A Busy Book

In between all our trips, I've been busy putting together a Busy Book for Tenley (and Kaia too).  

These were originally called Quiet Books because they were used by children in church to keep them quiet during the sermons.  

I was making this book for the times Tenley would be coming with her parents to visit us.  It is an 8 hour drive so this is to keep her BUSY and not bored in the car!  At least for part of the way!

I had made one for Claire back in 2015.  You can see the post here about that.  

I made Claire's in a different format with heavier material.  When I was making it, it could be turned inside out and just edged.  

But I had made Tenley's book from cotton with iron-on fusing.  So it had to be sewed differently, edged with binding.  I wasn't sure how to do that so my friend Donata came to help me.  She's made many quiet books!  She made binding from fabric I had and showed me how to sew it on!   

Donata also finished out the final part of putting it all together as she has a super duper sewing machine and she is a super duper sewer!!   THANK  YOU!!!💖

There are many different ways to make quiet/busy books and so many, many different ideas on-line!  They take many hours to sew (in my case, months, as I was so often on the road) but so much fun to do!!  If you don't like to do crafts, many people do sell them too.  Not so cheap, whether you make it yourself or purchase from someone.

- - - - - 

With Tenley living in Colorado and having parents who are all about hiking and climbing mountains, I decided to do the theme of Tenley and Kaia going to the mountains!

The sun is up!  Time to get up!

Peek-a-boo!

Who lives at this house?

These pictures are laminated and have velcro on them.  They can be switched out as the girls grow bigger.

Fill up the car with gas before leaving town!

Who lives in the woods?

I made finger puppets.  

You can order really nice ones on-line, but I chose to make them myself.  

I'm not the finest seamstress so please don't compare my work to others!

These are foam sticker dolls that you can get at a craft store.  I pealed off the liner and used craft glue to stick to another piece of foam and cut it out.   These dolls can go in and out of the sleeping bags.

Who lives here?

This page is in honour of their mountaineer parents:

Baby owls!

It's their dog, Bear!

Time for bed girls!

Good-night!

Made with love, Nana  

I hope these girls love it and it keeps them entertained on the trip to Kansas and back home!

Wisconsin for a celebration

 

We got to Wisconsin Friday afternoon.  

Claire showed us a 4-leaf clover she had found!

The afternoon was warm so she put on her swimsuit to play.  

Adam loves to make a fire - it is mesmerizing, isn't it?  Claire decided to burn some of her school work!  School is over!

When Sophia got off work, she enjoyed roasting marshmallows in the fire.

Adam told us that the seniors at school picked Jill to dedicate the year book to!  Yay, Jill!  So proud of her and how she is using the gifts the Lord has given her!

On Saturday, we went to church to get a start on decorating for Hannah's graduation party.  We would not have time to do it all after church on Sunday.

The family all had places to go and things to do.  I remember those days!  Allen and I rested with Kobi.

Sunday morning - Sophia was on cello for the worship team.

There was a pancake meal and business meeting after church, then we set up the "cafe" for the party!

Hannah wanted Nana's cookies (in my recipe book they are called Men's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies) and also Scotcharoos.  Oh, my!  Those are delicious!!  

Wishing Hannah the very best!  The Lord will watch over you!!

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you."  Psalm 32:8  Listen to His voice!

Allen and I manned the drink and food areas.

Adam's parents and Grandma came a little early to visit and congratulate Hannah.

Some of Hannah's art work through the years.

There was a play area for the children.

When the party was finished and decorations torn down, we went out to eat!

We were too pooped to cook a meal!

Hannah opened gifts at home.

Then we watched Sophia and Emeri's Vlog on Romania.  Oh how we laughed!!  These teens can capture the most hilarious and embarrasing videos/photos!

We woke up pretty early the next morning.  But not early enough for me.  I had a nightmare that thousands of spiders were invading my house!!  Agh!!

We did not sight-see on our way home as Al needed to get to work the next day.  And I wanted to double-check that there weren't spiders in my house!!    

We ran into storms when we got to Kansas.  Traffic really slowed down with people stopping under bridges.  

Home safely in 11 1/2 hours, despite some delays.