As we sat on the couch tonight and watched the news project who the next President of our country would be, my 14 year old son was visably upset. He shed no tears, but you could tell that this information was shocking for him to hear.

We have been sitting here for the last 3 hours watching election results come in since we have an important proposition we are still waiting to hear the final outcome on.

Here is a quick quiz that I asked Matthew:

Who is in control?

Did that change with the outcome of the election?

Who should we put our hope in?

Should we live a different life based on the outcome of the election?

How would you answer these questions?

I wanted Matthew to know that even though I am disappointed with the outcome of the election, it doesn't change who I put my hope in. God is the One I fear, not the President of the United States.

I have been able to work on my ball gown for the past couple of days and have all the piping attached. Today, I started working on the sleeves. Well actually, I worked on one sleeve and did quite a bit of hand sewing. The lining needed to be hand sewn, the lace was hand sewn, and the pearl trim is currently in the process of being hand sewn. Then, I will need to do the same thing to the other sleeve!

Here is what the sleeve looks like so far:

After looking at my calendar, I really need to try to finish my dress this week! Why? My parents will be here next week and I really don't want to be working on it while they are here!

Today, we had a few places we wanted to get to, so we planned a family day out. We started out at a friend's country antique store. The store is only open a couple of times a year, so we wanted to make sure we got out there this weekend. I was able to find a pair of gloves I can wear to the Civil War ball in a couple of weeks.

Next stop was JoAnn's for a couple of things, but we noticed that the used bookstore was having a sale. Thankfully, the two stores are right next to each other, so the guys wandered around the bookstore while Kelsey and I went to get our things at JoAnn's. While we were at JoAnn's, we found this material:

We are thinking it will make the cutest jammie bottoms! The material was not on sale, but I had a 40% off coupon! Yeah!

After lunch, we headed to Manteca. We heard that a new movie theater was open and they had FREE admission to all movies this week as well as FREE popcorn and FREE soda. How could we pass that up! So we saw High School Musical 3, from three rows back from the screen it was so crowded, but it was FREE! This movie theater is showing these FREE movies until Thursday, so if you live close, you might want to go see a movie this week.

I was able to work on my dress a little more tonight. I am hoping to get it finished this week since we have a couple of busy weeks coming up. The hard thing is going to be trying to figure out what to do with my hair! Anybody have any Civil War ball hair style suggestions??

Kelsey and I have really been trying to make time each day to work on her quilting project. She finally has the quilt top done!

I think she is really happy with it so far. She even says she wants to use it as a quilt for her dolls rather than a wall hanging.

I have been working on Kelsey's ball gown and was able to get the skirt attached to the bodice today. She tried the dress on for me with her hoop on for effect:

We will be attending a Civil War Ball next month. Since Kelsey and I don't have Civil War ball gowns in our regular wardrobe, I will be making our gowns. I have just about everything I need and have started on Kelsey's already. Here is what I have finished so far:

I was able to find the material in the clearance section at JoAnn's and am basically using a fancy little girl dress pattern. I really shouldn't put a zipper in the back (you know that didn't use zippers in the 1860's!), so I need to decide how we are going to close up the back. I initially thought about putting buttons, but now I am thinking of just using hooks and eyes. I am hoping to get her dress finished in the next day or two so I can get started on my dress!

Have you thought about figuring out how long it would take you to copy the Bible by hand?? Well, if you are using Mystery of History Volume II, then you have a chance to figure this out!

Matthew was able to do this activity yesterday. He copied one column of text from his Bible and timed how long it took him. Then he had to do some calculations and figured out that it would take him over 860 hours to copy the Bible by hand! Wow!

Matthew had a great time at the Civil War reenactment this past weekend in Fresno. If you want to read how much he enjoyed it, visit his blog.

Today, Kelsey finished up her fourth quilt square. It has been a little bit of a struggle to get these done. These smaller squares have been a little bit of a challenge for her. She really wants to work on a quilt with larger squares so she can finish it faster. I think this has been a good lesson for her to learn a little perseverance.

Here are pictures of square three:

four:

and all of the squares together:

I thought it would be fun to video a couple of things from this past weekend. In the first video, I have no idea where Matthew is:

In this second video, you can see some of the drill work Matthew has to do during the reenactment weekends now that he has his own rifle:

I have never had a fall garden before so I thought I would try to grow some lettuce and broccoli. So far, things look like they are doing okay:

We will see how things go as fall progresses!

A friend of mine told me about a bread web site with a no knead method. We had some of this bread on Sunday and it was deliciously yummy. So I thought I would give it a try. Here is how it turned out:

The kids each had two pieces with lunch, Kev had a piece when he got home from work and we took the little bit that was left over to some friends tonight. I will definitely be making this again! If you would like to give this a try, visit Breadtopia and watch the videos.

I have been sewing Civil War clothes again and have just one more hook and eye to put on Kelsey's newest dress. We bought the material in Gettysburg, so hopefully she will be able to wear this dress for a while! Here is how it turned out:

I should have some pictures to post next week of Matthew from this upcoming weekend. They should be good ones!

I haven't been here because a friend of mine told me I might enjoy Facebook. Well, she was right! It has been a lot of fun, but I need to remember my blog so my mom knows what the kids are doing!

Since Matthew was at youth tonight and Kev had computer work to do, Kelsey and I did a little scrapbooking. She worked on pictures from her cousin's birthday in August:

And I started laying out pictures from...1998!

I was able to get two pages done tonight. I really need to make more time to get these albums up to date!

This morning we finished up a study on the book of John. At the end of the book, there were questions about following Jesus and have you given your heart to Jesus. Both of the kids said yes and we talked about it a little more. They both have professed faith in Jesus in the past, but today, Matthew took it a bit further.

Tonight at youth group, he told the youth pastor that he was ready to be baptized! I pray that he truly grasps this faith as his own and not just as something we have always done as a family. I feel so blessed that he was placed in our family and raised knowing the Truth. I pray that God continues to draw him close to Him.