New Skillz

I've been wanting to make a Christmas tree skirt for a while...mostly cuz the one I have now is the size of a doily. I had extra fabric from making our stockings, and extra batting from another project. Three years ago, my sister helped me get started, cuz I'm not as good at sewing as she is. Draw a pattern, cut the squares, shop for any additional supplies, like binding, etc (I only spent like $18 on the extra materials to make this) and two days ago, I FINISHED IT. And it's Spectacular. =)

I might add 2 more gold frogs....

These are the fabrics I made our stockings out of......Tom's is the green and gold snowflakes, mine is the white Peanuts print, Calvin's is the light blue bears, Nana's is the blue with angels, Rayzels's is the trains and holly, Jack's is the Garfield print, and  James is the green with moose's :)

Flannel for the backside, courtesy of a friend cleaning out her fabric storage :)

I quilted the stars with my machine...I wanted to hand quilt it, but, I didn't leave myself enough time before Christmas :(

The Year Of The Rat

I can't believe he's 17. And yet, it feels like he's been with me forever :)

Of course he picked Chinese for dinner ;)  The Royal Jade in Greenbelt MD.......check it out, their food is to die for!

Love this picture :)  Jack with his new braces hehe :)

Calvin had the 'crazy duck'

Tom is ecstatic

Chinese is a good option for us, cuz we share everything, and family style rocks...plus James doesn't want what we are having but he likes the rice, so, it works out :D

Free dessert for the birthday boy, raspberry cheesecake and a blueberry fortune cookie

My favorite part was leftovers

Jack wanted me to take a picture of the food stuck in his braces :P

Nana's fortune says "You are strong and brave"

Rayzel was fascinated by the radish rose

I Believe In The Great Pumpkin

Halloween was very low key this year. In fact, I can't remember the last time I spent Halloween at MY house. The kids planned the dinner menu, and made dinner, so, that was nice. My parents came up for the evening and slept over, and that was nice too. 

Calvin and his pumpkin

Jack picked this pumpkin that was covered in what looked like peanuts...it was hard to cut, so, Nana helped him

Calvin's pumpkin next to my white ones

Jacks pumpkin on the left, Rayzel's on the right

I let Jack carve another pumpkin since Nana mostly did his other one  :)

Dinner! Bean dip, avocado dip, and salsa, with Jarritos to drink. A Mexican dip bar :)

James was ready to go pretty early on

He hates costumes, and I think I was pretty creative this year in finding a costume that he wouldn't take off

Too bad the turtle pj's wont last him until next year :(

Calvin was some sort of ninja

Rayzel was a medieval princess 

My kilt boys :)

Nana got the BDU's this year

I Would Never Have Tried To Ride A Dog When I Was 5

James is terrified of dogs, but he will eventually be ok with a dog if after 2+ hours, they don't bark at all, or try to sniff him...and once he gets comfortable, this is what happens....maybe I need to look into horseback riding lessons next year instead of swim lessons? 

It Only Took 3 Years And A New Family Moving Into The Ward.....

To get this project done finally :)
I've never done tile, let alone vertical tile, and thankfully, James new primary teacher Bro H is a pro! He was willing to come over and show me how to do it, then sit back and watch while I finished it :)
He even gave me helpful tips and pointers for future tile projects! I feel very confident doing it by myself now. =)

Before

The tricky test corner

Not too bad!

Waiting for grout

After grout and sealer :)

It looks fabulous!!

Metal Mouth

I can't believe how excited Jack is about getting braces....he must be really starved for attention, poor kid lol!

After they put the metal bands on his back teeth....

Letting his front teeth dry so they could glue the metal brackets on....

Before the teal bands got put on

Pumpkin Patch Pilgrimage- Epilogue

Just a few more pics that my mother in law took :)

Rayzel and her pumpkin on the hayride :)

Nana and Jack showing off some more pumpkins

Calvin and James on the slide

The rest of us :)

Pumpkin Patch Pilgrimage

We loved going to the pumpkin patch last year, and since James kinda did too, we decided to try going again this year. He had an even better time this year, and I think we are gonna keep up the tradition :)

He loves the jumping pillow :)

He's been doing this open arms flying thing a lot lately :)

Playing with Grandpa

Back to Daddy at the top of the slide

Getting harassed by Grandpa

More slides

He went down the slide about a hundred times....

 

He liked touching the pumpkins, but didn't quite get the concept....