labor day weekend

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend like the one I had. It was nice having a long weekend with an extra day off work, the kids not having daycare or school, and to have extra time spent with loved ones is especially nice. For the first time in a long while I felt in no rush…it was nice.

Saturday was low-key. Jose spent time out at my parent’s house and Cameron and I spent time at home. Cameron did the usual 3-year old toddler stuff. He colored. He played with blocks. He ran around outside and in. We watched a movie or two. We went out for ice cream in the evening because the weather was beautiful. It couldn’t be missed.

Sunday was low-key for Cameron and I with the exception of running an errand, but I did make brownies and managed to take hold of minor household projects. Jose was out at my parent’s still and he proved to be a lot of help to them. He helped my dad trim tree limbs. According to my mom, Jose was a pretty good assistant and these days, at 13, he hasn’t been very useful for anything, unfortunately. To hear that he provided a helping hand was relieving and once I saw the photos of him helping my dad I was over the moon with pride. It brought a much needed smile to my face.

Jose and Papa did a fantastic job and worked well as a team. Mom did a neat job at capturing the “moments” too. There are a lot more photos, but I wouldn’t want to embarrass my dad with his silly Chevy Chase facial expressions.

Labor Day was an enjoyable Monday! I was surrounded by my favorite people and that’s all that mattered. No one had to work. No children had to attend school. No deadlines and no place to be. It was a beautiful day out at my parent’s home. We weren’t grilling out until 4:00, but we arrived early in the afternoon so there was plenty of time to gather and play. I took the boys to a nearby creek which resulted in a fun time. We found some fossils as well.

After the trip to the creek and our 4:00 meal, Nana and Papa played a little ball and catch with Cameron. It was really cute. Papa took pictures.

Nana missed the pitch…

And when all is said and done and you’re tuckered out from such a glorious weekend, what better way than to sit next to Papa and relax…

Talk soon!

"f" is for

Floss tag…

I stitched up a little floss tag for my Aunt Pam. It’s her first one. She really loves it and was taken by complete surprise when it arrived in the mail.

ABC Bird. It’s from Alexandrina. I used 32 ct linen, hand-dyed by me, using GAST Brethren Blue, Dark Chocolate, Shutter Green, and WDW Copper. I personalized it by adding our initials and year to the back. With love always, Aunt Pam!

Fall decorations…

I traded the Halloween trimmings for fall ones. I enjoyed taking everything off my hutch, wiping them down, putting some away, rearranging others, switching items around, adding a little of this and a little of that. I’m quite pleased with my dining room area (except for the blue spongy walls). I even added a couple pieces of fabric as table linens just to give more fall coloring to the room – it’ll do for now until I can quilt some up.

Freebies…

My hopes are to get these two stitched and finished up while fall is still in session – LOL. The first is Thankful by primitivebettys. Second is Give Thanks by Heartstring Primitives. Both very talented ladies. I want to get to The Sampler Girl’s freebie called Blessings to You, but I want to finish one of these first. (Get those freebies while you can!)

Feeble…

Chia Head is looking awful. He has a white mossy substance growing near the root. Yeah, I think it’s about time to de-weed, clean that bald cranium, and store Chia away for the winter. I’m done taking care of him as I have too many things to take care of at the moment. So, a much-waited-for good-bye is in order. Good-bye Chia Head! I am not going to miss you.

Fever…

Jose stayed home from school today. He’s running a temp of 101.5. He’s having sinus pressure and head issues. I guess the crud is all in his head. Poor thing. He may need to stay home tomorrow too and we might see the doc. I’ll probably put Cameron in daycare. It will be best for them to avoid each other as much as possible at this point. Cameron’s ear infection is improving so that’s good. He’s due for another flu shot soon though. That time of year…ahhh! Talk soon!

halloween

Boo-Brothers...

Becoming Jack...





Ghostly Encounter...where's the baby? where's the baby?




There goes the neighborhood (from my friend Sally's hood)...




Lily's 5th birthday...

Happy Halloween!

PS ~ I'll post about my visit with Sally and any stitchy progress I have to share later on. Talk soon!

where i’ve been; where i am; where i’m headed

Where I’ve been...

The boys and I went camping during the Labor Day weekend with some friends and had a blast. I’m not talking campers or lodges even though there were a ton of people all around us with campers. I’m talking tents, sleeping bags on the ground, sittin’ around the fire, the whole nine yards. The only thing we didn’t do was our business in the forest. The camp grounds had a shower/bathroom house for that sort of thing.

Red tent was for our friend Dave and his entourage. You could park a mini van in this tent it was so big.

These two tents were ours. Surprisingly Jose slept by himself in a tent (left). Cameron, Dh and I were in the other.

Just around our site.

Friday evening was spent setting up our site and the kids just messed around. Cameron didn’t know what to think, but he cozied up immediately to the idea of being outside all the time and was in heaven. Cameron is one brave baby. He wandered off twice; once in the dark. We had to find him with the flashlight which didn’t take long. He was behind our site with the campers. The next time he wandered off he was two sites down sitting on a child’s tricycle. Other than this, he kept wandering off like he was one of us. He just didn’t get it so that was frustrating, but lucky for us Dave and his girls were good about helping us.

My boots came in handy especially in the wee early mornings - glad I brought them.

The view from inside my tent.

It was so beautiful to pop our heads out from our tents in the morning and have these trees looming over us.

Our friend Dave had this hanging from a tree and the only thing that crossed my mind was, “Ahh, what do we need this for?” Dave is quite the outdoorsman so he had some excuse as to why he needed this butcher blade but I can’t remember what that reason was. If you knew Dave you’d understand – LOL.

The strangest mushrooms I had ever seen but so pretty - picture worthy in my opinion.

These little wooden bridges were spread out all through the trail - very cool.

We went for a mile hike the next day which was great. This was the first time I went on a hike and I really enjoyed myself. We saw all kinds of nature enticing sites, at least for me b/c I've never really done this before. I had a really nice time collecting acorns with Dave's daughter Devinee. We chatted and ooh'ed and ahh'ed over the size of some of those acorns (the squirrels must not have been doing their jobs). The kids played in the creek of course and I watched. I think it's true that it isn't so much what you're doing that is enjoyable but that the company we keep that make it so.

We had a good time...That is until Cameron had one of his meltdowns on the middle of the trail. [If you can click on the picture and enlarge it he has his mouth wide open letting all the wild know he's beyond pissed off.]

He decided he wasn’t going any farther. Dh had to carry him the rest of the way which was no easy task b/c Cameron wiggled like a worm the entire time. And wiggle is really an understatement.

Of course, here’s the happy camper once the hike was over ~ little rascal! At least we all survived.

Dh did a terrific job at keeping the fire going the whole time we camped. It even burned through the night enough that there was no flame going, but underneath the log embers were kept so that by morning he could throw another log on to reignite the flames. At one point Cameron decided since daddy was keeping the fire lit by throwing logs into the flame that his Blue Bear should help so in Blue Bear went. Blue Bear escaped with 3rd degree burns.

Somewhere….in a forest far, far away…Smokey the Bear is mourning Blue Bear’s injuries. We pulled him from the flames just in time before too much charring took place. We mended his injuries though and he continued to sleep with us in our tent even though he stunk to high heaven. BB made it home and Cameron continues to love him just the way he is – burnt and all.

We arrived Friday afternoon and left Monday morning. Each child got sick at least for a moment and I turned into Nurse Betty and a pretend mom but it was well worth it. I loved every minute of it and would do it again if I could. It rained our very last night which called for an extremely looooooooooooooooooooong night in our tents, but funny thing is that dh had his laptop (he was on-call for work) and we were able to watch some of Cameron’s cartoons – I know, not camping related, but welcome to 2009, right?

Not a fantastic picture, I know. Jose is being a weirdo and I'm taking the photo myself. Oh well...we're camping, what do you expect?!?! Glamour shots? :o)

Where I am...

Since I finished my Jane Austen sampler and she’s off getting framed I needed another sizeable design to stitch so I decided to begin a new one. Like I don't have enough WIPS...

I fell in love with Mayflower Landing and verse from Diane of Little House Needleworks. I believe I’m quite patriotic and the older I get the more my love grows for my country. US history intrigues me and I really want more pieces in my home that represent the homeland. I thought this design was very appropriate since it is about one of the earliest pieces of our history, and the colors are beautiful.

I changed the linen to 28 ct. Light Mocha instead of 32 ct. Putty, but I’m sticking to all the called-for threads which are a combination of Crescents and DMC. I started this a couple of days ago so it’s proving fun and fast. However, I’ve run out of DMC 3051 so I need to pick some up this evening when I’m at my LNS.

My mom is the sweetest mom in the universe. Right before the camping trip I received a piece of mail. It was the new Stacy Nash Merry Hallowe’en pinkeep book. My mom bought it for me. Isn’t she the sweetest???!!! I can’t wait to start one of these pinkeeps…and then the next and the next and the next. LOL

Where I’m headed…

This evening mom and I are attending moonlight stitching at our LNS with all our friends. I wasn’t able to attend the stitching night in August b/c my FIL was having his birthday on the same evening so I’m really looking forward to hanging with the girls and getting some stitching in. Good munching food too.

I know this is a long post but I haven’t been in the mood to do any daily blogging. Part of that is b/c my laptop is still out of commission so it’s difficult to sit at the actual PC and get anything done. Cameron has become awfully demanding these days and doesn’t allow it either. Plus, I've felt bottled up and preoccupied. Anyhoo...Talk soon!