An Evening with Skye (oh yeah, and her parents!)

We took Jessica and Adam to the airport yesterday. Since we were halfway to Mesa, we drove on down and spent some time with Zach, Ashley, and Skye. She is such a sweetie and I would love to see her more often. I really enjoy the time I do have with her.

She is standing on her own. She lets go and stands steady for quite some time. She can take about a step and a half before she sits down. Then she repeats the process all over again!

getting reacquainted

our official 10 month photo

He says this is a smile.

To me it just looks like "oh my gosh, another picture with mom."

Week 2 - Stitching Update

So, I did the bare minimum on this week's CJC starts. I mainly concentrated on Four Seasons House. I really want to complete this! Actually, I'm just proud of myself that I took some photos. I will share starts 13, 14, 15 next week. Now, I have to warn you that my pictures are not very good. I need to figure out what settings to use to have them come out better. I hope you can get the idea...

This is Easter Egg Patchwork.

Yes, I only put in a few light green stitches which you have to strain to see!

Think Autumn WIP

Again, a minimal re-start.

What Cancer Cannot Do WIP

Think Winter WIP

Winter Scene WIP

Cozy Christmas WIP

Four Seasons House

I hope to finish this one this week

Girl Scout Cookies

It's Girl Scout Cookie time again! What a great way to break up the doldrums of winter. To perk up our spirits from the post-Christmas letdown. To once again justify eating needless calories in the name of helping others.

My husband is a Thin Mint maniac. I placed our personal GS cookie order the other day. I ordered five boxes of Thin Mints for him, two boxes of Do-si-dos for me. He will have his five boxes eaten before the girl scouts can set up their stands in front of Target. I will give in and buy him more boxes from those stands. I can't resist the cute little girl scouts. And I can't resist the deranged look in his eye when he spots a box of Thin Mints. My two boxes will last until summer. I like to savor them.

All children should have the experience of eating GS cookies at least once in their life. Don't you agree? To that end, I'm on a mission to purchase a minimum of 25 boxes for the 20 houses managed by Katie's employer for CPS. If you would like to participate in this goal, please comment on this post. Or you can email me (my email is on my profile). If we can buy more than 25 boxes that would be terrific. GS cookies cost $4 a box this year.

Not only will we enable some kids in tough circumstances to have a treat, we'll satisfy our desire to buy cookies to help the Girl Scouts without having to sacrifice our diets by eating them all!

Thanks for considering this offer...

Week 1 - Stitching Update

I enjoy reading all of the stitching blogs I follow. I'm always envious because they create such beautiful pieces. And I'm really jealous because they take time to photograph their progress and completed projects. I decided that this year I'm going to make an effort to track my progress better. Here are photos from the first six projects I've started this year. They are all part of my Crazy January Challenge. This year instead of beginning 15 new starts, I included some WIPs (works in progress) that have been laying around for the past year. Hopefully this is the first of 52 updates you will see this year...

Four Seasons House WIP - Bent Creek

re-started 1/4/12

Winter Evergreen - Fireside Originals

started 1/3/12

Christmas Procession WIP - Linda Bird

re-started 1/2/12

Bless This Graduate - Lizzie Kate

started 1/1/12 - completed 1/2/12

Signs of Summer WIP - Bent Creek

re-started 1/6/12

Winter Silhouette - Diane Arthur

started 1/5/12

We Had Fun This Week!

Although we only spend two days together each week, Sunny and I always manage to have fun. On Monday we went to the park with our friends, Quinn, Kat, & Brody. Here's a photo their mom took with her I-Phone. See... her pictures are better than mine even with a phone! That's why she's the professional.

On Tuesday, we had fun at my house. We watched lots of Veggie Tales. Listened to lots of music. Read many books. Played with toys. She is such a joy. She has learned to pray before meals "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food." It's so sweet to see her fold her hands.

Even though she's only 2 1/2, she's entered the "why" stage. Fortunately, that stage doesn't get to me too much. I answer each "why" question that she asks in a series. She finally gets frustrated and says "why not?". I just laugh and laugh. I can't wait until Skye and Thunder are at this fun stage.

Duke wants to hear "Go, Dog, Go" too

Rascal prefers "Room for a Little One"

I love how Sunny and Dan are both petting Rascal as they read!

Park Pals

It's always a great day when we meet our friends at the park to play.

getting organized for picture taking

urging Quinn to slide down by everyone else

the final product!

Happy New Year!

2012 is here. 2011 is gone. Done. Never to be repeated.

Let's all revel in the freedom of a new year. A fresh start. At least let's be glad that a new week is beginning.

I finished 2011 on a high note. It was 50% off day at Goodwill. We stopped there once before on 50% off day and vowed never to do it again. But yesterday the parking lot wasn't that full so we took a chance. Am I glad we did! I found this gorgeous table priced at $39.99. Which means I bought it for $19.99. It is made of solid wood. The drawers slide open from either side. The top of it was scratched, so Dan filled the scratches with wood putty and we painted it with some black craft paint I had laying around. It looks marvelous! I'm going to put some of my x-stitch supplies in it. But I can imagine lots of other uses for it in the future.

This morning as I reached for my new calendar I had a poetic thought. "I'm holding the future of this year in my hand." I know, it's also a fanciful thought. But it's kind of exciting. Let's all celebrate this first day of 2012. Celebrate the opportunities, challenges, joys, blessings, and yes, even the struggles we may face this coming year. They all combine to make us the person we are meant to be. Happy New Year!