Humming the Birthday Song...

Thursday was my birthday, and we had the distinct delight of having my parents join us for the celebration. :) :) :) :)

My kids were really sweet at school on my birthday, and I received several flowers, a card from each of them, and a couple other things. :) Then after I tutored Thursday afternoon, I got to come home to Dad and Mom--what a treat! Matt came home, and we had a yummy dinner together, cake and birthday cake flavored ice cream (one of my favs), and then opened presents. I felt very loved, and it was a GREAT day!!

On Friday, Matt and I both worked. Dad went to a nature preserve to take pictures (though the wildest thing he saw was.... a squirrel.... no bison, gators, or deer, as we know actually live there). Mom stayed home and caught us up on some things around the house. Sammy apparently played outside most of the day! So we all the FL residents were on the receiving end of huge blessings! :) Friday evening we had a second, yummy home-cooked meal (more later on why that's special). YUM!

On Saturday, the guys inspected our damp laundry room. It turns out the water heater may or may not be leaking, but it's far enough along in age that we plan to get a new one. As for the washer, the line it empties into is backing up, so water is pouring down the wall and onto the floor. Lovely, right? We have a plumber coming tomorrow to hopefully clean out the line and get that sorted out. Hooray for Dad the diagnostician!

That night we had another yummy dinner, some popcorn, and a movie. :)

It was a quick trip :-(, but it was soooo good to see Dad and Mom! AND, we'll see them again in 2.5 weeks for Thanskgiving (only 10 work days until then!).

I have tomorrow and Tuesday off, which I am really excited about! Then it's a full week next week and a 2 day week after that. Tomorrow I am planning on doing some school stuff since I have to be home for the plumber anyway. Tuesday I'm hoping to craft--I got great craft stuff for my birthday, like books, patterns, and awesome hippo fabric. :)

Before I close, here are some birthday pictures (because I KNOW those of you who know my family are waiting for them)...

with my special brownie pan (every piece ends up with at least 2 edges, so you get that perfect chewy bite every time)



With my Hoops & Yoyo card from Matt--it sings a really fun song. :)



Making a face when Matt called me "old" during the birthday song (HE would know!)



With Matt and Mom



With Matt

A Brief Hiatus...

I know I said I wouldn't post too much on here about sewing, but a friend of mine asked me to help her embroider some onesies a week or two ago. Our first attempt didn't go too well (I hadn't embroidered a knit fabric before), but I read up on it today and tried again. Here are a few of the designs I came up with so far.

I saw a onesie with this slogan for over $20 in an online store.... this was much cheaper. ;) Though this one is off center, it was my first try (now that I've read how to stabilize knits better). I think I can go back and add a heart in front of the words or something to make it look more centered. :)

And Matt thought this one up... the biohazard symbol on the rear end of the onesie. ;) It'll be perfect for an engineering friend or something (there are people expecting all around us it seems). :)

More Sewing and a Treat

I know I said I wouldn't be loading this blog up with sewing, but I can't help it--it's how I've passed the time the last few days. :)

Today I made a nursing cover for a "baby shower by mail." I need to take my gift to some ladies at church tomorrow so they can put it in a big box to mail on Monday. I made two things, a burp cloth and a nursing cover. Here they are for your viewing enjoyment. :)

Close up of the ribbon I found to match for the straps :)

Close up of the fabrics I chose

Secondly, the treat mentioned in the header. :) That sweet, thoughtful hubby o' mine brought me a surprise on Monday... flowers! He said he intended to have some sent to school the first day, but due to some other things going on the week of pre-planning when he was going to place the order he got a little side-tracked and was not able to accomplish that original plan. Instead, he stopped on his way home the first real day with this sweet bouquet. It has livened up the family room for the past week and been a colorful reminder of his love and care. :)

Embroidering Fool!

On July 7, I ordered the software that allows me to use my embroidery machine to the fullest extent--including embroidering with almost any font installed on my computer (one of my favorite parts)!

Jump 1.5 months later, and the software finally came in! There was a hold up in customs, but I picked up my software and installed it yesterday. Today and tomorrow I am home because school was canceled for Tropical Storm Fay (yea for now, boo for making the days up later... maybe even having to go an extra day before Christmas break). All in all, I am hoping to make the most of the time (though I'd rather be continuing to establish those routines with the kiddos, etc.) by catching up on the pile of things I've been (not always so patiently) waiting to embroider and monogram!

I'll post more on my craft blog about my embroidery adventures than here, but I just had to show you my latest one. Not only do I think it's really cute, and not only does it reference one of my favorite collegiate campaigns, but it's actually CENTERED (that's been my big struggle of the day). Check it out! :)

Top 8

I saw a link to this blog, on which the author is providing topics for people to respond to with lists of 8. I wish I'd caught it a few days ago, but today's is fun, too. :)

Without further ado, 8 things I love (in no particular order):

1. Jesus

2. Matt


3. My family: I have to lump them together, or I'd go way over 8 between my parents, my siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, niece, nephews, and then Matt's family, too! Whew! We are blessed with lots of wonderful people. :)
Here's a shot I *love* of two particularly wonderful people :)


4. Samantha


5. Strawberry lemonade (especially from Chili's)

6. The beach


7. Our friends (again, lumped together ya'll, sorry!)
The picture currently still on the hard drive that included the most friends in one shot :)


8. Successfully making something and it turning out the way I pictured in my head :)

Gifts and Samantha

We are expecting the arrival of our newest niece, Isabella Rose, in a little over a month! I have had a couple little projects in mind for her, but I was holding out until my order of the Husqvarna 4D embroidery software came in. Well, now it doesn't look as though that will happen before I go back to school. So, I decided to go ahead and sew some steps of the projects, and I'll have to go back and embroider later. Isabella's nursery is decorated with sweet ladybugs, so I made a coordinating set of burp clothes to go along with that theme.

You'll have to stay tuned to see what I embroider on them (eventually.... when my software arrives!)

Secondly, Samantha received a really fun gift from my parents. :) It's a huge black bear stuffed animal--only it doesn't have stuffing (except for the head) and it has a squeaker in each leg and its head!

We were sure she would have it torn open in a matter of minutes. But she's never had a toy this big before, and she's been treating it very differently! Sure, she shakes it and bites at it sometimes. She looked like she thought she'd REALLY caught something when we first gave it to her. But now it's like it's her buddy!

We just might need to come up with a name for it with the way she's keeping it around! :) Such a sweet puppy. :)

Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek into some of what we have been up to this week...

The master bathroom! It used to be a kind of faux-finish of pea soup green... along with our avocado green counter, floor tiles, and stripe of avocado green tiles in the shower---too much 1970s green for me! The new color is very happy and bright and brings us much closer to the 21st century. :) Eventually, the door will be a new, white door, too. :)
p.s. Ignore the burned out light bulbs! We'll be putting a new light fixture in here, too, so I haven't worried about replacing them just yet. :)

Welcoming Mom. :)

A really fun pear we found at TJ Maxx. It's covered in artificial leaves. The girl at the check-out flipped out over it and showed the other cashiers because she liked it so much. :) It adds the perfect, fun, quirky, and green touch to our living room. :)

Matt's Final Birthday Party

Matt gets to have 3 birthday parties every year (it's so unfair!). :) This year, we celebrated on his birthday (July 1) with his parents and sister; then we celebrated on Saturday with my family; and lastly, he and I celebrated "just the two of us" this evening. I thought I'd share some pictures from our party. :)

Since we had a themed party back in TN, and he sprung on me yesterday that he wanted his party with me tonight, I got an exemption from thinking up another theme (I did Transformers last year). :) But we had a great time all the same.

I made chicken tortilla soup, bread bowls, and corn on the cob for dinner. As an appetizer when he got home from work, I had his favorite Green (iced) Tea waiting for him with some quesadillas, chips, and a yummy dip.


the bread bowl awaiting the soup



the birthday boy during dinner



pretty vase my birthday bouquet(s) came in now used as a votive holder... see how the design shines through to the tablecloth?



Bitsy's chocolate cake made an appearance! Mmmm mmmm good!



the loot

a cd he wanted

I wonder what this could be?

We like the wii. ;)


His final gift was hidden in the trunk of my car. This is Matt scurrying out to the garage when he figured out the clue I gave him as to the gift's whereabouts.


excited because he knows what it is AND where it is



an air compressor with 3 nailers--every man's dream (j/k)... he really did want it though, so he can finish our/do more crown molding

South Carolina Snapshots

The first part of our vacation (July 27-July 2) we were in South Carolina to visit Matt's family. Our time there included a baby shower for Matt's sister and our niece-to-be, Isabella; a birthday celebration for Matt; wild animals; and a great visit with Matt's best man, Tyson.

Isabella's nursery will be decorated with a ladybug theme, so guess what the theme of the shower was! :) Adorable ladybugs!

the cake

Matt's sister with a ladybug outfit we gave her


One morning, we went with Matt's parents to a kind of zoo/ranch place. We had a picnic lunch and the ranch had all sorts of animals and a wagon ride where the animals all come right up to you for food. I fed a giraffe, and Matt's mom almost lost a finger!

lily pads on the pond surrounding the lemur island

a blue and gold macaw

One evening, Tyson took us to a park his church owns as a ministry to the community. It was dark so my pictures aren't great, but it was BEAUTIFUL! Also, Tyson almost got attacked by an egret (he started it by pestering the mama bird)--fun times. :)

looking into a field


looking out over the river


We also got to celebrate Matt's birthday (July1) with his parents, sister, and his parents' dear friends Bob and Cindy.

Matt's yummy cake

In addition, we had a great lunch with Matt's sister one afternoon, got to see her house's remodeling progress (it looks great!!), all the baby gear she's acquired so far (so cute!), and enjoy a sweet time with his family. It was a wonderful first half of our annual "family tour." :) We can't wait to return early in September (or maybe the end of August???) to meet Isabella!

Some Outside Shots

Here are some more recent pictures of the yard, and Samantha. :)

A flower that popped up last week out of nowhere! :) So bright and happy and PINK!



GRASS IS GROWING and filling in the bare spots! We are SO excited! Matt's vision for a GREEN backyard might actually come true!
Praise the Lord for cleaned up yard debris and especially for much needed rain!


The hanging planter I filled with clippings from the yard (fern, ivy, elephant ears, etc.).
Still going and still growing!


Sammy surveying her yard.


Samantha hunting for lizards among the logs and sticks (from a dead tree we took down). The sticks used to be a neat stack, but the stack was the FIRST place she would run when we let her out. In her attempts to wrangle a lizard, she has managed to completely dishevel Matt's hard work! But BOY does she love to hunt lizards. :) I think she would literally spend hours in that one spot if we let her. Only, it's made her slightly neurotic. Now, even if a stick moves because she paws it, she is *convinced* there is a lizard there and stands guard, pointing, just waiting to make her move. It's pretty cute to watch. :)