It has been an interesting weekend.

First, I was doing some laundry. Our laundry is out in the garage and as I bent over to pick up some clothes to throw into the washer, I saw this right next to my dirty laundry:

how would I have felt if that thing was under the clothes and started crawling on my arm! I was creeped out. Jeff got him and put him on the fence in the back of the yard. He stayed all day and then disappeared after the sun went down. There is also a mouse in the garage, I will have to take care of him some other time.

I love nature but it belongs outside, not in my home.

We also took the kids to Lowes for one of their kids build and grow workshops. They got to make pirate ships:

You should have seen Hayden going to town with a hammer.  The boys did a great job and I look forward to going back and doing some other workshops there with the kids.

Now they want to build a fort in the back yard.

We even got some cool aprons. I checked out some books last week on embroidery. I thought I would give it a try with the apron and see if I could put their names on them. I figured it I messed it up then I could get another apron next time we attend a workshop.

I tried my best to embroider hayden’s name using the zig zag stitch on the sewing machine. But let me tell you curves are hard and Landon’s name seems harder with that “o”.

Here is close up of the name. It is not that great and something is slightly off center (maybe I should have used a ruler instead of just eyeballing it). I finally had a break though with the machine on letter “E”. And then I realized it may be a bit easer and look a little better if I actually use embroidery thread. Go figure that one. But not too bad for my first attempt at embroidery on the sewing machine using only my darning foot and  hand drawn letters.

Now, how to make those curves smoother?

I fixed the problem with the web page that was causing firefox to load it incorrectly.

It totally amazes me how leaving out one < sign messed the whole thing up. but it did not mess up internet explorer. Hmmmmmmm.........................

I let the boys loose on youtube. Armed with a web came and a Go Fish cd this is what you get:

Go fish dance off– take two

we make quite a fine dance team!

OH but it gets so much better: Landon’s video

But there is more –Hayden’s Video:

I am going out on limb here but I you may not have been interested in these videos what so ever.

I like to keep a supply of projects for me to accomplish around the house.  I don’t particularly like to sit around with nothing to at least think about doing. That way when I accomplish something, I feel a little better.  Unfortunately my projects take a while to accomplish and I have many WIPs!  here is the latest and greatest project which is only half finished:

I started this quilt a few weeks ago. I say it is only half finished because it needs to be quilted. I was going to start quilting it but then I realized I only bought half the amount of fabric needed for the back and at $10 a yard, lets just say I am out of money until payday. I am not sure what I was smoking when I only bought 1.5 yards for the back.  Sadly had I realized I needed another 1.5 yards, I could have purchased it a few weeks ago when they were having a 30% off sale.  now I have to pay full price (ouch!)

well, now that I really think about it, that is only $15 plus tax– that certainly is not going to break my bank. I just get a bit paranoid every time I walk into that store. they are very persuasive sales ladies and I am prone to over indulging in fabric.  I could go on about this quilt but I will just stress that fabric is an expensive habit.

as I was working on this particular project I came across the word: Handicraft. Although this word is not unfamiliar to me, it struck me that quilting/sewing is a handicraft. I guess I just never thought of it in that way.

well, then I thought about some handicrafts that I would like to teach the children. And then it occurred to me that I had absolutely zero interest in this stuff when I was a kid. Oh, not that my mother did not try. I remember cross stitching a few things, but never stuck with anything. I was a little flightly back then.  The things I could have made if I had only started when I was younger.

Here is just a sample of the fabric selection for my next quilt (which I have already started on!)Again I am realizing I did not buy enough fabric for the back– I will just have to go back to that wonderful store.

I am actually just trying to see how many quilts I can make this year so I can justify to Jeff why I need a new Bernina sewing machine.

–Kristi

As we were ending our celebration of fathers day yesterday, something rather funny happened with Hayden which sparked some fatherly words of wisdom from Jeff.

Hayden was being silly and somehow fell and hit his head on the brick wall of the house. He was crying and had a bit of a bump on his head. He was blaming the wall for hurting him and Jeff had these words of wisdom to offer him:

“son,  you will lose everytime”

I hope I can come up with some words of wisdom that good to offer my children in the future!  You never know when they might need some.

-Kristi

Do you have dream trip/vacation you would like to take? Or how about just some place you would like to visit?

I do and apparently so does Landon.

I would love to take a year (or more) and hop in an RV and tour the country.  See every national park, put my feet in the pacific ocean, see the fall colors of the northeast, sip coffee on the empire state building, snorkle in key west, maybe climb part of Mt. Mckinley….  I may never get to do these as one continuous trip but I would like to see it all one day. Plus is it is hard to see Hawaii in an RV.

As for Landon, he wanted to know if he could leave this year with Santa and go to the north pole.  He want to ride on the sleigh, see the elves and make some toys.  Unfortunately, I told him NO! I would miss him too much. I hate to be a dream crusher!

I think he needs to come up with a new trip. Possibly one we could do this year.

–Kristi

Grandma had the kids for a few days and took them to have their pictures made by a professional.

They did turn out very nice.

Apparently they were having trouble getting carley to smile and Hayden really wanted to push the button and take a picture. This was causing some problems.

They even got some new clothes to boot–I really like all the cute outfits she finds. I told mom all the time that nobody has her fashion sense. She always finds the best stuff and she looks good in everything. She finds the best stuff for the kids also.

Just look at this cute number.  Too precious.

I just love to have these type of photos done.  They will be treasured memories.

We lost an old and dear companion this weekend.

This post is dedicated to the best cat in the world: Tigger.  May 8, 1997 to May 22, 2009.

He was never short on love, even as he grew old and weak.

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he never grew tired of giving affection. Even if you did not want it.

He was a traveler and adapted well, where ever he was.

Once he was frightened by an oven mitt and was attacked by a mocking bird.

Rest in Peace dear friend. We will miss you.

So we have a new superhero in the family.

Its supergirl. Sporting her cape and saving her brothers from future disasters.

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Don’t get too close.. she does not have full control over those powers just yet and she may cry at any moment.

We spent the past week in Amarillo. While we there touring the big city, we decided to visit Palo Duro Canyon, which by the way, is the second largest canyon in the US and a short drive from Amarillo. So for mothers day we headed out for a day of hiking and Geocaching in the park.

Did you know that read men wear PINK! That is right and you heard it here first. When we arrived in
in Amarillo, it seems that I forgot that Amarillo is 250 miles north of Midland and it is in a different climate zone and …… I forgot to check the weather! It was cold. Or rather at least cool enough I needed a jacket. Well, at the beginning of May, in any town, it is quite difficult to find jackets of any type for any one and sometimes you just have to wear what you can find. So the boys got pink!

With stars and flowers!

Jeff is rarely cold.  Sometimes I think he is like a cold blooded lizard and just adapts to his environment.

Palo Duro Canyon.

Hiking around and checking out some birds.

They just could not get enough it. The boys probably would have hiked  and climbed all day!

Future naturalist right here!

And then we stumbled upon this giant piece of art work. Don’t ask me any questions about it because it was much too cold for me to even get out of the car.

Overall, we really enjoyed Amarillo and the Canyon was simply beautiful. Looking forward to going back again in the future.

you think Landon would have learned his lesson the first time.

I just don’t know what that boy is thinking sometimes.

this is why we don’t have markers at our house.