Good Things Happening

The last week or so has seen some really wonderful things happening around here; and although it's been busy, it has been great.

Halloween has always been a fun time for our family and Nikki has ALWAYS loved to make really great costumes for herself and her kids. Check out what she made this year.

Quinn was The Cowardly Lion until she got her badge of courage. Notice the courage?

And a close-up of the head. The ears are great!

I think Glenda the Good Witch (Sadie) was a little more interested in today's technology (a cell phone) than her magical wand.

Of course we all know that Dorothy was chased by those nasty little Flying Monkeys, right? Well it took me a long time and lots of shots to get a picture of Ronan as a Flying Monkey. It was really cute and he sure seemed to be flying around when I was trying to take his picture!

 

 

The only bad thing about these costumes was that it rained on Halloween and trick or treating was postponed until Saturday.

 

Unfortunately Nikki and Zach were busy on Saturday and couldn't take the kids out that night.

 



They were getting married!!!!  YEAH!!!

They did take the kids out with Zach's family on Sunday before they headed back to Cincinnati, so all of Nikki's efforts were not wasted. The kids had fun and it was a wonderful weekend.

I'll share more pictures later. Life sure is good!

Big News and Updates Galore

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted, but I have good excuses for that. Really, I do!!

First of all, I've accepted a six-week sub-teaching position at a local high school and I've been spending some quality time brushing up on my literature knowledge. Yep, that's right. I'm teaching American Literature to sophomores and British Literature to seniors. I have a Media class thrown in there for good measure. It's interesting, challenging and fun all at the same time.

I am very fortunate that the regular teacher was awesome and prepared all the lessons for me. You have no idea how amazing that is (unless you're a teacher). Of course there are always the glitches of a new year, but the students and I are adjusting well and things are beginning to fall into place.

Nikki and family were here for a wedding two weeks ago and as usual, it was wonderful to have them here for the weekend. This was the best picture I could get of the entire group right before they left for the wedding. I really do stink at taking pictures!

The great big news and latest reason for my absence is that I am a grandmother again! Avery Lynn was born Saturday, August 24th and she is just adorable.

Of course I've got more pictures, but I don't have time to post them right now. I'll try to do that in the next couple of days, and I might even try to post something quilt-related. :-)

Nikki and family came back for Avery's birth and I have some wonderful pictures of Quinn riding a bike and Sadie playing office. Ronan is just too darn fast for me to get any good pictures. It seems that they are all blurry because he's always moving. I'll keep looking to see what I can find.

With all the wonderful things happening lately, I've been in a really good mood, so I'm going to spend some time in the quilt room this weekend and pull out items for a giveaway. Sound like fun? I'll post details later this week or early next week.

Until then, have a great day!

Break Time is Over!

Well, I've missed you all while I was taking my little blogging break, but I'm happy to say that I'm back and will be catching you up on lots of things that have been happening. Jack and I had done a little bit of travelling and then followed that up with lots of visitors and special events like an Old Bags' Day Sew-In, a coupe of baby showers and various classes and programs for which I needed to prepare and teach. It was wonderful traveling and having visitors , but my blogging and quilting time really suffered.

In my blogging absence, there were some surprises around here, like when the big storm hit and we lost a big chunk of one of the driveway trees.

 

And part of the big maple tree in the back yard,

 



But the real concern came when a large black walnut tree uprooted itself and landed on the back room - MY SEWING ROOM!!!

 

Do you see my panic concern? We were so fortunate that there was no damage to the inside of the house. Can you just imagine the damage if a big tree limb had broken off and come crashing down on the back room? That would have been ugly with all those windows!



 

 

Ouch!!!

 

 

A few days later, the tree guys came with big trucks and a crane and things looked a lot better.

 

 

In the whole scheme of things, we were very lucky. Sure, we lost some trees and were without power for 2 1/2 days, but there was no devastating damage. Besides, the logs that were left in the yard provided some entertainment while Nikki and family were here.

 

 

Of course all good outdoor play sessions should end up with everyone resting on a quilt, right?

 





 

Next up will be a review of the last Old Bags' Day Sew-In. I love spending time with these creative and talented people! I'll post pictures tomorrow.