Summer, Summer, Let Me Count The Ways I Love You!

Summer is flying by. Where does time go? I wish I could wind the clock back.












A month ago we were in Spain. That was magical. 
It was a lifelong dream to go there! I feel so happy that I was able to go. 



La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

A bit before that trip in the earliest part of June we were celebrating all kind of  family members' birthdays at our daughter's house.


















A few weeks ago after we returned from Spain we celebrated my mother's huge milestone birthday here at our little abode.


Chocolate Curl Cake- delish!

And a week ago today it was the fourth of July with all its fireworks, food, and laughter. What joy it was to watch our 19 month old grandson experience fireworks for the first time! He's still talking about them. ("Boom, boom..psssh...")



Last week my closest lifelong friend came here for several days. We've known each other for 40 years. Yes, forty years!


    1979 Photo - Where did my neck go? I had one here.


We had a blast driving around, going to Disneyland, talking, shopping, eating out, seeing Midnight in Paris, (loved it!) and sharing memories. There's nothing like having a long shared history with a friend, is there? She and I are quite opposite in many ways, but our friendship endures through time and distance. (A few years ago I dragged her along to a craft- type fair.  I do believe ( based on her facial expression and comments) that she would have preferred going for a triple tooth extraction! It's all good.)

Later this week my mom is coming to visit and we'll do more local outings while trying to stay cool in this presently humid but mostly dry, hot, edge-of- the -desert place where we live.



And the clock is ticking, ticking. Soon it will be time to trudge back to work and get ready for August's school year beginning. The children will be so scared and needy, and that's understandable. They're little. I must be prepared mentally and physically, and organization-wise, too.   I won't complain though, it's been great to have so much time off! No whining here.

It's been the best summer we've had in years. So very relaxing, so full of fun stuff. I feel very fortunate and blessed.

Yesterday I was going to start a new needlework project. I was thinking of stamping some dish towels, and starting some Christmas gifts. I've never done that before. That is to say, I've never worked ahead like that in any area of my life, nor have I ever thought of Christmas in July. On top of that, I haven't started a new needlework project in several years.  That's right, nothing new in years.

Instead, I did nothing yesterday.   That's what summer is to me, too, I guess. Doing NOTHING. I succeeded at that, especially yesterday. 

What about you? Are you staying busy this summer, or are you taking it easy? Have you started any new projects lately?


Thanks for stopping by today, and thanks for your comments. I appreciate  all of them. :)

A Hidden Treasure

The days are extremely hot--over 100 degrees, and I have been busy with work.

I wanted to share a beautiful piece of stitchery that my niece inherited. She pulled it out of her closet one day, and there it was...in all its glory. It's yet to be framed, but here it is Lavender and Lace's The Bride:



Her husband's grandma stitched it, and after she passed away somehow my niece ended up with it. What a treasure to have!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Pretty Pictures

Time for blogging and any other sort of fun pastime has been sadly short in the past several weeks. I haven't had a chance to work on my pretty Summer Queen for awhile now. Sigh. I so hate when life gets in the way of doing the stuff we like to do, but that's how it is.

I spent 13 years at home as a Stay-at-Home Mom. My heart is still at home, even though I'm now in my tenth year at my 'grown up' job as a teacher.

What have these past several weeks brought? I'm sad to say it, but just work, work, and more work. One would think my job would get easier each year, right? Sadly more and more is put upon us, so time spent doing paperwork becomes massive. This has definitely been my most demanding year ever.

On a happy note, I was recently able to turn in paperwork this week that reflected the completion of my Master's Degree. Hurrah! It took me over two years to do it, while many of my colleagues were able to do the program in less than a year. At least it's done.

Also in the 'happy' department is time spent with our little grandson. I get to see him about once a week, as we just don't live 'down the street' but about 20 miles away. What precious times those are! This picture was taken last week while my mom was holding him. He's wearing a onesie our daughter appliqued with his first initial:


I'll end this with a sharing of a gallery of photos I compiled on Flickr. Thanks to all the people who took these gorgeous photos. Enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thinknsmile/galleries/72157623163594666/

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful! We went to my brother and sister-in-law's house and had a great time visiting, eating, and playing games.

This weekend also marked the start of Christmas shopping for me. I wouldn't dream of going out on "Black Friday". I can't stand crowds and too much madness! Instead we went out for a bit yesterday. I was able to purchase the gifts I buy for co-workers, and for my students. I also had to buy more costume pieces for our upcoming Christmas program. It's fun to be able to buy them instead of having to construct them.

Today will be spent wrapping the 39 gifts we bought yesterday, decorating for Christmas, and getting ready for the upcoming work week. It will be busy and my days will be very long.

I haven't shopped at all for any family members or friends, but I am thankful to be done with the work gifts. It always gets so busy this time of year that it's easy to feel overwhelmed with getting everything done!

I hope to get in some stitch time today, too. I think I'll have to do it soon or else the day will pass quickly without any sort of hobby time.

Here are some photos from Thanksgiving:

Luscious desserts:


Dishing up our meal:


My niece and nephew:


Toasting the Season--My Brother:


My Husband and I with our Grandson:


My Great Niece and my Son's Girl:


My Nephew, Son, and His Girl:


Thanks for stopping by today!

Our New Bundle of Joy!

I haven't been stitching much lately, nor have I even had much time lately for blogging. The reason there's been little action with the needle is that our little bundle of joy has arrived! It's hard to describe the joy he has brought into our lives.

Just a bit over two weeks ago our first grandchild was born. We are so excited to welcome him into the world! Little Robert weighed 7 lbs, 9 ozs and was 19 inches long. He's a calm, satisfied little baby. Our daughter is doing fine, and she and her husband are enjoying their new life as parents.

Here are some photos of the little one:

This one was taken in the nursery, shortly after he was born and before he had his first bath. His daddy took it.


A few more from the first day:





At home, taken within the past week or so:







Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate that holiday this Thursday. Thanks for stopping by today, and for sharing in our joy in welcoming our new little grandson.

Stitching, Finally!

I finally stitched today--for the first time in two and a half months. It was good to break out my projects again. I decided to work on Oberlin's Minnesota Sampler, and will post a photo soon.

I noticed that the last time I posted here I was home with a sore throat. Believe it or not, I was at home again today with a sore throat and virus. I work with small children and sadly I don't seem to fight off their germs very well. Someone is always sick in my classroom, it seems. Any suggestions on building up immunity? Vitamins don't seem to do the trick.

A few weeks ago we went to a beautiful wedding. Our daughter's sister-in-law got married, and our daughter was the matron of honor. Her baby is due in a few weeks, and that is something we're really so excited about! Here are some photos of that beautiful day. Enjoy!

Our daughter with her sister-in-law:


Our daughter and her husband:


Enjoying the reception:



The Happy Newly Married Couple:






Thanks for stopping by today!

A New Arrival .....Soon

 

This is a sampler that I need to order and stitch soon. It's Beatrix Potter's Jeremy Fisher Birth Sampler. You see, I'm going to be a grandma in less than two months. Our daughter is expecting a baby in mid-November! I need to get moving on purchasing this pattern, and stitching it up as soon as possible. I haven't talked about the upcoming arrival much here, but just had to tell you today!

I still haven't had time to stitch, so for the time being I can enjoy reading all of your blogs and seeing your gorgeous stitching and other creative endeavors.

Take care, and thanks for stopping by today.

Easter

Easter is over, and so is my spring break. Tomorrow it's back to the routine of work.

We hosted Easter today, and we all had a great time. I want to share my mom's lemon bar recipe that she made for today, but I'll have to do that on a future post.

Here are some photos from today:


My Great-Niece Hannah during the Egg Hunt


More Egg Hunting


Hannah on Easter

Ethan was here too, and it's the first time he's been at our house. He now weighs over 10 pounds and is doing very well. He was born 10 weeks early and spent the first few months of his life in the hospital. Unfortunately we didn't get a good photo of him today.

Here is a photo of him that we took a few weeks ago, along with his big sister Hannah:

 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Happy News & Sampler Update

First of all, on a very happy note, my niece Windy's baby came home from the hospital last evening! He is just about 10 weeks old now, and he weighs over 8 pounds. He was born 10 weeks early, and only weighed barely 3 pounds when he was born. My niece was admitted to the hospital at the end of November with premature labor, so his homecoming has been a long time coming. Later on this week we'll go visit them and I'll share a photo here. Here's her blog for some photos of him taken a few weeks ago: Windy's Blog


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I finally have some stitching progress to share!

Here's the sampler last time I showed an update here:


I finished the flower in the righthand corner, and have started adding a Berlinwork bird in the lower left corner.

Here it is now:

A few close-ups of the corners:





I'm going to add a few more of these Berlinwork designs in other parts of the sampler. I'm still not sure what to add to the border, but I'm toying with a few ideas. We will have to wait and see.

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Finally, here's some photos my husband took this morning of our dog Eddie and our polydactyl cat Bruce. I love Saturdays! Bruce and Eddie simply placed themselves in this way, so of course we had to grab the camera and capture it! I love how Bruce is resting on Eddie's large greyhound paws.







Thanks for stopping by today.

This and That

The days have really flown by recently. The weather was crisp today, and we even got a bit of rain a few days ago. It was so refreshing to have our weather be more what one would like it to be in January.

I wish I had some stitching news but on that front I can only share a pattern I really would love to do someday. I first saw this one stitched up at my not-so-local needlework shop. It's called Common Ground by Just Nan.

 

The colors all look so striking together!


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My great-nephew Ethan continues to grow each day. Here are some photos of him from when I saw him awhile ago:




I'm sure he'll be going home soon. For more photos and updates, visit Windy's Blog.

Here is a photo of his big sister Hannah(wearing the tiara I bought her) along with my daughter when they came by about a week ago:



And another one with my niece Windy reading with her:


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We had a great time yesterday at my brother's house in honor of his wife's birthday. I have a few photos from the festivities but none are truly 'blog material'.

Well, perhaps there are a few of them that might be suitable but that will have to wait.

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About a year ago my husband, our son, and my brother spent a weekend painting our bathroom and bedroom. I hate to admit it, but the wallpaper in that room had hung since we moved into the house in 1990. I am a bit too laid back about getting things done, that's for sure.


I finally bought a few new things for the room. Here's a photo of a pillow I bought that coordinated with the quilt I'd already purchased. Yes, I know I could have stitched one up myself but I thought this was beautiful, and it was already done! The colors of the quilt and pillow make me happy.



The weekend seemed to fly by so quickly, and tomorrow it's back to the grind.

Thanks for stopping by here today.