Hello Strangers!

It has indeed been a very long time since I last sat in front of this screen and shared what has been going on in our little world. As I look back, it has been since before Christmas, last year!!! It has been crazy busy around here.

Well, here are a few highlights to catch you up!

We finally got to meet our sweet, little niece Sophia. We had been waiting so long to meet this face, little did she know that her cousin Amara was going to transform her into a butterfly fairy princess!

Remember those Olivia pants I made a few posts back, well I think they were a huge hit!

We had a great time spending Christmas and New Years at Grandma and Papa's place in Arizona, and really loved that M & M and Sophia made the long trek all the way from Jersey! Grandma and Papa definitely spoiled all of us with love, gifts, and fantastic trip to San Diego. All nine of us, six adults, three children in carseats, and 3 dogs all piled into a passenger van and headed west so we could experience the incredible San Diego Zoo and Sea World. We all had such a great time, we can't wait for us all to be together so we can do it all over again!

 I think everyone can relate to this photo. It sure is a hard knock life for these guys! Vacationing is tuff stuff.


With the new year, we have been making time to Tebow (lol),

we have been enjoying singing songs and playing guitar in our family jam sessions,

and the littlest one has been working hard, practicing her steps.

Here I go...

I think I can, I think I can...

I know I can, I know can...

Yay!!! Success!

Monster Toddler :)

It is so awesome watching little Ani get around all in her last week of being 10 months! She really loves her new wheels and hasn't stopped yet.

As if we are not busy enough, we have a new member to the family.

meet Kira. We rescued this scared, mal-nourished, flea and tick infested little girl, got her all cleaned up, gave her some serious love and affection. It's a unanimous decision, she is here to stay!

Until next time..

...enjoy your weekend!

60 Years Young!

Happy Birhtday Mom!

WE love you very much. Thank you for all you do and thanks for being the best Gran Gran!

Recent Projects

The holidays are officially here, and that means that the procastination must come to a stop. With all the traveling that we have been doing, and will be doing, time is running out! I have managed to whip a few things together.

Project #1, Pants for Ani

I sewed Little Ani another pair of pants. I sacrificed my favorite, old, green hoodie so my sweet little will stay warm and cozy.

First, I cut off the sleeves and then I cut off the bottom of the hoodie to be used as the waistband.

All I did was sew the two sleeves together to make the pants and then I attached the bottom of the hoodie to make the waistband and Voila, new pants for Ani!

Project #2, Pants for Sophia!

We finally get to meet our little east coast niece, Sophia, this Christmas and we are very excited! So since I am on a pant kick, why not make some super comfy pajama pants for Sophie.

I used some fabric that I had leftover from another pair of pajama pants that I made for Kendall. The fabric is very soft, white, furry, and oh so comfy! I learned that one her favorite characters is Olivia the Pig, so I decided to incorporate her onto Sophie's p.j.s.

I traced a pair of pajama bottoms and then cut the pieces out.

I found a photo of the pig and drew her out. I traced the head and the body was done free-handed. I then cut Olivia into three pieces. I sewed/embroidered her head onto a piece of pink fleece fabric ontop of a piece of felt. I then sewed the pink felt legs to the fleece body. She was complete! Now I pinned her to the outside of the right pant leg (sorry I don't have photos, I'm bummed too!).

Finished product...

I think she's going to like them, I sure do!



Project #3, Christmas tree skirt

Nothing fancy here. I just used up some fabric from stockings I made last Christmas. I cut up the rest of the fat quarter into fours and made a patchwork tree skirt. I backed it with some white cotton/linen.



Our Christmas Tree!



Farewells

On my last day in St. Louis, I learned that my grandfather was not doing well, and not expected to spend many more days with us. So the girls and I went to be with my Mom, who was flying out the next day to be by her father's side with her sisters. The girl's and I would continue our drive to El Paso to pick up my sister and her girls, and then continue on to my aunt and uncle's ranch. This was to be our meeting place before the services took place. The bright side to funerals is being able to see all those who are very dear to you, family. What a truly beautiful and peaceful place it is. It was exactly what everyone needed, a quiet place to be together.

We had some good times...

And even better farewells.

We love you Papo!

Happy Thanksgiving!



I hope that everyone enjoyed their turkey day and was able to spend it with loved ones. We certainly enjoyed ours!
Our celebration began on Wednesday when Gran Gran arrived!

We were able to stay on track just long enough to get our 2 pumpkin pies made.

We broke a long lasting tradition this evening, we decided that it is a ridiculous rule that you have to wait until after Thanksgiving dinner to eat these delicious pumpkin pies. So here's to a new tradition, pumpkin pie anytime!

Our Thanksgiving dinner.

The perfect ending to a perfect day! Enjoy your weekend and each other!



Meet Me in St. Louie!

This was my first time flying with children. This was the first time my children have ever flown on an airplane. Let's just say I was a little nervous. I made sure that I was the prepared mama, who had everything she needed, because I refused to be "that mama" who had the screaming children on the plane. I understand these situations can't be helped, but I at least had to try to be ready. We waved bye- bye to Gran Gran and then we were on our own. The flight went surprisingly smoothly! The only bad thing was the fact that I WAY over packed. All the carry-ons that I brought, all the heads that got smacked as I walked down the aisle with 2 children and 3 bags hanging off my body, good lord!

Welcome to St. Louis!

These are the two lovelies that picked us up,

Luci and Hollyn!

St. Louis proved to be a fun and vibrant city designed for the people. There was this amazing hands on museum, The City Museum. It was more like a piece of art.

Alex, Amara, and Hollyn

You can actually climb in all these metal "tubes". It takes you up into different levels, where you can find systems of caverns, a wooden tree fort, ramps made for feet sliding, a circus show, aquarium, an art area. Just levels and levels, 10 stories to be exact with roof top ferris wheel and 10 story slide, not to mention all the other slides located throughout the museum, and a bar, AMAZING!

You can climb in all of this!

There's even an area for the youngins.

We also paid a visit to the Butterfly House

It was so hot and humid!

Beautiful orchids!

This one was bigger than my hand and so spectacular!

Also,

The St. Louis Zoo-Free to the public, and absolutely amazing!

No trip to St. Louis would be complete without a visit to The Arch.

View from the top!

We had such a great time. It always goes by too fast when I am with these folks. Lou and Al have been in my life for...years...and now we have kids that also love one another.

Thank you so much, we love you guys and miss you already!