Works in Progress.

While Andrew was gone I was able to squeeze in a little bit of time cutting fabric and prepping some projects. Just working with all the beautiful fabrics makes me so happy. This first is a quilt front with rough edges. I still have to cut oodles of white squares to applique the circles and squares onto, but... Just look at these beautiful batik prints!!!
And one finished project. Liz's birthday present (never mind that it was last summer, and I cut it out in fall colors and she will have to wait till fall to use it!)
Inside pockets.
Hopefully after my stairs are done and we hit a more "normal" routine, you will start to see lots of great things getting finished. There is a term for all the creative types like me that have too many projects going on at once - UFO's - Unfinished Objects. I got a lotta them! Working on that. And personal discipline across the board. It is quite a journey. And I am enjoying it a LOT more with my honey home!!!!

Missing.

I was on the phone with Andrew when I hear a commotion in the back seat. "Mommy, my tooth is gone and I don't know where it is!" After I get off the phone he consoles me about it being missing. "It is okay Mommy. I have lots of other teeth to get money with!" We had to talk to the toothfairy to find out if he has a missing tooth clause in his toothfairy policy. I think the hunt will be on to find the gold dollar Daddy hid under his pillow tonight. He told me he was going to catch the tooth fairy. (I have been telling him stories of trying to do that as a kid...unsuccessfully.) He is sleeping like a baby. So thankful Andrew and I got to share this moment together! More pictures to come... sometime. :o)

Incomplete Birthday

I had a FANTASTIC birthday. I got to hang out with my girlfriends on Saturday night and one of them made me a fabulous birthday cake. A friend stopped by with flowers for me. My in-laws and dad helped the boys and I get the house ready and Andrew got home from his trip!!!! We had an early dinner at Famous Dave's BBQ. I got a free appetizer and a huge ice cream sunday with fireworks on it.

But at the end of the day after everyone went to sleep I was still feeling sad that I hadn't gotten ANY birthday mail this year. Now why that would really bother me I don't know, since I rarely remember my friend's birthdays and don't automatically expect them to remember mine. AND everyone was HERE - my whole family, Andrew's parents and my dad. Tonight I really realized why it was still eating at me. This was the first year in my whole life that I didn't get a card from my Gramma! No matter where I have been in my life, no matter how old, she always remembered me and my birthday. And she is gone. I have cried pretty hard several times tonight since I figured it out. So sad that that part of my life is done and gone forever. I really miss her. She was a clothes horse, and stylish. She was practical and independent. She was a fighter - fighting for what is good and right. Helping the handicapped or those wanting to become literate, taking an art class, quitting smoking, eating healthy and exercising to the day she went down. She was an interesting person and interested in others. She was always serving and helping others. She was full of a quiet steely-ness that undergirded everything she did. I admire her strength and want to grow up to be like her. Every morning she sat at the dining room table overlooking the mountains and had her coffee, medicines, read her Bible and the daily bread. She loved and was loved to the very end. I am so thankful for her, to have been her granddaughter. And I am still so very sad that she is gone. It reminds me to love others the way she loved me. Gonna work on that this year! :o)

Breakfast

Coffee with marshmallows. (guess who?)
Hot cocoa with marshmallows.
Bacon.
Sausage.
Coffee cake.

Family.
And church soon.

Good morning.

I'm saved!!!!!

There is now another (actually 2) adult in the house! A. is delayed back to at least his original return date, but his parents are here to celebrate Gavin and my birthday with us. Grampa Guido can take the boys to play outside. I have help recovering from the 4 and 5 year old damage througout the house (colored walls and counters, closet doors put back on tracks, etc.) I get to finish up some sewing prep work, clean house without something else being torn up, and have a night out with my girlfriends. My boys get some much needed spoiled time and time with a man to wear them out like I never can! This has been a hard, but good seperation. I have fully seen and experienced all my failures as a parent (Sorry boys, I know I should start saving for your therapy now, but I am spending it all on fabric instead!), we have seen the steady hand of God caring for us and providing for us continually - we have not been abandoned in our time of need! Now to not forget the things we have seen and learned... We are sooooo excited that Daddy coming home can be measured in days and hours instead of weeks and months! And we love the extra attention that comes from having 3 grandparents in the house. I am especially thankful that my dad is willing to come and be head contractor for refinishing our stairs, and that Andrew is willing to skip readjustment time and jump right into a huge house renovation project. After 2 1/2 years it is going to be lovely to have finished beautiful stairs. And tonight I am especially thankful for Sandi, getting to share all the things I have been excited about over the last weeks snowed in with little boys, and not had anyone to talk to about. I sure appreciate her listening and supportive ear. Now to bed, because excited little boys will be up way to early in the morning and Gramma and Grampa need their sleep before they start the marathon that the boys will put them through tomorrow! Night!

Notes from today.

Since we are stuck inside with little to do (well, there is a lot to be done, but Mama doesn't feel good, so...)

*I tried to run to the mailbox this morning in my little jammie shorts, big down coat, and hiking boots. As soon as I hit the snow that had ice over it I went sprawling forward with the mail I was carrying facefirst into the snow. Classy. Very classy.

*I found a chunck of red hair today. Seth had informed me that Gavin had cut his hair (and one of our textbooks for school.) Yup - he has a chunk missing. Nice.

*The boys have spent a large portion of today building tunnels with the mangna tiles for their zhu zhu pets to run through. Pretty imaginative and fun.

*Gavin figured out it was his birthday and is pretty happy about that.

*I figured out a new discipline method from Mrs. Dugger. "I want their eyes, because if I don't have their eyes I don't have their heart." She was calm and relaxed and made her son repeat what he needed to learn from the situation 10 times. We have been looking in Mommy's eyes and repeating things 10 times. Everyone is a LOT more calm around here (and I think while it seems a little of a game, it sets the ideas in their head more firmly than a lecutre and may deter them from doing stuff in the future - we will see!)

*Seth decided to listen to Christmas music while he unloaded the dishwasher. Yup. He loves him some Christmas music.

*Gavin has been doing a lot of singing while running around and playing. Also singing Christmas music. "Jingle Bells" to be exact.

*Mama is looking forward to adult company at the soonest opportunity. CABIN FEVER!!!!

Being Thankful.

For a warm snug home that keeps the wind and ice and snow out.
For a fixed furnace.
For multiple people willing to shovel me out.
For a cheerful Gavin and his hilarious choices of meals today for his birthday (Ramen noodles for breakfast and shoofly cake for lunch.)
For internet and getting to chat with Andrew, even if it keeps dropping out.
For music and tv and other diversions when we are cooped up indoors.
For not having to drive anywhere on the treacherous roads today.
For the fridge, freezer and pantry with food stocked up so I don't have to do much in the way of cooking or shopping.
For boys to snuggle.
For learning God's Word together and hiding it in our hearts.
For fresh flowers in the middle of winter to remind me that spring really is going to come someday.
For books to read and friends to call.
For dishwashers and brooms and vacuums - tools to efficiently improve our quality of living.
For my new washer and dryer.
For second chances. I have needed a lot of those in the last several weeks.
Thankful.