Christmas time 2009

I haven't blogged since the middle of December, so this is a picture catch up post.

S. with her cello, Wayne


J.


K., J. and S.


Wayne works outside a considerable amount. Wayne's parents bought him this mask so he can be warmer. They did tell him not to wear it inside a bank though!


J. putting his feet behind his head. How's that for flexibility?

The morning we had our Christmas (as opposed to Christmas morning, which we spent at my parents' house).

The quilt that I made for J. It finally is finished and is now on his bed.

Mom and Claire

Sledding K., Jocelyn and S.

Sledding on a later date. J., S., Jocelyn and K.

The second pic is J., Wendy and Jocelyn.


Sandy taught K. how to make pumpkin roll. They had a great time making it and I had a great time eating it!

My mom bought a gingerbread house for my kids to decorate. The awesome thing is this one came assembled! That means they could immediately decorate.

One night Dad made a fire and he and S. sat and watched it for a while. I thought it was very sweet.

Megan and S.

Dad smiling!

A sweet Claire face and a funny Claire face.

Chris, Sandy, Claire, Dad, Mom and Grandma and Grandpa

S. Wayne, me, Dad, Mom, K., J. and Grandma and Grandpa.

One morning while at my Mom and Dad's house, we woke up to find beautiful designs on the car. To me it looks like the Tree of Life. Beautiful!

The Recent Past and the Near Future

Well, since school has started we have gone through 2 rounds of sickness. In between those times I have been traveling to my sister's home to quilt. I do have a sewing machine, but it was pulling the batting through. K. has one and that was scrunching the material. So I made the trip as often as I could (about 2 times per week - it's about 1/2 hour drive one way).

I am in the final stages of finishing J.'s quilt! Finally! This project has taken several years, but it is just gorgeous and I am very well pleased with it. I am so excited for him to see it! He knows nothing about it and will be very surprised...I hope!

Previously I had done tie quilts. I still like them, but WOW I have totally discovered that quilting can make such a huge impact to the overall appearance of the quilt afterwards.

I will post pics of the completed project when I am done. I'm very excited to share the pics with all of you!

My next quilt (for me) will probably be a jean rag quilt. Wendy made K. one and it is deliciously heavy. Wendy will have to walk me through the process of that one as it is very different than what I am used to doing!

I do believe that K. and I will be doing some sewing though this week as she is working on her quilt, which looks totally awesome.

On the days when I'm not at Wendy's, and the children are healthy, I am usually taking the cello into school (it's not allowed on the bus), doing laundry, going VT, running errands, cleaning etc. The days go by so quickly!

Pretty soon I hope to work on addressing Christmas cards (which I haven't done in several years). I have been procrastinating as I recently lost many of my addresses. They're probably somewhere in the house, but where?

I also need to work on Christmas shopping. I have barely scratched the surface of this one!

Now you know what I've been doing and what I will be doing in the near future.

Christmas at Wendy and Dan's

On January 3rd, we celebrated Christmas with my parents at Wendy and Dan's house. We had lots of fun, as we always do when we get together.

Mom and Dad
Here they are opening their gift. It is the same kind of ice cream maker as I have. I love it.

Homemade ice cream tastes DELICIOUS! I highly recommend homemade ice cream and this ice cream maker!

Wayne playing with Jocelyn, J. and S. The kids LOVED it!

K. showing Jocelyn the present that she (K.) helped make for her (Jocelyn). It was actually K.'s idea. It is a flip book of a bunch of the animals that we saw this summer at the zoo.

Homemade gifts are awesome!

Wendy and Megan with a new pal. It is so soft!

S. and Wayne


Wendy and Mom
We all enjoy working together. The kids had pizza and the adults had calzones. They were yummy!

Dad resting his eyes.
He and Wendy installed electrical outlets in Wendy and Dan's basement the previous day. There was a lot of dust involved and since his surgery he doesn't need glasses for those kinds of things. However, neither does he have the protection of the glasses. So, his eyes were bothering him and he was resting them. I so understand that!

Wayne reading.

Dad playing the piano.
My dad loves music and has taught us all a lot about it. When I was little, he gave me piano lessons. Mom and Dad always made music a priority. We learned about different instruments and from a young age, I would conduct music that was on (normally classical). Dad still plays and gives lessons. In addition, he has spent a considerable amount of time arranging primary music.