Fabulous Fall Weekend

What a beautiful weekend it was.

Saturday found Ryan at the airport with Uncle Max working on airplanes

and Em and I heading out to the country for a horse birthday party.

(Bob spent a restful weekend at home...those will be in short supply soon!)

Emma's dear friend Ember celebrated her

fifth birthday with some friendly cowpokes and the

cutest horse cake I've ever seen.

Click on her name up above in blue for a much

more imaginative description of the party than I can

come up with!

Dawson and Gage

Isn't it cute?!

Em and Em

There were a couple of bank robbers running around.

The cowpokes out looking for the lost horses.

Remey

All of the horses are rounded up!

Happy birthday, Ember!

Ember holding up the owl nightgown

from me and Em.

I love to see boys being boys!

Gift bag with legs.

Em and Dee Anne

Checking out the tic-tac-toe game.

Sunday morning

Mom and Dad came over for dinner on Sunday.

It's been so long since we've seen Dad that he was

able to grow a full beard! Neither of the kids

have ever seen him with one (the last one we remember was

in 1998 when Bob and I got married); it was funny to

watch Emma look at Hop, trying to figure out

what was on his face.

(The photos of the Mom with the kids are on her camera).

Is it easier...

to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission?

~~~

So, here's what happened?

Last night, Bob asked if I'd get him some

Chicken Tortilla soup.

Bob rarely asks for anything other than what I normally

buy, so Emmy and I set off this morning to our

local, friendly Fred Meyer store after

dropping Little Guy off at school.

~~~

We like to make a quick stop by the kids' book section, pick up a

few and let Emmy look at them as I drive her around in the cart.

This keeps her contained and entertained while I shop.

Great for both of us!

~~~

Now, if you know me, you know that I like to save money!

My favorite place to shop is Goodwill and some of the

wonderful consignment shops here in town.

So, since Freddies was having a 70% off of the lowest clearance price

sale, I had to look at everything, right?

(Say, "Yes!")

~~~

Furthermore, if you're my husband, you know that I have just enough pairs of shoes...

I don't collect shoes. But you also know that most of my dress shoes are

from when I worked in an office (1998-2002).

And I love boots!

~~~

So, there I was going through the shoe aisle...

when I saw them!!!

I've always wanted a pair of brown riding boots.

But there was only one pair.

But...oh wait...they're in my size!!

And they are brown.

And they are leather.

And they fit.

And they were normally $100.

And they cost of $20 now!!!

How can I pass that up?

Obviously I didn't!

~~~

So, when I got home I e-mailed Bob to tell him what I'd done. Yes, it's only $20, but I have a terrible time spending money on myself...I always feel guilty. I explained what I had done...

and here's his reply:

SHAME ON YOU!!!!!

But the soup makes it ok.

I guess I still love you

So, in the end, I have the perfect pair of boots for me at an awesome price, Bob said it's o.k. ,

and I remembered the soup.

Ryan decided that he'd like to join Cub Scouts.

After a couple of weeks, he thoroughly loves it.

He's excited to spend more time outdoors and

loves to work towards earning his patches.

Since Ryan was having his photo taken,

Emma had to have hers taken also.

She's been listening to Ryan memorize his

Cub Scout stuff, so now she'll stop in the middle of playing

and recite a made-up Cub Scout pledge.

It usually contains, "When I'm old enough, I'm

gonna be a Brownie and sell cookies!"

We took a walk to Ryan's school this past weekend

to enjoy the sunny Fall day.

Bob and Ryan enjoyed a game of soccer.

Emma made a couple of new friends

and played on the play structure.

Love days like these!

I love fat quarters!

I found myself with a pile of fat quarters and a few ideas.

Here's what they became...all very easy and fun projects.

Tic-Tac-Toe anyone?

This was made with three fat quarters.

Comes with it's own drawstring bag.

Add a little velcro to the board and the back

of the playing pieces and you have

a great traveling game!

I found the idea a few months ago on

another blog...for the life of me, I can't

find it again to give credit where it is due!

I found these two fabrics at Craft Warehouse and LOVED them!

I made eight coasters and have enough

fabric to make four more.

All are floral on one side and polka-dotted on the other.

When Mom and I went to this wonderful
event last February (oh, we hope there's another
one soon...hint, hint!!!), each of us won
some far quarters. Mom gave me the ones she
won, and I was able to make Emma a skirt with
just three fat quarters.

Close-up of the print.
So nice to have my machine and be able to
do something besides just a straight stitch!
~~
On to birthday presents now.

Cowgirl boots and pigtails

for Nana...

Days like these...

All this fun...

...for just the price of a clothes basket.

And the winner of the apron is...

the Hilarious Hyena.

I just happened to receive your new address recently...I'll get the apron in the mail ASAP!

Thanks for all of the wonderful comments about grandparents or others that have
helped to mold you into the person you are today!

A little honesty

Quite a while ago, Cassie of Dandelion Bones posted about taking photos
of how things really look. You know...taking pictures of your kids playing with
the unfolded laundry laying on the couch in the background with books and toys spread around. Life as it really is.
~~
I don't like my house to be a mess.
Let me rephrase that...I don't like people to see my house when it's a mess.
I've even ignored the doorbell is the house is just too big of a mess to be
presentable. (I often ignore the doorbell if I'm home alone with the kids...call first!!)
My craft room is upstairs where no one really needs to even see it.
Until I got my new sewing machine and Ryan started taking
each and every guest on a tour of my messy craft room to show them the
sewing machine.
And it was a mess! It holds all of my scrapbooking, cardmaking, and sewing supplies along with the boxes of photos from years past to scrapbook and craft supplies for the kids. Just before this first photo was taken, I had decided to rearrange the room.
Well...it stayed a disaster for a while. I even made Cassie's birthday apron with just
the desk clean...completely surrounded by a disaster!
So, here's my "honestly" photo.
And this is just one corner.

A few weeks ago, I put aside all of the projects that I
wanted to work on and, instead, worked on cleaning and organizing
my craft room.
Here's how it is now...

Emma's desk on the left, my old ewing machine (just in case), shelves with
fabric, drawers with sewing patterns and supplies and lastly, drawers with my
rubber stamps.

Emma's corner with all of her supplies.
One reason that I have time to sew and work on other crafts is
because Emma loves to sit and work at her little desk while I work at mine.
Or, she'll work on the corner of mine while I work there also.

I originally had two desks in the room...one for sewing and one for scrapbooking.
I decided to just have one. To change from sewing to scrapbooking, I just unplug
the machine and put it under the desk where my scrapbooking bag sits now.
The tall bookcase is mostly card and scrapbooking supplies and works-in-progress.

I love where the desk is now.
This room has a huge picture window that looks over the front lawn.
It's not the best room for a bedroom as the window does not open (it gets a
bit stuffy) and I always worry that the kids are going to end up
on the sidewalk down below.
As a craft room, the window is wonderful because it lets in tons of natural light.
~~~
Now that it's September, my Christmas gift crafting starts.
I can't wait to spend lots of time in my clean!!! room creating...

Two for Tea

This sweet little apron is called "Tea for Two."

According to the pattern, a woman found one that

belonged to her grandmother, and in the pocket of the

apron was the pattern.

~~~

If you'd like it to be yours, please post a short comment

with a favorite memory of your grandmother or any

one from the "older" generation that has had an impact on your life.

We'll pick a winner and post it on Monday, September 21st.

~~~

If you're posting as "Anonymous", please include your first name and last initial

in the comment so I know who you are!