Catching up!

Wow! Once again, so much time has gone by since I found time to post! I know that some day I'll probably miss all this chaos, but right now I'd really like to find some quiet time!

We've been really busy with the holiday preparations. I had my sister's baby shower right before Thanksgiving and we had a lot of friends and family come from across the country to celebrate our joy of the soon to arrive "Wee-back". My friend made the cake and cookies and they received may ooo's and aahhh's....it was a lot of fun. It's also amazing how many new baby items are available and how much the standard items have changed or improved! Makes you want to start all over again (just kidding!)

We have had a really fun, taxing, exhausting, exhilarating first semester of Middle School. Both kids are doing great in school. Jason has really enjoyed band (more on that next time) and is making a lot of new friends. He has also done a lot of camping and boy scout projects. His favorite thing to do is fishing and he'll do it at any opportunity -even from the back of a canoe as his dad paddles! But he has learned the essential skill of feeding himself, and we have enjoyed many egg breakfasts made by Jason. He makes great egg mcmuffins!

Lauren is doing exceptionally well in school with little to no effort! She is very self-sufficient, as is typical of a second child! She took her own money to Santa Shoppe at her school this year, bought her own gifts for everyone, wrapped them herself and put them under the tree when I had barely gotten the tree up- it wasn't even decorated yet! After she was done she came up with making instruments out of the wrapping paper tubes, and she and Jason had a jam session! She seriously does want a guitar though. Maybe for her birthday.



We had her Girl Scouts here in our backyard for a campout the same weekend that Jason went canoeing. It was early fall, but since I never posted them I include them now. She is so goofy "leading" her friends in a mock Yoga session. Always so silly, but in a very mature fashion. Her favorite saying is "REGRET NOTHING!"


So, what has been keeping me so busy you ask? Well, let's see....I already mentioned the shower, but speaking of Santa Shoppe, this was my contribution this year. My friend, Jenny melts wine bottles in her kiln and decorates them with beads and wires for use as cheese plates. This year the committee gave me the bottles and asked me to paint them as I painted the tin buckets and pots last 2 years. Well, despite my best efforts, I couldn't get the hang of painting on glass (as least not in the amount of time they gave me-which was only 2 weeks!). So, I started to look around for something else I could do with them and decided to create paper pieced decorations. I used some designs from quilting books and magazines and cut the paper pieces out of Stampin UP! designer papers, then glued them onto the bottles with Crystal Effects, and put a coating over them to make them shiny just like the glass. Some of them include embellishments like beads or buttons. As you can see, they turned out beautiful and sold out within the hour, so they asked me to crank out a few more! They were a real hit! Now I only need to make one for myself! Jenny and I are going to partner up and produce some for Easter, Halloween etc. as well. So, this year at our annual Christmas dinner party, I saved all the wine bottles!

I have many more projects to post, so please check back soon! This one's long enough!