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Father Involvement

I saw this video today and it made me smile. It made me think about how great a father my husband is to our kids. I can picture him doing this one day, can't you?
(hint: let it all load first, then watch the whole thing)



There's nothing hotter than a man who loves his kids...and his wife of course!

Dimples!

Dimples! I love them. As my brother-in-law and sister-in-law can attest to, I love dimples on guys. Too cute. They actually have a good friend that I told them he has the greatest dimples "that I could eat soup out of them".

Now I was watching American Idol tonight and this guy came on who was very cute. Or "had a lot to offer" ;) ...his dimples were the first thing that caught my eye.
His name was Brent. So, if he makes it past Hollywood or even if you watch at all, look for Brent. Also a name from my past, that my sisters could be gently reminded of. A lifeguard at Hammonassett Beach that I was also quite smitten with at one point in my life.

But, I digress.

Back to dimples.

Not necessarily a small thing that gives me strength, but definitely a small thing that makes me smile.

And smiles always give me strength.

Green Lollipops

So tonight I am saying goodnight to my "most favorite girl in the world", as I call her, Charlotte. She gives me her famous "one more hug and kiss", also known as a stall tactic.

Tonight, I needed something. My work life is completely out of control and I had an absolutely terrible day.

But, in the great tradition for what I started this blog for in the first place...finding strength in the small things, she made my night and whole day.

When a three year old starts a comment with "Mommy you smell like...", one never knows what will come next.

Tonight I was pleasantly surprised and somehow, it made my whole terrible day drift away.

"Mommy, you smell like green lollipops!"

Thank you Charlotte. I love you.

Unexpected Gift

This Christmas was filled with gifts, both big and small. Both meaningful and practical. But, I also received what might possibly be the most unexpected and most wonderful gift I got.

A few years ago my grandfather, aka Poppie, passed away and my Mom and her two sisters went through his house dividing up belongings and memorabilia. When they were finished there were a few things that were available for us grandkids. Actually granddaughters, Poppie had six granddaughters. There was really only one thing that I wanted to have. It was his, or our family, Bible. I thought it would be great to have, since Gordon and I didn't have one of our own in the house and this one had some handwritten dates and family tree-like things inside.

So, long story short...if more than one of us wanted the same thing, our names went in a hat and it was chosen at random who would get that particular item. My cousin Erin and I both wanted the Bible.
Can you see where I am going with this?
Names in a hat...Erin's name pulled out. She got the Bible. While I was disappointed, I knew it was fair. Now, this was a few years ago.

This Christmas, Erin and Anne came to our house on Christmas Day. Erin told me she had something for me. It was the Bible. This was the greatest gift.

I don't know how to thank her enough. I know she told me that she wanted me to have it, for our family, for our kids.

Erin, you are one in a million. Thank you.

DONE!!!

Yippee! I finally finished the quilt for Ian. I posted briefly about it before it was finished, but now it is done!! I used my Dad's plaid shirts to make the airplanes. Then a navy blue with white stars for the border and backing. There is also a light brown border as well. I found this pattern even before Ian was born, and kept saying if I had a boy I would use Dad's shirts and make it.
Then my good friend, Ann, used her quilting machine to do the quilting for me. We chose a pattern that looked to us like clouds. This photo doesn't even do it justice. But, she did a wonderful job, don't you agree?
Thanks Ann!!

I had made a small quilt out of Dad's shirts before for Charlotte and made the shirts into houses.It is cute! I think that she will treasure it. I also made four little pillows out of Dad's shirts too, just after he passed. One for Mom, one for Char, one for Sue, and one for me. Then the first thing I made was for Anthony, my nephew, who was just under one year old when he died. It was a quilt made only of Dad's shirts and a navy for the backing. It was the first tribute to my Dad. And I think helped me heal.

I wanted Ian to have a little piece of him too. Now he does!

Spoonflower

Spoonflower.com...I found this site through a lovely woman at work. She had an article from the local newspaper called "Fabricate Your Own Fabric At Online Site". This woman was Pat Ligas, who also recent passed away unexpectedly. I wasn't able to find the article itself to connect you to it, because I am not sure what paper she got it from. She was such a great lady, who photocopied the article for me because she knew I was a crafter/quilter, and knew I had small children in my life. The site is called Spoonflower. Pat had a great idea that I could take one of Charlotte's drawings and make it into a fabric. What a sweet idea, don't you agree?

I guess whether you're a Project Runway hopeful or a home crafter, you can have your own graphics and designs printed onto cotton fabric thanks to Spoonflower. After registering with the site and confirming via email, simply upload a design. Designs can be centered or repeated across the fabric. You can start with a swatch for five dollars or order up to three yards for $54. You'll currently only have to wait up to three weeks to have your very own custom fabric.
They have a website and a blog. Check it out. Very cool idea. Now only if I could get Charlotte to draw something, or if I had any kind of drawing abilities in me. Oh well, I still think it a great idea. Maybe someday.

Thanks Pat! I will never forget you.

Rocket Man!

I have been following a blog called Sew Mama Sew for some time now. They have so many great ideas and fun things to try. Over the past few weeks leading up to Christmas they had these Handmade for the Holidays features, where they would feature a variety of ideas that other readers of the blog had.
I used one idea to make these Christmas gifts. Rocket ships and little men to ride in them. I found this one on the Sew Mama Sew blog, which linked me here. The link gave me instructions and a pattern to follow.


I actually made three of these for three very special little boys, who are very near and dear to my heart for Christmas. I think they were a hit. Pretty easy and pretty cute, huh?

ps. This is my 50th post!!! Thanks for faithfully reading. :)