44th Street Fabric

I just found this a-mazing fabric blog with the CUTEST fabric ever. I can't WAIT to get my hands on some new Moda fabrics and make some cute, cute skirts for my shop just in time for Valentine's Day!

I'm blogging about it, in hopes of winning their drawing this week, and getting my prize DOUBLED! Yeah!! So if you're into fabrics, head over and check out 44th Street Fabric and enter to win!!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

We finally put up our Christmas tree and got down a few of our decorations after Kate's constant nagging. I pulled out last year's stack of Christmas cards and the girls went through them one by one, especially stopping to look at the Sleeping Beauty card from Shelby, and all the photos. They have their own little tree in their room that they have decorated, redecorated, and drug around from one room to the other. This is what Christmas is all about.

Livie found this Santa hat and fell in love with it. "Mom, I just love this hat like Santa. Can I please sleep in it tonight?"

We had our first snow last night! Kate could not think of anything else except getting her coat on and going outside. When she had asked me one too many times, I said, "Kate, it's not time yet. When it is, I will tell you. Don't ask again." So she found herself a little chair and set it up in front of the window so she could "watch it" :). I finally scrounged around and found some warm things, and like any good mother, I am watching them play from the warmth of my office window :).

Making Cider

1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Indians

The whole tribe...


"How"

Potato Creek State Park

The girls and I got to take a spur of the moment vacation with my friend Alaina and her three sweet little boys. We had such a great time. The playground was visible from our cabin, so the kiddos spent quite of bit of time there. We also managed to squeeze in a trip to the local orchard to pick some apples.

The tire swing was their favorite, and we had to intervene once they started looking green.



This kid has the greatest eyes ever. What a cutie!


Getting all six of them to pose proved impossible. Maggie and Ty were not wanting their siblings to hold them :).


The view was breathtaking! Hasn't this been the most beautiful fall?


Thank you, Alaina, for a wonderful time!

Ever wonder what 70 would look like?

Happy Birthday, Joy! 70 looks GREAT on you!

Kate helping Miss Joy blow out the candles, then blow out the candles again, and again, and again... Paw Paw had to throw in his "trick candles" ;). After pumpkin cake, we enjoyed a fun and relaxing game of Quiddler in which I *almost* won. (no need to say who actually won - that's all water under the bridge ;)

Not my favorite day

I overheard the girls talking among themselves this morning:

Olivia - "I wish we didn't have a mom and dad and it was just us kids. You know, just us, and Taylor and Ella and Ali and Caleb."


Kate - "Yeah, that would be fun! I wish our mom went to work and our dad stayed home!"


Olivia - (laughing) "Our mom can't go to work! She's not very strong!!"


Kate - "Yeah, but some moms go to work. The ones that are taller than the dads."


Definitely not the heart warming conversation every mom dreams of overhearing, but really I couldn't help but laugh. How do they think of these things?


In their defense, it has been a rough day. We've been slowly sliiiiding down the path of talking back and not obeying with a happy heart, and I was determined that today would be different. I haven't seen the difference yet, but I'm sure it will come with time :-P. I am very tired of answering to "Mooooooommmmm!" and hearing crying. Oh the crying. I know I am blessed beyond belief, but this has just been one of "those days".


This afternoon we ran out on an emergency run to get my sewing machine fixed. It works well enough to use, but it wasn't feeding my material through properly, and I needed to get it back to perfection before a big sewing day tomorrow. I have been looking for a place up here to replace the sewing center I went to in Murfreesboro. Unfortunately I haven't found one yet. The people I met today treated me like I was stupid. Every question I asked they answered in a demeaning way. I asked the lady what kind of needles she liked best for embroidery and her answer was: "embroidery needles". Wow. Thanks. When I asked the man what was causing my feed dogs to not work properly, his response was "user error". When I asked him what the user error was his answer was "various things". No expounding at all. I had to prompt every reply. When I got packed up to leave, he very snidely commented that if I was so dependant on my machine I should have a backup - as if this idea had never crossed my mind before, and I could pick up a spare for a measly $5.


The day ended with a successful trip to the library. I just love our library. It has a huge children's section that is it's own room entirely. I can set the kids free in there while I shop around. They also have a huge selection of audiobooks - I go through about 2 a week, listening while I sew or do housework. Speaking of housework, that's what I really need to be doing right now. I'll end with a few photos of the girls that we took a couple weeks ago at Olivia's birthday party. I'm sure most of you have already seen them on Facebook, but here they are for those of you who haven't ;).