 

Layers. The weather in the past week has been all over the {weather} map. Cold in the mornings. Hot in the afternoons. Crazy.

::giving thanks for

 mercy.

::talking with my children about these books

Since I'm going to share my own reading on Thursdays at needle and thREAD, I thought I'd share some reading from the children's choices.

Mary Beth is binge reading through the John Paul 2 High School fiction series and enjoying it. 

Patrick and Nick are both reading through the Hunger Games Trilogy. If you haven't bought any of them, buy the boxed set. If they read one (or if you read one), they (or you) are going to want to read them all. Isn't it funny to call three Kindle editions a "boxed set?"

And Katie has a series of her own going. After having literally memorized huge chunks fo the Little House books, she's reading the Anne Pellowski series. She's utterly captivated. She knows that she comes from Polish roots and the combination of Polish culture and Catholic references are truly endearing to her. Yesterday, I found her writing her name--only she was using my maiden name. Bless her heart! She managed to get all those counterintuitive Polish consonants in the right order. She says she'll use "Grzymala" as a middle name for one of her kids.

::pondering prayerfully

 "I recommend to you holy simplicity.  Look straight in front of you and not at those dangers you see in the distance.  As you say, to you they look like armies, but they are only willow branches; and while you are looking at them you may take a false step.  Let us be firmly resolved to serve God with our whole heart and life.  Beyond that, let us have no care about tomorrow.  Let us think only of living today well, and when tomorrow comes, it also will be today and we can think about it then.  In all this we must trust and be resigned to God's providence." From the Golden Counsels of St. Francis de Sales (tip of the Easter bonnet to Jennifer)

   

::creating by hand

I finished the embroidery on my first quilt square for the anniversary quilt. And I learned to do French knots. Karoline was very impressed. On to the next square. I've promised a certain sweetheart in Colorado a twirly skirt and I'd like to make some sundresses. We'll see what the week holds.

::learning lessons in

bees. We've gotten all our bee books out in anticipation of a visit to meet a friend's new obsession. With the promise of being able to wear the bee suit, Nicholas can hardly wait! He's come a long way since his bee-phobia.

::encouraging learning 

I'm having individual conferences with each child this week to absolutely nail down what will be required of them this summer. We're going to have very strict checklists. Every once in awhile, a season of strict checklists is in order. 

::carefully cultivating rhythm

Michael began working the dayshift today! I canot begin to tell you how happy this makes me. Ever since he got the job at USAToday last year, he's worked from 6PM-3AM. He gets home around 4AM. Often, I don't sleep very soundly until I know he's safely home. And, often when he does get home, I wake completely and can't get back to sleep. He's sleep deprived. I'm sleep deprived. In the mornings, when he's sleeping, I spend way too much time telling little girls not to talk, not to sing, not to play music, not to build with blocks... And often, they're still too loud for him to sleep. Tension. All that went away today.

::begging prayers

for my friend, Leslie who carries a heavy cross into the Easter season and for her children:  I pray that the joy of the Resurrection will be theirs even as the grieve. And for the repose of the soul of her husband: 

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

:keeping house

Mike and Christian built floor-to-celing, wall-to-wall bookcases in the basement. We've moved all the books from our library closet to the basement shelves. The room that used to be our learning room has been the little girls' room for a few years now. But the closet remained a library. No more. This week, it's going to be transformed into a dressing room. Yesterday, we painted it pink. More magic to come.

::crafting in the kitchen 

To celebrate Kristin's birthday, I taught her how to make homemade Manicotti on Saturday. Recipe tomorrow:-)

Post-holiday notes to self, so that I never, ever do this again:

1. Just because it's Easter, don't be a glutton. 
2. Eating chocolate covered espresso beans found in Christian's basket will have the same effect as drinking coffee. Maybe worse.
3. Sugar is not my friend.
4. Neither is starch.
5. I'm really happiest and healthiest when I stick to that strict diet. 

::loving the moments

I'll say it again: I love soccer in Poolesville. Love the ferry, love the farm. Don't really care that it's a terrible field. Love the picnic. Love the soccer friends. Love it all.

{This is where I should insert my first iPhone picture--taken yesterday on the ferry to soccer. But I have no idea how to get it from phone to blog just yet. maybe a quick post of its own this afternoon.}

::living the liturgy

I got an iPhone. And so did Patrick. So we gave our iPods to Katie and Karoline. And that means they inherited the chimes and the apps of my prayer plan. It was pretty darn adorable to watch them keep those prayer times for themselves. The only thing Katie changed was opting for the sounds of a strumming guitar instead of chapel bells. I choose not to ponder the liturgical implications. She's just a girl who likes guitar:-)

::planning for the week ahead

We might make that aforementioned bee trip. We will go to Bull Run--it just wouldn't be the third week in April without playing in the creek down there, flowers or no flowers. Stephen's Confirmation notebook will be finished and turned in. Last detail before his big day on the 28th!