Reflecting...

At this time of year I always do a lot of reminiscing about the years when all our children were home. August was a busy time of year as we shopped and sewed and tried to re-instate some sort of a schedule in our home in anticipation of the beginning of school. Such fun! Such stress! Trying to make a dollar stretch was hard work.
The years of raising our family was a time when most moms were home baking cookies and sitting at the sewing machine. There were stores that fabric could actually be purchased by the pound...and I frequented those places. I learned to make rugby shirts that looked just like the ones at Sears! One year we had classes at Relief Society and all learned how to make 'designer jeans' that you couldn't tell apart from Levi brand. Does any one remember the years--probably 1989-90 when there was a line of clothing called 'Units'? I literally sewed my brains out those summers, making mix'n'match units for all four of my girls. We would sew and sew and sew--and walk up the street to show our friends what we had made and they showed us what they had made, and then we would do it over again the next day.
There was a very satisfying aspect of life for me when I created essential items for my children using very little money. Of course, as they grew older, they became fussier and quite often we ended up at the department stores to purchase items--but I love to remember back to school time when my kids were young.

I loved it.

This is the fam in --I think 1993--