Life Can be a Whirlwind...

I can't believe how long it has been since I have taken the time to sit down and connect with everyone.  Thanks to those that have emailed to check in and make sure all is okay, or to just let me know that I am still on your radar.  Life has just been a whirlwind...

 

Since September, the kids are back in school, I am back to work,  and our days have been crazy busy, leaving little time for myself or my stitching.  This Christmas break has given me the time to catch up on a few things:  downloading a ton of pictures and actually putting my needle and thread to fabric.  I have missed my stitching time and truly hope to remedy that problem in the new year!

 

Here's a picture walk of some of our adventures from this past fall:

The youngest had a blast playing paintball with his friends.

He ran cross country...finding that even though he did well, he prefers triathlons.  We'll be back to training for the upcoming series soon.

The middle guy still loves catching...

But is also realizing that he can hold his own on the mound, pitching a complete game.

The oldest continued to do his job...

And explored his options by playing a weekend tournament with a new team...This will be the team he has committed to for the following year...change can be scary, but in this case, after sitting down with him and the offers from both teams, I am comfortable that the decision was a good one. 

 

We were even able to catch one of my niece's soccer games...

 

 

My husband and I took a trip by ourselves to Disney.  Yes, Disney without the kids...needless to say, they were not happy...but we had a blast!  We were there during the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot and while the parks were decorated for Halloween.  The highlight of the trip was taking the Behind the Scenes Animal Trek Safari at the Animal Kingdom.  Amazing!!

Beautiful skies and no humidity the entire visit...

We got stuck in a "giraffic jam"

Our safari lunch...so delicious...

 Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party...

Hauntingly beautiful dancers during the parade... 

One of my favorites...

Another favorite...The Lion King...

Our home during the visit...The Wildnerness Lodge...

This was during the beginning of the trek...I have a fear of heights, so the smile is twofold...one, because walking directly over the crocodiles was amazing and two, because I made it across the bridges!

 

I also went on a little adventure of my own...a friend invited a few of us to celebrate her 40th birthday in Las Vegas.  I had never been...two words...sensory overload...

The lights and sights, the food and drink, the shows, and best of all, the friends, both old and new...

 

Some more random snaps...

Thanksgiving with cousins, grandma & pappy and uncle...

Bowling with the cousins...

An extremely warm December day, led to a hike..

Some football fun in the park...

Watching the games...

A boy and his dog...

A peaceful spot...

We traveled to Kloby's Smokehouse to meet up with the hubby's brother and family (minus my oldest niece, who is currently over in Asia having a grand adventure).

Kloby's is owned by my husband's cousin and his family...can you tell the men are related by blood?

And the food....omg....delicious...upon arriving home, the comfy stretchy pants went on...

 

For the Panzer followers...

 

Phew....are you still with me!?!

And the little stitching that I have done...

A baby sampler...

My start on His Eye is on the Sparrow by Heartstring Samplery...

I See Trees of Green, also by Heartstring Samplery...one of my favorite songs, so I had to stitch this one!

 

If you have made it this far, thank you.

So much time has come and gone..and in these oh so busy times, I have to remind myself of this...take the time to stop, breathe, take it all in...sometimes looking up brings beautiful rewards...

“When you do the things that you can do, you will find a way.”
― A.A. Milne

 

Cakes, Samplers and Busy Times

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope all of you had a wonderful day with those you hold near and dear.

Can you see the hearts in the rocks from my garden?

This past week or so has been very busy.  We celebrated the birthday of our oldest ~ he's a dozen years old now!  Wow, where did that time go?

His cake request this year was my home~made chocolate cake with home~made icing.  Yummy!  Oh, but first we had to have a dinner fit for a preteen....

Yep...that would be potato skins and Filet Mignon.  All washed down with Coca~Cola.

This past week and weekend brought baseball practices, baseball scrimmages, Little League tryouts, and a visit from Grandma and Pappy....phew....

Mother Nature also brought us another round of snow and cold winds!

The snow is all gone now, but so pretty while it lasted!

As you can imagine, not much stitching was going on.  Just enough to finish the Humility Sampler from Heartsting Samplery.

I really enjoyed working on this one.

Now I need to get working on my ornament for February!

I received my exchange package from the Stitched With Love Friendship and Love Exchange.  We are supposed to wait until everyone has their goodies to share, so that will be for another day.  I can say that I love what was stitched for me and all the extras!

What I can share, are two pieces that were stitched by my mom years ago.  I framed them for her this past weekend so she could take them home ~ although, they would have looked just fine in my house too!

And here's the other one:

I don't have the names of the samplers, or the details on fabric and threads.  Mom doesn't keep track of those things, sorry!

Edited to add info about the above sampler in the gold frame:

The second sampler of your Mother's that you showed appeared in Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly the first hardcover book. It is called Frances Jewkes Sampler after the little girl who stitched it long ago. Starts on page 34. Maria S.

Thanks Maria for sharing that information!

The craziness will continue this week with the Blue & Gold Scout Dinner and more baseball!

Until next time...

“How do you spell 'love'?" - Piglet
"You don't spell it...you feel it." - Pooh
―A.A. Milne