First Day of School

Today was the first day of school, and thank goodness we survived!!!

The kids had a easy transition into school, translate that as little work and lots of fun and introductions.

I decided that this year was the year that we were going to go with a whole "box" curriculum. With the baby coming i am hoping that it will take some of the questions that we experienced last year out of the equation. I chose My Father's World, and so long as we can get into a groove we should do ok when the baby arrives.

Now what is a first day of school without a few celebration treats. This morning we had special breakfast and tonight for dessert i made Wacky Cake. Be sure to check out the recipe. It was so tasty, and moist and yummy! Avery insisted that we have candles.

I sure wish i could share some with all of you...but since i can't i am going to go share some with my hubby!

Sew and Tell...Confessions

...I know more confessions, but this week i was on a roll. This quilt has been on my WIP pile for several years now....and there is so much shame(i say this with a smile) in how easy it is to fix and finish an old project that was set aside for some reason. I got it ready to be quilted in half an hour.

This particular quilt was meant to be a birthday quilt for Mitchell about 2 years ago....boo hiss! The reason it was cast aside with total aggravation was because it was not lining up right, as far as i was concerned...seams and sashing. And i wanted it to...but through this quilt i have learned some valuable quilt lessons.

1. I learned that perfection can never be achieved in a quilt. Something is not going to be perfect, not going to line up, not going to be right. Perhaps i should look on this like the Amish do and add in a mistake on purpose and be ok that it is there.

2. I learned accurate cutting and a true 1/4 inch seam is absolutely necessary. For me there has been a learning curve on this. And i can see it in the work i did on this quilt just from two years ago.

3. I learned that I personally hate working with sashing.(hi honey!! i caught you!)

But when all is said and done it is going to be loved no matter what and it may not be perfect but it is done. As i type this tonight it is on Mitchell's bed being broken in. It has been out all week long(thank you Allison and Chris for helping me get it laid out and pinned) and Mitch has not once looked at it. I think the kids are so used to the quilts being for other people that he never thought to ask if it was for him. So tonight when i told him it was for him, a early belated birthday present(he will be 6 in two weeks), he was so excited and started loving it and using it right away. Mission Accomplished!

I am adding this to the project finishes over at Amylouwho's tonight for sew and tell this week. Have a look at what everyone is making it is well worth the time, and be sure to tell them what you think. Comments mean a lot to everyone!

Surprise Breakfast (A Borrowed Blog)

Hi everybody, this is Chris, Leslie's husband. Since I don't have a blog of my own, I'm borrowing Leslie's. While Leslie does a great job taking care of us and making sure we've got dinner on the table, weekend breakfasts are my domain. I try to make breakfast for everybody at least once a weekend or on days that I don't have to be at work. Sometimes it's pancakes, sometimes it's waffles, sometimes it's cheesy eggs and breakfast sausage, but this time it's something much better.

You might ask yourself what could be better than bacon and pancakes. Well, it's bacon in pancakes. I saw a post over on GeekDad this week about the Great Bacon Odyssey, and I was inspired. How is it possible that I never thought of this on my own??

We have a magic word around this house, and it isn't please or thank you. It's bacon. Sometimes our kids can be fussy eaters, but include bacon and it's like magic. The consensus from the two short people??


Well, the plates were clear, and there weren't any bacon pancakes left at the end, so that should answer that. Will we make these again? Absolutely, but not often. I'm don't even want to know how bad these are for me.


I now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging...

Confessions

This is the Confessions of a bad crafty mom. See how sweet he is, all snuggled up under his lovely little baby blanket, well here is my confession. Let me tell you how this all went down.

I had a burst of motivation this week so i decided to clean out my overflowing and ridiculously messy fabric closet. While i am cleaning i come across a bag with this unfinished crochet baby blanket. Uh oh! So i brought it down and got to work on it. While i was busy at work, Avery asked what it was..."a baby blanket". I did not want to say it was Mitchell's because he was sitting right next to me. "Do i have one?" she wanted to know. Of course you do, upstairs. "Is this one for the baby"..and it was then that the truth came out..."No, Avery this is Mitchell's". Shocked, i know. So was she!

So 6 years later the kid got his baby blanket. He loves it. Bonus is that he can tell me that he loves it and he so obviously appreciates it. It went to bed with him last night. Shame on me. This only tells me that i have to work hard and get all the things for this baby done before he or she turns 6!!! motivation, i need lots and lots of motivation.

A Hike and A Hunt

*Gratuitous Belly Shot* The baby even got in on all the vacation fun and went on it's first hike. Leave it to the husband to try to capture me on film, despite my objections. I think it was making him a little nervous to have me, climbing up and over the rocks, but i did ok...only needed a little help, and he was there with it ever step of the way.


The kids had so much fun, Grampy came along and we explored the trail. Mitch was tracking animal tracks, ie sneaker marks, but we did not tell him what it really was. At the top the view is gorgeous, looking out over the water, islands, several harbors, lighthouse and mountains. There was an artist there capturing the view too. I watched him paint for a little while...he did not seem to mind!

This week we also spent some time at a family favorite spot called Jasper Beach. We have gone for many years. The rocks are beautiful and we bring home more than we should every time. My aunt mentioned that we are a family of Hunters and Gatherers....and she is not kidding. We all have a love for rocks and sticks. They are all over my house.

These are my favorite shots from Jasper...Avery was enjoying the water but it was cold cold cold!! Leaping out of the way was so cute.

Mitch had the most fun just throwing the rocks or filling his bucket and then dumping it!

Maine we will miss you, until next time!!!

"Vacation, oh how we wish you were Forever!"

i did not mean to neglect our vacation pics for so long...but it has taken me this whole week to get back into the swing of things and back to real life. I have been in mourning...sort of a post vacation funk. Maine holds a magic spell over this family and we are so ok with that.

These two girls could not get enough of one another....well really they never can. When they are together they never leave each others side and when they are apart they call each other on the phone.

We all spent lots of time watching the waves crash on the rocks...we pit stopped there almost every single day.

I am pretty sure he is barking orders at someone... that or he wanted to go somewhere we would not let him, lest he fall into the briny deep!

Robots, Gears and Bugs

Doesn't that sound just like little boys?!

This is my 600th post...they seem to be flying by. SO for this post i wanted to share something i have been working on. None of it is finished, just works in progress.

This is the boy version of my nursery plan. Since we did not find out the gender of the baby it is my plan to make a girl version and a boy version. I had big ideas to make the whole thing like, what is now going to be used as or referred to as the dresser topper below....little squares inside big squares. But, my patience wore out as it usually does and i decided to just go ahead and feature the fabric by using big 8 inch blocks of fabric.

I used Cogsmo fabric by Cosmo Cricket. I really love it and it appeals to my husband nerd sense with all the gears, and circuit boards. I just got some more of it in the mail so that i could finish it all up. So what started as a quilt idea for the baby has turned into a quilt, a dresser topper and a wall hanging. I hope i love it all as much when i am done.

And this is the featured bug part of my post title....my son has had a knack lately for finding stick bugs. I had no idea we had them here in NY, as i have only seen them in the insect part of the zoo. But here is one of them...there are two named Camo and Flage. Mitch named them. They kind of creep me out when they are not in their container home. They are living together now, hopefully they don't duel it out to the death or loss of limbs!

***I am going to add this to sew and tell at Amylouwho's this week since it is the greatest amount of sewing i have gotten done in a long time. GO and check everyone else out. There is, as always, some really great stuff to look at.***

A Teaser

Let me start with this....this is the face that i saw every time i turned around on our car trip. i cracked up every single time. The kid had to have some fake stashes!!! How could i say no to being unique and individual.

A Meet Up Story

Before i start sharing some tidbits from our family vacation with you i wanted to show you a little something i made for a new friend.

I(and my sister) have been blog commenting and getting to know a lovely lady lady, T.J., through her blog. At some point my sister and i realized that she was on the way to our vacation destination in Maine. SO we decided to set up what we have been jokingly referring to as our first match.com meet up. She was even better in person. The meet up did not disappoint. It is good to know that the women you make connections with through blogs are real people and that the connection carries through into really meeting one another. And her little guy was even sweeter in person.

I did not want to go empty handed, so the day before, when i should have been packing and getting ready for vacation i was making this runner/wall hanger for her. I took a chance that she would like the colors, and just went total improv on it. i was inspired by a wall hanging quilt that i saw on Silly Boo Dilly blog, but wanted to put a spin on it and make it more my own. Hence the vintage sheet additions and the wonky blocks. I was calling it my vintage modern table runner...modern would be the ikea fabrics.

I loved it and more importantly so did she. I am hoping to make another version of it for myself because i love it just that much.