Living, Loving, Learning

Sunshine Daydream March 18, 1996 - December 31, 2009 Go in Peace, my sweet Sunshine . You were a treasured and beloved member of our family and your absence is excruciatingly painful to us all. We send you to your next adventure with Love, Respect, Good Energy and much Light. You are a once in a lifetime pal and your memory will live on in our hearts.

It's that time of year again. A time to reflect on the bounty, successes, and wonderful moments the last year had brought. For us it was a year of growth and "firsts" with Griffin starting kindergarten and learning to read, Lucy learning to walk and talk, Bruce taking on more responsibilities at work and passing his accreditation exams and me making real friendships here and working on my cottage business and quilting hobby. We enjoyed time away in Nashville, Kentucky Lake, St. Louis, Cape Cod, Michigan and Knoxville plus 2 wonderful camping trips. We weathered an extreme ice storm and a bathroom flood, and even renovated 2 bathrooms. We enjoyed every minute we had with our dear sweet Sunshine, nursing her through her illnesses. We brought a new spirit into our fold, Happy fish. We enjoyed long visits from our amazing friends and families, relishing the relationships we were nurturing . We laughed, we loved and we definitely learned!!! And now, for the secon...

Alexis left EARLY this morning. There is a void left behind. Feeling sad and missing the family today! Also, Sunshine is really sick again. We took her to the vet last night...she is full of infection, has lost another 5 lbs. and has a extremely low blood pressure. We have more antibiotics that we are giving her and medicine to help her heart. She is still refusing to eat and is having a hard time walking again. It is awful to watch this happening to her. We are hoping the medicine will work, the Dr. has given us hope that she still could make some sort of recovery. In the meantime, trying to love her up and help her rest comfortably. I'll be posting some Christmas pictures, as time allows, over the weekend.

I am going to take the next week to "unplug" and really focus my energy on these precious days with my family. So from our family to yours, we wish you a very magical Christmas. Peace and Big Love to you Friends!!! Christi

I had the best time at Griffin's class's Christmas party!! AND, I actually remembered to take some pictures. They made these adorable shirts; the head is his footprint, the antlers his handprints. They had a gift exchange and here he is showing his teacher, Ms. Jaclyn, the dinosour egg that he was given. She was super excited for him, knowing what a dino fan he is. This is Griffin with his good friend and seatmate D'Nija. And here are his best school buddies, Logan and Brandon. OK so this was the EXTREMELY best part. Griffin was the star reader this week which means he got to read a story in front of the class (I believe he was the only the third able to do it thus far). He had practiced all week at school and I was so super happy when the teacher told me she had saved it for the end of the day so I could see him do it. His classmates sat so quiet and listened while he read each word, with many needing to be sounded out. Adorable!!! Then he would show them the p...

Today is one of those delishishly busy holiday days. A morning of whipping up some yummy snacks, a luncheon Christmas party with Bruce's work, an afternoon Christmas party with Griffin's class, a late afternoon playdate with the kids' best friends. I love days like this where you get to glide from one wonderful event to the next, spreading holiday cheer as you go. Lucy will have to forgo a nap, so it might not be cheer that she is sharing (sorry, Mandy!) Saturday we have a basketball game and some last minute shopping to do, but I am hoping Sunday we can spend a quiet day at home. So, all that to say, I hope to post some fun pictures for you by the end of the weekend. Cheer and peace to you, friend!

These are my last few quilt blocks for the '09 block swap. I will not being doing the swap next year so these might be my last individual blocks for a while. Joining the club was such a great thing for a newbie. It really helped me increase my stash and learn to make a ton of different patterns. At this point though, I have enough of my own projects going, I don't really have time for the swap anymore. This is for July, Spring showers brings May flowers, in blues and purples, any pattern. This is the most difficult block I have pieced to date, but I really enjoyed the challenge. This was for August, a butterfly design in bright colors on a sky background. This was super hard for me because there were no clear patterns available for this butterfly. All options required some form of applique. That is a type of sewing where one cuts a shape and goes around the edge ironing a 1/4 inch or less of fabric under. Then you sew it on, patch style, but it requires an exacting stitch for ...

I know I am biased but I am thinking these little faces are sooooooo gorgeous! Lucy is wearing a Scottish kilt that has been handed down to us. Again, maybe my Mom can post a comment about the history of this kilt but I think it was something she wore as a little girl. Griffin LOVED seeing Santa. I think he surprised Santa with his friendly greeting! "I want gorilla mountain and a camera, a real one, and the underwater shark attack, and the playmobil octopus and the star wars volcano and a hot wheels truck and new computer games and some new books and..." Santa, did you get all that?? Yeah, Lucy was not going withing 2 feet of him without a candy cane bribe, which she grabbed and ran away with. We went back for a second year to the local State Park that hosted Santa in their gorgeous lodge. What a wonderful experience for the kids. They hung out with Santa for 15 minutes without any other kids being around and I got to reconnect with a new friend who works at the pa...

We had Carlie over to play this week and for the first time they actually played together (vs. playing next to each other - you parents know what I mean, right?!) It was super cute! They had the most fun in Griffin's room, of course. I think the Noel Street Players are getting back together, this time as an all girl jam band. These chickies took turn playing every instrument we have and it amused them for at least a half an hour - that must be some kind of record! That was the last time I have seen that smile this week. We have decided to wean Lucy of her blanket and man, is she miserable about it. On Tuesday afternoon, she tripped on it for the millionth time (She is a total Linus, carrying it everywhere!) and got a big goose egg on her head. That settled it, we knew we had to make her leave it in her crib, for safety's sake if nothing else. It has been soooo hard on her. We are constantly having to redirect her or try to get her to swap to a plush toy or doll. It is...

I have been enjoying looking at homes decorated for Christmas on blogs and thought maybe you would enjoy seeing my house. Of course, we have to keep it dog and kid friendly. I know I've posted pictures of our tree before. I do it pretty much the same every year, just adding new ornaments. At 6 new ornaments a year, it's good we have room for a BIG tree! This is the opposite corner of our dining room. It is my tribute to a warm climate Christmas! We love listening to our reggae and steel drum Christmas music! The fireplace mantel is my favorite "decorating" spot in the house! This is our Christmas treasures shelf, nice and high. The light up ceramic tree was my Grandma's and I have loved it since I was little. I can remember being small and liking to rearrange the pattern of glass ornaments. The Santa and Ms. Claus are from my Mom and are so comforting, another thing I loved as a child. Not sure where they came from, maybe you can comment on that, Mom...

We spent today decorating the house for the holidays. The Christmas tree fits best in my craft corner so I had to move out. I decided to rearrange the kids toys a bit and take over half of their play room. They have HUGE bedrooms, so this was no big deal for them. I haven't actually gotten a chance to create in this space yet, but I think I am going to like my new digs. Now if Santa brings me that new crafting lamp I may never move back! P.S. I was in the process of decorating this room with the kids' artwork - hence the half covered wall. Just need a few more projects to come home from school!

The Pennyrile Herb Club is having our annual Christmas Open House at Munn's School today. Munn's is a one room school house out on 70, past Metcalf nurseries. I will be there all day, selling my wares, so if you are local, come by and say hi! Here is a preview... of course, I'll have crayon rolls. Fabric wallets. Drawstring bags. Burp cloths and bibs, boy, girl and neutral. A new item, flour sack dish towels. And my newest creations, felt hair clips. I DETEST (I don't know if I am using a strong enough word to truly express myself) those big ribbon hair bows that are so in style right now for little girls. But, I do want to jazz up Lucy's hair occasionally, so as somebody else said, necessity being the mother of invention, I made up some hair accessories for her (and maybe me!) I am trying big funky ones.... and sweet little ones.... and even tried my hand at some birdies and Christmas trees. There will also be a ton of handmade herbal gifts, bath and beauty...