A 1780s Portrait Dress for Annie

 Annie and I have been eyeing Sensibility's Portrait Dress for a while now (I've actually been eyeing it for years). 

I finally decided to make a wearable muslin of it in a thrifted yellow floral fabric.  We chose to fully line it with a white cotton sheet, and use the white cotton for the sleeve ruffles and the sash. 

I've made a few dresses in my day, but I was a little confused at times with this pattern.  I also made a few minor, yet sloppy, errors.  On the whole, however, I was very pleased with it! My favorite thing?  The fully-lined construction which hid all inside seams (except for the armscye). This makes it so comfortable! And it feels very *high quality* even though it's simply made from thrifted materials. 

Annie is ten and a half years old, but quite slim.  After measuring her, I cut out a size 8, but cut the skirt length to fit size 10. It was just right. 

My goal was to have the dress finished in time to wear to Williamsburg, for obvious reasons! It's as close to a colonial style as we could probably get.  She loved wearing this "around town." I wish I could show you her face--she's so sweet.  So happy! 

The dress fastens with hook-and-eyes, which set my teeth on edge sewing them.  Annie and I spent no small amount of time in Tarpley, Thompson, and Company (the clothing store in Colonial Williamsburg), obsessing over the details of dress construction.  We decided to make the Portrait Dress again, but this time: *make a shift to wear underneath *fasten with ribbon ties (the girls' dresses in the shop were fastened this way!)  *create an underskirt  *create slits in the side seams for pockets *sew pockets (back in the day, the pockets were independent of the dress--you just tie a band around your waist with your "pockets" hanging down, and reach through your dress to access them)

Don't look too closely--there's a bit of sloppy construction here.  And the sash turned out way too short! But no matter.  She's a happy girl. 

I am going to make another iteration of this dress using fabric that I have in my stash, and then we will cut into the 3 yards of reproduction fabric we purchased at the shop in Williamsburg. Annie chose it: blue and white floral.  We also purchased a long matching blue sash.  I will make the back ties out of the floral fabric, so they blend in with the dress, and the ruffles on the sleeves will also be out of the dress fabric.  Oh!  It will be a delight to behold. 

I love Annie at this age: so refreshingly confident in what she loves, so un-self-conscious in her enthusiasms, so dear.  

Many, many thanks to Jennie Chancey (the owner/designer of Sensibility patterns) for making beautiful historical sewing so accessible, and making my little Annie's vision come to life! Maybe her mother needs an Edwardian walking skirt.....

Summer Maelstrom

 The past few weeks have been a true whirlwind, and I'm only now taking the time to stop (for a few minutes!) and update my blog. So. Much. Has. Happened!

In early August, my father was diagnosed with colon cancer.  This was a blow.  His mother--my beloved Grandma Polly--died of colon cancer in 1997.  So of course there's a sort of familial fear.  But fortunately, thank God, thank God, it was found early. (My grandmother's was only found after it had spread to her liver and lungs.) He was quickly scheduled for surgery, and that happened at MUSC in Charleston last Friday. He was released from the hospital on Monday. To our great surprise, he was eating real foods less than 24 hours after colon removal and re-sectioning.  Excellent!  So far, he's doing great.  His surgeon is confident that he got all of the cancer, with clean margins, and now we await the pathology report.  If it comes back showing that the lymph nodes they removed are clear and clean, then he will not have to have chemotherapy, which would be the greatest blessing and would absolutely make my year.  Chemotherapy is so hard.  I just pray, pray, pray he can avoid it.  We are hopeful! We should know in another week or so. 

I finally decided to give away my antique upright piano, and mentioned it casually to my neighbor, who mentioned it to a few of her friends.  Well--one friend wanted it! (if you've ever tried to give away a piano, you know this is miraculous. No one wants pianos anymore, which is so sad!)  This is a beast of a piano: ivory keys, weighs more than anything you've ever moved (truly), just an incredible instrument that is something like 125 years old.  However, having two pianos in a house that is 1700 square feet seemed excessive.  This was my piano from infancy; after my Grandma Nina died, my grandfather really wanted Finn to have her piano, because we have such sweet memories of them "playing" on it together. Grandma's piano was moved down here several years ago and resides in our living room; the old piano resides in our basement/schoolroom, primarily because it cannot be moved up stairs! I always joked that it would convey with the house.  

In any case, I found a sweet Mennonite lady who wants it!  And we lined up to have it moved the night before my family was supposed to go on vacation. In order to get it out of our house, we literally had to move every stick of furniture in our basement (schoolroom, sewing area/laundry room) except the sectional sofa.  But that night we got our first rain in weeks, so we had to cancel the moving.  But there's no reason to move the furniture back into place, so it's all shuffled right now, waiting for the big move--which is supposed to happen this evening.  (I told her to send no less than six strong men.  " At least," my husband confirmed.) Suffice to say we've been doing schoolwork at the dining room table this week, and I cannot WAIT to get my basement back into order! 

We began school "lite" on Monday, since that's when Finn's online classes began.  But lo, the learning curve was real.  The software wasn't super-intuitive, and we had some tech issues on Monday.  I spent an hour on the phone with my husband, who was chatting with the tech support, before we got it all figured out.  Finn placed into French 2, and is brand new to the online class format, whereas his classmates all took French 1 last year and know what they are doing!  But we're learning quickly.  And his teacher told me he has a "beautiful accent," which is true.  :) We've had to learn how to find assignments, navigate the group v. moderator chat, change our keyboard settings to be able to use French shortcuts, and a myriad of other random things that were quite foreign to us, little homeschoolers who typically just read books.  But it is all sorting itself out, and I'm confident that Finn will do well.  He came out of his first Biology class yesterday beaming and thrilled.  "I LOVE THIS CLASS!!!!!" he enthused.  

He's also loving his history readings, and we began listening to A Tale of Two Cities together on Audible.  So we're off and running, and Spanish begins next week. 

Finally, my family enjoyed a very nice "just the four of us" vacation last week.  I'll post more on that soon! 

Add to this activities, the last bits of pool time, ordering new countertops, a job change for my sister (a wonderful change!), and multiple doctor and dental appointments, and whew. It has been a month! I'm thankful for the opportunities and the commitments, and try to always keep my heart focused on what matters most, and feel genuine gratitude for a full and healthy life.  Finn has four years left at home....I'm soaking it all in.  I know it will pass by in the blink of an eye. 

Fifth Grade for Annie

We began school this week--ow, my head hurts.  The learning curve for Finn's two online classes has been so steep!  Annie's schooling is so much more my speed! Here's what she's doing this year:

*Math: She uses Horizons. I love it for her! It's really perfect for us: colorful, spiral, easy to teach, and challenging enough without being overwhelming. 

*Language Arts: this year I decided to try to inject a bit of formality and use Learning Language Arts through Literature. I wanted something that would be, for lack of a better way to put it, "open and go," but still a gentle approach. So far I love, love, love it.  It's not full of nonsense busywork, it's based on quality literature, and it just fits us very well so far. I'll give another update after the first semester or so!

*History/Literature: Annie picked Early American History to study this year.  We chose Beautiful Feet Books, but I purchased the "old" version of their Early American history, which is quite different from the new version they just rolled out this year. I am not sure why they made these changes, because the "old" version has some great books! In any case, this week I got so busy with Finn's needs that Annie volunteered to read the books herself--I'd planned to read aloud to her.  That's going great!  The readings so far are perfectly-suited to her level and she's narrating very well after she reads.  I'm so thankful. 

*Handwriting: we continue to try to tame Annie's handwriting into legibility with A Reason for Handwriting ("transition" level, so she begins cursive this year).

*For science, I divided Jean-Henri Fabre's Storybook of Science into weekly assignments, and we are reading through that this year.  She will do a drawing narration in her science notebook (it's from Riverbend Press--I love their notebooks!) at least once a week. 

*She will do a simple geography workbook to practice map skills--it will probably only take about half the year. We won't even start this until sometime in September. 

*Annie is taking an upper elementary Spanish class for fun--same wonderful teachers Finn has.  

*Annie's best friend is homeschooling this year, so I'm hosting a three-hour "book club" for the girls once a week.  My vision is to do poetry, Shakespeare, and a book discussion together, then work on crochet/knitting, and then they can play.  Once a month or so I also hope to do some sort of seasonal activity, and I am going to ask each girl to bake something as a treat to bring once a month as well; I'll bake a treat on the weeks I don't assign someone baking. 

*We continue to do "morning time"together--a prayer, a hymn, Bible readings, read-aloud, Shakespeare, poetry, a bit of Plutarch, artist and composer studies, etc....but not all of it, every day! Just the first four every day, and then a bit longer on Fridays for Shakespeare, etc.  This may be my favorite part of homeschooling. :) 

*Annie and Finn are both doing a robotics club/competition this fall. 

*Annie has been accepted into a local ballet company, so ballet will consume a lot of time: two 2-hour classes per week, plus four hours of mandatory rehearsals on Saturdays.  And we live 35 minutes from the studio.  But although she's only 10, she is super-focused on ballet and I want to support her in this.  She has been obsessed with ballet since she saw "Swan Lake" as a toddler! This is her sixth year of classes, and she's an extremely hard worker.  I'm thankful that she has this opportunity, even though it does mean a lot of sacrifice and work (50 hours of parent volunteer time?  yes) on my part as well. 

*And finally, violin lessons!

Annie is our social, extroverted child, and I'm pleased that every day she will have *some* sort of social outlet: book club, ballet, Spanish, ballet again, robotics, ballet again.  (Finn is a bit more like me: happy to curl into a ball and read a book for days without talking.) Her actual schooling is very simple (math + a bit of language arts + reading lots of books), which is perfect for her and for me.  

So far this week she got all of her work done easily by noon, she spent several hours with one friend at the pool on Monday, then she spent several hours with other friends at the lake on Tuesday, attended hours of ballet and robotics, and has plowed through several novels.  I'd say Annie's fifth grade year is off to a great start.  

It is a joy to spend my time with my children, and such a privilege to homeschool them. I am so grateful for this life!

Ninth Grade for Finn

 High school! Finn is going into high school! This feels overwhelming sometimes until I realize that high school should just be a natural continuation of all the learning we've already done, and that that learning--which has felt casual and organic much of the time--has been oh-so-sufficient.  I don't place much stock on standardized tests, and I never tell my children their scores.  I just send them to the school board and move on.  But this year Finn's scores truly blew me away.  It made me realize I can just Not Worry so much about "where we are" because where we are is fine!

More than anything else, I just love that he enjoys pursuing knowledge for its own sake. He's not much of a fiction reader, which has surprised me.  But he loves learning languages (this summer he's learning Chinese for fun), loves reading the encyclopedia, knows more geography than anyone I've ever met, etc.  He's becoming the person God created him to be.  He cares about the world, he asks great questions, and he's genuinely curious about life.  I love this!

So this year my goal was to provide opportunities that will foster his interests while not burning him out.  I looked at our state's advanced diploma requirements and sort of formulated a plan based on that--while still honoring what Finn is interested in doing. 

So 9th grade for Finn will be:

*Pre-Algebra/Algebra transition --we use Saxon and love it for him. I had worried about him being "behind," but my husband, who is a math nerd and engineer, strongly said that we need to focus more on building a strong foundation, and that he thinks Finn will be just fine to take the SAT.  I trust my husband's judgment on this point more than I trust anything else, so I'm not going to worry about it!

*Spanish 2--a continuation of the Spanish 1 class from last year. This is an in-person class taught by an American friend who spent part of her childhood in Mexico, and a lovely lady who immigrated from Venezuela a few years ago and barely speaks English.  It's wonderful and a huge, huge blessing for us. 

*Honors French 2 through The Potter's School (online)--Finn has never done formal French, just studied on his own over the years as well as worked with a friend who lived in France and tutored him.  They would read bits of Harry Potter in French, discuss grammar, etc. We decided it was time for a formal class, so he took and aced the placement test for Honors French 2.  I'm so excited for him. 

*Honors Biology through The Potter's School (online)--this is a subject we both wanted to outsource. I love biology, but don't want to teach it.  He's VERY excited about this course!

*Beautiful Feet Books Early American and World History pack--I let Finn pick what history to do for this year, and he picked this one. I'm happy because it is heavily-based on Genevieve Foster's books, which we enjoy so much!  This will provide his history and part of his literature for the year.  I chose a few more books for the year to round out his literature selections, and we'll do a combination of reading them and listening on Audible.  I'm actually keeping this subject as light as possible because I know he'll be pretty busy with his other classes. I seriously doubt we'll finish all the readings (it's a lot), but I'm hoping to get through about 3/4 of it this year. We will be reading the same books and having discussions about them--fun!

*Morning Time: this is where we do Shakespeare, Scripture memory, Bible reading, poetry, hymn, etc.  We will do this each day as a trio for half an hour or forty-five minutes before Finn tackles his other subjects. 

*Piano!  Piano is a huge time commitment for Finn. He practices a lot--and it shows because he plays beautifully.  So I count this as its own subject because it truly does take the same amount of time as, say, math. He loves piano theory in particular, and is focusing more on that this year. 

*Annie and Finn are both participating in a robotics club/competition this fall on a team that is led by a friend of mine.  It's an extra commitment, but they really seem to enjoy the team aspect and the problem-solving.

*PE: Finn and my husband are hiking parts of the Appalachian Trail for "PE" this year.  Once they finish the sections they are doing, we'll come up with another "PE" activity--probably perfecting his swimming strokes, or golfing, or tennis lessons.  I am focusing PE in high school on things that I consider life skills! Finn isn't really an "athlete" and I don't think he'll do any team sports. We may also do a 5K running clinic and/or a resistance-training clinic together, and eventually I'll have him take a CPR class, and I'll teach him a practical first-aid/basic nursing-type class. But we'll do all that over the course of 3-4 years--not one! :) 

And that's ninth grade for dear Finn! 

Next up, fifth grade for Miss Annie......

A Quick Trip to the Biltmore

 This summer I made some changes to my online time that I'm implementing (I have learned to do nothing "cold turkey") and enjoying a lot.  I decided to give up social media for the summer, with an eye to just giving it up completely long-term, and I've been happily surprised at how much I just do NOT miss it.  I have used Facebook a couple times to ask advice-related questions (to-wit: one basin or two for our new sink? pull-down faucet or side spray?!), but otherwise, I've been pretty absent from the Instagram and Facebook platforms. I felt that I didn't use them THAT much, but I do think that the minutes add up, and I didn't like that sometimes in spare moments my compulsion was to pick up my phone and check it.  I never had the Facebook app at all, and I never had notifications on, but still.  I don't miss it!  And I have the accounts in case I *need* to pop on and check something, but otherwise I'm basically ignoring social media and it's really nice.

Another thing I did a few weeks ago was turn off my text notifications.  I've never had email notifications on because I just don't like being NOTIFIED all the time. And I always keep my phone on silent unless I'm away from my children!  Turning off text notifications was great because if I pick my phone up to listen to my current Audible book ("Persuasion," SO GOOD, sigh) or set a timer or use the calculator or check the weather, I don't get distracted by the fact that there are 3 unread texts! It's really quite helpful.  This probably only works because my children are with me all the time, not driving, and don't have phones, but I'm enjoying the feeling of not being notified every time someone texts me.  Whew. 

Our summer is quite busy, but also nice. Today I was able to stay home and just enjoy sleeping in, cuddling with both of my children, then painting my cabinet doors and cabinet frames while listening to Jane Austen.  After lunch I went outside to work for two and a half hours in the yard--it was hot but not humid, and that makes all the difference!  Our vegetable garden is overrun with weeds, so I am trying to get it under control.  A pipe dream, but I can try.....

Last week we took Finn on his "Christmas gift trip" to Asheville, North Carolina to see the Biltmore.  Oh, Asheville. You're such a quirky town! On the way down we went to Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi.  It was a beautiful day. 

This was my fifth time at the Biltmore, I think. I also think it was the hottest!  We did a Friday morning house tour, then enjoyed the grounds before heading to a French restaurant (Bouchon, if you know Asheville) for dinner--a treat for our resident Francophone.  I got the duck l'orange and the creme brulee, but should've gotten the almond trout and the chocolate mousse.  It was all quite good, though!

The second day we did the rooftop tour, which I knew Finn would L O V E.  And he did.  He soaked in every detail. He had studied floor plans; he knew where everything was, but seeing it in person was cool, and the tour gave us behind-the-scenes construction details that thrilled his little design-oriented heart.  

We spent that afternoon dodging thunderstorms, but got a photo with the Diana statue before the skies opened! 

Next week Finn and Annie will BOTH be at drama camp (and I hope they stay healthy--Annie's church camp illness was a doozy).  I plan to organize a few spaces that are annoying me (Annie's room, the schoolroom table), keep painting cabinetry, have lunch and knit with a friend, have our countertop fabricator come measure the kitchen, and celebrate my husband's 46th birthday!  (When you've had stage four cancer, believe you me, *every* birthday is a reason to celebrate.)

I wish I had a photo of Annie and Finn to share--mostly to show how tall Finn is getting.  We are seeing eye-to-eye now, my little tow-headed, blue-eyed baby and I.  It's wonderful, sobering, and strange!  He will soon be taller than I am!

Time, you do fly. 

The Uneventful, Unambitious Life: True Success, Possible to All

 I am so proud to report that I finally mustered up my courage and read Chapter Forty of Little Women to my children.  It's true that I delayed for as long as possible. It's true that I had to put the hankie nearby. It's true that I had already cried, multiple times, over the foreshadowing in previous chapters.

But I did it.

Finn had already read the book (he LOVES it!) and Annie already knew what happened to Beth--presumably she caught wind of it from her brother somehow--so no one was surprised, but even so, it never gets less sad.  I think the appropriate word for what I did was "sob." 

The entire chapter is poignant and wise. 

"Precious and helpful hours for Jo, for now her heart received the teaching that it needed: lessons in patience were so sweetly taught her that she could not fail to learn them; charity for all, the lovely spirit that can forgive and truly forget unkindness, the loyalty to duty that makes the hardest easy, and the sincere faith that fears nothing, but trusts undoubtingly....

"Seeing this [Beth's last days] did more for Jo than the wisest sermons, the saintliest hymns, the most fervent prayers that any voice could utter; for, with eyes made clear by many tears, and a heart softened by the tenderest sorrow, she recognized the beauty of her sister's life--uneventful, unambitious, yet full of the genuine virtues which 'smell sweet, and blossom in the dust,' the self-forgetfulness that makes the humblest on earth remembered soonest in heaven, the true success which is possible to all."

The self-forgetfulness

This is no well-praised virtue in today's world, is it?  I think a lot about social media and what is doing to us, and what kind of life it is shaping for our children.  Is there any way to achieve this "self-forgetfulness" when we are thinking of what to post next on social media--about ourselves? (Or our children?) It has its benefits, although I suspect they are fewer than its risks, and I don't want to deny the happy reality of how easily social media can connect us with far-off relatives.  (I always say--not really jokingly--that the only reason for Instagram is to see my cousins' babies and follow the Duchess of Cambridge!)

There's no way to photograph those "genuine virtues" that smell sweet and blossom in the dust.  Most of the virtuous things we do in life don't photograph well. I think about the generations of humans who lived before photography was widespread, and all the genuine virtues they must have quietly, invisibly displayed as they went about their normal lives.  All the acts of kindness, charity, forgiveness, faith, and love that happened over centuries--never captured in any form except within the heart of the recipients.

I loved this reminder that the truly successful life is, indeed, possible to us all.  

Summering So Far

 July is here! This is the last day of my children's summer camp, a week that didn't go quite as expected. Isn't that how life is sometimes?

Dropping Finn off on Sunday for 5 nights of residential summer camp was so hard! I cried as we left and he looked pretty stoically teary as well.  We pick him up this evening and I cannot wait to see him and hear how his week went.  Annie was dropped off on Monday morning at the same camp (she was a day camper this week), with no tears!  She and her best friend were attending together and they were excited and ready for some Real Fun!

My husband was off on Monday, so he and I hiked up my favorite mountain.  We didn't stop for the entire hike--it's pretty much straight up to the top.  Impressive! After that we went to have lunch together at our favorite Indian restaurant in the city.  And by the time we were done, it was time to pick up Annie!

Tuesday I took my cousin to the airport and then had an appointment for a manicure/pedicure.  Then I was off to exercise and spend the afternoon by the pool, pre-reading books for the book club that I'm organizing for Annie and her best friend for the upcoming school year.  I lasted two hours (that was four books!) before I got tired of being a lady of leisure and had to leave!  A quick grocery run and drop-off, and then it was time to get Annie!  

Wednesday was another day completely away from home--dentist! Home Depot!  Target! Clothes shopping! Etc! I was exhausted by the end of the day and decided Thursday and Friday would be complete rest days for me.....

When I picked Annie up on Wednesday, she had a raging sore throat.  I took her to Urgent Care, got a negative strep test, and came home, but after that the week got derailed!  Poor Annie!  She is sick.  Sore throat, congestion, coughing, extreme fatigue, vomiting (she always vomits with congestion, but this seems even worse than usual), low-grade fever, etc. I babied her all day yesterday and this morning decided to go back to the doctor's office to be sure we're not dealing with THE virus, just A virus.  She was again tested for strep, as well as flu and covid.  Negative for all three, fortunately!  This afternoon I'm feeling like my throat might be just a little bit scratchy, so I'm bracing myself.  I've been sleeping with Annie, doting on her, holding her, sitting with her in a steamy bathroom, etc., so I'd be happily surprised if I do not catch this bad cold.  In other words: I might be down with a cold soon.  But I hope it is a quick one, because we are supposed to be traveling next week!

In other news here, all the upper cabinet doors are off our kitchen cabinets, and I'm slowly (oh-so-slowly) trying to paint them.  

Most of my school planning is done for the year ahead; I only have a few loose ends to tie up this month. (How is it possible that Finn is 14 and going into HIGH SCHOOL?)

I'm trying to decide what to purchase to replace my 28-year-old beige laminate countertops. They've been great countertops, but I'm ready for an updated look. However, we aren't replacing the builder's-grade cabinetry, but we might want to do that in 15 years, so I don't think I want to invest in my all-time favorite countertops at this point (matte quartz)--they're really pricey!  I've gotten quotes for matte and polished quartz, high-grade laminate, and solid surface from four different places.  I think I'm narrowing my choices! I want to get that decision made this month and get countertops ordered--so that once we start school, I don't have to put any mental energy into this decision!

Mr. Polly turns 46 in a couple of weeks. I am so thankful for every birthday he celebrates!

Only four more hours until I can go pick up Finn...I'm counting the seconds.  Five nights is a long time! I can't wait to give my big boy a hug. I've missed him so very much. What a milestone he has hit this summer! I'm proud of him.  

Happy summering!