Kiddo update …

Baseball and soccer has been the main thing on the plate for the spring.

Hadden is enjoying baseball – we have a super team of kids and parents which  makes it fun. They are currently 7-5 with one regular season game left and then the tournament. Hadden has had the opportunity to be the starting pitcher for most of the season and has enjoyed that very much. John has been helping out pitching to the boys in the batting cages and also warms up the pitchers during the game and helps out in the dugout.

Savannah is enjoying playing soccer. She was able to play in a tournament with a group of girls trying for the more competitive level of soccer. Her team got beat pretty soundly all of the games, but they had only had 2 practices as that group prior to the tournament. By the looks on their faces, they weren’t too bothered by the scores of the games :) This is a neat group of girls and parents, too.

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The newest addition to our household are two new kids – this time, of the goat variety! They are pygmy goats and are very cute and entertaining. They eat a LOT and we have been building small fences to keep them supplied with food. John also built them a small goat shed which they use to get out of the weather. The boy is Bill and the girl is Matilda.

Hadden with both of them in the wheelbarrow. Hadden and Bill sitting on the roof of the goat shed.

 

Savannah holding Matilda – she is very sweet. Bill is … well, a boy goat. He is not quite as sweet :)

Matilda by the fence. Bill really enjoys the wheelbarrow – crazy goat!

Recent project

On our trip west last fall, we stayed in Santa Fe, NM in a hotel downtown. It was quaint and had nice southwestern architecture and decor. I really liked the spread on the beds and thought that I might be able to make something similar. The cover was fairly light weight with a minimal amount of “quilting”. It probably helped that it was stripes and earth tones (both favorites of mine). An idea was born.

There is a fabric outlet store in PA where we bought fabric for the curtain valances in our home. So, on our trip north last fall, we went in and bought fabric for a spread for our bed. I actually really like having the spread on our bed because I can curl up in my own side of the blanket without stealing from John, but the spread that I had in my mind did not quite turn out the way I had hoped :) John still thinks my fabric choices are a bit quirky, but I actually like them. Call me crazy!

I had never worked on a project of this size, and I am not sure I would tackle something like this again. We have a king-size bed and I machine quilted approx. every six inches. This means that there was a lot of fabric and batting rolled up in order to sew towards the middle of the spread. I made it reversible, as well, and it was a lot easier to sew lines down the stripe section. That meant that I had to do half of it in the other direction, in order to avoid having most of the spread rolled up when sewing the one edge. Hopefully, that makes sense. Anyway, it was hard to keep things lined up, sewn straight and looking nice, but it is at least finished.

 

I made slip covers for some old pillows for some added decoration.

Where have you been?

Yes, I mean you! Where have you been? Well, I guess I have to admit that I haven’t been here in a while, either. How are you?

My Dad strongly hinted that I might get off facebook a little and quit neglecting my blog. So, here you go, Dad!

A few weeks back, the kids and I took a safari-like tour of an animal habitat. You know – the one that sounds like a really great idea at the time? Drive through a group of exotic animals and get up close to them and take pictures! Sounds exciting, right? Well, it is pretty cool. The pictures, however, leave a little to the imagination. We are instructed to leave the window only open a crack – you can see why. The animals know the routine quite well. Car comes in. Car has food. We get to eat the food. What do you mean you have ran out of food?

The little young ones have not fully learned the routine. They actually still appear to be wild animals and dart away from the cars.

This one obviously knows the routine quite well. Isn’t that a great shot?!

Back off a little, buddy. I really would like to take your picture (or, as they say here in the south “make your picture”).

Thank you. You’re very handsome, dude.

After a tour through the safari, the car was … um, gross. Window way UP! Don’t want that slimy nose on me!

Here’s a long horn up close and personal. He seemed like a nice fella.

We got to feed the tortoises lettuce – finally a picture where you can see the animals. It was a fun tour and we enjoyed spending time with other home school families. The weather was beautiful that day, so we picnicked at a park before heading home.

More to come … :)

Homemade granola bars

Homemade granola bars - go here, make them, you will thank me :)

I made these last week, and the kids were begging me for more. They are super easy, no baking, and very tasty.

Cows

We were recently asked to speak at our home church youth retreat. A dear friend offered to keep our kids while we spent the weekend with the youth which was a huge help and a blessing to be able to focus on what we were to speak about. Savannah loves to give gifts – probably even more than receiving them, so she wanted to take something special for her friends. Since they have a dairy farm, Hadden suggested cows. Appropriate, no? :)

We found a pattern at the fabric store and also found a lot of remnant fleece pieces that were perfect for stuffed cows. I helped her cut out the pieces and pin them, but she did the rest.

I thought they turned out really cute!

There were 2 bulls…

Two cows in the same color scheme as the bulls …

And two with some variations in color! She put “ear tags” on them and they had an auction to see who got which one.

It was very fun to spend time with Savannah making them and to see her excitement to be able to give them to her dear friends.

Trip north – part 3 and final!

We decided to change plans and switch our day in NYC to an extra day in DC on the way home. That worked out very well because the weather in DC was incredibly nice and it was supposed to rain all day in NYC. Also, there were very few people in DC – so no crowds. Whoo hoo!

This time, we took the metro system in to avoid trying to decipher the parking sign codes of DC. I may be the only one, but they make NO sense to me! On a previous trip years ago, my car got “towed” because I was parked in the wrong spot at the wrong hour.

We took a tour of the capitol building where they do a nice job of including all of the states in the presentation. Here are the kids near a Helen Keller statue (she was from Alabama).

John at the Supreme Court building. John and kids taking a little break from walking. It was so warm that John and Savannah wore short sleeves all day!

The sky was gorgeous again this day – the next few pictures are some of my favorites! Especially the tree – my fb friends may recognize it already. This was a tree near the capitol building.

Most of the museums in DC are free, but the National Building Museum is not. We went into the courtyard area and enjoyed lunch instead. It was very pretty in there and we were feeling like it has been part of a movie – anybody know?

Lion statue outside of the police museum. Outside Ford’s Theatre where Lincoln was assassinated.

Outside the FBI building. I like the row of flags. At dusk, the Washington Monument looked cool against the sky.

And the National “Holiday” tree. Very funny because it was dinky this year. I know different states have the honor of sending in the tree, but I was surprised at how small it was. So small, that a foreign, Asian-looking man stopped us to inquire where the tree was … and we were only about 1/2 block away. It was “hiding” behind a small tent that was also part of their display!

On the final leg of our trip home, we stopped in at Liberty University where John did his undergraduate studies. It was fun to see where he went to college and also for him to see the changes. We stayed the night in Knoxville, TN the last night and I have always loved seeing Historic Knoxville High from the freeway. It wasn’t far from our hotel, so we drove past to get a picture.

We arrived home on Christmas Eve and enjoyed a pretty quiet rest of the year at home. Loved all of the neat places and people that we saw, but it is also nice to be home.

Trip north – part 2

After spending a few days with family and friends in PA, we decided to visit NYC. We both LOVE NYC and have missed our annual visits in to the city. This time was an exception, however. We both were feeling a little like we were coming down with something and our normal “tricks” of parking in the city weren’t working. We drove around for 2 hours without finding a parking spot. We decided to backtrack to our hotel and take the bus in instead. That worked very well, but the weather was kind of drizzly, damp and cold, so it was less than ideal. Also – there were SO many people everywhere – it was crazy! I guess everyone wanted to go to NYC over Christmas. Seriously, busy. Around Times Square, the police blocked off some of the vehicle lanes in order to accommodate the people traffic! We had the kids with us, so we were very conscious of keeping track of them, too.

Why would I put a blurry picture in of the Brooklyn Bridge? Because it sums up our morning in NYC! The Freedom Tower is progressing.

John and the kids in Times Square. Kids in the M&M store :)

Pretty Christmas tree in the lobby of an office building. Tree at Rockefeller Plaza.
Loads of people – the police were directing people traffic. Countdown projected on the side of a building – it didn’t really seem to do anything, so we weren’t sure what it was for.

These lights were beautiful!! The kids and me in front of the huge ornaments. I saw them on tv a couple of days later :)
We still love NYC, but this was not our favorite trip in.