A Handmade Christmas

Just a few projects this year, but I thoroughly enjoyed each one.

As I make something for someone, I love that I often spend the time thinking of them also.

This handstitched (except for the rickrack) wallhanging was for Mom.

As I made it, I remembered each time she'd walk by the one hanging on my wall and tell me that, one day, I'd notice that it was missing and now hanging on her wall. Now she has her own. I was so happy to find this frame (at Micheals); it went so well with

the wallhanging.

My sister-in-law, Ann, received a 22 page 8x8 scrapbook
of her family's photo session with the oh-so-talented Kyla
I love to scrapbook her photos.
These photos brought back memories from
their visit here last summer when Paul and Emma trashed
the house while the two daddies watched them.

My brother-in-law, Greg, got a padded

camo camera bag. As I made this, memories of our summer

trip to La Grande came to mind. It was during this trip that I saw Greg pull his camera out

of the original bubble wrap to take a photo and thought, "Hmmmm, I think he

needs a camera bag."

This little guy and I became great friends.

I made six of him and then neglected to make one for myself. Oops!

This was my largest and probably favorite gift to work on.

I've discovered that I thoroughly love quilting, even as I was in the midst

of the 4500 inches of stitching (machine, thankfully) required to quilt this.

It was supposed to be a lap quilt, but grew into an almost-twin sized quilt.

The design is my own, and I picked out the fabric on my own this time. I usually

enlist Mom's expertise when choosing fabric.

This was for my sister-in-law, Holli. As I sewed it, I pictured her

cuddled on the couch, toasty warm, watching her favorite TV shows.

I just accidently erased the photo of the back of the quilt, and my laptop won't let me

move photos, so this one will have to do. The backing is totally made up of the multi-colored fabric, except for a 4" strip about a third of the way down of the other two prints. You can just see it on the top left of this photo. Once again, I used masking tape to do the quilting and then washed the quilt after it was completed. I love the texture this gives the quilts (and it also means that I don't have to wait while the fabric is prewashing and drying. I'm kinda

impatient to start projects once I get the supplies).

Last, but not least, is a small MP3 bag for my nephew, Jordan.

It will clip to his jeans, backpack, or whatever's handy.

As I was making this, I thought back on all of the fishing weekend

memories Ryan has with Jordan and how lucky they are to have each other.

~~~

Dear Emmalee

Dear Emmalee,

The day you joined our family started just the same way Ryan's first day did...back labor!

But, just like Ryan, you were so worth it.

When we found out we were having a girl, I wasn't sure if you'd be a tomboy since you would be surrounded by so many boys or if you'd be a girly-girl just to spite all of the boys.

We seem to have received the best of both worlds in you...you are one tough little thing with very little fear of anything (except shots, heights, and spiders) with just enough girly-girl added in. You love the color pink, dressing up, doing your hair, and playing with

your dolls. The things that come out of your mouth...sometimes they cause immediate laughter and other times they cause me to stop and wonder where in the world you heard such a thing. You pick things up so quickly and pop them back into conversations at the most interesting times. You never cry, unless you're hurt really bad or if you cause someone else either physical pain or hurt their feelings. You love school...you've made lots of friends, tell us that you are in love with a boy named Sean (because one time, you had only two candy pumpkins and he had four. He gave you one of his, and that was that.), and you honestly cannot believe that your teacher has a husband and a home (she doesn't live at school?).

~~~

Your favorites are reading stories, listening to songs and stories on your CDs, cooking, washing dishes (seriously!), coloring, drawing, playing with your Petshop/Barbies/Polly Pockets/Play Kitchen/Stuffed Animals/Etc., going for walks and bike rides, collecting leaves, going to the mall, making things from paper and fabric, and exploring.

~~~

I love your personality. I never understood how someone's eyes could sparkle until

I met you. When you laugh, you laugh with your everything...that deep belly laugh that spreads to everyone else in the room. Your imagination is amazing. You can play very contentedly all on your own with your toys for hours...playacting the entire time. I love to listen in on the conversations you have with your toys. When your brother is being nice to you, you love to play with him. Sometimes, when you get in trouble by me or Daddy, you'll turn to Ryan for comfort. Then, you'll both look over your shoulder at us like it's all our fault and it's the two of you against the world. I honestly don't mind when this happens because it shows that the two of you can stick together and support each other.

~~~

Emma, I love you and know that we are so blessed to have the priviledge of

being your family...of watching you learn and grow as a person. Today, you turn six. You're not our little baby or toddler anymore. You are your own little person with your own thoughts and feelings. But I love that you still fit in my lap, that you ask me to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "Tell Me the Story of Jesus," and "Mathew, Mark, Luke and John" every night while rubbing your back, that you still call me Mommy and your hand is still so little compared to mine.

~~~

{Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!}

Dear Ryan

Dear Ryan,

I simply cannot believe that you are ten years old today!

I think back on this day in 2000...I woke up to terrible back labor at

8 a.m. that lasted until the second epidural kicked in at around 4 p.m.

I remember hoping that you were worth all of the pain and...you were!

~~~

It has been so worth it to watch you grow from a tiny little 6 lb 10 oz serious

little newborn, to a chubby, laughing six month old, to a little one walking around at ten months, to a toddler who was so much fun to be with, to a four-year-old big brother who

doted on his little baby sister, to a five year old kindergartener who loved school, and then on through six, seven, eight, nine and now ten!

~~~

At ten, you love to read, often reading for an hour or two at a time. You've read just about every book in the house, including your dad's. You love to race go-carts to Fast Lane. Hop got you interested in racing, and you sure took to it! You are most often second only to Hop (but you came in first on Dec 24th!). I dread the day you start learning to drive...we'll have to have a serious talk about the difference between the controlled environment at the race track and the open road. You love to play sports....football, baseball, soccer...anything that requires throwing balls and running. Since moving here, you'd discovered the local college team and have become quite the football fan. This year, you made it to two regular season games and

the bowl game. You love to play with Sandy...you often come in from playing with her and say, "I love that dog! I never want to not have her." You love playing with and terrorizing your sister. When you're nice to her, it's so very sweet. She comes to you for comfort when she gets in trouble, she asks you questions knowing you'll know the answer, she loves to wrestle with you and have sword fights. When you are not so nice to her...well, we'll work on that. You enjoy spending time with your dad at Scouts. I'm so glad that you have that to share. You are a very active, interesting, well-rounded ten-year-old.

~~~

I've seen a lot of change in you this year...you've matured into a more responsible person and have learned how to (usually) handle disappointments. You've learned to be more considerate of others around you. You've learned that our family, the house, and the dog are responsibilities that we all share.

~~~

Ryan, this morning at breakfast it came up that you'd be twenty years old

after another ten years pass...and it made my heart stop for a moment. We have less than ten years left with you here at home. And if the next ten years go as fast as the last, we'd better enjoy ever moment!

~~~

I love you and am so very thankful that our family has been

blessed with you.

~~~

Happy Birthday!

Happy Holidays

To Do:

Spend time with family

Celebrate a couple of important birthdays

Enjoy the holiday season

~~~

See you on Monday!

~Merry Christmas to all~

Out With the Ugly, In With the Old

I know, strange title for a blog post.

And I hope that no one that reads my blog has this same light fixure. If so,

please forgive me. But I think it's extremely ugly. It's got this weird spot light

that goes straight down and then eight more light bulbs that have to be constantly changed.

And it really doesn't "fit" in the rest of the house.

Our house is a '70s house...it's got a big pot-bellied stove in the

living room, lots of dark cabinets and paneling in the kitchen (which will hopefully disappear in the spring)...and this light did not fit.

Max and Amanda have been remodeling their '70s home, and had a light fixure to

dispose of. I remember loving this when I first saw it hanging in their house years ago, years

before we bought this house. So, when Max asked if anyone wanted it, I asked for it.

As soon as Bob walked in the house from work today, I asked him to switch them.

(I gotta get all of this done now since tax season starts in less than a month!)

~~~

So, don't you agree? This looks so much better in our house.

~Our Weekend~

{Nana holding Brandon}

Our weekend was a busy one with Ryan's overnight Scout

event on Friday (no photos). Em and I stayed home and made banana splits (maybe more on

that another day). Mom and I did a bit of shopping on Saturday while Bob and Ryan went to the Humanitarian Bowl and Emma spent the afternoon at Wyatt's (still no pictures).

~~~

Sunday evening, dear friends of our family were passing through on their way

to their holiday destinations. This sweet family is as close to being part

of ours as you can be...all of us that know them count them as our own.

In September, two new additions joined their family of three.

And, oh, are they sweet!

Emma and Clara had a grand time playing in Emma's room and

running around the house. When these two get together, it's pretty hard to

get them apart.

Clara calls Dad, "Grandpa Hop."
They share a pretty special relationship.

This little guy is Aaron...the first born of the twins.

He's a mover, let me tell you.

He's just about 3.5 months and just about ready to roll over.

Ryan loves babies, so he had a blast playing with TWO of them!

My favorite photo of Ryan with the boys.

He and Aaron were just checking each other out.

Brandon, Aaron, and Ryan

I had to include this because, somehow, I only got ONE photo of these boys'

amazing Mommy! How is that possible? Next time, Jamee, next time!

Brandon and Aaron

They were so cute when they'd lay by each other.

They'd end up holding hands or locking arms.

One time, one of them was actually sucking on the other one's fingers.

Ryan and Brandon

This is what happens when you ask Hop to come

in and play! You turn into a couple

sacks of potatoes!

Ryan and Aaron

Emma, Hop and Clara

Adam and Clara

Emma and Brandon

She told me she was "so stinkin' excited" to hold the baby.

Sweet!

They look good on us, yes? :)

A very talented man!

Emma took this photo of Amanda feeding

Aaron. She ended up putting him to sleep.

And one last photo by Emma.

~~

Consignment Shopping

There's a wonderful new consignment store just down the road from us.

It is stocked full of beautiful furniture, shelves, mirrors, and some items

that people have refinished.

I stopped in yesterday and found a few treasures.

The box shown above is wooden, with two lids on top that open.

It was already painted like this...just perfect to store Emma's

doll clothes.

My handmade cards have always been kept in a photo box.

No more!

This is an antiqued, wooden thingy-ma-jig (yep, that's the techinical term)....

...with three drawers inside...

...just the perfect size to hold my 5.5" x 4.25" cards.

I've been looking for a headboard for Ryan for quite some time now.

I wanted one that was solid wood and it had to have shelves.

Perfect!!

I love how these doors close up and hide any mess he might have in there.

Just give it time...it'll be a mess! :)