Sorry I've been absent again..

It's been busy here lately- Mom and Dad came to visit on Friday and stayed til Monday.  We had an awesome time as always! Friday night we all went out to eat, to celebrate most of our birthdays- mine of course was Oct. 27, Dad's was Nov. 2, Hanna's was yesterday, and Mom's is on the 24th. Saturday Rob had to work and the rest of us did this and that- started the day at Starbucks♥, did a little shopping.. took Mom and Dad to the Thistle Bee Quilt Shop, and out to my somewhat-LNS to pick up the beads for Summer House- which ended up being too big... so I'm back to square one.  It was my own fault, I didn't bring the piece with me and forgot I had used the petite beads. Sunday we went to church in Raleigh- Mom and Dad are Greek Orthodox and we don't have any Orthodox churches for miles- so we went to All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church.  They were dedicating their new sanctuary-which is just beautiful!

We also saw some nice fall colors on the way-

The photos really don't do them justice!

Here are a couple more I took near home-

And last but not least- some stitching progress on my Brightneedle ornament- I'm starting to think I should've put it on a slightly darker fabric, but oh well, live and learn! ;)

Oh, and my baby girl turned 13 yesterday- how time flies!!

Look- her hair matches my dad's car! hee hee..

Birthday goodies and other stuff..

Hello everyone! I don't think I ever posted this like I said I would- here is progress on my weekend project, as of tonight..didn't get too much done this weekend- been running here and there and everywhere..

It was my not-quite-fortieth birthday this week.. I had a good day.  Had to work but work wasn't too stressful, got a nice gift from my boss..then that night the family and I went out to Chili's for dinner; I had been craving it for a while.  I had margarita-grilled chicken, with black beans and rice.. it was delicious! Rob and the kids gave me a Starbucks gift card(always a favorite with me♥) and some gift cards for some shops so I can get some retail therapy. ;) I also got a surprise gift from my aunt- these beautiful thread caddies- to replace my plastic and velcro Lo-Ran ones. :P I LOVE these. Here are a few snaps-

They are so nice- you just take the rings out of the Lo-Ran ones and put them in the little slots in the cloth one.. easy peasy! And it's so nice to tie them shut- I know the velcro on one of my old caddies didn't work, even after I replaced it. I had a hair elastic around it for a while..this is so much better!

It has gotten much cooler here this past week and I am loving it.  I have actually been able to wear my sweaters! Yay!! I think it supposed to warm up later this week but only in the low 70's. :)

The kids are psyched for Halloween tomorrow-I was all set to take them trick-or-treating Friday night and then found out that trick-or-treating was actually on Halloween this year! Usually they have it on the closest Friday, so I was surprised! I was also kind of glad because the semi-annual library book sale started Friday night. :) Five paperbacks for 1.00! And I found a couple of real treasures(in my opinion)- Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe(as mentioned in Jane Austen's Emma), and The Watsons/Emma Watson by Jane Austen- I don't believe she finished this one but I believe the edition I got was finished by someone else- we'll see how it is!

Well, I better be going, it's late and in addition to work this week I also have to do some cleaning as Mom and Dad will be visiting us this coming weekend! Woohoo! :) I can't wait. :)

Just a quick post..

It's been a busy week here and not much on the stitching front- I did start a project last weekend- it's my weekend project- and I got a little stitching done on it yesterday on the way to Raleigh.  It's "Autumn Side" by San Man Originals- I think this was an exclusive chart for message board members- I have had it a while- here it is so far..

And I am a proud mom- last weekend and the weekend before was our county fair, and Hanna won some ribbons for her artwork!

She was disappointed she didn't get 1st place/best in show, but I am excited and proud no matter what ribbon she won. :)  That's about it-  hopefully things will be a little slower in the evenings here and I will have time for a better post.

Progress on At Home with Jane Austen

Here it is- I got quite a bit done this weekend.. I am a little upset because I realized right before I put it away for the night that I have to frog one of the windows and I'm not sure how much I'm going to have to rip out. :(

The other day when Hanna was making scones, she had the lemon that she used the zest from for the scones. She and David decided they wanted to eat it.  In the first picture of David, he is NOT intentionally making a inappropriate gesture- it's just the way he's holding the lemon! I debated about posting it but it's such a cute pic of him otherwise-

I think they were hamming it up just a bit- don't you?

Catching up..

I'm not sure where to start really- it's been so long since I've posted! Just been keeping busy- Little Man turned 6 a couple of weeks ago-

I just realized his cake was upside down.. lol

He and I took a trip to the park the other day with my friend Mandy- didn't get any of him playing because he was all over the place- but got some nice shots around the park!

There were squirrels everywhere! Mandy and I were sitting on some risers near a gazebo, watching David play, and the squirrels were scurrying around - I wasn't really this close to this one above, but I think the one below thought we had some food-

He was only a couple of steps down from us.

Here is my progress on Summer House as of this past week-

 I didn't make much progress on At Home w/Jane last weekend, but have made a bit this weekend.  I will post progress tomorrow or Monday. 

Tomorrow is Easter- one of my favorite holidays! What a joyful one! Celebrating that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, to save us!  Tomorrow is the Easter breakfast at church, the egg hunt for the kids, and of course the worship service.  :) I made this lovely coffee cake for tomorrow. 

 My mom used to make this quite a bit, and I love it.  Made with things you already have in your pantry, on the top is a mixture of flour, brown sugar, butter/margarine and cinnamon- when you bake it, it oozes down in to the cake itself and it is just delicious! I'm not sure where the recipe came from, so hopefully I'm not infringing any copyrights if I post it.  Here it is if you're interested! 

Ingredients for cake: (for 8x8x2 baking pan, double for 9x13 pan)

1 beaten egg

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp melted shortening (or oil)

1 cup sifted enriched flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

for topping:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp melted butter/margarine

1/2 cup chopped nuts (if desired)

Combine sugar, egg, milk, and shortening(or oil)

Add flour sifted with baking powder and salt. Mix well and pour into paper-lined (or greased and floured) baking pan.

Sprinkle with cinnamon/brown sugar/flour/margarine mixture.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 min.

Enjoy!

And Happy Easter to you and yours!

A quick blog before bed..

Here are some photos I've been meaning to post.. one or two of them may also be seen on my photo blog. First, this past week's progress on Brooke's Books Summer House-

Finally moving past the ground floor to the front yard- yea!

Last weekend we had some beautiful weather- Hanna had a friend over so I took David to the park for some quality mom and son time(and to keep him out of the girls' hair.) Some of the trees are starting to bloom in the park-

and of course David got some play time in as well-

The next night was the night of the 'super moon!' Try as I might I cannot get a good night time shot with my Canon- if I set it to night shot it uses flash and doesn't look too great and if I do an 'auto' shot it doesn't look much better.  But here is the moon anyway- if compared to my prior moon shots you can tell it was quite a bit brighter!

I finished a fairly good book the other day- The Death List by Paul Johnston.  I had gotten this book free from a book service and it was pretty good.  Some of it was quite graphic, and the beginning was a little slow going.. it picked up in the middle and then I didn't want to put it down.  From what I've read on goodreads though, the sequel is just as graphic and I didn't care for that much, so I think I will not be reading it.  Now I'm reading Hurricane by Karen Harper, which I thought maybe I had read, but now that I am reading it, realize I haven't.  So far it's very good.  I've always liked Karen Harper's suspense novels.

Well, I must get to bed..thanks for hanging in with me when my posts are few and far between!

Happy New Year!

Ok, so I am a couple weeks late.. sorry!  You know how it goes around the holidays..we had a very nice Christmas. Rob's mom came to visit from Christmas Day to New Year's Day, it was so much fun having her here! And we got a little spoiled, as she brought many baked goodies with her! I didn't get many good Christmas pics of the kids this year- Hanna was sitting beside me so it was kind of hard to get pics of her, but I did get this great one of David opening his Criss Angel magic kit- he wanted one sooooo bad(and so did Dad!)

and a picture of our tree of course-

One of the things I don't like about our pre-lit fiber optic tree is it just doesn't "glow" like a tree with traditional lights. It was prettier than this- the picture really doesn't do it justice.

Ah, here's one of Hanna- looks like she wanted her picture taken huh? hee hee..

And here is a pic of the kids and I with my mother-in-law- Rob doesn't like getting his picture taken.

And David took a ride back to the parking lot on the luggage cart-

Mom's plane left pretty early- we saw a nice sunrise on the way home!

On the stitching side of things- I have finished something this year, but I can't show you yet! It's a gift for a friend and I haven't sent it yet.  But here is something to hold you over in the meantime.  I have had this stitched for my MIL for a while, but finally made it into a flatfold so I could give it to her for Christmas. She always likes going to the ocean when she's here.  Thank you Vonna for your great tutorials!!

And lastly, I was reading Paulette at Plum Street Samplers blog today, and she is doing something and I have been thinking about doing it too.  It's a 365 day blog.  Basically you post a picture a day, I'm assuming one you have taken that day.  Since I love taking pictures I think I may give it a go, though by looking at hers I know already my picture-taking skills lack in comparison! I will post a link here when I get it set up.