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!

Recent projects...

burp clothes, bibs and a tactile blanket for a sweet new baby boy

(the only other name I know for these is the brand name of those

that cost $25 (!!!). Babies are supposed to love to play with the tags)

apron for a dear friend

this is the fifth pattern i've used for aprons and by far my favorite!

you'll see many more of these in the future

finally made some cards
my craft room has been a disaster due to
"organizing," and it's been unavailable for
card making. more on that another day

another set of burp clothes, bibs, and tactile blanket (sailboat pattern)
for another sweet little guy.

Life at 33: Part 2

i am so blessed to have such good friends and family.
and not because they gave me birthday gifts.
but because they give of themselves...often.
whether it's a phone call, a card in the mail, an e-mail or a popup chat on Facebook,
i know that i can always count on them.
~
i posted here about how i spent my birthday and about a few
of the gifts i had received.
here's part two
i was so happy to receive a bookstore gift card from my mother-in-law.
i love books. but i rarely buy them for myself.
especially the ones i really want...the ones that cost $25.
bob watched the kids while i sat oh-so-happily for an hour with a lap full of
books and a tall, non-fat, no-whip, two-pump mocha next to me.
it was oh-so-hard to decide, but i finally decided on this one.
it's cram-packed full of great ideas.
i can't wait to create something from it...in the next few days, we might
just see what one of bob's worn-out dress shirts can become.

while in Portland, i met with my dear friend Jenny.
yeah...that one. the one that creates masterpieces!
she and her family traveled to Malaysia this summer and
she came back with this fabulous piece of fabric for me.
the trim that shows on the right...i gotta figure out how to incorporate
that into whatever i make.
i thought that this fabric was an awesome birthday gift, but then...

... i received this in the mail.
four fards of fabric to play with!
can't wait!

also, while in Portland, i got to see another dear friend, Diana, little miss
smartie pants herself.
she got me a set of mini-albums (photo is near the bottom of the post...oops!)
that i can't wait to fill with photos of my sweet little ones.
she also gave me this box...isn't it cute?
but wait...

...look what happens when you take off the top!
there are three separate sections to attach wallet photos, journaling, etc!
i've never seen anything like this and I CAN'T WAIT TO COPY IT! :)

i was so happy to spend some time (not enough!) with my dear friend, Betty.
she gave me these beautiful hair pins and a coin purse.
i have to hide them from Emma as she loves to play with them!

i had one more package in my big pile of mail when we returned from Portland.
this one was from Jamie ... the mother of sweet little Clara.
i went from having no watches to two awesome handmade watches!!
i love that they are totally different from each other.

yep...here's the albums
and the box? it works great to store my two new watches!

Oh, happy 33!

Cassie...30 is great, but it just gets even better! :)

Part 3: Boring I

This is the view of Mt. Hood from my window as I was driving down the

road towards Boring. When we went out on Monday to set up the tent,

the mountain was barely visible. On Wednesday afternoon,

it was breathtaking.

Can you imagine the view from that mountain top?

Emma's friend Elise.

Elise is 6 and Emma is4 1/2, but Elise is small for her age

and Emma is tall. I was suprised to see that they

are almost the same height.

Ryan's buddies:

Kaden, Zack and Jake (with the praying mantis)

Goofy boys

Best buddies!
They sure do miss each other.

Part 2: Seaside

We spent Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday night and Wednesday morning at Seaside.

Since Dad and Bob aren't fans of the beach, Mom and I have taken the kids for the

past several years. We missed our trip last year due to the fact that we were moving at

the time. So it had been two years since we've been to the beach.

It was a wonderful 24 hours!

Look at that smile!

Off they go.

Mom and Ryan

Oh, that water's cold!

No matter how cold it is, rarely have ten minutes passed before

Ryan is soaked.

My favorite photo of Emma at the beach.

Look at all of that sun!

Me and the kids.

The aquarium in Seaside is quite amazing.

It's nowhere near the size of the one in Newport, but it's been there

for years. Some of the sealife they have in there is incredible.

This one kinda freaks me out.

Ryan loved the touch tanks.

Emma touched the surface of the water. :)

Feeding the seals.

Emma's favorite beach food...clam chowder at Norma's.

Ryan's favorite food anywhere...corn dogs.

...as we walked back down to the beach in the evening.

My favorite photo of Ryan at the beach.

The sunset wasn't that great, but we sat out

and enjoyed it for a while.

Wednesday morning was gorgeous!

Both kids found whole sand dollars just before we left.

Mom and Emmalee

On the way back to Portland, we stopped at Camp 18 for lunch.

Walking down by the river, we noticed this elephant (can you see him

hiding in there?). I've never noticed him before...strange place to see this.

Next stop...Boring, Oregon.