Just a bit of blue and orange

Ryan and Bob went to their first BSU game this past Saturday.

They had a great time!

It was Carson's birthday, so that made it even better!

Happy Birthday!

Dear Mom,

As I sit here and try to think of all you mean to all of us, it gets

a bit overwhelming. You see, you mean so much!

I love that you are always there...with a listening ear, a hug,

sound advice, always willing to spend time with me.

Bob appreciates so much the support we know we can always

count on from you. There's never been a moment of friction between

the two of you because you have always respected each other.

I can remember back almost ten years ago...you took time off work

to come to Portland to welcome Ryan. He took his own sweet time, arriving just twelve

hours after you had to leave for home. But, oh, did you ever love that little guy!

I remember you reading him story after story (you are the book nanny!),

getting down on the floor to play with him, you and Dad taking him for walks in the wagon, how you wanted to be called Grammy but changed it to Nana when we discovered he could say it! And it hasn't changed...you love that not-so-little guy so much...and he loves you right back! And, Emma, oh, Emma. To her, you are "Nanny." To her, you are the one

who loves plants (and lets her water them) who's always ready and willing to read to her, play with her, teach her... You're one of the few she'll cry for when you leave.

To all of us, you are one of our favorite people!

~~~

Happy birthday...may there be MANY more!

The Bag Lady

I think I'll call her "The Bag Lady."

She loves bags, but she prefers not to make them herself.

She's busy making quilts...gorgeous quilts.

So, I guess it's okay.

She already had a handmade bag, but now she's got

a couple more.

Her birthday is tomorrow...but she got a couple of early gifts this year.

~~

This bag is BIG (and her gift from me). It's perfect for traveling...large enough to hold a knitting project, a large water bottle, a magazine or two, a book, camera, MP3 player...and I still don't think it would be full.

It has a large main compartment with two good size pockets,

and there's another pocket on the outside...perfect for those magazines.

Her husband commissioned a bag...another from my favorite pattern.
This is the first one made with the contrasting fabric on the outside band.

LOVE the fabric!

And just because we love her so much...there's a camera bag...

...a card holder...perfect for those coffee shop and quilt shop loyalty cards

(I believe there may have been a gift card slipped inside)...

(This is a ten minute project...and so fun!)

...and a travel sewing kit to match the big bag.

Our Weekend ~ Part 5 - Pumpkin Carving

{Pumpkin Carving}

{Emma's ~ Ryan's}

~~

I guess you know it's a good weekend when it takes five days to

show/tell about it! We've got another busy one coming up...

birthday parties, Mom and I are going scrapbooking for her birthday,

and Bob and Ryan finally get to go to their first BSU game.

Happy weekend!

Our Weekend ~ Part 4 ~ Trick-or-Treating

Greg, Amy and the kids came over after meeting for some warm soup,

scary punch (courtesy of Greg) and trick-or-treating.

We had a puppy,

a pink leapord, a bat,

a fairly disgusting zombie, and a robot.

"Trick-or-Treat!"

"Hmmm...what shall we sample first?"

Counting their loot....

It was a beautiful night for taking an after dark walk.

The kids didn't even have to cover their costumes with coats!

Our Weekend ~ Part 3 ~ A Perfect Fall Evening

{A Perfect Fall Evening}

Did you ever have one of those days that was just perfect?

After the birthday party on Saturday, Em and I headed back to Mom and Dad's house.

Mom, Dad, Bob and Ryan were there, working both in and out of the house.

It was warm, sunny, and the air smelled like warm leaves...you know smell that

just says, "Fall!"

It's days like these that make me so thankful for the inventor of the camera.

I wondered around Mom's beautiful yard, capturing the beauty of the Fall flowers.

This past summer, the kids spent a couple of weekends on "the poor farm,"
as Dad likes to call it. They had an ongoing project to work on. A portion
of land on the edge of the yard used to be all garden. With both of them working,
it's just too much work to have two large gardens. So, they one end for cucumbers and
zuchinni's, the other for wild flowers, and they planted lawn in the middle. The kids
helped clear the land, rake it, plant the seeds, rake it again, and plant it again.
Once the lawn was established, they helped dig the hole for the fire pit.
Ryan helped cut the wood for our evening fire and lit it for us.
I'm so appreciative of my parents who keep this property, even though it's
a lot more than they need now, so the kids can have these experiences.

Em is always so eager to work.
As soon as there's a job to do, she's ready to roll!


I love this place!
It will always be home to me.


Peaking through the lilac bushes at my boys playing catch.
Ryan has recently picked up his mit and ball rather than his football...man,
can that boy catch and throw! We might be spending
a bit of time next Spring watching baseball games.

I can't even express what it means to me

when Dad sits down with the kids and they talk.

Em and her Nanny

Betcha can't tell where Em gets her smile!

We took quite a few trips back and forth between the

fire pit and the house. Every time I walked through here, it looked

different. The sun set a little more, the shadows were longer...

Dad does not like me to take photos of him, but I sneak them

in every once in a while. There's always a story behind them.

On this one, Dad had picked two ears of corn off of a stalk. He opened

them up and explained to the kids that each stalk grew two ears, and each kernal on

the cob would produce two stalks (hope I'm getting this right!). They were

amazed by how much corn would come from one ear.

Emmalee and Ryan had just finished picking two buckets of carrots from

Mom's garden. While they were talking, you can just barely see

the fat carrot Emma is chomping on. She declared it the best carrot ever!

Isn't it gorgeous?

It's such a different view with the old Maple tree gone.

Our sweet family on the old rake.

Later that evening, we had Violet, her granddaughter Desiree, her friend Brian,

and Randy over for a fire pit BBQ. Desiree brought over three pumpkins she'd carved (more on

those once it's dark!).

A brief interlude for more sunset/flower photos.

(You might say that my trips back and forth took a bit longer than they should have!)

This is Desiree. To really age myself, I'll tell you

that I babysat Desiree, her sister and her cousins when she was an infant!

Emma took to her right away...always concerned if she wasn't in sight.

Here I am with Desiree and her cousin Amanda when I was in high school. Yikes!

The birthday girls...Desi, Violet, and Mom

I never get tired of looking west from Mom and Dad's in the evening!

We feasted on brauts, hot dogs, homemade chili, seven layer dip

and chocolate birthday cake.

Desi told the story of the purple gorilla, Randy read a Patrick McManus

story to us off of his cell phone (oh, technology!), and birthday advise

was exchanged.

It was a perfect evening.