13 years of bliss

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. We had actually went out to dinner the night before while our children went to sleepover at the Grandparent's house, but didn't know we were going to be in for such a treat on our actual anniversary day.

When the kids came home, our sweet daughter has a surprise dinner prepared for us. I stayed downstairs in my sewing room until it was time for our dinner (she had to bake the entree). With very little help from my MIL, she prepared us a four course dinner. For our appetizer we had chips and salsa (a favorite in our house!), then we had a nice salad followed by some of the yummiest enchiladas I've ever had (seriously, I'm totally being truthful!), and then for dessert some delicious chocolate cake with a sweetened sour cream filling. She also picked out some tasty sparkling cider for our drink too.

The little miss got all dressed up in a dress to be our server and set up a card table in our living room for us to dine at. She made the "brothers" promise to stay outside and eat the dinner she prepared for them ("big noodles" a family favorite of the kids) and they even cooperated for her (and us). She lovingly and carefully made a beautiful table presentation, picked flowers, made up placecards, folded the napkins, added a candle for ambiance, had "romantic" music playing in the background, and even hung a sheet over the doorway so we could have privacy while we dined. It was a lot of fun for us and we really enjoyed ourselves. Our wonderful server even earned a $5 tip from dear ol' dad! Thank you for the wonderful dinner sister, we really enjoyed it!!!

I find it hard to believe we've already been married 13 years, but on the other hand I can't believe it's only been 13 years. Happy Anniversary sweetie, looking forward to sharing the rest of my life with you!

In "sewing" news, well not a whole lot is happening. I made a red Jalie hoodie that I really like, but am also in the midst of a "sewing for hire" project. While I usually don't take on such tasks, I did a little bartering with my lovely MIL. I'm making her a few skirts to take on her upcoming trip to Italy and when she returns from said trip, she's going to shampoo my carpets (both upstairs and downstairs). It's a hot deal for both of us and I'm totally pumped about it!

The kids are heading back to school tomorrow, so maybe I'll have some more sewing time. Summer has been a whirlwind of busy for our family, so I am looking forward to things slowing down, tho I would still like to keep the warm summer weather for a bit longer.

Birthday Cake

What's a birthday party without a fabulous cake? My good friend Mandi made a very similar cake (well almost identical - shameless copying here) for her son who just turned 5 in May. I knew my birthday boy would love it since he's a Cars fanatic, so big sister and I set off to recreate a masterpiece. Of course mom was right - yep, he adored it!





Sorry I haven't gotten much sewing done - forgive me, it's been birthday season among other things at our home. DH's birthday is Friday, but I think his mom is taking charge of the dessert - she mentioned Snicker's Cheesecake?!?!

5 years

That is how old my "baby" is today. How can 5 years have passed so quickly? We're having his party tomorrow complete with a super cool "Cars" cake that my daughter and I are making for him. I wanted to make him a special shirt to wear and this is what I came up with. I actually cheated and purchased a black shirt from Joann's last week with my 50% off coupon and then appliqued a "5" to the front in checkered flag fabric. He really likes it.

And those sweet feet that I still can't resist (yep I know they will turn into ugly big feet soon, but for now they are still pretty darn cute - at least I think).

On a sewing note, I did finish my Burda drawstring blouse several weeks ago, a dress for myself - I think the pattern was Butterick, and 6 pairs of pj's for my boys. It's been hard to get anything done now that the kids are finished with school. I'll work on posting pictures of those and reviews soon.

Happy Birthday Andy!

Disney with Yvonne (finally)

You know how it goes, you have the best of intentions, but life just gets in the way. Last week I decided to buck up and weed the flower beds. What I'm not telling you is that they were really "weed beds" and any sort of plant/shrub was sparse. So my little "weeding" extravaganza turned into a full fledged yard makeover that is still in progress. It has needed to be done for a long time - we moved into our home 8 years ago and my recommendation is put a landscape budget in if you're building a home. We didn't and here we are still working things out plus we still don't have a deck (hopefully this summer, but that is a whole different story that requires engineering and a whole lotta $$).

Anyway, finally here are a few pictures from our recent trip to California. My family had a wonderful time and the icing on the cake for me was finally getting to meet Yvonne. We've been emailing each other for about 3 years now and I knew we'd just get along wonderfully and enjoy each other's company. So our two days in Disneyland were spend with her and her fabulous hubby (whom my family also adored and my boys were constantly grabbing his hand and pulling him along in the direction they wanted to go). The only downfall was we only had two days to spend together. We were all sad when they had to leave for their flight back to Australia, but were so happy for the time we had together. Thank you Yvonne and Robert for sharing your vacation with us - we enjoyed your company more than you'll ever know!

Me & Yvonne

My Darling Hubby & me

Mickey and friends!

Sharing a drink

The entire family on the Pier in San Francisco

I wish I had a few more group pictures to share, but photographing four kids together and having them all looking at the camera is next to impossible.

I started a sewing project last Friday, but of course it was interrupted by *Project Landscape*, so the pattern is still laying on my cutting table. I was really inspired when I saw Christina's blouse at PR weekend. It's such a cute and unique blouse, so I decided that would be my next project. It's #106 from the 3/2009 issue.

During the Pati Palmer seminar at PR weekend, I was inspired to really try to address my fit issues when sewing. So for this top, I have graded down to a 34 (hello Burda, would you start making all things start at a 34 - it's just dumb that not everything starts that small). I had my hubby measure my back width and found my back is 14.25" wide so like Marta shared with me last fall, I need to do about a 1/2" broad back adjustment and that is true with Burda's size chart too. So I made a broad back adjustment and tried on my pattern. I found that I still needed to go out in the hips (I figured I would), so I graded out to a 36 in the hips and also implemented a forward shoulder adjustment. The pattern appears to be fitting well, so I'm going to cut it out in fabric and see where it gets me. Fingers crossed I'm happy with the result.

All smiles (or what $5000 will buy you)

Today was an exciting day at our house that has been nearly 2 years in the making. Our beautiful daughter got her braces off!!!!

And thank you Dr. *C* for your wonderful work. Unfortunately (for our checkbook anyway), I think we'll have at least one more kiddo in braces - ugg!

What I've been up to (pretty much a book!)

Wow, it's already September (well almost mid September) and life is just flying by. The kids went back to school on the 2nd and I panicked on Labor Day because the two boys didn't have any new tops to wear on the first day. Yep, I'm one of those moms that want them to have new clothes for their first day back. Ottobre to the rescue and I had two top finished by bed time. The green one shown in the picture below is one and the other was for my older son, but it was a smidge too big so he opted to wear a RTW shirt I had bought him. Here are the kids right before we left for the first day back.

Then we celebrated our daughter turning eleven-teen! I can't believe she's 11 - where did the time go? She really wanted a Hannah Montana cake from the bakery, but after learning it was $25 (yikes), she said it was fine to make a homemade cake with sprinkles on top. What a gem, it looks like she might be coming around to the value of a dollar. Hey a mom can hope!

During the last week of August I worked on pants for the three boys. I got four pairs done total. All from Ottobre, but I have to go dig for the pattern numbers (I should do reviews and maybe when time allows I will). Here is a pair on my youngest. He was very pleased with them and loves the side pockets.

Side view~

Close up of pocket (there is one on each side)~

Here are one pair of my middle son's pants. I lightened the picture since they are black. This is one of the pairs I did the reinforced knee on. You can see it a little in the picture, but it looks way better than holes in the knees!

Back side~
My nice neighbor up the road asked if I wanted some apples and I jumped on the opportunity. I love home made applesauce, so last weekend the birthday girl and I made two batches. Here is a little work in progress. We ended up with 3 quart jars and 11 pints. I still have some apples leftover and plan to make some apple pie filling.

Here is she washing apples~

A box and bag of apples~

On the stove ready to cook~

Running them through the food mill~

And a bonus treat, apple crisp ready to pop in the oven. Boy was it tasty!!!

I finally have a picture of the top I made from BWOF 4-2008-116. As mentioned in my earlier post, I used the leftover fabric from the NL twist dress I made. The top was too big since the smallest size was a 38 and I usually wear a 36, but after taking a drastic 1" alteration on each side seam, it seems to fit. I have worn it a few times already and really like it. When I make it again, I will size the pattern down, that should surely work a lot better. It's a bit plunging too, so I will raise the neckline as well.

Another time consuming project I've been up to is redecorating the kids' bathroom. It is actually the main bathroom and is used by guests as well as the kids. It has always been the "ducky" bathroom because it was decorated with rubber ducks. After 7.5 years, I'm was more than sick of it. I decided I was going to find a lovely shower curtain and that would be the base for my new decor. While shopping with birthday girl and my mom last weekend at Kohls, I found *it*! The picture honestly doesn't do it justice. It's WAY more beautiful in person, I promise. So on Sunday, my daughter and I set out to find fabric to make a coordinating window valance and curtain to cover the linen area in the bathroom.

I found the absolute perfect fabric at Joann's, but they only had 1 yard and I needed 3. The guy looked on his computer and said the Vancouver store (about 30 minutes from my home) had 64 yards in stock. Great, I'll go after it once the kids go to school on Monday. Long story short, I went on Monday morning and couldn't find any - the nice cutting counter lady told me because it's remnants they get in from home decor manufacturers and they all have the same SKU number!!!!!! OMGosh, I was so annoyed that I'd drove all that way for nothing. Plus the paint I bought at Home Depot went with that and the shower curtain perfectly. All was not lost tho, I found a solid and went back to my local Joann's and got the 1 yard of stripe and will make a band at the bottom of the linen closet curtain. I am on the fence as to if the valance will be solid, stripe, or both with a band on the bottom.

I did get the painting all done over Monday evening and Tuesday. Now I'm waiting on Mr. Homemaker to help me hang the mirror back up and do some other "handy work" that I need help with. As soon as it's ready for a showing, I'll post pictures.

I guess that is all the news for now. As you can see, I've been busy, just not blogging about it. I've also been doing some fall cleaning trying to weed out clothes and such the kids have outgrown so I can eBay, Craig's List, or Goodwill stuff - ugg I hate clutter, it makes me batty!!!

P.S. I almost forgot to mention Hubby & I celebrated our 12th Anniversary since I posted last too! We actually didn't have a babysitter since it was over Labor Day weekend, so we took the kids bowling instead. It was a lot of fun and really we can go out to dinner any old time. And yes, do the math, our daughter was born three days after our first anniversary. Apparently we didn't know what caused that back then - young and dumb, you know how it goes! ;-) The great news is we will still be so young when the kids are grown and gone. :-)

Yes I Do Sew...

It might not seem like it because I haven't posted in 2 1/2 weeks, but I really am still here. And yep, we even survived CEC on my son's birthday (thank you all for your well wishes too). It was actually a great time because the place was totally dead! We live in a pretty small community so I think that helped, plus it was in the middle of the week and a pretty nice day out. He had fun and hey that is all that matters, right? Here are pictures to prove fun was had by all (yes, even the adults!).

This entry is kind of a weird one for me. I am not much of a self promoter or one to toot my own horn so to speak, but a local friend (who also reads my blog - hi Kim!) said I must share this little tidbit with you, so here I am sharing. :-)

What you probably don't know about me is I have a website Posh Punkins. It all started in April 2003 when I decided I wanted to offer cloth diapers I was sewing to other families (don't worry these aren't the big white rectangles your mom or grandma used, instead they are cute, fitted cloth diapers). You see, I had been using cloth diapers for several months and decided I loved them so much I wanted to share them with the world. My hubby was very supportive of my plan, so it was then that Posh Punkins was born.

In the summer of 2005 I decided I wanted to explore some other avenues and spend more time with my family so I stepped away from offering cloth diapers. Fast forward to present day; recently a friend had contacted me about me reentering the cloth diaper marketplace. At first I told her I wasn't really interested, but after thinking about it for a while I decided some extra money would be great so I decided to jump back in. I had this *great* plan like I always do, I'd sew diapers one day a week and then I'd have the other six left to do whatever sewing I wanted to do. In theory this is great, but reality and theory never seem to be the same. I only stock the diapers at The CuddleBuns Boutique on Monday at 1pm Eastern, so really there is no reason this shouldn't work, but I will blame it on summer break and having the kids home.

So really, I *have* been sewing, just not too much for me lately. I'm having a hard time getting a rhythm down, but I know that all takes time. I am really craving sewing for me, so this week's stocking only has four diapers available for sale. In a perfect world, I'd have 6-10, but hey it's not a perfect world so four will just have to do. And since I'm self promoting, if you need any personalized baby gifts, you should check out my website too - I have cute baby bloomers that you can have a name or initials embroidered on, embroidered burp cloths, & chenille birthday bibs. So there, I did it, now you all know I have a business. :-)

Even tho the "non-business" sewing has been low, I did actually make a cute dress for me a week or so ago and a bathrobe for my daughter. Hopefully in the next day or so I can post the reviews of those two items.

I am a little bummed tho because my hubby was out of town for 3 days on business and I got no sewing done at all. I had such high hopes of making several things for me, but this time nothing got done. Oh well, there is always tomorrow, right? Besides the kids and I did have a fun time. The highlight of our weekend was our trek to the river to enjoyed some glorious sunshine. And really, family time is is what is important in the scheme of things, not how much sewing I get done. There will be plenty of time for sewing once they are grown and gone, but for now I need to embrace that they are young and still enjoy spending time with me. I will fully admit tho, I'm *VERY* happy my hubby is back home and am so glad he doesn't travel for work very often. Plus I sleep terrible when he's away.

Happy Birthday Mr. Baby!

It's so hard for me to believe my "baby" is four today. Why does the time go by so fast? I hate it. Hate it! I am not ready for my children to be getting so big. Amazingly enough, they just aren't listening me to either and just keep growing as fast as weeds.

Here are a few pictures of the proud birthday boy this morning. He got to open a gift early that Auntie left for him. He was beyond elated about his new heavy hauler and that today he's finally *four* (he's been talking about his birthday for months and how he'd be four on June 25th).

Tonight we're celebrating his big day at none other than Chuck E. Cheese. Dad and I are the heroes of the day as we *never* go to CEC (if you've been there, you know why!). Happy Birthday Andy, I love you more than words can say.

Livin' The *Sweet* Life

Spring brings birthdays galore in my family. Last week we celebrated my son Jack turning 8! He had his birthday spread out over several days, lucky guy. After making the Hamburger Cake for his brother, I knew I had to make something equally as fun for Jack. I found inspiration on the Today Show of all places. A few weeks ago they had the author of Hello Cupcake on showing how to make spaghetti and meatball cupcakes. I thought it was a fun play on foods, so decided to make them for Jack's birthday party.


On Friday night, we had his "friend" party and so I made another food treat, "corn on the cob" (inspiration from the same book). I don't think the kids thought they were that cool, but the parents I showed them to thought they were pretty cool. Oh well, kids are happy with sprinkles and I should know better.

And then last, but surely not least, I got the best *treat* in the mail from Stacy yesterday. It's so darn adorable and perfect in every way - thank you Stacy!!!!!

With all that has been going on, I haven't had time to do any sewing. Last week I cut out a few Ottobre t-shirts for myself, but got no further. Hopefully today I can get one of the shirts finished. I really am sick of all this busyness, but tis life with kids.

Happy Birthday Dear Will!

How can six years have possibly passed since my sweet William was born? We celebrated his birthday with family over the weekend complete with pizza and a "Hamburger" cake made by me!

And just in case you'd like to make your own hamburger cake, you can find the directions at WomansDay.com. The article that I kept appeared in an issue at least 7 years ago (I made this cake once before for my hubby's birthday right after I saw it). I didn't follow the directions for using pound cakes and store bought frosting. Instead I made my cakes using two boxes of regular cake mix (Funfetti variety of course) and then made a batch of chocolate frosting for the burger and peanut butter frosting for the bun (much easier than trying to tint white frosting tan). It's been a hit both times I've made it and it really is easy to make. I'm definitely not a cake decorator, but I do enjoy making fun cakes like this for my family instead of buying a bakery cake. It must be the "Susie Homemaker" in me - I figure they'll remember the cool cakes I made them, but the bakery cakes are just a dime a dozen. Besides, I think homemade cakes taste better and they are definitely made with more love.

Happy birthday Will - mommy loves you and is so proud of you!!!!

P.S. Will just learned to tie his shoes last week - yippee Will! :-)

Happy Birthday To Me!

Ahh, another year has come and gone (my mom is right, they go by faster the older you get, eek)! I had a lovely day that ended with my mom-in-law fixing my favorite dinner (white chicken enchiladas) and my mom baking my favorite dessert (Huckleberry Delight). I am so blessed my in-laws and parents like each other and we can share a meal together - what a fun time we had too! And of course I was spoiled with gifts by my family, but my very favorite thing I received was the card my daughter made me (she's 10 and in 4th grade). I should take a picture of it, maybe tomorrow when I dig the camera out - it's so cute with her drawings on it. On the front it says "Happy 33rd Birthday!" and inside it says:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

You are so sweet,

and I am too!

She's such a sweet girl and I will treasure that card forever (as I do every thing they make me).

And thank you for all the birthday wishes you sent though pm's on Pattern Review, messages in my blog comments, and emails. It was indeed a wonderful day and even more so with all my sewing friends sharing the love with me. I appreciate you all so much and am so thankful for all the friends I've made that also share the love of sewing. :-)

Coming up for air...

Ahh, the *Beautiful* Monarch of the Seas (yes they called it beautiful every time they referred to it while we were on board). DH & I had such a wonderful time on our belated anniversary trip. The weather was lovely (tho for me it could have been hotter) and we had a most fabulous time. I wasn't ready to come home, tho I did miss the kids. Three nights just wasn't long enough for me, tho I'm sure my MIL was ready for us to return (bless her heart and my FIL too for watching our precious babies while we had a much deserved time away).

Our only port of call was Ensenada, Mexico, and I was less than impressed (unfortunately). It was shop after shop of the same things and ladies with their babies begging on the street for money every step you took. It was so sad actually. We were hoping to enjoy a yummy authentic Mexican lunch, but the place we visited (the #1 recommend lunch spot per Royal Caribbean) was a bomb. The food was awful! I've had more authentic Mexican food in my own town. Oh well, it's a vacation and things like that just don't get you down. We enjoyed lots of really fun activities aboard the ship and even took a few naps too! But as they always say, "all good things must come to an end" and an abrupt ending it was (waking up at 6am to get ready for the ship departure isn't my favorite way to end a vacation). Back to reality, oh bleck!

I will admit I've had a hard time getting back into the swing of things. Coming home from a vacation is hard work. We did have a little bit of fun intermixed with getting back to reality in the form of a snow day. We live pretty much at sea level so snow isn't plentiful around here. But forecasters were saying we'd be getting a little snow late Sunday/early Monday and they were right on. We had an inch or two is all and then kids had a blast playing outside in it. And as usual, it was melted by afternoon. :-(




Lastly, my sweet friend Rhonda tagged me for a fun little game! Here are the Rules for this Topic:*Link to the person who tagged you.*Post the rules on your blog.*Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.*Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.*Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

1) I used to hate tomatoes until I was pregnant with my fourth child.

2) I have to wash my hands the minute I step foot in the house after I grocery shop - all those germs from the carts gross me out.

3) I say "sorry" too much. I always say sorry even to people I don't know in the stores and such. Why do I have to say it all the time, I annoy the heck out of my self every time I catch myself saying it.

4) My favorite dessert is my mom's Huckleberry Delight. I ask for it ever year on my birthday and that is usually the only time it's made each year. I guard the leftovers I get and don't let anyone eat them - it's mine!!! (can you hear my evil laugh?)

5) I used to collect postage stamps as a kid.

Well that sure what harder than I thought. After all that thinking, I don't even know who to tag, so you're all off the hook. Nitey nite! :-)

Come for a ride on the Gingerbread Train!

It's finished! To be honest, I was actually kicking myself that I suggested to the kids we make a Gingerbread Train (I usually buy a kit at Costco for the house which is WAY easier since everything is ready to go). I saw the idea in Family Fun Magazine last Christmas and clipped the article out. I promised we'd make it once school let out for Christmas vacation and holding true to my promise I made the dough Tuesday night so we could make the train Wednesday. We got off to a rocky start with my rolling pin handle breaking so we waited for Grandma to come over and bring her rolling pin so we could get the dough all cut and baked. Then this morning I assembled the train and the kids went hog wild decorating it. I turned out to me much more fun than I anticpated and I'd really like to have the Gingerbread Train become a tradition we do every year. And keeping my post "sewing" related, I covered a cardboard bolt from the fabric store with tin foil for the base for the train. :-) Click on the above link if you'd like the instructions on how to make your own train, it really is easy, just more time consuming than buying a kit at the store.

P.S. Okay I'm really a huge dork - I just see now that online they have templates you can print out for the train and here I had my ruler out drawing all the pieces yesterday - well that makes it WAY easier! LOL

When it rains it pours....

Seriously, my family must be on a streak of bad things happening - this truly must be it for a while, right????? All went well on Thanksgiving. We had a lovely dinner, but then about 9pm that night Andy threw up all over the floor. At first we thought it was a fluke, that maybe he just had a full tummy and went to burp and instead had a little "accident". Well definitely not an accident. We had a few more episodes and he finally fell asleep about 11pm. So by this point, Chuck & I are panicking a bit because we've been to this movie a time or two. It always starts with Andy and then 2ish days later the whole rest of us have it. Well low and behold, yesterday it started with Will, then on to Jack, and then on to Hattie. Thank the good Lord, Chuck and I don't have it yet, but I'm not sure we're out of the woods. I've been Lysoling everything they touch and washing my hands to death, but either I'm going to get it or I won't. I'm full on in the middle of this so the chances are good I'm next.

I'm not sure how the kids (or rather Andy) acquired this lovely bug, but it was either one of two ways. On Wednesday Hattie was complaining of an ear ache, so I made an appointment to get her in for a check at the pediatric office. She had an ear infection and since we were already there I figured I'd be wise to get them the flu vaccine. So either A) Andy touched something at the doctor's office on Wednesday (but we were one of the first appointments of the day and were in the waiting room for maybe two minutes) and that is where he got this gunk or B) it's a reaction from the vaccine. Now I know they say you don't react like this to the vaccine, but it seems all too weird they'd suddenly come down with this and it makes sense to me that Andy might get it first because he is smaller than the others. It's just my wishful thinking that it's the vaccine so I'll be free and clear from the gunk, but it's probably a bug he picked up there. I just pray that Chuck & I will be spared the misery of puking our guts out in the next day or so.

I surely have paid my dues with bad things happening lately so this really MUST be the last thing right???? And I'm having major withdrawls from not sewing for so long. I'm not sure what I'll get done this week because the kids have early release due to conferences on Tues-Fri and tomorrow they probably won't be going to school at all. I feel like I'm here waiting for a death sentence, I just want to get this over with if it's going to happen - ugg, being sick just plain sucks! :-(

And all is well with the world!

My sister and brother-in-law came and got the boys a little bit ago and all is well. They felt so bad that we had to deal with the finger incident, but of course were not mad (actually they kept laughing about the whole thing and saying accidents happen). And they were reassured all was okay when they saw "A" perfectly happy and no worse for the wear. He was excited to show them his "big finger" and he new pink medicine (antibiotic prescription). My sister did say she was happy I didn't tell her on the phone because she would have wanted to come back. So it turned out I did the right thing by not telling them and all is fine. I knew it would be, but since her kids are younger than mine, she hasn't experienced as many bumps and bruises as we have (or even stitches yet), so I just wasn't quite sure how she'd take her baby being hurt (well not the technical "baby", but one of her babies). So atlas I can sleep peacefully tonight knowing my sister knows and also for the fact I won't have a stuffy baby down that hall who can't breathe and keeps thrashing around in his playpen because he's can't breathe well. In other words, I'm going to sleep like a rock tonight. :-)

P.S. Thank you ladies for your sweet words yesterday, I appreciate your kindness while I was freaking out! ((hugs))

No good deed ever goes unpunished...

that is how the saying goes and I believe it's true. A few weeks ago my brother-in-law emailed me asking if I would please watch my two nephews for two nights so he could surprise my sister with a little getaway to their favorite spot. It's been over four years since they have went away alone and have never left their boys overnight with anyone. Knowing how important it is to nurture your marriage and feeling so grateful I have in-laws that LOVE having our kids come over for sleepovers, I thought what the heck they need a break and this will be good for them to have some alone time.

Fast forward to yesterday, they dropped the boys (ages 1 and 3) off about 11am and set off for their fun vacation. All went well until 5pm when my oldest nephew got his finger shut in the door!!!! With all the kids screaming and blood dripping everywhere, we peeked at it and it was cut pretty bad. He was crying that it hurt and we just de the executive decision to take him to the emergency room just to make sure he didn't need stitches. Well after a few hours in the emergency room and one brave boy, we found out "A" had a broken finger tip and they were going to close his wound with Steri-Strips. Of course I'm a freaking out a little bit the entire time and questioning DH why is this happening??????? I try to laugh it off because my brother-in-law said he hoped my boys put him through the paces because of the things he does to his little brother, but seriously, this is just not fair (and I'm sure my BIL was not thinking along the lines of the emergency room)! Here I willingly take care of my precious nephews and one gets hurt in the first 6 hours of staying with me - simply not fair! So of course my sister calls last night to see how everything is going. I am still freaking out that this happened, but decided there is nothing she can do about it, so why ruin her trip. He's fine and happy now, his finger is all wrapped up with a splint on the end of it, so what is the point of making her worry and want to come home early? Then she calls again this morning - ugg, stop calling me sis! She only asked me how they slept last night, which is all I told her. Hey I haven't lied to her, I just didn't disclose the entire truth, just answering what she asked. She never asked me if "A" went to the emergency room, got hurt, etc., so hopefully when she calls again later today, she'll ask easy questions. My only question is, is she going to come unglued and be mad at me for not telling her? What do you think? Please say some prayers for me she's not mad, but in my defense, my in-laws, my parents, and my friend all agree that it's best to wait until she returns. She'll see "A" is fine and that he's no worse for the wear (I hope she sees it that way). I'm just thankful it wasn't worse and we didn't actually have to have stitches put in his finger.

So there you go, remember no good deed ever goes unpunished! Have I learned my lesson? I doubt it, I will still do good deeds, but next time I'll pray for angels to surround us and keep us safe.

Finally some pictures!

Yesterday I tried to upload some pictures, but had a heck of a time so I decided to try again today. Halloween was a blast for the kids and they got their fair share of candy while Trick or Treating. Below you can see them all dresses up (click the picture to enlarge it)!

Next up is a snuggle soft velour sweater I made. It turned out so well and the embroidery was all done with a satin stitch on my sewing machine. Please read the review to learn more about this project.


And the last one for now is just a simple long sleeve raglan I made. I didn't write a review for this one (wrote one for it last fall - super easy & have made it a few times) ~ it's 1-2003-27 from Ottobre.

Today I'm working on a few aprons for upcoming gifts and will post them in the Holiday Sewing Contest on PR. Gotta love the motivation to get things out of the way that need to be done.