Work in Progress.

This is the start of Mom's Mother's Day bag. :o) (A year late...why not!) Love you, Mom!

Happy Birthday M.

My friend's sweet little girl turned 3 today. It was so nice to be able to make a gift for her.

And I made a second little crayon caddy while I was at it, and used a pretty shoelace for tying instead of the white ribbon.

What do you think?

Just so you know...

...I got my sewing space cleaned up, Daddy is home, and I have been busy!!!!

Pictures of finished projects coming soon (hopefully.)

Oh, and the first stage of our Foster Care/Adoption training is done. It is a LOT of information, and it is a little scary entering this new stage of life. But VERY exciting to know that we will be ready to serve children however God sees fit when he says it is time. We should be certified by the beginning of April at the latest.

Oh yes he did!!!!

Seth could use some encouragement, so feel free to leave him comments. He overcame a lot of fears and crashes (one into a big puddle!) So very proud of him. And Gavin wanted in on the picture action. Note that all that remains of his skating accident are some scratches on his nose. :o)

Do you see my bike there in the background. It needs a bit of a tune up, but we are gonna bond this year! (And Andrew says that I can get a new bike helmet if I want - I guess my old fashioned hand-me-down isn't too attractive. No pics of me in it!)

Do you see it?

Nope, not the cigarette butt that appeared after the snow and ice melted. Right next to it. That little bitty sign of hope that spring is coming.
And another one -that little brown nub of hope sticking up out of the ground. I could only find 2. Maybe moving my bulbs so much wasn't such a good idea. I will be really sad if I killed them all in the name of trying to save them (Gramma gave them to me for a house warming gift the first fall we were here.)

AND another sign we may have an early spring - I saw a big fast strong V of birds flying NORTH!!!! Yay!!!! I am sure we have some more bouts of cold headed our way, but we are gonna make it through. My lungs are GOING to heal, and I am GOING to train for the RAGBRAI. (Praying hard on this one. Side note: waiting on the health system to do it's job so I can make an appt. to see an ENT specialist. Hoping they can get me in pretty quick. Being sick for months on end is a drag. I am learning a lot, though, so it isn't a total waste!)

Come on Spring!!!!

Daddy to the rescue!

We both got to go watch the boys' skating lesson today. Andrew really enjoyed seeing how much progress they have made while he was gone. Seth was skating like the wind all over the ice. He still needs to work on control and stopping. :o) BUT, he is already a better skater than Mommy. Gavin was promoted to the older class today and he worked HARD trying to keep up with all the bigger kids. He did everything asked of him the whole time, even if it took him longer to get it done. He also fell down a LOT because he was trying to skate as fast as Seth. About halfway through the lesson he face-planted hard (not the first time, but def. the worst), and popped right back up. We both saw it and I was asking Andrew if he was crying. It didn't look like it. But then the teacher scooped him up and skated to the exit. Andrew met him. They were all 3 gone for a while. Gavin had a very bloody nose (all over his coat) and NEVER cried. Wondering if he is gonna get a couple of black eyes out of the deal. All he was worried about was being able to get back out there and play hockey. My boys just astound me. And when I saw the coat I started getting queasy. SOOO glad Andrew was there to field that one!

If you give two men a crowbar...

...they will want to tear apart some old stairs. And if they tear them apart, they will need to replace them......so they will go to the store to get supplies. While they are there they will decide...
...that they need some new power tools as well. Then they will want to try out all the new gadgets. That will make them realize...
...that the project is bigger and harder than imagined. There is no cold air return ductwork under the main staircase and it BADLY needs vacuumed out. That means...

...that the project will take extra time and effort...
...but the end results will be beautiful. The men will be inspired to finish the project...
..and the stairs will be safe and beautiful for years to come. Thank you, Dad and Andrew!!!!