baby blanket and more

I thoroughly enjoyed sewing this baby quilt for my new nephew’s baby room. I didn’t know how much fun it was to sew on a good sewing machine! My husband bought me a new Janome right before Christmas, and this quilt and other baby goodies was just the project to get started on it. This Janome Magnolia went across the fabric like butter. I guess it’s also nice to use beautiful fabric.


My sister was glowing at her baby shower. She has about 8 more weeks to go before this little fella makes his appearance. Courtney and her husband seemed very happy with the blanket and diaper stacker. I even had enough of the beautiful toile to make an extra blanket with the taggies on the side.




I thought this was so cute.. She didn’t know what I used in the quilt, only that it had the toile and chenille. I was so happy to see that she liked what I chose. I actually called her and said I didn’t think I’d be using the satin trim (even thought I knew it coordinated with her bedding in the baby’s room) I think she was thrilled with it, so I am glad I changed my mind without telling her.

A Sneak Peek

until this weekend…

My sister is having her first baby in March! I have been busy washing, ironing, cutting, and sewing a few little goodies for this little man’s baby nursery! After I give them to her this weekend, I’ll come back and post them. Next, I plan to order some sweet fabric to make a Christening gown and two slips to give to our two new Godsons.
On top of the sewing, I’ve been planning and thinking of John’s return next month! can’t wait!!! And what the kids and I should wear to the hanger when we welcome him home! I am thinking I’ll get some red, white, and blue ribbon for the girls’ hair!
Then, two of our children will be receiving sacraments this year. We’ve got Cookie receiving her Confirmation, and Bluebelle preparing for her First Holy Communion. I’ve been thinking of their special days and how I can help make them special. We have a few ideas for them, but would not want to spoil them by posting them yet.
I know the time between “here and someday” is almost here. Not long now, I keep telling myself… and all my sewing better be complete!

Happy birthday Beautiful girl…

We can’t believe what a beautiful young lady you are becoming!

Oh the list of things

not to buy… but to do physically, mentally, and spiritually..
My week back after our Christmas break started.. kids to get back into the swing of things. My morning list included, laundry, sew patches on two Karate tops and a Scout shirt … to move one, remove one, and add a Tenderfoot patch. Papers to grade, First Holy Communion activities with Bluebelle, prepare Study Guides for test week, vacuum the pine needles that have made their way upstairs, and somewhere in there, I feel the need to get out for just me.. for just 20 minutes. I hope to get out and listen to some Third Day.

I am sure this happens in other houses, not just mine, but I really get down when we start to take down the tree. If it were up to me, I’d leave it up for months. The lights on the tree make me so happy. Cookie and I decided to make a cup of tea and watch a Christmas movie yesterday. Forget the tree. The kids want me to leave it up for dad to see.. perhaps thats why I am feeling overwhelmed with the things I need to do. John is due home next month sometime. I’ll get a notification call, and I’ll be ready. Whether the house is clean or not, he’ll come home and love it… so cleaning it isn’t my issue. I think what I kind of didn’t want was to put everything away. I know I can’t leave it up and I will take it all down.. just not yet. I am going to leave a little tree up with presents all around for him. He still has things to open when he comes home.
I am thankful that this deployment is almost over. Its been a really hard year. The kids have been wonderful. I’ve had to grow up this year and do (most things) on my own… I am not good at that. I am not as strong as some women who have gone through the deployment-go-round. I’ve been very lucky to have family and friends to help me through. I really had to suppress my depression I’ve been struggling with and deal with it. Thats hard. I will tell you, I’ve really come a long way. Especially over Christmas with all of the activities we attended and held, family who came to visit.
Its a New Year.. He’s almost home, Praise God, and new and better things will come. As we heard in the Homily on the feast of the Epiphany, we all have gifts to bring.. Priests and religious bring their lives to Christ in Prayer; I pray I can give this year all that I have as a mother. I also want to spend less time on the computer, and more time with my children. I want to read more and pray more. I want to be more this year.
I pray your 2012 is full of Joy. Happy New Year friends. Thanks for always being here for me.
Emily

Children’s joy as well as ours..

( this is my sister.. everyone knows as “Aunt Courtney” She’s been there for me in at every expanding belly of mine.. now all of our children are in awe over her growing tummy!)

Here is my sister with her husband, Nelson. They are expecting their first baby, Christian, in March… I happen to have a very dear friend also due in March…
Two of the sweetest gifts John and I received this Christmas being so far apart… to be the Godparents to Christian… and to Gabriel, due to Jess and Gary.. both baby boys are due on the same day! We are honored to be Christian and Gabriel’s Godparents. I am thanking God that John should be home in time for the baptisms.

Thank you…

… for my “shower of roses“…

On Dec 25th I received this Spring Rain shower gel in my stocking, … wouldn’t you know on Dec 26th I was surrounded by an overwhelming scent of roses in the shower….

Merry Christmas from our family to yours

All I want is you

i don’t want a lot for christmas
there’s just one thing i need

Support the troops tree

i don’t care about presents
underneath the christmas tree

i just want you for my own
more than you could ever know
make my wish come true
all i want for christmas is you.

i don’t want a lot for christmas
I won’t even wish for snow, cause,
I am just gonna keep on waiting
underneath the mistletoe

i don’t need to hang my stocking
there upon the fireplace

cause, santa, he won’t make me happy
with a toy on christmas day
i just want you for for my own
more than you could ever know

make my wish come true
cause baby, all i want for christmas is you
… is you…

i won’t ask for much this christmas
i won’t even wish for snow

i’m just gonna keep on waiting
underneath the mistletoe
I just want you here tonight
Holding on to me so tight
Boy, what can I do
You know that all I want for Christmas is you

All the lights are shining
so brightly everywhere
And the sound of children’s
laughter fills the air

And everyone is singing
Can’t you hear the sleigh bells ringing
Santa won’t you bring me the one I love
won’t you please bring my baby to me

I don’t want a lot for Christmas,
this is all I am asking for
I just want to see my baby
Standing right outside my door

’cause i just want you here tonight
holding on to me so tight
what more can i do
cause baby all i want for christmas is you
you.. is you…

We love you John, Stay safe and may the Angels who proclaimed “Glory to God in the Highest” so many years ago, surround you on Christmas Day. We miss you, we love you, and we can’t wait to welcome you home next year.

Merry Christmas Daddy!

St Nicholas was here…

St Nicholas was able to find a few delicious German chocolates and goodies at the nearby Aldi. The morning included a few new books that I am sure will become favorites. As a fun activity for us all, we found a perfect 1000 Piece puzzle. I am looking forward to working on this with the children while we wait for Christmas to come.. and wait out some of these really cold days indoors!
Unfortunately, he hasn’t been our only visitor…
We’ve had maintenance, the electrician, and now the appliance man at our house. We’ve had a complete new tile floor put in after the old tile was pulled up. There were a lot of unleveled tiles and crumbling grout. I am so happy after two long weeks, its all over and cleaned up. There have been several other things that have needed other help, hopefully we won’t need to call for any other help and just sit back and relax and enjoy our Advent.
We are all a little down about Daddy not being here for Christmas. M&M seems to really be bothered and talks about it quite a bit. John has asked me not to mail him anything because he has to carry it all, but I just couldn’t let Christmas come and go without a tree. I found a tiny tree and bought one for him and one for us, that way M&M could see daddy’s tree here too! Here is Mr. Snow sitting with his tree…

To go with John’s tree, I found a strand of blinking lights. while unpacking, I came across a tiny set of Nativity ornaments I actually mailed John when he was in Iraq years ago for Christmas. He kept them, so I mailed them back to him to decorate his tree. Makes me feel better… I know he understands.. I just love the lights at Christmas. I could sit in front of a tree and just watch the lights.
I’ve been looking at our tree and noticing we have out grown our tree size. It’s time to move to a bigger tree to allow all of the ornaments to show.. I used to take such care and time when choosing the right branch for each ornament.. The tiny ones went towards the top and the heavy ones low. Now, after I get the lights just right, I turn around and every ornament with a hook, string, or ribbon is on the tree.. mostly around my waist level down to the ground. I keep thinking I’ll rearrange them, but its not about me.. the kids took that same great pride in hanging each ornament as I did years ago, even if we don’t share that same vision… After the kids go to bed, there are so many things I should go do.. but instead, I sit and look at all of the different ornaments. I’ll say, oh I love that one.. then I’ll say it again, or that’s my favorite.. then again.. No that’s my favorite. So, really, here is one of my favorites. I love this ornament made from styrofoam, pins, sequins, and beads. I made this with my mom on snow days while we lived in Colorado Springs. I must have been 6 or 7 when I made this. I found a kit similar for my children to make, but they are only balls, not animal shapes. I’d love to find a kit like my panda. I know the children would enjoy this craft.

I hope you are all enjoying the start of your second week of Advent.

Thankful

We are thankful for so many blessings. We thank God for the gift of nephew on the way, Congratulations Courtney and Nelson! We are thankful for family who have been there for us during this deployment. We are thankful for friends and family, the emails, the text messages, and phone calls made today.. and especially for the ability to email across the world to say Happy Thanksgiving to my husband serving in our country. I miss you John, May God bring you home safe to us!
This little guy holding up the sign, Support Our Troops, was right among our Thanksgiving table. John was with us the whole time!

God sure does share His beauty.. and love through friends…

After driving 20 minutes from home, I checked the map to make sure I was on the right road. I was distracted by the beautiful trees before realizing I was right where I was going. When I stepped out of my car, I was taken by God’s beautiful trees. I was surrounded by all of the primary colors. Then I looked ahead and in an instant, I knew it was my friend…. It was Jen… This lady is an angel to me. This angel has been there for me day or night
I was delighted to finally meet a dear friend who helped me through so many days, weeks, months of struggle. She would lift me up and give me strength.
When I thought I couldn’t go on, Jen was there. When a bad day was upon me, Jen would give me words to help me pull through.
It was just like sitting down with a best friend. We enjoyed visiting for several hours on All Saint’s Day before going to Mass together. We met at her parents home and enjoyed the afternoon watching the children run and play outside while we discovered more and more things we had in common.
Jen, thank you for all those words of encouragement helping me through some of the toughest and darkest days.

Pumpkins and Saint’s Alive

We enjoyed our time with our dear friends in Kentucky this past weekend. We started the visit with Holy Pumpkin carving. The children all rolled up their sleeves and dug in… around the room, we saw angels, chalices, crosses, The Sacred Heart, and even the symbols for Alpha and Omega. After helping all of the kids with their handy work, the grown ups finished carving the extras. All of the pumpkins were used as table decorations for the Saints Alive party sponsored by the Church our friends attend.





At the Saint’s Alive party held the following evening, the children.. and even some adults, came dressed as a Saint. Hallow’s Eve or Halloween included the faithful dressing as their favorite Saints in preparation for All Saint’s Day. In our family, we enjoyed the company of St Maria Goretti, St Padre Pio with the stigmata, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, St Anne, and St Agnes. I sewed the costumes for St Maria Goretti (all items costing a total of $4 from the thrift store, and a borrowed shawl) St Padre Pio, which my machine broke while sewing… and St Anne.. to include a pocket because this darling young St Anne wanted to be able to put pencils in her pocket since she home schooled her daughter, Mary
The Party included a costume welcome, a telling to the group their Saint Costume, activities to earn stickers for a final goodie bag, and even door prizes and a costume contest.
We were surprised to hear St Maria Goretti Won!














This last one is holding our Goddaughter.. Hasn’t she gotten big!

St Matthew, pray for us!

what I found

in a pile of school work..
“love daddy”
“I miss you daddy”
“Here’s a Big hug”
“I Miss you Daddy”
Obviously, MM drew this a long time ago, probably soon after daddy deployed. She doesn’t draw like this anymore. But still, it’s adorable and I know it melted her daddy’s heart.

Horse lessons

Since we’ve arrived in Tennessee, we’ve been on the go from lesson to lesson. The girls have been embracing their horse riding lessons and have hopes of one day owning their own horse. They started out getting one horse ready, but recently started working with one each to ride. They put the bridle on them, brush them clean, clean out their horse shoes, fly spray, and then saddle them up. They share a helmet right now, so one girl uses the trainer’s helmet. They escort their horse to the round pin or recently, the indoor arena. It’s adorable to watch these two tiny girls do every step and then go through their lessons. They have trotted, cantered, ridden bareback, played pass the baton, and their favorite, “post trot.” They are still in the beginner level, but soon, they will be tested to see if they can move to another level. Right now, the girls work with the horses and trainer an hour and a half once a week. I think they are looking forward to the day when they can stay all the time at the stables.
These two girls love all things horses. It’s so much fun to listen to them tell me all about their lessons. Their wish lists for Christmas are shifting towards all things horse related!

Miracle Rice Krispie Sun

For the Feast of the Miracle of the Sun, celebrated on Oct 13, Moonbeam decided we needed a special treat.. A rice krispie treat.. so I threw in the candy corn thinking the colors were right.. as we were melting the marshmallows.. we went for the food coloring for the real sun effect. She was quite pleased with the way it all turned out!