So this is new..

Notice anything new? How about the stud in my son's ear? We were at the mall just before Christmas passing by one of those kiosks that pierce ears and Nate asked if he could get his ear pierced. I think it shocked him cause his dad and I both said "sure, let's go." I figure of all the things he could do, getting his ear pierced is the least of it ~ I'll save my battle for another day. Besides, he's so cute, he can definitely pull it off.
He looks less than enthusiastic here
Watching them get the gun ready notice his sister right behind him making sure he's okay.
And the moment of truth...
He did really well. Didn't hurt that the girl who did it was cute and more than happy to pose for a pic with him
Guess who got new earrings for Christmas???

Handmade for Christmas

I had been hoping to get more handmade stuff done for Christmas this year but alas, it did not happen. I did get this made for my wonderful MIL Turquoise is definitely her color and I threw in a bit of green to mix it up. I think she liked it.
While I didn't make this night shirt for Jen, I did do the embroidery for it. It is a play on the whole "eating for two" thing. She's a sleeper so now she has an excuse to sleep!
And I made a few things for the wonderful office workers at the school I don't know what I would do without them and wanted to thank them. The bag is for Julianne's teacher. I also made a little zipped tote for one of Nate's teacher but somehow missed getting a pic of that.
I have some other handmade gifts I still need to mail out (yes I know they are a bit late!) so I can't show them yet.
I had hopes of making Julianne a dress from "her" peace sign fabric but that hasn't happened yet and I also wanted to make a couple of overnight bags for the kids but you know the saying about best laid plans....
I did have a couple of custom orders I needed to do before Christmas. I got an order to embroider a couple of sheets I was a little nervous about these cause I hadn't done sheets before but they came out really good. I also had an order for another xtra large embroidered screen bag but I can't seem to find the photos for it. It was for a 13 y/o and it was a large screen bag with a matching zippered bag (for her toiletries) and a travel pillow for sleepovers.

Things are also picking up a bit on the Etsy shop. I had a couple of sales this month for the little girl screen bags and matching wallets. I have a bunch of stuff I still need to put in the shop ~ maybe tomorrow I will get a chance to do that. There will be some big girl screen bags along with the busy books, some new coasters and wallets.
I'm looking forward to business picking up in the new year ~ for all of us!

Brrr ~ Cold!

It's actually been very chilly here the last couple of days with temperatures dropping into the 30's a night or two. It's been pretty nice during the day ~ lovely blue skies. Richard is off for the week so we probably should get outside and do something fun. Mostly we've been hanging around the house, catching up on laundry; getting ourselves reorganized and relaxing from the craziness that was Christmas. I even cleaned up/out my whole desk area. Found stuff I had forgotten I had. That's my pre New Year's resolution ~ to get more organized. I really need to tackle my sewing room but I think the family will have to send in search and rescue cause a person could get lost in the mess there.
I got Richard the fire pit he's been eying which has been kinda nice since we like to eat out by the pool in the evening. I definitely see roasted marshmallows in the future, especially since Julianne got him some for Christmas.

Even poor Sadie with all her fur has been chilly She did not mind being wrapped in in all these quilts.
We haven't had to turn on the heater yet but we have all been sleeping under a double layer of quilts.
Speaking of quilts, I got "most" of the top done of the Snoopy quilt It still needs borders and to be quilted of course, but this will go on the spare bed in the nursery at Jen & Jeremys. She's been asking for this for a while and so I've been collecting snoopy prints for a couple of years now. I think it turned out really cute.
I think there are close to 30 different prints on this. My initial idea was to border each square in the white fabric with the black paw prints but I didn't buy enough initially so I went with a rail fence type border.
Of course I've still got lots to do... found a few tutorials on making crib sheets so that's probably next on the agenda. I've also got some really cute fabrics to do the crib quilt in mostly beige/browns ~ puppies of course... Then there are the really colorful puppy fabrics Jen found for a playpen quilt. She's been busy painting. She painted one wall a chocolate brown and is going to stencil beige puppy prints on it. I can't wait to see it. Will keep you posted on the nursery progress. Can you tell I'm excited???

Did ya miss me?

So I took a little unplanned time off from here...It's as always ~ when I have lots of stuff to write about I'm too busy to write it and it has been a very busy time here. All good I assure you.

First and foremost I want to wish you all the happiest of holidays and hope yours was as wonderful as mine was. Jen & Jeremy came up on the 23rd and the Ginkster came up on the 24th. We stayed up late on the 23rd so the kids slept in and we opened presents around 10:00 am on the 24th. Presents were so nice all around and I was mostly grateful to be with those so precious to me and as an extra special gift I got to feel my grandchild kick for the first time... just think he or she will be with us celebrating their first Christmas next year. I hate to wish my life away but I'm really looking forward to that.

We had two trees this year. Our traditional tree which Julianne was kind enough to decorate mostly on her own
And this year we had the addition of the "white" tree. It is outside by the pool. Since we've moved back to Florida I've wanted a tropical tree so last year after Christmas I bought myself a white tree for next to nothing. The idea was to put "tropical" ornaments on it. My BFF Maryann made it her mission to supply me with the coolest ornaments for my tree. Aren't they awesome? And so special because they came from her. I only wish she could be down here to see it for herself.

I have so much more to fill you in on but this post would be a gazillion pages long so for now, just know we are all well here and I promise to be better about keeping up with all of you. Those of you who also have blogs, I have been reading, I promise, and will be better about commenting in the future. You are all so very important to me and I've missed you!

Thank you!

Just wanted to wish all of you out there a most happy Thanksgiving. I am so grateful for all of you who read this post and especially those that comment. I can't tell you how much that means to me.

We are headed up to Jen's for Thanksgiving tomorrow ~ I will post pics when I return.

Things are coming along with the "Night of the Arts" at Julianne's school. Looks like I might just pull this off. Also seems we may have the superintendent of schools as well as the press in attendance and I've got to give a welcome speech. Not my favorite thing to do but like the president, I've appointed someone else to write my speech for me! Not sure how much I'll get posted this coming week but after Dec 4th I should be back. So much to show you. I've been sewing my little fingers to the bone. Lots of screen bags, wallets, busy books & travel pillows.

And just because I don't like to post without pics ~ here's one of my very strange and deformed son ~ showing off how far his shoulder blade can come out ~ Gross!

Soccer season is over

Can I get a hallelujah? Maybe an Amen? It was a terrible season. We didn't win a single game. We only scored twice the whole season. It was so painful to watch. Great bunch of kids ~ but they were terrible players. They just didn't want it bad enough. They were out run, out maneuvered, and just outplayed. If it had been me, I'd have quit. But the kids, they had a great time anyway.
It was really hard for Nate since last year his team only lost one game all season. He's a good player and one of the strongest on this years team ~ but last year they were almost all really good players.. and they played well together.

This year, not so much. But as they do in this society... they all got trophies


I may be a bad parent for saying this but I think it's wrong. I think trophies should be a reward for winning. Now you get a trophy for playing and they really don't mean as much. I know, they are supposed to be rewarded for playing but seriously???

In any case, Nate is not discouraged and has opted to play soccer again in the spring. Last year he played baseball in the spring and did well but he really likes soccer more. Our coach has given them the option of playing on the same team but I'm thinking we'll be looking for a different team next time!

My littlest is now famous

Well, not really but she has now been on TV. Public TV anyway. The chorus from her elementary school sang for the School Board at their last meeting ~ and I believe all their meetings are televised.
In any case if you click on THIS LINK it'll take you to the site. Click on Part 1 Entertainment and you'll be able to see her. They show her close up quite a bit ~ partially cause she's the most beautiful child there but mostly cause she was right next to the music director when he is making his announcements.
I mostly posted this so family could see her cause I will warn you, it's bad. Our chorus can't sing and really only a parent (or maybe a grandparent) could sit through this.... but if ya'll want to see her ~ there she is.