Peaceful Morning ~

 I never seem to get in any of the photos, so i thought i would show you a picture of me this morning enjoying my coffee before embarking on a quilting frenzy!  :)  Im trying to finish a few pieces for a craft fair this weekend...but if i dont make it, at least they can go in my Etsy store.   Ill post some photos of them when im finished.
 Meanwhile, i went in to check in on Jordyn the other night while she was sleeping, and i found this picture sitting on the floor next to her bed...

 and there was a note on the back, which reads, "Dear Santa, I really miss you Santa.  I hope that you can take this picture tonight.  Merry Christmas!"  She must have worked on it while i was at training, so she spelled all the words and compiled the letter completely on her own!  Well done sweetheart, i just know Santas gonna love it!

 and for some smiles...heres a shot of Trash looking anything but comfortable!  Ahhhh...to be this flexible!  :)  Have a fabulous day everyone!

Thanksgiving and Other Holiday Fun ~

Thanksgiving was kicked off with Bloody Marys and Eggnog!  It was another gorgeous day, which is wonderful, but we really could use some snow!  Meanwhile, while i was preparing the lasagna,

Jordyn decided to play dress up and watch a movie...i think she was a little bored!

After cooking the lasagna for 1/2 an hour, i realized the toaster oven wasnt plugged in....doh!  So dinner took just a little longer than we originally planned...but no worries...it still came out tasty!

Jordyn was confused as to why we werent having turkey like everyone else...to which i explained, many families have different traditions, and this is one of ours.  Sometimes we do a bird and sometimes we do lasagna, and this year Justin wanted lasagna.  But once she started eating i didnt hear any complaints! :)

Friday morning we had some work done on the cabin...this wall above the logs is just a bunch of wood slats with no insulation of any kind...you can even see light shining through in a few places.  Anyways, it was something we've wanted to have done for a while, and with winter coming on (or not as the case may be right now), we wanted to cut heating costs by finishing off this wall.

It took them a little longer than they thought (doesnt everything), so it was framed in and insulated on day one...

and on day two...

Doesn't that beetle kill pine look pretty!  I am so thrilled with it...it really brightened up the room, and even added a little new color to it!  Im planning to put a clear varnish on it to help pull out the colors a bit, but i probably wont bother with that until after the holidays.  So while our house was torn up, we spent a good bit of the afternoon up at Aunt LeAnns place enjoying turkey and visiting with some of the cousins.  We had a great visit with everyone, but sadly, that afternoon we discovered Jordyn was missing one of her earrings!  We tried to put a different stud through her ear, but it was already starting to close and forcing it didnt work.  Now we have to wait till that ear heals before we can go back to get it re-pierced, and if we dont find the other earring (and so far we have had no luck), then we will have to pay to have it redone again!  doh!  Poor thing...she was soooo upset....she thought all of her friends would think she chickened out after having the first one done, to which i replied...no they wont, cause you can see the little scab on the other ear...besides, you can be a pirate for a week before we fix it...and that will be kind of cool :)

So, my little pirate and i decided to put the house back together and then get out the Christmas decorations!  We purchased a new tree this year.  The old one was starting to wear a bit and i wanted to have a tree that could sit on the floor and still be tall enough to tower over us.  I found this tree for the cabin, and it couldnt be more perfect.  Its 7 feet tall, but really skinny so it doesnt take up much room, and it even came with lights.

There is nothing quite like curling up in front of the fire at night with the house lights low and the tree illuminating the house.  Such a cozy, warm feeling!

Looks like we're ready for the holidays! 

Friends, Earrings and Santa, Oh My ~

 Our Thanksgiving holiday was kicked off after school on Tuesday when some of Jordyns "summertime" friends were up visiting grandparents, so they all had a play date!  They ran around on the island for a while, jumped on the trampoline, had a light saber battle, and then they had a movie night at their grandparents house.  Thanks for visiting Andrew and Mackenzie...it was great to see you guys again!

 You may recall our previous attempt to get Jordyns ears pierced this summer...well, after several months of rethinking the whole thing, Jordyn decided she was ready this time.  So, for an early Christmas present, we decided to try again.

 Look how great she did...all smiles!  Daddy was able to leave work and be there too, so it was a family afternoon at the mall.

 We walked around enjoying the decorations, when we heard a familiar sound on the other side of this Christmas tree, so we went over to check it out.  Well, wouldnt you know it...Santa was at the mall! 

 We werent properly dressed for a photo with Santa, so we ran over to the Gymboree store, purchased a pretty snowflake sweater and hairband, and headed back over to the Santa booth.  Whala!

Dont they look sweet :) 

Wildlife, Turkey, Girl Scouts and Fun!

Monday was our first Girl Scout meeting, which means, Jordyn finally got to wear her new uniform!  She has been asking about it for weeks, and the moment was finally here.  And look how cute my little Daisy is  :)  On our way to school that morning, we saw many magical things...

I just love our drive!  :)  Monday was also the day of our Thanksgiving lunch at school, which is always a treat!  This year the K-1 kids could pick if they wanted to be Indians or pilgrims.

There was so much food left over that i was able to fix a few big plates to have turkey for dinner...which was nice, since im making lasagna for Thanksgiving, and wont have any turkey leftovers :)

After school was our first official Girl Scout meeting and boy, were the kids fired up for this!  They have been asking me since our parent meeting over a month ago, when our next meeting was going to be.  Im so thrilled the kids are excited...and i think they all had a good time.  In fact, we had so much to cover and do, that we ran 1/2 hour longer than scheduled.

We had snacks, and then they each got to paint their own friendship tree, personally fingerprinted by each girl.  We made friendship tree "thank you" cards for our sponsors too...and somewhere in there we were able to discuss badges and cookie sales!

Here is Jordyns friendship tree...sort of Tim Burtonish if you ask me, and i LOVE it!  :)  And this is one of the 8 thank you cards we made.

I plan to include a troop photo inside with a big thanks and details of what their generous contribution helped pay for.  Which photo do you think i should include....

Remember those quilts i mailed off to have quilted...well, when i went to send them out i realized i didnt have enough backing...doh!  i hate it when i do that, so i got the backing, put on borders, and mailed these off last Tuesday, and they arrived in my mail on Monday!  Was that speedy service or what?!?  And the price, was a total bargain!

Normally i quilt my own blankets, however, my pattern is limited to stitch in the ditch and straight lines :(  This is much prettier i think!

Its a little harder to see the pattern on this quilt, so i included a close up too.  Keep in mind the jacobs ladder quilt was a block swap, so a lot of the blocks didnt match up very well.

Thats what happens when you have several hands sewing on different machines...but thats what gives it its charm :)  Besides, this top has been pieced together since 2008, so it was time i had it completed!  I hope to finish the binding on them this weekend, so stay tuned!

Weekend Fun ~

 After all the chaos of the previous week, we decided to take it easy this weekend...we slept in, did a few chores around the house, watched movies and played Legos!  We even had a quick visit with Jordyn's cousin Wolfie...Happy 11th Birthday Wolfie!  Oh, and there was backhoe fun too!

 Then Jordyn and i made cookies for her schools Thanksgiving lunch on Monday...i think they came out kinda cute :)  Gobble gobble gobble.........

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Books and Birthday Parties!!!

LOTS of kid activities this week...in fact, im wiped out!  The school book fair kicked off Monday, and i worked the fair that afternoon....then on Wednesday, they had Literacy Night at the school...

 the preschool classroom is always a hit with the shaving cream drawing and writing!

 Then on Thursday night her friend Jade had a birthday party in town at Pump It Up and the kids had an absolute blast!

 I love how the kids always crowd the birthday kid during presents....they kept shoving their gifts in his lap..."here, open mine next!"...."what did you get?"...."can i see?"  What fun!

Then on Friday, i worked the book fair again, and then helped break it down afterwords.  During the breakdown, i got to enjoy the kids in P.E. playing on the ropes.  They only get to do this once or twice a year, so they were all fired up!  Thats Jordyn on the right climbing high...she was the only kid in her class that made it all the way up to the top....go Jordyn, go!

 After school that day, we headed over to her friends "Brave" birthday party...the kids could wear costumes if they wanted, and they all enjoyed pizza and popcorn while watching the movie Brave!

 Look at these two adorable redheads :)

 And heres Jordyn with her good friend Hope.

 Time for Cake!....look at all those cupcakes, slathered in frosting...they were bouncing off the walls after these tasty morsels :)

Wow...is it the weekend yet?