thank heavens it came

I have a huge pile of unfinished or unstarted projects in my sewing closet that are just sitting there waiting for me.

I am sitting here waiting for them.

I threw out my back last Friday and haven't been able to stand up straight or walk without looking suspiciously old for my age.

It's TERRIBLE!
Sitting hurts.  Laying hurts.  Sweeping HURTS!
I am a little out of sorts when I can't sweep.

I went to the doctor Friday morning and will be going again today.  I can't wait to be better.
I took the kids with me.
I felt extremely self conscious walking into the office with a wince on my face, but Emerson broke the ice by announcing, "Mom, your legs are bright!  Well, actually, kinda yellowish."
 

The weather is awesome.

It finally came and I can't wait to not be hobbling around so I won't miss evening walks, summer sprinklers, trips on foot to the bakery, etc.

The fun has started.

That cute daddy of ours finally found himself a tractor.

I see a future of endless fun.

 

I concocted a sprinkler using my drying rack so the kids could have hours of endless fun while I let my bright legs soak up something a little less yellowish.

 

 

Good grief, they are so fun. 

the corner

Grandma White crochets a blanket for each of her grandkids.

Ida's purple blanket arrived at our house a few days after her birth. 

I was so happy to have it for tradition's sake.

I am one who likes weeping willows, Thanksgivings in the basement, white chapels on the corner of a dusty intersection, a glass of lemonade on the backporch swing, and Sunday afternoon dinners.

But, what I didn't know at the time is that Grandma was sending me a piece of Ida.

Once she saw the blanket so never put it down.....not even now.....4 years later.

She would spend afternoons before naptime wrapped in it.

Mid mornings snuggled with it.

It goes to church, to the beach, to the grocery store, and to the fair.  It's been dragged around the yard, through the car, and even in the garden...yikes!  It's her buddy.

She loves it!  

Her favorite part is her "corner."  It has fallen apart many times and I have tied it back as best as possible.

For Ida's second birthday, I think, I asked Grandma to crochet a small blanket that we could pull around and tuck into the diaper bag. 

It was the best gift! 

So I thought.  She rejected it because it didn't come with a corner. 

After coming home from church with blanket in tow this weekend I decided to make a corner for Ida's small blanket.  I took some matching yarn and crocheted a chain off one corner.

I thought it was an AWESOME idea!

I finally tricked her...hee hee.

REJECTED!

It lasted a few days.

wet

It's been raining for days.

We will take the wet.

We can handle the cold.

But we don't like it cold and wet.

We have been keeping busy inside.

I'll let you know about some of it later.

But, for now, there is a new pattern in the shop. 

A requested pattern.

Take a peek!

I used it again

Do you remember this fabric?

I still can't believe I found it at Walmart for $2 a yard. 

I really wanted more so I went and snooped my way into finding three more yards for $1.50 a yard.  Wahoo!

To my terrible surprise, however, one of the Walmart workers told me Walmarts EVERYWHERE are doing away with carrying fabric in their stores.  WHAT?  Oh, that is just so sad.  Not that they always carried the best fabric around, just that I could always seem to find a diamond in the rough for a super fantastic price.

Oh well.

Anyway, I was lucky enough to have another reason to use these yards of flowered cuteness.

Way back in February I was hanging out with my 6 year old niece and she asked me to draw a picture of a girl with curly hair.  I obliged and drew, using pen, what I would have imagined as a little red haired girl wearing a vintage frock and striped knee socks.  She loved the picture so much that she asked me to make a doll just like the picture for her birthday.

Um, I make dolls, but not curly haired dolls in frocks and striped knee socks.  And, I didn't want to disappoint her, so I came up with this. 

A doll softie?  I embroidered the curly haired girl on some white fabric stuffed it with polyfill.

What do you think?

I hope she likes it. 

The cute Walmart fabric is the backing.

I really love these.

I'm going to put a few in the shop.

I made her two white curly crocheted hair ribbons to go with her softie, of course.  I don't send gifts through the mail without them!

the really great, so simple, very best weekend

The weekend was just perfect.

Life was slow.  I like living a slow life, noticing the small blessings in every corner.

The hydrangea bush exploded and I filled the house with beautiful white pom poms.  That means the peonies are next.  Oh blessed day! 

Emerson has always loved foliage.  When we as little he was obsessed with leafs, though weeds, tall grass, bushes, etc. were always a joy too.  So much so that for his first Halloween he was a pile of leaves.  It was the perfect costume for him.

He still loves them and has named them "leaf hairs."

He caught his first storm blown leaf hair of the season.

What a happy guy.

A little Mother's Day garden to enjoy while munching on my chocolate cheesecake gift.  The kids wrote something they like about me being their mom on each flower in the pot.  These are my kind of flowers.  They require no TLC and I have no way of accidentally killing them.

Remember the avocado pit?  Yep, totally didn't grow. 

I will try again.

My favorite part of the weekend and the best Mother's Day gift was watching Daddy and the kids hunt for cloud animals.

a number story

We are SO excited!

In November, we will be a family of five.

half off $2.42

gets you this "totally me" artwork at Value World.

God bless that place.

the birthday weekend

Josh had Wednesday through Monday off so the weekend of me started early.

We headed to D-Town for an afternoon Tiger's game.  It was AWESOME!  I have been to three baseball games before this and all were very memorable.  My first was in fifth grade as a reward for being a "Kindergarten Safety."  I went with my dad and got one of those big foam number one fingers.  I felt so special being there with my dad.

The second time I went was with my sister and Rick.  Josh was away on his mission for my 21st birthday and my sister couldn't stand the idea of me moaping around in my dorm room wishing he were home, so she took me to see River Dance and peek in on the Tigers game from the back wall.  I loved that night.

The third time was with Josh on our second, second date after we were both back from our missions.  It honestly was one of the best dates.

This time we took our kids. 

Kinda random, but I notice that Emerson has a little pot belly in this picture. That is so nice to see on our little bean pole.

We hopped on the People Mover.  This was hands down what the kids liked best.  They were ready to go home when we got to Comerica thinking the excitement was over.

The Tigers won!

My birthday was so fun.  The weather was beautiful.  The food was awesome, including breakfast in bed. 

Cake and hand picked flowers.

My favorite part of the day was playing catch with daddy in the yard while the kids poked around in the garden.