Puddles of Grace

A project and a win!

2011-12-30T23:36:00.000-07:00

So, on Monday (day after Christmas) I took Cal to Target so he could spend some Gift Card money. I am so proud of his decisions as he purchased some much needed Jeans and then had enough left over to buy a toy. As we were getting into the car to head to another store I decided to quickly check my iPhone and saw that I had an email. It was the best email I've had in a long while! You see... I had entered into a giveaway via another blog and much to my surprise I actually won!! It may not seem much to you but as a quilter who has had to pinch back on my fabric purchasing ~ this was a very big win! I won a fat quart bundle of flannel fabrics from Kansas Troubles, my favorite fabric designers! I actually started to cry as I read my email... Cal was so sweet to ask me if I was OK and when I explained what had happened he told me he was so glad for me because he knew it meant a lot to me and thought I deserved the win! Girls... start sending in your resumes... I am going to VERY picky who gets to spend their life as his wife! Anyhow, I have been doodling and sketching and browsing a couple of quilt books my mom sent me to figure out what kind of quilt I am going to make. Chris wants me to make one to cover our King sized bed... that will be a very big quilt but a Flannel one would be perfect! Here is the website, Kansas Troubles Quilters, that I won from... and a photo that they had posted on their site with a picture of the fabric! I am so excited for it to arrive!

I have also been working on a few other crafty projects. This one is my first attempt at fried glass... I will get better with more practice... I cant tell you how many ideas I have swirling around in my head. I need to start sketching and writing down my ideas! Tell me what you think... any potential?

The End of 2011

2011-12-30T16:33:00.000-07:00

2011 went by super fast! I am going to have to write 2012 a few dozens times to get used to that change! We had a white Christmas in the Springs this year thanks to the 4-6 inches we got earlier in the week that stuck around. Christmas day was sunny with blue skies~ Perfect!

Here are just a few pictures...

The kittens even got into the spirit of Christmas (NOT!)

Peter Pan

Captain Hook

(he has a hooked tail, hence the names)

One of the presents that Tyler got was a Paper Jamz Guitar. Here are a few pictures and videos of our little Rock Star!

Apparently if you wear your Nerf Dart Goggles you will look a lot more like a Rock Star!

Adding your brothers Cookie Monster flat bill hat helps too!

Talking to Oma and Opa just before he played for them.

Happy New Years Everyone!!!

That time of the year!

2011-12-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

The kids are finally on Winter break... here is a quick post on a couple of things! First, the entire first grade at the school got to dress up as Gingerbread boys/girls. Most did but I wasnt going to sew a costume or purchase one for Ty... so we did a web search for some ideas and came up with the following! Very inexpensive and was def one of a kind! He was such a good sport about wearing this too!

This year for the teachers Christmas gifts we went with Sugar Scrubs and Book Marks. Easy to make and hopefully enjoyed by the teachers. Hobby Lobby was having a 50% off sale so I was able to get little jars (normally $1.49) for next to nothing! I'm thinking I should have stocked up on some more... but I know the sale will come around again! I was also able to purchse some ribbon with the first letter of each teachers last name for mere pennies and the kids helped choose colors for the beads. Oh, and can I just mention that I love Graphics Fairy for the numerous pages of clip art for tags!

Pikes Peak

2011-10-05T09:40:00.001-06:00

Although we have been here just over a year as a family we hadn't made the drive up to Pikes Peak until Sept 17th. We had some temperature changes that week and so there was snow up at the top. The drive was quick and really nice until we hit the sleet, hail and then winter like conditions... the temp difference from the base to the top can be a 30 degree difference. We were ready though and for me (having had allergy problems all week) it was a welcomed relief to be able to breath once we got to the top! Chris thinks I am nuts, apparently I need to live at Sea Level or above 14,000 in order to thrive! We took several pictures and enjoyed the famous donuts which are only made at that altitude (and they were really yummy!)... the kids cant wait for winter~ they really love the snow! Then we headed back down the mountain venturing through the 'seasons', watching the trees reappear and seeing birds flying below us and counting rainbows as the sun would appear and the rain would subside. It was a really pretty day and the Aspen was already turning a pretty gold color. It is definitely worth the drive and perhaps next time we'll get out and hike around the trails.

Didn't see Big Foot, maybe next time!

We made it to the top!

Inspiration site for America the Beautiful

Checking in!

2011-10-02T12:35:00.000-06:00

One thing about Colorado, there is a lot to do and keeping busy isn't hard~ hence why I haven't been posting anything since March.
We have been taking a break from Hockey just to get back into the swing of things since the kids went back to school on August 2nd. I've been busy with new quilts, church activities and getting used to having the kids gone all day at school!! (insert happy dance) My house is a little bit more in order (except on weekends when everyone is home or running in and out!) and I am spending more time looking for those crock pot recipes now that the weather is starting to feel more like autumn and hockey is just around the corner.
Chris is now at a new job up at Division on base and is going to school a couple of nights a week to get his masters complete and is heading up the cub scouts that the boys are a part of. It's nice to see him a little more even if he is in 'another' uniform.

Here is a small collection of our summer~ There is a lot more and hopefully these next few weeks will allow me to post those pictures!

Lydia said goodbye to her friend Joy who moved to Japan ~ lots of days spent at the pool ~ hair cuts for the boys ~ Tyler's battle wound from camping ~ Cal's first crawdad ~ Lydia's Lemonade stand ~ recovering Tyler's old pillow ~ a medal for Cal! ~ Colorado rainbows ~ Sky Sox baseball with Darth Vader and the stormtroopers ~ My 42nd birthday ~ new shoes for Lydia

Happy St. Patricks day!!!

2011-03-17T09:21:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to my Great Grandmother Emma! She was a Kelley and she was born 124 years ago on this very Irish day!

Great Grandma Emma holding my Grandmother

Yikes!

2011-03-16T11:33:00.000-06:00

Wow, talk about being busy and not writing anything on the blog! Colorado Springs is one place where you will stay busy all the time! The kids have played Inline Roller Hockey every month we have been stationed here and with all the church/military activities we have going on... well it's a wonder I am even back to blogging!
Lets see, quick update: Not much snow this year (of course Kansas got plenty since we left!) but spring is def around the corner! Both of the boys are now playing club hockey (tournaments every month) and Lydia is still playing rec hockey with her brothers (weekly teams). She has lost plenty of her front teeth (naturally, not hockey related!) and finally let me get her hair cut into a cute long bob off her shoulders. She also has updated her eye exams and will be sporting new glasses once they come in!
Tyler is our daredevil on wheels and on the playground. Recently he was chasing someone on the playground and fell... later that day (after school and a hockey game) his dad took him to the ER to manage the pain and learned that he indeed had a pretty good fracture (almost a total break) on his right arm. So, his first short (thank you Lord for a short cast!) cast with a camouflage theme. So, that took him out of the Rink for a week but I'm am sure he is a quick healer and will be a rink rat again soon! Cal is doing well with third grade... it's a tough age group and he is testing his boundaries with us at home. I welcome the challenge, esp since Chris is home this year to help! He finally got new (faster) wheels for his skates and is doing even better in his hockey play. He loves his cub scouts and his new addiction are Lego's (which hurt when you step on them in the middle of the night!).
I have been less involved in the military family (distance and commitment to my kids) and have been more committed to going to the gym and getting our family to eat even healthier than before. I've been quilting up a storm as well... have 5 (yes 5) quilt tops about done and will be sending them off to a quilter soon. The local gal that is doing one of my other quilt tops seems to be super busy so I def have to find another person to get at least three other tops done so I can give them to the kids school teachers before the end of May! Yikes! I'll post pics later!
As for Chris... he is busy all the time with the Army side of the house and we are currently waiting to hear from the army as to where we will be going this summer! Will let you know when we know!
OK, that's the short update!

A few pictures of us last fall at the Garden of the Gods

Moda's Progressive Dinner!!

2011-01-19T17:34:00.002-07:00

Moda is hosting a Progressive Dinner this week featuring 15 of our favorite Bake Shop Chefs who are all featured in their new book. Each author will be giving away a copy of the new book and a Moda pre-cut!
For a chance to win a fat quarter bundle, fat eighth bundle, jelly roll, layer cake, and a charm pack (a $200 value!), be sure to comment on every author's Progressive Dinner post starting on January 20th!

Here is the menu!!!

January 19
Stash Books
Moda Bake Shop

January 20
Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts
Roslyn Mirrington of Bloom
Vanessa Christenson of V and Co.

January 21
John Adams of Quilt Dad
Monica Solorio-Snow of The Happy Zombie

January 22
Kimberly Walus of Bitty Bits and Pieces
Melissa Mortenson of The Polkadot Chair

January 23
Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt
Vickie Eapen of Spun Sugar Quilts

January 24

Rachel Griffith of P.S. I Quilt

Lissa Alexander of Moda Lissa

January 25
Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts
Sweetwater

January 26
Angela Yosten
Jenny Garland

Mistletoe Make & Bake 2010 A Holiday Blog Hop!!!

2010-11-16T23:33:00.004-07:00

November 15th-20th, 2010

Here is the line-up~ You don't want to miss this!!

November 15th

Sherri K. Falls of This & That Patterns

November 16th

Heidi Kaisand of Chicks & Hen

Monique Dillard of Open Gate Blog

November 17th

Celine Perkins of Perkin's Dry Goods

Patrick Lose of The Latest News from Patrick Lose

Kelly Ann Richardson of Kelly Ann's Quilting

November 18th

Lissa Alexander of Moda Lissa

Julie Stewart of Quilts 4 Julie

November 19th

Roseann Kermes of Rosebud's Cottage

Brenda Riddle of Little Acorns

November 20th

Vickie Eapen of Spun Sugar Quilts

Melisa Morrison of Sweet Home Quilt Co.

November 21st

On the seventh day, we’ll rest. And eat cookies!

Be sure to visit each site for some cookie bliss, wonderful projects and awesome prizes!!

Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Vol. 2!

2010-11-08T23:12:00.003-07:00

Check it out!!! Lots of cool blocks, fun give aways and awesome blogs to view!!!! Hit the button on my sidebar to visit all the sites!!! DON'T MISS OUT!!!!!

Another Go Giveaway!!!!!!!!!!

2010-11-05T21:30:00.000-06:00

You've got to check out Lavender Ridge! She is giving away a GO! Cutter and 3 dies!! Hurry, you only have until November 10th to enter! Good luck!

I'm back!!!

2010-09-28T11:10:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's as if I took the summer off! We have arrived in Colorado and our home in Kansas is being rented! Whew! For those of you who aren't aware, Chris is back from Afghanistan and we moved with him back to Fort Carson. He is back into the full swing of work and the kids and I are getting used to him being home! What a nice change! The kids are in school (conveniently located across the street!) and are all on Roller Hockey teams (first time for all!). I have 75% of everything unpacked and have already completed some quilting projects. Now I just have to find time to organize my pictures and get some blogging time in!
Hope all of you are enjoying a fall season. It hasn't quite reached us here but I am sure it will come before October is over! :-)

Give Away!!!!!

2010-09-27T11:29:00.000-06:00

You are probably like me, desiring an Accuquilt! There have been so many blog sites that are doing a give away and here are two that are doing them. Millie's Quilting and Ariane's Crafts. You should check them out! Both blog sites are awesome and personally I enjoy visiting each~ Good luck!
~ Charlene

It's hot out there but it's nice and cool in here!!

2010-06-25T14:38:00.001-06:00

The month of June is close to an end and the busiest part of my summer is about to begin. Chris will be home tonight after finishing his two week reintegration from the deployment and we are really looking forward to having him home!

So what is going to make the summer get really busy?! We are moving to Ft. Carson, Colorado! That is where Chris' unit is and now that they are back home we are going to also make our home there too. I just hope there is a way we can stay put for a few years instead of one. Kansas has been good to us and we are leaving behind a nice community and an awesome church family. Friends like that make it hard to move, esp when I have to watch my kids say goodbye... again.

I finished a quilt! The sneak peak from the last blog is now completed. I love the fabric (Rouenneries by French General) and low and behold there is a pattern/kit from p.s.i quilt that uses the same fabric line.

It is called Almost Irish and was featured in the current Irish Quilting Magazine. So... I am lining up my projects to start and complete while in Colorado. I cant wait... and this one is staying home with me!

Another quilt I am working on is a BOM from Quilt Happy, Quilt Often and it is called Love is.... A long time ago I taught myself a little cross stitch and embroidery and I have decided to pick it back up. It is such a satisfying, easy to take on the road craft and I am so glad I have found folks out there who encourage me to do it. I have chosen the moda fabric line Rural Jardin by French General. I am planing on making this quilt with a few more blocks added!

So, do you ever wonder what happens to my finished quilts? I am learning to keep some for myself... however my cat, Shiloh, thinks they are for his usage. Here are a few pics of him... doesn't he have the best life?!

2 Wheels!

2010-06-15T17:01:00.002-06:00

Well, Chris finally made it back to the states and needless to say we are really glad he is back and safe! He was able to come home for a couple of days before heading back to CO to get things ready for us to move there. Meanwhile we bought the kids new bikes and I even got one! I haven't ridden a bike since I was in College and that was 20 ish years ago! Unfortunately a slight foot accident has postponed my bike ride so hopefully in a few days I will be able to put a shoe on and ride for the first time.

As for the foot accident... well have you ever accidentally kicked the foot of your bed?! We have a sturdy wooden frame on ours and I jumped out of bed to close a window (it had begun to pour rain outside but it was blowing in) and as I rounded our bed I smacked my foot into the frame and heard a crunch. Now one of the toes is swollen and bruised and certainly doesn't feel very good if I'm on it too long.

Anyhow, here is the new bike! I love it... but I'm sure I will love it more when I get to ride it!

Schwinn Aluminum Comp All-Terrain Bike

Summer time already?!

2010-06-07T16:40:00.001-06:00

What a year it has been so far! Sorry I haven't blogged for such a long time, I had pneumonia and then the kids got sick(and I still had the pneumonia), the hubby was home for R&R and then I had a slight health scare and then baseball happened and now school is out. We're now waiting for the hubby to redeploy home any day now and then we'll be getting ready to move to Colorado! (crowd cheers!)

I have, however had the chance to get some quilting done! Three projects were finished, a few teachers gifts were finished and several other projects are in the finishing stages.

This first quilt was for our youth Pastors wife/baby boy to be. A name wasn't picked out yet so I embroidered an L for the last name.

The next is a lap quilt for my Mom. It was an easy two charm pack quilt and I used the Chenille-it in white to square each charm.

The next quilt is the signature quilt that I was originally looking for a quilter to finish for me. My local quilt shop had stopped doing custom quilting but before I made arrangements to have it sent out there was a new quilter at the shop. So here is a picture of her and I . I love the quilt and it was nice to have a picture of the two of us with it. I have some larger quilts in mind that I want to use the other quilter for but for these smaller quilts, it was a good local fit!

I also finished a special Pillow for someone (and I need to get it mailed) and then did some gifts for the kids' teachers.

Last but not least... here is a sneak at something I am working on!

Simon's Cat

2010-02-11T12:32:00.003-07:00

The top is all done!

2010-02-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

I finally found the fabric for the borders... now to just find someone to quilt it for me. Our local quilt shop will only do a basic overall pattern (bummer) so now I am on the hunt for someone who has a decent turn around time and can add some really pretty quilting. Any suggestions?! I'm willing to mail it out!

Working on another quilt!

2010-02-02T17:09:00.002-07:00

Ok, I have started working on my signature quilt! What do you think of it so far?! I have another border or two to put on it and then I'll have to figure out what to do about the quilting. Either I will do something simple by hand or find someone who would machine quilt it.
UPDATE: THE BORDERS ARE ON... Look at the next post to see a picture!

Catching up... again!

2010-01-28T09:55:00.001-07:00

Have you ever been so busy that when you finally have time to sit down and write... well, you just cant think of anything to say?! That's where I've been that last several weeks. A lot has happened.
Christmas was wonderful despite that my husband was still deployed. We had a beautiful white Christmas and although we had two blizzards (I even got to drive through one... yikes!) and some cabin fever moments we know we're truly blessed to have a warm home and no worries about our income or health.
The year ended and began with my 30 year old cousin, Jennifer, dying a quick unexpected death and leaving behind a then 4 month old son and a huge family that will miss her. It was and still is so shocking. To add to the sadness I have about that, my husbands grandmother also died unexpectantly within days of Jennifer. This lady was the first one to really welcome me into the family and was the sweetest lady I had known. Needless to say... I cried and even as I write this I have tears in my eyes. Then we also received word that my husbands uncle had also passed away although we werent notified until recently due to other circumstances. So a red cross message was sent to my dear husband regarding all of these losses... only to find out that his unit also suffered some losses (the first of the new year in Afghanistan) that same weekend. Needless to say I have had several conversations about death, heaven and daddy's safety with the kids. I am worn out and hence... just couldnt blog.
Then Haiti happened. My kids dont understand and I am doing everything in my power to not have the TV on the news channel. We know people who have family that have gone to help... Lord watch over them!
So, a new year has started and a lot of people are working on their new years resolutions. I gave up on those a long time ago... but I was introduced to a new thought. K-Love radio station is sending a challenge for us to have a word for the year. One that sums up what or where we want to be by the end of the year. I have prayed about this and I have chosen the word STILL. I fight panic/anxiety and depression (even on some meds for it) and I have found that (esp as a military wife in deployment mode) I try to keep myself busy. So busy that I really havent allowed myself to be still and quiet for even a moment. The Bible says to '...be still and know that I am God.'. If you read Psalm 46 you'll find that this chapter is about having confidence in God our refuge. The first two verses say: "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." (I am thinking of Haiti and so many other disasters) If you read on the chapter talks about "He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear.... Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted in the earth."
I stay so busy because I dont want to let myself worry about the things around me that I cant control anyway. I worry about the war(s) that my husband the rest of my military family is in... I fear disasters... I fear and worry about a lot of things and it can throw me into a panic/anxiety fit. But I havent allowed myself to 'Be still and know he is God'. So... my word this year is STILL. That I will slow down, make myself be still... allow God to show me who he is and that I have no need to worry because he is my fortress and my ever present help in time of need. I can rest in Him and know that he cares for me and will take care of the things that concern me.
I am back to blogging... and this year I hope that I can slow down... enjoy the things that I have missed while 'running' by.
What will your word be this year?!

Quilts, Snow and the Tooth Fairy?!

2009-12-16T09:40:00.010-07:00

It's been a busy week! Since I was unable to 'run' around as much as I wanted to due to my knee injury and the weather I was FINALLY able to finish a quilt that I started a few years ago when my husband was gone on a training exercise with the army. This quilt was hand quilted by me and it felt so good to finish it. I put on a flannel backing and it is warm and cozy!

We also had two snow days which the kids loved (NO SCHOOL?!!!!) and made me a little bummed that I couldn't go out and play with them. None the less they kept each other entertained and had a lot of fun.
The tooth fairy also paid a visit as Lydia finally lost her first tooth. She has another that just might make it out before Christmas!

I also received my signature blocks this week and I cant wait to put them all together! In honor of the Civil War repo fabrics I already know I want to hand quilt this one!

Thanks to Melissa from http://cornbreadandbeansquilting.wordpress.com/ for taking on this project! Three cheers for her! I hope Santa brings her everything she asks for!

Snowman Button Pins

2009-12-08T10:10:00.012-07:00

This is a really easy and fun craft to do! I'm not one to do tutorials because I usually forget a step or two. So, please read the whole post first and then start. The materials/supplies you will need are the following:

1. 1 Square of felt (I used the textured to give the snowman's hat a different look)

2. White 2 holed buttons. I like to use a smaller size for the head and a larger size for the body.

3. glue gun

4. ribbon or strips of fabric

5. pin backings

6. card stock

7. scissors

Out of the felt you will want to cut a shape like below. This will make it easier to fold and glue the hat onto the snowman.

Add the hot glue, not too much as it will ooze out and make a big mess! Make sure you do add a little more where the head will go. You'll also want to make sure you put the button on correctly so his eyes are in the right spot!

Fold the top down and create the hat!

Cut some ribbon or material and glue it just under the 'head'. In the past I have used some homespun material or other plaid type material and its looked really cute. This year I used some left over ribbon.

Glue down the next button. Make sure you've got the button turned correctly as the holes will create his own buttons! NOTE: you will see some of the glue come through the holes... that's OK and sometimes can add a little charm!

Add a nice dot of glue between the two buttons and twist the ribbon/fabric over to make the scarf. Hold it there for a few seconds to make sure it really sticks! Trim as needed.

Trim the black felt away from the bottom button and then glue the pin to the back of the snowman. Make sure it is glued to both the buttons as it will provide support for the snowman.

I used some left over card stock and placed the pin on it and then added some stamps.

If you make one of these please send me a picture so I can see how yours turned out! Oh, and by the way... at Spring time... if you buy orange buttons in three different sizes and have some neat looking green felt you can make carrot pins!
Enjoy!

Another Birthday!!!

2009-12-08T09:51:00.002-07:00

My girl is 6! Four days after her brother turned 8 miss Lydia turned 6. Talk about overload on cake and classroom cupcakes in just a few days! Since it's the holiday season we try very hard to make each birthday an actual birthday and not an extension of the Thanksgiving or Christmas celebration. So far we've been able to do that.

As some of you may have heard, I had an accident this past weekend. Me and the kids were at a Christmas parade (all the floats were lit and it really was a lot of fun) when we spotted some folks we knew in the parade and tried to 'quickly' get across the street. Well, one of the kids cut in front of me and down I went. I got up and got across the street but then I started to limp and noticed some blood on my knee. Absolutely no scrapes (or even gravel) on my hands and no holes in my jeans so I figured I had a nice scrape on my knee. I convinced the kids to walk back to the car and sit in there while we waited for the end of the parade and fireworks and then we'd head home. By the time we got home my jeans were pretty bloody and the scrape wound up being a 2 inch gash. Off to the ER I went where we were met by some friends who took the kids for the night. One friend brought me dinner and another hung out with me while I was stitched up. Now I am not one to sit and do nothing like the doctors wants me to do, so off came the immobilizer brace and up and down those stairs I went to make sure I didn't become stiff. I also iced my knee pretty good and frequently and so far I am doing fine. The rest of my body is now feeling a little sore but for the most part I can drive and get around. Today we had at least 5 inches of snow and more to come so I am very thankful for friends who have done my grocery shopping, brought me food and shoveled my driveway!

So... what to do when you are kinda stuck at home?! Why, it's quilting time and craft time! This afternoon I'll post one of the crafts I did as a gift for the teachers at school. Really easy and lots of fun to make with the kids!

Happy Birthday!

2009-11-30T21:47:00.007-07:00

Our oldest turned the big 8 on Saturday! We had a nice celebration which continued when he went back to school on Monday in his classroom! Now I have to get ready for Lydia's 6th birthday on Wed! Needless to say, our last kid was born in the summer! LOL, too expensive to have fall/winter babies!Here is a sneak peak on another project that I am working on! The embroidery patterns were part of a Free Block of the month from Gail Pan Designs. I love them! I did change one however, Instead of using the word Magic I changed it to Christ, it just seemed to be a better fit for me.By the way, here are our Christmas stockings that I made a few years ago. I love them but I don't like the way they hang... I'm thinking about getting an iron curtain rod with some ring clips to hang them... then I can hang a quilt there when Christmas is over. What do you think?

Playing Catch-up

2009-11-27T11:33:00.023-07:00

So much has been going on and I feel like time is flying by so quickly! That's great when we are going through a deployment but horrible if youre trying to keep up with house work and a blog! :-)

I finally finished my fall quilt before Thanksgiving! I took it to the local quilt shop and they did an overall leaf pattern which came out really nice! Finally... a quilt for myself! I already have another quilt near completion (hand quilting this time) that I started about 4 years ago! Anyhow, this is the picture of the quilt that I saw in a magazine... This is my version of that quilt!

Halloween came and went and we actually had decent weather, for Kansas that is!
I find a lot of inspiration and ideas from some of the fantastic quilt/craft bloggers... At Cornbreadandbeansquilting, Melissa had a great tutorial on a table runner. I didnt have any wintery fabrics on hand but I did have some left over charm packs from this fall (which I like in my home year round) so I gave it a try... I LOVE IT! Thanks Melissa!Another blogger, Vanessa from V and Co. did a great tutorial on Moda Bake Shop on fabric tomatoes... I made them into my own version of pumpkins (although Vanessa's are really cute) and gave them out to friends and lots of teachers as a Thank you gift.I found a poem for the season that I liked and printed them onto some regular paper that I had stained with some "Distress It" (basically tea stain in a bottle... Thanks again to Melissa for that info!) and then also spritzed it with some Bluberry muffin oil and then dried it with my hair dryer (I was too impatient to use my oven). Once dried I ran it through my printer and the rest you can probably figure out! They were a hit and smelled awesome!I love celebrating Veterans Day at a parade in the midwest! There is nothing better than a hometown type of Red, White and Blue parade that honors its vets! We had beautiful weather, a few military jets fly over head and lots of patriotism (without all the political mayhem I might add!). After the parade I took the kids on post to the Ft. Leavenworth National Cemetary and we walked around and talked about who was buried there. I feel it's important to not only understand why their daddy is a soldier but to know that he is part of a military lineage in our family and our country's history and to remind them how proud I am that they serve too! Veterans day is more than a fun parade!Another thing I love about the midwest... the fall season!
Fall also took us to the Red Barn in Weston MO. Lots of fun to be had there! We went as a family and then Tyler was able to go with his preschool.
Cal also had his 2nd grade musical and he was one of the 'big bad squirrels'! The musical was 'Nuts' and they did a great job!

We had a terrific Thanksgiving at the home of some great friends and were even lucky enough to hear from Chris in Afghanistan! We were extra thankful that he was safe (some scarry things went on the past few days) and hopefully we'll get to talk to him again soon! Now we're off to get ready for Calvin's 8th birthday tomorrow and Lydia's 6th birthday on Wednesday! We might even get the tree out and decorated! Enjoy your weekend!

Awesome Giveaway!!!!

2009-11-26T21:49:00.002-07:00

You have to visit Vickie at Spun Sugar Quilts for her giveaway! She has over 400 posts on her blog and to celebrate she is have several different items as giveaways! You wont be dissapointed!

Quilt Hollow Giveaway

2009-11-05T15:20:00.002-07:00

I love to visit Quilt Hollow's Blog! She always has something interesting posted and I love her quilts! She is even doing longarm quilting... something I wish I could do! Anyhoo... she is having a great giveaway at her site... please visit! You wont be disappointed! Pour yourself a nice mug of something to drink and go visit!!

Awesome Giveaway!!!!

2009-10-19T19:24:00.002-06:00

You HAVE to visit Brenda at the Pumpkin Patch Primitive Quilts Shoppe!! She is having a fab giveaway and you don't want to miss out! While you're there be sure to spend some time on her blog AND visit her store! When you stop by be sure to tell you I sent you!

2009-10-15T17:15:00.006-06:00

It's hard to believe that October is already half over and I am way behind on my postings! Here are a few 'collages' that highlight two activities during the month of Sept. In the next day or so I will hopefully get more pictures loaded!

September 11 was the annual Freedom Walk for the kids at school. Going to school on a military base adds a different flavor to the event as each child also 'serves' as their military parent(s) do. Calvin, Lydia and Tyler all wore their "My Dad is a Red Warrior" t-shirts as he is deployed and most everyone wore red, white or blue. At our particular installation there are also many foreign military personnel and they joined in the walk.

Here is Lydia

Here is Calvin

Not too far from our home is a great park! Here are just a few pictures of the kids. We were getting to the end of the summer weather and so we had to take advantage of 'park' play time!

Miss Lydia

Tyler

Calvin

Next time I will post some of our pictures from the trip we took to the Red Barn in Weston MO and maybe some pictures of the quilt projects I have been working on!

Another Giveaway!!!

2009-09-21T15:15:00.002-06:00

Judi At Green Fairy Quilts has some new patterns and has a fantastic giveaway!!! Please visit her and tell her I said hello!

Catch-Up

2009-09-21T08:41:00.007-06:00

Is it just me or is September becoming a quick month?! Tyler started preschool and now I find myself with several hours to myself 5 days a week and believe it or not, I have been very busy! I have started to visit a friends home once a month for scrap booking (a new thing for me), I have been working on two quilts with some ladies from Church, a new Bible study on Wed nights and of course football has started for the boys. Football for the boys is not your typical team sport situation. Here they have a start smart program for the little guys where it's a one on one with the parent and they learn running, catching, throwing, punting and kicking skills/drills. It's an hour for each kid and so since Chris is gone that means I get to play two hours a week with the boys. Thank goodness there is another mom in the same situation! Hopefully I can get Lydia to take some pictures so we can post them!

Meanwhile here is a picture of one of the quilts from our church group. We make them for the widows/widowers. This particular quilt is going to a lady who lost her husband. She likes pink, fairies and cows... so we went with the pink and then I found some cow print that I thought would bring some humor for the backing. It came out really nice!

I have a lot more to post but will do that another time. It's raining really good outside so I want to get some things cleaned up and sewn!

Milestones (Updated)

2009-08-26T12:02:00.007-06:00

Well, I am officially 40. Have to say, it doesn't feel any different than being 39... but the 30's were definitely different than the 20's. Not complaining, I know a lot of folks my age who feel their age and I'm thankful that I don't! My in laws came to visit from Illinois and brought me my cake. The kids loved the bones but weren't too sure why it was a 'Halloween' cake. Even after explaining the meaning behind it they seemed more concerned that turning 40 meant that I was dying... doesn't help when their dad is deployed and they worry about him... so I changed the subject and just told them that some people find odd cakes funny and that I am fine and not going anywhere soon!

My oldest had his eye appointment today an he definitely needs glasses. He is farsighted and has an astigmatism which messes with his nearsightedness, something he inherited either from me or his dad. Later today we'll go shopping for frames. Here he is in the office with his nifty doctor shades. He did really well for his first official appointment and didn't budge when he had to have those eye drops! I was so proud of him!Ty did really well waiting with me while his brother had his appointment. We were in the office for about 90 min. which can be a very long wait for a 4 year old. Ty kept it lively though... at one point he (in front of a waiting room filled with soldiers and other folks) looked at me and then pointed to another soldier in uniform and asked me if that guy was his daddy. I thought the soldier was going to pass out and that I would follow his lead but I quickly told Ty no and that his dad is deployed... Ty smiled and then said 'ha ha mom, I'm just kidding!'. Several guys laughed... but the one soldier still looked a little pale!

Here is the update! Cal got his glasses (they are a dark blue/metal color, hard to tell in the pic) and wanted to have his picture taken... (for his Daddy) so I got out my glasses and we took the picture. He can already tell a difference! On Monday we'll 'see' how much he likes them during school!

Give Away!

2009-08-19T22:36:00.002-06:00

Here is an awesome give-away! Visit Green Fairy Quilts!!! Judi's adorable little guy had his first birthday and to honor this occasion and the anniversary of her business she is giving away something special!!!! Don't forget to check out her Green Fairy Quilts Charity too!

Updates

2009-08-16T17:29:00.006-06:00

The first week of school is over and it went by super fast! Ty and I had a great time together (he doesn't start school until Sept 1) and got a lot done around the house! Here are just a few updates on us!

Lydia loves Kindergarten but has a hard time staying on her mat during 'brain rest' time... so she is quickly learning that she doesn't want her name on the chalk board and certainly doesn't want to miss the first 10 min of recess due to that! Friday she was able to stay on her mat and told me about that when I picked her up from school (that's how I found out about her name being on the chalkboard!). She is eager to learn and this next week is all about learning 'S'.

Cal seems to like his new teacher and has found that a lot of his friends are back this year. We are learning that Cal might have an eye site problem and so we'll be getting a doctors apt (hopefully this week) to find out if he needs glasses... this might help him with reading! It's his weakest area and it's something we're really working hard on!

We do have some new additions to our family! FROGS!!! We haven't named them yet... nobody can come up with an agreement! We are able to tell them apart however! The largest one belongs to Cal since he is the oldest, the other two are about the same size so the wider one belongs to Ty and the skinny long one belongs to Lydia. The kids have a lot of fun watching these frogs in their mini aquarium and get quite concerned when the little snail gets bumped upside down from the frogs. I've been doing a little sewing... I found a tutorial from Rachel Griffith at P.S. I quilt on making a friendship bag and made my own version of it! There is always something to make and it can be fun tweaking patterns and ideas!

I also found a really neat product from another blogger site! Melissa at Cornbreadandbeans introduced me to a new way of tea-staining my projects! I hate to make a pot of tea when I only need a small item stained and these new stains do the job! The item is called 'Distress It' and it comes in three different strengths. I took sample pictures to show ... the regular and Extremely distress ones have a slightly darker blotch on the square as one of my little helpers gave an extra squirt! Anyhow, the picture also shows a before square at the bottom.Dinner last night was a fun one! We picked out a purple Cauliflower (none of us had ever eaten one) and it turned out to be a hit! We steamed it and the kids let me have one chunk as they polished off the rest! Hooray! Another veggie on the like list!

Two projects done and school has started!

2009-08-11T20:48:00.008-06:00

It has been one very busy week and this one is shaping up to be a very productive one as well! Last week I had two baby quilts to make and after three days of brainstorming and raiding all my available fabric this is what I came up with!

This first quilt is a bright pink and white friendship star quilt. I used scraps left over from Lydia's sun dress. The quilt was made for a little baby named Chloe who was born early August! Due to my hand not functioning well lately, I decided to give machine quilting a try... just the basic cross-hatch. It worked and made the quilt scrunch up a bit after washing! I love the look slight shrinkage gives to a quilt!

The second quilt was made for a baby named Nathaniel... he should arrive this week! His mom is a quilter (which makes me even more nervous to give a quilt... what if she pulls out a ruler and measures... or notices an error!) and likes similar fabric choices. I loved making this quilt and will more than likely make a larger one for our family! I used a charm pack (Moda-Glory) and created some nine patch blocks that I quartered and then took setts of three blocks and added a white block to create a new larger block (confused?) and then of course a border of white and then brown to frame it. She loved it (and made me feel proud to give it to her) and later told me that it also met approval from her husband! Yeah! School started today! The kids didn't want to sleep last night as they were too excited about going to school. I was worried I wouldn't wake up on time so I set two alarms. Wouldn't you know, I woke up 20 min before they went off! Everyone was dressed, fed and ready early and we made it on time! My youngest has two more weeks until his preschool starts... so he and I had a terrific day hanging out together. Well, I have a little more sewing to do (several projects that need to get done!) and then it's off to bed! Night!

Meet Shiloh

2009-08-06T22:15:00.006-06:00

My blogger friend, Viv, has two sweet kittens and you have to meet them! They remind me of my cat when he was much younger!

Yes, he is a big boy! This is my 18 lb, 10 year old cat named Shiloh! We got him at a shelter when we were stationed in Washington and he has traveled the world with us! We think he is Birman and was left at the shelter because he was born with 3 ninety degree kinks in his tail. He was one of several kittens and was the only one grooming all the others. He has turned out to be a chocolate color but when he was little he was all cream with a smudge of brown on his nose and ears! He is a sweet caring cat and has stayed up at night with each kid as they were sick or not feeling good... and my guardian when I am not feeling well or just feeling depressed. Shiloh... he's the best!!!

One project down... several more to do!

2009-08-03T12:04:00.008-06:00

I have finished one baby quilt this past weekend and have another to start and complete by this weekend. I've been wanting to work on a small project as I really don't want to work on my larger ones until it's cooler outside! I did get my little guys' Daddy quilt done and he is happy with that!

Saturday was a beautiful day, high 70's and a nice breeze... so the kids packed lunches in their new school lunch bags (have to try them out!) and we went to a local park. We were there for 3 hours, the kids played hard and went to sleep pretty well that night!

Here are some pictures... took several so we could send them to Chris overseas! Tonight is the first night for our neighborhood 5 day club so we need to get some errands taken care of... till then! Bye!

Give Away!!!!

2009-07-29T22:36:00.004-06:00

Wow, I am way behind on my blogging but I have to tell you about a great give-away! Rachel at P.S. I quilt is giving away a $50 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop!!!! Can you believe that?! Hurry on over and sign up! You don't want to miss this!!! You will also find all kinds of neat quilts on Rachel's site!

Happy Blogging!

~Charlene

Less than 3 weeks until school starts!!!

2009-07-22T21:55:00.005-06:00

Have you ever had those kinds of days where it moves really slow and then bam... next thing you know it's been a fast week?! Crazy!

The kids and I are trying to get back onto a school sleep schedule and its tough to do when it stays light out until 9 pm. Something tells me it's going to get easier once school does start and so do the sport and Awana schedules! (Please please please please!!!)

Lydia is already signed up for her ballet/acrobat classes and Cal has decided to do flag football this season instead of soccer. He hasn't lost interest in soccer but I think it's a smart move on his behalf to give football a try while the opportunity is available! Ty is bummed that he is too young to sign up but you can tell he is excited to hang out at Cal's practices!

We have met many of our new neighbors and the boys are excited that it's not an 'all girl' neighborhood anymore! It should be a fun year and hopefully since Chris is gone, it will be a busy year that passes at just the right tempo!

By the way, did I mention that Chris' cousin, Amanda took some photos of us?! She hasn't gotten all of them ready for me yet (she is very busy with tons of weddings this summer) but here are three of them...

Kaaren's bug bit me!

2009-07-14T12:30:00.002-06:00

I love my blog-land pals and today I was especially excited about Kaaren's post. She has joined a Signature Block Swap and now I have too! If you like civil war era fabrics like I do and would like to do a swap then this is a must for you! Visit Melissa at Cornbread-and-beans-quilting's weblog or just click on the badge on my sidebar and follow the directions to join. This is a very easy block to make!

Awesome Give-Aways!!!

2009-07-10T08:34:00.003-06:00

I love my quilt/craft/fabric blog friends! Sometimes you get so many neat tips and ideas and every now and then there some give-aways! Here are three for this month:

The first give away is from Just Another Hang Up. She is giving away a Butterflies & Bloom tote! It is really pretty (lots of work went into it!) and would look great on anyones shoulder this summer! You have to visit her Etsy store as well... lots of neat things to buy!

The second give away is from Candle Lite Quilter ... it's her 100th post! Hooray for her! She is giving away two charm packs (cut by her local quilt shop) and two 1/2 yard cuts from the Natures Chorus collection by April Cornell. Her blog is lots of fun to read too so be sure to spend some time visiting!

The last but not least give away is really big! Green Fairy Quilts is celebrating her 99th post by doing a huge give away to 4 lucky winners! I will leave it up to you to visit the site and see what she is giving away, she is another one who has a fun blog to read and trust me... I spend a lot of time there reading and am in awe of her quilting abilities!

So, there you have it... three fun give aways! I do want to make a special mention on behalf of Green Fairy Quilts... She and her husband have a charity that could use your support. Here is what she posted on her blog along with some links so you can learn more about what they do and hopefully support them!

Green Fairy Quilts Charity was started last year with my husband taking quilts over to Romania to people in need. We have our trip booked and are leaving September 7, 2009, only 8 weeks away, to go and give more quilts to the people there. The picture above is my stash that I have gotten ready to take, but I would love to take more quilts. If you are interested in donating some quilts, please email me at judi@greenfairyquilts.com

Please take a moment to watch our video and read about our charity.

You can verify our charity by following this 'link'

You can watch our charity video 'here'

And you can read about Clint's trip last year 'here'

4th of July and deployment

2009-07-08T20:10:00.023-06:00

4th of July is a favorite holiday in our home. We love fireworks and the flag ... being a military family we especially love our country and the service members who serve Americas needs. This year it marked the end of an awesome year of having Chris home (first time since I have known him that he has been able to spend 365 days in a row at home every night~ we've known each other 17 years!). Chris left for Colorado Springs the next day to prepare for a deployment to Afghanistan in the middle of the month. Here are some pictures of our day and then some of the next day when we drove to the airport.

Cal and Chris took charge of the grills. Cal has the smaller one and did the dogs while Chris had the larger one and did the burgers. Cal does an awesome job at grilling the dogs (none of the kids like them charred) and is looking forward to continuing these duties when Chris is gone.

After we ate we headed to the Fort Leavenworth festivities. There were a few jumps and so the kids and I had fun going over to landing site to watch some of the jumpers come in. It was a really windy afternoon and we're very thankful that they still did the jump and were able to do it safely!

Cal had fun looking for different state flags. He found the CA flag (state of his birth and my home state) as well as the IL flag (Chris' state flag) and the KS flag (our current home). Lydia and Ty couldn't find their flags as they were born in Germany! It was especially fun to cheer for our flags as they were called out in order of when they joined the union (and yes, a cannon went off for each flag!)

Finally it was dark enough (after 9:30 pm) for the fireworks to start. The wind blew most of the rain clouds over to MO and we only had a few sprinkles at the end. The Army did a great job with all of the fireworks!

Everyone always hates it when the fireworks are over, I especially was bummed it was over because I knew we had to let Chris go the next day. After church Chris finished packing and then it was one more 'toss the football' moment with Dad and then off to the airport. Cal was in charge of pictures once we were there. Here are the photos... one of Chris with the kids and then the ones Cal took.

Ty was very sad and very quiet on the way home. We went to the evening service at church where we BBQ'd afterwards and then played softball. It was good for me and the kids to have somewhere to go and something to do instead of sitting at home. While Ty and I were in the outfield he saw an airplane fly over... I know because I heard him say 'Bye Bye Daddy!' and wave.

Flight school at our house~

2009-07-08T19:45:00.008-06:00

Well, the Robins and the Barn Swallows are teaching their chicks to fly! It's been fun watching them do take offs and returns.

The two Robins are a little slower (of course they were born a little later as well). One flew to a higher branch when we approached the nest and then landed next to us on the grass and proceeded to hop his way to our porch, poop and then run the rest of the way through the bushes. The other Robin stayed in the nest and didn't move. There is still a blue egg in the nest and we know it's a bad one so there it sits

The Barn Swallows are quite regal looking. Almost like mini hawks with the white line drawn from their beaks!

This one's for the birds!

2009-06-26T11:04:00.003-06:00

We are heading out of town today but I had to post this blog... Our Barn Swallows had hatched but today was the first time we got to see them. We think Johnny and June did a fine job! Also letting us have a sneak peak is the Robin... two of her chicks have hatched TODAY and she is sitting on the third one. It will be neat to see what has happened when we get back!

Enjoy!

The British are coming! The British are coming!

2009-06-25T16:07:00.014-06:00

Actually, they are here! Cal is in Soccer camp this week. He participates in the British Soccer Camps put on by Challenger Soccer. This year is a little different as he isn't used to the heat... the camp even made the start time at 8 am instead of 9 am so the kids could avoid some of the hotter hours. Either way he is drinking about a gallon of water for the 3 hours he is playing! Here are a couple of pictures. Tomorrow is the final day but I'm not sure if I'll get any pictures done.

They divided the kids up into different teams, each representing a different country. Cal was put on team England... so the next two pics are of him screaming "England!".

It's hot out there... they need a bird bath!!

2009-06-24T08:37:00.009-06:00

Well, Ariel and her chicks have flown out into the neighborhood and so perhaps I will be able to revive my poor dying plants! We still have the Robin and her eggs and of course Johnny and June seem to be busy feeding some baby birds in their nest (still cant see them). It's been so hot out that we took Oma's advice and got a bird bath for our front yard (central to the nests and our viewing pleasure!). Hopefully in the next couple of days the Heat Advisory will go away and we can have a few cooler days.

This is Shiloh, our 10 year old cat trying to keep cool! He has some serious matting going on and something tells me he isn't going to continue letting me brush him so we might have to visit a groomer. The birds have entertained him and now that we have a birdbath he just might find it even more interesting. Shiloh is an indoor cat but loves to chat with whatever is on the other side of the window!

Chris and Ty sat patiently for a little while hoping to see which birdie would be the first to test the bird bath...The kids also took a picture of our frog... he's back! Above our front door is a large window and so it's fun to watch the little frogs leap along the window... interesting to see their undersides. Anyhow, it provides fun entertainment before bed! If we leave our porch light on we can even watch them eat their buggy delights! Last year we had a few frogs so we're anxious to see how many we'll have this year!

First flights and hops

2009-06-22T13:00:00.007-06:00

Yes, our little baby house wrens have taken their first flights! One in particular is the 'runt' of the nest and he just hopped out of the planter (I had it on the ground) and then continued to hop down the stairs and then fly up on the hand rail. The others took off pretty quick and so I didn't get a picture of them. You can hear them however in the video.

The Hormann Aviary

2009-06-19T18:56:00.013-06:00

A lot has happened since I last posted about the birds... we have identified the actual identities of the birds, their nests and their eggs... and some have hatched! Here is the update!

First we will begin with the barn swallow. They have their nest above our front door. She (we named her June) has been spending more time sitting in her nest so we know there are eggs up there. If only we had a mirror so we could take a peek! I doubt she would like it if I took the ladder out to take a photo! Here is a picture of her from tonight. The male (we named him Johnny) still hangs out but I couldn't get his 'mug shot' tonight.

The second nest belongs to a sweet little House Wren. Lydia named her Ariel (haven't seen the male but he was named Sebastian). She allowed us to photograph her eggs (she is in my previous post, unfortunately I thought her eggs were the Barn Swallow's). Since our last post the eggs have hatched and now the chicks have fluffy feathers and have moved out of the nest and into the rest of the hanging plant. Due to that I am now unable to water my poor plant and am not sure when I will be able to do so. Hmmm so much for that. There are 5 chicks and no, Lydia hasn't named them... yet.

The first picture is of them around a day or two old... they were still a little wet.They were a hungry bunch! Their eyes were still closed and when I moved the planter they started prepping for food!This next photo was taken by my mom ... their eyes were finally open!The chicks are now big enough to take over the planter. All five are huddled together. They were pretty quiet so we are guessing they just ate. I got to watch her feed them earlier in the morning and wow... those kids can eat! They are just as noisy as mine are at meal time! The third nest is in a small tree in our front yard. It's a Robins nest and tonight she let us get a photo of her beautiful blue eggs.

Last but not least are the chickadees... at least that's what I think I have. They had a nest on our roof somewhere between all the different levels and we heard their beginnings because it sounded like they were IN our house. Luckily they weren't but they sure are tough to get pictures of. This morning I was watching them practice their take offs and landings from the corner of our roof... They were experts and thankfully none of them had a mishap!

OK, that's the update on our birds! Thanks to Oma (who came for a visit) we have a nice bird book to look at and the kids are having fun learning about our feathery friends. Its been busy in our cul-de-sac... new bunnies, deer across the street, the horses are out at the pond and we have new 'humans' moving in as well!

Skateboards and Rollerblades....

2009-06-15T00:19:00.010-06:00

My youngest (Ty) turned 4 at the begining of June and for his birthday he got a new skateboard... and somehow his brother and sister got some new wheels too! So it was off to the skatepark to have some fun (and learn how to use their equipment!).

Awesome giveaway!!!!

2009-06-14T23:59:00.002-06:00

Kaaren at The Painted Quilt is having an awesome 4th of July giveaway!!!! Drop by her blog and tell her hello!!! The drawing for 4 fab giveaways will be on the 3rd of July! Good Luck!
~Charlene

5 little eggs laying in a nest...

2009-05-27T12:34:00.003-06:00

Today we didn't see any new eggs so it looks like June the Barn Swallow is done laying eggs. She and Johnny have been busy building another nest above the front door (near the hanging plant where the eggs are). It's kinda neat to watch but we're not so thrilled about the bird poop even though it is neatly falling in one spot! I am however thankful that they like to eat all the flying bugs at night! I guess it's a good trade although I am not sure if my dear husband is going to let them nest there after this batch...

Johnny and June

2009-05-26T11:43:00.005-06:00

Our Swallows are named... Johnny and June!

The kids and I are having fun counting each day the number of eggs ... Sunday there were three eggs in the nest....

Then on Monday there were four eggs in the nest!

Now we have 5 eggs in the nest. We wonder how many more June is going to lay before she is done!

Memorial Day

2009-05-25T12:08:00.007-06:00

Memorial Day 2009
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

The following is part of an article written in our post newspaper... I couldn't have said it better:

"Memorial Day is first and foremost about honoring those who gave their lives for the ideals we cherish. In our remembrance we are given an opportunity to reconnect to our national military history, and to renew our own commitment to the values and virtues of America.These heroes whose common bond was uncommon sacrifice must not be forgotten. There is no uncertainty about the purpose or the meaning of the lives memorialized at grave sites around the country. This is where we remember the true reason for Memorial Day.
Our Soldier's Creed says "I will never leave a fallen comrade." We all know this means more than never leaving a fellow Soldier on the battlefield. This statement also charges us with a commitment to remember and honor our fallen comrades. We must share the story of their service and honor the sacrifice that they and their families have made for our nation."Wreathes were laid at the grave of Brigadier General Henry Leavenworth. This National Cemetery is one of the 14 original National Cemeteries and at one time was the largest.After the ceremonies concluded we headed over to the section where the band played. Lydia and Cal enjoyed being up close. Some kids were even able to help the drum section!
The 21 gun salute and the raising of the flag at noon. By the way... the flag is lowered in the morning and then at the noon hour is raised again. If it is past the noon hour where you are, be sure to raise your flag again!

Lots of Updates!

2009-05-25T06:54:00.049-06:00

Again, time has flown by and I am way behind on blogging! Since I last wrote we have completed baseball season, almost finished ballet/acrobat classes and school is almost done! Yikes! Allergies are in full bloom and the slip-n-slide has already been busted and a new one has been bought!

Lets start with Baseball. We moved Cal up to coach pitch baseball this year as we felt he was beyond t-ball and would be better off with the challenge. Chris was his coach and their jerseys were a light blue (Cal was #13) and they were the Eagles. Cal is awesome and the team in general were great athletes and if you were counting... won most if not all their games! Here are some pictures/videos of the season:

Of course all of this baseball has us spending some time in the backyard playing around too!

Well, that's it for baseball... lets see... what else has happened... Awana's... we had award night last week! Here are a few pictures from that!

We also had World Tai Chi & QiGong Day... I did Tai Chi and participated in a Dragon Dance. The kids got to help with the music!

Lydia and I have done a little sewing... I have wanted to make a simple summer dress for Lydia so we hit the fabric store and came up with this little number... Perfect for summer!

Calvin's 1st grade put on a Musical... The Dino Stars!

Cal's school also had a "Fun in the Sun" day... here are a few pictures of some of the 'stations' that they got to participate in! It was a beautiful day even though allergies were a problem!

We also enjoyed a concert by Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band via the USO show for Military Spouses Appreciation Day... here are a few photos of that. (yes, that is Cal in a velcro suit stuck to the wall...)

And last but certainly not least... we have some new residents at our home. My hanging plants have gotten a little fried (we've had a lot of sun) and so I brought them down to water and feed them and guess what I found!!

and here are a few shots of the parents... we will have to come up with names for them! Anyhow, I think they are some kind of Swallow.

If you look out the window above our front door at night you can see the tail feathers of the parents. They seem to stay here during the evening, just close enough to the nest.

This is one parent eating some bugs off the wall...

Here is the other parent... I took this from inside our house, below is the hanging pot where the nest is.

****UPDATE****

Another egg was layed this morning!

Well, that's it for this blog. I will post some more pictures later today most likely. We are off to attend the Memorial Day Service on post and then I promised Lydia I would take pictures of her on her bike... she ditched the training wheels on Saturday!!

A fabulous giveaway!!!!

2009-05-13T15:38:00.003-06:00

You have to visit Suzanne at Just Another Hang Up! She makes these wonderful Totes (and more) and sells them on her Etsy site and if you're lucky you have the opportunity to win one of these beautiful Totes!!!! Visit her blog for the details! Here is a picture of Treasure Island... the Tote up for the giveaway!!!

Nora Jean's quilt!

2009-05-02T17:52:00.009-06:00

A friend of mine is about to have her first baby and it's going to be a girl!! Nora Jean will be her name and since Bethany's (The Mommy) husband used to work with my husband in Germany/Iraq, I really wanted to make a neat quilt and hand quilt it for her.

So... I spent most of last Saturday coming up with a design (luckily I keep my quilt magazines!) and then started cutting and piecing on Sunday and then started hand quilting on Monday night and finished at 6:00 pm on Tuesday... the baby shower was at 6:30 pm!!! One of the themes for the nursery was frogs... so the backing had a panel of frogs framed with a pink border and then I machine appliqued a flower which I signed and dated. It was a hit and I was really happy Bethany liked it!

I have already started on another project (yes, still have a few others waiting to be finished...). This one is a charm quilt made from Moda fabrics (Kansas Troubles: Wildflower Serenade II). This one will be about a twin sized quilt and will be one that we can use when watching TV or reading a good book. It is already on my quilt frame and I am hand quilting this one. I am doing a simple X in each box... the very middle has different sized pieces... so I am still trying to figure out if I am going to stitch in the ditch or shadow box the odd pieces. Ok, I am going to post and then head out... our neighboring town is celebrating it's birthday and there are going to be some fireworks! The kids are on a total sugar high (thank you maker of pixie sticks!) and they need to run off some energy!

Whew... off to the quilt shop!

2009-04-18T10:57:00.006-06:00

Ok, I finally finished the quilt top and am going to take it to the quilt shop today! I think it came out pretty good... it will look even better once it is quilted! It is a King sized quilt and def the largest one I have made.

Latest Quilt project

2009-04-17T11:05:00.007-06:00

I am working on this quilt for my Mom... she is going to give it to my Dad for his birthday. It's a pattern that I am testing out for a future quilt. Our Church makes quilts for widows and I am gathering fabric for the current need in our church. It will be made up of pinks/floral. This pattern is really easy(esp since we will have people working on the quilt with all different sewing experience) and can be made to fit different size preferences. My Mom's quilt will have a floating white border and then a dark blue border and a white on white floral backing. I am sending it to our local quilt shop to be machine quilted as my hand is still messed up from carpal tunnel... at least that is what I am hoping it is!

Easter 2009

2009-04-17T10:45:00.010-06:00

I am so far behind on my blogging! Here are a few photos of our Easter egg dying experience and a few photos from Easter Sunday. It was nice having Chris home for the egg dying experience... he is usually at work or away. This year he was in charge of buying the egg dying kit... he came back from the store with three different boxes of stickers, shrink to fit sport sleeves and traditional dyes...

The kids slept in on Easter Sunday and then we went to church. When they got home they quickly cleaned up their rooms and then hunted for the hidden eggs and then dove into their baskets and opened the goodies/cards that they got from Oma and Opa. Lydia was especially proud to wear her new dress which came with a matching dress for her doll Jenny. Of course Lydia is also wearing her new 'big' girl heels.

Easter Egg Hunt Swap

2009-04-04T23:00:00.014-06:00

OK, it is officially April 5th here in America's central time zone... so I am posting my blog for the Easter Egg Hunt Swap! Viv (standing ovation and several minutes of applause to her and her post office!!) did an outstanding job at coordinating this swap/hunt and personally I know I had a ton of fun making my eggs and receiving two in exchange! Below are the pictures of the eggs!

This first egg is one that was sent to me! The picture doesn't do it just... it is sparkly and immediately became my daughters favorite. Something tells me it's going to be hanging in her room soon! I love the soft pink chenille and the purple jewels... pretty purple flowers on the bottom and topped with purple and white trim. I might have to 'paper, scissors, rock' my daughter for it!
UPDATE!!!! I found the blogger who made my first egg!!! The Faerie Wysperer!!! Check out her blog! Thank you!

This next egg is the second one sent to me! It's a Marie Antoinette Easter Egg... Everyone should have Marie in her home somewhere! Again, my photo really misses the details. The Egg is covered in beaded glitter and adorned with ribbon, a variety of papers, snowflake like glitter and of course Marie herself! She is going in my room! There is no way my daughter is getting both! (smile)

UPDATE!!!! I have figured out who made my second egg!!! It is Lisa Kettell from Faerie Enchantment!!! She hasn't posted her blog just yet... so you're probably wondering how I figured it out... well... she signed her egg! I am a lucky person for receiving one of her lovely mixed media art eggs! Thanks Lisa!!!

After Church I will visit each blog to hunt for my egg's creators and to find out who received the two I made. Speaking of the ones I made... the following three pictures are the ones I did. Vivian chose one... although I am not sure which one she picked. Each egg was wrapped in a coordinating tissue and placed in a gift bag... Please let me know if you were the recipient of one of my eggs! I hope you liked it...

UPDATE!!!! Deb found me... she received the blue egg! You have to see her blog and the awesome skeleton bunnies who have taken this egg and wont give it back to her!

UPDATE!!!! Viv picked pink and this is the egg she has hanging in her craft room!

UPDATE!!!! Tina found me ... she was the one who received the yellow egg!

Shop Hop!!

2009-04-04T08:38:00.005-06:00

The Greater Kansas City Area Shop Hop 2009

Today I am off to Shop Hop! I have my passport and the kids are going to help me find the animal at each shop! There are 11 quilt shops participating in the MO and KS areas. Click HERE to find out more! This is my first hop and I am totally excited!

Stay tuned for tomorrow as I will post the eggs from the Easter Egg Swap! I cant wait to find out who received the two I made and to find out where the two I got came from!

Sew Much to Do!!!

2009-04-02T12:31:00.009-06:00

I started two quilts for myself and have yet to finish them... one was started 9 years ago and the other 3 years ago... Unfortunately time flies and now carpal tunnel has set in (not fun when I hand quilt!) and I have a list of projects that I need to get done. This doesn't include raising three young kids and all of their activities! Some days I think I need a wife so I can do my quilting/crafts!!

I am also on a hunt... a hunt for a perfect craft desk/table. Our local military prison (the fed pen at Leavenworth... perhaps you've heard of it) will make something that I design for them at a very low cost (like materials only)... so I want to take advantage of this opportunity but I haven't figured out what I want exactly. It needs to be an all in one piece of furniture since we are military and move and cant count on space or a craft room to be available in each home. So I was thinking of a tall table (that I can stand at or place a stool when I need to take the load off my feet) that I can place my cutting mat on as well something that can have drawers or baskets to hold items and perhaps a cubby where I can place my bolts of fabric or hang my rulers. Hmmmm if you're a quilter and have an idea or a picture of your work table... let me know!

Well... this is a short post today! My son has his first pine car derby (Grand prix) tomorrow night at Awana's and since his dad has been busy (Army stuff) it has been a mom and son project... so I've been searching the net trying to learn this stuff and tonight I get to drill holes and help him fill it with weights and then finish painting. I hope he does well... he is doing most of the work but seriously... this isn't fabric! I wish Uncle Mark lived close by... he would be better at this!
Oh... and do you like the roses my hubby brought home for me?!

In love with her journal

2009-03-24T19:44:00.003-06:00

Every week the kids attend Awanas and frequently earn enough points through their workbook and memorization of Bible verses which allow them to shop at the Awanas Store. The kids (without prompting from us) usually come home with gifts for each other and for Chris and I. We have really sweet kids! Last month Lydia chose for herself a Pink Journal and announced that she was going to write in it everyday. We smiled and pretty much figured we'd find it thrown in the toy room with pages riped out and it's interest would be lost in a matter of days. To our surprise she has faithfully written in it and often brings it along on car rides or to the gym daycare. She is in preschool and is starting to learn to write so a lot of her pages have her name and sometimes have other family members names in it. For the most part though she scribbles and then asks to read the story out loud to us or sings us the songs that she has written. Some pages even have pictures. I am so proud of her for taking an interest in writing at such a young age! I hope her book shelf holds many of these journals filled with her thoughts, stories and songs!

I'm sober but that is still a green horse!

2009-03-17T19:16:00.011-06:00

Happy St. Patricks Day! Today our town had a St. Patty's Parade at noon so I was able to pick Lydia and Tyler up from preschool and head downtown to watch it. We found perfect parking, a great spot to watch the parade and had 70 something degree weather! Every family that had an Irish name had a float or car to ride in... lots of police cars and firemen... military... vets... government officials and schools... motorcycles (Patriot Guard) which were Tyler's favorite and of course Horses which were Lydia's favorite. Lots of candy and beads handed out and then it was over. We visited McDonald's and had shamrock shakes and then went home to enjoy the weather!

I told Lydia that she will probably miss next years parade like Calvin did this year and she asked why... I reminded her that she will be in Kindergarten. Ty asked if he would miss the parade next year too and I said no, he and I would get to come back. He wants to get a green motorcycle and ride it in the parade... I guess I could always hang a sign in honor of the Kelley blood that runs on my maternal side of the family!

Below is a picture of my Great Grandmother Emma Kelley (L) and her sister Mary Kelley (center) and their friend.

This next picture is of my Grandmother Nadine (Lydia was her birth name and it is also who my daughter is named after) as an infant and two of her older sisters. She was one of 8 girls!

So in honor of my Irish ancestors I raise a toast to all my blogger friends and say :

May the raindrops fall lightly on your brow.

May the soft winds freshen your spirit.

May the sunshine brighten your heart

May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you.

And may God enfold you in the mantle of His love.

Yard Sale

2009-03-14T17:17:00.004-06:00

Today was busy but fun kind of day! We woke up and the race was on! I left early to attend a sale and Chris and the boys took Lydia to her ballet class. After I spent a lot of money at the sale I picked Lydia up from class and then we drove over to the basketball game. It was Cal's last one for the season (Chris' too since he is the coach) and then wound up at the bowling alley for a pizza/cake end of season party for the team. Whew... came home, put some insulation up on a wall in a basement room that we're trying to finish and now I am blogging while Chris and the kids are at the park. I think dinner is going to be late and light tonight!

OK, back to the sale... It was called a 'Yard Sale'! Our local quilt store, aka Quilters Quarters, has moved to a new location and had many things that they didn't want to transfer. There was a huge sale to liquidate these items in Feb... unfortunately I didn't know about that but there was another sale today and I came away with yards and yards of material, a book, doll quilt kits, a small quilt (for my cat, Shiloh) and a cool Moda Flag bag and some fat quarters. Not bad for a 10 min shop and grab then wait in line for 40 minutes! Ahhhh... the smell of cotton fabric! I love it!

The quilt store will have their grand opening next Saturday... Guess who's going!!!!

Whooops!

2009-03-11T11:41:00.010-06:00

I cant believe it's been over a week since I last posted! This is the last week for Cal's basketball season and I'd like to think that we're going to have a break but baseball is around the corner! Chris coached Cal's team and it looks like I am going to be the assistant coach when he coaches Cal's baseball team! That should be fun! Lydia is still doing acro and ballet and is excited about her costume for the recital in May... it's a mermaid outfit! Tyler is already showing me everything he wants for his birthday in June and has a dozen ideas about what theme he wants for his cake and party! He is totally excited right now because we found his skateboard in one of the boxes from our move this past July! I already caught him trying to wash it in the bathroom sink to get dirt off of it! He is in love with that board!
We have our next assignment and it will be at Ft. Carson Colorado! A big change from being told we were going to Ft. Bliss Texas! However, the kids and I are going to stay in our house in Kansas because Chris will be 'playing army' for a long time and I just don't want to put the kids through a major move and have them deal with Dad being gone. We have a wonderful church, gym and school and it will be best for the kids and I to have that sense of security. Once Chris gets back then we'll all move to CO and make that transition together. So... I have my to do list already and am trying to muster up the energy to get what needs to be done before he leaves. Time flies by fast.

I have had the chance to get some crafting done! I am participating in an egg swap but I cant post pictures until April... so you'll have to wait to hear about that! Quilting has been the craft for the past few months. Ladies from our church make quilts for the widows and I was able to participate in the last project. I was given a quilt top and asked to put a border on it. Luckily I was able to find matching fabric online and then added three different borders which I thought complimented the original top. The fabric was from Moda and the colors were a cream/dark plumb. It was sent off for machine quilting and then given back to me for the binding (since I enjoy doing that and nobody else really waned to). Over all I thought the quilt turned out really nice! The lady who received it is wonderful person who my kids enjoy seeing every week at Awanas. It was nice to help make something for someone so nice.

The next quilt was a new experience for me. It was a baby quilt but I decided to try out this minkee fabric and boy... that stuff is messy! I had the Dustbuster out and was constantly using it and then also had my nylon brush out to clean my machine! That blanket came out well too and luckily was the perfect colors for the nursery! Whew! I have a few more projects to complete (and in some cases, to start and complete) and then I hope to finish two quilts that I started a long time ago! Unfortunately I have a carpal tunnel problem and so I can't hand quilt for very long like I used to.

6-7 inches!

2009-03-02T11:09:00.004-07:00

We woke up Saturday morning to 6-7 inches of snow!!! The kids were so happy to have snow to play in again. Cal quickly ate his breakfast and then ran out to our deck to measure how deep it was. He made his own ruler at school and hasn't had much opportunity to use it.

Lydia of course was dressed and ready for her ballet/acro class but had to go stand in the snow before leaving. Of course her class was cancelled and so was Cal's basketball game... so Cal went to a birthday party. His friend likes stars and the color purple so we put together a little bracelet for her as well as a Hannah Montana gift bought from the store.
Over all, even though it was very cold, we had a great weekend. We got a lot of shopping done (although I still have to get groceries) and had just as much family time. Church was great and the kids were finally able to sit through the service... we went out to lunch and got totally stuffed on Mexican food & dessert and again the kids were great! We couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

Monday

2009-02-23T08:24:00.003-07:00

Hi there! Just touching base with my blog peeps! How is it that February is the shortest month... that feels like it has been the longest month that is passing by so quickly?! Crazy! Perhaps it's because we have had a lot of changes occur!
Cal (my 7 year old) has lost two teeth and so now he has his four front upper and two front bottom teeth missing (cutest speaking difficulties!)... my daughters vocabulary and personality (she is 5 going on 16) has caused me to laugh several times every day but I wasn't too happy to find an almost empty gallon container of milk under her bed... my youngest son (3 going on 4) insists on letting his sister paint his finger nails and toe nails PINK... and keeps telling me that he needs 'boy binger nall paint' and asks when I am going to find his skateboard (still in a box from our move last July).
We are a military family that recently moved to KS... but we were moving to TX in July but now that has changed as the Army has informed us that our next duty station will be in CO (yippee!!) but with it comes a deployment (not so yippee) SO... the kids and I are going to stay in our house near our gym and our church (who needs a move with a deployment at the same time... not us... been there, done that!).
Lets see... what else, taxes: done! My father in law showed me a thing or two about an electric saw, drywall, wires, plugs, lighting... yes... it's time to finish the unfinished room in our basement! What was going to be an office room is now (thank you ARMY) going to be a quilters quarter! That of course has given me even more motivation to get it done (and trust me... my mind is thinking of all kinds of projects I want to do!).
I have hit the gym again after taking almost two months off to find that I didn't gain any weight (well, maybe a pound or two) but I did loose an inch off my arms and almost another off my chest (woohoo!).
I am no longer a 'beginner' in Tai Chi and am looking forward to participating in the World Tai Chi & Qigong day in April! I love this style of Tai Chi (Quang Ping Yang right style) and it fits well with the gentle yoga and ball exercises that I do. Even though I am active in church/Bible study, it's nice to have a way to help me sync my heart and mind with quiet thoughts, quiet movements, quiet breath and keep a quiet smile!
All right... time to get on with my day! Hope your Monday goes well... mine has started really well! Whew!

Gifts in the mail!!!!

2009-02-18T20:54:00.007-07:00

Saturday brought me a lovely gift in the mail! The photo above is of a beautiful piece from the "Angel" series by Nancy Donaldson who is a mixed media artist and photographer from Toronto Canada! The prayer reads:

For Little Children

For the sunshine warm and bright,

For the day and for the night,

For the lessons of our youth~

Honour, gratitude and truth,

For the love that met us here,

For the home and for the cheer,

Father, we thank Thee,

Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

Please stop by Nancy's blog! I have enjoyed reading it and I know you will too!

Thank you Nancy for this lovely gift that arrived on Valentines day! Even the card was lovely! Both items have a special place in my home! (And you made so many!!!)

~~~~

Now for part two... also arriving in my mailbox today was this adorable little monster named Speckles. At first I wasn't sure how my kids would react to this new little monster (they have a tendency to be afraid of such things) but Monster Speckles was quickly given a grand tour of the house and much discussion was had over where he was going spend the night and who he belonged to! We love Monster Speckles and will probably be adopting a few others soon!

So... who sent me this awesome green, yellow speckled creature?! Why it was Nicole from Mealy Monster Land! Monster Speckles was a One World One Heart give away that I won! You must visit her blog and then also check out her Etsy shop! Actually, take a good look around her shop as she has a link to another shop that sells onesie's, plush dolls and adult t-shirts that feature her monsters! There is no end to this mother of three's craftiness!

By the way... my youngest has made a bed for Monster Speckles and so that is where he is sleeping tonight!

2009-02-13T23:12:00.002-07:00

The birds are tucked away in their boxed nests ... labeled and ready to fly to their new homes! The kids had fun choosing which bird went to which home... they each had their favorite bird and I think are in a way a little sad to see them go. I am already brainstorming and digging through my quilting fabric to see what I can use next! I might have to create a craft calendar... I have so many projects that I want to get done!
I really enjoyed the One World One Heart event. I met so many new friends and have just as many new blogs to visit... I could seriously pull some all nighters just trying to read them all! Of course I am already thinking about what to create for the 2010 OWOH event!

My next project is to create some eggs! I am going to participate in the Easter Egg Hunt Swap... I found this through several different blogs... Viv from www.vivs-whimsy.blogspot.com is hosting the swap. I am so excited... we will make 2 eggs and then Viv will send our eggs out to two recipients and in return I will receive two eggs from different folks. On April 5 we will post pictures of our creations along with the ones we received and then will have to hunt on the blogs to see who got ours and where our new ones came from. Anyhow, there are 38 of us signed up and that is a lot of eggs! Bravo to Viv and to her local post office!
Well, it's incredibly late and I have to get one to Ballet in the morning and another has a basketball game!
Night!

And the Winners are...

2009-02-12T09:54:00.005-07:00

OWOH Winners!!!!

I had over 200 people leave a comment for a One World One Heart Folk Bird! Thanks to everyone for stopping by! I hope you had as much fun as I did visiting the over 900 blogs that participated!

Ok, for the important stuff..... the winners are..... drum roll please.....

Michele from Calicodaisy

Suse from SuseAdoodle

Ele from Ele at abitofpinkheaven

Jennifer from Jennifer R.D.

Congratulations!!! I will be sending each of you an email to make snail mail delivery plans!

Valentines Day craft

2009-02-12T09:36:00.010-07:00

This year we wanted to skip the regular valentines day cards and do what we did last year... (maybe this is our new tradition!)... We make crayons! Actually we recycled our old ones and made new ones! Here is what we did:

Remove all the wrappers (if you are going to use new crayons... I highly recommend soaking them in warm water so the papers come off easily... I ruined my nails/finger tips trying peel them dry).

Break the crayon into 3-5 pieces

Spray lightly the bottoms of a muffin tin (we used heart shaped)... if using a silicone muffin mold then you wont need to spray.

Put several crayon pieces into mold... at least enough to cover the bottom

Place into pre-heated oven for @ 10-15 min (250*F)

Remove from oven... let rest until solid (I let them rest a few minutes and then place it in the freezer. They pop right out!)

You can round the edges on paper by 'coloring' and then we placed ours onto heart shaped doilies and wrote a little note " You Color My World Valentine!"

One World ~ One Heart

2009-01-26T10:39:00.011-07:00

Please click here to view the winners!!!!

http://thehormanns.blogspot.com/2009/02/and-winners-are.html

One World ~ One Heart

*There are updates!*

Hello everyone! My name is Charlene and after visiting so many blog sites I have decided that I also want to participate in the One World One Heart event with a giveaway! For those of you who are not sure what this event is you should really click on the event badge at the top of this post! In short this is an event that was started 3 years ago by Lisa "oceandreamer" Swifka. It is a way for bloggers from all over this great big world to meet ... as Lisa put it... it's like having an open house at our blog sites with nifty giveaways. But it's not just the giveaways that make this special... its the ability to make connections/friends with people from all different walks of life. Once you start it's amazing to see how 'little' this big world is and how much we have in common even though we are so different!
Ok, down to some details! My giveaway is open to anyone having an active blog around the world, so please leave a comment for a chance to win. The winner will be announced on February 12th on my blog site and I will also contact the winner to let them know they won....so be sure I have a way to link back/contact you. Even if you are a blogger not hosting a OWOH giveaway yourself you are more than welcome to enter your name to win! If I have over *100 comments then I will choose a winner for every 100 comments... please only enter your comment once! Sooooo what am I giving away?!
I will have to make my gift and post a **picture soon... but here is a hint... it involves a folk bird... one world... and one heart! Here is a picture of a bird that I did in December, it's the inspiration for what is fluttering around in my head.... I cant wait for it to hatch so I can show you! Are you interested?! Then leave a comment (and tell me something interesting about you!) and be sure to visit the over 500 other blog participants! (esp #30... that's my sister!) You can do that by clicking on the OWOH link at the beginning of this post. Have a great day!!!!!

*UPDATE! I will be giving at least 4 birds away regardless of how many comments!! I am having too much fun making them!

**Here are pictures of two of the new birds.... I hope you like them. I removed the hemp cord because I think the birds look better sitting on a ledge... you can always add your own cord to suit how you would like to display them!

One World One Heart (OWOH)

2009-01-19T06:57:00.002-07:00

Today is the start of OWOH... make sure you click on the link http://oneworldoneheart.typepad.com/ and visit as many blogs as you can! My sister, Christine of Du buh du designs is also participating and has a beautiful doll as her giveaway! http://dubuhdudesigns.typepad.com/du_buh_du_designs/2009/01/one-world-one-heart-giveaway-2009.html

The tooth fairy is online!

2009-01-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

It's official! The tooth fairy has a website http://www.toothfairy.org/ ! Apparently the tooth fairy used to give a dollar per tooth but now she gives two dollars if they are very clean teeth! Cal lost his first tooth Friday night and he pulled it out by himself. Technically the dentist pulled his 4 upper teeth a long time ago (long story on that) but we're counting this week as his official first tooth. He collected 12 quarters and the tooth fairy left his tooth so he could put it in his baby book. Something tells us she will be back this week as there is another loose one on the bottom!

First Stitches

2009-01-11T14:41:00.005-07:00

Lydia completed her first quilt block today! She went to JoAnn Fabrics and picked out a block with a star pattern. It is cream, purple, green and pink... Mom gave her a quick lesson on the machine sewing lines on a piece of paper. With minor help she was able to assemble the pieces! Mom did the ironing and cutting and will probably do the actual hand quilting. Something princessy will probably be the backing! Hooray for Lydia! She was so excited to learn! She even wanted to get out Mom's graph paper and pencils to sketch the drawing/sizes first... hmmm she has been watching mom do her quilt designs! Chris used his cell phone to take a snap of her first stitches... there is a video but we will have to edit the length of that one!

Basketball season again!

2009-01-08T21:20:00.007-07:00

This year Cal's coach is none other than his Dad! Today was the first practice and there are 6 boys and 1 girl! All of them are really great kids with very good listening skills! Hooray for that! It also looks like we have a couple of dad's on the team that will be great assistant coaches for Chris! The jerseys are gold and the kids are going to think up some good team names to vote on next Tuesday!

Lydia had her pompoms out and Ty practiced his dribbling... something tells me he will catch on to basketball a lot quicker since he will have more exposure when it's his turn to play! Cal did awesome... especially when he caught the ball with his mouth! He sucked it up and kept playing. It didn't, however, make his two bottom teeth wiggle any more than what we're used to seeing. So, no tooth fairy visits yet!

Chris is a natural at coaching! He is the kind of coach that will teach the fundamentals and encourage the kids to have fun at the same time. Lucky them! Here are a few pictures!

Comfort Food

2009-01-06T11:17:00.005-07:00

There are some days when you just need a little comfort food... it makes the house smell yummy and your tummy happy! The other day I made Chicken Enchiladas. I've been asked many times for the recipe (which is different every time I make them) so here is the latest version! Enjoy!You will need:

4 chicken breasts

38 oz of Mild Enchilada sauce (set aside 10 oz for topping)

1 can condensed soup (mushroom or chicken)

Fresh Cilantro: rinsed, dried and chopped (if you buy a 'bunch', use about 1/4 of the leaves and set aside a few pinches for topping) Omit the cilantro if you cannot buy fresh... the dried stuff isn't worth it!

@3 cups of shredded cheese (I like sharp cheddar and mozzarella) (set aside 1/2 cup for topping)

20 regular sized flour tortillas (no, I don't do anything to the tortillas... sometimes I use corn if I am doing a casserole style dish but I don't care to pre treat the tortillas in oil)

Preheat oven to 350*

Cook and shred 4 chicken breasts and set aside. In a glass bowl mix 1 small can of condensed soup with 28 oz of your favorite red enchilada sauce. I really like the La Preferida brand (mild with a kick). Place a spoonful of sauce in a 9X13 baking dish and dilute with a tablespoon or two of water so as to cover the bottom to prevent tortillas from baking to the dish. Add chicken and sharp cheddar cheese and cilantro to sauce mix in bowl. I use about 1-2 cups of cheese, depends on how much you want. Spoon descent amounts into flour tortillas, roll and place seam down into dish. You should be able to get about 10-11 enchiladas into the dish. Pour reserved sauce over enchiladas and top with cheese and cilantro. Bake for @ 30 or until bubbly. Serve with black beans and Spanish rice with sour cream. I usually have enough mixture left to do a layered casserole for two adult servings. As for my black beans... I buy the cheapest cans and pour two into a sauce pan (including the juice) and cook on high (stiring constantly) for @ 10-15 min until they start to get soft. I reduce the heat, add salt, pepper, garlic and cumin to taste as I mash the beans. This is yummy and beats refried beans!

Who are you like?

2008-12-30T16:55:00.005-07:00

This test is going around Facebook and Blogspot so I thought I would give it a try... here are my results.

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are an Ingrid!

You are an Ingrid -- "I am unique"

Ingrids have sensitive feelings and are warm and perceptive.

How to Get Along with Me

* Give me plenty of compliments. They mean a lot to me.
* Be a supportive friend or partner. Help me to learn to love and value myself.
* Respect me for my special gifts of intuition and vision.
* Though I don't always want to be cheered up when I'm feeling melancholy, I sometimes like to have someone lighten me up a little.
* Don't tell me I'm too sensitive or that I'm overreacting!

What I Like About Being an Ingrid

* my ability to find meaning in life and to experience feeling at a deep level
* my ability to establish warm connections with people
* admiring what is noble, truthful, and beautiful in life
* my creativity, intuition, and sense of humor
* being unique and being seen as unique by others
* having aesthetic sensibilities
* being able to easily pick up the feelings of people around me

What's Hard About Being an Ingrid

* experiencing dark moods of emptiness and despair
* feelings of self-hatred and shame; believing I don't deserve to be loved
* feeling guilty when I disappoint people
* feeling hurt or attacked when someone misundertands me
* expecting too much from myself and life
* fearing being abandoned
* obsessing over resentments
* longing for what I don't have

Ingrids as Children Often

* have active imaginations: play creatively alone or organize playmates in original games
* are very sensitive
* feel that they don't fit in
* believe they are missing something that other people have
* attach themselves to idealized teachers, heroes, artists, etc.
* become antiauthoritarian or rebellious when criticized or not understood
* feel lonely or abandoned (perhaps as a result of a death or their parents' divorce)

Ingrids as Parents

* help their children become who they really are
* support their children's creativity and originality
* are good at helping their children get in touch with their feelings
* are sometimes overly critical or overly protective
* are usually very good with children if not too self-absorbed

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz

You should take the quiz ... there are only two questions (each has 3 choices) and it's quick! Have fun!

The weatherman says....

2008-12-28T09:41:00.012-07:00

Looking out my bedroom window...

Snow one day, melted and in the mid 60's the next. Tornado warnings with thunder and lightning and a hail storm like none other that night and then ice the next day... what a week for weather it has been! The hail/ice storm was impressive and Lydia and I watched it (it was very early in the morning and it woke us up and neither could go back to sleep!) until if moved east. Our house sounded like a tin can being attacked by marbles in a car wash... it was loud and long! The weather report was telling people in mobile homes or other less secure environments to seek better shelter (tornado warnings and severe weather reports were being issued)... I knew what our house sounded like in this storm but I couldn't imagine what it sounded or felt like in a less 'secure shelter'... the wind was crazy too and it was spooky to see the clouds fly by so quickly! Believe it or not we crazy Hormann's ventured out that next night (icy roads still but we were fine) and as we passed a car lot I noticed the American flag had frozen in a part wave... I wish I had my camera. Anyhow this morning we woke up to a dusting of snow and a beautiful view outside of iced laced trees... with a blue sky and the sun shining it was a pretty site. My camera only caught a glimpse but I wanted to share it! I am really going to miss this next year when we're in Texas!

The view out my kitchen window!

It looked like spun sugar!

Our quiet snow dusted neighborhood!

Christmas 2008!

2008-12-26T17:58:00.001-07:00

Christmas was nice this year... we went to church for the candle light service on Christmas Eve... which Lydia became miss bah humbug during (really hard to smile when you're gritting your teeth and ringing your hands). We still haven't figured out why she was so angry... (she even ripped her new dress and kept saying loudly 'this isn't a Christmas song!' (guess if its not sung by Alvin and the Chipmunks then it doesn't count) and then held her hands over her ears when people read or were speaking) As soon as we lit the candles she became quiet... and then when the service was done it was as if the demon left and we had sweet Lydia back. That was a long hour! Needless to say, only the boys got to open a Christmas gift early when we returned home. It was a good lesson for Lydia to learn... you cant turn on the charm to erase bad behavior... even on Dad! Maybe next year we'll have the chance to take a nice picture with everyone dressed up!

Christmas brought lots of gifts for the kids and they are still playing with them today... it's going to take a few days for them to open everything and play with them.

Lydia was very happy that Santa did show! Lydia now has a doll house (as big as her) with furniture and a couple of dolls and horses. She is starting to collect the 'Only hearts doll's' from Target.

Ty now has a train table with tracks, trains, and a whole city worth of characters as well as Lego's and playmobile Roman warriors. He is also a fan of 'Cars' and seems to always have one in a pocket for play.

Cal also has some Roman warriors and has become quite the warrior himself with the Nerf Long Shot (look it up... it's as big as him!). He also has Lego's but his are of some model cars and aircraft which he has become very skilled at building with the help of the big directions booklet. He also has a huge track to race marbles on (which he is impatiently waiting for Chris to complete building on... apparently we should have gotten Chris his own!). Cal is also armed with a camera so now we all have to watch what we're doing as he can be very stealthy!

Lots of books, musical instruments, puzzles and games have been added to the dear toy room... thank you Alvarado's for the monetary gifts... the kids got mp3 players (music/video/photo and voice recording/ebook features) on sale for 80% off! Charlene is so happy to have her Ipod back!

The morning was a success (esp since the kids slept in until 9:30 am!!!!) and each kid took turns picking a present for someone else to open while waiting for one to be passed to them. After 2 hours Chris started to pass them out in groups so we could get going! Now we are slowly recuperating from another long and lazy afternoon! After opening presents we headed down to the family room and took a look at what was left in our stockings! Our mini tree sat on top of my Grandma's old sewing box. The tree this year had three ornaments that the kids made at our neighbors house... small painted hand prints decorated into snowmen! Probably my favorite gift!

Here are two videos featuring Ty... he was just so impressed with all of the gift boxes... there were so many!

Snow play

2008-12-26T17:00:00.019-07:00

Chris' class had a small party and Santa paid a visit. Cal was in school and was given his gift after the party. Lydia had no problem talking to Santa...Chris had to lead by example before Ty would sit on his lap...then it was safe for Chris to leave so Ty could get his gift!It was snowing pretty good when I picked Ty and Lydia up from Preschool... so we played on our way out to the parking lot!

Christmas Eve day brought us some new powder and we had fun in the back yard! Good thing we did as it all melted the day after Christmas!Tyler almost took out one of the posts to our deck!

Chris and Lydia missed the deck but got the house!

Cal had fun trying his hand at snowboarding using the saucers! I didn't get video of the really good runs... but he has excellent balance! Lydia got smart and started to use the path that Chris would make!

Our last video is of our back yard!

I'm in love with a little Folkbird!

2008-12-24T12:31:00.005-07:00

Recently I was net surfing and came across a craft blog in Australia which featured another blog and craft idea from someone in the states. It had a free pattern for a very nice little folkbird. Right away I downloaded the file and proceeded to make a bunch for church friends, neighbors and teachers at school! The kids had fun choosing wing patterns and stitch colors.
The folkbird pattern belongs to a lovely lady named Bettsi McComb who is from the great state of California (my home state!). She just posted the pattern on her blog site: www.lemonadehere.blogspot.com
Thank you Bettsi for sharing! Here are a couple of pictures of just a few of our birds. All have flown away but we'll probably make more for our own tree and everyday decor!

Hormann Elves go Country

2008-12-05T12:49:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Hormann Elves do the Charleston

2008-12-05T12:42:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Hormann Elves do Disco

2008-12-05T12:26:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Brrrr! It's cold outside!!

2008-12-05T08:55:00.019-07:00

Two birthdays and Thanksgiving have passed and I am needing to catch up on my blogging! Cal and Lydia didnt have traditional birthday parties this year (holiday weekend and lots of friends were out of town) so we changed it up a bit! Cal celebrated at school. He gave each classmate a gift that we made in honor of his birthday, thanking them for being his friend. We took starburst jellybeans and wrapped them up in corn husks to make them look like Indian Corn... The kids sang happy birthday to him and he loved it! I cant believe he is already 7 years old! Chris kept thinking about how in another 8 or 9 years he could be driving... personally I wasnt going to go there!

Thanksgiving was a quiet one spent at home! It was nice to have everyone home... the Turkey was tasty (and a nice deal for a Jenni-o for 77 cents a pound if I do say so myself!) Cal and Lydia did the wishbone breaking... this year Cal realized that Lydia has a good grip... he won by a sliver... it was almost an even break! Next year Ty will want in on the action... I'm going to have to figure that one out!

The day after Thanksgiving this year was Cal's offical birth date... so we opened presents from Oma and Opa. Cal went first and was really excited about his puzzle and books. Lydia of course cant get enough of Tinker Belle and so a movie from us and some clothes and books from Oma and Opa were perfect for her. She is especially proud of her first offical necklace which has a momma and baby horse... or as she says, her and Oma! Ty loves it when he gets to participate and so he had several 'un' birthday presents too! Puzzles are a huge hit with him and he can even put one together while it is upside down... I have already caught him late at night working on Cal's puzzle!

On Saturday Grandpa and Grandma Hormann came to visit. We sang Happy Birthday to Cal and then to Lydia and dug into the cake. Afterwards the kids sat down with Dad and Grandma Hormann to write Santa their wish lists. Grandma took them back home with her as their town had a special mailbox for Santa's letters. Cal did a great job writing out his list with some pictures from a toy catalog. Lydia and Ty cut pictures out and Grandma helped tape them to the page

We had flurries all day Saturday but on Sunday morning we had some snow on the ground! We bundled up and headed to church. Afterwards we were treated to a birthday lunch at the T-Rex cafe! (kind of like the rainforest cafe but with a dinosaur theme) Lydia chose to spend her birthday money on build a dino... she chose the pink one and named her Pinky. Cal and Ty bought dino pens and Cal is saving his money to buy something after Christmas. Smart kid! He knows that the after Christmas sales will allow him to buy more.

Once we got home there was just enough time for the kids to go outside and play in the snow. We have some slight slopage (is that even a word?!) and the kids had fun sliding down the hill. Here are a few pictures and videos. I am sure we will have a lot more this winter~

Lydia, our Ballerina

2008-11-26T19:20:00.019-07:00

Lydia's tumbling and ballet classes are a lot of fun for her. Parents were allowed to view one of the practices recently and so I took a few short clips of her class. Needless to say she isn't very coordinated or graceful... but in her head I am sure she is the belle of the ball executing every move with precision and fanfare! Enjoy!
This first clip (she is in pink) is of the class doing some tumbling exercises... Lydia is doing the somersault... By the way, pause the music at the end of the page so you can view the videos!

Now for a little marching .... Chris was very impressed! ha!

Lydia is learning French... phrases anyhow!

Can you tell she just ate breakfast before going to lessons?!

Balance... hmmm.... maybe not!

A repeat... sorry, couldnt delete unless I started over.... no time for that!

For this next exercise they are supposed to pretend they are all princesses going to the ball. The instructor asks them what they are supposed to do first (the answer is to put on their dress)... one girl yelled "take a shower first!"... anyhow, they are supposed to walk forward holding their hands out as if holding huge ball gowns out... then curtsy and then turn around gracefully.... enjoy this one! Chris was laughing so hard he couldn't speak... (he had to watch the videos as he stayed home with the boys)

Back to tumbling.... here they get to shake their pom poms while doing a listening exercise... Lydia is a bit of a warrior with the poms... almost takes out a few ballerinas!

Poor Chris... Tyler doesnt mind letting Lydia dress him up... later that night he had hair accesories and was singing 'i'm a ballerina' over and over while playing with his tinkertoys...

So this is our Lydia... she will be 5 on Dec 2nd and will be going with me to see the Moscow Ballet Company perform the Nutcracker.... I can only imagine what creative dancing we will have after that! Run Tyler and hide!!!

Happy Thanksgiving! We'll post more later!

2008-11-12T10:52:00.007-07:00

Home of the Free,

Because of the Brave

Yesterday was Veteran's Day and we were able to attend the oldest Parade in our Nation (89 years)... it was also the largest one west of the Mississippi! The parade was held in downtown Leavenworth and ended 2 hours after it began. New recruits took the oath, the Governor was there and every club, band, organization, car, truck, horse, patriot guard, veteran and official participated! (over 200 organizations!) The most moving part was when the parade came to a halt and Taps was played. Every hat was removed, salute and hand over heart was placed and I was wiping tears off my face. It hit me that this was the first parade in America that my kids were attending.... There wasn't one protest sign, rainbow flag or other public personal agenda situation present to disrupt the purpose of the parade and it made me proud that my kids could experience a good 'ol mid American patriotic parade. Lydia and Cal had fun seeing all of the vehicles that the National Guard brought out... esp since they have been in each kind! Ty loved the old Chevy nova and mustangs (so did his mommy!) and loved it when the Patriot Guard roared their motorcycles by... he really loves motorcycles! The rain started 30 min after the parade ended and the day turned out to be one of the best since we've been here.

Lots of pictures!

2008-11-07T15:58:00.010-07:00

Well, time has flown by since the last time I blogged... whoops! A lot has gone on, soccer season has ended and both of the boys earned certificates and medals. Each were able to keep their t-shirt/jersey as well! Cal will be starting basketball in January and Chris will coach his team! Earlier in October there was an Apple Festival in Missouri. It was a nice day and we wound up at the park in the center of town... so here are a few pictures that we took! Cal's new school has a fun playground so we spent an afternoon playing and taking pictures! Here are some of Calvin...
Lydia was the social butterfly and made friends with the older girls who were playing ... she would walk up to them and introduce herself and then her brothers.... parents... and then proceed to tell them everything she knew!
Ty ran everywhere and climbed anything he could! His asthma is a little better... we're starting to see it pick up due to the chill in the air. We are encouraging him to be active and hopefully he will have stronger lungs for it.
Halloween crept up on us this year! Our neighborhood had a fall cookout and gave away all the pumpkins for free! Ty and Lydia had fun carving, Cal was a little less interested this year. Cal was the ninja, Ty was a blue power ranger and Lydia wanted to be a princess and have wings... so we combined the two. It was a beautiful day (70's!) and made for a perfect night to walk around!

With the warm weather came lots of lady bugs! We were swarmed with thousands of them outside and had tons in the house. We have now gotten them out but they didn't really settle well with Tyler and Lydia learned that they can bite. It was neat for the kids to see so many different varieties! We have seen wolf spiders (lovely) and a brown recluse (already dead!) but there are two that we see all the time and have no clue what they are. They are very big and pretty interesting to watch! I will take them anytime over the formentioned spiders and cockroaches in Georgia!!

Chris is staying busy with school and is going to be brushing up with his basketball knowledge! Charlene has been doing well with the gym (lost over 20lbs and 5 weeks ago had lost 6 inches!). She has taken up yoga and ball (along with weights and cardio/running) and Tai Chi. Cal has gone with her a few times and participated.

The weather man is telling us we have a 50% chance of snow comming in on Monday so it looks like we are going to be taking an inventory of our winter gear! That should be fun! Maybe we'll have more pictures! Ok, that's it for now... until next time!

Soccer

2008-09-13T09:44:00.003-06:00

Cal had another good soccer practice on Tuesday! Thursday wound up being a 10 min practice due to rain. We've had a lot of it lately and the ground was just too soggy, not everyone has cleats. Here are a few pictures of Cal from Tuesday.

Apparently Ty's soccer league started this week, not last week! Hooray! He is apart of Start Smart Soccer... where he gets to have Dad as his partner and learns the basic soccer skills and techniques. Later he will move up to a team and play games. Because of the rain, his practice was cancelled but he was able to meet the other kids and get his equipment (which he gets to keep!). He was very proud to get two balls (one for inside, one for outside), some cones and a pair of shin guards! Hopefully next week the weather will be more cooperative and Chris will have a good school schedule so he can practice with Ty. Both of the boys have practice at the same time but in two different parts of the post.

You may wonder if we've had a lot of rain due to the Gulf Coast... yes. A lot of country areas and some in town streets have flooding going on... other counties have had creeks and rivers flood. We also had two Tornadoes pass through some southern towns not too far from here last night. We were on watch for them but no sirens! Speaking of sirens... I remembered that they test them at the beginning of the month out here... so no big deal when I heard one at lunch time... but when I heard a second one and it was a different sound I was a little concerned! Apparently we are a couple of blocks away from a town line and so I have two sirens! I'm glad about that... I know I will hear it when it counts!!! We will probably continue to have some rain this weekend but it appears "Ike" isn't going to make it up to our county... just a little south!

Say a little prayer for Lydia... she had a great time with Ballet this morning but when she came home she helped herself to an ice cube and wound up getting it stuck to her tongue... and then ripped it off, creating a slight tear which (she doesn't realize) will hurt in the very near future! Crazy girl, maybe she will stop getting into the ice and eating it! (we have one of those fridges that lets you help yourself to water, crushed ice and ice cubes... the kids love it)